Castle Figaro

[King Edgar]

The black stone walls were lined with ornate paintings, green flags bearing the Figaro Coat of Arms, and vast amounts of strange, complicated pipe systems and wires. The grand audience chamber was long, lined up on both sides of the aisle with collumns, leading to the twin thrones. Sitting on the left was none other than King Edgar, who sat slumped, looking tired and eager.

"Well, Matron, I honestly see no reason that they should not come straight to the castle. They have been here on numerous occasions; why are you so against it?"

The old woman, she who raised the Figaro children after the death of their father, looked tired, sitting in a chair near the king's throne. She shook her head and rested her chin in her hands. Looking up to her king, she smiled warmly.

"If you wish, my dear...but I just don't want to put the girls to work again after such a long and vigerous journey. With no access to an airship, since Master Gabiani's disappearance, travel has been much worse..."

Stroking his chin thoughtfully, the king replied. "You're right, Matron...but don't you wish to see everybody, too? Since Terra arrived from Mobliz last night, I've been very anxious; I'd like to speak to her about the strange reappearance of magic in this world. Ever since we defeated Kefka, all the reserves of the Warring Triad went with him. It's just unsettling, really, and a reunion can make for great information gathering."

He stood from his throne and threw out his arm, his blue, purple-lined cape flying back slightly with this movement emphasizing the dramatics, and declared:

"I will it."

The old woman stood up and proceeded out of the chamber, only giving one warning and statement.

"All right, brat. And Terra's on the other side of the door. I'll let her in."

She left then, and allowed the green-haired woman passage into the Audience Chamber.

[nexus]

Terra stood on the other side of the door listening to Edgar pronounce "I will it" and and began to smile a bit while shaking her head

"Still as cocky as ever aren't you Edgar?" She said to no one

As soon as it was said tho, the doors to the audience chamber opened and out walked an old woman. Matron looked at Terra and smiled "I don't think he'll ever change, young lady" she said as she passed by motioning far Terra so go in.

Terra smiled a bit embarrassed "Hello Matron, thank you" she said as she made her way inside.

She walked partly into the chamber before she stopped and started laughing out loud at the king and his prominent pose standing in front of his throne with the flags behind him. "Edgar.......Edgar...." She said in between breathes "You look like a peacock " she finished still laughing


(good?)

[King Edgar]

Edgar sighed, relieved to see a familiar face that had not shown itself in ages. He stepped off his platform and moved quickly to the half-esper girl and embraced her lovingly, as one would a sister.

The king had long since discovered that he was not, indeed, this girl's type, mostly due to Terra's word, and his change of heart. This girl was family, and he wouldn't have it any other way.

"I trust Sabin and the children of Mobliz are well? How are your charges, Terra? I received a message by carrier pigeon that Relm and Strago would be here at some point within the next two days, but you never know with those two. One's a senile old man, the other's a bratty know-it-all." He shrugged, and turned, resting his arm over the girl's shoulder.

"Figaro Castle's been through some new developments of late. For starters, we've completely reworked the engines down on the lower levels, and the castle can now not only rove through the sands, but above it." He chuckled merrily, his twisted grin wide. "Indeed! Oh, did you know Celes and Locke finally eloped? Hardly the route I would have taken, but I am not a street rat or an imperial officer who has low standards."

He released her and moved back onto his pedestal, where he felt much more comfortable and sat down. "Matron believes that I should settle down, and has even written to some lords over in Jidoor." Edgar shuddered. "Money bags looking to sell their beautiful tramps to make even more money off my kingdom. Bah! The world's already ruined enough as it is, and we're trying to rebuild. I honestly can not seem to understand the greed of humanity. But yes...did you notice the eerie blackness in the skies lately? Oh, that reminds me!"

Once more, the king shot up from his throne and ambushed Terra. "Magic has returned!"

[nexus]

Terra tensed up when embraced by Edgar, he caught her off guard, He was one of her dearest friends and she trusts him , but she knew he was still, all and all, a ladies man.

She quickly eased up tho when mention of her children in Moblez, and turned a little pink in the cheeks when Sabin's name was spoken, but she turned her face from Edgar, hopefully thinking he didn't notice, and felt happy when she heard of Strago and Relm, she hasn't seen them in ages.

She smiled and nodded when Edgar told her of the renovations to the castle, she pictured the castle moving around on the sand the same way a ship moves on the ocean and thought "Great, now he's going to be the king and a captain of Figaro Castle, this is going to go strait to his head"

In the end tho here smile faded, because she did hear about Celes and Locke and tho she was happy for the new couple, which while rolling her eyes at Edgar's comment, she was a little jealous, with the thoughts of General Leo coming to her head.

Edgar springing up and yelling about magic broke her train of thought, now bringing thoughts forward of a few days before she left Moblez when one of her girls had fallen and cut her knee on a rock. She had started to bandage it , when her hands had begun to glow a faint green' only after she had put her hand on the child's knee, and it had begun to heal, did she really know what was happening.

She looked at Edgar " I know Edgar, and that's what makes me worry" she said now crossing her arms and rubbing her elbows a bit. "Magic should be gone Edgar, I mean when we defeated Kefka and the Magicite disappeared, the magic was supposed to be gone as well............ Have you heard anything else?" She asked now having an obvious worried look on her face.

[The Heartless Army]

[glow=yellow,2,300]

KRAKK-THOOOM!!

[/glow]

A storm. In the desert. At nighttime. There exists no darker, no more lightless phenomenon on the surface of the planet. Beyond the artifically created illumination provided by the castle itself, no light existed in this place. Mere feet from the doors of the castle, the landscape was a blank, undetailed wall of black.

They come from the blackness... ravenous and crazed. One could hear them before they approached, somewhere outside of vision... "Keeheeeheeee..." they sounded... the number obscured by odd echoing effects created through the darkness itself. That laughter... so fragmented and damaged that it was hard to tell if it was from murderous joy or brokenhearted sorrow. Whatever the case, the chilling sounds of "Keeeheeeheeheee!!" encircled the castle, approaching from all sides, growing louder with every passing second...

Inside, the darkness made its presence known. A gust of cold air rose from the depths, where shadow is deepest. It blew out the torches, leaving even the inside of the castle basking in an odd mix of electric light and darkness, a creepy, unsettling balance that if it weren't for those haunting laughs on the wind might be considered beautiful.

The sound was growing. Deafening. It filled the halls... the bedrooms... the throne room. It felt almost tangible, like you could reach out and pluck a laugh from the air, or poke the eyes of the one chuckling just next to your ear. And then, suddenly...

They all stopped. Total silence, more unsettling still than all the chattering laughter combined. Moments passed... eternities compacted into the span of only a few seconds... until THEY appeared.

At first, they dropped from the ceiling, dangling like hanged men from unseen strings, their faces (or rather, what existed of their faces) contorted into tortured grins, eyes wide in pain and exhiliration. Others would crawl up from the dark, clawing their way into existance, though they themselves were barely existing. Each gaunt, barely-there creature was garbed in royal jester's robes, half or more of its body not even there. They were all unique, all of them parts of a whole. It was evident what they were, victims. Victims turned heartless by a crazed clown whom all had written off as gone forever.

The Jesterz circled the king and the half-esper... they wanted their hearts.

[King Edgar]

As if in answering the two Returners' fears, the Heartless appeared before them, a terrifying compliment to their psychotic creator. Edgar stepped to the side of his throne and reached behind, grabbing Longinus, the magical spear he had acquired in the Den of the great Kaiser Dragon, and readied himself.

"Terra!" he called, warning her to arm herself. "Come up here on the platform, beside me!"

He moved forward, and addressed the creatures, hoping that comprehension was one of their abilities.

"Creatures!" he bellowed, his diamond-crafted spear blade poised downward. "You have intruded upon a private audience before the King of Figaro!" Sneering, he cracked his neck with a tilt.

"I'll have you know I was there at the fall of Kefka, the Bane of Cosmos! Compared, you will prove far less a challenge! Hahaha."

Then he descended from his place, diving seemingly into the throng of Heartless, plunging Longinus forward, piercing the black, shadowy flesh of one of the dark clowns, giving it a satisfying twist before pulling back. The Heartless cackled mockingly, but fell apart anyway, disappearing into the shadows.

"Hmph! Not very entertaining, if you ask me..."

[nexus]

Edgar called for her to join him platform, so she moved while drawing her Crystal sword from it's scabbard.

Terra began wielding a Crystal Sword ever since the death of General Leo, some part of her felt that if she has this sword with her she can still feal like he's with her.

Hearing Edgar boast from be side her, made her shake her head again, once Edgar jumped from the platform she to began her attack slicing one in half to her right and sending a "Fire" spell the opposite way, engulfing another one.

[The Heartless Army]

The initial attack did in fact take out a few heartless... but that horrible, echoing cackle was still on the wind. Jesterz without legs would start to crawl out of the darkness, their yellow eyes wide and their grins upcurled into horrible crescents of mixed pleasure and pain. More would wobble into view, all grasping, scratching, reaching... but not for Edgar.

For the most part, they ignored him, unless he attacked them first of course. They were converging on Terra! One, in particular, a Jester that seemed comprised of nothing more than hands, feet, and a hooded cape which a twisted smile peeked through, was rising from behind her, reaching out to grab her. Its hands reached unnaturally far, without arms to hinder them. "KWEEEHEEEHEEEHEEE!!" It let out, trying to drag her into her own shadow...

[King Edgar]

Edgar noted this particular distinguishment of attack and moved quickly to come to the half-esper's aid. Bringing Longinus down hard on the skull of a plump little Jester, he set his sights on the broken one. "You foul beast! A menace, an intruder! In my home! attempting to grab one of the most beautiful 'kickers' of rump in the world?! How impolite!" He sprang forth, spear poised forward as he lunged, hoping to strike true. "Leap!"

[The Heartless Army]

Oh, but the king would have struck true. His strike would have spelled instant death for many, even a handful of the Jesterz that even now crawled toward them or wobbled on one leg or stumbled half-balanced due to having only one half of a brain with which to determine their equilibrium.

But this was not the case here. The point of Longinus pierced through nothing... as there was nothing there to pierce! Where the spear had been intending to slice through the Heartless' chest... it had no chest to injure! The bits-and-pieces creature looked to Edgar a second, before its oddly catlike grin would spread across its non-existant face.

"KWEEE hEEE HeeEE hEHEEE!!!" it laughed, then with a free hand, grabbed at his face, trying to force him backward into a waiting crowd of the half-formed monsters, looking to add him to their number since, after all, he was getting in the way...

As for Terra, the hand that had not dealt with Edgar was still gripping at her cape, dragging her backward toward a corridor by the neck...

[nexus]

Terra wasn't pay attention to what Edgar was yelling at these creatures. She was to busy staring at one pulling at her cape, it was staring at her. These things reminded her of him, they're smiles, they're laughter, they way they were looking at her. She didn't like it, she wanting them to stop. "stop it" she told it, but it kept pulling "Stop It" she said louder.

The creature started pulling itself up her cape, laughing maniacally. "STOP IT" Terra started screaming at it. Terra was stating to get scared"Fire" she sent the burning spell down her cape at it but it kept coming at her, and it's grin was getting bigger. "FIRE........FIRE........FIRE" she sent more and more and still it keep coming closer.

Something was wrong, she didn't know if she was angry or scared, but she did know one thing, something was wrong really wrong. "FIRA!!!!! she screamed the words, and it was obviously overkill on the creature, it turned to dust with no resistance.

She turned to face Edgar after she was done with the creature, but her eyes were not normal, they had turned a different almost pale color and angry, really angry, but at the same time she had tears streaming down the side of her face

[King Edgar]

Edgar recovered quickly from the shock of his attack not working and stood back up, doubled over. He gave the spear a tighter grasp with one hand but raised his other, and cried:

"Evil spawn, begone! Banish!" A black, inky rift opened in the air above him, only with these creatures here it amplified, growing larger than usual, sucking in all the creatures and attempting to pull in both king and half-esper.

"What in Cosmos--!"

[The Heartless Army]

Many of the Jesterz were swept up immediately. Others, not so much. They clung to whatever they could to prevent themselves from being pulled into the dark swirling void, including the very people that they were attempting to take themselves. The fragmented one that Edgar had failed to destroy due to... well, lack of form on the Heartless' part, clung to Terra as its cape was yanked upward, attempting to pull it in. Strangely, for as much as this would usually terrify the King's enemies... these creatures... continued to laugh.

"KWEEEEE HEE HEEEE HEEE!!!!" they chortled all seeming utterly amused by what was going on. One of them, possessing only half his form, leapt onto Edgar's back, wrapping an arm around his neck as it allowed the tails of its costume to try and sweep it upward, like a parachutist trying to drag a friend into a tornado. One by one, the Jesterz would go into the void, and sooner or later, these two would drag their victims in with them...

[King Edgar]

"Aghk! Off, beast! I just had this re-tailored!" He struggled with the Heartless, his feet losing grip on the marble floor, and he was being dragged into the Corridor-like spell. "Gods be damned!" he cried, the struggle quieted and he took his spear, upturned it and stabbed it into the floor. Holding on for dear life he was swung upward, and he attempted to kick off the flailing Jester.

"T-terra! Run! Make a brea--oh sh--!!" Longinus broke free from its stab and both Edgar, the Heartless and his spear were flung into the blackness of the abyss.

"Te--"

[nexus]

This new predicament wasn't helping Terra and her flustering emotions. Hearing the creatures laughing even in the face of their own destruction only seem to feed Terra's anger, Now not only had her eyes changed color, but her hair was also beginning to change.

Terra felt her cape being tugged on once again, she turned and with one swipe, sliced away most of her cape, The cape and the creature pulling was sent flying backward into the void swallowing everything around her. Terra searched and found Edgar holding onto his spear and yelling to her, but she couldn't hear him.

Terra watched as Edgar's spear lost it's hold and he lost his footing , and she just reacted, no thought, just impulse, She heard "Te...." escape from Edgar as she grabbed his hand as he entered the void, but to no avail, for she too couldn't hold on as she was sucked into the void.