Dredging Up Memories (Lorena)

[Maxwell Tendas]

It was just the next day after the meeting, and though he wouldn’t have thought it possible at the time, he was actually in an even more sour mood now than he had been upon seeing Avari stumble into the meeting, severely injured and bleeding. He had woken up this morning to another burst of memories returning to him. These had been more about his time with Wren and Donovan at the Drydenian military academy. While he was glad he was regaining conscious memory on how to use his powers over water, what soured his mood were the other memories, specifically those surrounding Wren. They had quickly grown close to each other after meeting, much to Don’s chagrin, and they had realized their feelings for each other soon after. It didn’t take long for a relationship to blossom between them.

Max would have expected these to be happy memories, and they were. However, there was a deep and intense pain that tainted the edges of these memories that was ever present when he thought about them that brought a pit to the bottom of his stomach. He intuited that it was because Wren had died on Grendam, presumably in some battle. After all, she had been as much a soldier as Max himself had been. But even so, something about that presumption seemed...off, almost as though it was only part of what had happened.

He had been attempting to distract himself from these memories by thinking over the meeting, and the decisions he needed to make because of it. First off was the issue of whether he would stay and defend Twilight Town or go to this Castle Oblivion. Then, he also thought about what the Moogle, Whimsy, had said about pieces of their worlds’ hearts residing inside each of them. It was a strange concept to him, though when he stopped to think about it it made a certain kind of sense. The thought of being able to go home and see his home again filled him with a slight sense of hope that had been absent since he’d returned to life after the Chaos Hide fight.

But still, his more despairing thoughts regarding his regained memories continued to intrude on his rumination, clouding his thoughts. So here he was, approaching the Sandlot and just hoping for some Heartless to show themselves. While it was dangerous, he thought a good fight would be just what he needed to help clear his thoughts long enough to make a decision.

He approached the entrance to the Sandlot and slowed to a creep, poking his head around the corner to see if there were any Heartless here already or if he should try his luck elsewhere. Luckily enough, he saw there were several soldiers and shadows in the Sandlot, along with a single large body. So far as he could tell, they were milling about aimlessly and he briefly wondered why before drawing his sword and stepping fully into view. He gave a whistle to catch the heartless’ attention before raising his empty hand and, calling forth on the magic he’d acquired since his death and resurrection, sent a beam of light into the front of the large body. The spell pierced through the big heartless, also catching a couple shadows and a soldier on the other side and turning them to mist.

The large body itself was still left standing, however. It turned to face him, slapped its belly, and began to charge. Max reacted by reaching out and grabbing water from a nearby barrel, formed it into a large spike of ice, and brought it down on top of the large body’s head. It pierced through the Heartless’ dome and entirely through its body. As black mist rose into the air, Max turned to face the rest of the heartless there, recalling the water to himself and forming it into several small spheres and launching them into the crowd of heartless, turning the beasts of darkness into mist where they hit....

[Lorena]

This was the last thing Lorena had been expecting; after the meeting, Whimsy had apparently directed those who planned to stay to join Lorena in defending Twilight Town. She certainly hadn't planned to be in the spotlight like this, as she still expected the same stigma towards someone of her stature as she would have back in Grendam. She just hoped that this didn't entail any form of responsibility for her to lead the defense- she may have been tactically minded, but leadership was a heavy burden. Lorena wasn't the best with people, so the role would have been much better suited to someone like Max, though it seemed he would be joining the others on their march to Castle Oblivion. She didn't know much about those who had chosen to stay in Twilight Town, so she wasn't sure who would fit the role better than she would. There was that silver-haired keyblade wielder, who'd no doubt offer valuable insights into the heartless, but he seemed as reserved as Lorena was.

Whoever ended up staying behind, however, they'd all have to do what they could to protect the town while the others were gone. And honestly, with the numbers she saw at the end of the meeting, it already seemed like an all out battle against the dragon and other heartless would be difficult. At the very least, while time still allowed it, she could try to scout around town and see if she could find any clues about the dragon. So she found herself on a rooftop, observing some heartless from afar. It wasn't often that she saw them when they weren't attacking something or someone. Perhaps if she observed long enough, they could lead her to the dragon's lair, if it commanded them, or perhaps they would lead her to this keyhole they were meant to be defending.

Or at least, that had been the hope, until Max came around and attacked the heartless. She sighed as she rose from her crouched position and watched as he attacked with more of that light magic she had seen him use before, though apparently he had harnessed it into a more direct weapon now. It was still a mystery as to how he could wield such magic while the Grendam parasite still dwelled within him, but she couldn't deny that it was a handy weapon to use against the heartless. It didn't seem quite the same as the light magic she wielded either. She had to channel her magic through weapons after all, and conjuring light magic on its own took considerable effort- more effort than Max was using now. Whatever secret he had stumbled upon, it was powerful.

He didn't seem to be having all that much trouble with the heartless, in fact he probably sought them out for target practice, oblivious to the fact that she had been staking out nearby. Now that the heartless had a target though, her mission would have to resume another time. She slid her bow from her back and jumped down to a closer rooftop and took aim at the heartless below, focusing on the weaker shadows. She fired one beam of light towards the center of one of the clusters of heartless, and then halfway through its course the conjured arrow split into many, nailing a handful of weak shadows through the head. It was an effective method for thinning out the heartless, though it did less damage than one of her normal shots. She then trained another light arrow, waiting until more heartless were trapped by the water Max was controlling before letting loose a more powerful shot on one of the bigger heartless.

[Maxwell Tendas]

As thin tendrils of black mist wound their way upwards, Max recalled the water spheres to himself. He kept them whirling around him, a deadly ward against any retaliatory attacks the Heartless might launch against him. None came, however, as several of them unexpectedly burst into mist from unseen attacks. He quickly scanned his surroundings, trying to discern what was happening, and caught sight of a large streak of light coming from a nearby rooftop. Max followed the streak to its source, the light nearly blinding in the darkness that enveloped Twilight Town, and found what looked like Lorena kneeling on a nearby rooftop. She held what looked like a magical bow in her hands, the grip part metal but the rest comprised of some sort of magical energy. It would have seemed bizarre to Max if he hadn't grown so accustomed to seeing strange things since he'd been thrust from Grendam and seen as much as he had of the outside world. As it was, he was satisfied that his new acquaintance was the one attacking the Heartless, even if he was annoyed at not having them to himself.

He turned his attention back to the Heartless, stopping the orbit of his water spheres and hurtling them into the same knot of shadows that Lorena had attacked. The survivors of Lorena's attack were quickly annihilated by Max's, the entire group now returning to the sky as black mist trailing small glowing hearts. He didn't have time to turn his attention to the rest, however, as something slammed into his shoulder from behind. Max tumbled to the ground, his assailant rolling free of him. He looked up to see that it was a soldier that had jumped on him from behind. Its claws were coated in a little blood, doubtlessly his own. Before he could react to the first soldier, half a dozen others jumped at him, as looking to score his with their sharp claws. More aware this time, Max shuffled away and deflected one of the blows with his sword. He gritted his teeth and recalled the water to him as he saw another large body accompanied by more soldiers come from the same alleyway as the three before him. Perhaps it was good that he had someone to watch his back this time.

He recalled the water to him, forming it into a large spike of ice. With the spike floating in front of him, he raised his hand and summoned his new magic once again, sending a beam of light out from his palm. It impacted several of the soldiers, turning them to mist and opening up a shot at the large body through which he sent the spike of ice. It buried itself in the large body's belly, but didn't seem to do much harm to the large Heartless. Max grimaced, as a couple of the soldiers leapt at him. He brought his sword up in a wide arc, slicing through them and turning them to mist in a single hit. He melted the ice spike that was still in the large body's belly and recalled it to him, forming it into several spheres again sent them rocketing into the soldiers, trying to clear out more of the smaller heartless...