Welcome home, memories!(Open)

[Dante]

As always, the castle was filled with a deep emptiness, it's many halls quiet and still as if time had simply stopped here and nowhere else. It was ironic for Dante to find this place once again, seeing as how he was here once before. Nothing seemed to out of the ordinary, but still, that presence... Something kept Dante from entering like he would usually with any door to a regular house, but then again, this wasn't just any door... and it wasn't a house, but a mysterious castle that haunted Dante every time he thought of it. Even the earth surrounding the castle was unusual and eerie, sending a rare chill down the usually straight spine of Dante's.

He took a few deep breaths to calm himself down before forcing himself to enter through the threshold. At least the air was a little normal. Dante arrived inside of the blank white halls of Castle Oblivion, the bright source of light blinding his view. It took his eyes a minute to get adjusted to the scene, but once they did, Dante was ready to explore this odd domain. He had come up to the first door. It was one that he hadn't been through before, which made Dante hesitant in going through, just as he was at the entryway.

As Dante pushed through, he found himself in a simple, beach like area and suddenly he knew where he was; Destiny Islands. No one was around like before which gave Dante a little relief. He didn't have to go through the whole fiasco with him and his friends again. The sand and the water felt the same and sounded the same. Even the sky and the salty air were unaltered. He loved this place more than anyone could ever imagine.

He walked forward, listening for the crunch of the sand beneath his shoes. The ocean breeze swept by and the palm trees swayed back and forth. He loved it! If he could just live here forever without any interuption... he would be once again happy and without agony. But alas, it was impossible. He knew oh, so well that sweet things like this often turn horribly sour, so that's why he only visited during times of unbearable pain. He walked up to the shack and went through the door. No one had any idea of how good this felt to Dante; Hearing the sound of the creaking hinges made him loose all sense of depression that he may had once carried.

As he emerged from the stairway door, he looked around himself, checking to see if anything had been changed... but nothing. It was as he remembered the island; peaceful and calm without worries. He would usually come here on the weekends and in the summer to soothe himself. It was his little break from school work. He walked forward and across the bridge to meet, once again, the Paupou tree. There was a single fruit still hanging from its branches, it's star shape and yellow color mezmorizing him. He took a seat on the trunk of the tree and stared out into the horizon, letting the calming sound of the sea water rushing up on the shore lull him to a peaceful sleep.

[High's .Valentine.]

Beach in a castle huh. Well, Lune had seen stranger. Maybe. However, the feeling of warmth on her pale face and limbs, the salty fishy smell of sea breeze and the call of gulls struck a cord within her. She had been here before, yes she had. There was only one explanation to why this place was so familiar. Lune de Villefort had been here before as a sword. The sight of the ocean and the sounds of its pounding waves had left enough of an impression on the metal blade that even now, decades later, in a human body, the scattered brained Lune could still remember the incident. Drowning. Her master had been drowning in that vast expanse of water.

Shivering, Lune skipped down to the ocean edge and crouched down to dip a finger in the swirling water and sand. It was as cold as she had remembered. A smile graced the young woman’s face when the memory of drowning was recalled. She managed to remember something, and that could only mean one thing. She wasn’t getting old and senile! That’ll show Rio. Reaching into the pack hanging from her side, Lune pulled out a hand puppet that resembled a fox and stuffed her hand into the hole in the belly.

“I told you Rio, I remembered sumthin!” Her voice was clear and light, like the jingling of a small silver bell. In a higher voice, she began to shake the puppet and move its arm. “You are still as senile as ever!” The puppet’s voice was shrill, and it was apparent that it wasn’t speaking by itself. Lune’s mouth continued to move as the puppet berated the girl. “Who was with you aye? Who was the one who was drowning, aye? You were a sword! No one would have thought to rescue a sword! You would have been dead!”

At that Lune sighed and scratched her head. As usual, Rio was as mean as ever, crushing the woman’s happiness with other despairing though.

“Pessimist…” Lune muttered, bopping Rio on the head, who whined in protest. The water lapped against her purple boots and the longer sleeve of her turtle neck became drenched by the oncoming wave. Despite that, Lune continued to stare off into the distance, trying to recall just who really was drowning and who had rescued them. Rio couldn’t have really wanted her to remember all that could she? It was over hundreds of decades ago!

Chewing on her lip, Lune didn’t notice the wave until Rio screeched: “YOU BIRD BRAIN!”

The wave slammed into Lune, rolling her around before unceremoniously dumping her in the sand once again, gritty and drenched. Coughing out the disgusting salt water, Lune shuddered at the bone rattling chill of the water and scrambled to drag herself up to higher grounds.

As soon as she was a safe distance from the wave, the girl dropped down on the sand and continued to cough and shudder, her body ignorant of the beating tropical sun.

“You…” the puppet in her hand, drenched and heavy, coughed before continuing, “are the stupidest, most moronic, piece of garbage I’ve ever seen.” It whined while water dripped from its tail.

“Shut up, Rio,” Lune coughed in return, shaking the puppet to get it to hush up. “Or you wanna be a purple blankie? You made me think-think too much anyway.” Pulling the puppet from her hand, she sat up; the side of her face that had been laid in the sand was mottled with grit. Spitting out more sand and coughing, Lune proceeded to wring the water from Rio. “There!” She shook out the puppet and stuffed it back into her wet pack. Coughing and sputtering, her little argument and fussing would have woken up the young man sleeping nearby…

[Dante]

The sun was blotted out by a few, dark clouds that clumped together as they passed by, creating the omnious scene of the oncoming storm. Many of the kids on Destiny Islands were going home on their row boat, paddling along, water splashing up and down as it crashed into the boats. The winds were picking up and causing shifts in the sand, rustles in the leaves, a flickering hair. The sea was getting rough and black like the darkest abyss. If you got caught in a wave, you were likely to drown in the depths of the unending ocean.

The fruit on the Paupou tree fell on the sandy earth, creating a small explosion of flying sand particles. A young girl stood on the platform that held to tree, her brown hair flowing like a lovely cascade of water. She looked forward with no intentions of looking back to see if anyone was coming, she only wanted to see what the ocean looked like in a storm. She began to mouth words as if she were chanting a spell, but that was proposterous!

A young man was tieing up his boat to the dock, looking up to see the young girl standing there in the midst of a storm. He quickly finished up and ran as fast as possible to her. The rain was already starting to pelt down on the world, slowing the young man down as he progressed through the stormy island. The girl knew of his presence and was unhappy. Why was he trying to find her at her moment of happiness? It was so stupid. The young man caught up and pleaded for the girl to come back home with him, but the girl refused in her soft voice.

He grabbed ahold of her hand and dragged her back down to land, the girl running with him, seeing as she had no other choice but to follow him. The rain began to bash against the teens as the waves crashed against the shore and the rocks nearby. The young man dragged the young girl to the cave on the other side of the island, knowing that rowing out in the middle of this storm was a crazy idea, even for someone who was completely insane. The two ran and then...

Dante snapped awake and pressed his sweating palm to his face. He took a few deep breaths to calm himself down as he stared up at the sky. He shook his head and looked around the island. Something had woken him from his dream, one that would end in a horrible way. This dream reoccured often, but yet, it always seemed to be more realistic here on the fake island. He sighed as he spotted a girl, more like a young woman. He groaned softly as he hopped off of the tree, walking to the edge of the platform. He watched her, his eyelids hanging over his eyes as if he were tired, which he wasn't, somehow.

The woman seemed mad, and not in the angry way. He saw the glimpse of a... stuffed animal? He didn't know what it was, exactly, but it was crazy looking alright. It fit exactly with the girl, which, by the way, also looked like a murderer who decieved men into coming with her, just to stab them in the face multiple times... maybe she just came up to random people and got them that way? What ever and who ever she was, he would keep his distance to see how she acted.

[blue]

Castle Oblivion. In ways, Nue felt that the quiet empty castle belonged to him, and him alone. He was created here, so it was only right that the place belong to him correct? He held a sort of... possessive grudge against the place. How he hated it here and loved to be all the same. He wanted to escape but he could not. The dreary castle was his first real memory. His own. Not Sora's. Not Riku's. Not Organization XIII's. His. So, every corner, every door, every deafening silence belonged to the brunette gunman. It was how he saw it and how he wanted it.

And when a pair of unwanted individuals trespassed so easily, Nue felt a swell of annoyed anger. Why did the damn Castle swallow anyone who wandered into its corridors? Infuriating building. Gathering up both of his automatic pistols, the twins dangling in the grasp of either hand, the gunman exited his own chambers and headed for the active illusion across the way. He stepped in front of the door, obviously busy with its occupants on the other side for it gave a soft glow of light. Growling under his breath, he raised a single blank card to the door. A card of which granted him all access to the Castle, as well as creating his own version of mixed memories for a home. The door flinched at his command for entrance and eventually admitted him inside. The card returned to its safety of his back pocket.

Sea salt and a chilled wind met him as his boots sank into warm sands. He squinted dark eyes against the bright sun over head, dismissing the fact that he literally walked into another world. No, another illusion. This, was Destiny Islands. The island was burned into his memories he received from Sora and Riku's end. The pom trees, the shore, dock, tree houses. Everything fit. Now, not only was Nue quiet upset that someone intruded on his turf, but now he was fuming a rage that these people have chosen this world to recreate. This world which brought the most unwanted memories to mind.

He trudged through the sand, fingering the triggers of his weapons as he walked and searched for the other occupants of this room. Nue tried his absolute best to keep feelings and memories not his own at bay. He didn't want to feel things that were not original meant for him. Just get in, chase the brats out, and get out yourself. No sooner, did he hear a bunch of squawking. It sounded like a female's voice, which repeatably changed pitch as if she was having some sort of... argument with herself. Deepening his frown and darkening his gaze, he headed in the direction of the voice.

Nue contemplated on just how he was going to chase them out. Perhaps he could create some Heartless to scare them off? That was an easy trick to pull and required less effort than actually doing something himself. So, as he stepped forward, finally gaining sight of two figures near the Paopu fruit trees, he summoned what was needed for those Heartless. Pulling out a card, with dark shapes littered across the front, he flipped it to face away from him. The card glittered gently at his silent command and the world's atmosphere dropped dramatically. Things grew darker to accommodate the Heartless's nature. And, one by one, the creatures of darkness materialized themselves from the sand, claws and beady eyes intent on a boy and a female character, while he himself, lingered on the sandy beach, awaiting the desired outcome.

[High's .Valentine.]

“Eh? EEH?!” the young woman whined when the sun seemed to have suddenly disappeared behind multiple dark clouds. The entire scenery seemed to shift, like a moving picture, and Lune trembled at the cruelty of a chill creeping up her back and tickling the back of her head. The light waves of the ocean suddenly turned feral, pounding and snarling at the beach while the winds picked up and tossed the girl’s elfish hood off of her head, revealing a pair of dark purple fox ears poking out from the side of her head and a head of dark short cropped hair. Continuing her coughing and hugging her poor shivering self as the winds beat down on her, she wiped at her eyes, looking to be near tears. Really, this beach was full of unfortunate surprises for her. Lune was going to get pneumonia from being exposed to the wind, water, and chill. Voicing her opinions loudly, Lune cursed her feeble human body, susceptible to all kinds of virus and bacteria.

As if getting a cold wasn’t enough, shadows started to mottle the pale sand, giving the beach the appearance of sickly skin plagued with a vile disease. Lune groan, reaching for the small leather bag attached to the side of her hip. She knew what those annoying things are. Her master—which one of them she wasn’t sure—had fought plenty of them during her time as a long metal blade. Nasty little relentless boogers. Always bundles of them! Bundles and bundles! It’s funny to watch them jump on other people, waving around their little claws and body slamming right into the face of unsuspecting individuals, but if they were tackling her, it probably wasn’t so fun.

“Oh go away, buggies, go away!” Grumbling, Lune pulled out her still wet hand puppet and waved half-heartedly at the rising heartless. “Shoo fly, go bother someone else…” The young woman continued to mumble, slipping the wet puppet onto her hand.

“I can’t work like thiiis!” Lune said in a shrill voice, imitating the puppet, turning its head towards her and pushing it into her own face to indicate Rio’s upset with the girl. It was wet and it was utterly disgusted with what it makes as Lune’s stupidity.

“Ay, ay, Rio, I dunno remember these buggies’ names,” Lune answered nonchalantly, backing up as more heartless began to appear. “Heartless, twit, heart eaters…hey, eyes forwards, stupid fox!” Leaning back far enough that she was looking behind her, Lune discovered that someone else was here. “A man, Rio, a man!” Lune called, still arched over and staring at the guy, who was also staring back at her. “And you’re a fox too, silly-o. Insult, nullified!” Giggling, Lune stood up straight again. By this time, the heartless had begun to advance towards the two…or one. Turning, the girl ran, all the while mouthing Rio’s shrill cry: “RUN! RUN! RUN!”

Her wet clothes and the sand slowed down her dash for the man. “Mister! A hand!” Lune shouted at the man, asking for his help. All the while, her legs burn from the burden and traction of the wet sand and her frail lungs began to constrict. Unable to breathe, Lune squealed as she tripped over her feet, slamming into beach once again.

“Aww….” Lune sighed, pushing herself back up with obvious effort while taking in quick short breaths. It was definitely going to be a cold. She thought grimly as a cough racked her thin frame. Curse this stupid, weak, dumb-dumb, human vessel! That other slowpoke human man had better help her out…

[Dante]

Again with the darkness! A sigh of fear slipped from his body as he rubbed his hands together to gather heat. The sensation of the friction was, somehow, delightful, even though he could feel a burning. The winds rushed up against his body and the girl's also, blowing his hair in his face, scratching and itching his skin. The young woman, as Dante would from now on call her since he didn't know her name, was completely taken over by the extreme gusts of air, sending her cap flying off somewhere alone. In replacement of her hat were two, pointy ears. He stared at these for quite a while before realizing that something else was currently happening.

Black and purple blemishes smeared themselves across the sandy earth as the Heartless appeared in plain sight. He remembered these little bastards perfectly. They were the things he had once longed to control, to use as his own Weapon of Mass Destruction, but that had to happen. The young woman brought out the little stuffed toy and, to his amazement, shoved her hand into its bottom and moved it around a little bit. His hypothesis was correct; She was mad. He stared and listened to their little conversation and scratched his head, wondering if the Heartless felt shame for this lady. I mean, who carries around a sock puppet, but not only that, talks with it as if it were a person.

He looked up and took in a sharp breath as he saw the young lady look at him. She spoke with her puppet again and the two, more like the one lunatic, ran towards him as the Shadows strided forward, some even forming into the ground and stealthily sneaking up on the young lady. He reached for his cleaver, but suddenly, something in his mind told him... it spoke to him with a deep, female accent that sent a chilling sensation down his back bone, sending him to a stiff position. Don't do that... what has she done for you? Hmm? Let her youth be her death you incompetent fool.

There was no doubt in his mind, for Dante knew very well of who was speaking to him at this moment; Madam. So she had followed him, in a way, watching his every moves. "I do as I wish and you have no choice over the matter. You don't own me anymore, you witchful pig." He heard the Madam snicker as the young woman fell into the sand. Dante clenched his blade and slung it from his back and into the earth, a soft explosion of sand jotting up and whiscking away in the wind. Try and run... you'll always be at my disposal. So st... Dante cut Madam off as he leaped from the platform and behind the youn lady.

His eyes stared narrowly at the girl, the rest of his face shadowed by his clothes. Only his right eye was visible and at the time, his hazel eyes had turned to the deep, brown and green. His breaths were long and drawn out as he nodded. "Stand up and fight if you can," Dante murmered as he walked forward. He was currently dragging cleaver behind him, leaving a small fissure. "Hurry. I won't protect you for long if you sit there."

[blue]

Nue arched a dark eyebrow as he observed the woman and her... puppet. It achieved a tilt of his head as he curiously observed her behavior against the Heartless. This chick is nuts. And as if the fact that she talks to herself wasn't as odd, but the misplaced fox ears achieved in raising both of Nue's eyebrows. What kind of loons did Castle Oblivion suck in this time? He had to admit, the female puppeteer was the most curious character he has come across yet. She couldn't be human, that was certain.

She ran about the sandy beach, screaming for help, of which Nue was not going to give out. He was trying to get rid of them, which thus far, was turning out to take longer than he wished. The Heartless he chose, were slow and scurried after the two intruders with wobbly legs. He thought it would be enough to at least scare them off, but it appeared the both of them held none for these creatures. The boy, who now joined the woman was now brandishing a weapon, ready to fight. Why do they always want to fight?

Nue sighed, raising a hand to run fingers through tangled dark locks. They aren't going to make this easy for me, are they? He forced the Heartless to attack, be a little more vicious in their movements, encouraging them to bite, claw, do what they do. There weren't many, probably twenty, thirty of them, but it was enough to do the job. Or so he hoped. So, he stood, arms crossed over his chest, watching. "Just get out already," he grumbled. The card dangling between two fingers glowed softly as long as the Heartless in the area continued their task. Only then would the card finally crumble away.

[High's .Valentine.]

“How RUDE!” Growling at the man, Lune sat on the ground and crossed her legs, oblivious to the fact that heart eating monsters were hot on their trail. Come on, the man had just said that he won’t help her if she couldn’t pull her own weight! Not can’t help her, won’t help her. If she didn’t have fox ears sitting on her head, he’d probably jump at the chance to rescue the damsel in distress. Patting her fox ears, Lune pulled up her hood and pouted. He would have beaten the man down for being so prejudice. Of course, the thought that maybe he did not even think about judging her because of her ears did not cross her mind.

“Bigoted pig…” Lune mumbled, glaring at the ugly fleshy man, and then glanced at Rio, who shook its lumpy wet head.

“No,” Rio mumbled, shaking its head again.

“You wanna be a purple blankie?” Lune repeated her threat and the hand puppet shriveled up. “I can fight. But I ain’t no standing!” Lune snarled at the man. Humph, she can probably fight better than him with half a brain! Closing her eyes, the girl remained cross-legged on the beach, as if she was about to go into meditation. A yellow crescent patch on Rio’s hindquarters began to glow as Lune’s weak shadow casted by the filtered sunlight twisted and writhed. Suddenly, a giant fox, about seven foot tall, sprang from her shadow, slamming two dark paws onto the beach, narrowly avoided crushing the man, and creating two small craters where its paws had landed. On each paw, three ridiculously long claws, about the length of an average man from head to toe, successfully speared a few heartless in the process of the summoning. The rest of the fox however, from the end of the torso and down remained nothing but a puddle of shadow. Two purple orbs, lacking pupil or any other details, stared listlessly at the heartless on the beach. Opening her eyes, Lune coughed then leered at the man.

“Oopsie-daisies~ Big Lune can’t really see ugly men.” Giggling, Lune moved Rio’s head. Above her, the Shadow Vulpes turned its head in time with the puppet.

Propping an elbow on her crossed leg, she rested her head on the raised hand and sneezed. “Lend poor Lune a hand?” Smiling at the man, she jerked one of Rio’s paw, which looked similar to the Shadow Vulpes’ own paw. The Vulpes swiped at the clustering group of heartless, easily taking out most of them. She made sure to cut the swipe short though, leaving about ten or so heartless left for the man. The young woman would have killed them all, then turn on the man to smack him in the head for judging her based on her ears, but the possibility that the heartless might just overcome the man tipped her ‘amusement scale’. It would have been funny to see the heartless body slam the man’s face. Originally, when Lune had been running for the man and asking him for a hand, Lune did not intend to use the Shadow Vulpes to her advantage. It would have made things too easy. Why do the work when you have someone else there to do it for you? But oooh, the man made her so steamy mad! He ain’t not gonna help her? Just because she had fox ears! Well, she’ll laugh at him when one of those jolly ol’ buggies belly bump him in the head and probably knock some sense into him.

[Dante]

Dante sighed and rolled his eyes. This woman misunderstood him. He wanted to hold them off while She ran somewhere for cover, but now, she was acting like a total wad-o'-jerk. Dante watched as Lune summoned some shadow fox thing, which sliced the heartless in half and killed most of them. He was agitated now, hoping that his restricted abilities of darkness would show her what power he had, or once had. He remembered the day he was given these restrictions. Such a drag.

Dante raised his right hand and, as darkness engulfed it, two musical measures appeared below the heartless. He smiled and took a whiff of fresh air as he conducted the first few notes to the Pink Panther. As the notes were summoned, so were beams of darkness that shot up, destroying all but three heartless who were smart enough to move out of the way. To finish off, he summoned a pillar of darkness to destroy the remaining shadows, smirking as he did so. It was a quick kill, seeing as how these were just underlings. He really had no more room for any of the moves he just used, but he may have showed the girl what he could do.

He shifted his vision towards Lune, which was what he guessed her name was, and then turned back around to the darkened beach, his hair slapping his face again. "Why so quick with the remarks, lady? Hehehe, I didn't have to come at all, you know, but I guess you could've handled it, right?" Dante was never like this, but seriously, calling him ugly was a tad bit retarded, seeing as how she talked to a puppet. He could have said something even more ungentelman like, but he wasn't like Lune. He didn't suddenly remark someone for no reason, the little pig. Just like Madam, the bunch of them!