[ Quest ! ] Echoes of a Realm Once Great

[Avari]

Avari
Refugee

Avari looked up as the man on the throne began speaking. As he removed his helmet, he appeared to be the same man who had appeared in the visions, and his voice was the same one they had all heard since they entered this place. He was the mastermind behind these tests the group had all gone through. He went on to explain who he was, and what had happened to this place, but it was a lot to take in for Avari. The way he spoke about the war he took part in made it seem like the heartless didn't descend upon the world until after the aftermath. She couldn't wrap her head around the idea of people fighting in any war other than against the heartless. Why would people fight amongst one another like that?

Her train of thought was interrupted as this man, Judge Magister Gabranth, gestured over to the unconscious form of Xion. "Xion!" She called out, but their new ally did not stir. According to Gabranth, she was still caught in the middle of her trial, unable to complete it. He also explained that he had met Xion before, during her time exploring the Realm of Darkness. Avari looked upon Xion with a frown, worried about what she may be going through right now. If it was anything like what Avari had to do in her trial, she could understand how difficult it must be for Xion.

Marmadue spoke up then, questioning the validity of Gabranth's trials before he moved to help Xion. Avari followed without hesitation, and joined him across the room to the pillar where Jin had moved Xion to. As she walked up, Jin looked to her, telling her that she needed to help Marmadue and Fahe protect Xion, and Avari replied with a quick nod, "Yeah, we'll make sure nothing happens to her!" She suspected of course that Jin just wanted her out of the way due to her inexperience with fighting, but now it time to pay Xion back for saving her back at the manor. With a smile, she murmured to Xion, "Take all the time you need, Xion. We'll be waiting." She then drew her sword and positioned herself in front of Xion with her back turned to the girl, and waited to see what happened next.

[Fahe Reingard]

Looking around the new room with a throne and several broken columns. A throne was set into the back of the room and sitting in it, at first, appeared to be a set of armor but as it moved it showed itself as being alive. Getting up from the floor, Fahe saw Xion lying on the floor still. Before he could run to check on her the orange-haired one ran to her.

With the armor speaking about destroying realms or something, nothing Fahe was really concerned about at this point. He was busy running over to Xion. The orange-haired one seemed to call Fahe and the tall helmeted one over by just referring to them as 'our feathered friends' which kinda annoyed Fahe, he had a name. "Uh, my name's Fahe," he said to the orange-haired guy.

With all that the guy was saying it seemed like there was going to be a battle of some sort. However looking around seemed to bring no foes to light so he paid it no heed. "Hey, uh," quickly trying to think of a name for the guy on the throne, "Gabranth, isn't it? Why is Xion still sleeping?"

[NPC Bot]

The world shuddered as Gabranth opened his world to answer, and he looked back, fist balling. There wasn’t much time, it seemed, and almost as if to confirm, he reached behind him, grabbing his great weapon. Worry knotted his brow, and he looked to the party, gathered around Xion.

“Your fight is not to be in this realm. As much as I praise you, you are not strong enough to fight a dark creature in a place of such darkness. Your job is not as soldiers, but as ralliers. This creature will break free of this dying realm soon, and break out into yours. I have tested your resolve, devotion, and strength, as leaders, and have deemed you worthy. Though you be timid, or selfish, reclused or over-trusting, or even just stumbled in… You are tasked with the protection of your world.”

“This… Heartless. It will break free soon, and wreak havoc upon you all if you’re not ready. Xion warned me of such beasts, but I never thought I would have to face one. When the time comes, I wish for you to take the pendant in there to the Moogle that sent you my way. Whether he knows it or not, I have left a trail for him to follow, and he participated wonderfully. The pendant is Xion’s, but it seems to have some power of light I cannot use. Perhaps she knows what it is for, so-“

Another rumble, enough to make everyone stumble. Gabranth turned away from them, and cursed. Slowly, he leaned down to grab his helm, and put it on, turning back to them briefly.

“I will come when you need me! For now, you must go, it is eme-“

All was cut off by a great roar, and portals of darkness formed behind the party as they watched dark energy exploding in the middle of Cosmos’ Domain. From it, a great claw emerged, and another, as a beast pulled itself from the ground. It was the monster from the mansion, but it had evolved, somehow. Flames seemed to dance along its body, it had a defined face that was more humanoid than beast, and it was at least twice as large.

“You’ll not destroy the lights, Chaos!”

The portals overwhelmed the party as Gabranth sprung into battle. Within moments, they were back in Twilight Town, where they had first entered. Perhaps they could take the chance to mingle and discuss what came next.

[Maxwell Tendas]

As Max began to pull open the twine knotted on the top of the package, a light quake in the ground made him pause. His brow furrowed as he looked at the others to confirm that he hadn't imagined it. When he saw the Judge Magister's gauntleted hand ball into a tight fist he knew the Heartless the man had spoken of was on its way. As Gabranth reached to retrieve his weapon Max laid a hand on Quicksilver's pommel. He scanned the room, searching for any sign of the threat Gabranth had mentioned but finding none.

It was at that point the armored man spoke anew. He said that he was charging them with leading the defense of Twilight Town against this powerful Heartless. He warned them of the havoc this powerful Heartless would wreak on Twilight Town and then revealed that he had created the circumstances that had led to Artemicon sending them through the corridor of darkness, telling the to bring the pendant to the moogle once they were able. He began to say something about Xion and the pendant but was cut off as another, stronger tremor nearly made them lose their feet.

It occurred to Max as he righted himself that even Behemoths and Darksides, the largest Heartless he'd ever encountered weren't able to shake the ground that much. Whatever this thing was, it was massive and powerful. Probably more powerful than any Heartless he'd ever encountered, maybe even stronger then the few members of the Dark XXII he'd come across back in the day. The thought was disconcerting given that he'd only barely managed to just survive his run-ins with the Dark XXII.

"I hate to run from a fight, but I think Gabranth is right. I have a bad feeling about this. I think it's too much," Max said to the others before turning to the Judge Magister, "You should come with us. We could use your help."

“I will come when you need me," Gabranth said as he donned his helmet once again, "For now, you must go, it is eme-“

An ear shattering roar cut him off as corridors of darkness began forming behind them. What seemed a powerful ball of darkness had taken form in the middle of the room, and a massive clawed appendage reached forth from its depths to begin pulling the rest of itself through. Max was momentarily frozen in place, his hand gripping Quicksilver's hilt tightly as he struggled to think of how they might bring down such a monster.

Eventually, as Gabranth had said, they would have to face this thing. For the first time in a long time Max found himself afraid of the Heartless.

Before anyone could do anything, Gabranth was charging into battle against the monstrosity emerging from the darkness. Max, beginning to recover himself, drew Quicksilver and prepared to charge in behind him. It seemed they may have to fight their way free and back to Twilight Town. As the monstrous Heartless continued its emergence, a corridor of darkness opened up beneath their feet. They fell through the portal and in the blink of an eye they were in Twilight Town again. He looked around and saw that everyone had made it back, including an unconscious Xion. He stood slowly, still gripping the package Gabranth had given them by the twine, and returned Quicksilver to its sheath.

What they had just seen was deeply disturbing, especially when considered alongside what Gabranth had told them. He had been in similarly threatening situations before, though, and quickly recovered from the shock of the experience and was already working his mind on what they needed to do. As the only ones aware of this threat, their duty was to do as Gabranth had charged them and rally the denizens of Twilight Town to its defense. He began going over a mental list of the things they would have to do. They would all require hard work, but were pretty simple tasks such as organizing the fighters among them and making sure everyone was ready to fight off that gigantic Heartless. There was one task, though, that was going through be difficult to complete. Perhaps it would even be more difficult than fighting the heartless itself.

The Heartless would be going after Twilight Town's keyhole. They would have to find it first to be able to mount any kind of proper defense. In Max's experience, though, that was easier said than done. Not many people knew about the worlds' keyholes, and so it was unlikely anyone else in their group knew anything about them. That left Max himself as the obvious choice to find Twilight Town's even though he had searched for several keyholes on other worlds before and hadn't ever managed to find one of them. It would doom Twilight Town if he failed this time. For all they knew, Twilight Town was the only world left that hadn't fallen to darkness. If that was the case, it's destruction would plunge everything into darkness with little hope for the light returning any time soon. He stood there, thinking about the best way for them to divide all that needed doing as the others regained their bearings. By the time they had, he had come to his own conclusions about how things should be divided up.

"We have a lot of things to do, and I feel like there isn't much time for us to get it all done," he began, looking them all in the eye one by one, "That thing is gonna come here and devour The heart of this world, and I don't know if we can stop it in a straight up fight. We need to organize the fighters in Twilight Town, just in case. But I think we also need to find this world's keyhole and seal it up. Sealing keyholes requires a Keyblade, and the only friend we have with one is...."

He gave a glance to the still unconscious Xion and let out a small, quiet sigh.

"Even if she doesn't wake up and we can't seal it, we still need to know where the keyhole is. That's where that heartless will go: to find Twilight Town's heart. If we know where it is, we have a better chance of coming up with a way to stop it."

He paused for a few moments to make sure his words sank in before continuing.

"We need to divide things up. We can get more done that way," he said, looking at them all in turn, starting with Jin, "Very few people know about the keyholes or how to find them. I've searched for some before on other worlds. I'm probably our best bet at finding Twilight Town's. That means since you're our other most experienced fighter, Jin, you should be the one to organize and train all the fighters we have. You seem to like yelling and bossing people around. I'm sure it'll be a perfect fit for you.

"Marmadue, you're not much good in a fight but Avari says you have healing magic," he said, turning to the Yuke, "You're smart, I can tell. We need you to organize anyone else in Twilight Town with healing magic. You can do it yourself, but for the ones who can fight as well you should work with Jin to make sure they can both heal and fight. Having healers actually in the fight with us could make all the difference. We also need you to take care of Xion until she wakes up. See if you can find a way to help wake her up. I can't tell you how badly we need her and her keyblade."

He then turned the Avari and the winged boy whose name he hadn't gotten. He paused for a moment, considering the pair before continuing.

"Avari, I want your help finding the keyhole," he said, "You're honestly not my first choice, but you're not a bad one. You're clever and you've got guts, even if you are inexperienced. I need at least one person to bounce ideas off of. I'll help get your fighting skills up to speed on the way. Hopefully we have enough time for you to learn.

"And you," he said, turning and addressing the Fifiti, "I don't really know what you can do but i'm sure you can find some way to pitch in. After all, if Twilight Town is destroyed, you'll probably go with it, the same as us."

He let out a sigh and looked at them all again. They were an unlikely group to be protectors of an entire world, yet here they were. They just had to make do with what they had and hope it would be enough. Before they got started on all of that, though, they had one more thing to do.

"If you guys wanna discuss it any, we can do that on the way to Artemicon," he said, turning and started to walk down the alleyway, trusting that someone else would carry their unconscious companion, "We need to do something though, cause I have a feeling we don't have much time before that thing comes knocking on our collective doors."

[Marmadue]

The world shook slightly, just enough for it to be noticeable enough to cause concern. Marmadue certainly was concerned, looking up at the heavily armored man as if trying to look for answers. Gabranth certainly hadn't been put down by the responses they had to his plan, still having such belief in them – and perhaps there was more to the tests than met the eye, if he had never intended for them to be fighters. A few in the group certainly seemed to want to fight, and perhaps be able to. But the Yuke… He would much rather stay behind the lines and see what he could do there to help, yes.

Though every negative word the man threw at them, he could see those in himself, the Yuke's gaze drifting down.

The world shook once more, this time enough to cause Marmadue to lose his balance even though he had knelt down already, forced to keep himself upright with the help of his hand. If only that had been the worst of it, but it was just the beginning. A deafening roar that shook his very core ripped through the air, almost as if shredding the realm itself as something started to emerge from below. The Yuke was very inexperienced with the Heartless. Seeing the small ones had been enough for him, but for him to now be in close proximity to a huge beast?

It was frightening enough to make his blood curdle. Still, he scrambled to quickly try to get his hands underneath the unconscious Xion who would have been unable to run away on her own in such a state, pulling her up closer to him. But before he managed to actually get up, the darkness swallowed him once more. All he could do was hold the girl in his arms closer to his chest, squeezing tightly to perhaps protect her with his own body… And perhaps to find some kind of solace.

Just like he squeezed his eyes shut, hoping for a miracle.


He didn't know if it was a miracle, but the peace and quiet that followed certainly felt better compared to the beast's roars and the shaking of the earth. Once Marmadue opened his eyes, he was greeted with something familiar. The destroyed buildings and the eternal night of Twilight Town perhaps weren't the most calming of sights, but it was a very big relief. His grip on Xion eased slightly, though she was still very much cradled against him than just resting on the cold ground. It seemed… That everyone else had made it through too. In one piece, even. That was… Good. Even if the knowledge of the creatures of the dark still must have lurked inside their minds.

What to do next, the Yuke couldn't have said. He didn't have the slightest idea, out of his element – but luckily, he did not have to. Maxwell seemed to have a lot of knowledge of things he hadn't even heard of before. Hearts of the world, keyholes, keyblades… It was a lot to take in at once. Looking down at the girl in his arms, she seemed to be very important in everything that was to come. It was a lot of pressure to put on someone who seemed so small and young, and… Well, unconscious.

But plans calmed his nerves, somewhat. He was no leader himself, but Maxwell took the bull by the horns and issued them orders that Marmadue could agree with. He indeed was no fighter, but magic, especially healing… Yes, he could help there. His face had been turned towards the man as he listened in silence, though his gaze wandered on the red-haired man who had gone unnamed this far. But Jin was a name he could recognize, having heard it before even if he hadn't had a face to connect it to. They hadn't worked together before, so it was difficult to say how it would have gone. Jin did not seem very much like a team player…

Looking back at Maxwell, he gave a nod almost right after the suggestion that he should be looking after Xion. If there was something the Yuke could do to really help her, he didn't know. But the least he could do was to at least look after her, if he was supposed to be a healer.

Getting his hands into a better position, Marmadue prepared to lift Xion off the ground as he started to get onto his feet. It was a good thing that she was so small and thin, or otherwise there would have been no way for him to actually carry her! Even now he knew that there would be a limit to how long his arms had the required strength, but he should be good for a while.
"I ah… Must say that I lack the experience of such a situation and my magic might indeed be of the nondestructive kind," the Yuke walked after Maxwell, making sure that the girl's head was well supported as he carried her,
"But us Yukes are beings strongly connected to magic. If there is ah, something I can do to aid the cause in that regard, please do tell me."

[Jin]

Their battle was not for this realm? What the hell was that supposed to mean? A monster was a monster regardless of where you fought it; they all went down with the right amount of elbow grease and a blade or two.

"If you plan on fighting it here on your own, you're an idiot," Jin replied as he noticed the way the man moved for his weapon. "You brought us here to back you up, and now you're just gonna send us away when the fight's about to start? With no confidence that you stand a chance in it?"

If this way the way this Gabranth managed a kingdom, it was no wonder the whole thing had fallen apart when the Heartless arrived. Still, Jin had at least enough tact to hold his tongue on that comment. When it came down to it, Jin would much prefer to square off with whatever was coming on his own as well. This man spoke as if hopping across rocks and having a dream about home were trials to be overcome and test one's mettle, but they had nothing to do with combat. He had no idea what their capabilities were; especially not Jin's own.

Max seemed to think the best idea was to take their new acquaintance along with them, and the man gave a noncommittal reply about appearing if he was needed. That was the line of a man who was ready to kill himself in a fight he'd resolved to never win. Jin had heard the same thing far too many times back home, but he wouldn't stop this man if he really wanted to die with what was left of his world. He'd learned a long time ago that people died when they wanted to and there wasn't anything you could do about it. Even if they dragged him to Twilight Town by the scruff of his neck, Gabranth would just throw himself at the Heartless or find some equally stupid way to die.

The orange haired man cast a sideways glance at the sleeping girl. She was apparently more wrapped up in this than he first thought. That was just another reason to end this quickly, then. Children didn't belong on the battlefield.

Jin remained eerily still during the quakes and tremors as they racked the realm they were in. This was nothing new for him. Even the Darkside that had attacked Twilight Town not too long ago seemed paltry prey in comparison to some of the beasts they'd dug up for him to fight back in Paladisia's Colosseum, though the Moogle that had organized the defense had expressly told him to not interfere unless the beast breached the walls. He hadn't liked being called a "plan C," especially when Avari was among the group that had fought it, but he'd kept his word and his distance from the battle.

He'd long since been trained to keep his balance and his cool when faced with a larger enemy, which is why his first instinct hadn't been to go for his swords. An enemy wary of an attack was an enemy that could block one, and the first blow was often as important as the last in fights against gargantuan beasts. Still, this business about the pendant...what exactly was it? Did it function anything like Bayde's, or was it something else?

As curious as Jin was, there wasn't time to ponder the minutia of their situation.

The beast that erupted from the inky void ripped into the ether was tall, feral, and had a face that seemed to be imitating a human's. Flames licked and lapped at the air from its back, and the claws on its hands promised to rend just about anything they came in contact with. Jin smirked, and it bloomed into a full-on grin. Finally, the fight he'd been promised had arrived.

And Gabranth had the gall to open up portals behind them just as the fun was about to start.

Swiftly, in an act of defiance if nothing else, Jin's foot shot forward and pressed into the ground. The motion carried upwards, his body turning and sparking with stark navy streams of electricity as his shoulder turned to the beast and his hand flew outward. Just as the portal was about to engulf his hand, the attack sprung forth; a radiant ball of voltage spun through the air, and while Jin didn't see if the attack had landed, the resulting explosion was audible even through the murk of the portal.

The first hit was often as important as the last. It was just a matter of landing it.

Jin retracted his hand, looking around at the gathered group. They'd all returned safely, Xion included. Still, he couldn't help but feel a bit disappointed that the fight had appeared only to be pulled away before it could even start.

Whatever that thing was - Chaos, Gabranth had called it - it would be an interesting opponent. Its size was impressive, and the power it had to dig through worlds provided it plenty of utility, but its mass and its showmanship were both drawbacks. Large bodies meant large weak points, and so long as Jin could sense the Darkness of the portals that it created when it emerged he wasn't going to be caught by surprise. It all came down to how fast the thing actually was and whether or not it had the good sense to defend itself from strong blows to its vital areas.

The plan was already formulating in his head when Max chirped up. At this point, the prattle had worn on Jin's patience. All of a sudden he was being accused of barking orders and being bossy? If that was an issue, it certainly hadn't been one when Maxwell had all but left the four of them to endure on their own while he galavanted off doing whatever he saw fit. And now all of a sudden he was trying to be a leader? Where had this been when they were on the other side of the portal?

And he had the lunacy to suggest that he abandon the battle in search of some "key hole." When the Heartless were already so far into Twilight Town's borders and the fight was less than hours - days, if they were beyond lucky - away? He'd known the man was self-centered, but he hadn't expected him to be a coward when he claimed to be a warrior.

"Newsflash, asshole," Jin shot back at the sudden demand. "Warriors? What you see here is just about it. I can count the number of people who walk around the ruins with weapons on one hand, and half of them are children."

It was true. Twilight Town was harshly underpopulated, and the ones around that could fight were often on the younger side. The rest of those who even acted out against the Heartless also tended to be in their teens or even younger.

"And if you want to talk about saving this World from being swallowed up, what the hell do you call this?"

Jin swung his arms out, making a point of the crumbling buildings and the desolate, starless sky.

"One more Heartless, regardless of how big it is, isn't going to make this any worse, and if you think putting our youngest out on the front lines while you go off on some hot-shot flight of fancy to make yourself feel like a hero is at all a good solution to the literal war zone that thing's going to create when it shows up, you're as much of a moron as Gabranth was!"

He paused for a second, letting the point sink in before he flickered closer to the man at high speed and ripped at his lapel with augmented strength, pulling him in close.

"What aptitude do you think you see here?" Jin spoke low with venom dripping from his tone, but quiet enough so the others couldn't hear him speak. Rash judgment often didn't sit well with people.

"A sixteen year old girl with a sword made from scrap, a cat caught up in its own curiosity, a coward, and a child with a burden too great to bear. And you're taking the one with the most promise out of the equation. I don't know how things worked back where you're from, but every day of my life from the time I was eight years old was spent alone on one battlefield or another just trying to survive. I've overwhelmed armies. I've killed monsters you've only seen in nightmares. If that's convinced me of one thing..."

Seemingly fed up with his own anger, Jin shoved against the man in frustration with enough force to send them both pacing backward. When the distance was enough, Jin turned away from the group. He was done here.

"I don't train kids just to send them to war," he spat, audibly this time.

With that, he disappeared before the Yuke had even made his point.

Gabranth had been wrong about one in his last words to them. Twilight Town was not Jin's world and he was not a "Light," but this was certainly his fight and he was going to see it through to the end.

[Avari]

Avari
Refugee

Avari had readied herself as best she could for the appearance of the monster Jin and Max would be fighting, but Gabranth seemed to think that now was not the time. He told the party that their job was not to fight this thing, but to rally everyone else in Twilight Town to their aid. He went on to say that he had tested them all, and deemed them worthy of protecting the world, though he had some misgivings about certain traits each individual held. Avari wasn't sure where she stood in all of this, but it was starting to sound like Xion was in the center of this whole mess. She wasn't sure what could have caused Xion to forget this place if she had already been here before, however, and it was stranger still that Gabranth had been holding onto something of Xion's. Did it have something to do with that page Xion had left behind at the mansion?

This beast Gabranth spoke of was going to reach Twilight Town soon, and it seemed Xion would have the answers they needed, though they would have to wait for her to wake up. As the ground began to tremble, Avari stood her ground and tightened her grip on her blade, though she stumbled a bit as the quakes became more persistent. She wasn't sure how well they would protect Xion in a place like this, but as the dark portals opened up behind them, it didn't seem like they would need to. The last thing Avari saw was Gabranth facing off with a beast not unlike the one from the mansion, but before she could do anything, darkness took her vision.

Next thing she knew, they were all back in Twilight Town, minus Gabranth and the heartless. She spun around, glancing about frantically before looking back to Jin and Max, "He's fighting that thing by himself! We have to go back, right?" Of course there really was no way for them to reach Gabranth now, but she wished they could have done more. Regardless of his past, Gabranth didn't deserve to be abandoned like that, even if he wanted it to go down like that. Why did they have to leave him behind like that? It left Avari feeling cold and sickened by the whole predicament.

Max took the initiative at this point to explain what the heartless were after and what their next course of action should be. He wanted Jin to prepare the townspeople for combat, and Marmadue to gather healers up as well as look out for Xion, and he wanted Avari to help him look for this 'keyhole' he mentioned. Is that what the heartless were after back in Radiant Garden? Is that how they destroyed her old home? Even so, Avari wasn't sure how they'd track the keyhole down; she certainly hadn't seen anything like that during the two years she spent here.

Avari gave him a curt nod, and was prepared to follow as he mentioned meeting up with Artemicon, but Jin stopped the party, pointing out how few people wielded weapons around here, and of that number, half were children. To this, Avari looked at him sharply, though his attention was fixed on Maxwell.

"One more Heartless, regardless of how big it is, isn't going to make this any worse, and if you think putting our youngest out on the front lines while you go off on some hot-shot flight of fancy to make yourself feel like a hero is at all a good solution to the literal war zone that thing's going to create when it shows up, you're as much of a moron as Gabranth was!"

Avari winced at the harsh words Jin spoke, and she wasn't quite sure what to do when she respected both Jin and Maxwell; it was hard to say who was in the right. Surely Maxwell and Gabranth had a good reason behind their actions. She believed Maxwell when he told them the keyhole was important. Plus, why would she be learning to fight at all if she wasn't gonna help them battle the heartless? She had just as much stake in this as everyone else, and she was certain Xion would feel the same way, especially if that keyblade of hers really could save Twilight Town. Heck, Xion already seemed super strong, so why wouldn't she fight the heartless? As for Avari herself, well, she was trying to learn, but everyone else was so much more experienced than her, as Maxwell had been quick to point out.

"Hey, let's not fight with each other, alright?" Avari attempted to help the situation, but Jin seemed to pay little mind as he muttered something to Max and then stormed off. She took a step in his direction, "Jin, wait-" but he was already gone. She let out a frustrated sigh, "I don't care how dangerous it is, I'm not sitting by while you guys do the fighting. If finding that keyhole is what we need to do, then let's do it." She gave Maxwell a curt nod, "And I'm sure Xion will wake up in time to save the day! Everything's gonna work out..." She glanced down at the sword still loosely held in her grasp, seeming uncertain herself until she shook it off and sheathed the blade.

Though if Jin didn't come around and decide to help them with the preparations, things could go really bad. Him and Maxwell were really the only strong people around that Avari knew about, apart from Xion who was currently out of commission. They needed all the best fighters they could scrounge up if they were gonna survive this encounter. How come that Heartless looked so similar to the one back at the mansion anyways? Avari was certain Xion had killed it, she saw it herself.

Glancing to Fahe, she realized this was the first moment they were able to properly speak to each other, "How did you end up here anyways? You followed us into that portal without any clue as to what we were doing there."

[Fahe Reingard]

With Gabranth basically teleporting them out of the realm and back into the strange town Fahe looked around at the group he had landed in. Among those were an orange haired guy with a missing hand. He quickly pulled a hand out of whatever void it was and was back to normal, or whatever normal was for him. It looked like the armored gentleman had an idea about splitting up and looking for some "keyhole" whatever that was.

Apparently the orange haired guy didn't like that and he talked about how the world was falling apart and heartless. Again what are they talking about? Walking away he said that he didn't train kids to go to war. If war was anything like the attack on his home, then that was something he didn't want to happen.

Now addressing him though was the girl, she seemed nice enough though. "I'm Fahe, explorer extraordinaire!" he said proudly, posing and everything. It would have looked heroic if he hadn't tripped and fallen over. Flapping his wings he got back up on his feet. "You guys just kinda walked into the big dark hole, and well, your the first people I've seen, so I just followed you through."

[Maxwell Tendas]

Everyone was quiet for the first few moments after Max finished explaining what they all should do. He scanned their faces, trying to get a read on what they were all thinking, but quickly gave up as Jin broke the silence.

"Newsflash, asshole. Warriors? What you see here is just about it," the red head spat out quickly,"I can count the number of people who walk around the ruins with weapons on one hand, and half of them are children. And if you want to talk about saving this World from being swallowed up, what the hell do you call this?"

As he finished the last sentence he gestured around at the ruined buildings. Max couldn't believe what he was hearing. Was he seriously suggesting Twilight Town wasn't worth saving, even though it could very well be the only world left not taken by the darkness? He was so stunned at the notion that he couldn't respond before Jin continued.

"One more Heartless, regardless of how big it is, isn't going to make this any worse, and if you think putting our youngest out on the front lines while you go off on some hot-shot flight of fancy to make yourself feel like a hero is at all a good solution to the literal war zone that thing's going to create when it shows up, you're as much of a moron as Gabranth was!"

"Don't give me that kind of bulls***," Max spat back at Jin immediately, "You know we barely stand a chance against that thing together, much less alone. This isn't about glory or anything other than trying to save the people in this world. The Heartless will go for the heart of this world like they go for the heart of every world they come across. Unless you know more about keyholes than I do, you're more useful getting everyone who can help organized."

The words were barely out of His mouth before Jin seemed to flicker and then just appear directly in front of him, grabbing onto the shoulder straps of his hardened leather vest. The red headed boy pulled the soldier's face close to his own and said very quietly, "What aptitude do you think you see here?"

"I see the only f****** chance we've got!" Max's shouted, his face turning to a snarl as he reached up and shoved the arrogant boy off of him. While they didn't exactly get along, Max had never expected such hubris from Jin. It was becoming increasingly clear that he had some sort of god complex or some sort of sense of superiority that only became increasingly clear the longer he kept talking. It wasn't just a terrible attitude to have: putting one's ego first in situations such as theirs was downright deadly.

"You forgot to mention the arrogant kid who's more concerned with feeding his ego than taking care of those around him," Max spat back at the boy again, "I've seen too many worlds taken by the heartless to just sit back and trust everything will be fine just to feed your f****** ego and god complex. We need everyone we can get to fight this thing, young and inexperienced don't matter so long as they're willing. I'll do what I have to to save this world from the heartless. I've seen them take too many f****** worlds and I'm not about to just lay down and let them take this one.

"So you've got two choices," he said, pointing his finger in the kid's face, "Either you help...or you f*** off."

Jin's response left no doubt where he stood as he declared he wouldn't train children for war before disappearing, leaving the rest of the group in the alleyway. Max, a clear aura of white hot fury about him, just stood where he was for a few brief moments, pumping his free hand in an effort to keep from punching the nearest wall. Nobody in Twilight Town now had seen him angry like this and, given their current predicament, he didn't want to frighten them.

It was Marmadue that broke him out of his thoughts and back to the task at hand. Carrying Xion's small frame rather easily, the Yuke walked up to Max and voiced his agreement to his plan of action. He was quickly joined by Avari, who seemed as frustrated with Jin as Max felt. Outwardly, the soldier gave the girl a small smile as she expressed an optimistic attitude about Xion waking up. Inwardly, though, he felt a pit in his stomach as he realized that if everything went wrong, like it so often did, their chances of surviving that Heartless were almost nonexistent.

The winged boy introduced himself as Fahe,"Explorer Extraordinaire", like it was supposed to mean something. He explained that he ended up following them through the Corridor because they were the first people he had seen since arriving to Twilight Town. Max took a deep breath to keep from snapping on the kid about how stupid that decision had been and took a deep breath to calm himself.

"You got lucky nothing terrible happened," he said, looking at Fahe. Then he turned to Marmadue and Avari lifted up the package he'd received from Gabranth,"We need to get this to Artemicon. He may be able to tell us more about the medallion in here."

And with that, he turned and continued walking...

[Marmadue]

They had a plan. The situation might have been hopeless, but it was fine. They knew what they would have to do and that made it much easier to take in.

But that would have been too easy, wouldn't it. If everyone had agreed and went on to do their part as well as they could. Jin disagreed. Calling it just a disagreement was very much underplaying exactly what it was the man said, considering how strongly worded his opinions were. Maxwell wasn't going to let such accusations stand, however, quickly striking back with his words. With quite the language. It was a very awkward situation to be in, and Marmadue couldn't quite find the strength to interrupt. Perhaps he should have, when it seemed like the conversation was turning into a fight, rather than a heated debate! But he didn't. He couldn't. He just directed his gaze downwards.

Until of course, Jin made a move, appearing in front of Maxwell in the blink of an eye with the aid of some kind of power. A surprise, to be sure – what had happened and how the man grabbed the other, causing the Yuke to gasp audibly. That was when they should have done something… Had it continued. Both Maxwell and Jin were angry, it was easy to see. But luckily, neither of them pushed each other far enough to make it into a fight. Marmadue didn't manage to quite catch the whole conversation, but it ended in Jin leaving.

It certainly was a bigger mess now than it had been a moment before.

The ones that stayed behind seemed to be on board with the plan – or, at least the winged boy, Fahe, didn't say anything against it. He did certainly seem young… And rather simple, considering how fearlessly he had followed them into the unknown.
"Ah, yes… I would ah, suggest not jumping into strange dark portals you know nothing about, for your own safety," the Yuke did agree with Maxwell's sentiments. Things could have gone terribly wrong for the boy – things could have gone terribly wrong for all of them. Really, were they in any better shape themselves? What did they even know when they threw themselves at it? He himself, barely nothing.

He drew in a deep breath and exhaled, carrying the unconscious girl in his arms as he started to walk after Maxwell.
"…If I have understood this girl's condition properly, I am unsure if there is medicine or magic that would help. It sounds very much like something that can only be overcome with her own mind," Marmadue mused, not feeling quite as optimistic as Avari as he held the limp body. Would she wake up in time? Would that help them? Would she even help? That was a heavy burden to place on such a young girl they did not know and who did not know them.

"I can certainly try and see if there might be something to aid her. Other than that and searching for those with magical abilities after we have met with our ah, Moogle employer, I do not know if there is much more I can offer right now, unfortunately."

It was such a difficult situation. Perhaps the red-haired man that had left them had been just a single person, but every little bit would have helped them a lot. Probably. That's how the Yuke felt, at least. If they had already managed to not convince someone who had been with them the whole time… Would they even be able to get anyone else on their side to help?

[Avari]

Avari
Refugee

Apart from Jin, the group seemed to be in agreement with Max's plans, who now gestured to the package in his hand and voted that they first return to Artemicon and see if they could learn more about the situation. Avari gave a quick nod and followed along with the rest of the group. As Marmadue voiced his concerns about how to help Xion and feeling that he could not offer much, Avari gave him a smile, "You're doing a bunch Marmadue! You're keeping Xion safe and helping us find people with magic who can protect the rest of the refugees. I'd say that's pretty important." She gave an assuring nod before glancing down at Xion curiously, but the girl looked like she was sleeping peacefully. Who knows what kind of trial she was really facing right now, and how long it would take her to pass it. Avari was confident however, that Xion would wake when they needed her most. She had to.

And they seemed to have a pretty solid plan for now: find the keyhole, train everyone for the battle, and protect Xion until she woke up. It all seemed simple enough in Avari's mind, having never come face to face with the hardships of war before now. And what's more, she was eager to learn more and get stronger in battle, she wanted to do everything she could to help fight against the heartless. So, forward they went, with no indication on how much time they had to make their preparations.

[Fahe Reingard]

With everyone telling Fahe that dark portals are dangerous and the like, it kinda made sense, but he couldn't stop himself from exploring. So it was advice he was most likely going to ignore. And with the tall feathered one getting encouragement from the girl. It made Fahe seem as a sort of fifth wheel, which is extremely uncomfortable. So looking around for something to do all he could spot were just shops and walls. He could make out a crack in the wall that he could practice aiming on, but nothing really that spoke to him.

So while everyone talked, he slipped away towards the crack. Making sure he was a few feet back he started firing feathers at the wall aiming for the crack, most didn't come near the target and came back, others got stuck in the wall. It would take a bit for him to get that crack from so far away.