Fulfillment [Katherine]

[Nothingness]

August 10^th

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Clive disembarked from the ship, having made sure that they landed about a mile or so away from the Cave, tucked away behind rocks and dunes. They didn't need some other treasure hunter going by and stealing there only way off of this godforsaken desert.

As they approached the Cave itself, Clive stopped them before they went in. "Alright, just a fair warning--a lot of what's in here is booby-trapped. If something looks easy to get to, it isn't." Of course, the fact that walking into the Cave itself meant going down the mouth of a massive lion's head sounded dangerous enough. A few traps sounded tame compared to that.

[Fate]

Do they have a tiger and bear cave hidden on this world as well?
--

Switching atmospheres, and climates, entirely, they arrived at Agrabah. Katherine did as instructed and landed the ship a mile or so away from the Cave that they were going to go into. Clive seemed to know where they were going, so she followed him without a word. This wasn't a world she had ever been to, and not one she would return to willingly. It was a bit too much of a desert for her tastes. There was no water. Not anywhere. None.

Though, he could have at least told her that this was a lion's head that they were going into. When she heard the word cave, she pictured an actual cave, not a large lion's head. They stopped before going in, Clive warning her about booby-traps and how this cave was loaded with them. Oh, so a lion's head with traps. Should she even ask how it was possible? It wasn't incredibly important at the moment, was it? No.

"I will make sure to remember that," she replied. Without another word, she started descending into the cave down the steps.

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[Nothingness]

No, but there are shiny things

From Cruelty to Kindness- Eternal Sonata OST

Clive followed Katherine into the Cave, though he was surprised to find that the first room wasn't at all what it was when he first came here. Before, the walls and floors glittered as if treasure were buried just beneath the surface. But now everything was drab and dirty. The reddish-brown surface blended in too well with the shadows cast by the flickering torches. To make matters worse, their was a massive pitfall at the edge of the floor, as well as smaller ones scattered about. Who knew how many sections of the floor were false, too.

Taking a few tentative steps forward, he wasn't surprised to find a group of five Bandit Heartless appear--they weren't that uncommon in and around the city, at least, so why not here? "Oh, forgot to mention these guys are here, too. And that this place has completely changed since the last time I was here. It does that, apparently."

Nothing more could be said--or even needed to be--since once he finished speaking two of the Bandits flung themselves towards him with amazing speed. Still, it was a simple attack that was just as simply avoided, and Clive made sure to take the time they spent reorienting themselves to grab one by the arm, snap it behind its back, and kick the stupid creature into a pit. The second Heartless decided to try the spinning attack again, but ended up tossing itself into the pit as well. "Dullard." He muttered.

[Fate]

And Heartless too. Yay.
--

As they both entered, Katherine was honestly a bit taken aback. She didn't expect this level of ornateness from a cave that was hidden under the sand. There were pitfalls here and there, so she would have to be careful about those. Heartless also appeared almost as soon as they walked in, five of them with swords and turbans. Good, something to fight. Her whip was out within seconds as she moved in front, going straight for one of the Bandits that wasn't going after Clive. The whip cracked as it hit the Heartless from the side, then again as she repeated the move. Then she aimed for the feet, tripping the Heartless and sending it into a pitfall.

The next Bandit she didn't even hit. She had the whip crack in front of it, forcing it to move backward as she advanced. She did this a couple more times before it fell, leaving one more for either of them to take down. The whip was coiled around it a moment later and she sent it flying. Those weren't the only Heartless that were going to show up either, but she sure as hell didn't want to waste all of her energy on every single one that showed up.

"Let's ignore the others that show up, shall we?" she said, gesturing in front of her. He knew this place better than she did, even if it did change. Hopefully it wouldn't change while they were there.

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[Nothingness]

It IS Called "The Cave of Wonders"

Well, it certainly eased his mind that she could certainly hold her own in a fight. Although a whip was a rather interesting weapon, it was effective enough to make short work of those Heartless. "Good idea. Worse comes to worse, we cut through them until we reach the treasure room. Well, one of them at least." Seeing as how the entire cave's layout changed, what was stopping the treasure room from being different?

Continuing down the path, he stopped when a few more Bandit Heartless showed up, but didn't even bother fighting them. Instead, he looked down, seeing the slight trough in the floor beneath him, and feeling the vibrations as well. Looking back, he said to Katherine. "I'd take a step back."

Lo and behold, his prediction was correct. Stepping just off to the side of the trough, a massive boulder rolled past him, bowling over the Heartless and leaving nothing behind. "Let's just leave the Cave to take care of the Heartless, hm?" He laughed a little, walking down into the next room--larger, with wooden bridges and even more pitfalls and boulder troughs. Lovely.

[Fate]

This is why I don't like rocks.
--

They continued down the path, more Heartless showing up. Instead of taking care of them like before, Katherine did as instructed and took a step back from the trough in the floor. A boulder crushed the Heartless and left nothing standing. Katherine nodded in approval to this and to what Clive said. She had absolutely no problem with the cave taking care of the Heartless for them. It would just be when it hindered them from getting to the treasure or out she would have an issue.

They stepped into the next room where more traps and waited for them, more pitfalls, wooden bridges, and even things that shot out water over them. It was a bigger room than the last, and she could see the door on the other side-- getting there was going to certainly be interesting. To get to the door, one could either cross the bridge with the risk of being shot at with water, or one could go the path of trough and hope a boulder didn't come. Yeah, that seemed to be the better way to go about this.

And, of course, Heartless showed up once she got in the room, an assortment of Shadows and Bandits. She ignored them, making her way over to the trough. Unfortunately, that idea wasn't as well thought out as she thought it was, for a Fat Bandit plopped in front of her. It was a narrow area to begin with, and Katherine wasn't about to try and jump over or around it. And just on time, she could feel the vibration of a boulder about ready to come.

Sighing, she cracked the whip at the Heartless, just simply trying to get it to move out of her way. After the third time with it just standing there about to shoot fire at her, she risked it and jumped over it, the boulder coming straight after. She got over it, barely, and ran straight to the door, or near it. Yeah, Clive could pick whatever way he wanted to come over.

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[Nothingness]

What, you don't have an awesome time-slowing bangle?

Face the water or the boulder? Katherine took the boulder, so Clive figured he should take the water. Plus, with the Heartless showing up, he figured he'd only risk them since the water really meant nothing to him.

Running past the various Shadows and Bandits, he stopped at the decaying wooden bridge, watching the jets of water closely for a moment. "Ah, they go in a pattern. Good." Without a second thought, he activated his bangle, clearing the bridge in the blink of an eye, and appearing next to Katherine in another blink. "Alright, shall we?"

He looked back, just out of curiosity, and found the Bandits and Shadows getting either crushed by the boulder, or knocked down by the water jets. This just might be easier than he thought.

[Clive used Fade, two posts until next use]

[Fate]

No, but I have the ability to not fall off cliffs.
--

She didn't even see Clive move, but somehow he appeared right beside her in milliseconds. She gave him a wide-eyed look, wondering how in the world he just did that, much less why he didn't do it before. All she could do was nod her head as she went forward, not bothering to look back at the Heartless getting crushed.

The next room was large as well, most of it a pit. There were the things shooting jets of water again in their pattern, and the door was on the other side. How many more of these rooms were they going to have to go into before they reached the treasure? Hopefully not too many more. Katherine walked straight toward the door, not wanting to wait for the Heartless to show up at any given point.

If she had been paying attention, she would have seen that the head shooting water was just about to go and wouldn't have stepped forward. She noticed this at the last second, getting hit by a jet of water and nearly being pushed down into the never-ending abyss. She grabbed hold of the cliff at the last second, cursing herself under her breath and waiting for the water jet to stop. Once it did, she swung herself up and over again, brushing herself off. Fine, she'd just take the higher route. She jumped on top of the head shooting water, then pulled herself up onto the higher platform.

More Heartless, these ones pots. Really now? She went past them, running and jumping off of the platform and straight to the door. She thought she saw something shiny through that door too, making her grin. "We're close. We should be almost there."

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[Nothingness]

King Midas' Gold!

As they entered the other room, Clive immediately began searching for a way to cross the gap, but Katherine seemed to have grasped the concept before him. Unfortunately, she mistimed her approach and was almost knocked off. Clive rushed over to help her, but she managed to get up on her own.

Her next move was a little more innovative than what he would have done, but it seemed to be the easiest route to the end. Following her example, he jumped onto of the head and lifted himself onto the raised platform, ignoring the pot Heartless. He nodded wordlessly to Katherine's comment and walked down the stairs ahead of her.

"Oh my god," he uttered softly. They were in a room where piles of gold seemed to tower up to the heavens. He began walking, as if in a trance, towards one of the many piles, searching aimlessly through the treasure, the gold dancing in the torchlight. "I believed this covers the payment." He said absentmindedly, tossing aside various priceless treasures, then moving onto another pile. To Clive, if he didn't know their worth, everything here would be junk except for what he was looking for.

[Fate]

There's a catch to this isn't there.
--

Once they entered the room, Katherine was instantly dumbfounded. She had never seen this much gold in one place. She didn't even know where to start, every pile almost endless. Even with just one of these piles, she'd be set for life. And then she could do whatever she felt like... well, more than she did now she guessed. She nodded and grinned at Clive. "This more than covers it."

With that, she proceeded to walk over to one pile, taking handfuls to stuff into her pockets at once. Clive seemed to be looking for something in particular, tossing priceless treasures away! Well, it was his loss. She grabbed one of the treasures and held it in her hand, studying it. She wasn't quite sure what it was, but it looked valuable. Pocketed immediately.

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[Nothingness]

Not My Fault!

There it was! At the center of one of the piles was a set of katara--the perfect weapon for him. Quickly removing them from the pile, he ran the blades against one another, neither leaving a scratch, and resonating with a crystal clear tone. "Beautiful." He said, smiling. Turning his attention back to Katherine, who seemed to have more than enough gold to last her ten life-times, Clive said, "If your pockets are filled, we should be going." Of course, before he left, he made sure to take some gold for himself, as well. After all, he needed to eat, right?

However, just as he approached the door he felt one of the stones beneath him sink. Shit. "Katherine, watch out!"As he cried out, a slab of rock slammed down, blocking the doorway and shattering the floor beneath them. Before he could say anything else, the floor had collapsed, and falling with them was all the treasure. For better or for worse, he heard the sound of splashing water beneath them. Hopefully it was deep enough to break their fall...

[Fate]

Completely. Your. Fault.
--

Her pockets were almost full when Clive got her attention again. So those were what he was looking for. Very nice daggers he had there. But, she guessed that enough was enough. This gold would last her for a good long time. Heck, she might even get to buy her own ship with this if she ever went home. Now that, that would be nice.

And of course, Clive just had to ruin that ideal by making the floor disappear completely. And the treasure was falling with them. Damn everything to hell, dammit! She couldn't really watch out right now Clive could she?! No, they were going to fall... into water. Well shit. At least it was better than just falling forever or hitting hard ground. Both of them made a rather large splash, the water being deep enough to break their fall. And treasure was floating around them. And now she had no idea where they were.

Oh, and her blouse was white. Shit fuck damn, she left her vest in the ship because it was black and attracted heat. She turned her back to Clive, making a "Hmph" sound. She swam away from him and to the nearest bit of land, a small platform, and climbed up on it. With her arms still over her chest, she looked back to Clive again. "Well, thank you for that," she told him, a load of malice in her voice, "And how are we supposed to get out of this exactly?!"

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[Nothingness]

My Jeans are all Shquigie.

Well, at least they didn't hit a hard floor, or spikes, or anything deadly. Just a bunch of water--and look at that! The treasure was actually piling up over the water, the upper part being perfectly dry. Completely ignoring her tone of voice, he replied, looking around the dark cave, "Simple--find a way to the surface. Last time I was here there were caves like this. Besides, look on the bright side," he gestured towards the gesture that was dimly glistening on the ground around her, "You've still got some treasure to take back with you."

Swimming over to a different portion of land, he climbed up, making sure his new blades weren't damaged--they weren't. Feeling where the walls were, he almost stumbled forward when his hand met nothing. "See? It leads out of here. Now I suggest you stop covering your breasts and come on. Or would you prefer to stay down here?" He started walking down the dark tunnel, hopefully finding a light at the end of it.

[Fate]

Suggestion. Riiiiiiight.
--

Yes, she still had treasure to take back with her. Her pockets were still full at the very least, so that was about the only positive thing she saw. She watched as he swam to a different portion of land, apparently where an exit was. Good. She gave him a weak glare before diving back into the water. No, she wasn't going to just stay there. Besides, why should she really care if he looks anyway? She never did before at least. Either way, she reached the bit of land he was on quickly and followed him through the dark tunnel... which just led to another dimly lit area with water.

She looked around, hands on her hips, just trying to look for other portions of land that might have another tunnel that could lead them out of here. They weren't trapped at the bottom of this cave for good-- they couldn't be. There were multiple portions of land, though in this light there was almost no way to tell if any led out. There were also waterfalls coming into this area and leaving it. Maybe if they followed those, they could get out of the cave...

"Follow me," she told him, diving back into the water and making her way to one of the waterfalls that was coming into the area. It probably didn't look like it made much sense to go against the flow, but it did to Katherine and that was all that really mattered to her at this point.

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[Nothingness]

So we DON'T go with the flow

He could hear Katherine's footsteps behind him, and even though he couldn't see her, at least she was somewhere nearby. The next chamber they entered, though, remedied that situation by being dimly lit by light from above. He was about to say something to Katherine when he heard her telling him to follow, and then jumped into the water, going up a small waterfall.

Following suit, Clive jumped into the cold water and fought the current upstream. Reaching another small piece of land, he quickly clambered onto it, his breathing a little harder from the exertion. "We should find some sort of stairway up soon. If not to the top, at least to someplace that leads there." Standing up, he began trying to find another cave, searching their dark surroundings.

"There." He said, pointing to a rather small tunnel across the water. After diving in and swimming over to it, he noticed that there were stairs that lead upwards, and upon going a few steps in, he saw a much brighter light than there ever had been on the top level. It was strange, but hopefully it was at least warmer than down here.