World Refugees Final Mix

Ren stuffed her laptop back into her bag as she raced to catch up to Aerith. She had sent out her call for aid; now all she could do was wait and pray it was answered. Well, that, and beat the everliving daylights out of as many Heartless as she could.

"All right, you little creeps, time for Round Two," she muttered under her breath as she unstrapped her staff from her back. "Come on!" With a Valkyrie yell, Ren charged forward, smashing it squarely into a Soldier's torso.

After all the work everyone had done to get this far, there wasn't a chance in hell she was going to let the Heartless drag Radiant Garden back into the Darkness now.

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Aerith swung her staff at the next Heartless that got in her way. She flashed Ren a distressed smile as she caught up, and called over the din, "The castle! We've got to get there, now!"

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"Right!" Ren nodded and fought to keep up as the two of them battled their way toward the castle.

"Some welcome back party, huh?" she remarked wryly along the way. "There isn't even a cake or anything. Well, if you want something done right, you've got to do it yourself, I guess." She gritted her teeth and bashed another Heartless in the head before it could get close. "We just gotta clear out the uninvited guests first!"

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"I'm sure if we ask politely, they'll go," Aerith said sweetly as she ran, pushing Heartless out of her way. A glance back had her casting a quick Reflect on Ren, protecting her from a couple of Neoshadows that had snuck up behind her. "It's not much farther now..."

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Ren's chuckle at Aerith's comment and the way she said it died when she heard the Neoshadows' claws scraping against the barrier Reflect had set up. "Erk... thanks," she squeaked after she glanced back to look.

Hopefully, things would be somewhat better inside the castle. Ren wasn't sure how, but there was no harm in hoping, right?

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The mage was panting by the time they reached the castle. She may be tough enough to get by, but she still wasn't used to fighting on the front lines, and it was wearing her out fast. But there was something in the way of the entrance she'd been heading for, something she'd never seen. It...

Moved.

Aerith was startled enough to stop dead in her tracks for a moment, staring at the fortress. The creature loomed over them, spilling Darkness from the cracks in armor that creaked from the rust that impaired every move it made. She stared up at it in shock, not sure what to make of it. It decided their course of action for them, however, as it raised one arm - could it be called an arm? Aerith wasn't sure - and hit her, knocking her back a few steps, head reeling so that she almost missed the faint echo that followed.

Help... me...

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Ren had been reaching in her bag for a Potion to offer Aerith when she skidded to a halt just outside the castle entrance. All she could think to say as she looked upon the giant living... knight? Armor? Castle? was a stunned, "What the heck?"

Then it smacked Aerith back, and Ren hurried forward to support her. "Are you alright?" she asked, shifting her gaze back and forth between Aerith and the creature that blocked the castle threshold.

Part of her wanted to classify it as yet another Heartless, something of boss battle-caliber. But Ren couldn't find an emblem on it anywhere, and that rust... "The Tin Man's got nothing on you in terms of needing oil, big guy," she muttered under her breath.

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The next punch was aimed at Ren, armor screeching in protest at the sudden movement. Aerith hardly had time to put together a weak Reflect before downing the Potion Ren had offered her. Bracing herself for another attack, she stared up at it in confusion. "It... He wants us to help him," she said. "But I don't know how."

Another echo rushed their way. The Darkness...

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"I'm guessing he means he wants us to help rid him of the Darkness, rather than sit back and quit getting in its way," Ren said dryly. "Okay, so... how?"

Well, if shonen anime had taught her anything, it was that beating the problem up until it was no longer a problem and then making friends with it usually worked. So, a pair of staff chicks, one of whom without any sort of magic, against a gigantic living castle. Ren had seen worse odds. Somewhere.

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Aria was quickly approaching the castle area leaving a trail of things dropped by various Heartless. She looked like she's seen better days. Her shirt was ripped in a few places and there was some dried blood on her arm... she was also in a barely visible bubble that was glowing faintly. It was hard to say from just looking at it whether it was a normal Bubble or one of her experiments.

"You've got to be kidding me," she said when she finally got close enough to see the giant thing in front of the castle.

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"Darkness," she whispered. The gears in her head were turning and she made her decision just as it prepared to take another shot at them. She dove out of the way and ran to the most protected place she was going to get to right now. "Keep him distracted," she called back to the girls, sending Aria a distressed smile. "I'm going to cast Holy."

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"So you made the party after all," Ren joked as she handed Aria a what looked like a much-needed potion. Hopefully the bubble she was in would let it through. "Thank you." The knowledge that she and Aerith were no longer alone in fighting the Heartless here boosted Ren's spirits.

The matter of being the distraction, however, was somewhat less cheering. "What do you want me to do, dress in drag and do the hula?" Ren quoted under her breath. Well, it could be worse. James could be trying to "help" in his own "special" way.

Ren took a deep breath and charged toward the giant with a shout. Before she could realize just how insane what she was about to do was and lose her nerve, she jumped up and grabbed hold of one of its tower-like arms some feet up. Hanging on for dear life with one arm, Ren brought her staff around with the other and smacked it hard against the nearest patch of rust she could see.

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The bubble did let the potion through though there was a bit of resistance and it would have felt really weird. Aria didn't really need a potion at the moment. The rips and dried blood were from injuries she'd already healed. She kept it handy though.

"Out of my brain," she muttered after Ren ran at the thing. She had thought the exact same quote on being asked to distract it.

By the time Ren jumped on the arm Aria had switched out her sword for her tiki-torch staff. She wasn't about to try grabbing on to the thing but, she did run closer.

She held her staff in front of her and used Aero to get a sort of flamethrower effect. It didn't do much besides get its attention. She had to dive out of the way when it retaliated.

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Aerith took a deep breath and clasped her hands before her, blocking out all sound from the fighting. She dove into the planet's heart, pleading for the power she would need to help free the summon and her home from the Darkness. Even as weak as it was, the Light of Radiant Garden was still there, and it washed over her like tidal wave as she stepped out from behind her protected area and sent the spell barreling toward her target. The area was flooded with Light, all nearby Heartless fleeing as quickly as they could, the magic pouring through her like a fountain and hitting the afflicted creature with such force that it stumbled and fell to its knees before them.

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Well, the good news was that Aria's tiki flamethrower kept the giant too distracted to try to crush Ren while she was directly underfoot. And at least Aria was sane enough not to try and copy Ren's stunt. The bad news was that she was too preoccupied with hanging on and whacking it to see the Light spawned by Holy coming until it was too late.

Ren cried out as the surge of Light blinded her. She instinctively brought up her arm to shield her eyes and provide some measure of shade so they could recover, but then the giant groaned with a sound like straining girders. A moment later, it fell to its knees, and the sudden shift was enough for Ren to lose her grip. With a scream, she fell beside it, hitting the ground hard. Ren whimpered in pain and shakily tried to get up, but her body apparently decided that enough was enough, and she collapsed, unconscious.

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After the Light faded Aria stumbled towards where Ren had fallen. She thought to keep a wary eye on the giant but, really if it wasn't over she doubted there was much she could do besides try to get Ren away from the area.

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Aria made a loud entrance by ploughing down a bunch of Heartless with her ship as she made a rough landing in the Maw. Her ship would need some minor repairs but, she wasn't in the mood to make a nice landing in the hangar.

Going all out in battle was not something she did often. But, she was still in a vile mood from ending up as a fish in an unfamiliar world. She was more killing anything that got in her way than trying to take out as many as she could.

Her destination was the castle, the location for the Heart of the world. Hopefully she wasn't the only one that thought to defend that area in particular.

The spells she was throwing around were not what most would call conventional. Many of them seemed to involve bubbles in some way... some of which didn't even appear stable.

A stream of tiny bubbles that exploded with Thunder on contact took out a surprisingly large group of Shadows. An Ether was downed before she continued on her path to the castle...

[OOC: If you want to say I gave you a ride, you are starting in the Maw.]

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"Hope you're ready for a fight," Ray told Shad as opened the Light Corridor to Radiant Garden. With a rush of ocean water, she stepped through and into the Great Maw, already firing off a Thundaga and running headlong into battle with nunchakus in hand. This wasn't the time for holding back, she told herself, quickly casting Hastera on herself. In another breath, she was casting Light to take out some of the weaker Heartless.

When she spotted Aria landing, Ray gave a cheer. She still had yet to spot Ren, but it felt good to know that help was on the way. Turning back to Shaderic, she said, "I know you didn't exactly sign up for something like this, Shad, but we've got a world to save." She grinned. "Welcome to the Refugees."

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After coughing up a mouthful of salt-water, Shaderic struggled to his feet. Simultaneously, he decided to enjoy that he had feet. And, when a Shadow lunged for him, steel toe boots.

"Shit!" One swift punt later, said Shadow was much further away.

'OK, stay calm. Make a plan, set a goal. First, get a weapon.'

"Hey, there's an Embassy here, right?" Embassies tend to have guards. Guards tend to be marines. Marines tend to be armed and dangerous. And if the marines weren't there, there had to be some sort of armory or communication system to call for help.

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Executing a sort of crawling roll, as a Neo-shadow took a swing at him, Shaderic just barely managed to dodge. Grabbing a stick from a nearby pile of rubble, he cracked it over the thing's head.

Remembering a particularily boring night at the warehouse, he tried to swing the forward end back, and the rear end of the stick forward. It scratched against the ground, loosing momentum, but it still hit.

Not bad, for some one who only played with the measuring rods on slow nights. But it wasn't exactly a real weapon either. Whaling on it with a stick wasn't exactly going to work when the stick broke. He needed to try and find the Embassy. Hopefully, there would be real weapons there. Even a single nine millimeter pistol would useful.

"Well, is there one?!"

Assuming there was an embassy, at any rate.

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"Not an Earth embassy," she answered, kicking away a Shadow that strayed too close. "There's the old military academy near the university, though, and then there's the place next to it, which as about as close as you're gonna get. I'll take you there, but they might not have the sorts of weapons you're used to."

Unexpectedly, however, Ray didn't start heading towards the town. Instead, she stopped where she was and fired off both a Thundaga and Firaga to eliminate the Heartless immediately surrounding them, and suddenly there was a dark stone in her hands. As she whispered the spell, it began to glow a deep purple, and a roar of challenge echoed through the Maw as a massive black dragon rose into the air before looping back down and landing before them. The Heartless unfortunate enough to be stuck beneath him vanished into darkness.

"Bahamut will get us there faster," she said with a wild grin.

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"...Ah... Alright." He said. Shaderic was about to climb on the back of a dragon, summoned by a person who threw lightning and fire around like candy, to make their way into city he'd previously thought fictitious, to look for weapons to fight an enemy he'd believed unreal.

If not for the fact that his very life was in danger, he'd probably spend more time dwelling on the impossibility of the situation.

Instead, he climbed up the spines onto the dragon's back.

"...O-OK." He gulped, terrified, but still holding on tight. "R-ready!"

Don't think about the scary things, or the things that could kill you. Think about what you can do to stop them.

"Any idea what kind of weapons we can expect to find?" He asked as Ray climbed aboard. "I mean, I know a little bit about guns, but I have no clue whatsoever what kind of weapons we'll find at that academy. If I pick up a sword, I'm just gonna end up cut-up!"

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Shad's question made her grimace as she climbed onto the dragon. She gave Bahamut a little nudge to tell him they were ready and he pushed off smoothly, letting loose another roar.

"You may be in trouble, then," she told him. "As far as I know, it's mostly swords and staffs and lances and things of that nature. They have guns, but not so many. You might find a gunblade easier than a regular old gun, though I don't think those are very common, either."

Before long, they were passing the university and hovering above the military academy. Bahamut suddenly flew higher and, spreading his wings out wide, fired a blinding Mega-Flare at the Heartless below. When the light faded, the majority of them were gone, and they were landing again. As they dismounted, the dragon gave a low rumble and finally vanished again.

"We'll have to fight our way back, or just work on securing the town," Ray said absently, trying the door. Surprise surprise, the door swung open easily; it was unlocked. "I've never been in here before, so I don't know where their arsenal is. We'll just have to search until we find it, and hope it doesn't take too long."

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"... Fantasy weapons, for a fantasy setting, I suppose." He muttered, flipping on a light-switch. The door led into hallway, with a heavy looking reinforced door halfway down on the right side. There was a small window next to it, with mesh behind it.
"Weapons are always locked up tight, so this should be the armory..." After a moment of handle jiggling and pulling on the door failed to provide access, he stepped back. "No good."

His eyes turned to the window.

"Think you can break that?"
[[OOC, Can I really have a gunblade? I mean, not a long one, like Leon/Squalls, but a shortsword/dagger version? A giant blade like that is just asking for me to loose an arm.]]

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Ray threw a knife at the window in response, watching passively as the glass shattered.

What? It answered the question, didn't it?

She walked over and poked her nose in the window, curious about the things inside. "Yep, mostly swords and staffs and such," she said, stepping back. "Go on in, soldier; choose your weapon. Oh, and can you get my knife while you're in there, too?"

((Go for it!))

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Shaderic looked at the warped and tangled mess Ray made out of the window, and it's reinforcing mesh.

'These people are another level.'

Carefully, he climbed over the ledge, avoiding the sharp edges of the glass and iron that once made up the window.

'No, more like they've been grinding for years, and have just gotten around what normal people consider to be possible.'

He eyed the blade, stuck deep in wall, with only the hilt sticking out. It was a concrete wall, so it should have shattered, rather than allow the blade to sink so neatly into it. 'Not like anything else makes sense.'

Glass crunching under his feet, he started toward the wall of staffs. Like he said before, he'd only hurt himself with a sword. Then, he noticed the gleaming silver on the right wall of the room.

Gunblades.

Well, more like revolver-daggers, but that didn't quite ring as well.

Common sense said that this would be a very bad idea. The extra weight at the end would make the weapon heavier, and harder to aim. And, it was a sword. And didn't he just admit that he would be a hazard with one of those?

Then, Shaderic realized just how little say 'Common sense' had when he'd been turned into a fish.

Buckling on the sheathes on the next shelf over took a minute, but they had ammo pouches with speed loaders ready to go. He took another second to make sure that he'd loaded the gunblade properly (it was a lot like a normal revolver, once you got past the sharp thing on the barrel, and the handle's weird angle), and put the safety on, before he stepped out.

Then stepped back in to try and worm the knife out.

A few minutes of struggling later, he walked out again, holding knife, hilt first toward Ray.

"OK. I'm armed. I got your knife. Where're we headed next?"

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She eyed the knife as he returned it to her. Either she'd gotten stronger than she realized, or she'd somehow managed to swindle a Star Market merchant out of an enchanted knife without realizing it. Either way, it worked.

"Thanks," she said, looking thoughtfully at the gunblade before heaving a sigh. "I wanted to go back and fight in the Great Maw, but I suppose someone's got to secure the town."

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"Alright."

He inhaled, and then exhaled. Combat. Deliberately, this time. His hand tightened around the handle of the blade. He could feel the safety just barely against the tip of his thumb.

Before he knew it, they were at the door again. On the other side, he could see a small group of Heartless. Mostly shadows, with some soldiers mixed in. He drew his blade. It felt heavier than before, somehow. He put it a low-ready position. Arms straight, both hands on the weapon, barrel down toward the floor.

"Lead on. I'll follow."

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Ray glared out at the Heartless before pulling out an Ether and gulping it down. "Be careful out there. I've got Potions and Elixirs, but only so many. And I'll be slinging around some more magic, too, so try to steer clear of that if you can. I'll be doing my best not to hit you, but it doesn't hurt to look out for yourself."

That said, she flung the door open wide and threw a wave of blue fire at the Shadows. She followed closely behind it, swinging her knife at the closest Soldier.

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Shaderic flicked off the safety, took careful aim and...

Hold your breath, and squeeze slowly...BAM!

It almost jumped out his hands, but he held on tight. The Heartless, however, exploded into cloud of purple smoke, that swirled away in a breeze that wasn't there.

"Got one!" Despite how scared he was, how lost he was, and how much he would get into trouble if he didn't get back in time... He found himself grinning. He sighted another Heartless, a Soldier this time, and fired again. With another crack, he realized that the bullet had struck the arm, instead of chest. He was just about to try again, when a Neo-shadow jumped at his face.

Panicking, he brought his arms up to protect his face. And almost cut his head on the blade part of his gun. Eye's wide, he swung it away from his face, cutting the Heartless in two. The cold wisps brushed his face before disappearing. Shaderic shivered. It had felt like he'd brushed with ice water.

Still, he couldn't afford to blank out now. He swung the blade at another nearby Heartless.

"I think I'm getting the hang of this!"

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They were moving pretty quick, so Shaderic almost missed him.

A tall guy, wearing a black coat and traffic cone orange hat that looked like it should have been on Link's head. He was standing there, leaning against the wall casually. Any other day, Shaderic would have passed him by.

But relaxing in the middle of a Heartless invasion? No one who had any idea what they were would do that.

Shaderic stopped, and turned to face him.

"Who are you?" The man inhaled deeply, and then sighed.

"You know, I wasn't planning on getting involved today." Shaderic blinked. What was he talking about? "I was just going to gather some intel, but now that you've seen me, I guess that's it."

"What's 'it'? What are you talking about, and who are you?" Shaderic brought his gunblade up, but he didn't aim it at the man.

"Ah, well. You're going to die today anyway. I suppose it'd be common courtesy to at least tell you the name of the guy who decided your fate." Shaderic fired. If the other guy says he's going to kill you, you shoot. That's what he was taught.

Then his arms started shaking. A black blade had shot out of the ground in front of him. Embedded in it, he could see the bullet. He couldn't see the man's face around the pillar, but he had a feeling that the guy was smiling.

"Too bad I don't do that sort of thing." With a snap of his fingers, tall Heartless began pouring in.vEverything Shaderic had fought before had only gone up to his chest at the tallest. These things were just as tall as him.

"Bu-bye, now." And the strange man sunk through a shadow in the floor. Leaving them alone with the Heartless.

"Any bright ideas?" Shaderic asked, blade trembling before him.

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"What the hell--" The guy was gone without another word, and they were surrounded by the odd Heartless. She'd never seen any quite like this before, but they were still Heartless, which meant they had the same weakness. "Hit 'em with Light," Ray growled, and her Light spell flared up from the ground, lancing out at the creatures before them.

"I don't think even Calum caught bullets with Darkness," she said, more to herself than anything. "Great. Like we really needed another thorn in our sides..."

She shook her head and threw some lightning into the mix. "Once we get past these guys, we're going to Rainbow's End. It should be safe there; Mabry did her best to make it that way. And even if it isn't, there might be more stuff we can use to heal up." She stood back for a moment to catch her breath. "If Mabry got here somehow, she'd be heading there, too. It'll make things easier if we can meet up with her."

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"Like I said, I'll follow you!" He ducked another swing, lined up another shot, and pulled the trigger.

He was rewarded with a loud bang, and the satisfying disappearance of another one of the Heartless.

"One question, though!" He shouted between between blows. "What the hell's Rainbow's end?!"

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Seph didn't have too much difficulty finding Lesley and Mabry. The trip to Radiant Garden was generally uneventful. The portal opened a bit further from Rainbow's End than he was aiming for but, the front door was in view.

He stepped out of the portal and stood aside to let the others out before he closed it.

There were a couple of Large Bodies between them and the house. And of course there were Shadows scattered around practically everywhere.

He checked to make sure there wasn't anything more dangerous nearby before heading for one of the Large Bodies.

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belegwen.livejournal.com

Mabry positioned herself further back from the heart of the fighting. While she did know how the use a sword, it wasn't her strong suit, and she knew it. Better to remain in a support position, use Stop only if needed to protect herself and conserve her magic for healing. But there was no reason, she couldn't fight Shadows and keep them off her allies' backs. Shadows were very much within her skill level. So, she drew her short-sword, and fought them off as best she could.

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Seph made short work of the Large Bodies and approached the house.

He could hear Shadows skittering around and occasional explosions from battle in the distance but, nothing from inside the building. It didn't necessarily mean there were no Heartless within. Still, it was a good sign.

He returned to where Mabry was fighting to help clear the immediate area of Heartless.

"Do you believe the house needs to be checked more thoroughly before it can be considered safe?" he asked when there was a lull in the battle. He knew the house was supposed to have some sort of protections on it but, didn't know what exactly they were or if they would have held up during the time Radiant Garden was in the darkness.

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belegwen.livejournal.com

Mabry frowned. "I'm not certain. The protections *should* have been enough to keep out most things, anything with intentions to cause harm that wasn't invited . . . but I don't know if those protections would have survived the destruction of the world." She peered at the front door. "I think it should be safe enough. If not, I'll Stop whatever it is and then run for help. It looks like everything is still prepared for evacuation, so I should be able to get out pretty quickly."

She stepped towards the door, then added, "I'm going to check to make sure everything's fine and gather up a few things . . . I've got some potions and ethers stored in the basement. Then I'll try to rejoin everyone else to help out."

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"Alright." He wasn't completely convinced it was safe yet but, for the moment he wouldn't go far. "I will check the surroundings then I must go for a bit. I promised to get a few people." He planned to bring them right to the house if it was found to be safe.

Confident that Mabry had the sense to call for him if she needed help, he didn't wait for a reply before he started off to circle the building.

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belegwen.livejournal.com

Reaching into her pocket, Mabry removed the key to her front door, and with a thrill, unlocked the door to the enormous house. It turned smoothly and she was staring into the entry hall. She listened for moment before stepping inside. Silence. That was a good sign.

Now, she move swiftly, not running, for she wasn't a runner. Instead, she took long, quick strides, not quite fast enough to steal her breath. She left the door open behind her. If all was well, the protections would prevent Heartless from entering behind her. If not, then there were already Heartless inside and being able to escape or call help to herself would be more important than keeping more Heartless out.

If anything was there, it would be most likely to be in the Courtyard, she thought. It sort of outside, so something might be able to fly down and into it without facing the protections. And the hidden way down to the underground safe-house was hidden in the courtyard. That was where the potions and ethers were kept.

Since the house was built in a giant square around the courtyard, it was never a very long trip to the courtyard. In this case, she would only need to make her way through the living room and through the sliding glass doors. She could do that.

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