Fulfillment [Katherine]

[Fate]

I almost miss the desert. Almost.
--

Another dimly lit area with pieces of land here and there. Katherine climbed up on the piece of land, following Clive, and looked around. They had to find a stairway to get them up and out, somewhere dryer, warmer and with better lighting than this. She followed where Clive pointed, noticing another tunnel, jumping straight back into the water and swimming to it. The only good thing about this was that she was used to swimming. A lot. Jumping in and out of this cold water was still a pain though.

Finally, some place that led up. She followed the stairs and they were led into yet another chamber. It was lighter and much warmer, at least compared to below. And there were no Heartless yet, not that she could see. Something wasn't right though. Were they even in this chamber before? Honestly, she couldn't remember. Either way, she'd continue to let Clive lead the way for now unless he got them screwed over again. Then she just might bail.

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[Nothingness]

Oh, look--another problem

Deep Crimson Foe- NieR

The stairway had led them into a large circular chamber, its high ceiling looked like it was supported by the many massive pillars that ran just a couple yards away from the edge. Each pillar bore a blazing torch, and in the dark recesses behind each torch were small piles of gold gathering in the corner. However, what caught Clive's attention was the stairway on the other end of the room, and the seven pots that blocked their path to it. "Stay here." He said to Katherine, moving forward slowly. The last thing they needed was to land in the water again, or worse.

As he approached the stairway, he didn't trigger any sort of trap and it all seemed fine. But he didn't even need to be remotely suspicious to know that those jars weren't just there for show. Rearing his arm back, he quickly sliced through one jar and shattered it, stepping backwards as soon as the blow connected. And it was a good thing he did--the jar didn't so much shatter from the attack, but exploded, more rather, from the Heartless inside. Legs broke through five of the other pots, while the sixth burst open, revealing the tail end of the beast.

Electricity seemed to course through all of them, binding them together. And once they were all connected, the head rose up, clicking its pincers menacingly and hissing at the two foolish enough to disturb it. "I don't think we can just run from this one." He called back to Katherine, taking a few steps back and getting into a fighting stance. No, this thing would need to be taken down before they could leave.

[Fate]

Yay, another Heartless.
--

No, this definitely wasn't a chamber they had entered previously. It was circular with pillars supporting the high ceilings with torches as well. She spotted gold as well, though she didn't move from her spot. Clive told her not to for some reason, going toward the pots that were blocking their exit. Odd that seven pots were randomly sitting in front of the stairway out, though after being in this world long enough, she was beginning to guess that they weren't simply pots. Naturally, they weren't. After Clive attacked one of the pots, it exploded to reveal a Heartless head. Five of the pots then grew legs, the last becoming the tail of the creature.

Lovely.

"No, I don't think so," she replied, "This should be fun." She took out her whip again, thinking. The head and tail were the main things they had to focus on; the pots didn't matter so much. The tail had longer pincer-like things, which meant it would probably be a better idea if she took that end. She went straight for it, running around the Heartless and letting the whip crack over the tail. Unfortunately, the Heartless moved and the whip hit air. She went for it again, hitting but not getting much of a reaction. Then it turned, making her hit one of the pots instead. She did that four more times, hitting two pots and missing twice.

Point: it needed to stop moving. Idea: make it stop moving. "Distract it for me if you will," she told Clive after continuing to attack, "I'll see if I can get it to stop moving." She ran back to the tail end, readying her whip whenever she could make sure she could hit and coil her whip around it.

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[Nothingness]

Nothing's ever simple, is it?

This was certainly a tenacious foe. It never stopped moving, always squirming around and striking whenever it could. Clive tried to find a way in, but the Heartless would always coil itself up and start swinging those electrified feelers at him. Still, he needed to get it to stop moving...

He had an idea, and hopefully it would work. Doubling himself, he began a rapid assault on the Pot Centipede, jumping in and out and letting his body-double keep it busy when it threatened to counter-attack. It was pretty effective, but it still wasn't doing much--the Heartless was pretty tough skinned. Regardless, that wasn't the point of it, for while he had been doing this, a bright light had been gathering in one hand, reflected in his double. "Cover your eyes!" Clive called out to Katherine; he wasn't sure if this would affect her or not.

Rearing back, both he released the light from his hand, and his body double seemed to rush forward with his. As it struck the Heartless, a blinding light engulfed them. As the glare faded, he could see the creature collapsed on the ground, dazed, and all of the pots that connected it were scattered around. "Alright, let's take it out!" He shouted, renewing his assault on the head of the creature.

[Clive used Double Vision in conjunction with Judgment Flare, four posts until next time ability, three posts until next use]

[Fate]

Does this make it simpler?
--

Clive had some skill. He was able to almost double himself and attack the Heartless while Katherine kept up with whipping it as many times as she could. It kept moving, so she never hit the same area. Frankly, it was annoying. There were also the pincers they both constantly had to avoid. The Heartless was resilient, not even the pots breaking yet. How much longer before--

Light attack. Move out of the way. She bolted from the Heartless as quickly as possible and covered her eyes. It didn't hurt her this time, fortunately, and by the time she opened her eyes, the Heartless was not moving. Good. Very good. This worked well for distraction and now meant that the Heartless wasn't going to be moving for some time. Her whip was lengthened and quickly infused with darkness as she ran at the head, cracking and binding the Heartless in mere seconds. She grinned to this, then looked at Clive.

"It won't go anywhere now," she said smugly, "All yours."

[Battle Report:
Katherine used Bind
Enemy cannot move for this post. Burn status effect will take place after this post.
Three posts until next use, four uses remaining]

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[Nothingness]

Oh yes, much simpler

The Heartless' head was bound, and there was no escape for it now. Clive continued his attack, striking as many weak points as many times as possible. And he was certainly glad to have Katherine fighting with him--without her this entire journey would have been a lot harder.

Stopping his barrage for one moment, he reared back, and with a single hit ran his blade through the creature's eye, and caused all of the pots around it to separate and scatter into the air. "It's done." He said with a happy smirk. The Heartless' feelers collapsed on both the head and tail sections, and all the pots sat dazed. "Come on--let's hurry."

He started walking up the stairs, two steps at a time. It had been a long time since he'd exerted himself this much, and as much as he hated to admit it, he wasn't as young as he used to be.

[Fate]

If I keep traveling with you, no more caves.
--

The Heartless was gone, finally. Clive was a good fighting partner to have quite honestly, even though she hated to admit it. She smirked back at him when the pots scattered into the air, putting her whip back onto her belt before following Clive the hell out of here. There was no erasing that sense of smug satisfaction after winning that fight now. It was a good day, despite being dropped into water and nearly losing all of her treasure. The only question was what to do now.

She walked a bit ahead of Clive up the stairs, which led back to the Entrance Hall ironically enough; she wasn't even going to ask how that was possible. The exit wasn't too far away now, though the normal traps were still set and the Heartless would probably still show up. They were probably very attracted to that darkness she had just used in battle... which explained why they kept showing up. Oh well, whatever.

As they started leaving the cave, she turned to Clive with a curious look. "Where do you plan on going next now that you've gotten to Port Royal and Agrabah, hmm?" Was she still needed? He didn't have a ship still, but it wasn't like traveling with him was too much of a pain. He was quiet, not demanding, and knew how to handle himself. Sure, he was a light user, but he was a damn good fighter.

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[Nothingness]

No breaks for us

They had finally gotten back up to the surface area of the caves. It was rather ingenious--a false wall that wasn't really even a wall, but he'd wonder about that later. Probably never, actually. All that mattered to him right now was that they'd both gotten what they wanted, and that they were finally heading back.

And speaking of going places, Katherine asked him where he'd planned to go next. "I'm not sure, yet." He replied, honestly. "I guess I plan on staying here for a day or two more before figuring out where to go next." Clive had only thought in so far as finding a new weapon and improving his own skills. Anything that came after that he hadn't worried about.

However, anything else he wanted to say couldn't be bothered with--the entire cave had begun to shake. "No," Clive whispered before shouting to Katherine, "The Cave's submerging again! We've got to hurry!" He had begun sprinting towards the exit, trying his best to keep his balance and avoid the falling rocks that threatened to crush them.
---
Back in the chamber, the Heartless stirred, snapping its pincers together and calling the pots back to it. In a wild frenzy, it began smashing the pillars in the room, trying to bring down not only the room, but the two humans that had escaped it. They be trapped under the earth, the cave as their crypt.

[Fate]

I don't approve of Rock Falls, Everyone Dies.
--

A couple of days here, then to who knows where. She'd have to see about staying that long here, not sure if she wanted to. About that though, they needed to get out of the cave before it submerged and trapped them in a sandy tomb for the rest of their lives. The entire cave was shaking and rocks were falling from above, which they both had to avoid as they sprinted for the exit. One large one fell right in front her, crashing into the ground, forcing her to skid to a halt before she got squashed.

"Are we ever going to make it out of this cave alive?" she thought to herself, running around the falling rock and making her way to the exit as fast as possible. It was so close, so damn close. She just needed to move faster, get up the stairs that were starting to fade because they were sand and this cave was just submerging. She had the energy needed to get out of here alive-- she was still young and she hadn't used it all up yet. But Clive? He was a bit older than her. He could still get out, right?

Just to be sure, she did something she would normally not do. She waited for him to go first up the stairs before following.

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[Nothingness]

I ain't an old-timer, you whipper-snapper!

It was pretty easy for Clive to avoid the falling rocks--that wasn't any harder than avoiding punches or kicks. What was hard was keeping his balance on the shaking, and partially collapsing floor. However, he found a mixed sense of respect, and irritation at Katherine for waiting for him. As he ran by her, he grabbed her by the wrist and started dragging her up with him. "I'd rather you not get yourself killed by waiting for me. Thanks for the thought, though!"

Just as they reached the top of the stairs and were about to leave the lion's mouth, Clive saw that there wasn't much time left. Putting one hand on Katherine's back, he quite literally tossed her out of the cave. Unfortunately, though, it was too late for him. Just as he was about to get out of the lion's mouth, one if its teeth caught his leg, and dragged him down into the desert with it. Before Clive knew what happened, there was nothing but darkness around him.

[Fate]

...
--

It figured that the one time Katherine chose to be altruistic, it fell flat. She was pushed out of the cave while Clive was trapped under who knows how much sand. She simply stared at the cave as it completely went back to being a mound of sand. All of that work of letting him travel with her, going to where he wanted, all for him to die by a cave submerging him. It was a climactic way to die, sure, but now it just made all of that hard work nothing. Well, his hard work. She just drove the ship.

Now, what to do? It'd be stupid to try and dig him out, especially when there was this much sand it would be futile. That, and she didn't care so much. She almost wished she did, but she didn't. The deal held out in the end and they both got what they wanted. Why linger? So, she looked at the cave for a second longer before turning heel and walking away. Back to the ship, and maybe back to Port Royal now. She could buy herself a ship now.

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[Nothingness]

This just happened?

Was he dead? Clive couldn't feel anything around him; there wasn't any light or wind, just darkness. Still, what happened next? Just remaining within this black void for eternity? Or would he be dragged down to some abyssal pit, or lifted towards the sky to paradise? He couldn't help but be feeling rather apathetic towards everything right now. Jericho? Didn't matter to him what the psycho did. Katherine? She made it out alive, so why should he care. Aerith? She was with Jericho and he'd make sure to keep her safe. Castle? The kid was free to do whatever the hell he wanted.

"What's going on?" His thoughts had suddenly become almost frantic. He was moving, but not really. It no longer felt like anything resembling a body--more like a liquid, but how could that be? Before he could figure out what was happening, his shut his eyes to a blinding light.
---
A sudden mound of sand was forming near where the Cave had been. In a few seconds, it had begun to take the shape of a man, and before long, there was a man underneath it, shaking off the sand on top of him.

"The hell?" Clive said before coughing up copious amounts of sand. He didn't speak again until there was a decent sized pile of sand in front of him. "What just happened? Katherine?" He called out her name, but didn't hear a response. Staggering to his feet, he looked around, seeing Katherine walking away. "That anxious to leave me for dead? Thanks."

[Fate]

Oh, you expected me to be compassionate. Oops. Sorry 'bout that.
--

What in the... Katherine turned around when she heard a voice, her eyes going wide. How in the hell did he make it out of that? That was just... yeah, all she could wonder was how. She walked back over to him, shrugging to his comment. "Hey, you're the one who wanted to travel with a pirate," she said. Then she looked him over. He looked all right, aside from coughing up a pile of sand a minute ago. She raised a finger in the air about to ask a question, the question of how in the world he escaped that tomb of sand, but decided against it and lowered her finger.

"Well now that you're miraculously not dead, where are we heading?" she asked, crossing her arms over her chest, "I'll continue to be your gracious pilot for now, but with the small request of not another cave." Eh, why not have a traveling partner still? It wasn't as if she had any particular place she wanted to go. And it gave her someone to not talk to during most of the journey. This could work out well... perhaps. Maybe.

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[Nothingness]

Should I tell her--nah

Well, let it never be said that he couldn't make an appearance. Clive wasn't sure if he should explain that he didn't have any idea as to how he was still alive either, or just roll with it. Katherine made that choice for him, not saying anything and just letting it go. Good.

"I'm not sure where we're going, as I said. I need to stay here for a few days before I decide on anything else." Smiling, he teased her a little. "Luckily, we'll be staying in the city. No water or caves to ruin your mood. Or your shirt." He started walking passed her, thinking about what exactly just happened. Then it hit him--the bangle. Sure enough, the hourglass seemed to have a faint glow to it, though it was slowly subsiding. Clearly, it wouldn't be willing to part with all of its secrets. Not yet, at least.

[Fate]

Tell me what?
--

"All right, fine with me," she told him. If they were staying in the city, she was fine with that. They wouldn't be in danger of boulders or Heartless, collapsing caves, or water. That was perfectly fine with her. She walked behind him for now, still curious. It just wasn't normal how he managed to still be alive after that. Did he use some sort of trick to get out of there just in time? That ability that he used before to appear next to her within the blink of an eye? That was entirely possible, though not probable. Hmm...

She'd probably be better off not knowing. He'd keep his secrets and she'd keep hers. She continued to walk behind him, her arms at her sides now. Hopefully he'd make up his mind soon about where they'd travel. Either that or she was going to have to stop being nice and just leave him here.

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