Danger Zone [Daniel]

[Aerith]

Alone, but not completely.
--------

When the Corridor opened onto unfamiliar caves, Nadia experienced a brief moment of confused disorientation. She could hear the sound of the ocean nearby and smell the salt on the air. The atmosphere reminded her of Port Royal. Perhaps that was where she was, some other part of it.

At least it wasn't storming this time.

Where was Jericho? Or Ethan or Aerith. But mostly Jericho.

It was then that she remembered she could not make Corridors herself. Not that she knew of, anyway. Jericho hadn't been able to make Corridors before, and he had suddenly gained the ability since getting so close to the darkness. Maybe she could do it now, too.

There was a sense of contentment inside her, despite her current circumstances. The darkness curled around her heart like a purring cat. It liked this place. Not nearly as much light as Radiant Garden.

What was she supposed to do? She would try to make a Corridor out of here if she could, but since she had no idea how to go about that, she decided to stay still. There were no other people here that she could see, and the moonlight seeping through the open spaces in the rocks was pleasant.

[Slash]

Who are you?

[/center]

Daniel had come to this world for one thing. It looked rather dark, and there were sure to be Heartless around here. Gabriel needed more training, after all.

The Soren part of Gabriel had been completely quiet. Was he gone, or merely hidden? Daniel hoped it was the former.

Gabriel's eyes flashed momentarily.

There's something ahead. A source of darkness. Strength unknown. Investigate?[/color]

Affirmative.[/color]

Walking further into the caves, Gabriel locked on the source and reached it with haste.

...It was a girl. She looked strong, but hardly a large source of darkness- however, he could hear alarms going off inside Gabriel's, and subsenquently his, head.

Subject is Class A source. Primary objective is to exterminate.[/color]

Negative. Further investigation necessary. Hold back until aggression is shown.[/color]

Gabriel recieved the order and immediately relented, staying idle but alert. Daniel approached cautiously, not wanting to appear hostile.

"This is hardly a place you want to be. What are you doing here?"

[Aerith]

Seeing double?
--------

Nadia was not as alone as she had thought. Footsteps broke the silence, two distinct pairs. The first person to appear had wings, and he approached quickly. She tensed for an attack, but it never came. The winged person held back while someone else came into view.

Nadia could not stop herself from doing a double-take.

It only took a few seconds to realize, though, that this was not Jericho. But the resemblance was uncanny.

"I'm waiting." She looked at the man calmly. "Why are you here? Who are you?"

That winged person set her on edge for some reason, but she tried to refrain from casting wary glances at it every two seconds.

[Slash]

Maybe she knows something?

[/center]

At least she wasn't hostile. That was a relief.

Since she was so infested with darkness, perhaps there was a chance she had met his brother? He had been world-hopping with manic speed, after all, and it was probably likely that he tried to make allies out of other darkness-affiliated people.

"My name's Daniel Carter. I'm looking for my brother, Vincent. Have you seen him? He's tall, brown hair, looks a lot like me. He goes by the name Jericho. Does that ring any bells? Please, I need to find him."

[Aerith]

Not sure I want to tell you anything.
--------

Daniel didn't waste any time. Nadia was unsure how to respond for a moment. Alan Jericho was actually Vincent Carter? And this was his brother?

Names really meant nothing. Jericho had told her about his past and how he had lost himself in the wake of his family's death. Had not the same thing happened to her?

In any case, she was reluctant to tell Daniel much of anything.

"The name sounds familiar. Why do you need to find him?"

[Slash]

Seriously, this is important.

[/center]

So she did know him. It was obvious that she wasn't going to give him any information right off the bat.

"We have unfinished business. It's been 14 years since I've seen him...I need to ask him something."

He wished that she would just tell him what he needed to know. Holding back Gabriel like this proved to be quite a strain.

[Aerith]

I can only tell you what I know.
--------

That didn't sound suspicious at all. Oh, no. Unfinished business usually carried negative connotations.

"I actually don't know where he is right now."

It was completely the truth, after all. She could no more tell him where Jericho was at this moment than she could figure out how to get out of this place.

[Slash]

This is frustrating.

[/center]

She was hiding something. It was incredibly obvious. Why? Had Jericho fooled her into protecting him?

This was going nowhere, and Gabriel still wanted to attack.

"Well, if you don't know where he is now, where did you see him last? Please, I need to know something."

He tried to keep from being too pushy. He didn't want Gabriel to fight this girl.

[Aerith]

Can you go away now?
--------

His insistence that she tell him something was very off-putting. A hint of annoyance found its way into her voice.

"Why should I tell you anything? I don't even know you."

She looked at him unflinchingly. "Fourteen years is a long time to go without seeing someone. Don't you think that if he wanted to see you, he would have found you by now?"

[Slash]

This is going absolutely nowhere.

[/center]

While Daniel appeared quite weak, and was physically, no one could accuse either of the Carter brothers of being weak-willed. Daniel met her gaze with a surprising steel in his eyes.

"You don't know me, but apparently you know my brother."

Gabriel, sensing Daniel's anger, moved by imperceptible degrees. He was preparing to attack.

"As to why he hasn't found me? He wants me to sit on the sidelines, watching him destroy without even being able to talk to him about it. He's good at getting people to hide him. There were others before you. They hid him too, made him impossible to find. So I went off on my own, sometimes getting news about those loyal to him."

He took one step forward, his fury getting the best of him for a second. Sometimes his resemblance to Jericho was a little more than physical- however, he caught himself and cooled down a little.

"They die. All of them die eventually. Do you think he likes you, or loves you? Maybe he thinks he does now, but eventually he'll cast you off. He'll give you something to make you believe he's a certain thing, and he might believe it himself, but it's just one mask over another. Behind it all, he doesn't care about anyone but himself, hates everything that isn't him. I need to know where he is so I can stop that. Stop him."

She probably wouldn't believe him, but he still had to try and convince her.

[Aerith]

I don't remember ever being this apathetic before.
--------

For a moment, Nadia could see just how closely related Daniel was to Jericho. Even after he backed off, what he said still hit her hard.

She told herself it wasn't true. None of it. But doubt wormed its way into the back of her mind and refused to leave. She hadn't exactly assumed anything about how Jericho felt about her, but everything he had done for her pointed to the fact that at least he cared about her to some degree. Love, though... Love might be stretching it.

Did she love him? She didn't know. She had kissed him, yes, but that had been in the aftermath of having her mind and heart nearly destroyed.

"Say what you want. I don't care. If he really hates me along with everything else, then he has a weird way of showing it by saving my life. Multiple times."

[Slash]

I don't want to plead.

[/center]

His anger had faded, replaced by a kind of pity-fueled sadness. Jericho had done more to this girl than the others, far more. It would hurt her much worse when he began abandoning her.

"But was there ever a situation in which saving you was guaranteed to cause his death, or grave injury? He is powerful, inhumanly so. It may have seemed like a great deed to you, but to him it would have been exceedingly simple. He may have even orchestrated some of it himself. He is a manipulator. Surely you've noticed that."

There was silence.

Daniel almost jumped when Gabriel began to speak in a slow, pondering voice.

"From what I have gathered, he is a great source of darkness, as you are. It is likely that it was transferred from him to you. I am sure that you know this. But the degree is possibly greater than you know. There is a high probability that whatever change was orchestrated was probably started from the very beginning, when you met. If the information that has been compiled is sufficient."

This is not to help you, Master. This is for her.

Soren was still alive, trying to express himself through the tight restrictions placed on his mind.

I understand.[/color]

[Aerith]

If you don't leave now, this is going to turn ugly very soon.
--------

The doubt grew bigger, quickly moving the forefront of her mind. She supposed, looking back on things, that all the times Jericho had saved her life, there had never been a danger that he would lose his. But what did that matter?

"He didn't have to save me at all. He could have just let me die."

Her protests were considerably weaker as she floundered in a sea of conflicting thoughts and emotions. The turmoil worsened when that winged person spoke for the first time.

"But...why? Why would he do something like that? I'm nobody. I always have been."

In the end, this was all there was for her, wasn't it? She had escaped the repression of her former life only to find out that she was, in all likelihood, still worth nothing. The only thing she was good for was boredom alleviation, it seemed.

No. No, that can't be right.

But what if it was? All the signs said it was true. Everything was surging to the surface, and she didn't know whether to cry or scream.

[Slash]

This is bad.

[/center]

Daniel wanted to cringe.

She was suffering. That was easy to see. It was almost physically painful to watch.

Brother...did you enjoy doing this?[/color]

Gabriel spoke up in his mind once again.

Master, if this is really what he has been doing...I want to kill him.[/color]

"He would have been drawn to you if you were cast aside. Those are the people he can control the most."

Daniel took another step towards her. His voice had become soft, laden with sadness. "Please. Help me and all of this can end."

There is a high probability of her attacking you, Master.

I know. But I want to help her.[/color]

[Aerith]

I hate you all.
--------

When he moved toward her, she took a step back. She wanted nothing to do with him.

"Stop. Just stop it."

Hot tears brimmed in her eyes. She really didn't know what to believe anymore. Now she knew for certain. Aerith should never have saved her. She should have died on that couch. Hell, she should have died in Agrabah, not been shipped off to Twilight Town.

She was useless and worthless, and she would never be anything but that.

She hated her dead family, she hated Daniel, and she hated Jericho.

But she hated herself the most.

The darkness inside her was agitated. It stalked her hatred and pounced upon it.

She screamed her frustration. Drew a knife. Summoned Azrael. Collapsed against the coldness of the cave's wall. Let Azrael loose upon Daniel.

[Summary:
Nadia used Azrael's Will.
Azrael remains loose for one post.]