In a cataclysm known as the Nightfall, the worlds were almost completely destroyed by a harrowing surge of darkness.
In the shadows of the ensuing chaos a new group has taken shape. Led by an Aegyl named Kalos, the 11th Hour touts an esoteric knowledge of how to combat the darkness and restore the worlds. They might be the worlds’ best chance at survival; but nobody really knows enough about them to confirm or deny their claims.
On the brink of collapse, the universe holds its breath in anticipation. Of restoration? Of destruction? It is up to individuals like yourself to decide.
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When Radiant Garden had been a safe-haven for the masses of darkness, Note had temporarily resided here. A lot of people had in those days. The downside was that it was almost overwhelmingly overcrowded --and few--like him (lots of non-Humes, mind you) had moved back to the outskirts of Radiant Garden. Survival was a skill the Viera male happened to know of very well. And this town wasn't exactly known for its nature. The lack of sunlight wasn't exactly great for him either. Sure, there were plants that bloomed in the darkness--but Note liked his choices.
Dangerous or not, Note had preferred to be closer to the earth--even if it were desolate. He had that uncanny ability to bring green life wherever. He could adapt.
Drawing the cloak of Dark Woods Illusion around him, Note checked his image in the mirror before he departed Leviathan--he looked Hume enough. He wasn't exactly pleased he needed to stop for supplies here, but he was lacking a choice. The trip back to Ivalice had him coming back empty handed. It would have been a success--had the world still existed.
Sighing as his arched feet touched the cobblestone streets, he peered around. No one seemed to take much notice of the Viera disguised as a Hume. Good. It was working.
He supposed the Heart of Ivalice had been taken. First, Elysium...it must have spread out since then. Note was not quite sure how to feel about it. Horror? Shock? Disgust? Relief?
Sadly all he could feel was apathy at the moment. The Wood still whispered from within him, from deep within the childhood tree-like scar that ran down the spine of his back. Just like they had all those years ago.
A quiet smile crossed his face as he gathered the long brown cloak around him--not all had been lost, after all.
Ienzo sat on the parapet that overlooked the courtyard. His dark hair framed his face as he looked down to his feet. The Dark XII was back. Reborn. Ienzo was being pulled back to his dark fate. Eventually he woudl have to face off against the RGRUC once more. The man sighed. His silver eyes were closed, hidden. Ansem would be so disappointed in him if he was still alive.
What was the Heartless to do? The Dark XII would be on his tail if he left. He was the data collector of the group, aside from Even. He had cards on everything. They wouldn't let him go, not willingly. That meant he'd have to fight his way out. Perfect... Hopefully he'd get Lea or Myde. He could just blanket them in shadow and take them out. If Ansem himself came, Ienzo would have to run. Perhaps Radiant Garden could be of use to him if it turned that way.
His mind wandered until a scent caught his nose. He stopped. That scent... It smelled like-
"NOTE!"
Ienzo fell from his position and looked towards a familiar silhouette walking upthe cobblestoen road. It was him. He was back from his journey!
Every little noise caught Maya's attention as she wandered the streets of Traverse Town, now at least knowing where she was going. She liked to wander outdoors rather then staying in her room, cooped up in that confined space. She longed, however for nature, large trees and flowers everywhere. Her nose twitched for even the slightest hint that the earth could be found in this town, but all she had found was brick and buildings.
The viera sighed as she finished walking through the town, her ears drooping slightly. But, as she started heading home, a strong scent filled her nose, a very familiar one.
The scent of Earth. Something similar of ecstasy filled her, and she reached the rooftops, in two jumps, running towards the scent. As it got stronger, she heard a familiar voice yell out.
"NOTE!"
It was the voice of the man that helped her out when she fist came to Traverse Town. What was his name? Ien...Inzo...
Ienzo. She remembered his kindness and stopped as she watched him come into view, running after someone in a brown cloak. There--that's where the scent came from. She sat on the edge of the roof and waited to be noticed, her staff next to her. All the time, she inhaled that delicious scent.
Though most Humes wouldn't have been able to see through the Viera's illusion, Note's long rabbit-like ears stood straight at attention at the sound of his name. Pivoting in the otherworldly manner only his people could, garnet eyes rested on the figure not too far from him.
A small twitch in his lips indicated the beginning of a warm, welcoming smile.
[green]"Ienzo,"[/green] he said, barely above a surprised whisper. He still had that very strange quality to his voice that made him sound younger and older than he actually was. Before he knew it, he was making his way to the one who was familiar to him. Note was truly not expecting him to be in Traverse Town--though he had been looking forward to seeing him in Radiant Garden.
Note hadn't known what to expect when he departed Radiant Garden for Elysium in the first place. If he'd return, if he'd stay--after he had been ejected out of Golomore Jungle by his older brother all those years ago he had become a wanderer. Things were only planned out a few weeks, at the most, in advance.
He paused in front of his quiet friend, and slowly let the hood of the brown cape fall around his neck, revealing his long trademark stark white hair and rabbit-like ears--he knew the other could see right through the illusion, and yet he kept it up for the rest of the populace in Traverse Town that just could not. He stared at the other, a small smile on his face that said he was glad that he saw him again. Not that he would ever say it. Note was a Viera of very few words, after all.
Lips moving like they were about to say something, the Viera froze; his senses catching something on the radar. His ears had twitched, catching the sensation before his brain registered it, and quickly turned in the direction of the other presence--his neck craning up to look right at the newcomer that was not Ienzo.
Note was not prey, after all. His usually warm garnet eyes seemed almost cold--carefully calculating on whether or not the person observing was a friend-or-foe.
His sharp vision caught sight of long familiar ears.
"Fran?" he whispered into the air, letting the words, like magic, settle. The famous sky-pirate from Ivalice that he had met in Radiant Garden just once before--Viera tended to keep track of others who had been exiled from the Wood because it was so rare. Especially if they were once wanted sky pirates. But it seemed this little one was not her.
Female viera. Ears flattening against the back of his head in an almost territorial way, he waited for the other to introduce herself. One had to be careful.
Ienzo grinned, feeling a glimmer of hope amongst the dark mellow that had taken him. Note had left a while back to find his home. At the time, Ienzo struggled with his own wishes to let Note go free, back to his own territory, and his wishes to keep the boy here so that the Heartless had somebody to talk to. He had accepted Note as gone, but it was so good to see the Viera again.
The silver eyes gleamed as he met with his long-lost friend, but it seemed that Note was focused on something else. Fran... Hmm. The Heartless felt that he knew that name. Had Note mentioned it once? Or had they met? He couldn't really remember. But it wasn't time to think about that at the moment. Note didn't seem happy. At all. Ienzo turned to see a girl sitting on a rooftop near them, one with ears similar to Note's (Ienzo didn't always understand why he hid them, and couldn't remember if he'd ever seen them without the illusion, as he thought about it.) Another Viera...
But he recognized this one. "Hey Note, I met this girl before. She only recently crashed from the World," he tried to assure his friend. "She was floating in the cold for ages, I'm sure." It was only then he remembered what he needed to tell Note. "Oh yeah... I left Radiant Garden for a little bit. Leon and most of the RGRUC, their police, have gone, so it's unsafe for me there. But I'm kind of glad I returned."
But enough about him. It seemed that Note might not have found what he was searching for. Ienzo felt bad about it; his own species was often responsible for this crime. Still, Ienzo couldn't blame himself for this, as he came to accept over the years... The best he could do was help newcomers.
Maya almost turned around when the stranger with the scent spotted her, but something seemed to...shift around him. An illusion, she guessed, then froze when she saw the ears.
Another viera.
Without thinking of it, she jumped down and tried to get a better look at the viera. She thought it wasCoffee at first, but a better look and a change in its scent told her it was a male. A wave of shyness overcame her, and she poked her index fingers together. But it was too late, and in a soft voice she said,
"Hello, Ienzo. May I ask who your friend is?"
Around her, the earth rippled slightly with her unease around the male viera. She was practically a teenager by the terms of her race, and was shy around the male. So she just stood there, feeling awkward.
Note made very sure to keep his senses tracking the female Viera before him. Any Viera that had left the Wood could usually be considered to be bad-news—he had been exiled from his home to become a Sky Pirate all those years ago, after all. It was a calling that beckoned to his brethren—the sheer freedom and lack of chains was like dangling catnip in front of a kitten. Even he could not have resisted its call.
He had come across Fran a few months back, an almost infamous Sky Pirate in Radiant Garden. It seemed like they had been attacked by some sort of strange Heartless. But the memory was short, and they had parted ways like most do. He supposed she had not been too terrible to deal with, and even saw her in an almost noble-sort-of light. The problem was that she had been an exception. Nevertheless, one had to be weary when they encountered one of his kind. Just like he was doing with this one.
“Hey Note, I met this girl before. She only recently crashed from the World. She was floating in the cold for ages, I'm sure."
His stance did not change, as if he were standing his ground….although one white ear flicked in the direction of his friend—the other trained on the girl. Garnet eyes glared at the female, weighing Ienzo’s words, before he straightened his spine. Note still wasn’t sure if she were hostile or not…but judging from Ienzo’s body language, he didn’t think it was much of a threat.
“You’re not safe?” Note asked Ienzo, cutting right to the chase. He turned his head at him, a look of concern apparent (though his ears were still swiveled at the girl). What had become of Radiant Garden since he had left?
He then felt the tremble of the earth bellow him.
An eyebrow shot up at the girl, as he studied her body language. He inched closer to Ienzo since he was more of a familiar presence, and kneeled to the ground. Outstretching his long clawed fingers, he whispered something barely above a whisper, and dug his fingers into the ground. He felt the connections that were of this world (though nature was a weak voice here), and sent his aura through it.
Spindly stalks of green raised up around the girl. “The Wood talks through you,” he said quietly. He gathered the information simply through his connection with the earth. He chanced a look at her, though it might have been a bit obvious to Ienzo he was not quite sure what to think of her.
Note moved closer to Ienzo as the girl neared and he became slightly nervous. On their last meeting, the girl had shown an uncontrollable power that the stranger, Coffee, was forced to interrupt. Note was showing similar uncomfort.
And as for Radiant Garden... "I am safe, I just thought it would be best to stay away. Nobodies were there and if they saw me, there would be a fight." He shrugged. "Unnecessary desctruction would get me kicked out, I am sure." It was best he left until everything was back in order. It was bad that a Heartless was there in the first place. It was worse when the Organization was at the doorstep. The last time they had done anything in Radiant Garden, they summoned over a thousand Heartless in the Great Maw.
All in all, Heartless + Nobodies = Ienzo needed to disappear for a while.
He sat next to Note as the Viera bent to the earth. "Is she... somehow connected to it?" Through Mist, maybe? Ienzo wasn't perfectly sure what that was. Was it Darkness? Or was it magic as a whole? He watched patiently as the two Veira analyzed each other.
He hadn't collected data about 'Mist' before. This would be the perfect time to do so, he guessed.
As the other viera approached her, she tensed up, but calmed when he channeled the earth magic. Looking at the other viera, she said, "It does. I feel that Ivalice left a part of it with me as I was...brought here." Her comfort level rose, and she knelt down over the plants, waving a hand over them. The buds flowered, and she smiled softly as she stroked one flower with the side of her hand. "Earth...it's scent is strong around you." she quietly said, almost to herself. Standing again, she looked the other viera in the eyes.
Nobodies in Radiant Town? Note had only come across very few—most that were mindless, aggressive. Spindly beings—or non-beings that swayed as if a wind were constantly rocking it. Back and forth, back and forth. They weren’t exactly pleasant things to deal with. Then again, to the Viera, anything that caused shrieks and loud noises weren’t. Was Radiant Garden becoming…well, like it had in those days?
Note had looked very much to returning to the outskirts, and checking on his garden. He wondered if it had flourished into a wonderful wood. Perhaps it was more habitable—perhaps other creatures had settled in it. He thought of the giant trees in Golomore Jungle, and his older brothers—oh, how he’d tug on their ears in an attempt to make them entertain them. It brought a nostalgic feeling. He could almost hear his father, the Shaman’s hands beating on the loud drums that beat with the Heart of the Wood.
“Does it still stand?” Note asked Ienzo, in a voice that was quieter than a whisper. Outcast Viera tended to be Wanderers, but after returning to a place that no longer existed, Radiant Garden was looking more and more like “home” to him. That was where Veronique was buried, after all.
While he swam in nostalgia, his ears perked as he watched the flowers blossomed under the girl’s hand.
It was very strange to see one with that particular gift.
His lips twitched, in the shadow of the beginning of a smile. “Note,” he said, keeping his position on the ground. It was a sign that he was being non-aggressive. It was a rather good sign. He watched as the plants grew through the cobblestones of the street. So it was indeed possible to bring life here. He didn’t mention anything about the earth being strong around him—he knew it. Humes often compared him to a tree. What was peculiar was this one.
“Mist…” he said, the word sending a shudder through him. “Source of everything,” he grumbled. “But for it to manifest like this…” he said, and nodded his head respectfully in Maya’s direction. “Is another reminder that the Wood will not disappear, even if the world has.”
Ienzo looked between the two. Mist... That was right. The source of everything. So Mist itself was what gave the abilities of magic, willpower. But Ienzo felt it was on a much broader scale. Mist itself was everything, and perhaps that was how it amplified power. It was a metaphysical form of energy that was responsible for life. So... Ienzo was a form of Mist, like that other Viera had said. Heartless had no true bodies; their forms were created by the immense powers of Darkness. That power was an architypical form of Mist.
The silver-eyed Heartless listened without a word. Note seemed a little more comfortable around the girl known as Maya. He nodded to what Note was saying. "It has been said that even though something may cease to exist, it will never truly be forgotten. Perhaps that is due to the Worlds' versions of Mist, or metaphysical power. We call it 'the Heart'." He looked between the two. Ienzo wanted to explain, or at least to correct his own theories, but at the moment he didn't know if these two Viera wanted theories from a Heartless, especially one by himself. Whilst Ienzo normally kept an apathetic demeanor, his mind was fast at work on these kinds of things.
So the dark-haired being just listened to his two friends. Perhaps it was a good thing Note had met another Viera. Perhaps he would be more comfortable now.
Smiling once more at the flower, she looked at the other viera and said, "Note. Such a nice name." With a small smile, she turned to Ienzo and smiled at the man. "Your kind words make me feel better, Ienzo. The Wood will never cease to exist, as long as we hold it close to us." Looking once more at the flowers that were growing, she sat down, her ears twitching here and there, listening to every noise around him. The ever present scent of her Mist lingered, but she was able to ignore it. She just sat there, zoning out as she pondered what had been said.
((My god, this sucks. D8))
Mar 27, 2011 22:52:32 GMT -4
Last Edit: Mar 27, 2011 22:54:20 GMT -4 by Deleted
Pulling his attention away from Maya, he turned to Ienzo to listen to what he had to say. A world’s Heart? He raised a singular white eyebrow at his friend—surely, he knew what he was talking about. But if that were true, then wouldn’t Ivalice have…several Hearts? Raising a clawed hand to the silver ornament around his neck, he thought quietly to himself. He had always thought of The Wood being a large living entity within Ivalice. But it was…rather hard to explain.
Viera who left became deaf to the Wood’s whisperings—except for him. Even now, he could hear it. Though the Wood’s whispering’s here were different than the one in Ivalice, and the one in Radiant Garden. Each world whispered slightly different. Then there was the Wood within him as well. He had never truly understood it, nor did he pretend to. The internal and the external. It was way too much to explain. Nor did he really care to explain.
It was all very confusing.
Elysium Village had disappeared from the map in Ivalice—he had watched, as a child, the very beginnings of it’s destruction. The yellow-eyed ones that he had seen in every world he had been to since he had left…He had dearly loved the village that had given him his name, though when the yellow-eyed ones came, looking-back, it was almost like breaking free. Was that an ill way of seeing things? There had been so many wards to keep everything out, well…out. And everything in, inside. He had thought that was the end to the Wood’s demise. But going back, and finding no World—no Ivalice at all…
He came out of deep thought to watch the young Viera sitting among the flowers.
“Your story’s just begun, little one,” he said quietly, in an almost detached voice. His hand fell from the silver ornament around his neck.
Shaking off thoughts of his dear Veronique, he glanced up at Ienzo again. “Will you be staying in this World, then?” His features frozen much like a hawk, he smiled at his friend, softly. He was one of the reasons he had wanted to return to Radiant Garden, after all.
Ienzo smiled. He felt a rush of images. While they weren't light, they definitely weren't dark. Merely images, replications of previous emotions from another life. Only Ienzo didn't feel a pull towards them, which was what drove the Nobodies to their doom. Instead, he stood up and stretched, feeling Sin writhe beneath his clothing. The symbiotic being jumped towards these images, and Ienzo realized what he was seeing.
"No, Note... I think I'll stick with you, if that's alright," he replied. His silver eyes glanced into the darkness. "But I have a responsibility, so I may have to disappear for work sometimes." The Dark XII... Were they his best bet right now? They didn't feed him; he fed himself. They constantly evolved, but he stayed the same. Was his place with them? Those silver eyes closed and he looked to Maya.
He offered her a hand. "There are a thousand new Woods for you to explore," he said. Personal experience had granted him that much, although he admitted to himself he had never once stopped to appreciate one of those Worlds. Perhaps it was time to go back, or even to just stand still, and appreciate more than the Heart of something. "And if you ever need help, just visit me at Radiant Garden, or leave a message with the RGRUC if I am gone, kay?"
The Heartless pulled himself up from the ground, but he sighed internally. Was he lying to himself? Self-doubt itched through his black heart as he reflected his actions. He was a Heartless... Was there any escape? At all? or was Ienzo doomed to live a life like Ansem, constantly seeking something he couldn't obtain? All the while, Ienzo's mind pulled up new questions. Sora had once said that Kingdom Hearts was Light...
And the Nobodies fought to regain their Hearts.
Ienzo's eyes narrowed as he looked to the starlit skies. He knew what he wanted. Note. Maya. They were both pure beings, their Hearts intact. He was the one who had fallen into Darkness, even if it was before they had met him. It was time to right the wrongs he had committed in the past. The dark-haired Heartless smiled to his friends. "So, what should we do next?"
Maya took Ienzo's offered hand, then looked to the sky, the small whispers of the Wood causing her ears to twitch slightly. Yes, they were different, but they were soothing to her. "Well, I don't have anywhere to go, but every story starts with a step." With a giggle, she took a step forward, then swung her staff, causing a ring of flowers to grow around her. "Well, that's my start." She turned to the others and smiled cutely, her ears drooping down.
