Across the Sky - Arc I, The Story Begins Options

[se7en]

Kibou sighed and shook his head and stared out his window at the sky. Either, this guy was crazy, this was one crazy dream, or this might be real and actually happening. . . "So, how exactly do we fight this 'darkness' do we have like really big flashlights or something?" he said sarcastically, turning back to Des, and shaking his head. He went over to his bed and sat down on the edge of it hugging his knees to his chest.

[Firefly]

"I say that your brain resembles scrambled eggs about now." Alaster gazed up on the lights in the sky, different worlds? "Skylar says that those lights are just balls of gas and rock. Drifting in an empty space, alone... obsolete... but still..." Alaster looked around the desert and smiled sadly "A world full of water sounds nice. Maybe even a world covered in gumdrops with cotton candy clouds!" Alaster's smile faltered as he looked around the world "But they don't exist. To answer your obviously rhetorical question, yes; this is all there is to life. It's all I've ever known and all I ever will know, I was born in this desert and I'll die here, I've come to accept that." Alaster looked back up "Me a special person... why would somebody choose me when-" Alaster looked at Skylar and immediately his smile turned into a frown "Right. Stop getting my hopes up, kid. If you're not going to rob us or try to kill us then get out of here. Thanks for the bedtime story but I've got to get some sleep for tommorow, good night." With that, Alaster laid down on his mat, and stared into the sky.

[Omnial]

East Haven? I've never heard of such a place...must be far away. Krepus looked back up to the blinking stars in the sky, "I agree they are quite pretty, but I find it almost ironic, they wouldn't seem so radiant without the darkness surrounding them." Krepus stood up, and wiped some blades of grass from his pants. He got up and sat beside her on the cold stony ruin, "You don't mind do you?" He leaned back, like her, and looked at the stars, "Sometimes I feel like they beckon to me..." A gleam of light flashed quickly as a shooting star flew by. "But stars aside, I must say, I'm quite curious about you. We don't get many travelers through here." Let alone anyone as suspicious as you.

[Kratour]

Krepus

Once again dodging the questions about herself, the robed girl just went on to comment on his other, seemingly irrelevant comment. "So, you feel like they're calling out to you, hm..?" It sounded like she was going to fall into a fit of... giggling, perhaps, but either way, she stopped herself. "That's not hard to believe. You know, some people say that every star in the sky is it's own world. That the light they give off comes from the good in people's hearts..." She reached up with a free hand and made to grab at one of the stars, however futile the motion. "Maybe," she said, drawing the "a" out a bit in a rather playful manner, "Someone from one of those worlds is calling to you."

Alaster

"Oh come on man!" The hooded boy seemed somewhat agitated at Alaster's response, and for a moment, it seemed like he was going to sit there complaining. But then, surprisingly, he simply walked over and knelt down beside Alaster. A sigh escaped his lips, and he spoke in an almost curious tone, "Do you really believe that this is all there is? I know you feel it, we all do, all of us whose hearts hold the light." He glanced up at the sky, "The stars, the worlds, they call out to you, to your heart. Even if you don't know it." He let that sink in for a moment, then pushed himself up off the sand and shrugged, "But if you want to stay here, go ahead." He turned, and took a few steps towards the edge of the camp- then he stopped, rather suddenly. "I could show you," his voice was low, serious, "the world covered in water. I've been there. The sunlight danced on the surface of the water, sparkling like a jewel. And the people who lived there had huge, floating cities build above the water on massive wooden rafts." He turned back around, facing Alaster once more. "Aren't you at least curious?"

Kibou

Des gave a low whistle, "Well, you sure hit the real question there." He seemed like he was going to continue, but gave a rather sudden stop. "But uh..." an awkward chuckle filled the air around him as he spoke up in an equally awkward tone, "Well, see, I shouldn't really be telling you that just yet. I mean, don't get me wrong man, it's pretty amazing. And you already have it, though you don't know about that. But my master, the guy who trains me to protect the worlds, he'd probably get a bit ticked off if I went and spoiled the surprise. I mean, the man loves to talk about it himself." He let his words trail off for a moment before he pulled a wide smile, "But hey, why don't you come with me and I'll introduce you?"

[Naridar]

Ethan jumped to his feet and looked at the stranger with confusion and suspiciousness. He didn't recognize his voice.

"Who are you?", he asked, "And what are you doing here?"

He quickly tried to figure out who the man in the chair could be, but to no avail. He stood there, ready to summon his keyblade should the stranger try to attack him.

[Ryuga]

"Make sense?" asked Veil, as Kai attempted to let everything sink in. There was no doubt about it, this person was a looney.
"Nope," he nonchalantly answered, sheathing his sword. This girl was no threat from what he could tell, and even if she was, she wasn't worth his effort. "As entertaining as your ramblings were, you've overstayed your welcome. So if you'd be as so kind as to show yourself out of my home. I'd rather not waste my subordinate's time with the task of dragging you out."

[se7en]

Kibou frowned, now this dream or insane person was asking him to leave with him? "Erh, this is all going too fast, the truth is that you are either a dream or extremely crazy, I think that you should erh. . . leave now, please" Kibou said. He then crawled under his bed's blankets and closed his eyes thinking that this was a dream and that he'd wake up the next morning and go ice skating with Julie at the lake.

[Kratour]

Ethan

There was a moment of silence as the robed figure let himself rock slowly to a halt. Then, finally, he spoke. "Ethan," his voice was a strange mix of curiosity and cautiousness, "that stance..." He pushed himself up from his seat with a sigh, though the sigh was more from the movement itself than anything else, "Could it be that you are already attuned..? Hm..." One hand trailed up, pressing unseen glasses further up into place, "Now this is interesting. I'd heard that you were a hero, but I wasn't aware you'd already come to possess the light." The smile that crept to his face was sincere, albeit wreathed in shadows. Slowly he lifted one arm, holding it out level with his chest with his palm extended downward. "Tell me Ethan," he said as his fingers slowly closed in on the air beneath his hand, "have you ever seen something like this?" As he phrased the question, a flash of brilliant white light filled the air in front of him, his hand closing over a rapidly materializing object. Only when the light dispersed a moment later however, was that object fully visible. In the hooded boys hand was a long, elegant weapon. There was no blade, but rather a strangely flowing shaft, which curved and arched up to the top, where an odd, nearly indescribable design sat. There, from that design, spread a pair of contrasting wings, and as that last detail set in, the weapon's curious nature became clear. Though it was not like his, Ethan knew- this robe wearing young man bore a keyblade.

Kai

Veil sighed, "Oh come on, I even gave you the speech..." Her words trailed off, and she just sat there giving him a rather sad look for nearly a full minute before she thrust herself up once more, clapping happily as an idea came to her. "Alright," she said, bubbly attitude returning full force despite Kai's less-than-cheerful demeanor, "I know how to get your attention." She held a hand out to the side, palm face up, and spoke, "Correct me if I'm wrong Kai, but people don't use magic in your world, do they?" With that, she snapped her fingers, which curiously enough formed a spark that simply spun around and around, growing and growing until a ball of rolling flame about the size of a baseball was hovering a few inches above the palm of Veil's hand.

Kibou

There was a silent rumbling that filled the air behind Kibou, like an uncaged beast preparing to leap upon him. "Uh..." an awkward laugh filled the room, "Sorry about that man, forgot to eat breakfast before I came over here." He waited for a second, then gave a bit of a huff, "Man, really? ... Nah, of course, it's always gotta be the hard way." He stood, sighing, "So what if I prove it to you then, huh? If I can prove to you that I'm telling the truth, would you stop acting like I've got a screw loose?"

[Firefly]

"Of course I'm curious. With the way I live, the way I survive, chasing fairy tales is a hobby of mine. It let's me escape to other, better worlds, where people aren't afraid of the dark." Alaster sighed, then looked up at the stars again. "I'm going to regret this... show me your fantasy world, it's not like I was doing anything anyway. Give me a second, something tells me I'm not going to be back in a while." Alaster leaned over to his pack and pulled out a map and a worn out old pen, he wrote something on the back of the map and on the front he placed an "X" on a location and laid the map next to Naomi. Alaster picked up the pack and walked up to the boy, "You better not be lying." Alaster extended his hand, "You already know my name but what the heck? If we're going to be traveling together we might as well get properly acquainted. My name's Alaster Angelo, what's yours?"

[Ryuga]

Kai was taken aback by the sudden show of fire. It certainly looked real. He could even smell the air combusting, and feel the heat generated. This wasn't just some old parlour trick. Despite this girl's rather child-like nature, she was a serious threat, and Kai was going to have to tread carefully. Who knows when this girl could snap and just burn the entire place down.
"Alright, you have my attention," he finally spoke, trying to keep his cool. "But, how about we talk elsewhere?" He walked up to the window opening them before stepping out. Blanka wasn't going to let him leave alone, especially at this late at night. "Don't want anyone interupting this serious matter."

[Kratour]

Alaster

After only a moment's hesitation, the robed boy reached up and threw back his hood with something of a flourish. His skin was rather pale, and his features were a bit sharp, with dark red hair angling down to his shoulders at a rather sharp angle. "Heh, It's good to meet you Alaster," his voice was happy, ecstatic even, as he spoke, possibly due to Alaster finally agreeing, though it seemed just as likely that he was always that way, "The name's Zack. Now then, what do you say we get going, huh?" He took a step back and lifted his hand- a burst of light pouring out from the air above him before parting to reveal a most curious looking weapon. Graceful curves and curious angles seemed to make up the whole of the blade, or really the whole of the weapon, and the entire thing was a covered in splashes of color. Soon, the tip of the blade began to shimmer- and Zack brought the sword down in a slow arc. Eventually, once the weapon was held level with his chest, a thin, wispy beam of light shot out a few feet before punching into the air. The red haired boy turned the weapon as one would a giant key, and a spiral of light spun it's way into existence at the end of the beam's reach, eventually forming a kind of glossy, white portal. That done, Zack made his way over to the newly formed sphere and, after looking it over for a moment, turned his back to it in lieu of facing Alaster. The sword dropped down to his side, angled away from him, and his free hand reached out, open, towards the desert dweller. "Well then," he said, smiling, "take my hand and we'll be on our way."

Kai

With a wide smile, Veil snapped her hand closed, the orb of flame simply blinking out of existence without so much as a trail of smoke. "Well alright then," she said, obviously happy that they were finally getting somewhere, "go on and lead the way. It's good that you're finally listening, because you know, I was starting to run out of ideas there!" A giggle pulled from the girl's rosy lips, and she quickly made her way over to the window, hopping up onto the sill with a surprisingly acrobatic display before peeking out at the roof, which she carefully hopped down onto. "Alright, so..." Veil let the word drag on, since she wasn't really sure what to say, but from the looks he was giving her, she was sure Kai'd manage to think of something in her place.

[se7en]

"Yeah, I guess so" Kibou muttered with his eyes closed. If he did do something to 'prove' it then it was a dream, and then there was no harm in going, in fact now that he thought about it he hadn't had a fun dream in quiet a while. He opened his eyes and stared at Des.

[Firefly]

Alaster looked at the boy, Zack, with his hand stretched out in offer, Alaster was still in shock that Zack was able to summon a rather weird looking sword and open what seemed to be a stargate. Alaster rubbed his eyes, maybe the desert heat was getting to him, or his brain had already fried? But no, when he opened his eyes the portal was still there, as was Zack with his hand still out. Alaster tugged his hair and sighed, "You're going to have to explain this on the way there." He turned around and looked at the camp, then turned his gaze towards the portal, "In for a penny..." then grabbed Zack's hand.

[Omnial]

I wonder how brightly this world shines then? He took all of her words to heart, he so deeply wished that someone out there was calling just to him, to give his life reason, a purpose to live. "Wouldn't that be something..." He let out a light sigh and continued with his star gazing, many questions on the tip of his tongue, but he felt it just wasn't the time to ask, probably because she would just avoid it again. After a few more minuite though, he spoke. "Although I could just sit here and take about stars all night, and I must say I am enjoying it, I must ask, Why did you decide to show yourself to me now?" Why do I feel so at ease with this stranger around? Does she remind me of someone?

[Ryuga]

Kai didn't bother replying to Veil, instead leaving her hanging. He took a cautious step, making sure his footing was okay. While his room was only on the second floor, an untimely fall would spell the end. Of course, it wasn't like Kai hadn't done this before, and he knew the best way to get down.
He slowly made his way over to the edge. After checking to make sure no one had left a pitchfork, or something equally a hazard below, he jumped down, catching the ledge with his hands to stop the fall before finally letting to fall the rest of the way.
He looked back up to make sure Veil was following.
"You coming?"
Now that the hard part was over all Kai had to do was walk along the courtyard. The guard at the front entrance was always napping on the job, so it wasn't paticularly difficult to leave House Falzer's grounds.
---
The streets were deserted at this time of night, but Kai didn't take any chances. He stuck to the shadows, trying to remain out of sight from any possible spies who could be lurking the rooftops. He stuck to Falzer grounds as entering another Guild's territory was suicide, and at least this far out, the girl couldn't threaten the main family.
Kai turned around to make sure Veil was with him before speaking. "Alright, no more of that 'special light' BS. What is it that you want from me?"

[Dirus]

Karida sat back on her bed and crossed her legs Indian style. She rested her right elbow on her right thigh and and then her chin in her palm. She stared at Vorin with an unreadable expression then, without a word she closed her eyes making everything to go dark for her and to allow her to think. She had power, she now knew that or at least believed the man in front of her enough to think so. The stars in the sky were in actuallity other worlds filled with light, however that light is in constant danger of being snuffed out by the darkness that surrounds them. For a moment she didn't move, in fact, it almost looked like she wasn't breathing at all. Suddenly, after a long time she opened her eyes and afixed Vorin with her focused gaze. "So." She said, "You're asking me to come with you, aren't you?" Karida smiled a little, waiting for the silver-haired boy to answer her.

[Kratour]

Kibou

Des gave a triumphant pump of his arm, "Alright man, then check this out!" With a quick movement, he jerked his hand up and pressed it flat against the window. A curious sheen of what seemed to be frost grew outwards, eventually spreading over the entirety of the glass. "Now then, why don't I just show you something cool, huh?" Des' voice held an odd echo, but it seemed to come from the air around him as opposed to him himself. Slowly, an image span into existence. A small light stood in the center of the window- a star. And for a moment, that's all there was. Then, suddenly, the image shot forward, through the darkness, through the sheen of light surrounding the star- and finally, it came close enough that a brilliant, blue world began to appear. Closer and closer it went, until the world itself became apparent. Endless oceans spread across the surface- then, a small dot appeared in the water. And the dot grew and grew, until it showed itself to be a massive, sprawling city built on a huge floating platform. Finally, the image slowed to a stop as it came to focus on a small wooden building on the outskirts of the city. It was small, unimpressive, but it looked rather cozy. "This," Des said, finally, his voice seeming to hold something of a nostalgic note, "is my old house. That used to be where I lived before I learned about different worlds and stuff."

Alaster

There was only a split second to spare at that point, as light quickly filled Alaster's eye- but before he could see nothing, Zack's grin flashed in his vision. A soft humming sound filled the air around them as Zack spoke. "Heh, I'll tell you when we get there. No worries though, shouldn't take too long..." His voice trailed off, or maybe he was still speaking and Alaster just couldn't hear him, hard to say given the circumstances. For a few seconds, the young man simply felt as though he were floating through an empty, white void- and then, rather suddenly, his feet hit the ground. As the light faded, and his vision returned, a cool, sunlit castle came into view. Grass spread out around them in what must be the courtyard, though it was hard to say rather Alaster actually knew what the word meant, and scattered loosely throughout the expanse were huge, green trees and beautifully sculpted fountains, water spraying up in sparkling streams against a cloudy, blue sky. Then a voice came through, one filled with a bit of a playful edge, "Told ya."

Krepus

A smile played across the girl's lips, "Why now..?" She looked up, the sky here was just like the one she used to peer into. "Did you see it? The star that stopped shining a couple minutes ago?" Slowly, the girl pushed herself upright, turning a bit to face Krepus, "The stars- if they are worlds, and the light went out, what could that mean? That the good in people's hearts was taken away? Or, maybe..." Her voice dropped an octave, and she suddenly seemed to be rather serious, "Could it be that their hearts are being taken away by the darkness itself?" Without giving him time to respond, the girl pushed herself off the wall and landed quite easily on the ground- a curious feet given how far she'd fallen. Immediately, she knelt down to the ground, placing a gloved hand on the grass below and turning her head up to smile at Krepus, "You know Krepus... From out there, this world looks just like all the others. But now that I'm here, it's actually rather beautiful."

Kai

With a light, happy step, Veil followed after the considerably heavier hearted Kai. In fact, she even went so far as to manage a soft hum, which stood out against the dark silence that surrounded the pair. Then, however, Kai's voice poured out. And as he posed his question the girl stopped humming, then, soon after, stopped walking all together. Quite suddenly, she reached out and caught hold of the young man's arm. And as he turned to face her, he found that her happy demeanor had darkened to an almost angry look. "Stop." she said, trying to hide how mad she was. "I am telling you the truth. There's worlds out there, and they have to be protected." She took a deep breath then released his arm, "Let me tell you where I come from. It's a small world, always cool, like the beginning of spring. On the surface, huge lakes stretch across the world, and scattered everywhere are big white trees, so huge that they stretch out above the clouds. Me, my family, and everyone else, used to live in those trees, way up in the sky. The leaves were blue and transparent, and they gave off a soft glow, all the time." She reached up, running a hand through her hair, as she gave a momentary pause, "The world was strong in magic. Most everyone there could use it in fact- although we only knew how to use magic to heal the wounded. You know what happened, though? That darkness, the stuff you said didn't exist? I didn't believe in it either. And guess what? If you look up into the sky, try to find the star that used to be my home- you're not gonna see it. Darkness came, and it swallowed everything." Rather suddenly, Veil pulled her hood back up over her head, turning away from him a bit as she spoke, "So before you go and say that things like that aren't happening, why don't you think about how you'd feel watching the hearts of your family, your friend, everyone you ever knew- being pulled out one by one." Slowly, and only after a brief spill of silence, she posed another question, "Is it really so hard for you to believe that you could be wrong?"

Karida

There was a moment of silence, then a soft chuckle escaped the silver haired young man. "Asking implies that I had a chance to pose such a question directly..." A smile lined his lips, "But yes. Kari, I've followed you, watched over you. I know that your heart is strong, that light dwells within you. So now I ask..." His arm drifted upwards, open hand extending out towards the girl, "Will you come with me and see for yourself the worlds that dwell in the night sky?"

[Ryuga]

"Talk about a one-eighty," thought Kai as Veil lectured him. It was obvious he struck a nerve with that last comment. Fortunately, those last words were enough to get the pieces to fit in Kai's mind.
"Well, so the little lady has a brain in that skull afterall," he joked, before getting his composure back together. He gave a quick pause before speaking up again. "I apologize for that last comment. But next time you attempt to explain this to someone, you might just want to skip right to your story. How was I supposed to take you seriously when you throw around some vague explanation about 'light,' and 'heart,' and the like?"
He turned around, walking a few steps forward, while staring up at the night sky.
"Frankly, I still have trouble believing all this," he began before turning back to Veil. "But I can tell from your words, you're serious about all of this." Kai paused again, letting everything sink in before continuing. "So if my understanding is correct... then somehow... you need me, to prevent what happened to your homeworld from ever occuring again?"

[Kratour]

Kai

With an exaggerated roll of her eyes, Veil turned back to face Kai. "Whatever." she said, fortunately keeping herself from another rage filled speech. Finally, after taking a few moments to collect herself, she went on once more, smile back though slightly less easy than it had been before. "Yea," she said, "that's basically it. Worlds, all worlds including this one, are in danger. And it's up to us to stop the darkness from eating everything. Problem is, there are way more worlds than there are people to protect them, so it makes things a bit trickier than you'd imagine." Veil gave a bit of a sigh, "Basically, I'm here to ask you to come with me to another world, where we can train you to fight against the darkness." She blinked, once, then hurriedly corrected herself, "Well, when I say we, I mean, well, us as a whole. Personally, I couldn't train you if I wanted to, since I'm still far from being a master myself. ... But um, I suppose that's besides the point."

[Ryuga]

"I see," replied Kai. "So that's what it is."
He let out a long sigh. What a predicament he had, somehow, gotten himself into.
"I'm sorry Veil, but I can't comply with your request." Kai gestured as if ot look around. "In case you havn't noticed, this place is in the middle of a House War right now, and my Guild needs me more than ever. I can't just turn my back on my people for the sake of others don't even know."
It didn't exactly please Kai to say that. Afterall, he did bring up some bad memories for the girl. He felt rather guilty about that. Regardless, he did not want to associate with the girl anymore.
He took a couple steps, walking past Veil. An "I'm sorry" escaped his lips as he attempted to make his way for home.