Baby, You Wouldn't Last a Minute {Darren}

[~ Marlene]

A small girl stood hunched over, her knees bent towards the ground. Grouched, staring into the water around her. In front of her. A small fountain. The water fountained out of the display, which was a statue. Not sure what it was really, maybe a symbol for the city. For Radiant Garden. She sat hunched on the edge of the fountain, staring at the water rippling in front of her. She had a hand towards the water, a finger dancing in it. Swirling. Making even more ripples. The sound of rushing water was all that could be heard in Radiant Garden. All was quiet here. Too quiet maybe?

The girl with brunette hair, remained where she was. Her chocolate orbs mesmerized by the water.

Suddenly, a few feet away. Unknown to the girl. A heartless popped up, it moved its shadowy head around. Looking around it. Making sure no one saw it. Making sure no one was here. That it was safe to explore here, to find a victim. A heart that it could take. It waddled forward, it's beady yellow eyes searching around for a victim. It turned a corner and saw the little girl, knelling by the fountain. A perfect target. A innocent heart. It waddled, as quietly as it could towards her.

The girl was unknowing of what was about to happen, what was going to attack her. What was going to take her heart in seconds, without even a second thought. Because the heartless only obeyed, only wanted hearts. They were dark. Heartless and dark. They're souls impure. They're minds evil. Once it grew close enough, it jumped forward towards the girl, it was roughly a foot or so away. In seconds the two would plunge into the water.

Would someone save her? Help her?

[Darren]

It'd been a slow morning in Radiant Gardens. The Sun was up, shining down upon the world with just a few clouds for company. A cool airy breeze complimented the casual wave of warmth.

That very same cool breeze, blew through Darren's SOLDIER uniform causing the task of changing into more suitable clothes unnecesary. He grinned, talk about master tailoring or what.

Much of the days activity was going around town showing people a photo of Stephanie, asking if anyone had seen anyone similar to her, and if so where they last saw that person.

So far... No luck whatsoever. He sighed in discontent as that thought struck his mind once again. Even though his heart was heavy in sorrow, he couldnt help but smile as he saw a youth play around with the water in the fountain.

Such a gift children possess.. Innocence, in an existence where Light and Darkness continously battle, Children are the only ones that are naive of the onslaught.. The lucky ones.

However, this smile turnt to a frown as he noticed a familear black figure pop out of the ground just behind the child.

A Heartless and a weak one of that too.

Standing up, he slowly began to walk towards the Heartless who had obviously not seen him and slowly began to stalk towards the girl. Darren's movements quickly escalated from a walk to a quick paced run as he noticed the Heartless slowly speed up as well and then leap towards the Child, completely obvlivious of the danger just a couple of feet away from her.

"Go back to the Darkness Abomination..." He said heartless as he swung upwards with his just drawn Broad Sword, cleaving the heartless in two. Upon impact the creature burst into black bubbles which then popped forming into a blacking purple haze before disapearing completely.

"Are you ok little one...?" He said, his voice soft and caring. Looking down upon her with a concerned look coming from his helmets visor. His sword now sheathed upon the holster on his back.

[~ Marlene]

The young girl was completely unknowing of the dark creature behind her, she continued to look at the water. Swirling her hand in the water as she quietly hummed a tune. She then saw a shadow form in the water behind her. She was about to turn around when she saw a much taller shadow behind her, but that didn't stop her from turning around. She wasn't afraid like other children were, she was much more mature for her age. She turned around in time to see a man, who looked to be a SOLDIER, slice a heartless into two. It disappeared into the darkness it had come from, disappearing into a haze of black.

Are you ok little one...?

She nodded silently, looking up at him with her chocolate orbs. He reminded her so much of Cloud. His uniform. His broadsword. He must be a SOLDIER, like Cloud was. She smiled up at him, showing him she was perfectly fine. "Do you know Cloud?" She asked him, curiously. Still staring up at him, though with her personality height didn't matter. Nor did age. She would rather be one of the adults than a child.

[Darren]

With that the creature was sent back to the Darkness from where it came. The girl he had just saved from the clutches of that lone Heartless was now looking up at him, her chocolate coloured eyes gazing into his, just as if she was looking into the very depths of his soul. It felt like time had stopped briefly as she looked into his eyes, what was she doing? Figuring him out? Thinking of something to say? His thoughts were cut short when the girl eventually spoke “Do you know Cloud?” she asked, her voice having a questioning or curious allure about them. She was still staring up at him, a flair of maturity about her seemed to irradiate in the surrounding atmosphere; this was a girl who’d grown up mentally faster than she had physically.

He thought about it for a second, Cloud..? The name didn’t ring any bells in Darren’s head he shook his head side to side. “Sorry, I don’t “He said bluntly, biting his lower lip. He looked up to the sky briefly as if the serene view might clear his foggy memory up. “Why do you ask..?” He said, still looking up at the sky.

[~ Marlene]

Marlene continued to stare up at him with her chocolate orbs, the only reason she looked up was so they were face to face. If she was grown up, she wouldn't have to look up. She could just look at him. But, no there had to be that height difference but neither the less it didn't seem to bug her at all. She looked at him as he seemed to contemplate her question, to ask if he knew Cloud or not.

She looked down for a moment as he said he didn't. Huh, she was sure his uniform was the same as Cloud's. But, maybe she thought every warrior who had a sword and armour knew Cloud or something. She shrugged to herself then looked back up at him as he asked why she had asked. "Well, you have the same armour as him.." She pointed to his armor, "And a sword like his.." She pointed to his sword he had drawn earlier to help her.

"Are you a SOLDIER like him?" She asked him. He didn't know Cloud but maybe she was right about him being a SOLDIER. "Perhaps you know Tifa? Have you come to see Tifa?" She asked him, she was sure full of questions. Hope he doesn't mind.

[Darren]

He raised an eyebrow as the girl lowered her head to his answer, a little bit of a bad feeling surged his stomach. Had he just upset the child? He shrugged the feeling away as he remembered it’s not his fault if he doesn’t know every single person in the world.. Or in this case; the many worlds he knew of.

The girl looked back up at him and began to speak again. “Well, you have the same armour as him.. And a sword like his” she said, pointing at both his armour and his sword, he looked at each of them respectably as she pointed and looked back raising an eyebrow a feature she couldn’t see due to his helmet. “Well... Maybe he was a lower rank, I don’t know. I only actually got into SOLDIER before the incident; not much time to get to know people...” He said sadly, thinking back to the incident that occurred during his Mako infusion.
Before he could dwell more on that incident his concentration was snapped yet again by another bundle of questions. He looked back at the girl listening as she asked away. “Perhaps you know Tifa? Have you come to see Tifa?” Her tone of voice sounding somewhat inquisitive and excited, or maybe it was just him.

“Who’s Tifa?” He asked, folding his arms slightly. Maybe she was someone who might know the where about of Stephanie. “Nope, why..?” He asked yet again, he was somewhat enjoying this conversation with the young one.