genessia | In like a Lion (March Catch-All + Nightmares)

Entry tags:

In like a Lion (March Catch-All + Nightmares)

Who: Dove, you, and her oh so lovely past
What: Nightmares and anything else ever
When: Nightmares March 11-18, everything else whenever in March
Content Warnings: More likely than not, musings on emotional/physical abuse later on

The air might still carry an icy chill, but it’s not nearly enough to keep the archangel from the beaches of Fayren, especially as the day tips toward night. It’s been a long day; catching up with her FAMA obligations was no joke, and she had spent the majority of the last two weeks in front of a camera, spouting lines and striking poses or completely alone, tending to her own needs as she continued to recover from the year’s Ascension. Her powers had finally returned, as had the Light in her eyes, but still… she was quiet more often than not, even when surrounded by friends.

For now, however, she simply made her way along the water, waiting for someone to join her or perhaps just enjoying the sound of her Great Friend crashing onto the shore near her feet. Either way, she’s certainly paying no mind to the figures off in the distance, even as her mind wanders…

Otherwise, she might also be found finally relaxing near the window in her favorite Fayren cafe/tavern, a warm drink between her hands to warm her fingers.

((Ooc: Feel free to be the friend she’s waiting for or just happen to bump into her! The spooky things won’t like her having company.))

——

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Despite being lost in her own thoughts, that red hair caught her eye quickly and she broke into an easy smile, shaking off the weight of the slightly more pressing matters at hand.

"Hey," was her greeting as she made more purposeful steps down the beach, lifting her hand in a wave. "I didn't expect to run into you here."

She does cast a curious gaze around him at the seemingly gathering shadows, but... is that just that portal trick he does? Either way, she doesn't seem too alarmed... yet.

The figures seemingly following her have also disappeared.

Lea waved back, finally slowing to a stop as he approached her. "Yeah, well, with all the monsters and stuff around lately, I was a little worried," he said. "I figured I'd come check on my friends who spend a lot of time in Fayren and Everglade, just to be safe."

Behind him, though the gathering shadows took form and solidified into a powerfully built man in a black coat, with gold eyes and silver hair. And when he spoke, his deep voice made Lea briefly freeze. "You would do well to be less concerned about your 'friends', and more about yourself," he said, his tone rather flat, though the lack of emotion only added menace to it.

Lea turned to face him, saying one word, a name. "Xemnas..."

She nodded, grateful for his concern as always. She really needed more friends like Lea. "Yeah, have you seen any...thing..."

The man appearing behind him had her trailing off, though, and instantly she knew something was off. She couldn't feel him, but she certainly felt the spike in Lea's emotions even before his expression changed.

She tensed, standing her ground for now and watching them both with hawk-ready eyes and silently calling on her power... just in case.

"There was a time when I trusted you to deal with traitors," Xemnas said. "But now your betrayal outstrips them all."

"That would imply that I was actually loyal to you to begin with," Lea said. He was aware of Dove behind him, of how she tensed, seemingly ready to fight. A fight he wasn't honestly sure they could win. It was possible that this Xemnas wasn't the real one, but if he was, they could be in trouble.

"Perhaps," Xemnas said. "But your allegiance does not change your actions under my command. You play at being a Guardian of Light, but do your friends here know how close you walked to darkness?"

"I haven't lied to them," Lea said, still defiant, but it was clear that Xemnas' words had struck a nerve. He summoned his Keyblade, which appeared in his hand in a flash of light. "So why don't you clear off before I have to show you just how mush of a Guardian I am?"

Xemnas looked unimpressed though. "Is that supposed to be a Keyblade?", he asked. "Or is this some sort of joke? It would be a waste of time to defeat you in the battle to come; it's clear that you are simply an 'also ran'. So I shall break you here and now." Xemnas summoned a weapon too, a solid beam of red energy held in one hand, roughly a meter long; one half of Interdiction. "Have you any final words for your Superior?"

Oh, they could win. They would win, with the Light in her veins crackling like embers and the ocean beside them. Lea was strong enough on his own, she knew, but together, especially now that this man had insulted him...

Her eyes glowed a dangerous golden hue as she studied the man, carefully listening to the exchange. "Sounds to me like his allegiance had everything to do with his decisions under your command," she leveled smoothly, voice tipping with a warning edge when she picked up on that nerve it had struck in Lea. "And you're just bitter that allegiance wasn't to you."

Battle to come? She held her ground until Lea summoned his keyblade and the man his own weapon. When it appeared they might be getting the fight she expected, she held out a hand, flame licking her fingers and snaking up her arm. If Lea didn't have any 'final words', she certainly had a few for the creep threatening one of her closest friends...

If Dove's words affected Xemnas, it didn't show in his expression. However, there may have been a hint of condescension in his voice as he replied, "If you think his lack of allegiance to me makes him innocent, then you clearly do not know him as well as you think. There was a reason Axel commanded the Assassin Nobodies."

The fact that this statement disturbed Lea only served to indicate that there was indeed something to it. But Lea didn't respond outwardly to that. Instead he responded to Xemnas' request for 'final words'. "How about this?", he said. "You were never my superior."

And with that Lea lept forward, striking out with his Keyblade. A strike that Xemnas easily parried with his ethereal blade, striking back at Lea and forcing him to dodge. Of course with his attention focused on Lea, Dove might have an opportunity to get a hit in before he was ready for it.

Assassin commander? ....She knew she liked him, strange alias or no. Surprising, sure, but it seemed there was a lot left to share, and she was in no mood (or position) to judge, even with the twist of emotion digging into the redhead.

She grinned at his defiance, holding back until he had taken his first shot, then lashed out with flame, herself.

Xemnas summoned a second ethereal blade in his free hand, completing Interdiction, and using it to cut Dove's flame attack out of the air. "I'm afraid you'll both need to do better than that," he said before striking out at Dove with his blades, one high, one low and from opposite sides, making dodging more difficult.

She scowled at his deflection, but leapt right back into it, slipping into the training Styxx had ground into her and feeling out their surroundings as she went. Dodging was difficult, but the blast of air from her wings throwing her backwards out of range could be considered an attack in itself. Still, those shining blades came much too close for comfort, and with glowing eyes, she rallied her power again, careful to keep track of Lea's location. If she were to take advantage of the ocean's might, it could put Lea's firepower at risk...

Seeing an opportunity, Lea used the gust of air created by Dove's wings to boost his own magic's power, sending another blast of fire at Xemnas. Boosted by the extra air, this one struck home and Xemnas let out a grunt of pain.

Taking advantage of the distraction, Lea leaped forward, lashing out with his Keyblade again, aiming several quick strikes at Xemnas, but the fire attack hadn't weakened Xemnas as much as Lea had thought and each strike was neatly parried, followed by Xemnas striking back, striking at Lea with both his blades. The strikes weren't so quick as Lea's, but judging by the difficulty he had in blocking them and how much he was pushed back, they hit significantly harder.

Still, Xemnas seemed to be focusing his attacks on Lea for the moment. If Dove could get a hit in during that time, they might just be able to put Xemnas on the defensive for once.

Hell yes!

She beamed at Lea's cleverness and the successful attack, bracing herself in the sand a safe distance away as she surveyed the battle at hand. With no physical weapon of her own to wield, she'd have to be careful with her power. She'd never be able to forgive herself if she were to catch Lea on accident.

Steadying herself and her Light, she tugged at the ocean's power, drawing a stream around her before launching it toward the white haired man with a shout. "Lea, fall back!"

Her trainer would kill her for it, but... With a sweep of wings, she follows the blast of water, just to be sure it stays on track, and readies herself to fight hand to hand if she has to.

Lea heard Dove's shout and caught sight of the stream of water out of the corner of his eye. Luckily, falling back wasn't a problem; he'd been struggling not to give ground. So when Xemnas struck again instead of bracing against the blow he pushed against it, using the added force to aid a leap back and to one side.

The leap took him well clear of the stream of water, and he was glad it did, because that much magically charged water would hurt. Xemnas wasn't quite so vulnerable to it as Lea, but he also didn't seem prepared for it, and was knocked back not just by the force of the magic, but by the impact of the water itself, momentarily dazed.

"Nice one!", he called to Dove, circling around to try to get behind Xemnas. He was powerful, but Lea and Dove were both more agile. If Dove could keep him busy long enough for Lea to attack him from behind, they might just have a real shot at this...

"That better old man?" she smirked, sweeping over him and deliberately showering the man in a spray of stinging sand as she tucked in her wings and landed on his opposite side. She wouldn't get too cocky, but did hope that the taunt would keep his attention on her.

And if that wasn't enough, the wave rallying behind her and slowly crackling with ice should have been plenty of a distraction.

Edited (waaaay to serene of an icon lolol) 2019-09-25 02:17 (UTC)

Xemnas glanced between his two adversaries, seemingly trying to determine which was the larger threat. Though he reacted to the physical assaults, his face remained as blank and stony as ever otherwise. He definitely seemed to be tiring though, and the icy wave Dove was gathering gave Lea an idea.

"Dove!", he called. "Hit him together!" And by way of demonstrating his meaning, he dismissed his Keyblade and began gathering a massive fireball. With a glance to Dove to be sure she was ready, he hurled his fireball at Xemnas, trusting that she would do the same with her icy wave.

"With pleasure," she agreed, eyes alight with wicked Light. With only a pull of her arms and a flash of her power, the wave hurtled for the unfamiliar man, riddled with sharp icy shards.

As soon as Dove launched her wave, Lea launched his fireball, and though Xemnas raised both his ethereal blades to try and block the magical assault, it wasn't enough. Both attacks struck home resulting in a massive burst of steam and a pained cry from their target. When the steam cleared, Xemnas was down on one knee his body already fading away, bits of him drifting away like ashes from burning paper, then quickly dissolving into nothing.

He smirked slightly at his two attackers. "Well played...", he said before fading completely.

Breathing heavily, Lea walked over to the spot where Xemnas had vanished, poking the still steaming sand with the toe of his boot. "Guess that did it," he said with a sigh. "Though I know one thing for sure now; that wasn't Xenmas. The real Xemnas wouldn't have gone down that easily."

She held back the urge to wince, focusing her energy on keeping the steam billowing up and away from both herself and Lea. Once it had begun to fade, she held her ground, watching the man slowly... disappear.

She frowned at his 'compliment', but relaxed slightly as Lea began to move toward the spot where the man had been and willed the ice out of her veins. It had been a rush, that was for sure; even the ocean hadn't quite calmed as it had been before the man had gotten them so riled up.

She approached carefully and stepped up to Lea's side, reaching out to brace a hand on his back as she, too, studied the sand. "You okay?"

Of course, she had a million questions, all of them starting with 'Who's Xemnas', but that could wait. She wasn't sure if it was the ocean that was still unsettled or him she was reading...

It had indeed been a rush. Magic like that always was, at least in his experience. Raw, elemental energy bent to one's will... Lea had always mentally compared it to having earned the trust of a wild predator; something that served and obeyed him out of mutual respect, but deep down would always be an untamed and dangerous force of nature.

He nodded at Dove's question with a bit of a sigh. "Yeah," he said. "Kinda mentally kicking myself for coming out here though. I mean, I came to check on you, but then I ended up being the one that attracted trouble. A+ move there, Lea."

"How about you?", he asked. "You alright? That might not have been the real Xemnas, but it still packed a punch."

Their energy was much more alive than she suspected either of them knew.

She blinked, looking up at him, then locked that little bit of information away to mull over more thoroughly. "Came to check on me?"

"Yeah, I'm alright... Glad you weren't alone, though..." Not because she thought he couldn't handle a fight, but because the memories that seemed to be plaguing people as of late hadn't been kind. "Who was he?"

"Well, yeah," Lea said. "We're friends after all. And after I heard about all these weird monsters and things popping up, if one of them showed up around you, I didn't want you to be alone either. I mean I'm sure you could have handled it, if one did, but... well, friends look out for each other, you know?"

He shrugged slightly, pretending casualness. He was sure that there were few things that Dove really needed protecting from, but that didn't make him want to protect her any less. It was the same with a lot of his friends, really. Saying that out loud might come off as weird though, so he held his tongue.

He frowned slightly at her question though. "The Organization's Number I, Xemnas. The Superior of the In Between. AKA, my former boss," he said. "Or a reasonable facsimile of him, in this case."

"And there was good reason he was the Organization's leader," Lea said. "It wasn't just because he was the first among it's founding members. All of us in the Organization had powerful weapons and magic, but Xemnas? He was in a whole other league. Instead of fire or water, or even something like time or gravity, Xemnas' power was over the void. Over Nothingness. And since The World That Never Was and all the Nobodies in it were all effectively made of Nothingness? He could effectively bend the entire world to his will. No one dared to go against him."

She softened a bit at that and turned her gaze back out on the ocean. She should have done the same, of course, but hadn't expected the rumors to be true or for the experiences to be that... real. Guilt would eat at her for that later, but as it was now... "Right..." In a strange, twisted way, though... she was even more relieved her own ghosts hadn't been the ones to catch up to them first. While Lea knew bits and pieces, she wasn't sure how well she could handle seeing him come face to face with them in reality.

She listened intently as he described the man they had just taken out. "...Sounds like a real swell guy," she murmured, crossing her arms and looking around at the sand. "Can only imagine he was a real joy work for."

But... why had Lea been working for him? She wouldn't ask outright, but the dark thoughtfulness on her face lingered a moment too long. She had known Lea had once been 'heartless' but... beyond that... She really didn't have many details, did she?

"Yeah, top notch," Lea replied to her comments about Xemnas, his tone all sarcasm. "10/10, would work for again."

In the silence that followed he sighed, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly. "Guess a bit of background might be in order, huh?", he said after a moment. "Though it might be a smart idea to talk about it on the way back to your place. Don't want to risk something else popping up at us if we stand around here too long."

She only shook her head at his sarcasm, but couldn't quite shake the concern. His offer gave her pause, but only for a moment before she nodded. "Only if you feel up to it." She of all people knew how...difficult... it could be when trying to explain one's past.
"And good idea...I really don't want my demons coming after us," she agreed, a little more subdued at the thought.

She straightened her clothing and headed back up the beach, toward the shacks along the road. "Hopefully after that little display of our talents, though, we'll be left alone." How common were these new occurrences, anyway?

"Yeah, it's fine," Lea said. "I've gotten into a bad habit of not volunteering information when it might be important, and I need to get out of it. Course, it helps that most people I'm around back home know the gist of the story already." He noted the tone of her comment about her own demons, but let it pass without comment. Maybe they'd talk about it later, maybe they wouldn't. Though he was willing to admit to himself that the idea of an angel having demons was a bit funny in an ironic way.

He nodded and her comment about their skills and began to follow her up the beach, quickly matching her pace to walk beside her. After a moment of silence in which he tried to figure out begin, he finally opted for just starting at the beginning. "I guess, when talking about how I ended up working for Xemnas, it has to start with a girl," he said. "And no, not like that. See, when my friend Isa and I were kids, we used to sneak into the castle a lot. Just for fun; seeing how long it took til we got caught, that sort of thing. Eventually though, we actually found something we weren't supposed to though; some kind of lab in the castle basement. And there was a girl about our age locked up there."

"I don't know her name," Lea said. "Mostly because she didn't either; she had amnesia or something and couldn't remember much of anything about her past. But she, Isa and I became friends anyway, and we started to have an actual reason to sneak back into the castle; we wanted to see her. Help her not be alone, you know?"

"Eventually, a lot of creepy things started happening around town, but especially in the lab, so Isa and I made up our minds; just being there to help her not be lonely wasn't enough; we had to get her out of there. But we were kids, not super-spies; we knew we couldn't do that while also sneaking around. So instead, we signed up to work at the castle as research apprentices, figuring that would give us a solid reason to be there, and access to stuff that might actually help. But when we got there on our first day of work... she was gone." He paused there, letting the ominous implications of that fact sink in, and also to give Dove a chance to speak or ask questions, if she wanted.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

In like a Lion (March Catch-All + Nightmares)

Yes!

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject