The Field Trip

[Ellin Destroix]

A few ways away from the village, a dark corridor began to emerge, and from it came the menacing figure of the dark knight, followed by that far different from her-- a delicate white mage. She had been holding her hand all this time, so she wouldn't get lost. When they arrived, she examined her over, and continued only when she was sure that Abigail was safe.

"Welcome to my home in a way..." she whispered, "Now... remember what I told you... no hostility, ok? The children can get easily frightened..."

The knight turned to where the village could be seen, and she held her hand up high. She began to click her fingers with each other, in code, using the armor to create a special sound.

-click cliclick click clicklick clickclick- she would sound off, the sounds echoing around them.

[Abigail Crescentlight]

Thanks to the cloak that Ellin had given her, Abigail was relieved to discover that travel through the corridor... wasn't too bad at all. Sure, it was scary in that you were so close to the darkness, but really all in all it truly was more efficient than using a ship. Still, for protection sake, she still held her hand over her heart, warding off any evil that might try to creep in.

Stopping on the Dark Margin, Abigail gasped as she looked around, finally realizing where they were. She gripped Ellin's hand a bit tighter, knowing that she didn't have her staff with her should things get... dicey. She had to trust completely in this woman... with no compromises. She inhaled deeply and nodded to herself and to Ellin as she explained what was needed.

No hostility. No sudden moves. Great Cosmos, she prayed nothing bad happened...

[Vivi]

***From Shantotto's Study, in Castle Oblivion***

When Vivi next stepped out of the rift what was once opened in Castle Oblivion he gaped at what he saw before him; a sea of darkness, yellow eyes piercing the all-encompassing blackness that was the World of Darkness; some ways away the Black Mage spotted his target and, withdrawing his book into his jacket, staff and package in hand, he made a slight jog toward both Dark Knight and White Mage.

"M-Miss Abigail!" he cried with a hesitant attitude. "The miss--Domina Shantotto--wished for me to han--" He fell, tripping over whatever he always tripped on that seemed to impede him. Flat on his face he finished his sentence, though what one would hear would be a muffled voice. Without collecting himself he raised the arm what held the package for the White Mage to open.

[Abigail Crescentlight]

Abigail gasped lightly when she saw a familiar face running toward her. Irony would have it that this very same person bared an uncanny resemblance to the dark creatures they had been battling. Sad to say, Vivi barely looked out of place when he came charging up directly after Ellin's click-talk.

The white mage knealed quickly, hoping to help the little one up only to find an envelope pointed right at her. She blinked, taking it as she simultaneously helped the diminuative mage to his feet and brushed him off. "What's this?" she asked, seeming confused. She looked to Vivi again, a bit suprised at his explanation for why he was here. "How did-" she was about to question how she knew, but in her mind, she could almost hear the woman's voice now.

"Why be in such thrall? Domina Shantoto knows all! ~Ooh hoo hoo hoo!"

"...nevermind..." Abigail muttered, then looked up at Ellin who was still signalling off into the distance. She nodded to Vivi and held up a finger. "No hostile actions, okay? Miss Ellin has something important to show us..."

[The Heartless Army]

Not long after the boisterous arrival of the black mage, several eyes would begin to peek over the umbral rock formations that made up the barrier between the colony and the black-sanded beach. They would be joined by several more, and more still, until the entire coastline was practically a twinkling line of yellow. From this, one or two very small, obviously very young Heartless would begin to crawl out from hiding.

They wriggled their antennae this way and that, taking in information that only the Heartless could gather. They would spot Ellin, and begin to rush toward her. It would look for the most part like they were about to attack! They came closer... closer... closer still! Behind the first, a wave of others would follow, all with that single-minded motion in a direct line toward the dark knight.

And then...

The first would tackle her feet, hugging it happily while others would leap up into her arms. She'd be rushed by all the children who were not scratching and biting at her as would be expected out in the realm of light. No. They were instead cuddling her! Happily and gleefully, they welcomed her home... especially one enthusiastic one with a diamond-shaped scar on his forehead...

[Ellin Destroix]

Ellin would look to the traveling heartless, seeing them all lined up, and she grew a little horrified, knowing what was to come next! A tickling! There were about twenty of them, no, thirty, and all of them had set their beady little yellow eyes on her, "Oh nooo~!" She sounded almost comedic, flailing her arms, "Wait wait wa-- OUMF!"

First came the small heartless hugging at her legs, and then she was dog piled by the rest of the hugging bunch. The dark knight would laugh and giggle, being tickled by them.

"Cosmos, have mercyy~ HAhahah~!" she would flail a little, making sure not to harm them while she did so. She looked to the diamond crested heartless and picked him up, snuggling him, "Hello, Cuddles!" she grinned happily, giving them each a pat and a hug whenever they wished it, "I brought friends with me, would you like to meet them?"

Ellin glanced over to Abigail, and now Vivi, hoping he would behave secretly, before waving them to come close.

[Vivi]

Vivi was thankful he was in the presence of one of the most motherly figures he'd met throughout his travels; in fact, she was only one of three who'd ever helped him to his feet when the invisible root caused him to fall flat on the shadows that made up his "face".

"Thank you, Miss Abigail," said the Black Mage, and then stood still while the Heartless playfully swarmed; he felt no hostility in their presence, nor did he find himself thinking of this as uncomfortable. On the contrary, actually. Vivi Orunitia was quite excited to see the Heartless acting the way they looked: like children who simply wanted someone or something to play with.

"What's going on here?" asked the Mage, wondering at the Shadows' latest acts. "Why are they so calm, friendly and tame?" He giggled as the antennae of one of the creatures came cuddling by his cheek. "They're like children."

[Abigail Crescentlight]

Abigail blinked as she continued to hold Vivi, watching with wonder as the Heartless... cuddled Ellin! She was shocked... dumbfounded even. How could these... these dark monsters that existed in contradiction to the will of Cosmos... be so innocent? She shook her head a bit, completely confused and contradicted. It... made no sense at all. She blinked, and when Vivi spoke, she nodded a little.

"...Children..." she whispered, then her eyes went wide. THAT was what she meant! These were the children Ellin wanted to bring back! She shook her head, about to protest, but... something stopped her. She felt in her heart that Ellin would not do something so reckless without a good reason... and she had been asked to be an ambassador of peace here... to offer the children safety from those in the light... Maybe... what she thought she knew was... wrong...

She looked down, thinking on this. This made her realize she still held the letter in her hands. She blinked, and quickly opened it, feeling it was somewhat important if it came from the Miss. On the paper inside were few words, but very important. "Give the Package to Lady Agrias. The boy is your problem now. ~Domina Shantoto". She'd smile a bit at this. To the point... that was certainly the Miss' style...

Looking up, Abigail saw that Ellin was gesturing them over. Unable to find a reason not to... she stood up, holding Vivi's hand, and walked closer to kneal down amongst the Heartless children. The one known as "cuddles" she took into her lap and held lightly, amazed at the innocence of these little ones.

"I don't understand... if all Heartless are born of darkness surrounding a heart and consuming it... how can these ones be so carefree? So... non threatening?"

[Ellin Destroix]

Ellin was laughing happily, letting a child be upon her shoulders, while she carried two in each arm. The youngest one was sitting on top of her head. When Abigail asked her about the heartless born upon darkness, she raised an eyebrow at her, frowning, " They are children, Abigail... I was born of darkness, and I can love... so can they."

Some of the heartless children would churr, and giggle when she went to tickle them. She looked up to the mage once more, with a soft smile, " It is the same with children of the light...their innosence..." she thought a moment, before blinking, "You mean because of the war, don't you?"

The dark knight reached to place the children down upon the ground again, giving them her dark visor for them to play with it, while she talked to the others a distance away.

"Like I said, Miss Abigail... this place is a Sanctuary to the Heartless kind... this is their home...and in a way, mines." She sighed, looking to her with a weak smile, " I grew up here, and have been shown nothing but kindness... kindness that was not given to me in the world if Light. They are only evil when seen from your side... but they are living beings just as those from the light-- they are just fighting for their home-- for this..." she held her hands out to indicate their location.

"...it is the only home they can have..." she whispered quietly, looking to the children, "The adults are afraid of going out, because they have been shown cruelty... and one day, their kind was attacked by the people of the light...they only want to defend their lives... anyone would!" she held her hands tightly into fists, "... the children-- I want to teach the children something different... I want them to at least know the kindness of the light-- which you have proved to exist, Miss Abigail..." she bowed her head quietly, " I want to show them... that the light and darkness simply misunderstood each other, and that they can live peacefully with one another... s-so please..."

She looked up to Abigail, her eyes pleading-- she looked down to Vivi, wanting him to understand her feelings. She watched the two mages, "Please... will you share your kindness with them...?"

[Abigail Crescentlight]

Abigail watched Ellin speak, and could genuinely feel the honesty and conviction behind those words. She could tell that what Ellin said was true, that these little ones were first and foremost children, merely bystanders in a war that neither side remembered the cause of. She sighed, still holding little cuddles in her arms.

Looking at this one... that scar on his forehead... she felt the terrible burden of conflict weighing down on her. He was a child... and so non-aggressive, but that scar told all. There had been hostility toward him. He had seen violence and been touched by pain. Abigail couldn't help but whimper lightly at this, reminded of so many children she herself had seen who had been... horribly injured, even disfigured, as a result of what was now referred to as MeteorFall.

Here, she hugged the little one softly, practically in tears. War was so cruel... and she knew she was partly to blame. After all, how many had she attacked? But in fairness, how many had attacked her as well? Her personally? This conflict had so many sides, so many layers, that she found it hard to distinguish right and wrong. But there was one absolute truth...

"You would never hurt anyone on purpose, would you?" she asked the heartless in her arms. She didn't know if it understood her, or if it agreed. The one absolute truth for her was that she would always defend the children. End of story. She looked to Ellin and nodded softly. "We have a play to see... don't we?" she said with a wonderful, winning smile.

[Ellin Destroix]

Ellin's eyes were bright at this... that smile of Abigail... even she grew tears to see such kindness shine from the woman, to a point that she hugged her, and spin her in place, "Hahah! Indeed we do!" she cheered, and placed her down gently, blushing afterward, "O-oh... um! So- - ah" she cleared her throat and turned to the children, waving to get their attention.

Some of them were playing about with Vivi, and the visor, until their attention was caught by the black knight again. Their antennae would twitch a little in a curious fashion.

"Children-- how would you like to go to the very first Theater field trip??" she grinned, resting her hands on her waist before pointing forward, " To see your heroes up on stage and with members of the light in a grand peace performance? I and Miss Abigail shall be there for you if you decide to come-- and Mr. Mage here will help us out as well, right Mr. Mage?" she looked over to Vivi with a bright smile-- surely, this was an event worth to go down in history! She turned to look at the younglings...

"Go and tell your parents were you are going to be, and tell them that I will be chaperoning you so they won't worry... meet us here in 50 clicks? (15 minutes)"

[Vivi]

Vivi was somewhat confused at this, and nodded out of instinct. "Y-yes, of course," he stammered, nodding harded now. "Of course, anything..."

He looked up to Abby and tugged on her hand a little. "Isn't it all right if they come with us back to where General Beatrix and the others are?"

[The Heartless Army]

The heartless children would seem to spaz a little when Ellin mentioned going to see a play. None of them had seen a real one, just recordings. Their little antennae flailed crazily then they all scattered in various directions. Fifteen minutes...not a lot of time.

They ran to the older looking NeoShadows waiting beyond the shores. There was concern shown, and some debate, but in the end a vast majority of the children were now running back, some even accompanied by other younglings eager to join in the fun. Soon, a large crowd of about 30-40 heartless were gathered, all looking quite excitedly to their hero, the dark knight and her strange sidekicks.

Cuddles would twitch a bit in front of them, his antennae going this way and that, indicating his concern. If they were going into the light... would there be danger? He sometimes snuck out to meet new heartless, yes, but he rarely took on any champions of light. The scar on his forehead was indication enough of why.

[Ellin Destroix]

Ellin frowned a little at Cuddles' concerns. She knelled to pick him up and rest him on her thigh while she explained. She looked to the children with a sweet smile, " Listen, all of you-- I will make sure that nothing happens to you, alright? You just have to remember to stay close, and if something starts to happen, to rest low." she glanced up at the two mags with her, "Miss Abigail and Mr. Mage Vivi (as she heard Abigail call him,) will be there to keep you safe, too."

She turned to the children, resting cuddles down and doing her signature pose; resting one hand on her hip, while the other she pointed it to the stars, "For we fight for justice, and will make sure no harm comes to you, as heroes that we are!" she gave them that confident grin, now speaking as a super hero to them, " We need your help as well! Be sure to keep your friends close, and keep an eye out for each other. Make groups of threes and get to know my friends until we depart-- you will be working with us to keep it nice and safe for all of us to enjoy the play, alright? He still have 10 clicks (three minutes) to go, lets introduce ourselves, and make groups-- We have--"

She pointed over to the smaller mage, which looked like a mini Atticus, "Team Mr. Mage Vivi-- a most brave young with wonderful magics, ready to help out from afar and up close! A little Hero with a great heart like you all!" she then pointed to the white mage, "The Lovely, and gentle member of the Light, Team Miss Abigail-- who will be sure to heal your wounds if you scratch your knee and give you hugs whenever you need them, and me." She pointed at herself, also in a dramatic fashion, " Team Ellin- The most faithful knight, ready to give you piggy back rides if you get tired or just want to play!"

She grinned at the heartless, hoping the two mages were acting heroic as well for them, " Alright younglings, group in threes and get with your team leaders-- hop to it~" she looked back to Abigail and gave her a gentle smile- wondering if the two had anything else to add.

[Vivi]

When Ellin Destroix split the Heartless into three distinct groups who rounded on each of their team leaders, Vivi was at a bit of a loss as they crowded on him, being only an inch or two shorter than himself and in mass numbers.

"Wo-woah, woah, calm down," he said, chuckling at the stacking onto him, using him as a tree to climb. After several minutes the Mage finally had them all calmed down and ready to behave; he took to the front of an orderly line he put them in and raised his Pluto Staff.

"F-for justice..?" he called with mild curiosity. "Right?" he asked, turning his face to Ellin for answers. "Um..."