Havoc [Loru/Open to 3]

[Oathkeeper Emi]

August 2, 2010
--

Loru knew she needed to eat. She didn't want to, knowing deep down in her soul that even here on this knew world that They had poisoned all of the food. But she hadn't eaten at least since leaving Destiny Islands and she had already fainted once... she hated to eat but while her mind was on a single strand of sanity, she knew she needed to.

It had been several days since she had arrived here with Ethan, and several days since they had been separated. She missed him but didn't much care to keep his company. She may have been infatuated with him previously, but it was hard-- no, impossible for her to make meaningful relationships. Since he had left, she hadn't really given it a second thought. Besides, there were so many more interesting things to look at, people to terrorize, etc, etc.

It was late afternoon now, and she sat with her back against one of the stone walls in the marketplace, shaded by a nearby abandoned stall. Was there food around? She wasn't sure. She didn't even really know what was food anymore, so she was watching people with unblinking eyes trying to decide.

There. A little boy with an ice cream. He was eating it, so it must be food. And she had already claimed it as her own. She got up, and starting walking towards him. It was early August, and hot but she still didn't remove her long coat. In the past few months, her chopped up hair had grown out a little and the blond roots were starting to show through again.

The little boy noticed this strange looking woman coming up to him and lowered his snack from his mouth, staring at her- first in confusion and then in fear. He took a step back as she reached out a hand for his ice cream and then took off running when she lunged, leaving her to fall flat on her face.

She pushed up on her elbows. "Lulu thinks it was quite rude of you![/color]" she shouted.

[Fate]

I will not let anyone get me high this time.
--

Was Xehanort here? No, unfortunately. Was Larxene here? No, fortunately.

And yet again, this trip to Radiant Garden had proven to be useless. There was nothing new here since he last came here, absolutely nothing. Xehanort wasn't going to come out of nowhere and threaten everyone's existence again. Things like this took time, though Zexion could never be sure when exactly he would show. He had managed to convince himself almost entirely that Xehanort was going to return. Parts of him still thought it was absolutely nonsensical of him to believe such a thing, but one could never be sure.

What to do now though? He was in Radiant Garden, in the Market Place of all places, with nothing left to do but either wander or return to the World That Never Was... stay in the Market Place it was then. Though, now that he looked around, he wasn't sure he wanted to. A crazed woman just tried to tackle a young boy for ice cream, missing horribly. Of course, what would Radiant Garden be without its daily oddities? He might as well get some ice cream for himself while he was here. He walked over to the Moogle selling it, pulled out munny from his pocket, and exchanged it for Sea-Salt Ice Cream.

"And no I will not let myself hallucinate this time," he thought to himself, leaning against a wall and nibbling on the ice cream.

[/font]

[Axel]

I have a strange feeling that I've worn this suit before...
--------

Radiant Garden.

Axel had sworn he would never come back here until he had his heart again. This had been home, and he had wanted to truly enjoy it. Even if it was in ruins for the most part.

People seemed to be trying to remedy that, though. Even as Axel walked the streets of Radiant Garden, he could see people working to rebuild houses and shops. On the one hand, their actions were somewhat futile. Radiant Garden would never be the same as it once was under Ansem's rule. On the other, people would do almost anything to have hope, even if they knew it was a far-off dream.

He could admit to having some semblance of hope, after all. Why else would he keep seeking after his heart?

The Flame rounded a corner and immediately regretted it. A couple of things caught his eye. One: Zexion was leaning against a building, eating ice cream. Two: The red-headed crazy was here. How in the hell had she gotten off Destiny Islands? Who in the hell had helped her? Oh, man. Had she learned how to use Corridors or something? That was definitely not good for the stability of the universe.

He followed his first instinct, turned on his heel, and started walking in the opposite direction. Maybe she wouldn't recognize him since he wasn't wearing that stupid cloak anymore. This suit was surprisingly comfortable and much cooler. If he had to run for his life, he could do it quite easily now.

[Oathkeeper Emi]

Agkdjfgksdfj.
--

[/i]Loru had since risen to her feet and was shuffling around, looking for some other source of food. She didn't exactly know how to ask for it, and she had no munny to pay even if she could sting together a coherent enough sentence. There! Another person with an ice cream. This one was bigger, but that just meant he couldn't get away as easily. She had begun to sneak up on Zexion when she saw a flash of red out of the corner of her eye.

Her face snapped around and she gasped with childish glee. "Red![/color]" she shrieked. She had completely forgotten about her hunger, or anything else. Her only though was that red... that glorious red hair, just like hers. Ethan was gone, but Red was back... someone else like her. Someone who wasn't with Them.

She took off in a full sprint towards Axel, squealing like a toddler. She tackled him at full force, not really seeing or caring about the look of sheer horror on his face when she did so... she also didn't notice that he was trying to get away from her.

She had him pinned down with one knee, but leaned down and ran her fingers through the red spikes. She giggled, manically. "Reeeed,[/color]" she purred, and leaned down to rub her face in his hair.

[Fate]

So I get a show too? This works.
--

So Axel decided to come to this world too? Interesting. He wasn't wearing the cloak anymore either, though Zexion had to question why he was wearing a suit of all things-- he never pictured the Flame as one to wear suits. Either way, it wasn't any of his business. Now that the coup was over and whatnot, the two didn't need to talk anymore business. It would just be pointless chatter at this point, and Zexion preferred to not have pointless conversations.

Well, even if he was going to talk to Axel today, that plan was quickly ruined by the strange woman he had seen previously. She was attempting to sneak up on him at the time, most likely for the ice cream, until she saw Axel for some reason or another. Then she ran at him and tackled him to the ground, running her fingers through his hair. The Schemer couldn't help but be stunned, his eyes wide in astonishment. Did these two know each other? It seemed like it, though Axel was trying to escape from her.

Should he bother helping? He couldn't think of a reason to at the moment and this was excellent entertainment. He continued to eat his ice cream, grinning as he watched this scene unfold more.

[/font]

[Axel]

No spectating for you.
--------

Dammit, dammit, dammit!

Crazy woman was fast and had Axel pinned before he could do anything about it. The feel of her fingers and face in his hair was revolting. Or it would have been if he could feel revulsion. And it looked as though Zexion was going to sit back and watch. A thousand different curses went through the Flame's head.

"Woah, woah, woah! Get off of me!"

He squirmed beneath crazy lady, struggling to push her away. He really didn't want to resort to attacking her outright, but if she didn't leave him alone or at least give him some personal space, a good-sized portion of Radiant Garden might be set ablaze shortly.

"Zexion, if you want to continue having the capacity to eat that ice cream, you had better get over here and do something, dammit!"

With a surge of strength, Axel managed to roll over and put the woman underneath him. "Ha!"

Wasting no time, he jumped up and moved over to the Schemer, making sure to press his back against the wall to avoid being tackled so easily again.

"Didn't respond fast enough."

He grabbed the ice cream from Zexion and shoved it into his hair, smearing the frozen treat over as much of it as possible.

[Oathkeeper Emi]

You may never be rid of me.
--

Loru lay on the ground in a daze for a moment, but she couldn't be kept away from Red for very long at all. She got up, brushed herself off and looked around until he saw him. She wasn't so easily deterred. Had she noticed the ice cream smearing incident? Sure, but it didn't really matter to her. She had a one track mind, after all.

Buttons appeared at her feet and looked up at her, almost expectantly. Loru nodded and walked confidently up to Axel, smiling as she did so. But her eyes were dead, unblinking and focused solely on him. No, not him. His hair. Her fascination with him was largely superficial.

Too bad he was pushed up against a wall. He couldn't be tackled, but she still wanted to get her hands on that glorious red, so she walked right up to him and lifted her hands to his hair, pushing him closer to the wall as she did so.

"Mmmm,[/color]" she purred. In her mind, Buttons was perched on her shoulder, which would have been possible but difficult anywhere else. dOn't lEt HiM lEaVe, Lulu, commanded the white cat.

Loru nodded. "No, I can't let him leave. He's mine now, mine mine mine now. Allll mine, all Lulu's. Just like Lulu, red, just like me.[/color]"

She grinned.

[Fate]

At least I'm not the one being abused by a woman this time. Finally.
--

Oh, he was supposed to help? Axel told him that he should do something, and quickly, about the woman tackling him. Naturally, the Schemer just stayed put and Axel was able to take care of himself. And then he came over and-- what the? For goodness' sake, that was his ice cream and now it was in his. His hair. No one knew how much time was spent getting that hair just so, a fact Zexion would not disclose, and now it was sticky and disgusting and messy and all other sorts of words.

When Axel finished this wonderful smearing of Zexion's hair, the Schemer kept as much of a composed face as humanly possible, which was easier than one thought since Nobodies cannot truly feel fury or anything of the sort. He put on a blank face and narrowed his gaze, crossing his arms instinctively over his chest while he bit his tongue. That was perfectly good ice cream too. Sea-Salt Ice Cream was always perfectly good. Why did Axel need to smear it in his hair? He paid for that ice cream and had intended to eat it. This was just not fair.

Well, at least the crazy woman continued to bother Axel and play with his hair. He raised an eyebrow at this, holding back the small amount of laughter Nobodies could produce-- why in the world was this woman so fixated on Axel and his hair? Should he help this time and try to get this woman away from him? Maybe. Well, he probably should so Axel couldn't get more ice cream and smear more of it into his hair; he could summon it out of nowhere after all. With a sigh, he pushed himself off the wall and grabbed one of the woman's wrists to pull her away from Axel.

"Should I ask why a random woman is fixated with you? Or would I be better off not knowing?"

[/font]

[Slash]

Are we all having fun?

[/center]

The proceedings were interrupted by the thud sound produced when a very heavy object hits something soft. Saïx stood there, not particularly proud of having hit an insane woman with a claymore...not that he could feel shame, of course.

He had been watching from a slight distance, having noticed both Axel and Zexion from far away. It would have been amusing if he could feel amusement...actually, no it probably wouldn't have been, but it would have been less tiresome than it was. He had spent three minutes waiting for it to end so he could talk to Axel, then the pressing boredom had inspired him to intervene.

"Axel," he said in an indifferent voice. That was usually the amount of effort he put into greeting anybody. He looked at Zexion. Who was eating ice cream.

Obviously, his resurrection had somehow resulted in a deterioration of all functions, such as scheming and work. Perhaps another one would render him in the same state as the insane girl.

"Zexion, do you not have more pressing business elsewhere?"

[Axel]

Finally.
--------

Any pretend amusement Axel might have gotten out of ruining Zexion's hair, was short-lived. Crazy woman was pressing against him and grabbing at his hair again. She apparently had trouble figuring out the signals for "Go away" and "Don't touch me."

Before he could respond to Zexion's questions, Saïx appeared and temporarily relieved Axel of his clingy stalker. She dropped from the blow to the back of her head, and with any luck, she would stay that way long enough for him to make his escape.

"You have no idea how much I owe you for that," he said to Saïx. "No thanks to Zexion."

He shot an annoyed glare at the Schemer, then broke into a grin at the ice cream now trickling down Zexion's face. With the help of the sun, it wouldn't be long before it would dry in all its uncomfortable stickiness.

"As to your earlier question, the best I can tell is that she's completely obsessed with the color red. And she's especially attached to my hair. First had the misfortune of meeting her a while ago on Destiny Islands. I'll kill whoever helped her get off."

[Oathkeeper Emi]

You'll help me, won't you?
--

Loru had been thoroughly enjoying herself until everything went black.

This is why she hated, loathed, despised sleeping. When she was unconscious, there was literally nothing stopping all of the worst of her thoughts from coming to the surface. She was reminded, at some primal level, of her experience with Them and that scared her senseless.

She fought herself to regain consciousness and when she finally roused, she was beyond angry. She wanted to know who had sent her back to Them and why. Her eyes narrowed at Zexion, and then Saix. Not at Axel, because she figured Red would never do something like that to her.

She got to her feet and whipped back her coat, plucking her tonfas from her sash. "Lulu thinks that this place is full of very rude people,[/color]" she said, walking up behind Saix. "Lulu does not like rude people. You are rude, so you must be with them. And you know what I have to do to Them... I have to kill Them so they don't hurt Lulu ever, ever again.[/color]"

Her gaze flickered over to Axel. "Help me, Red,[/color]" she said. "Help me kill them so they won't bother us anymore. Please.[/color]"

At that last word, she choked up almost like she was about to cry. Tears formed in her eyes, but she made no move to attack Saix or Zexion. Yet. She was waiting for Red to join her, so that they could fight together.

Despite her inaction, there were already voices whispering in her ear telling her exactly what she needed to do. She squeezed her eyes shut for a minute and hit herself on the ear, trying to get them to leave. She didn't want to hit them yet, but the voices were persistent.

Revenge, Loru, get your revenge...
They deserve to die, kill Them... kill Them!
You're so stupid if you can't kill them. You are stupid, you can't do it...

"Stop talking to me right now![/color]" she suddenly shrieked, clasping both tonfa to her head.

[Fate]

I always get stuck with the crazy and/or homicidal ones.
--

Darn it, the ice cream was on his face now. He could just feel it starting to get sticky and unpleasant already. It was summer, therefore things would become sticky much quicker. And now, Saïx had entered the scene and hit the woman with the claymore. Was that truly necessary? For goodness' sake, they were in the middle of the Radiant Garden market place. The Committee wasn't exactly dimwitted either and were constantly around. They weren't their peaceful allies at the moment either, not quite.

Either way, crazy woman was now speaking nonsense, Axel was thankful, and Saïx was asking if he had important business elsewhere. Should he fill them in on Yen Sid's insights and then what he got out of it? 'Oh yes, I'm doing business here. I'm looking for Xehanort because Yen Sid hinted that he would come back when I met with him before the coup.' He wasn't quite sure how that would go over, but he'd attempt. "No. I came here to see if Xehanort has returned. Yen Sid hinted that he might after Xemnas was disposed. This is the world he would most likely return to. And, if he does, then we'll need to completely rethink the Organization's method to reach our goal."

And that was that. The woman's sudden shriek startled him, causing him to take one step back. Her obsession with red wasn't the only thing wrong-- mental imbalance of some sort. Should they be concerned with that? No. Looks could be deceiving, but he doubted that she could take on all three of them at the same time if it came down to that. Maybe he could distract her so the possibility of her attacking would be even lower. Something red. Think quickly Zexion, quicker.

Strawberries. There we go. Without taking out his Lexicon, which he still needed to disguise, he formed the illusion of a table with strawberries on them in the marketplace. Moogles gave it a funny look, as did passersby that saw it instantly appear, but proceeded to walk by it nonetheless. They were mere strawberries anyhow, and hopefully they'd be enough to distract her and not have her attack.

"Any reason either of you are here, or are you avoiding Larxene as well?" He pinched the bridge of his nose, concentrating, and didn't make eye contact.

[/font]

[Slash]

Of course.

[/center]

"The ice cream was evidently crucial to this mission, which you were surely on, and the best place to search would be the middle of a crowded marketplace." He nodded, then turned his attention to Axel, completely ignoring Zexion's question. Zexion was no longer worth the slightest bit of attention. It could almost be construed as sad- once, he'd been quite different. Perhaps his mind was going, or had gone.

"I see. I think she would like to kill me, if I heard her correctly." He gave a quick glance at the girl, who was screaming about something or other. "Should we dispose of her? Getting her to an isolated area would not be difficult with the use of Corridors. Or your hair."

[Axel]

I think if we just walk away slowly...
--------

Axel could, and probably should, have latched onto the Xehanort portion of Zexion's explanation, but he did not. And for good reason. The Schemer followed up the Xehanort mention with someone even more terrifying.

Larxene.

Oh, God. The blond, clingy bitch was back. He had so been hoping she had stayed dead. Of course, she would probably be a lot less clingy if he ran into her again. Betrayal hadn't sat well with her, from what he could remember.

"Oh, perfect. One more potential knife in the back. Literally, in her case."

Saïx was asking if they should kill crazy woman. The idea was very tempting. If she was dead, he wouldn't have to worry about getting tackled in some dark alley and having a face shoved uncomfortably into his hair.

"Kill her? Uh... Nah. She's pretty much harmless, just really awkward. Something else will probably get her, eventually."

[Oathkeeper Emi]

Things are changing.
--

"Something else will probably get her, eventually."

Loru froze, dropping her hands from her head. She looked at Axel, her mouth dropping open like she was shocked at what he had said. He really did know They were after her!

She didn't know how to process that. She wanted to run away, but she couldn't bring herself to leave Red behind. She took a step like she was about to run, but then she stopped herself, showing visible restraint. She looked to Axel, looking for permission.

Meanwhile, the voices were going insane. She couldn't hear anything else except the layers of whispers, all conflicting. Some told her to run, some told her to fight, to kill... others told her she had to stay because he was there.

Her eyes dropped to the ground, searching, trying to decide what to do. Finally, she burst into frustrated tears. "Please come with me,[/color]" she whined. It was one of those moments where she was aware something was wrong, a moment when she broke free of the psychosis just long enough to understand... there was actual emotion in her eyes for once, actual fear. It was gone as quickly as it came and she abruptly stopped crying, blinked once.

It hit her then.

He's not really one of you.
Look at you, Loru, you aren't one of you either.

She put a hand to her hair. Perhaps, somewhere, she had caught a reflection of herself and noticed her hair wasn't all red anymore. So what did that mean for her? That meant that everyone there had become an enemy as quickly as they had become the object of her obsession. If they weren't with her, they were with Them.

But the blue-haired one had already hit her once, and her head still hurt. She made a move like she was going to hit him but she stopped and reeled herself back in. She wanted to hit them but in one of those short moments of sanity, she realized it wasn't a good idea.

She ran before she could decide to go ahead and hit someone anyway. She left without a goodbye, without any kind of warning. She just turned on a heel and ran away as fast as she could, as far as she could and didn't look back. Already, she was losing the small grip on sanity she had and she couldn't even remember why she was running.