Plot?

[thirteenth_brat]

Who: Sora, Riku, Roxas, Donald (NPC), Goofy (NPC)
What: Discovering something up at the castle
Where: Alexandria
When: Saturday, April 10, rather late at night...
Status: Ongoing



Roxas wasn't a hundred percent sure that this was a good idea, but it didn't look like they had much choice. The only place they hadn't really looked was in the castle. Well, sort of. There were some areas to the castle that the general public could access, but their answers hadn't been there and requesting access to the other areas had gotten them swiftly ejected from the building. So now they were sneaking into the place in the dead of night, the Keyblade easily opening the way for them.

The dungeon seemed like the best place to look for friends who had disappeared against their will and so the heroes were headed there. It seemed a bit odd, though, that the place should seem so dead. Where were the guards?

Roxas looked around as they slipped through the darkened halls toward the lower levels, all to aware that something was just not right, "I have a bad feeling about this..."

Comments

[a-total-sap.livejournal.com]

Sora wasn't too worried about guards or anything along those lines. He had been to plenty of worlds where, despite initial confusion, people had generally been nice and welcoming. There was, of course, the bad guy or two, but for the most part, he hadn't really run into much trouble with the locales (he blushed slightly, remembering everything that had happened in Andalasia almost two years ago).

"It shouldn't be too bad," Sora replied to Roxas's comment, lacing his fingers behind his head. "See, no one's really here. And no Heartless either."

Donald made some remark about jinxing them and Sora gave the duck a look. He was trying to be optimistic about the whole thing.

[thirteenth_brat]

Roxas was inclined to agree with Donald, however. Such was their luck, usually, that when someone made a comment like that, something would go wrong.

The prank the Onion had played on Roxas the night before could have been an issue as well if he hadn't bought himself a dark hooded sweatshirt sometime during the winter. He didn't know yet if Riku had seen the video post that the Onion had put up or not, but he was hoping not, as he planned to take it down once they were done with this. In the meantime, he was wearing that sweatshirt with the hood up and cursing the fact that some witty clothing designer seemed to like the way the hood of the Organization's robes had been designed.

"Yeah, it seems like the coast is clear," Roxas said cautiously, "But I think a little caution will go a long way. We are trespassing, you know."

Moving right along, they found the door into the lower levels. It was mildly unnerving that there were no guards, but it could also have been that the castle's occupants weren't expecting a party of snooping heroes with magic keys.

"I wonder what's behind door number one."

[rikugasmic.livejournal.com]

Sneaking around wasn't a foreign task for Riku, though trying to do so with two talkative friends, a duck, and a dog was a bit more difficult then what he was used to. He should be concerned about getting caught - in fact, he had been, before they started. But save for their activities, the castle was silent, leading to an entirely different set of worries.

"Hate to kill the party, but we should probably keep quiet. I've got a bad feeling about the lack of security in this place." That feeling being that there was probably something worse then guards roaming around, but for now he kept the thought to himself.

It didn't take much longer to find the door to the basement levels...and again, there was no one. No place they could have been hiding, either, and Riku was checking carefully.

Maybe they were just having a really lucky night. He wasn't counting on it, though.

[thirteenth_brat]

Roxas adjusted the hood of his sweatshirt a bit, still a bit annoyed about the sparkles. The hood seemed to cover well enough, partly due to how it was made, so he pushed the issue aside for the moment. They had bigger things to deal with.

When none of his companions approached the door right away, he waited only a moment before doing so himself, cautiously. Nothing jumped out as he got closer, nor did he trip any sort of alarm or trap before getting close enough to touch the door. Nothing was triggered by that action, either. The door was sturdy, made of hardwood and reinforced with iron bands. The lock and hinges were also of iron.

Roxas doubted that he'd hear anything, even with the slight improvement to his senses that the Star Market curse had left him, but he put his ear to the door to give a listen anyway. It was entirely possible that any waiting threat could be on the other side of the door but, as expected, he heard nothing.

"Well then, let's see what our luck has in store for us," he said, his tone just the slightest bit nervous as he called up the Keyblade. Lock? What lock?

...

What none of the party knew for certain, though they would be correct to suspect it, was that they were actually being watched. The watcher, of course, was rather proud of his ability to remain unseen by prying eyes. Then again, when you could hide like a cartoon chameleon, you had every right to be proud of that ability.

At any rate, the watcher waited for his opportunity to strike.

[a-total-sap.livejournal.com]

Sora made a face at Riku. He would have been on edge too, but honestly, he was just too tired to really be on alert for anything suspicious. The lack of guards was concerning, but Sora believed that there were bigger issues to deal with than things that weren't there.

"Gawrsh, I wonder if everyone's sleepin'," Goofy noted, his shield out and ready just in case. When Riku made a comment to keep a little quieter, the big dog lowered his voice and repeated, "Gawrsh, I wonder if everyone's sleepin'. No one was actin' strange above us, hyuck."

Sora nodded thoughtfully as the gate swung open, although...he lowered his hands and glanced over his shoulder. Huh. That was weird. He could have sworn...

Ugh. He was getting as paranoid as Riku and Roxas.

[thirteenth_brat]

"This really seems too easy..." Roxas said softly, looking at the newly revealed passage. He'd been expecting it to get darker, but it was almost as well lit as the other passages leading to the door.

He didn't miss Goofy's comment. Of course people were sleeping. It was late at night. When he turned to remark on it, he saw Sora glancing over his shoulder.

"Sora? Is something wrong?"

[rikugasmic.livejournal.com]

Suddenly, Riku had a nagging feeling that they weren't alone, that someone was watching them. He was almost tempted to brush it off as paranoia; considering how on edge he had been all night, it was more then possible that his judgment was off. The idea was discarded immediately, however, when Sora turned around - he had noticed it, too.

Riku followed suit, looking around the room once more. Nothing. Either there wasn't anything there, or something was hidden very well. Whichever it was, chances are they weren't going to find anything by sticking around.

"Lets just keep going." he said, approaching the door and trying to sound calm.

Stuff will happen on my next tag :3

[thirteenth_brat]

Being closest to the door, Roxas stepped through it with one more glance back the way they'd come from. They were all uneasy. That couldn't just be paranoia. But the only help for it was just to stay alert. He paused on the other side and waited for the others, thinking. Something just wasn't right here.

Things would be uneventful for quite a while. Not surprisingly, there was dungeon in the lower levels, but it was as eerily quiet as everywhere else at the moment...

Mostly. In what seemed to be a high security area of the dungeon, there were signs of a fight. Several cell doors stood open, though they didn't appear to be damaged. There were no guards around save for a older looking woman with strange hair, black down one side and white down the other, and a fur coat. She looked as though she'd been on the receiving end of a somewhat one sided fight and was totally unresponsive save for maybe a soft groan if one were to poke her.

In their Hearts, the group might sense that someone they're looking for is near...

---

What they might have noticed if they'd lingered by the entrance longer, though, was that the unseen watcher had shut the door behind them and ordered some guards to barricade it in a way that would make the Keyblade useless for opening it again. Then he crept after the heroes, unconcerned about losing sight of them. After all, he knew exactly where they were headed.

[a-total-sap.livejournal.com]

This was getting eerie. Sora knelt down by the strange-looking woman, shaking her gently, and a cold shiver crept down his spine. A dungeon with no prisoners, no guards, nothing at all to alert that there was life down here except the woman, and even then, that was an iffy case.

Sora's eyes narrowed as he glanced up at Goofy and Donald, who had paused when he had. He didn't say anything but summoned forth the Ultima keyblade in a bright flash of silver and gold, the winged spokes of the weapon shooting light along the darkened hallway.

He spun on his heel so that he was facing the entrance, the uneasy feeling becoming more pronounced. After a few moments of trying to pin down what exactly felt so wrong about this whole situation, he was finally able to identify it.

"Uh, guys..."

He hated traps. He REALLY did.

[thirteenth_brat]

Roxas followed Sora's lead, drawing Oblivion and Bond of Flame. As if the fact that they'd walked right into a trap wasn't bad enough, they were pretty thoroughly caught, as the area they had entered was a dead end. Well, that really just meant that they'd have to fight their way out, now didn't it?

Of course, it's highly unlikely that any of them expected a swarm of Nobodies to flood into the hallway, blocking their way out. While the swarm consisted primarily of Dusks and Creepers, a Samurai or two could be seen here or there.

The hidden watcher was also there, but his presence was likely to be felt more than seen or heard, if the occasional strike from nowhere was any indication.

[a-total-sap.livejournal.com]

Nobodies.

No.

Sora quickly reined in his surprise, and slipped into a familiar fighting stance, unable to shake the feeling of still being watched. He should have known that with the reappearance of Heartless, there would be Nobodies. He felt his heart tighten just a little bit - they couldn't risk something like the Organization happening again. The First Darkness was still out there, maybe captured in another friend, maybe trapped at World's End, but still out there.

He took a breath, recalling those days of fighting the Nobodies. He had the experience now - he could take care of these. With Riku and Roxas and Donald and Goofy there, it wouldn't be a problem. He gripped the Ultima keyblade in his hand and launched himself at the swarm of enemies headed their way.

"Thundaga!"

@_@ Long tag is long...

[thirteenth_brat]

Naturally, Roxas didn't like this development either. The reminder of his origins stung and the fact that these foes were harder to deal with than the Heartless complicated matters. He recovered quickly enough from the surprise, though, turning his attention to another group of Nobodies and tearing into them with both Keyblades. Dusks and Creepers may have been some of the weaker Nobodies, but underestimating them was never a good idea. Sora had drawn too much attention to himself by opening with a high level spell and a good portion of the swarm was focusing on him.

Of course, they were perfectly willing to split their attention when Donald starting tossing around some hefty spells as well. Roxas grumbled under his breath and debated on whether or not he ought to try for some defensive magic. Aeroga might be a help at least, since it would knock any enemy within its reach silly, allowing a chance to strike back. It seemed like the best option...

... Or would have, if something didn't interrupt him. Something nailed him across the shoulders, causing him to stagger and flub the spell. When he turned to confront the attacker, there was was nothing save a Dusk that was in no way close enough to have struck him and then gotten out of his reach by the time he'd turned. He gave the unfortunate Nobody a strike raid anyway, eliminating the possibility of it getting a chance to strike him later and tried again to cast a spell, only to be struck again, this time from the left. Lashing out in that direction brought him to almost clock Goofy, who seemed also to have been struck by something unseen, if the fact that he was holding his knee and grumbling was any indication. But Roxas had been aiming high when he'd swung and hadn't contacted anything. Neither of the two had a chance to think on it as some more Nobodies took advantage of the distraction and mobbed them.

------

The unseen watcher-turned-combatant, meanwhile, turned his attention to Sora. Why he'd been ordered to take these fools alive, he didn't know or care, but it would be done if it would help the cause. Although... it was becoming pretty obvious this wasn't going to be easy. Either way, it was time to provide the dork in the big stupid shoes with some costly distractions. If all else failed, there was a nifty little device in this place that would basically cast a wide ranging sleeping spell and he had been provided with an item to keep him from being put to sleep as well. If any of his targets remained awake, he could always make a hostage of one of the others. But that could wait. For the moment, he felt the dork could use a good pratfall and aimed a swipe at Sora's legs.

[rikugasmic.livejournal.com]

The trap should have been obvious, and Riku couldn't exactly say he was shocked when Sora noticed the sealed doors. The swarm of Nobodies, however, wasn't what he had expected. He knew that a small number of the creatures had been found scattered across the worlds since the reappearance of the Heartless, but they had yet to see so many appear at once. The room was filled with the things, and there had to be a reason. He found it unlikely that such a large group would just appear on it's own - not without orders.

He wasn't going to waste time. He attacked carefully, but quickly, trying to keep a careful eye on the movement of the enemy; lesser Nobodies were notoriously slippery, after all, and one wrong move could make him the target of fifty back attacks. There was no reason to waste Potions just because of these guys.

Which was exactly what was happening to Roxas and Goofy, he noticed, finishing off an unfortunate Creeper. He changed course, aiming for the Dusks that were diving for the two. If he could take care of enough of them, his friends would have more then enough time to recover.

He still, however, hadn't noticed the unseen attacker, nor did he have any idea that it was heading for Sora.

[a-total-sap.livejournal.com]

If it had been three, or even two years ago, the resulting chaos that erupted in the dungeon would have startled Sora and left to his hack-and-slash method of fighting. But the boy had long since grown up into a certified fighter - he was certainly no pushover when it came to fighting Nobodies after all - and even as the lightning spell sped down the hallway to slam into a handful of Dusks and a Samurai, Sora was already following it up with half a dozen Firas from a two-handed grip on his keyblade.

Still, even as the blazing magic met their targets, the keyblade master called up a Reflera, and jumped into the mist of the Nobodies, drawing as many of them away from his friends as possible as Roxas and Goofy both took a stumble. Calling his moves graceful would have been very generous, but there was a certain determination and strength in each of the blows he gave.

There!

Sora didn't even have time to react, unsure of where that thought came from but taking it as the warning it was, threw himself backwards and into a roll, slamming into a wall as he did so. He grimaced at the jarring stop - an Aero spell would have helped in that. But he didn't have much time to reflect on it, even as more Dusks headed his way.

While he fought, another part of him was quickly thinking ahead.

Someone shut those doors...someone made sure they led us down here. But where are they now?

[thirteenth_brat]

This was beginning to grate on Roxas's nerves. Many of the Lesser Nobodies were rather good at approaching unseen to deliver surprise attacks, but they could usually be spotted when one turned to see what the hell had hit them... if they survived it. But in this case, there were only Dusks and Creepers and whatever was hitting the heroes remained unseen when one turned to see where it had come from. Roxas didn't know of any Nobodies that could make themselves invisible. There were Heartless capable of such a thing, but there hadn't been any Heartless on this world.

Grumbling in frustration, Roxas roasted a small group of Dusks with Firaga before briefly locking blades with a Samurai. The Samurai... most of the Lesser Nobodies had obeyed the Higher Nobodies of the same kind; Dragoons had obeyed Xaldin, Gamblers followed Luxord, etc. The Samurai? Well... sort of. They'd seemed obedient enough until he left the Organization. Then any that he encountered had treated him like another enemy. Now, it was unlikely that he'd meet any that knew him, since any who had lost their Hearts had been restored after the battle in the Dreaming. But letting one's mind wander when he had bigger fish to fry was foolish. The Samurai was obviously not going to yield and Roxas didn't have time to play. He gave the Samurai a Thundara for its trouble and cut down a pair of Creepers attempting to take advantage of the distraction before checking up on his friends.

He saw Sora stumble and hit the wall and saw the Dusks rushing in. Had their unseen 'company' been responsible for the trip? It seemed likely. Either way, Roxas made up his mind to get his butt over there to help.

----

The watcher backed off a bit. That boy was a bit sharper than he looked. It seemed the device would have to be used anyway. The watcher retreated back up the hall a short way, unseen by even his allies. The Nobodies wouldn't be immune to the sleeping spell, but he could always call in more help or wake a few of the bizarre creature up once the intruders had been put to sleep. All it took was a flip of a switch and a lovely little bit of magical technology hidden within the walls cast a blanket sleeping spell of the area. Anyone who was not immune or holding something that would make them immune would be asleep in short order, though the watcher had been warned of the possibility that at least one of his foes might not be affected for some reason or another. It wasn't a problem really. He doubted that any of these goody goodies would allowed anything bad to happen to their sleep afflicted comrades, so he waited and watched for the first of them to hit the floor.