One step behind (Helena, closed)

[nshansen]

Sitting on a curb, Shiro raised his head and looked at the endless sunset. It was a wonderful world, he had to admit. It was relaxing. He was lucky the whole entire day. He saw absolutely no heartless or nobodies, thankfully. The man sighed, wishing that would happen on a daily basis. But no, V and him would see different heartless and nobodies on different worlds. He didn’t know what he wanted more, a quiet life or a busy life? A busy life would mean more scenery, more excitement, and more new experiences. But a quiet life… That would mean he’d get back what he had lost. It would be a whole new experience for the gravity controller.

A baseball suddenly rolled towards him. “Hey, mister!” a voice yelled from a distance. Turning his head, Shiro spotted a boy waving at him with a group of kids behind the child. The boy didn’t have to say anything else. The kid wanted his ball back. Picking the baseball up with his right hand, the man threw it towards the boy. Catching it, the boy yelled, “Thanks!” And with that, the kid and his friends went back to playing their game.

Shiro envied their lives. He wanted the experience of playing with his friends. He wanted all the experiences that came with childhood. Without his childhood memories, he always felt one step behind. He knew that he would never experience it, but maybe one day he’d get to witness a child go through it. One day…

That dream would only come true if he accepted the quiet life. But he couldn’t. He was a guardian, was he not? He had to continue traveling; doing whatever it takes to take out the heartless. Maybe when they reached their goal, he’d be able to have the quiet life. But when was that going to be. What if the heartless won the battle in the end? What if the battle would end after he died? Those questions made the gravity controller think about the future. What should he do? Shiro, honestly, didn’t know anymore…

Standing up, he tried to stop thinking about it. He had to return to what he was previously doing, finding V. It had been three days since their night together, and of course, V woke up early again. Sighing, the man started to walk down the street, looking for his love. Once he passed the kids, one of the kids said, “Thanks again, mister!”

Returning a smile as he walked, he replied, ”No problem.”

[xthelonelypuppetx]

"I'd forgotten how hot the sun can be..." Helena muttered to herself. Still, though it was sundown perpetually here, the tsundere was having trouble adjusting to the heat. It was relatively cool in Traverse Town, but that was of little consequence now. She found herself walking down a winding street. This world was pretty peaceful. Nice and quiet, though it did remind her too much of Traverse Town.

That afternoon she was wearing ripped skinny jeans, a black shirt with a collar, and a loose red tie. Rust-like eyes scanned the direct vicinity and, though she felt a sort of prickling feeling that meant something was about to happen, she saw nothing at the present moment. A hand found Phoenix Feathers instinctively. This was an odd feeling, different from the regular Heartless-detecting feeling. It was different, new, almost.

She saw a white creature appear before her. It was rather tall, in actuality, and had what appeared to be like spears for hands and feet. Its head was flat and rather large with an unfamiliar symbol printed across it. The mouth, an unzipped zipper, revealed an inner being. It was strong, flexible, lanky...

And it was charging toward her.

Phoenix Feathers was released hurriedly. The wind blew back that blood red ribbon attached to it. This was a new enemy... She needed to approach it with caution. With a snap of her fingers, the blade caught ablaze. The strange enemy approached, flying through the air. She took a swipe at it, but it did little damage.

"Well, I can already tell you that I'm seriously considering Plan B..."

The enemy could bend and contort in ways that Helena never thought were possible. She got in a few hits, but so did the strange enemy. It was much like a Heartless, but it seemed as though it was smarter than the average Shadow or Soldier. It could use strategies that Helena wasn't exactly used to...

"Okay... so maybe I need a tad bit of help..."

That's when she heard footsteps.

[nshansen]

(This is a Dusk, right?)

As the man walked away from the children, he thought about where V possibly went. Maybe she went to go get ice cream? He knew how much his love liked the sea salt ice cream, but would she really wake up in the morning early just to go get ice cream? The chance of that didn’t seem likely. So where would she go…? She was probably wondering around the streets. That was his guess. So he’d just have to rely on luck. Maybe he’d bump into her later on if he just kept walking. If it got too late, she would probably return to the hotel. If somehow, she didn’t, it would make Shiro really worried, because he knew V wouldn’t just leave without him. V would have to be in some kind of situation she couldn’t get out of. Oh well, he didn’t have to think about that now.

After a few minutes of walking, the gravity controller spotted a girl about a block away fighting off what seemed to be a Dusk. A fighter, was she? Once her sword’s blade caught on fire, the man was instantly interested. The last time he saw a person who could control fire was when he bumped into Mikhail, the pyromancer. He was the one who recruited him for the Guardians. He wanted to see how one fought with fire. Maybe how she fought was the same as Mikhail fought.

After watching the battle for a few seconds, Shiro decided it was time for him to step in. His guess was that more would come, backing the single nobody up. She was having a hard time taking that one out, what would happen if three more showed up? Reaching behind him, the man zipped it open and took out his sword. Then, taking off his backpack, he dropped it on the ground right next to him. Those “dusks” were fast and flexible. He didn’t need the weight. It would only make him slower and it would make the nobody harder to kill. Then the gravity controller quickly got into his unique position. He had the sword's blade resting on his right palm, while the bottom of the handle was resting on his left palm. He then quickly changed the gravity of the sword so that it shot at the dusk as fast as a torpedo.

Piercing the nobody’s head, the single dusk vanished, destroyed. He wasn’t expecting that. Well, he knew that the dusk would be too distracted to realize it coming towards him, but he didn’t expect that the attack would kill it in one hit. Then realizing that the girl had taken some hits as well, he walked towards the stranger. Like he guessed, two more showed up. ”Need a hand?” the gravity controller asked, giving her a smirk.

[/center]

(Sorry for the crappy post! I was rushed at the end)

[xthelonelypuppetx]

"Well, only because I have no idea who these creeps are..."

That guy could take out that thing in one hit. Though two more of the enemies showed up, he didn't seem to be phased by their appearance. In fact, he actually smirked at her. He seemed to be able to make his sword move. For a moment, Helena thought of him and those strange powers he could use. She tried to blink away the image of him as he appeared before her eyes. That night wasn't too long ago, and the feel of his lips was still familiar...

She assumed that the boy would handle one of the strange white creatures and she'd handle the other one. Right on cue, one of the monsters was approaching her. Helena retreated to the sidewalk, knowing that this was a bad move, but she wanted to try something. The beast was watching her, following her around with overdramatic movements of its head. She had an idea, but had no idea if it would work.

The tsundere stood with her hand on a lamp post. Her blade was no longer ablaze, but she had a feeling that perhaps she could temporarily distract the beast. She waited, and as she did, she clicked open the compartment on her belt buckle that house gunpowder. It came closer, and closer still... She collected the remaining gunpowder hiding in her locket. While it was practically ready to spear her heart, Helena quickly jumped over the creature. As planned, the beast followed her. The girl threw the powder at the beast, landed, rolled out of range, and snapped her fingers.

There was a small explosion.

The strange creature ended up on the ground, seemingly dazed from the blast. Helena collected Phoenix Feathers, came to her feet, then charged at the beast. With a few swipes, she had successfully killed it. However, the battle had left her a little out of breath.

She turned toward the guy who had stepped in, rust-like eyes slightly critical with a hint of softness beneath. She had to be thankful that he'd helped her when she needed it, but she wasn't too fond of people, either. Helena sheathed her sword and dusted off her hands, which had been stained black by the powder.

[nshansen]

Shiro listened to her response and nodded. He wasn't surprised, he was like her once before, clueless about the many problems that were happening in the universe. He was glad that Mikhail had told him about the nobodies, because now he had knowledge to share. The man would tell her later, but at the moment, he had a dusk to kill. Now he knew the average dusk was smarter than the average shadow, but how smart was it actually? The sword he had used moments ago instantly started flying back towards him. Now here was the tricky part. There was a slight chance that he could be injured by his own weapon, since the sword was speeding towards him with the blade pointed at him. Why was he doing that? Simple, he wanted to see if the nobody was smart enough to dodge it. But was Shiro skilled enough to change the sword's position after the attack? That was the question he was mainly concerned about.

The nobody danced infront of his eyes, waiting for the man's first move. The dusk would soon get it. Instantly the sword flew by, the blade barely hitting the head of the nobody. Damn, his aim was a little bit off, but that was something he didn't need to think about at the moment. Instantly, he changed the sword's gravity right before it pierced him. Sighing of relief, the gravity controller caught his blade before it fell to the floor and got into an defensive stance. The dusk quickly attacked before he was completely ready. Taking the hit, the man swung his sword at the little monster as a reaction. After a short little battle that lasted a minute or so, Shiro came out on top. Turning his head, he noticed that the girl had killed her opponent. "That creature was known as a "nobody", he told her, remembering what she had said earlier. Taking a deep breath, he waited for a response from the girl. He was expecting a question. The man had some when he learned about them.

[/center]

(Crappy post, sorry D: )

[xthelonelypuppetx]

"Nobodies? Can't say I've heard of them. I've been fighting Heartless for quite some time now, but these guys are really different... They learn from their mistakes. It's strange..."

Self-consciously, she continued to dust her hands off, still stained by the black gunpowder. It wasn't too often that she got to use that attack, truth be told. Though not really caring for much of anything, Helena hated to have to explain things to people. Knowing that the tsundere hardly cared for the town and was probably never coming back, it was all right to use an attack like that. Still...

Before her was a man a good six inches taller than herself. Thin, but touched with musculature, he wore primarily black with a silver jacket. His dark blue eyes showed some kind of pain and despair, but Helena couldn't quite place why. Maybe some kind of traumatic event? If so, the tsundere could definitely sympathize. With black hair and a humorless face, she thought that maybe, they would be able to understand each other better than other people.

So, she allowed herself to open up a little more.

"My name's Helena. Thanks for your help." Though her words were icy, she smiled a little to make up for it.

[[laaame post, sorry Dx]]