ROUND ROBIN!!

[Q]

Story will be in next post. Here is where I'll post factoids and questions, possibably ideas and prompts.

Remember, while the characters have abilities, they have concequences, too. Like heartless being attracted to a Keyblade.

Try to stay out of canon worlds for right now.

About the entity driving things:
It chose a Keybearer for its own purposes and used up much of its energy doing so.
It chose some of that person's friends and gave them abilities. It stopped at three, although there could be more later.
The abilities it gave people it read from skimming their favorite videogames.
The abilities are at the starting form of the respective games' heroes, as the entity did not have enough power to do more.
It gave the Keybearer's friends abilties to protect its investment and to use as leverage later.

World:
The world the entity took people from runs parallel to the KH universe. In fact, this world made a videogame from the events.
The people with abilities were placed in a small replica of their world right after gaining their abilities.
The abilities DO NOT have to follow their videogame counterpart's direction of growth.
Heartless drop items and Dark Eco.
Lightspots, or the savespots, are areas in world infested with heartless that have an abundence of light (and possibably Light Eco later). They will heal any who pass through it and the barriers between the world and the Interspace (Gummi-space) are weaker here as in the areas of concentrated darkness (dark portals).

[Q]

Here are the first two chapters. Crit is welcome and desired. Off to you, Mer, for the next snippet.

---

Chapter 1

I dreamed the world ended in static and lightning. A brilliant flash before the world dissolved into nothing but white. The silence afterward ringing feedback in my ears. I wasn't afraid. This wasn't the first time I died in my dreams, nor was it the first time the world had ended. It was the first time that this had happened.

I floated in my dream, unwilling to wake up. I wondered what would happen next. Would I be a ghost again, or would I pick up the story from a different point of view. Or even the rare case of being a passive observer, feeling nothing as the characters played out in my mind scape. The ringing feedback of the silence grew oppressive, making me want to back out of the dream before the finale. Typical, I never seemed to finish the story, always waking up at the climax. Darn that ringing.

I felt myself wake, the dream slipping away. The whiteness from the explosion disappating even as I pulled away. The pain from the explosion fading as I woke. I guess I didn't die then. My eyes opened, and I lay in bed for a moment thinking. Why were my ears still ringing?

It was the phone. I hate phones. With a half groan half scream of fury, I got up and ran to the offending household appliance. With a quick glare at the caller ID, I discovered that it was actually somebody trying to call, and not another freakin' telemarketer.

"Hello?" I said as I picked up the receiver, trying to keep the still lingering sleepiness from my voice. I wandered into the kitchen, to prepare the coffee that would wake me the rest of the way.

"Hi, it's Mer." Came the reply.

Before the voice on the other end could finish, I remarked, "Why hello, 'its Mer' fancy you calling me at this hour, and waking me up." I paused to check my watch. It was 10am, about an hour too early for my tastes.

"Sorry, but this is important," Mer responded, lacking the usual annoyed amusement that followed my remark. Something was wrong, and it couldn't be the lingering feeling of pain and uneasiness from my dream. "Could you get Jess and get over here?"

"What? What's wrong?" I assume my voice sounded panicked. I know that the statement pulled me out of my sleepy funk quickly.

"No, no, nothing bad. Just, um, different. Get over here as soon as you can, please." The phone went dead. She had hung up on me.

Something was seriously wrong. The world seemed too quiet. (Where were all the animals? Where was everyone?) No, it was just the dream talking. The world didn't really end. I needed coffee to get my brain started. Then things would make sense, hopefully.

I started the coffee pot, then headed towards my room to get dressed, knocking not so gently on my sisters door to get her to wake up. After dressing, I checked back in on my sister. The lump of blanket lying in the bed grew an eye to glare hatefully at me.

"Mer called. She wants us to come over. Apparently its important."
The lump of blankets gave a groan of protest, but proceeded to move, spitting up the form of my younger sister.

"Don't ever wake me up like that again." Jess growled at me. Her glare was tired. She was worried, too. (Did her eyes just glow?!) No, must be my imagination. I hope that coffee's done.

It took us a half hour to get ready and drag Jess out the door. I stood staring at the driveway for a moment wondering where our cars had gone. There was no trace of them. Could our parents have taken them to work? But why, when they had a car of their own to use? It couldn't be in the shop, or totaled, I would have remembered it. It just wasn't adding up.

Jess, likely wondering the same thing,, ignored all this and simply began walking in the direction of Mer's house.

We crossed the streets on the way without trouble. Traffic was light. Heck, traffic was non-existent! That uneasy feeling was growing. Maybe I hadn't actually woken up. I mean, I was usually aware of when I was dreaming, even if those dreams were extremely real, but this surreal world was throwing me off. I briefly contemplated trying one of my methods for testing if this was a dream or not, but the best route for that was throwing myself off a high place and seeing if I could fly. Not something one would want to do if this did indeed turn out to be reality.

By the time we reached Mer's front door, the quietness and strangeness had left me twitchy. It may have been the caffeine, but it left me coming up with strange theories. Nora's car was in the driveway, indicating that Mer had called her, too. (But it was the only car I could see. Where did all the others go?)

The door opened.

"I think everyone got abducted by aliens. Or everyone's dead and we haven't moved on to the afterlife. Or maybe we've been kidnapped by aliens and everyone else is fine but we've been put in a bubble to study our reactions. Or..What the heck is with your EARS? They're bigger than your entire head. Well not quite that big but what happened?"

"Hi, Q," Mer replied, "I see you've had your coffee."

"Yes," said Jess, "she hasn't shut up the whole way here."

Strange I don't remember being that verbose. Okay maybe, with the complaints on where were the cars and why weren't any birds chirping and why we've never had a day this sunny in a long while.

Mer continued, "Well come on in. You three were the only people I could get a hold of, like everyone else just vanished." Yeah, yeah. Laugh it up. I know something strange is going on. "Nora's had something strange happen to her, too." See, I told ya.

"So is she an elf too?" The glare I got in response was priceless.

"No, just come in. We'll discuss this inside."

---

Chapter 2

"So you're saying you have an actual Keyblade?" I repeated in disbelief.

Everyone else had ooh'ed and aah'ed and gushed over how that was 'so cool.' Well maybe not. But when Nora did finally summon the object in question, in a display of flashy light directly from a video game (which, incidentally it was), I had to stop repeating the question.

"And you're an elf?" I directed the question at Mer, again.

Mer sighed in exasperation. "I have no idea, I just woke up like this. Did anything happen you two?"

Nora was busy giving a few experimental swings of the Keyblade, getting a feel for handling the weapon.

"I dreamed the world exploded, but that's normal for me, so nothing unusual to report here."

"I don't think anything strange happened," Jess responded.

"Um, Jess aren't you forgetting something?" She looked at me in confusion and I pointed to the glasses on my face. She reached up to her own face and encountered no impediment in touching her eyes.

"Oh, I guess I forgot to put them on this morning."

"You never forget. You've been wearing them longer than I have. At least on a regular basis."

"Jess? Can you see okay?" Nora asked after dismissing the weapon that had no right actually existing outside of a video game.

"Yeah." Jess's eyes widened. (Were they really glowing, or had I just imagined it earlier? The sunlight coming in from the windows made it hard to tell.) The realization dawned on her. "I can see fine."

"So we have an elf, sudden vision fix and a giant key you can threaten people with. Great work, now what the hell is going on? And why didn't anything happen to me?"

I was not jealous. Yeah, and denial was a river in Egypt. (Why was that phrase so amusing to me?) It seemed unfair that everyone else would get something, and not I.

"Um, maybe you're a seer?" Mer asked.

"So you want the world to explode?"

"No, I'm just saying."

"Guys..." Nora tried, in vain, to get out attention.

"It wasn't a pleasant explosion. I'll tell you that much."

"Woah, I can see a bird like 50 feet away. In detail. I think its a house sparrow."

"I'm not saying I want it. I'm just saying that that seems the only thing that stands out for you."

"You already have someone with vision anyways."

"But that's normal vision, not mystic or whatever."

"Guys." Nora tried again.

"It seems slightly better than normal. She just saw something just slightly less than low end binoculars, with her naked eye. And why would I even get mystic vision? Why did any of this happen at all?!" The explosion was tickling at the back of my brain. It reminded me of something, but not global disaster.

Jess had opened the screen door and was looming out. "I think I see a deer in the woods!"

"GUYS!" Nora shouted, having tried to gain our attention numerous times before.

"What?" All three of us replied. Jess pulling her head back inside, still overjoyed an not having to ware glasses anymore.

"Do you feel something? It feels kinda dark."

How can something feel dark? I wondered. It was the absence of light. Could she mean heavy in a round about sense? No that would require too much thinking, and Nora was looking slightly unsettled.

"How can something feel dark?" I was the only one to ask. Everyone else was looking around nervously. Then I felt it. It was a tingling sensation, like when a limb goes to sleep only colder, that flowed deep into the body settling into the chest. The hairs on the back of my neck stood on end, and I rushed out the front door and into the street, the others right behind me.

The sky was still bright blue, without a cloud in the sky (and quote boring in my opinion), but something seemed off. It was like someone had polarized the sun and we were only seeing half the light. The blue of the sky looked, not washed out, but alien, almost purpleish. No, that wasn't right. It was distorted. The sky looked warped, although how that was possible was beyond me. The sun looked stretched across the sky, making a smudged yellowish cloud thing instead of a bright yellow star.

With the light half gone the shadows grew.

"Please tell me that what I think is happening isn't." I said.

"Heartless?" Mer replied, not listening to my request.

"Oh my god." Nora stood in shock as the shadows did indeed grow into three dimensional bodies. Yellow eye shaped flickered into view as the humanoid shadow forms complete themselves. Emotions I couldn't identify flickered across her face. Was one of them guilt? Did she blame herself for bringing the heartless here?

The heartless weren't like they were shown in the games. Those heartless had looked like small children, cute and nearly harmless (even if they weren't in game). These, I could only describe as monstrosities. They were like a perversion of the human form. The body shape was there, head, arms, legs, torso, but there the similarities ended. Their arms ended in large clawed hands, talons, and their feet weren't slipper like appendages, but rather had a single claw instead of toes. Their faces were blank shadow except for the yellow eyes that held no life, only hunger, longing, and rage. The antennae were long and jagged, like a gazelle.

Nora recognized them before I. "Neo Shadows."

We ran, or at least tried to run. Our bodies recognized the threat of the heartless before our brains caught up. Alas, it was no use, the heartless were everywhere, appearing in the doorway of the house after we had left it. I could see their glowing yellow eyes as they stalked through the house.

We were surrounded with creatures made from shadow, taller than (some of) us, faster than us, with nowhere to run and with only one weapon that could feasibly hurt them. Their one goal to consume the four of us.

"Oh, we're screwed." I said. Where did Nora's car go? I frantically looked towards the driveway, but could make out nothing in the mass of Neo Shadows that had taken up residence there.

"Why aren't they attacking?" Jess asked. Wow, the usually unobservant one had a point.

"Maybe they're waiting for something." Brilliant observation, Mer, now stop standing there and help me think of something.

"Well, I for one hope that that something never comes." I replied. No thank you, I did not want to be eaten by a video game monster today. Think, I gotta think. Um, magic worked against them. "Did anyone gain any magic?"

Mer had already figured this out and was trying in vain to summon any spells. Jess was trying with similar lack of success. (Were those green marbles on her belt before?)** I don't know why I didn't bother trying. Maybe it was because I didn't really believe in magic, at least not without and in world explanation. Evidence seen with Nora's Keyblade notwithstanding.

Thunder was a spell, right? And we had power lines in the neighborhood. Maybe we could use those to take the Shadows out.

"Do you think we can use the power lines to destroy them?" I asked offhandedly. The blank stares of the unmoving Heartless were getting to me. I looked at Nora, expecting her to be the resident expert on heartless.

Nora looked startled that I was expecting her to know something I didn't. Hey, just because I act like I know everything, doesn't mean I do. Things were kinda out of my league at the moment.

"Uh, maybe? It could stun them or drive them back, or just make them angrier."

Nothing else was really giving any better ideas at the moment so Nora decided to do it. She summoned her keyblade to throw it just as Mer shouted, "Wait, I think that's what they were waiting for!"

The keyblade flew from her hand, and the heartless surged forward. The seemingly dull looking blade cut through the power lines with ease and sent the two halves of sparking wire swinging downwards. The heartless were nimble enough to dodge around the shock hazard as they rushed to 'greet' us.

As for what happened next, I am unsure. With all of the bodies, living and shadow, I don't know who pushed me, but I found myself falling backwards into the fallen wires. It was agony, but I was alive.

How the heck was I alive? I backed away from those wires as fast as I could, muscles still twitching from the electrical influx

I felt it stirring within me, like that shock (as if it were a minor thing) had jump-started something. Electricity leapt from the fallen wires and directly into me, again and again. The world went white. Things seemed to slow to a crawl and all the noise stopped except for my heavy breathing and erratic heartbeat.

Then the world exploded in static and lightning.

'Oh, hey, Mer was right,' I thought.

The last thing I saw before succumbing to the agony then unconsciousness was Mer morphing into a white demon and shredding a hole in the world.

---

Interlude between Chapter 2 and 3

I woke in a smallish hut with some sort of doctor standing over me.

"Wgha-" I managed to get out before I was hushed. I was not the only patient here apparently. The rows of beds lining the room materializing as the world came into focus. I reached a hand to my face. Surely these people wouldn't let their patients sleep with glasses on for an indefinite period of time.

Nothing. My glasses were gone, likely when I had gotten electrocuted. That was right, I had been electrocuted. Shouldn't I be dead? I looked at the doctor in confusion.

"You've been out for three days," she explained. "When your friends brought you here you didn't have a pulse. It's amazing how fast you recovered." And somehow mysteriously regained my eyesight.

"The medfluid should have repaired any internal damage to your body, I don't know what happened to your eyes but they nearly had to be regrown from scratch. You're lucky we had enough to retain your eye color and not order a full replacement. The scar will stay though."

That explained it. When I was shocked I must have gotten hit across the eyes. Their 'fix' had also fixed my eyesight, for good hopefully. Why was I accepting this so easily? Oh yeah, I think I was still in shock. Oh, pun.

"Now there is the small matter of the bill, but your friends were kind enough to do some of the extra work around here to pay off some of it. Now that you're better you can help, too. We need another delivery-boy."

She walked off leaving me wondering what the heck had just happened. Wait. Delivery boy?! They hadn't changed my gender while they were at it did they?

No, thankfully. But my body looked different. It could have been the shock scars, or the claw marks. Was I more in shape than I had been? What had the doctor meant by internal damage anyway?

There was nothing else to do, so I got out of the hospital cot and made my way quietly down the row of beds full of unmoving patients. Generic clothes were provided in the lockers. I wanted to wash, but I was ushered outside with a package and a GPS of some sort before I knew it. I hadn't even been able to see if my friends were okay.

"Watch out for wild Rek'naghs." Was the only comment that followed me out the door

This place was a hell hole. I marveled at the sky, a dusty red with fires dotting the horizon. Volcanoes actually erupting this close to a city. The buildings were the typical rectangular shape, although shorter, and had angled roofs that directed the falling black ash to the ground and out to the gutters. The streets were mostly clear of people, with the occasional clear, cart drawn by a horse like creature. The carts had a single wheel in the middle and were spherical to keep the ash off, at least that's what I assumed.

Might as well follow the compass thing. And watch out for those Rek'na thingies.

---

** Jess has a couple of materia (Two slots on her belt). She is the only one of the group who can use them. She has Fire and Barrier, this gives her higher defense and slight fire resistance. If she uses them she can cast a low level fire spell or increase party defense. Materia can be found as the group travels. Spells are Green, Summons are Red, Support are Blue, Command (like steal and scan) are Yellow.

[Wolves_Cry]

okay, before I can post, I would like to ask a few questions. For one, what world are we in? that will help in me thinking of a response. second, I am guessing that I am only going to start with the bare basics of dark jak power (so turn into purple monster) then develop them in Jak world
and three remarks first, there seems to be a coading probelm... its a little hard to tell who is talking and finally, hehe well done!
Yeah that's it, I will post as soon as I know what to do from here.

[Q]

The world is one I made up. I'll try to fix some of teh dialogue, but I was hoping that the order and way it was said would imply who was talking. I was being lazy, I know. Hopefully I've cleared up some of the confusion.

As for powers, they can develop as you go. You don't have to limit yourself to canon or gaining abilities in the Jak world.

[Wolves_Cry]

Chapter 3 (?) part 1

Fear. Oh yes, that was something new and exciting, raw unimaginable fear. You would be scared too if you woke up to find the world missing… well every animal. ‘Keep a cool head Meredith Ann, keep calm’ I kept telling me self. Daniele answered the phone, that’s good, no mention of Jess… let’s hope… no, keep working, keep calling. There is no answer, no word from my sister, my parents. I reached the “N’s” in my phone. Nora answered, she is already half way, we are meeting here she has something to show me. Time to gather my thoughts. I needed to breathe.

“I am a… what elf?” my hands trace the long- VERY- long ears that seems to have developed over night. This must be a dream, it had to be. I paced a little then head to the bath room. They were still there. Don’t Panic. What would Katie do? I grabbed a towel and screamed into it. Just to find myself laughing a little at the irony. Nora came she looked pale…er. Without even saying hello, she held out her hand and I nearly screamed at the sight of a well known, overly large, and surprisingly practical, key that appeared in her hand. I only then realized that game graphics did real life not nearly enough justice, I would have been mesmerized if it weren’t for the fact that my friend was currently holding an item that was not only part of a video game but that seemed to cause nothing but trouble.

I managed to keep myself calm, push aside the panic because I knew it would not do me an ounce of good in that moment. “So I get a keyblade and you have pointy ears.” Nora asks from her seat on my couch.

“It would seem so.” I start pacing again; Jess and Daniele were taking a really long time, my stomach dropped. When I noticed two people walking towards the door, I sighed, relaxing enough to breathe again.

So Jess’s eyes have fixed themselves, she seems different, maybe it’s just nerves. There wasn’t a chance in hell Q has gone unaltered, perhaps her change was more subtle then even Jess’s? Q and I argued, it seems to be the best way to bounce ideas most of the time, though little spurs of frustration rose in my mind, it caused my skin to crawl.

When the shadows stretched and the enemy surrounded us, the crawling sensation just escalated it was border line painful. The Neo-Shadow’s weren’t attacking, why wouldn’t they, unless… I processed it while my companions spoke of electricity I realized it just moments too late.

We were under attack, sharp claws reached for my skin, for my heart. Anger was yanked up from the little corners of my heart by the pain. I wasn’t even sure what I was doing but then it stopped, a purple static seemed to dance around me, catching on our attackers keeping them at bay and sometimes even destroying them into black puffs of smoke. I moved with a grace, power, and swiftness unnatural to me my clawed and featureless hands seemed to pull at the very scenery around me, leaving large gaps of a foreboding black nothing. The heartless were endless; they stood before us like a black wall but with claws and murderous intent. There was so much noise I couldn’t tell what was going on but I did see jess struggling to get Danielle off the ground, she was bleeding and not moving. We had to get out of here. I glanced at the rips in the space behind us just as a fresh wave pushed us back into it. A few followed they were only distinguished by the glow of their yellow eyes, Nora’s keyblade made quick work of them as I sunk my purple claws into both sides of the dimming light of our world then closed the rip.
The numbness was fading making my small wounds seem like they were much worse, I seemed to return to normal, used up whatever power was granted to me. I felt dizzy and ill, but there were worse things to worry about, Jess was kneeling near her sister looking very concerned, we seemed to have created ourselves a short break, but it wasn’t over, our time was borrowed. I felt myself wobble then fall, I didn’t even notice myself hitting the ground.

I woke at the sound of my name. I opened my eyes and saw white spots dotting my vision, complimented by a sword through my head. Ow. They called again, Nora? Jessica? Yes that’s right, we had gathered at my house. Danielle too. We were attacked, by heartless? I sat up quickly then nearly fell over in pain. Right I turned into… a… a what? I blinked. There was no way, the ears, the burst of angry purple static… it couldn’t be that simple.

That was not simple. They called again, this time I answered. “Yeah, I’m here!” I continued lying; it hurt too much to sit up. I could hardly see things focused then blurred. I could hear hurried footsteps in grass then two silhouettes against the very clear and very bright blue sky that lay above me. “Are you okay?” I heard Jessica’s voice as she offered me a hand.

“I will be… I think…” I accepted and attempted to pull myself up. I felt nauseous so I only got to a sitting position. “I don’t know about you, but I feel like I got hit by a train…” I tried to look at my friends, assess the damage but my vision was still swimming. Having a horrible hunch, I closed one eye and my vision turned near perfect, then switched and was very much blind. “AW MOTHER!” I swore loudly, nearly yelling. “Fricken’ contacts!” Keeping my left eye closed I looked my friends over; they were scratch up and pail looking, but alive. “Are you all okay? Where is…” Bits of the morning flashed back. Nora looked close to tears Jessica some place between shock and numbness.

“She’s alive, God only knows why since she fell on live wires… but the damage is… well… we need help.” Jess trailed off. Not knowing what to say I looked around, it looked like we were on a prairie of sorts, I was sitting along a large patch of tall almost wheat like grass (except that it was a strong blue color that seemed to glow against the red soil). Along the eerie pail red horizon I could see large rocks some bellowed dark smoke, volcanoes maybe, that or an industrial city. The distance between us and them was graced with a few clusters of tall and thin trees and more blue grass. I looked slowly around with only half vision and saw no sign of civilization. My breathing was erratic as a third batch of fear crept up my spine.

“Where is she?” I hoped I sounded more stable then I was.
“I landed near an oasis thing, it’s just over there, and we hid her in the tall grass so we could find you.” Nora answered pointing not far from where I sat. With help I got myself standing and together we found Danielle.

Now I wanted to cry. She was covered in fairly bad burns especially to her face I couldn’t imagine her eyes going undamaged. It was only when we got to the oasis that I realized part of Jessica’s shirt was ripped, a cloth lay not far from her sister clearly soaked. And stained with darker parts. “I did the best I could, but we need help.” She repeated.

“sh*t,” I muttered “Do you have any idea where we are? It kinda looks like the savanna. What happened after I passed out?” They glanced at each other.

“Well considering I saw an animal earlier that was definitely not something normal and the tint of the sky I would guess that it is safe to say that we are most definitely not still on Earth unless the heartless also created new creatures.” Nora looked around nervously pointedly not making eye contact I mentally notice that her keyblade was nowhere in sight which meant it was hiding where ever keyblade’s go. “As for what happened, well I don’t know how much you remember, but you went all white-n-purple demon on us, hacked away at a few heartless while tearing a hole or two in this dimension, which we then fell into, than closed that tear and passed out when you went back to normal. Almost as soon as you collapsed we kind of fell, I think, then we woke up here.” She shrugged then rubbed her face. “This cannot be happening.” I started to say something comforting, but came short of words. I did know what to do.

Fortunately I didn’t get much of a chance to brew on self pity for I got to witness something charging at us. The first thing that came to mind was a feline of sorts judging by its gate and movement, but it’s almost reptilian jaws that gapped open with rows of teeth made me think twice. It was too far to really judge what it was covered in, scales probably, colored in blue stripes similar to the tall grasses and a the red soil. A strange and dangerous curiosity made me want it to get closer to study it, but the smarter side of me realized the flaw in this plan and instead cried out incoherent words of warning and surprise all the while pointing at its direction.

“Ah, f*ck” Nora muttered

[Wolves_Cry]

Chapter 3 part 2

First instinct, perhaps the most primitive, told me to run, knowing perfectly well that there was no way for anyone of us to escape its speed. Second was to fight, it was really only natural to protect. Seems Nora’s mind followed a similar path for she raised her hand to draw out her keyblade but I just as quickly grabbed her wrist. “The heartless are drawn to that; we are in no condition to fight them off as well as cat-lizard thing!”

“Do you have any other ideas!” she shouted as the beast bound closer.

“Holy sh*t! That thing has serious claws!” Jess swore as she draped the out-cold Q over her shoulder. The Jessica I grew up with was by far not a weak person and her sister is not that large but she didn’t even struggle. Right our disembowelment is charging towards us, I could worry about that later.

“Go demon Mer or something!”

“It’s not that easy and I ran out of dark eco!” that last bit I just let slip, I still wasn’t sure if that was the case, though it seemed the most sensible explanation she looked dumbfounded as did Jessica, jess started to ask something but a loud and alien roar shattered across the savanna. It sounded almost the way Jurassic Park’s T-Rex did, but with a more throated coo in it. It gave me chills.

“I don’t think it is intending on attacking us…” Jessica muttered looking far beyond the view of my partial sight. “It’s being chased…” With that there was another horrible roar, this one far more pained and if not so frightening, it would be sad. I couldn’t see clearly enough to tell what happened but the creature seemed to trip then crash to the ground, I could even feel its mass as it shook the ground. We stood in silence for a moment then Nora grabbed us by the collar of our shirts and yanked us down into the tall blue grasses.

“What the hell!” I muttered rubbing the arm that I landed on.
“We don’t know who they are; we are better off just following them.” She muttered staying low.

“So we can be eaten by the next one of those monsters!” I hissed, “They are our only connection to civilization.”

“Or they could kill us and put our shriveled heads on polls!”

“This is no time for the indecision club guys! Q is really hurt and I don’t know how much longer she is going to last!” Jessica yell/whispered, crouching over her very still sister. There was wresting not far from us. We all immediately tensed, getting into the closest thing to battle poses as our position would allow. Nora prepared to draw the keyblade at a moment’s notice, every bit of Jessica seemed to change, her eyes flashed, no really, they lit up, ready to fight tooth and nail. And I, well I was terrified, my hands shook and stomach danced, I felt empty without that small bit of power I felt just once. The nose approached, it was footsteps. Humans scared me more than monsters did.

“Ah, I found them.” A voice spoke as a shadow was cast across me. A middle-aged man emerged; he towered over me looking down with dark eyes. H was holding something, a gun of sorts, it was pointed at me. I stilled like a rabbit, looking up at him I tried to speak but my throat froze. “I count four!” He called over his shoulder all the while gesturing at me with his gun, I understood because I watch too many action movies. I slowly stood, raising my hands. I heard Nora do the same and glanced back at Jessica, she didn’t move. Her eyes narrowed into one of her powerful and deadly Jessie-glare. The man looked at her with a raised eyebrow. “You too missy.” But she didn’t move.

“I…we need help.” I managed to say as I saw at least five others approach , three on mounts similar to a bipedal lizard, raptor maybe even, without the ‘I’m going to eat you’ teeth, but I didn’t get too good of a look at them. Each mounted was leading another mount (making 6 total lizard thing) “We were attacked, my friend is badly hurt.”

“You don’t look like anyone from our city, what province are you from, and why are you here in Rek' territory?”

“We aren’t from around here, we are travelers of sorts.” Nora pitched in. As one of the men on foot approached, he was older then the man we spoke to, but it was hard to tell how much because his face was badly scared, I would say from one of the “Rek” things. Scared man ignored Nora and I and went straight for Jessica, who went from ‘high alert’ to ‘cornered beast’ mode.

“I’m not going to hurt you or her, I just want to help” He raised his hands as a sign of peace. Jessica nodded with a reluctant agreement. I watched him with equal suspicion but something cold touched my cheek. Mr. Badass want-to-be turned my gaze with his gun. He was picking on me because I was closest.
“If you are travelers then where are all of your things?” He asked, clearly all too proud to be observant enough to notice that we were empty-handed and therefore call our bluff.

“We were robbed a while back; we have been looking for a town.” Nice save Nora.

“Then why did you hide when you saw us?” A man on one of the mounts asked. d*mn.

“W-we…” Nora trailed off.

“Let them be Jed, their just kids.” Another man on a mount added. Gun man (who I assumed was Jed) snorted.

“Kids who are lie’n”

“Either way they are in trouble and unarmed.” Another ground-man added and there was a grunt of agreement from the third mounted guy.

“They could be Golems” The mounted man who spoke first suggested off hand.

“Golems cant and there for don’t bleed.” The man who was examining Daniele growled gesturing at our various wounds. “Let's get these kids the hell out of here before the Rek'nagh’s mom finds us, we can sort who they are and why they are here when they have been treated!” That man seemed to be a voice of leadership (and reason) for all the others nodded and even Jed lowered his gun enough to where I wasn’t afraid of losing my head. “Good, no what is your name?” he looked at jess.

“Jessica…” she muttered

“Okay Jessica, My name is Del, I am going pick this young lady up and take her back to my mount and get her to our doctors as soon as possible. I want you to ride with Lem who will follow me okay?” when he mentioned Lem’s name the youngest guy who addressed Jed nodded.

“Okay.” She stood and watched as the nice-guy Del picked Daniele up with great care and she headed towards Lem and his raptor-mount.

“Wait, we are coming to, you are not going to split us up!” I stepped forward and good ol’ Jed jammed his barrel against my breastbone.

“Seriously Jed, stop showing off in front of these pretty ladies, you’re just pissing them off. Of course you will follow too.” Lem snapped at Sir Blockhead. “Blondie, you go with Ker” The one who thought we were Golems started to protest but was silenced by Del’s glare (he was now mounting his lizard steed and adjusting Q so that she wouldn’t fall). “And the brunette can go with Mar” the silent one nodded.

“I really don’t think we should trust them.” Jed muttered.

“I could say the same thing.” I snapped back then bit my tongue, inner voice Meredith; it’s not supposed to be said aloud.

“Don’t worry; I swear that no harm will come to any of you unless you give us any reason to think that violence is needed.” Del reassured.

Well, I guess it could have been worse, we could have had to fight that Rek’nagh thing… wait… that was a baby?

[Feathers]

Chapter 4 (part 1)

Mental Journal- Day 1

I herby begin this journal to document the happenings of my daily life in this strange, skewed world, so that if by any chance some weary traveler stumbles upon it after I am gone, they may know my story.

…

. . .

. . . .

.

[Save]

We have finally gotten to the village. They carried Q away into some large building towards the center of the city. We tried follow, but that Jed dude refused, telling us to leave healers to their work. Peh doctors… if they could even do anything for her now. My sister was crisped. Almost half of her skin seemed burned off from contact with those high voltage telephone wires, not to mention the internal damage. As Dr. G would say, that is pretty darn incompatible with life. But for now, she WAS unbelievably alive, and she better stay that way. If wouldn’t look good for the leader of the world to die before she had conquered it. Or worlds. Or wherever in the universe we were…

Ash falls here like rain. The locals are kind enough, but we are obviously outsiders. It’s probably only the belief that we won’t act while one of injured is in their hands keeps them from throwing us out. It is weird to be thought of as dangerous, kinda fun really if you push reality aside. I feel strong. Crazy strong. And for the first time in nine years I can see without looking through prescription glass. All wonderful things, IF you discount Mer’s bunny ears, and Norara being able to pull a keyblade out of… where? Yanno, I don’t really want to know.

The past? I try not to think of what happened, or what finding Q, Mer, and Nora as the only other inhabitants of our city implies. Maybe it was a mass abduction by aliens… yeah that sounds good.

[Feathers]

Chaper 4 (part the two)

Right now we are sitting over a nice cup of, well what I would like to imagine as tea, although it has strange spices in it and is quite a bit thicker.

“Well what now?” Mer asked as we stared over the cups.

“Indecision club votes it’s Nora’s turn to decide. All in favor say ‘Aye.’” Indecision win.

“Ha. It’s not really our choice though is it?”

“Yeah. I would say we are stuck until Q is better.”

Ah the heavy silences…

A short woman bustled into the open pavilion where we were sitting. Much in this city was either built like party rentals, quick to assemble and take down, or built from the sturdy rock of the landscape. Both the tents and the actual buildings were at a nice slant to discourage the snow like soot from collecting. Probably wouldn’t want to catch those snowflakes on your tongue, eh?

The woman had the “I’m your favorite plump aunt” stature, but her eyes were as hard as granite and she was lugging a large spade-like object, a mad hybrid between a shovel and a boat, behind her without a bit of effort. She rested it carefully against one of the tables before turning to inspect us, as we sat bewildered at her sudden appearance.

“You the strangers that came in with the injured?” the lady questioned with an air of authority. “You are a scruffy lot aren’t ya. Misshapen a bit too, that one.” She pointed at Mer, whose ears seemed to stiffen a bit at the insult. “Heh. Well, while you are all so comfy, let’s get a few facts straight so we don’t have anymore misunderstandings, eh? Where did you come from? Why are you traveling in our lands? And how in the name of Craw did your little friend nearly get herself killed?”

“As we said we are traveling and were robbed. We have been looking for a town to gather some more supplies in and find help for our friend who got seriously hurt in the robbery.” Nora supplied.

“Don’t feed me lies. That girl did not get those wounds from any weapon I know of, and the magma pits around here don’t burn the skin like that. If she was magma swimming, she wouldn’t even have an appearance of skin or muscle” The woman gave a grim smile. “Now I want the truth, or out you all go, back to the Rek’, or travelin’, or whatever you are really up to. But you should know, if you have met the thieves of this land, they are nothing compared to the scavengers outside the walls of this city. Those are a desperate people, and given the state that you are in you wouldn’t last five minutes among their kind. So the truth now if you please.” She folded her arms and waited, glaring.

Nora turned to look at us, and shrugged helplessly. I returned the gesture, neither stories nor lying while keeping a straight face were my specialty. We both turned to Mer. Who gave us a don’t look at me stare. Getting kicked out of the only place with a semblance of civilization didn’t seem like the smartest strategy in the world.

Nora turned back to the grumpy middle aged demon. “Truthfully, you know as much as us. We don’t know what we are doing here or where HERE even is. All of this came on us kind of fast. We just know we aren’t in Ohio anymore Toto.”

The plump sturdy woman raised a dark eyebrow. “I am Sul not ‘Toto’. And I suppose that is a good of an answer as any I am going to get from you. Much better than your lie, at least. Keep your secrets, but don’t try anything funny. Your comrade is still under our care.”

Nora turned slightly away so Sul couldn’t see her roll her eyes and mutter. “It’s a figure of speech, lady…”

“Well since that is mostly worked out, is there anywhere nearby we can refresh ourselves?” I inquired lightly. We were all covered in soot, the soot that covered just about everything in this strange world. My shirt also still had the large chunk torn out of it where… I squeezed my eyes shut. No use thinking about things you can’t change or help with. Can only stand by uselessly as…

“Also, lodging perhaps? Until we can find out how to return home, and our friend gets better. We don’t have any money, but perhaps we can make it up to you?” Mater taking care of the essentials for us little uns.

Sul gave her grim little smile again. “That was another thing I came to discuss with you. I have talked with the other Heads, and they have decided that, if your story checked out, you could work off the medical cost and other living expenses. I was going to give you a day’s rest and allow you some access to our precious water, but since I still don’t trust you and your story was less than respectable, you will start immediately. You will be getting dirty anyway, might as well wash it off all at once, eh?”

Another shared glance, of despair this time. We were all dead tired. Probably a little less than we should have been with our new ‘power’s’ strength adding to our own. But after all we had been through; I found crawling under five layers of blankets in the fetal position for a few days to be high on my wish list. But we really were at the mercy of these people.

“What exactly does this work entail?”

Sul’s smile widened into an all out grin. “You shall be sweeping the soot,” she said dramatically, gesturing to the hulking shape of the boat-shovel behind her.

A glance outside to the six inch drifts of soot and back to the shovel brought the difficulty of the task home.

Well this was going to be fun.

[End Mental Journal 1]

[Q]

Chapter 5
Part1

((Next part will be up in a few days..I hope))

---

The first package was delivered with few problems, most notably figuring out how to use the stupid compass gps thing. After a few minuets of figuring out that is displayed a small map of the area and centered on my position somehow, delivery was simple. Soon after I returned, full of questions demanding answers, I was shoved out the door once again. Repeat ad infinitum. I do not remember how many things I delivered: packages, letters, things I have no idea of just what they were.

By sundown, at least I think it was sundown as the ambient light dimmed and the glow from the volcanoes and lightning storms from the ash clouds grew seemingly brighter, I was exhausted, hungry and very cranky. The assistant who have been shoving me out the door with something every opportunity got the full effect of my death glare. She ignored it without a blink. I am going to assume that she became resistant to it as it grew throughout the day. What kind of hospital throws its patients out on the streets going hard labor all day just after recovery, anyway?

"The mess hall is on your left," she told me as I opened my mouth to protest my harsh treatment.

I pointed my finger at her, wanting to give her a piece of my mind, and a small spark shot out.

"Freakin' static!" It didn't hurt, but it was getting annoying by this point. It was like everything I touched discharged and it was getting more frequent throughout the day. "This dry air is driving me nuts!" I stormed off to the mess hall, leaving the assistant to once again ignore me.

----

The food was disgusting in both look and smell. Very few people actually were in the mess hall, wisely avoiding the biohazard area that occupied most hospital cafeterias. "It must be universal," I muttered aloud before it hit me through the exhaustion that yes, I was indeed on another world.

I stumbled a step as the idea caught up to me. Holy crap, I was on another world. I looked around for something, anything familiar. Or perhaps even slightly familiar, like those long pointy ears residing at one of the only occupied tables. I walked over only to nearly drop my tray again as I was tackled on three sides with happy and relived shouts of "Q!"

One glomp is easy enough to counter. Two is manageable if you have at least one hand free. Three glomps at once, and me being completely exhausted, was unavoidable.

"Let me go," I ground out between clenched teeth. Too much to deal with in one day. I was hungry and tired and really, really irritated.

----

It took relatively little time to convince them to let go, and with a few reassurances of 'yes, I was okay' and 'no, nothing is bothering me' and 'yes, for the last freakin' time I am okay now let me eat' I was able to finally consume the slop touted as dinner.

Then, not long afterward, I almost fell asleep in the leftovers. The nurse attendant, aka the assistant, aka the hell-spawn that refuses to answer questions with anything besides another package, came in and escorted me out, claiming that I needed my rest and that I was not fully recovered.

Then why have me out all day running around this wack-job of a city?

The next few days passed similarly. Me being woken up, shoved out the door with something, come back, rinse, repeat. Blah blah blah.

Halfway through the second day I met another messenger. She took pity on the 'newbie' as she and the other decided to call me, and showed me the 'ropes' so to speak. The buildings, at least the ones with outward facing walls, had staircases build into the stonework of the sides. These weren't fire escapes as I had assumed at first glance, but ways ONTO the roof. The roofs were the safest place in case of a Rek' breaking through the barrier. Not that I knew what the barrier was, but the information was good to know.

I then was taken on a tour between the buildings. The random corners and twists felt like a labyrinth, while the buildings towered overhead as walls blocking the meager sunlight. At the very center of the building cluster was a small open clearing, stocked with medical supplies and ammunition. This was the second safest place from an attack, since the Rek' were too big to fit through most of the passages.

The narrowness of the passages and the rooftop access made for quick travel in case of an emergency, or, as they explained to me, quick delivery trips. The faster I delivered, the more I'd earn and finally get to pay off that medical bill (and the extra cost they were adding to stay there as we had no other lodgings).

---

(To be continued. I'll get back to everyone else in the next part.)

[Q]

Chapter 5 Part 2

---

It is amazing how fast things become routine. By the fourth day I had been awake, a week for the others, I was navigating the rooftops with ease delivering messages as fast as I was able (yet somehow that assistant never ran out of things), and by the end of the day I was always exhausted and barely able to talk with Mer, Jess or Nora. The static problem had been getting worse as well, but at least it was amusing as I usually ended up shocking the assistant as she shoved the next item in my hands.

This day I felt stronger than I had, more awake, and by dinner I was not the growling, tired beast I had been. In fact, I was almost up for conversation. However it seemed that today had been rather bad for the others. They came covered in black volcanic ash, dragging their feet slowly across the floor.

"Bad day?" I asked.

Mer and jess shuffled towards the food line while Nora answered me, "There was some sort of land slide, or ash slide, or something. Mountains of ash drifted into the corridors near the west edge. The hospital is on the east edge, so we walked clear across town, dug out very narrow areas, and we're still not even half done!"

I wiggled a finger in my ear, trying to regain hearing in it after Nora's shout. "That bad, huh?"

Mer and Jess had returned, carrying an extra tray for Nora. "Yeah," Mer replied, "and they want us back out there in a two hours. The drifts have covered part of the fence and they need us, and everyone else to uncover it as soon as we can."

"That's because the Rek'naghs are nocturnal," Jess added in. Typical of her to know the local widlife.

"Should I help?"

"Um, I think they needed an extra lookout to see if any Rek' were coming. I'd do it but they need me digging. Did you know I can sorta see in the dark now? And my eyes glow a little, too." She continued, while both Mer and Nora sent a small glare her way.

"Jess, just where do you get your energy?" Mer grumbled back, burying her head in her arms with her ears sticking straight up out her mass of ash covered hair.

We finished eating in silence, letting Mer and then Nora try and get some rest. Jess and I tried a small game of 'Let's get Mer's ears to twitch' before a bloodshot glare and a crackle of something (it felt dark, weak but dark) made us stop.

I pointed to the spheres on Jess's belt while we waited for the others to wake up (or the time to wake them up, they had about twenty minuets left to nap). "So what are those?"

"I don't know but this one feels warm and this one feels hard," she replied pointing to the right an left respectively.

"Of course it feels hard, its a solid, unless they were made of jello, which if it came from here would probably be hard anyways."

"No, not like that. Um, like a barrier or wall or something. Uh, steady? Supportive? I don't know."

"Can you use them?"

"How?"

"Uh, I dunno. Try focusing on that sensation when you hold them."

"I've tried that," she responded.

"Do that and focus outwards. On a target or something."

"Okay," she said, grabbing the one on the right. I felt the air grow warmer.

"Not on me! Not on me!"

"Fine," she said with a sigh. Once again I felt the air grow warmer, this time above the tray in front of me, then foosh, the tray was on fire.

There was a frantic minute of trying to put it out, but soon all that lingered was the scent of burnt food, which had already been in ambiance in the nearly deserted cafeteria.

"Uh, let try the other one and hope its not rocks falling from the sky."

Jess once again grabbed the right one. "The other one Jess. We can play more later." She didn't listen.

"It feels stronger somehow."

"Oh, whatever." Had twenty minuets gone by yet? I leaned against the table and promptly made the question moot as the static discharge that was plaguing me shocked the remainder of our group awake.
"Oops. Uh, Jess is a pyro." I said really fast, almost slurring everything together. Mer was doing that irritated dark feeling thing and Nora was grumpy. Jess was kinda smiling like a loon, with a very dangerous new toy. "I gotta go get ready," I finished and ran out the door.

---

(I didn't go as far as I could have, but this seemed like a good place to stop.)

[Wolves_Cry]

Chapter 6
(part 1/2)

---

The first day is always the hardest, they say. We dug deep into mounds of heavy ash one shovel full at a time, hour after hour, day after day. The second, third, and fourth day are the hardest; by the fifth you are too sore to feel much anything else. Back home I never much though myself as being weak, not that I was ever a weight lifter but I did enough physical labor to where I was not pathetic. At least I didn’t think I was. After simply seeing some of the other ash movers, many of whom were also women, I realized that I was actually a little useless.

Not that I was going to complain. After all, they fixed Q, patched us up, and were even kind enough to use their technology to fix my eyes as I had lost one contact. Without money of this or even our home world it was only natural for us to work off the debt of my friends care. All the same, shoveling ash from rusted dawn to crimson dusk isn’t that fun, but d*mn did I get some muscle and endurance and ohmygodIwasinsomuchpain.

After people stopped avoiding me (never figured out if it was because I was an outsider or if because I had fricken foot long ears!) I managed to learn more about the town and the world. It seemed that the volcanoes have been burning near three hundred years and the humans (humans yes?) adapted, survived, and thrived, though lost most of all sense of unity. The towns and cities are wide spread and independent for the most part with their own form of government. Here the hunters were in charge the, the scared, old, and nicer one, Del seemed to be the chief and the others his minors. The head doctor was fairly important too, both seemed to respect each other’s professions so little animosity existed between them. Bother were nice enough to politely tell me to bugger off If I asked too many questions.

Jed on the other hand made a point to watch us like a vulture, waiting simply for one of us to do something that would warrant violence. I didn’t have the heart to inform him that I could probably rip his head off with my pale ass clawed hands and purple static-ness, or perhaps I just figured it would be better to leave that topic alone. In fact Nora, Jess, the occasional grumpy Q and I never spoke much about it, at first it was because we were too tired, then because Jed hovered over us, now when we all seemed to fall into an uncomfortable routine to keep the panic at bay no matter how much I wanted to know I couldn’t bring myself to break it.

All the same as time passed and I felt the shadows grow every time I grew angry, like collecting dark eco in the game the more I moved around the world the more I feel it grow. Not that I was getting dangerous or homicidal, just a tad touchier and a little more afraid to get mad. They wouldn’t like me when I was angry…
By the end of the week Jed was dragged away by his wife being scolded for harassing children while they did honest work and he slacked off being a pain (new favorite person, why yes indeed) so we had peace and I could at least attempt some form of sleep after spending a good long time trying to shift a mountain of ash. Despite the need to rest I could empathize with the people’s desperation. Outsiders we may be but they could very well have left us to die. Raptor-kitties had an open door to us and everyone in the city until the ash is moved.

Tired, sore, sick, and frustrated I picked up my shovel and went back to work.

[Wolves_Cry]

Part 2/3 (there will be one more, I am having fun)

---

We had a few hours yet of sun and my arms shook with exhaustion. Most of the roads had been cleared so we could start working on moving the ash that fell and destroyed the fences and walls. Everyone who could came, even kids with small shovels. Bodies kept busy but eyes watched the horizon as the sun set. There was a scream at the ash piles edge and a few more that followed as three Rek’s about the size of hippos with longer lags climbed their way up and over the drift. They looked angry or maybe it was just hungry either way it made me quite thankful that we ran into a half dead baby when we were injured and weak.

We weren’t weak anymore. Well not as weak.

Far off a bell ran high and annoying made me cringe but there was a task at hand, those who could not fight ran, heading mostly up where the walkways could keep them safer, everyone else took to arms.

“Scatter!” Jessica shouted from not far behind me, grabbing her sisters wrist and pulled her to the left.

“Follow me!” I told Nora heading to one of the guard posts. Lea, one of wives of the ash movers told me a little about their armaments, the guns were designed to take these wee-beasties down every post had a supply of guns. “Have you ever fired a gun before?” I breathed running up the stairs two at a time.

“No, but isn’t that why I have a-“

“You cant use it! Im sorry Nora, but you can’t the heartless will come and we cant fight them off.” I reached to top. There was no one there yet and down below I could hear cries of death, fear, sorrow, and the unearthly howl of the Rek’nagh’s. I fumbled with hatch clasp and wrenched it open three of the guns and some ammo. I handed one to Nora, she looked pale as the orange of the sun started to fade to grey got caught in the relentless fall of ash.

“When did you learn to shoot?” She asked as I nelt at the low wall of the post towards where the sounds of slaughter rose from.

“Paint ball, air soft, nerf, laser tag, take your pick.” I took deep breaths my hands were shaking.

“I don’t think that counts!” but she mimicked my stance.

“We don’t have to shoot them down with assassin’s efficiency or anything, just provide them enough distraction to leave the people without weapons a chance to escape.” Another deep breath there was no scope, no laser guide me. One bound after a group of the Guk’ne (the lizard mounts) another I could see tare into a crowd of people with painful swipes. If I missed I could hit them, but they would die if I didn’t. Steadying myself I took a deep breath and aimed, let it out slowly, and fired. The shot skimmed its shoulders and crashed into the pole behind it, the thing didn’t even notice. I jerked when it fired; when I aimed again I went a little lower. Nora fired too, she hit it in the rear and it shrieked. I fired too, this time hitting in the shoulder, another cry and the creature turned to us. I fired again, miss, miss, hit; I didn’t even know if Nora was still shooting.

The Rek’naugh slammed into the wood scaffolding of the post and it shook, but it held strong. It started clawing at the wood making some of the most horrifying noises I ever heard that almost covered up another shriek from a Rek that was not ours. At least one had fallen. I leaned over the edge and aimed again, this time for the head. I had avoided aiming there simply because it was a smaller target that I was less likely to hit, but at this point I just wanted to not let the post fall, me and Nora with it. Two more shots, with only minor damage done, and I needed to re-load. Just as I leaned back I saw Nora take one more shot, followed her aim and watched the beast’s eye disappear in a spray of blood.

“Are you SURE you never fired a gun before!” I shouted as it fell.

“I was aiming for its chest!” She yelled back looking about as shocked as I felt. We rushed down the stairs again to the mouth of the gap. The good news was that the beasts and commotion moved more ash then we had in several hours, tomorrow we could probably build the wall by noon.

“RUN YOU FOOLS! THEY HUNT IN PACKS OF SIX!” A voice shouted from the walk ways above, I turned to look and saw Del and Jed firing from the roofs past the walls. Nora screamed, or at least I thought it was Nora, I suppose it could have been me as something big and heavy winded me, sending me flying back a landing me hard. Sure enough, two more climbed their way in while a third batted away Nora in a similar pattern to me. Open fire fell on them but these ones moved faster had more markings, dimmer colors. These ones were the leaders, they had no interest in small fries like Nora and I. In their orange eyes I noticed something more than the savage, no wild, hunger the youth possessed. These ones held a primal wisdom that chilled me to the bones.

We were playing with the big boys now.

[Wolves_Cry]

The Rek’nagh’s didn’t split off like the others, they charged for the shooters, one bowed and the smallest of the three jump-frogged of its back. I heard a shout and more shots, looked and saw it grab Del’s arm, and landed on the other side of the buildings with a loud crash. Jed was shouting, shooting, but none of his shots seemed to hit while the one who bowed ran deeper into the city. The third yowled lower than from past the wall more called back. “Well drat.” Its eyes flashed and the area around us grew darker.

“Meredith! NOW CAN I USE MY KEYBLADE?” She shouted as the dulled blue stripped fur grew a little deeper shade of black, and orange eyes glowed. Not waiting for an answer she whipped out that nifty little key. Charged with all whole new level of rage, I felt my skin tingle and in a flash I leapt toward the creature. My claws raked down its side leaving small gashes void of blood just moving shadows turning curling and pouring out onto the ash covered street. Nora struck it across the face leaving similar wounds. I grew less aware of what exactly I was doing. Attack. Destroy.

It moved with a speed terrifying for its size id clawed and bit at us sometimes hitting sometimes missing. Fury kept me going, adrenaline I assume aided Nora. We hacked our way at it without much more thought then the desire to bring the heartless down to its knees, make it vanish in a poof of smoke. I slid under its front paws, raking at its throat with my pale claws and dark static lingered. In anger the heartless pinned me with its massive claws, but it was the distraction Nora needed to land the finishing blow to its chest. The beast roared one last time before it quivered and froze then dissolved into wisps of shadow. Through the haze a small glow rose. The heart, I assumed. It wasn’t cute and elegant like in the game. It was a beating mass of blue and white light that lingered for only a second before it vanished. I felt my body revert back to its normal self leaving a massive head ache and parts of my body I didn’t even know could hurt were left aching.

“Wow. Believe it or not, I didn’t see that one coming.” Nora breathed, not yet sending her key blade away. “I think we have a serious problem Mer, the Heartless were here before I brought my keyblade out. This place is heading to the same fate as our home.” Taking a few deep breaths I accepted her hand and stood.

“We will worry about that later. Go find the others and help them.”

“What about you? Shouldn’t I stay here incase more come?” Didn’t think about that one.

“No, get rid of the heartless first, I will go back up and shoot, I am all but useless now so I can’t support you. Hopefully by killing the heartless the others will shy away until we can get the wall fixed.” She hesitated for a moment, looking much more adult like then I ever remembered, I wondered briefly as she ran off how I looked to her.

When did we grow up? Before our world got swallowed, after we fought the heartless? Was it when we faced the mortality of our friend, when we lied for our lives, when we worked off our debts, while we watched those much younger than us work just as hard? I reached the top of the roofs where Jed tosses me a gun that I reloaded with blistered hands. I could just make out Nora turning a corner to where licks of flame and lightning flickered in the dark night. Were we perhaps always these people, these adults, watching from afar until they were needed? He nodded to a juvenile Rek’naugh that clawed at the canvas that covered the greenhouse and followed his lead in taking aim. In retro spec it didn’t matter. Tomorrow we will have to decide what we tell them, about us, about the world, all the while no longer ignoring what it is we have become. Maybe tomorrow the world will crumble and we will get dumped somewhere else or even get swallowed in the darkness once and for all. That was tomorrow.

Right now I was kneeling on a roof taking aim at a monster even my imagination would once have failed to grasp. Right now I was living a life with danger and adventure; it was something out of a book. I was scared as hell, but me there, with a gun, I couldn’t help but smile. I am a college student who just slayed a shadow beast with my bare hands after turning into a… whatever the hell I am now, and have a raptor-kitty in my sites. I could worry later, now, I live.

[Feathers]

Part 1 of the rest
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dear life,

Now I know, as of late, we have not been on friendly terms. You take a few stabs at me, I weakly flail back at you… but I feel that we always have made up in the end, right? Remember back in the day, when we were REALLY close, and I used to share my ice cream with you(wtf?)? We’ve drifted apart since then, but there are good memories there! Now I know this is asking a lot, and you have been a bit temperamental lately, but would you please get this Rek… err big beastie off of me? And perhaps let me survive the next 5 minutes?

Thank you.
----------------------------------------------------------------
Looking up into the big, slobbering, stinky jaws of death, can really put your life into perspective, give you a high drive to stay alive, and make you nearly piss yourself. Multitasking to the max. Now I’ve never been one to curse, but holding a Rek-whichamacallit’s jaws open and away from your head, with only your newfound superhuman strength to support you puts you in the mood to yell, “HOLY sh*t! HOLY sh*t! HOLY sh*t AND POTATOS!”

How did Q say to make those orbs work?! I definitely can’t go to the task bar and hit magic. “Holy SHIIIIIIT!” I shifted my hand to grab the beast by the nostrils and hold his snapping jaws away as I used the other to clutch at the bag on my hip. You would think they would have made them easier to use, especially if you have BOTH your hands full in battle, trying to survive. Finally my desperate fingers found one of the silly little orbs. Red. Feels firey. Oh yeah. Concentrate on the feeling and focus on your target… Well no problem there. “HOLYSHIT HOLYSHIT!” Fire. Burn.

The Rek’nathing shot backwards as it got a mouthful of pure firey hell. “BOO YEAH! Take that you, YOU!!”

The creature lay still for a moment, then an eye cracked open, and it slowly rose to its feet, shaking off my attack. How cliché. sh*t.

Of course, Jessica you fool, is it EVER a one hit KO in the game? Especially with a wimpy little fire material? Not likely. Well at least I burnt his taste buds off.

Although that doesn’t appear to have made him any happier either… The Rek’mcburntmouth crouched, stalking, its eyes narrowed on its prey. (Woah! They stalk like the big cats! Cool! Oh crap.) I fumbled with the bag on my side, while trying to keep an eye on the Mr. Angry’s progress. “Gooood kitty…. Nice kitty…..ShitSHITSHIIIIT!!” Got it. Second orb. Green. Pretty. Sharp white teeth coming for my unsuspecting face. Not so pretty.

I leapt to the right as the beast took advantage of the opportunity my distraction presented. I felt claw sink into my leg, and send me spinning. I tried to turn the momentum into a roll, but it didn’t turn out as pretty as the movies. Ouch, legs splayed, I had at least taken the blunt of the landing on my forearms and torso, but they were going to hurt to high heaven tomorrow. If tomorrow came.

[Feathers]

Part 2 of the more.
-----------------

Quickly I got my legs beneath me and tried to get the creature in my sights. Never a good idea to have your back towards a predator… watching Animal Planet 24/7 does teach you some things. Frantic I glanced around, and saw the chaos surrounding me. The Rek’damnthings were ravaging everything, and the workers, caught by surprise, were scattering in terror.

I couldn’t spot Nora or Mer or Q amongst the mass of panicking people, and could only hope they had found someplace with better cover than the middle of the ash ridden square, before my own peril came breathing down my neck. Smells like Lady’s feet, ick. CRAP! The green orb felt comforting even as the warm breath of the Rek’sneakypants hit by back and a low growl seemed to stand every hair on end. I could really use some comfort about now. Green… warm… comforting… room.

CLUNK!

A sudden force seemed to push me forward, but yet no deadly claws were ripping my insides out, and no teeth tearing me limb from limb. A tentative glance behind me showed the beast on his haunches shaking its head, dazed. What the…? Oh well! Revenge taking time!~

“Fire in the hole!”

[Norararara]

Part 1/1

__________________________________________________________________________

There are few things in life thus far I've managed to grasp my mind around in which really bothered me. Sometimes life made as much sense as a giant Pink Playtapus and you just had to swing with whatever it managed to throw at you. Live. Adapt. Follow through.

However, the current trend of happenstances were really getting old...

Arriving in Rek, we were left dazed confused, homeless, and besides having each other, we were alone. Finding comfort within some old bags home, we managed to go to work for her to pay for room, board and medication as Q recovered. Hopefully she would be on her feet again soon. Deep down I just wanted to get the others and myself home. Any other sequence in this fantasy trip would have been awesome, but with so little facts it hardly left a settling feeling. Now an element from something I had spent years loving and analyzing to the slightest details, even down to the metaphorical, had been dropped into my lap like finding an infant at your doorstep without even the mention as 'Why'.

Why, d*mn it, WHY??

Any other day, I would have loved this. Being able to summon a Keyblade, acting as the hero- Feeling the rush of Flight or Fight Mode kicking in as the Kingdom Key almost guided my fluid motion. It was weightless in almost away, feeling as natural as if I had been fighting with the blade for years, but some part of my mind craving for logic, wanted to know what the hell was going on.

This world, besides our being here seemed to be in order. Other then the fact you know, we were being attacked by these giant cat-like... THINGS from beyond, we had gone a couple of days with just living and working in their society like nothing was wrong.

Cardinal Rule with traveling to other worlds was simple enough though: Do No Harm. Protect the world Order.

The four of us being there had been enough to rock it though, even by the slightest. Trying to blend in and act like we were simple travelers with an injured friend had pulled through for the most part, but I couldn't help but notice the odd glances. We were out of place, more than travelers from another district or north, south, or weast of here; like Americans in the middle of Japan.

The only thing I could think though was just getting out. Getting home. If this place was well enough, might as well leave it well enough alone and move on. Get the slightest barrings of what the fack was going on, and head in that general direction.

Something was wrong here though. The Heartless were now popping up like daisies in the midst of a full on hunt from what Jed and the others were calling Rek’nagh in the middle of this city on the skirts of Hell-Hole-No where.

...

Heart pounding, and breathing heavily, I uneasily nodded to Merr as she told me to head off and help the others. Psh, yeah, like hell I wanted to go to leave her alone. However as two of the locals stepped and tossed Meredith a gun, I felt a little more at ease.

"Don't miss, and stay safe," I offered with a small smile, hoping her aim would stay true to keep her alive through this. With that I turned heal and bolted back into the town. My mind raced along with me as quickly as my heeled boots could carry me.

"Jessy or Q... Jessy or Q..." I asked myself aloud as I continued to sprint. To my knowledge the inn keeper, Sal, who was watching over Q had looked fair enough where she could batten down the hatches. I figured that the people were trained well enough to survive here against the fluffy beasts from beyond, so Sal could take care of herself and the inn if needed. Hopefully, just hopefully the Heartless wouldn't get through.

'Jessy it is then,' I thought to myself in a hurry, as Shadows started to pull themselves from the streets, materializing out of dark casts of walls, barrels, and street lights. I bit the inside of my lip in annoyance, before the Keyblade flashed into my hand once more.

"Outta the way!" I yelled at the top of my lungs before flinging the blade towards them. In a blur of white light, stars, and flashes, the key flung out like a spinning boomerang and cut through the monsters, before flashing into my grip once more.

'Cool, it does work,' I thought to myself, still getting used to the blades functions. Hell- would this mean I could eventually use other attacks like Ragnarok?

'Hell I should probably work on some catch phrases to while I'm at it- FOCUS!' I yelled at myself before breaking into a run once more. I had to find Jessy.

((tell me if i need to edit or add more x3;; ))

[Q]

Chapter 9
(part 1)

---

After running into the evil nurse assistant on my way out she insisted on accompanying me, "to make sure that I wouldn't over exert myself during recovery." There were so many things wrong with that statement, and their idea of 'overexerting' myself that I just ignored it. She wasn't taking no for an answer anyways.

"They'd be far better off with two lookouts than one," or "A nurse would be handy if someone gets hurt," or "Shut up, you're not getting rid of me anytime soon," or "We're here already."

Oh hey, we were. The ash pileup was far worse than I imagined. The main mound towered over the workers digging frantically, trying to unbury the connections on the wall that would provide the anti-Rek barrier. Something I presume was some sort of electric fence since the walls did not look very substantial. As we climbed the building that was to be out lookout post, the annoying nurse unfortunately still behind me, something felt off about the entire area. Like something was missing. I hadn't noticed it before, but the glaring absence of this 'sound,' for lack of a better term, that I could hear throughout the city threw me off.

"Just what the hell is going on?"

The final few hours of daylight were dull. The Rek' were nocturnal and wouldn't show up while the sun was out, if they showed up at all. The annoying nurse attempted to make conversation whiel keeping me from attempting to join in the work out of sheer boredom. She probably told me her name at some point but I forgot it by the next time she opened her mouth.

"Have you ever shot a gun?"

"Once."

"Where are you from if you've never shot a gun?"

"I said I shot one once."

"Once is hardly using a gun."

"So?"

"I was simply wondering what kind of society would let someone out so uneducated."

"I never needed to use one."

"That's no excu--- Uh oh"

"Uh oh? What 'uh oh'?"

"Well you're going to learn how to use them right now. Because here they come."

Somewhere, a bell began ringing. Three Rek', well I could only assume they were Rek since I'd never seen one, bounded over the ash pile still covering most of the wall. The children ran frantically into the labyrinth corridors. The people screamed as they were attacked unawares. The bell just a few seconds too late. Oh gods, the screams.

I stood on the rooftop stunned as the three Rek' tore through those shoveling, and gunfire began to crack out over the night.

"What are you waiting for? Shoot!" The nurse shouted at me, shoving a gun into my hands as three more Rek', larger and darker than the rest, ran through the same opening. The resumed shooting aiming at the large shapes below.

The gun grew warm in my hands, sparked crackled across it for a moment, and on reflex I threw it off the roof, fractions of a second before it exploded. The nurse looked at me with a confused expression as I stared blankly at my now singed hands.

"What in the world?" she whispered. I could not tell if she was referring to what had just happened or to the shadow that was pulling itself off the floor and forming into a humanoid shape. I didn't have time to care as the shadow sprouted glowing yellow eyes and leapt at me.

Gunfire echoed through the rooftop, and I don't know what I was doing. I put my hand up to block, wanting it to stop although I had no weapon to defend myself. Bullets were having little effect. Thunder magic works on heartless, right? (Oh no, not reliving that one again.) Just one little spark. Just enough to be able to get away. Just one little spark.

There was a crackle, then everything went blue, and then the thing was gone, wisps of shadow evaporating from the flash of light. I picked myself up off the ground, (I don't remember falling) the hand I used to block still out in front of me. The nurse stared, the shadows playing up and down her face made the expression difficult to decipher. Was it fear, horror, disgust? I don't know. I was busy fighting down a little bubble of mania, that deranged urge to laugh, as I watched the sparks play up and down my arm.

---

Notes: The 'sound' is unique to Q at this point, I couldn't think of a better way to describe it.

Part 2 will be coming soon.

[Q]

Chapter 9
(part 2)

---

I knew what this was.

I couldn't believe it, but I knew what this was.

It was impossible. Completely impossible. I must be dreaming, but no we went through this already didn't we? I'm not dreaming. For the last time I'm not dreaming, all this is real. I am on another world. Heartless are real. And, oh gods, that's what the dream was wasn't it? But how could that even be possible? A dream cannot give you powers.

Can it?

What was happening? The sparks ran up and down my arm, no arms, both of them were now covered in blue flickering sparks and I was trying my hardest not to hyperventilate or breakout in deranged giggle fits. Neither would help the situation.

A flash of fire erupted from below along with the pained screams of the Rek? A person? The pained screams of something, much louder over the overall noise of fighting. I looked over the edge, completely forgetting about the nurse frozen in the corner.

Another flare lit up the night and a shout of "Fire in the hole!" and the beast, I knew it was the beast this time, let out the most horrific shriek of pain. I covered my ears, for a second wondering why the sparks weren't shocking me before the shriek abruptly cut off.

A flash of silver spinning back into the night was all I could make out before Nora ran into the light to check on the person fighting the now dead Rek'. It was Jess. She was bleeding. Bleeding, and I was doing nothing.

"That must have been one of the real ones," I heard Nora explaining to Jess from below, before there was another flash of silver as the keyblade cut the approaching heartless in half. "Three of them are heartless. Mer and I killed one, but the other two ran off this way. Are you okay? Where's Q? Wasn't she with you?" She seemed breathless and panicked.

Jess, too, seemed worn out, or perhaps just coming off the adrenalin high that came from being in mortal danger. "The evil demon kitty got my leg. Its not too bad I think. A cave's done worse to me. And this is my new best friend, and my other new best friend." Jess proudly held the two green orbs aloft. " Fire and Thud saved my life. Oh yes they did." She seemed to snap out of her post battle daze.
"Wait, more of them? Aw, wasn't the one enough? Oh and I think Q was on the roofs last time I saw her. I was kinda occupied with HOLY sh*t TEETH to keep track of things like that."

In order to stave off the panic from the two that was likely to come I decided to head toward the ground and reveal that yes I was in fact okay and rather touched that they were worried about me. Provided I wasn't giggling by that point at the sheer insanity my life had suddenly turned into.

I really should remember that the ground is NOT SAFE. No sooner than I had placed my foot on the ground then an enraged roar followed by nine feet of black fur covered body came bounding around the corner.

It stopped for the briefest of moments, staring directly at Nora. The light reflected off the keyblade in her hand, and then it was charging.

"CLIMB!" I screamed, taking my own advice and shooting up the staircase like a rocket.

I heard a clang and realized that I wasn't being followed. Nora was bracing herself, her entire body weight on the keyblade, keeping the snarling Rek' from approaching. It lasted an instant. The Rek twisted its head,shifting the leverage and sending Nora flying off balance.

It turned its head back and got a face full of fire courtesy of Jess. "Take that!" She shouted before getting batted away like a fly.

"This one's a heartless," Nora shouted as he brought the keyblade up to defend from another attack.

"I kinda figured that from the glowing eyes, the other one didn't have those," Jess replied.

There they were fighting that monster, and what was I doing? Absolutely nothing, just hanging from a wall, watching.

No way in hell I was going to watch them die.

Alright. I know what its like, right? Just aim. And shoot.

I pointed my palm forward and willed everything I had directly at that beast.

*KRAK-KOM*

Lightning blazed across the distance in an instant. The heartless Rek' yelped as its shadow muscles twitched uncontrollably. Nora swept in with her keyblade and stabbed it directly in the chest, and then all that was left was a lone pulsing orb floating off into the sky.

I felt drained, weak. My vision was all fuzzy. I needed something. But where?

That 'noise' was screaming in my head, drowning out all else. I headed toward it, not really noticing Jess picking up a small green object like her others, nor that both her and Nora were now running after me with worried looks on their faces.

It took me to the fence, the undamaged section not far from the battle. I looked at it. It was glowing. It had something I needed. So I reached out, and pulled, and took it.

Electric blue came screaming out and back into me.

---

In case you haven't figured it out by now, that 'noise' is electricity.
Also somewhat disjointed because Q is going through a major mental breakdown. Gaining superpowers after nearly dieing and being on a different planet where the wildlife is trying to kill you, in addition to the heartless is a major mind screw.

[Wolves_Cry]

*sorry it took me so long!*

CHAPTER 10 (1/2)

---

“What the hell are these things?” Jed shouted over the roar of his gun. He was shooting at little annoyingly childish looking bouncy creatures of claw-tastic shadow, called Shadows with a wonderful skill of originality. I had debated for a moment rather the truth or denial would be better. Telling him their name wouldn’t help him fight them nor make the bullets more effective in killing them but it would state that I know what they are and therefore more than likely move me back into the “not enemy, but not friend” square. It wasn’t dangerous to be there, not as long as I was watching his back, but desperate people look for scapegoats. I had a funny feeling that I was not only going to turn into an angry purple static elf but also goat. However lying could make the future a little on the awkward side.

“Keep shooting!” Was the best I could do and the second wave of heartless smoothed the cover up quite well. I had abandoned my gun, not that I hadn’t gotten rather good with it, just that mine was long distance designed for one or two enemies. At some point Jed had handed me a blade with a thin base that widened out to a broader end the closest thing that came to mind was a cleaver or even maybe an axe. If I had had any kind of weapons based training then I may not have found it so clumsy to use but I stopped caring when I realized it was more effective then Jed’s combustion shots though less in comparison to eco-me. Before long Jed stopped shooting and pulled out some cruel looking blades and pulled off moves that would put Bruce Lee to shame.

It was only after the second wave thinned that I opened my senses beyond the fight before me and noticed two things: one, the heartless were not pulling themselves out of the shadows like the neo-shadows did when home got nomed, they instead rushed in from the still broken gate. Two; I wasn’t tired. Sore, oh yes getting knocked around like a ping-pong ball by a cat lizard shadow monster does that, but not tired. It wasn’t until I split a shadow right between the glowing eyes that I noticed a small portion of the cloud it vanished in slip up my arm and vanish into an open wound, causing a hardly noticeable static. My shriek lost me all forms of combat advantage and I dropped my blade, that hand was too busy clawing at my arm. It was by pure dumb luck that the heartless were thinned enough that I didn’t lose my heart right then and there.

“GET THE KOR UP GIRL!” A gruff voice shouted as rough hands grabbed the scruff of my neck, pulling me up without much difficulty. Del pushed the blade back into my hands.

“You’re alive!” Captain obvious, but he did get tackled by a heartless big enough to eat him.

“You won’t be if you don’t clear your head girl!” He nodded to the gate where I could just barely make out the little forms of shadows approaching. If only the gate was fixed, maybe the electrical current kept them out? Why couldn’t I have been a sun god? Fur I could have gotten use to, four feet too. With one quick brush stroke this problem could be solved! Or maybe this was just a single point of access and the whole town was getting de-hearted now. Right. Optimism.

I looked at my arm and a quick flex of my hand to make sure it was still mine. I didn’t want to fight those shadows, not if it meant that would happen again. The scary part was only a small portion thought it was wrong, the rest of my mind didn’t seem to mind, like it was as natural as breathing, pulling in darkness like air. In the games, the works of fiction, the character who was like that got eaten by the darkness. Oh fun, I get to be the cliché. Fun is an F word.

*minor note, I figured they have not "hell" as in if they had religion they would probably call their underworld something other then hell so I chose Kor...*

[Wolves_Cry]

Any fear to fight was forgotten with the next significantly smaller wave. I had gotten rather good at hitting what I was swinging at and there were less new bloody gashes on my limbs to show for it. While I was yet to get tired to the point that I could not fight the strain on my body was slowing me down, weakening me. It was a little like a battery in a braking machine, limitless energy but no way this flesh bag was going to survive using it. The other form didn’t have any limits.

Why were their numbers thinning when I could see beyond the gate a sea of small yellow eyes, like fireflies, dancing at the edge of my sight? Why weren’t they charging in greater numbers? The heartless that were attacking weren’t coming from the gate, they were the ones in the city already. They were going… Ah well f*ck. They were going TO the gate. Well, observation failure on me, they were attacking yes, because we were standing between them and something.

A loud howl stopped me dead, nearly dropping me to my bruised and cut knees. On the topic of F words, what in god’s name is bad enough to make heartless flee from it.

As if fate decided to appease my curiosity something roughly the size of a mobile home rounded the corner beneath its car sizes claw-paws shadows swarmed in and out of the darkness that pooled around it. This thing was once a heartless Rex, well technically it still was, but it was much more of a Neo-Rek, its flesh (is that what it should be called?) was still the same shade of blue that the grass lands harbor but rather than the normal stripes it had fare more intricate designs of the same dark blue/black. I would have found them absolutely beautiful had I not been so scared, but the neo- rek was most definitely breathtaking.

Then it went and ruined the moment by gobbling up the heartless that were scurrying around it with the vicious jaws. It snapped and chased after them with a determined hunger. “It eats the shadows to get bigger…” Del whispered behind me as Jed grabbed my arm.

“We have to get out of here; we are no match for that thing!” Jed was right, we couldn’t kill it not the three of us with knives and axes and guns. Not even with the darkness that waited ever so patiently for me to call it out. Yeah, running sounded good. We stepped carefully back to the buildings, that which runs is automatically prey, we could run when out of sight. What seemed like much longer then it really was we slipped into the closest alleyway.

“up or down?” I whispered, clutching my cleave and realized that the blisters on my palms had mostly ruptured. Down would take longer but provide more cover as well as hiding places, up meant quicker passage but being in plain sight sure we would be protected from any Rek’s but at the moment they were the least of our concerns.

“Down.” Del let me slid past him so I was between him and Jed. Normally I would have chewed him out for treating me like some pathetic little girl, but in comparison to my companions that was what I was. There was probably a time that would have bugged me, being weak, but at the moment I could care less. As we turned a corner at a good paced jog that was making my legs turn to jelly something collided full run with Jed, who called out in shock and fell back to knock the wind out of me. My first thought was “sh*t! REK’NAGH!” but the lack of pained screams made me take a second look. Jed had rolled with the blow and managed to get himself into a suitable defensive possession. Nora, with far less trained grace, somehow managed the same, well something similar.

“Big… Rek… heartless… bad…” I gasped as Del made sure nothing serious wound wise happened.

“We saw.” Nora straightened. “It ate a big batch of shadows that near doubled its size. We need to kill it before it is strong enough to eat the whole world!”

Righteous keybears are going to be the death of me.

[Norararara]

Chapter 11: [part 1 of…. Dunno]

You may be asking? Why play the hero?

All I knew was there was a motion of dark energy emanating through the city. The smell (d*mn that term!) of it had made the hair on the back of my neck stand on end. The ‘gang’ was all back together, for the most part we were well out of harms way but… That Rek from before. The creature had been eating the other Heartless in the area. At first I tried not to think of it, but it felt like its scent was getting stronger. Pulsating darkness, it carried an aura. Why it came off as a potent smell? I don’t freaking know, ask Nomura that! Either way, it left you unsettled, driving through a murkiness of a fog in the dead of night.

Turning heel I bolted. My mind was in high gear, not daring to listen to the others screaming for me to come back. The Heartless were difficult things. If a Keyblade didn’t seal away the captured corrupted Hearts that drove the core of their darkness, then it was possible they’d just spring back to life again. In a sense, they were immortal that way; being pains of asses no matter how a common sword could slice and dice through them, another shadow could pop up and take on the shape of the very thing you had just spent 30 minutes tearing apart. Just another one vicious cycle of a plot hole.

Worse still, this thing’s aura was growing. Its power would be soon to follow unless it was kept in check.

Turning a corner back into the ash covered roads, the Kingdom Key pulsated within my grip. Looking onward the Keyblade had lead me to the center of a vacant square. A few shops had been broken into by the Heartless, shards of glass scattered the street, while a broken electrical fence leading off into the wild had been disconnected and broken. Took me a moment to wonder if where the beast was doubled over, tearing through another of the Neo Shadows. It’s nostrils flared, before it’s yellow eyes turned on me.

Again: You may be asking… Why play the hero?
Good Question. Um…Answer? E: a jar of almonds.

The Rek’nagh stood on its hind legs, and lifted it massive jaws letting out a roar. Crap, was I ever wishing for a reset button.

Blinking once, I turned to my right to see the others not far behind, included with… (oh man, what’s their faces? Dell and Jebidiah? I’m so terrible with names!) Merr skidded to my side, ears tilted backwards that gave me the feeling that she was pissed off. Seeing the Rek fall back onto all fours she let a curse fall from under her breath. “Any more bright ideas?”

“Gimmie a moment,” I whispered, eyes locked on the massive Heartless. Okay think Nora. Think back to the days when you used to memorize gaming guides. Nine times out of ten, where would that weak points on this thing? It escaped me. All that I really had in mind were options. Keyblade, claws and an axe thingy, with fire balls and lightning attacks. “Tank and spank,” I said before I looked back between the others, “Merr, if you and I can pass it’s attention about with attacks, Jessy and Q can wear it down with magic attacks.” Before she could tell me otherwise I turned and did the only thing my loud mouth was good for; Drawing attention.

“HEY YOU! HEARTLESS FOR BRAINS!”

“Ho boy,” Jessy muttered.

[Norararara]

[Chapter 11, Part 2 of dunno]

Round one. Fight!

The Rek’s fangs flared in the dusty clouds of ash, before it started to, oddly enough, stagger forwards. I thought surly this thing would have been in a full blown charge, given the shape and fighting movement of the other. The nearly fifteen foot, hehe big guy ain’t ‘cha? going maybe on twenty, wasn’t probably always this size. Maybe half an hour ago, it had been normal sized; I guess if anything the monster was probably still getting used to its new found weight. Which meant it was slow. AWESOME!

The Keyblade though pulsed again making me stop in mid charge. Another pulse, and the beast’s shadows on the pavement started to spring to life. Tiny sets of round eyes started to twitch into existence followed by sets of antennae, and skittish claws. Common Shadows… Wait.. This didn’t seem familiar.

Looking to the two attackers the Shadows turned and started to leap towards us, more quicker and nimble then the Rek itself. One tackled me head on, surprisingly me pushing me over with a quick claw swipe for its tiny size. The shadow flares that lingered off its claws burned against my skin. Looking down, I saw the marks fade away though the pain still lingered. Still, no blood was a good thing.

“Thank you G rated Disney,” I muttered sarcastically, before swinging the blade hard. Each time another short flash of light knocked against the Heartless as the blade made contact, sending off tiny sparks of stars with it. Two… Three sets of hits, was all it took before the Keyblade finally tore through the creature back to non existence. It faded in a puff of smoke, letting out a small quick screech as it went.

Glancing to Merr, she looked like she was having an easier time. With each swing of her axe, I started to see tiny whiffs of shadows starting to sink into her. With each of her swings, she was starting to move at a faster pace, the twinge of darkness vanishing like she could turn it into energy to power her own attacks. The scent, it lingered though. I hadn’t noticed this at all before, granted most of the time I had been fighting off on my own, but something was off. Another roar from the Rek made me realize I’d have to ask about it later. Probably forget entirely in the process.

Turning to another shadow, I looked up quickly as a white flash of electricity blindsided the normal heartless. The bolt was tiny, but the force behind it was enough to knock the Shadows clear out of our path. “Come on guys; sometime today would be nice!” Q yelled from the side lines. I could only nod to Merr before winding my arm back and hurling the Keyblade towards the beast. The blade spun in a mad spiraling blur as it hit the Heartless off the side of its shoulder, before the blade continued its way off into the city. ‘Back!’ I thought hard, focusing hard on the blade, hand out stretched. Experimental as it might be, he blade followed, flashing in back to my grip in a second. Faithful as always. I let out a short sigh, curling my shoulder back. My aim had been off- hitting the shoulder when I would have liked to hit it right between the eyes… With another throw like that though, I would also be one to throw out my shoulder. ‘Probably should leave the Strike Raids to a minimum…’

Charging in, the Rek moved its head downward following me with its gaze. It started to lean down in a bite attack, before I tucked forwards in a roll, pulling between its massive scale covered legs. It let out a hiss in frustration, before a blast hit the monster hard on the side of its head. The explosive had come from Jessy’s end. Letting a small smirk turn the corner of my lips, I ducked back again as the beast started to turn towards the Fire spell’s direction. When it started to, Merr came down hard within its blind spot with her axe. It snarled, turning on Merr before another short lightning bolt staggered it from the side.

“Yes!” I cried out in excitement. It was working! Hard to believe but it was actually working!
Or so I thought. The Rek, clearly annoyed, let out another snarl, before its tail lashed upwards into the air. It’s fur standing on end, cut against the air, turning into what looked like dark missiles that were fired up into the air. There must have been at least a good dozen of them, as they started to hang in the air, grow, then dart towards us.

‘Crap crap crap, Dodge!’ I thought furiously, rolling again as one nearly scrapped my side. Getting back to my feet, a second blow had landed as the Rek swiped one of it’s massive paws in my direction. The wind was knocked straight out of me as I doubled over. Looking up, I saw the Rek’s massive jaws open above me.

“Nora!” Merr yelled, her speed getting the better of the situation. I felt a hand grab me from the collar of my shirt and drag me backwards. A few fleeting feet away, the Rek’s jaws came down and clamped down on the concret of the square. It shook it’s head in confusion.

“This isn’t working,” Merr started again, eyes locked on the Rek

“I gathered that,” I started before lifting my arm from my side where it’s claws had hit. Blood. Grand.

[Norararara]

[Chapter 11: part 3 of 3]

“Fire! Fire! Fire! FIRE!” I heard Jessy roar from the side lines. One after another the fire blasts went off in the Rek’s face. Snarling madly, the Rek turned again on Jessy, and started a lumbering charge.

“Fire!” She yelled a fifth time but no explosive magic attack followed. “Um… FIRE!” she yelled louder. Nothing.

“Jess! Your mana!” Q fired back at her sister.

“Oh yeah…” Jessy started before looking back to the massive Heartless that had her in her sights. “Nice kitty!”

“Jessy RUN!”

You didn’t have to tell her twice. The Materia she had found might have been powerful, but they were magic based only. If she was out of Mana to summon the energy to use them then she was going to need some time to recover it. Unfortunately the Heartless looked like it was getting used to its new found size and powers by the second. Piss off any sort of animal and it tends to do that. Attack out of instinct in defense and ravenous hunger, and things will get ugly.

Thinking on her feet, Merr and I saw Q’s eyes glance to the broken electrical fence. The cords were an open current cast on the ground, but the power to fense itself had been shut off. The fuse box on the side of the house was closer to the two, now it would seemed, bystanders Del and Jed who looked like they still had yet to pick their jaws up off the floor. Q got a look in her eyes. Her mad scientist idea of sorts look.

“Jess, bring it over here!” Q started to yell, running to the opposite side of the square, going for the electrical fence on the ground.

“HOLY sh*t HOLY sh*t HOLYSHITTTTTTANDMUSHROOMS! COMING!!!”

The Rek followed, its gate gaining, as Jess whizzed past her sister with the open wires in hand. The Rek ignored her for a moment before Q jumped at the beast, landing on its side and planting the wires hard into its side. The Rek let out a small yelp, turning its head to bite at Q to knock her off, but she was well out of its fang’s reach. She could only lean back towards Jed and Del and scream; “HIT ME!”

Jed seemed to pick up on it first. Blinking he looked to the connector box, then back to the Rek and Q, then to the box once more. “But you’ll be killed!”

“JUST DO IT!”

Jed grimaced for a moment before the man darted for the power switch, throwing the flow on with a hard snap. Power shot forth to the current in an instant, before the hot energy shot made contact with the Rek’s skin. It let out a deafening howl in pain, as the live electrical current hit it for a massive punch.

“Q!!”

The out lash lasted for all of ten seconds before, the power box short circuited. Blue sparks went cascading into the air, as the Rek toppled over, stunned. Q went skidding back, hands clutched close to her chest. The electricity jumped between her hands like she was some sort of over flowing battery, but despite the look of pain on her face she was on her feet.
A shift from one of the beast’s haunches, and the monster started to climb to his feet again as well.

“Jesus,” I thought allowed, more stunned to the fact that the Rek was still alive, then how Q looked like she had been almost completely unfazed by the current that was pumping through her. Would this thing not die??

“Nora! Get up on the Rek’nagh’s back!” I heard Jessy call from the side of the square once more.

I nearly fell over. Of all the times- “THIS IS NO PLACE FOR WHITTY PUNS!” I called out.

“No Seriously! Get up on the Rek’nagh’s back!”

Taking a closer look, I saw a thick trail of blood pouring out of the monster's jaws. The shock had taken it's hit, probably more internally and badly. I gave a glance to Merr who nodded back to me. I ran straight for the Monster's hind legs, grabbing it by one of it's hide haunches and hoisted myself up. Spinning the keyblade above my head before stabbing it dead behind it's shoulder blade. The beast reared backwards, causing me to hold tightly onto the blade with all my might not to fall off.

A second later, an axe head hit the beast from the front, making it's mark in the center of it's Heartless insignia. The Beast froze, eyes wide, staring at the sky, before it's fur started to stand on end once more. I flinched, waiting for another dark attack to come flying out of the monster, before I felt my Keyblade come free as it parted straight through shadow. I hit the ground with a thud as the monster started to fade away into black tendrils, a large pink heart floating away into the sky.

Watching it go, my chest heaved, before I flopped over straight onto my back. The pain to my side seemed fleeting.

The damned thing was gone.
So that's why you play the hero.

[Feathers]

*Part 1/365*

I am alive.

Yes. I am in fact breathing. I can see. All my limbs are still attached. My nose was almost a goner, but its still there too. I am alive.

I plan to stay that way. Hopefully for quite a while.

However ash-planet =/= long term survival.

“I vote we leave!”

“You really didn’t have to raise your hand…” Mer held her head in exasperation.

Why so quick to leave you ask?

Well I suppose I could answer. It all started after the battle…

*cue dramatic fade to flashback*

There we were: Battle worn. Blood, and destruction around us. I could almost hear a “Two Steps From Hell” single playing. I still really think the blood should have been little green bouncing balls, they are much more comforting. But little green orbs weren’t coming out of Nora’s side, my sister had been electrocuted… AGAIN!, Mer was looking a bit too evil psycho bunny to be healthy, and the looks Del and the others were giving us definitely weren’t those of joyful comradeism. And the guns he and his fellows were pointing in our immediate direction weren’t emitting feelings of joyful comradeism either.

“What the hell are you?!” Said the friendly gun. “You aren’t going anywhere until we get some answers!”

“I told you they couldn’t be trusted!” Another gun added, jabbingly, to the first.

Wait a minute. The guns lips weren’t moving… Oh yeah! Silly, guns don’t talk. I raised my eyes from those ominous barrels to the faces of Del and Jed.

[Feathers]

“Now wait a minute! We just helped save your asses!” Said pissed Bunny Mer.

“Haven’t we gone through enough today?” Said not-bleeding-green-orbs key wielding Norara.

“Put those down before I make you! (with my super lightning bolt powers!! SHAZAM!!!)” Said no tolerance human electric generator Q.

“BANG!” Said no-nonsense friendly gun.

*Note. This is a flash back from the skewed mind of Jessica. Content may slightly deviate from actual happenings. Especially in the case of her sister’s dialogue. She prays her sister is not a psychic or a mind reader, or associated with the government and torture devices in anyway.*

The shot hit the ground beside Mer’s foot. We all flinched. Frankly I’m surprised we could still have the energy to flinch after all that had happened today. I mean boss battle over right? Now it’s time for the heroes to have a cup of coco and a well deserved rest. Not have former allies point pistols in their face. Where are the boxes to break open?! Where is the sudden relief knowing you got through one battle alive?! I want my save point!

“As I said you aren’t going anywhere, and you aren’t going to spit out anymore lies until we get to the bottom of this.” Del said quietly. “Don’t try anything stupid, especially with those weapons. We can do this the easy way or the hard way… your choice.”

“I always wanted to say that…” Nora muttered.

“We should probably listen to the people with the guns.” Mer eyed the weapons that were still trained on us. There was no way she could pull her own gun before they fired at us. One gun was no contest to what they had on them. She lifted it gently by the barrel and let it fall to the ash covered ground.

“Yeah, yeah” Nora’s key blade disappeared with a flash, as she raised her own arms.

Q raised hers as well… not that that would stop her from zapping their bums… which they probably knew, but the symbol of it still counts for something.

My hands also joined the tribute to the sky. I just hoped they didn’t notice that I had used orbs to fuel my firepower…
Everybody else’s power was internal, but if I lost little red and his brothers I’d be toast.

Apparently they didn’t, or at least they didn’t take my little baggie from me. But Del and pals did tie us up, and none too gently. And the way they led us towards the town center was not all that considerate either, and with sore bodies it was doubly jarring. At least I just had random village warrior #12 handling my bonds. Jed wasn’t up for winning any humanity awards the way he was dragging Mer. Asshole. As if we all hadn’t helped save their village from rampaging Rek.

Del led us to a series of iron cages, probably meant as a jail for their little town. He had his men tie our feet, then threw us into a cell, and stormed off with a purpose toward their council building, leaving two men to guard us.

I wormed around, trying to get in a more dignified position, and saw the others taking similar action.

Q finally got herself to the point where she was sitting. “Well what now?”

[Q]

---

Chapter 12

Part 1/2

---

Breath in, breathe out. I felt the pulse. Aim, shoot, recharge. Aim shoot, shoot, recharge. Fight the blurry vision and pull those few sparks left. I could see them, the blur was gone again. Shoot again, as much as possible. Wisps of shadows left behind. It wasn't enough. My head was going haywire, the glow/humming of the electricity crossing over beyond full discharge. Oh gods, I could see the others. Those little sparks running through them.

Who was that? That was Jess. The sparks are low, out of energy. This isn't working. I just want it to stop. This was insane. We're losing. Wait. What?

I stumbled over something, trying to get to the next glowing source before the Rek realized from where the annoying pains were coming. My eyes followed the wires. Yes, this just might work.

"Jess, bring it over here" I yelled, grabbing the wire. The beast ran past. I jumped on. "HIT ME!"

Wait. Oh, no. Not again. Gotta think these things through next time.

BAM. Everything all at once. EVERYTHING. It was like the mysteries of the universe opened up before me. It was glorious and painful. The electricity was me and I was it.
And then it stopped, leaving me to stumble away from the downed Rek, clutching my still sparking hands to my chest. Seriously, what the hell was that.

Next thing I knew, the Rek was dead and I was staring into the barrel of a gun as Nora stood in the beast's dissipating remains. After a bunch of 'persuasion', I found my hands tied behind my back and was being marched unceremoniously towards the center of town. I suppose there was something to be said of unconscious sparking as the man who tried to tie me up was cursing uncontrollably.


The iron cages they led us to were rusty but clean (at least I hope it was rust). They hobbled us then threw us in, leaving us to rot for helping them.

"Well what now?" I asked, working my way slowly out of the bonds. The looseness of the botched and rushed job made things easier. Like I said, something good about that unconscious sparking.

"You take out the guards and I'll get the others free," Nora whispered to me.

Right, sure, 'take out the guards,' like its as easy as saying it. They were on opposite ends of the cage for cryin' out loud.

"Ehhhh. New plan." I replied, noticing the one guard leaning against the cage. "Keep off the walls."

I'm pretty sure they heard me, I mean they were practically right next to us, so I had to move quickly. I rushed to the first guard and reached through the bars with one hand, while placing my other against the bars of the cage itself. Then I let loose one brief charge.

The guard I was holding crumpled, and a similar thud behind me told me I had managed to get the second before he leaned off the bars. The Iron cage disintegrated around us. Oh please, don't let them be dead.

"I can't believe that worked," came the response from behind me. Nora summoned her keyblade with a flash, the strangely sharp edge making short work of the ropes binding her and the others.

"Are they dead?" I asked in a weak voice, my eyes clenched shut, afraid to look.

I think all of us stood there for a minute, thinking of just what that could mean. It was Mer who checked first.

"This one is still breathing," she said before quickly moving to the other one, "and so is this one."

Mer quickly relieved the guards of their weapons, handing a particularly large shovel sword thing to Jess, who seemed quite happy to take it.

"I vote we leave." Jess said, after admiring her new shiny toy for a moment.

"You really didn't have to raise your hand..." Mer replied.

"Yeah, I wanna go too. Mer make with the portals. Now. Before they come back out."

"Um, I can try?"

---

Not my best. Next part may come tomorrow.

[Q]

---

Part 2/2

---

Mer closed her eyes and breathed. The crackle of energy grew around her, and her skin grew paler, if that was even possible. She raised her arm, spread her fingers, and pulled down through the air, as if ripping through fabric.

When that didn't work, she tried again, screaming angrily while doing it.

"This method obviously isn't working," Nora deadpanned.

"Well why don't you try it then?" Mer snarled back.

"The Keyblade unlocks paths, it doesn't open portals."

"Oh! Oh! I have a plan. Hold still and I'll set you on fire." Jess grinned excitedly.

"And how is that a good plan?!" The rage in Mer was growing, her skin had gone ghost white, and her eyes were becoming in engulfed in black as dark as the shadows we had just fought.

"Well you did the black swishy portal under attack last time, so we gotta attack you and you'll do it right." Jess replied.

"She was also in full 'Other Mer' mode, that time," I added in.

"How the heck do you know? You were comatose."

"I did manage to see that part."

"Fine! I didn't want to go full Dark mode. Its dangerous. But FINE!"

Mer roared as the dark crackling energy took over her form, mutating it further. Pitch black curling horns grew from her head, and her hair bleached in an instant. This would have been terrifying enough on its own, but the flickering overlay of energy in my vision, that hadn't gotten the hint to go away, showed the transformation on a wholly different front. The normal flickering energy that I had just begun to associate with a living person vanished, being replaced by an oily blackness that wanted to consume. I could only imagine what the others saw as she changed.

"HERE IS YOUR PORTAL!" Mer clawed the air for a third time. Her fingers seemed to catch on nothing for just an instant, then shredded the very nature of reality. The world tore, and drifted apart as her fingers trailed through the air. The edges grew wider and wider, threatening to consume the world inside out, before it all stopped and there was a swirling oval of darkness just floating there.

"I don't think I wanna go in that thing anymore." I said. It was. Then it wasn't. Then it was again to my severely screwed up senses. It was getting confusing, and my head was aching, all the sensory input was too much and too fast, and why, oh why, wouldn't it turn off.

"We don't have a choice." Nora replied.

"Don't you think I know that? But its justwrong." I responded.

"No time." Jess said, "They're coming out of the building. Let's go." As she somehow threw the lot of us into the portal, angry Mer included.

The tunnel was dark. I think there were whispers coming form somewhere. I can't see anything. I can see everything. Oh gods, I don't want to see. What's happening to us?

The forest floor under me was a sweet relief, the travel through the tunnel no more than an instant, or so it seemed. (But why did I walk out instead of being thrown? Or stumbling? Jess threw me I know she did.)

"So," I said, as the others also were walking out of the portal, Mer returning to her normal pallor and that ungodly thing swirling away into non-existence, "who gets first watch?"

We were all dead on our feet, but I'd rather be alive, if tired, in the morning, than wake up dead.

"How do you wake up dead anyways?"

"I don't wanna know where that came from, Q. I really don't wanna know."

---

Once again, not my best. I had much more planned, but swapped worlds at the last minute because the boss of that world is better saved for late game. Trust me.
Done, and passing it to the next.

[Wolves_Cry]

Chapter 13
part 1/2

My heart was beating painfully, like it was trying to escape from my twisted frame. Perhaps it was worse because I had a general idea what it was that I was becoming. I had a fairly good idea what I looked like too. I did not like it.

The sensation was a little like pulling out my senses and replacing them with rage. Then there was the satisfied sigh as the, the what? The darkness? The eco? The soul? As the energy wrapped around my frame tore through reality. I had never really had an honest to god addiction before, but I imagine this was like a druggy finally getting a fix. I was relived, contented even, but then there was that heart of mine, pounding away. If it weren't for my heart, I could have said that I was pleased with the tear I made.

Words to describe the tear did not exist. Terrifying, fascination, dark, deep, those things were like calling the sun hot or bright. They were a description, but not a good one. They only touched the surface of the bigger picture. Had I more time to stare at my creation, I may have had a better opportunity to describe it, but we were pushed forward, by Jess I think.

The thought of her brought a new wave of rage. I wanted to lash out and attack. She wanted to set me on fire. My friend wanted to hurt me. I knew it to be a jest, that she would not really harm me. I was angry, that truth seemed so small. So very angry. As we turned and fell, I saw her not far, within arms-length. Her face was blank, emotionless. Eyes looking forward and seeing nothing. So close, she wanted to harm me, kill me.

I am a monster. She wants to kill me. I am not safe. She will bide her time, wait until I am weak or asleep. She will hurt me, kill me. I don't want to die.

I had to kill her before she killed me. I had to kill all of them before they kill me. I raised the smaller shovel-axe. I must survive.

STOP.

I swung the shovel thing at my own arm. It bit deep.

I was normal again. The shovel hung at my side, and my arm was unwounded. The space around me seemed to shutter. I knew that we would find reality again, soon, without my power to keep us there. If I kept us moving we would emerge some place new. God, I hope there are trees.

We were standing, maybe walking (it was hard to tell), in the in-between, and then we weren't. It was a simple as that. For a moment, I regretted not taking a better look, but, as the last of the purple static slipped off my fingertips and dissipated, that regret vanished as well. For the first time in a long time, I was glad I did not know and was even more thankful for the vast stretch of forest we walked out into to take my mind off of things.

It was breathtaking. Before us a rich sea of greens and white spread beyond our sights. Small hills of thick moss and vine plants surrounded us. Most of the trees were so tall that only the bottom layers of branches were visible. The trunks were so large the four of us could more than likely live comfortably in one. Each tree was a near pale white, perhaps a bit more grey then anything. The bark looked smooth, much like silver birches, even when spitting off to form another branch of deep emerald tinted, diamond shaped leaves.

Some of the smaller trees, found in patch of sunlight, were the same white tree, just smaller. Others were a deep black with far rougher looking bark and much lighter jade colored leaves that were near perfect circles. The vine-like plants were even lighter green in color and stood out with drastic contrast to the vibrancy of the forest floor. In some places the vines branched out into a near red, mostly where they got the most sun. They also grew up on their own as if they followed an invisible support. There were many other plants, some with flowers of vibrant oranges, yellows, and reds. Others were more variants of green. Some being fern-like, others more shrub-like.

I could hear birds. They were not songs I could recognize, but the peace was disrupted by flaps of feathers and falling leaves. I looked hard, needing more than anything to see them, to see life, but only blurs were visible. The creatures of the wood wisely avoided the trespassers.

It was like something out of a painting, a dream. I nearly forgot to take the next breath and as I stepped forward into a patch of light and was only vaguely was aware of speech around me. As my eyes adjusted to the sudden light I saw above me a sea of vibrant lavender. No, it was bluer than lavender. Normally, there was not a color like that one.

"Wow..." I breathed, closing my eyes, letting the sun warm my face, and taking a deep breath of ash-less air.

It was pleasantly cool, somewhere between 60 and 65 degrees. The air was so crisp and clean, it cleared me of my daze, and, without dark energy or adrenaline to fuel me, I crashed, hard. I grew light-headed and swayed someone gripped my shoulder. It was Q.

"Well, since you weren’t listening anyway, you're certainly not first guard. Lie down before you fall on someone." She sounded annoyed but perhaps more concerned. She sighed and looked at the rest of the group. "Bah, you spent all night digging. I hardly did anything more than fight, so I'll take the first watch. I'll wake up someone when I get too tired."

I was already on the ground and, not a second after closing my eyes, dreamed of rivers and hikes and trails known and loved.

[Wolves_Cry]

Part 2/2

Nora was the one who woke me up. She looked tired but not as near dead as before. As soon as I opened my eyes she laid down rear my head, with her back to the small fire (when did that get there?)

“Who’s next?” I murmured, sitting up from my comfy patch of moss.

“Q.” She glanced at me, reading my expression. “You went dark more three times, we figured the least we could do is let you sleep some more.” She laid her head back down and sighed herself into slumber. My eyes teared with gratitude but I swallowed it away I had better things to do. Knowing that if I stayed sitting I would probably fall back asleep I stood and stretched. At first my muscles protested each movement but I persisted until most of the pain dulling into a numb tingling. Much better.

The forest had gotten significantly darker from when I last looked, dust was more than likely on its way meaning soon such a dense forest would be nearly black. Go Jessica and thinking ahead, though maybe she just didn’t wanted to have to wake up and do it later. I smiled and sat again. I had done a look out before; it was also at night but on a campus with plenty of lights. Watch and listen. There were no walls to put my back against meaning anything from behind could go unnoticed, I could have leaned against the tree but then I wouldn’t see behind me at all, no it was better to be in plain sight because that means your enemy will be too before it can attack.

Of course the last time I played look out I was looking for other humans who were not going to really hurt me. It was a game after all.

That didn’t help the nerves. I took a deep breath. We have a fire, the night will come and anything out their will more than likely avoids the fire, something about nocturnal animals not liking the light and all that.

Once calm my fears near vanished with the last streaks of natural light. It was amazing how completely at peace I felt. While in the last place I felt different, anxious, irritable, and paranoid. At the time I didn’t realize this but now with something to compare it to I realized just how much happier I was.

“I wonder if it’s because I don’t have as much dark in me because I used it all?” I thought aloud, asking the leaves who just rustled uselessly in response. No that can’t be it, it was not until the attack that I got more dark stuff and I felt wrong before then, though I imagined not having any left in this new world helped my mood. The circumstances of arrival were a little different, we are all whole, hungry and thirsty and tired, but no one is about to die. We aren’t being threatened by beast or man. That made a fair level of sense because despite the decrease in scorn up until the last few minutes in volco-world we were still outsiders and treated as such. But still… Above some leaves rustled sending a few drifting down past the ring of orange and my line of sight. The sun must had been fully set because nothing was visible beyond the dim light the fire casted.

I sighed. Maybe I am just happy to be a little more in my comfort zone. “I really hope we don’t run into any humanoids.” I said to the canopy. They would be helpful for the water and food bit, but I would rather be poisoned then shot over some stupid detail. I looked at my wrists; I had been ignoring the bruises from the ropes. I had been ignoring all my wounds, cuts, scrapes; I was going to look like I fell off a cliff when the sun rose again. Not that that last encounter couldn’t have gone worse. I was very grateful for every nick because it meant I was still alive to feel them. “A healing spot would be nice about now…” I grumbled, yawning again. This whole thinking thing was making me sleepy.

I needed to wait until the sun rose again before I quested for a stream or pond (not that wandering at night without a light in an assumingly vast and dangerous wood sounded the very definition of fun). Food was the same unless some creature volunteers itself on a stick to roast over the open fire. The dancing shadows caught my eyes and kept my attention.

The dark was like a separate heart beat caged by my ribs. It was borderline painful and I knew it wouldn’t stop until I found more dark to fill it again. I jumped when I noticed I was holding the shovel axe. It was on the other side of the fire, I must have grabbed it at some point, but I didn’t know when.

I was scared again. I stood once more and nearly fell from getting up too fast. I wanted to yell and hack down a tree with this weapon, I wanted to put this horrible poison in my heart into a bottle and smash it to a million pieces then shovel them up and dump them into the deepest pits of frozen oblivion. I wasn’t a monster I never wanted to use this curse again, never wanted to see my skin become white and nails long and black. I never wanted to feel the sensation of dragging my fingers through reality like it was nothing more than a wall of water.

I had to though because not using it could get use killed. The axe I had did little to fend off the heartless; I doubted anything short of an eco burst from a non-existent blaster gun would help. If my friends hadn’t gotten me to transform last time I did we would have been caught again and we may very well have been killed.

“Fine.” I told the shadows in and around me. “If this is how it is going to be then it is how it will be. I just wanted to let you know that I am not scared of you. This won’t control me and I am not hiding from it. It was my voice back in the in between that stopped me. I am in control and it is going to stay that way.” I drove the shovel thing into the ground where the fire light began to dim.

I had better things to do then mope about. If I can go demon-Mer then there was something I had wanted to try. I climbed up onto the tallest root around. How hard could a double jump be anyway and I had all night to learn.

***

It was Jessica who woke up first (heart be still) when light broke through the fresh green of the canopy. She glanced around at her surroundings as if remembering we world jumped. She then noticed my axol (new name for the shovel thing YAY) and the large number of freshly fallen leaves. She traced their path up where she stopped and looked very baffled for a second.

“Mer?” she asked after a second.

“Hmm?” I responded

“I am not sure if I still am dreaming or not, but are you up in that tree?” She set up the rest of the way.

“Indeed.” I smiled down at her, swinging my legs.

“How in the word did you get up there? Did you spider climb or something” Jess asked. My smile widened.

“Nope.” I stood on the branch, one hand against the smooth silver trunk. “Look what I can do!” I leapt off the branch and in mid air jumped then landed, rolling with the momentum which would have looked a lot more impressive had I not rolled directly in another tree. I shot my arms up from the moss I laid on and in triumph yelled “I CAN DOUBLE JUMP!”

---

** how do you fly? You jump and miss the ground! How do you double jump? You jump off the ground then jump off the air! In short I wanted to go into how I learned to double jump but couldn’t manage to wrap my head around the physics so we are going to say that something about my Jak world form allows me to double jump and leave it at that. Why do I get to double jump you ask? Because it is something I have always wanted to try and demon mer isn’t an everyday thing. I don’t think story me is going to work out the spin kick thing though.

[Feathers]

Part one of several:

Forest. Tall trees grow tall. Sniff ground. No sign of prey. Must pick up trail again. Hungry.

“Jess what are you doing?”

Turn around. Fellow humanoid looking strangely. Eyebrow raised… Magical eyebrow…

“Huh? I’m looking for something edible in this sea of green. Of course since all the plant and animal life is foreign we have no way of knowing if it is safe to eat.” I pull my face away from the innocent plant I was stalking and turn to Norara. “Unless someone volunteers for a taste test, it’s going to be hard to find anything. And we really do need something.” Cue stomach rumble. Good stomach. “But I think Mer already got into something, she was in a tree, and slap happy, and jumping everywherelikeafreakingbunny!”

“Can’t we just see what the other creatures are eating?” Magical eyebrow goes up again.

“Oh yeah. Um that should work.” Go biologist power go!

“I’m going to go check on the others and get some more water. You going to keep looking?”

“Yes! Jess find good food things for fellow humanoids!” My hand slaps into my face in a salute.

Eyebrow….. walks away… poo…

The Jess stalks along the ground. Looking for creatures unaware. There. Movement. Jess stalks steadily forward stealthily. Its little green lizard thing… cute!! Ahem. The Jess observes its prey as it jauntily walks over to a bush with blue leaves and begins to pluck the white grape like fruits off its stalk. Another creature joins its scavenging, this one is rabbit sized with long thin limbs. It also eats the white fruits. Promising. The Jess begins to move forward again… just a little closer… BAM! Yells in the distance. The Jess snaps her head around.

Wait, that yell is familiar.

Ah. Q is still on withdrawal from coffee. The Jess dismisses the distraction and turns back to her soon to be meal. Wait. The grapes are still there but the lizard and rabbit thing are gone. Where?

Peop!

Huh?

My head turns toward the miserably cute sound to a blasphemously cute creature.

GRAY CHICKEN!!!!!!!!
---------------------------------------------
Sorry didn't really know what to write. But it should get more interesting in the next part. Hopefully.