An Unplanned Meeting (Namine/Invite)

[Marluxia]

It would seem the Graceful Assassin was “enjoying” the random selections that Corridors were making for him for once more he did not control the path he took. When a Corridor opened along the path of Darkness, the pink haired Nobody had simply walked into it without a worry. When he exited the portal a second later, the Nobody found himself shielding his eyes from the bright light of the sun. Blinking, his vision slowly returned. When he could see, he found himself at a midpoint so speak. An island with greenery and arch upon it to be precise. Behind him, more floating and moving isles leading downward and onto what appeared to be water. Ahead more floating isles leading upward to a large structure that sat high above the sunken area he was in. Around him rushing waterfalls that did not fall downward into the water bellow, but rather raced upward reaching towards the sky. Odd, but trivial enough to be ignored.

The Nobody’s eyes traveled from his surroundings back up to the structure. He was curious as to what it was, so he decided to go to it, but not in the normal fashion. Unlike most who would be forced to try and clamber onto the platform like isles to go up, Marluxia refused to do such a tedious task. Instead, he opened a Corridor, walked through, and then simply exited again when he was within range of the gates of the large structure. Stepping out onto solid ground again, the Nobody looked around the large place. Between its style and size, one might say the place was intimidating and forbidding, but to this Nobody it was simply another castle…and castles he was quite comfortable with.

He moved along the stone walkways taking note of cracks and damages done the place thanks to time and potentially battles. Like Agrabah and that molten place known as the Edge of Madness, this world also had a feel to it—a calm. Chaotic Darkness and gentle Light did not show itself here. Instead, this world felt like what a world should feel like—balanced…normal and to top it off the cursed heat from the other places was absent here. A relief? Perhaps. The Nobody wouldn’t know relief if he saw it. After all, he gave up feelings and pretending to have them when he lost his Heart long ago. What was important was that this place did not seek to chase him off as quickly. He could take his time here and that he would.

Keeping his casual pace, he moved into the shadows of the castle as he approached large doors battered and damage from constant abuse. Whatever held this place together had tried to undo the damage, but it did not change the fact that the doors hung in a crooked fashion and left a gap big enough for someone his size to fit in. All he had to do was duck under the lower hanging part, step over a stray piece wood, and then he was in. If the outside of the castle was grand, then it could not hold a candle to what was inside. The architecture of the building was still as threatening and elegant as the outside underneath all the wear and tear of the place. A fountain was before him, the water still pouring. To his left and right, doors and two large staircases that wound upward to the second floor.

The pink haired Nobody continue to take in other aspects of the place as he moved along. Whatever or whoever owned this place might have been powerful, but had long since abandon the place. Now this giant was just a shadow of its former self. A pity, the place was probably a beauty at one point, Marluxia thought as he moved up the stairs, letting his glove hand move along the smooth wood of the railing as he continued his tour of the place. He passed a vase of wilted flowers and tilted his head slightly as he reached out towards them. The flowers shuttered before gaining some color and perking up again. Pleased with the small amount of color in the otherwise dull place, the Nobody moved on, leaving the vase of flowers glowing slightly with a faint hot pink aura that signal his power to one who knew him well.

He kept walking, entering a door that opened up into a huge library. He was currently on the second floor which was covered with bookshelf upon bookshelf of books….that could prove useful. His eyes moved from the shelves as he moved towards the railing and looked down to the floor below. More shelves and books…a giant maze to precise, but how much in that maze would prove to be—?

“Hm?” the Nobody’s eyes caught the destruction of a table below and a pile of scattered books. Curious, he teleported from his spot in a swirl of flower petals, leaving behind a few slightly glowing petals in the spot he had been in. When he reappeared, he was near the wrecked table and toppled over books. A battle had taken place here between powerful warriors, but who he could not tell. He frowned slightly at the small destruction…unlike everything else within the castle this was recent.

The Nobody observed the destruction for a bit longer before moving slightly to the side of the mess and leaning down to pick up one of the books on the floor. Maybe unlike the mess, these books could help him understand why this place was so fought over and abandoned.

[Naminé]

Naminé had once again found herself standing at the threshold of the giant iron castle of Hollow Bastion. The giant doors towered over her. They lay in a crocket position that left a gap in-between where the door would normally open. The young Nobody could see just inside to the grand hall. She wonder what on earth made her come back to the place where she and two other were defeated only months ago. Surprisingly the entrance showed every little of that battle from her advantage point where she stood. The witch took a deep breath and walked through the hole into the castle.

As Naminé entered the castle she looked around. Part of the balcony that was right above the intersection of the two stairs was still missing but it looked like that someone may have come and cleaned up the mess that was caused by the meteor that the clown Kefka had sent raining down on everyone’s heads because the door that lay at the top of the stairs was visible again. Naminé was about half way in the middle of the room when her eyes wondered off to her right. A wall once stood on that side but now you could see clear into the next room. She had done that when she lost control of her powers. She shuttered at the hole as she remembered the battle. She had took on a dark persons form and lost control. She could remember much of what happened when the darkness field her empty body and took over. She knew she must have fought with it a few times because she could recall certain memories and images of the fight…all in which she was call to friends and foes alike for help, but before she could see or hear their reaction; she faded away and her voice could no longer reach the surface.

Naminé looked to where the door to the library was. She had come here the first time in order to search the library on anything that would explain anything about Nobodies or why she and other human like Nobodies had return to existence. She wanted to know if she would end up returning to her Other once all was said and done. She didn’t want to return to the Dusk. There was so much that she wanted to see and do. There had to be away to stop from fading back into non-existences.

Naminé was now making her way up the stairs. She climbed with her breath held because it was at this point a month ago where her encounter and battle began in this place. When she made it to the top a sigh of relief escaped from her lips. She walked down the hall towards the door that would lead to the library. As she reached out her hand to push the door open a small pink glow was caught in the corner of her eye. She slowly turned her head towards it and saw a vase of flowers. They looked pretty and the Nobody leaned over to smell them. She looked around at the other vases and saw that the flowers in them were dead. “That is odd.” She thought as she turned towards the living flowers. “If all the other flowers were dead from poor care and destruction…then how come these ones are as beautiful and fresh as they day they were picked?” She looked at the flowers curiously hoping they would pop to life and answer her question. Normally that would be a silly thought to have but the Memory Witch actually knew a place where that was very possible. As she stared at the flowers the pink glow once again appeared around them. Naminé was fixated on them and went into a trance like state. Her eyes duped and for some odd reason the familiar sensation of a heavy hand lying on her shoulder was upon her. A cold and cruel voice whispered in her ear telling her thing that if she didn’t want anyone hurt then she would do this. It was a voice that was telling her what to do. It was powerful and controlling. The space around Naminé seemed to be turning white. She slowly reached out her hand to summon her sketchbook; after all that was what the voice was telling her to do.

A noise in the next room snapped Naminé out of her trance right before her sketchbook appeared. The young Nobody blinked and shook her head. “That was weird. I haven’t felt that in a while.” She said as she turned her head to the library door, but she still kept her eyes on the flowers. She had this strange sense that she now knew how the flowers were still alive. But was it possible that the person responsible was still in the castle? The memory witch ripped her eyes from the flowers and opened the door to the library.

Naminé found herself inside a maze of book shelves. A shadow on the second level caught her eye but she was unable to turn her head in time. By the time she looked the figure had vanished leaving petals swirling in the air were they once stood. The witch’s eyes widen and she quickly attempted to solve the maze. She didn’t want another run in that would cause yet another battle.

Naminé ran to the first bookshelf that was in her way. There was a green book on the floor and a brown book in the place where the green one should have went. The memory witch took off the brown book and placed the green book in its place. The moment that the green book was in place the bookshelf moved out of her way. The next shelf had a row of brown books but one was missing. The witch placed the brown book from before in the row of brown books and once again the shelf moved. She zigzagged through the maze finding books and putting them in their proper places. She could have simply Corridor out of the maze but she was afraid that she would miss any books about what she wanted to know.

Naminé kept her head down because most of the books she need were on the floor. She was finally out of the maze when she saw another book. Without even thinking about the fact that she already cleared the maze she leaned down to pick it up. At that moment her hand touched someone else’s gloved hand. She slow looked up and her eyes met with a pink haired man in a black cloak.

“Ma- Marluxia!” She said standing straight up relinquishing the book to the Organization.

[Marluxia]

Marluxia had come into the castle searching for information and in turn had discovered a library. As he examining the large room of book cases from the top floor, he didn’t notice that someone else had come to this place along with him. He was much too focused and curious to know information about his new surroundings and what was happening in the worlds to be concerned with sensing people. On the one hand, a person could say the reason behind this casual use of sensing was because the Nobody simply could not sense Hearts and the presences of Light and Dark like others could; however, the truth of the matter was Marluxia could sense if he wanted too. Not well when it came to sides, but he knew if one had a Heart or not and judged usefulness and traitors-in-the- making from encounters more so than if Light or Dark resided in a person. After all Light and Dark were just forces manipulated by those who wielded them. For good or bad was really determined by the person wielding it. Of course, no one walking blinded by justice or greed could see this, but that didn’t matter. What mattered was the tools he could gain from said emotions floating through a being, but that little train of thoughts was for another time. In any case, the true reason Marluxia used sensing so loosely was because in the end, he was not afraid of anyone.

He didn’t have the capability to feel fear and even if he could, he would not. He was the Lord of Castle of Oblivion and held much power in his own right despite his ranking within the Organization. Sure, he wasn’t as powerful as Xemnas, but he had enough power to keep others in line and he could hold out a lot longer than some if he had to fight the Superior. Thankfully, the visit to the The World That Never Was hadn’t drawn too much attention to him, so for the time being he had avoid coming face to face with his past. He was, in a nutshell, without a barrier for the moment. In the end, a bit of overconfidence kept the Nobody from worrying about what was in the area with him. If he encountered trouble, he’d strike it down. End of story.

The Nobody stood on the second floor a moment longer before his eye caught the wreckage of the table and he teleported down to see what he could learn from the destruction. As he was examining the table, he took note of the noises in the room with him. The opening of a door, footsteps and something sliding rose above the whisper of the winds in the old place. The sounds of sliding and footsteps were constant, but the pink haired Nobody was not bothered by it. Whatever it was, was have been coming his way, but he didn’t feel threatened by the sound. So something was in the room with him. So what? He’d deal with whatever it was once it had come to him. He focused his attention on a book that look like it would provide the answers he wanted as the footsteps got closer. He reached down for it at the same time someone else did. His eyes caught the glimpse of a pale hand against his black glove before he was looking up to see who it was.

If Marluxia could express the surprise he got when his eyes landed on the familiar blue eyes, the blonde hair, and the white dress of the young lady before him it would have been quite the sight. He probably would’ve been slacked jaw and a bit confused at the encounter; however, he showed nothing as the girl moved her hand away from the book and stood up straight, letting him have the book. His hand grasped the book as he unconsciously held it loosely in one hand as the girl said his name. Her shock more apparent than his slowly, he stood back up and straighten himself out as he eyed the girl cautiously.

At one point, this girl had been under his control. The perfect tool to be used to destroy Xemnas and capture a keyblader to do his biding. All she had to do was change the way the keyblader remembered things and nothing else. He had actually considered rewarding her for her hard work afterwards, but no. Things just had to turn sour, didn’t they? Cursed Axel. He was the one that lit the flame inside of Namine that gave her the power to fight back and disobey him. Thanks to her disobedience things had gone way out of hand and in the end, he was defeated by that keyblade brat. By all reasoning, he should be furious and destroy her on the spot for what she had done, but the Nobody did not move to harm her or show any signs of the memories that played across his mind so clearly at the sight of her. He didn’t underestimate the girl. With help, she had unraveled his plans and returned him to oblivion and yet by some strange twist of fate, he had been brought back and was now face-to-face with the Memory Witch once more.

He wasn’t afraid of her, but he wasn’t as confident as he would’ve been if the girl had been anyone else. It was more like the defeat by her and that keyblader brat had in a way humbled him, but unlike Sora who he’d fight against if he had to Namine was a different story. He didn’t want to harm her and she was much too useful to be rid of. Why he didn’t want to take her once more under his wing was an obvious one. He simply did not trust her after the last incident, so when he finally did speak, not even the monotone tones he spoke in could hide the uneasiness that this supposedly emotionless Nobody felt. Why had feeling decide to show now? He could not answer, but there was something…something not there before now that he had been reawakened, but this was not the time to be concerned with such things. He had a Memory Witch to deal with.

“Namine. What are you doing here?” he asked keeping a watchful eye on her in case she did anything funny. He was sure she had not forgotten his unkindness to her. Perhaps he should apologize, but then again why should he? She had helped destroy him, did she not? Why should he apologize for simply trying to keep a plan on track?