Vivere Militare Est

[Fate]

No, unfortunately.
--

She followed Raen as they left the hotel and went back onto the streets, staying silent. Someone told them where they were supposed to be going, the first one to actually notice them. Everyone else was talking about it still, just grating on her nerves. How could a culture get so wrapped up in an execution and enjoy it? She had never been to any place that was like this, not even places she considered backward. It wasn't something she could understand, and she had to leave it at that instead of get incredibly angry.

They reached the clothing shop, which they had to make quick since the cashier was getting ready to close up. She started going through clothes, hiding disgust; dresses. That's what women wore here, but like hell she was going to do that. She needed to be able to move quickly and a dress would make that ten times more difficult. She kept looking. There had to be something here... aha! Something* that she could move in. Admittedly, it was different than what she was used to. But it was nice enough and it worked.

She brought it up to the cashier and paid for it as quickly as possible, then finding the changing room and putting it on. It was... different. She might actually keep it. She stepped out of the store and waited. Wonder what Raen picked out for himself.

_{* Dark blue instead of the pink}

[/font]

[Nothingness]

Why do people wear stuff this complicated?

Raen pushed through racks of various clothes. Didn't they have anything simple like just a shirt, coat, and pants? Seriously, what was this, a doublet? With a shirt, belt, which happened to have cloth around it, and a coat with shoulder-guards? Whatever. He liked the color, and it was in his size. Good thing, too, because it was the last one there.

Quickly bringing it all up, he checked his clothes out after Lillian, heading into the dressing room next to hers while he changed. After a few moments of fussing with all the strange garments, he walked out, rather surprised by the outcome. It didn't look half bad, to be honest, and he did blend pretty well with some of the higher-class people.

As he walked out, he saw Lillian in her new outfit and he smirked a little. Oh, how awkward it was to see themselves looking completely different in clothes they weren't used to seeing or wearing. It would be comical, in fact, if the situation weren't so serious. Still, he managed a sarcastic quip, "Change the color and I'd say you should be hitting up the red light district."

[Lagunamov]

Minus five star accommodations.

The guards moved Elrick a couple more floors underground, the surrounding atmosphere completely changing as dark colored bricks with spider webs on them took more prevalence as they descended. They dragged him along a corridor for a couple of meters, opening a jail cell and throwing him in there, the left side of his body hitting the back wall as the cell was abruptly closed. Elrick looked around, noticing only the bare essentials: a rusty steel bed hanging from the wall with chains and missing a mattress, pillows or sheets, and a toilet with flies above it.

“Ok, I know you guys don’t like me, but this is a tad too much,” he commented as he turned around and looked at the guards, who were clearly enjoying themselves manhandling him like that. “Oh, if it were up to us, it’d be even worse,” the one on the left said, chuckling. “You should thank your sister for your current accommodations. If it wasn’t for the Commander, you would have been kept hanging from a wall in chains and being tortured until the moment of your execution,” he finished saying, slowing starting to pace to the left alongside the other soldier, exiting Elrick’s field of vision.

“You should be getting a visit from her later. She is serving you your last supper,” the echo of his voice traveled to his ears, surprising Elrick a bit. His arms were still tied behind, with the handcuffs that completely nullified any skill he would try to use, and his legs still together thanks to that stupid rope. Aware that he wasn’t going anywhere, he hoped over to the bed and sat down, counting the bricks on the wall to pass the time.

[Fate]

No matter what world you're in, hearing voices is creepy as hell.
--

"Pfft, change the color and I'd own it," she replied sarcastically, "And what the hell are you supposed to be? Never mind." The humor was helpful in lifting the mood for a few seconds there, definitely a good thing. Both of them looked sort of ridiculous in clothes that they weren't accustomed to wearing. She turned around and started buttoning up the shirt part, which probably wouldn't stay like that but she'd try, looking around more. All of the shops were closing down now, getting ready to leave and watch the execution.

That thought made everything somber again. She sighed, turning around again. "Better follow the crowd then and see if we can't get there before they do. Or at least before a lot of them do." No one had even said when the execution was taking place other than today, but moving now was probably the better idea.

It's almost time.

What? Oh great, now she was hearing sentient voices on top of everything else. It certainly wasn't Raen speaking just then. Whatever it was, it was sort of creepy. She kept walking.

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[Nothingness]

Almost showtime

"I'm supposed to be a badass, that's what!" Raen said, laughing. For a few moments, they both seemed to forget what was coming, and that was nice. But all the same, that feeling of impending doom came back, drowning their spirits. If he hadn't been so focused on that, he'd have noticed that they were the only two people around with any sort of downcast expression.

"If we're going to do anything crazy, a front row seat is going to be best. Wait, hold on a sec." Walking about twenty yards down the block, he found a person straggling behind a group. Perfect. He approached the man, giving him a pleading look. "Oh, hey, do you happen to know the time? I don't want to miss the execution, but I need to head home real quick." The man nodded understandingly and lifted his forearm to check his watch.

Before the man could react, Raen had grabbed him by the arm, twisted it behind his back, slapped a hand over his mouth, and dragged him into an alley. He leaned in, whispering into the man's ear. "Nothing personal, pal. Just need to borrow something from you." The man struggled for another minute before passing out, his body suddenly feeling much hotter.

Walking out of the alley, he jogged back to Lillian, acting as if he didn't grab a person off the street and knock them out. "Alright, let's get going."

[Raen used Arctic Grasp, four posts until next use. Next ability is normal strength.]

[Fate]

What in the...?
--

Yeah, badass. Riiiight. They kept walking for a bit before Raen decided to talk to one of the locals. Something about the time? Lillian raised her eyebrows at this, but then just watched as Raen dragged the man into the alley. She just stayed put, not wanting to draw attention to whatever he was doing. She crossed her arms, just shaking her head to herself.

Not sure if this one's ready. Seems to be teetering on the edge.

Okay, that was the second time the voice just came into her head. Was she catching Elrick's crazy or something? And what the hell did it mean by not being ready? Teetering on the edge of what? Sanity at this rate, or so she thought. She thought she got rid of her craziness when whatever was on her ship seemed to stop stalking her. She was just going to ignore this voice for now. Yeah, take that voice.

Strong though, strong heart and will.

"Damn you voice," she thought to herself. Raen came back, Lillian giving him the same raised eyebrows look. "Do you normally do that? Or is this just something you wanted to save for here?"

[/font]

[Nothingness]

I didn't do anything...

"Huh? No--just needed a boost." He nodded his head towards his left hand, half concealed in his new coat. A large hunk of ice had formed with darkness swirling inside. Crushing it, the ice shattered and vanished, glinting in the light. The darkness expanded outwards like some thin liquid before returning to his hand. "The weapons the Shield makes for us enhance our latent magical abilities. Without it, we lose quite a bit of our power. So, unless you could hook me up with a bunch of ice crystals, I need my sword to be at my best." His voice had a very matter-of-fact tone, but he didn't mean to sound snotty.

There were a few more things he could tell her about their weapons, but most of those were privy to actual members. Or they were just really minor details. Changing the subject, he picked up into a slow jog, following the crowd. "C'mon, we'd better hurry. The sooner we get there, the sooner we can get a plan going."

[Lagunamov]

Not such a warm reunion.

Counting the bricks on the ceiling now. It was sure taking Emma her sweet time to get to the dungeon with Elrick’s last meal. It had been a while since the guards left, and he was getting incredibly bored in that cell. ”It’s not like I can even do push-ups to entertain myself…” he complained, having his options of entertainment limited to just about nothing with his hands and feet tied like that.

By the grace of the Gods, the echo of footsteps could be heard coming down the stairs and soon the hall. And… there she was. She seemed slightly taller. Certainly with a better build than before. The girl stood outside Elrick’s cell, a bowl of soup with noodles in her hand. She was about half a head shorter than her elder brother, with dirty blonde hair that didn’t reach her shoulders. She was wearing a black hoodie with yellow details on it and Orpheus’ emblem; dark blue pants, and knew high black boots.

“You look good,” they said to each other almost in unison, startling the other, and soon proceeding to laugh for a couple of seconds. Emma took a key out of her pocket and entered the cell, Elrick sitting up so that she could sit next to him. It was certainly awkward, seeing as it was her fault that he had even come to this place. The silence was almost unbearable… and then she pretty much hit him in the face with the spoon, catching him by surprise. “Come on, I’m not gonna untie you now. Open your trap,” she smiled at him, Elrick following suit and getting fed.

That carried on for a couple of minutes more in silence, the male sibling finally deciding to cut the silence. “… Was this whole thing a trap?” he asked bluntly, Emma freezing on the spot. She had stopped smiling. “… Yes. Things have been tense. His Excellency requested something be done to appease the public, so I came up with the plan to get you back here,” Elrick would have been enraged at this turn of events, but with his death in the horizon, he no longer cared about those details. No, he was worried more about those left behind.

“What about mom and dad?” he asked next, getting a more somber look from her. “They died not long ago. A shadow attack. You probably saw the aftermath,” and indeed, he had. It seemed that entire block had been decimated by Heartless after all. "What about my friends?" he asked next, being fully aware of what the answer would be. "They will be hunted down, and eventually executed in public as well as your conspirators," she explained, expanding soon after. "You are being blamed for the first Shadow attacks, claiming it was you who summoned them into our world," Elrick would have been more shocked at this were Orpheus not twisted enough to pull such a move.

Emma started to spin the spoon around the bowl, eventually raising it out and trying to give one last for Elrick. “… Come on, open your mouth. You need some semblance of strength after all,” his eyes widened, something about the way she said that catching his attention. He did as she said, pretty much kidnapping the spoon, causing Emma to chuckle.

She stood up, slowly leaving the cell and closing it behind. “I won’t be attending your execution. I need to finish some preparations back at base on that project that was started right before you left,” she turned her head sideways, catching a glimpse of Elrick before starting her walk out of the dungeons. “Goodbye brother.”

Elrick just nodded along, spitting the spoon out as soon as her footsteps had died out. He stuck out his tongue, a thin silver ring with words engraved on both sides on it. That last bit of soup had been hiding that. Not that he could do much with a ring if he couldn’t wear it. But, if it was even remotely close to what it appeared to be, just being in contact with it would suffice. He cringed at the idea, but Elrick swallowed it, keeping it somewhere safe and out of sight.

“Until later, sister,” he whispered with a devilish smirk on his face.

[Fate]

How the hell did Sora NOT go insane when he heard voices in his head?
--

Huh, so the Shield made weapons that enhanced their magical abilities. That was pretty cool of them, even though without their weapons they were far less powerful. His element was obviously ice... and darkness. Everyone could use the darkness it seemed; both Elrick and Raen seemed somewhat comfortable using it too. She wasn't even fully there yet, even though it was plainly obvious in her shots.

She stopped that train of thought. "Yeah I don't think I can. Sorry." She started jogging, keeping up with Raen and sort of letting her mind go all over the place. A weapon that enhanced latent magical abilities, eh? What would her weapon be if she ever got there? Her guns sort of already did that for her and she was decent with them, more than decent she thought. But they weren't weapons like Raen's and Elrick's where you could fight in close distances with them. That was sort of her disadvantage there.

You have the opportunity of gaining such a weapon.

Voice was not helping right now. "Ugh, what the hell does that even mean?!" She realized she said this out loud-- probably not a good thing. Raen was going to think she was crazy. Eh, she'd better admit to it then. "Sorry, hearing voices in my head. This world's probably driving me insane or something." Oh yeah, that must have been real comforting for him to know. Elrick was going to be executed and his current companion was going crazy. Lanying was probably the only normal one that had been in their group.

You've been chosen. "Chosen for what?!" Honestly, voice in Lillian's head could go away anytime now! That'd be great! No, something else had to happen. Light had to calm out of the palm of her hand for no apparent reason, blinding her for a second. In the next second, there was a weight in said hand, the light fading. And it revealed a Keyblade.

Holy hell she got a Keyblade. How the fuck did that happen? And it was wonderful to look at. It was short ranged and she was holding it in a sort of reverse grip. But it felt comfortable. She gave Raen a look, utterly flabbergasted. "Okay I don't know what just happened. But we should probably just... keep moving?" The Keyblade disappeared from her hand as she willed it to, which just stunned her. A weapon that she didn't have to physically carry with her?! That worked.

[/font]

[Nothingness]

Surprise, surprise!

It wasn't long after they had picked up the pace that Lillian started talking to herself. Weird. And she also said that she was hearing voices. Even better! Great, just what he needed: his new partner losing it just before the big mission.

Just then, a bright flash of light stopped him in his tracks. When it subsided, he looked at Lillian, seeing a Keyblade in her hand. For just a fraction of a second, he glared at both her at it, the darkness' influence taking over. Blinking a few times, he shook the feeling off before congratulating her. "Well, ain't that something! Looks like you've been chosen by the Keyblade for some reason. Same thing happened with Lanying, too, though the circumstances were different. But, yeah, we should keep moving." He started jogging ahead again, ignoring that deep feeling of hatred and fear the darkness inside him had of the light. The darkness was his, not the other way around.

[Fate]

If you've got any better ideas, speak now or forever shut up.
--

There was just something in the way that Raen looked at her for a second that didn't sit well. But she had to ignore it for now and keep going. The Keyblade had chosen her for some reason, just like it had chosen Lanying. That was all there was to it. She didn't need to stand there and be confused about it anymore. But Raen... was everything all right? She'd have to find out after the mission. They needed to get to the scene of the execution, make a plan, and save Elrick.

She just kept repeating that in her head, jogging with Raen. Maybe if she said it enough times, it'd actually work. No, it would work.

As they kept going, the amount of people was steadily increasing. They were going in the right direction at least, but it didn't change the fact that it was incredibly disturbing. How many people of this world were purposely stopping what they were doing just to watch this? All of them. This was normal for them. Public executions were normal. Not all of them were as hyped as this one since Elrick had been missing and had done a lot of damage, but this was still normal.

"Think we're almost there," she said, "Whatever plan we go with, all of these people are going to be watching. We either better plan a damn impressive distraction to draw everyone's attention, or go in and out of there fighting." Those were the only things she could think of right now. Better something than nothing right?

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[Nothingness]

Huh? Oh, I'm fine.

It was irritating that, despite having spent so much time around Lanying and Zack, the darkness inside him was always on edge around anyone associated with the light. And now it was the same with Lillian, all because of some stupid Keyblade. Raen knew that without the Champion's help back on Destiny Islands that he'd have probably lost it both times--when Lanying got hers, and now with Lillian--but that still wasn't much of a help. The fear was there, deep in his heart, and he'd just have to keep it there.

Lillian's voice pulled him away from his thoughts. "Yeah," he replied, distracted. "Hopefully you-know-who could make a Corridor out of here if we manage to save him." They were getting into such a large crowd, that he wanted to make sure they didn't accidentally alert anyone to their plan. You never could tell who was listening, and who would talk. "So, best case scenario: we all get out of here safe and sound. Worst case: we all die, which isn't particularly bad since that's how every other outcome ends. No pressure, right?" It wasn't hard for him to manage a little smirk with the last comment.

[Lagunamov]

Well, this is almost insulting.

The preparations for the public execution had been completed; a large wooden platform connected to the entrance of the largest cathedral in Eurydice had been erected, concealing the flight of stairs. A perimeter had been set away from the platform, keeping the general population almost ten meters away in a circle from it, and filled with dozens of guards and soldiers to stand in between the general population and the platform. And directly in front of the cathedral’s entrance, almost at the edge of the platform, the instrument of Elrick’s doom.

The blade from the guillotine shone under the sunlight, hanging several meters in the air. The falling trajectory it would take appeared to be longer than normal, probably for the sake of making the entire ordeal more dramatic. Elrick had been long transferred to the cathedral, given one last chance to pray to their Gods for repentance before his untimely death. An offer to which he had responded with “Our Gods can kiss my butt.”

Now he was just waiting behind the large closed doors. Thankfully, they had removed the ropes binding his feet. Unfortunately, that had been replaced by chains, so while he could now move his feet individually, he couldn’t exactly do much. He looked around, noticing several high officials of Orpheus, including the man previously known as the Supreme Commander. Now they referred to him as his Excellency. He was in his mid fifties, wearing long white and black robes with golden details on them. Thankfully, no ridiculous hat.

“The ceremony is starting now,” one of the guards holding Elrick warned him, despite how obvious the statement was. Orpheus’ officials had split in two groups and rows, standing in line in front and behind Elrick, with his former leader at the very back. The cathedral guards opened the doors, the light of day starting to creep slowly into that ungodly place, as the men at the front started to walk outside, the rest following suit.

As the two lines exited the building, they split to the sides of the platform, lining at the very back. Elrick, however, was pushed forward, forced to walk to the guillotine along the two guards on his side, while the men behind him followed suit of the previous officials. Except for the last three, who like Elrick, walked straight forward, but stopped right in the middle of the platform. The soon to be executed man glanced back at them with disgust, Orpheus’ leader erecting a taller platform under his feet with magic to stand tall above them all. He shrugged, lowering his head slightly, looking at the instrument of his doom less than a meter in front of him.

The place was already crowded. And they were all just waiting for the man's words before the show.

[Fate]

In front of the cathedral?! Sick twisted bastards.
Coronation
--

"Yeah, no pressure." Either they all live or they all die. Situations like this were just so fantastic. The crowd was starting to thicken, causing the both of them to slow down. They were reaching their destination, at long last. But from here, Lillian couldn't see anything other than the tall cathedral. It was sort of nice looking, but with an execution happening in front of it just made her dislike it even more. And unfortunately, there was no place higher to go to get a better view.

"Let's get a better look," she said to Raen, starting to try and weave through the crowd. "'Scuse me, just trying to get a better view. Sorry." This was not as easy as it looked-- everyone was trying to get a better view. It took a minute or two just to get to the front, finding that the public was blocked off a good distance from the platform that was coming off the cathedral.

... Was that a guillotine?! Damn they just had to make it even more dramatic didn't they?! The blade was long and just... shit. There were guards everywhere too and what looked like the ruler of this place. He was set even higher than everyone else, looking like he was going to say something. And there was Elrick. Shit shit shit. She looked to Raen. "Got any plans other than blowing shit up?" she whispered.

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[Nothingness]

I thought you had the plan?

It took them a while, but they were eventually situated in front of some armed guards, who were keeping a perimeter around the execution site. Raen's shoulders hunched up at the sight of the guillotine. That was definitely not something he wanted to see anytime soon after this. Even worse was the crowd, getting anxious as they waited to see it happen.

What plans? "Yeah, I don't really have anything going for a plan right now." He leaned over and whispered into her ear. "We can wait for the moment--if we're going to save him, we need to wait until they least expect it." Seriously, as if these guys expected anyone to be that suicidal. Dammit, this shitty situation was getting even shittier.