Gathering Forces

[Twilight Path]

"Follow the light as your heart tells you... but lose your prince..."

Sarah moved forward, making sure that her voice could only be heard by Sai. She didn't want anyone else to find out about the strange dreams, since only Acteur really knew about them. "You first told me that I would lose Acteur if I followed the light." She spoke with her eyes slowly shutting. "In that strange place of stained glass."

"That... may be an unavoidable conclusion..."

"Logically speaking, the longer your Prince protects you the more danger he puts himself in. Because his heart is artificial, the Fallen has it within his power to completely obliterate it, forever, and fully. It will be as though Acteur de la Noir never existed..."

"But should his heart be liberated by the Keyblade... perhaps it can make its way to Kingdom Hearts... so that in the next life he might be full and true... Of course this is only a theory..."

"The second time you told me that if I used a 'key blade' it was possible to liberate Acteur's heart. Both times you were calm." She wanted to hit Sai for even thinking he could look at the precious Piccolo that Acteur had made her. "What's the point of letting you do anything more than you already have?"

[Sai]

Sai listened with a passive face as the girl accused him of things he had not done. Not that they didn't sound unlike him. Still, no one likes being blamed when they are innocent. Guess it's a good thing Sai couldn't really get offended... or anything else for that matter. Instead, he just politely listened as she listed off his supposed crimes and vented her feelings out on him.

A moment passed between the two when Sarah finished, during which time Sai processed what he had heard and tried to make as much sense of it as possible. "This person that told you these things must be an incredible forgery. I do not dispute the liklihood that I could behave in such a fashion, but I must insist that the truth of the matter is that it was not I who told you these things..."

Sai lifted a hand to his chin, brushing it lightly through his crimson scarf. "From your description of a stained glass floor, I might surmise the possbility of a dive into the heart. It is a rare occurance, happening most often when one is drawn into their own heart through external stimuli. In your case, I hypothesize that it would be the presence of hearsteele. This alternate version of myself, therefore, would be a reflection of your own subconscious. A jungian symbol, if you will, of your conflicting feelings regarding the inevitable and regrettable fate of someone whom you hold close in your heart. The Heartless Acteur, I presume..."

Sai paused, realizing he was sounding as calm and cold as his counterpart in her dreams. He paused, and looked to her with a face that could ALMOST pass for melancholy. "I apologize again. I must stress that I cannot feel, and to sound so clinical is an unfortunate side effect. I will not, however, pretend to be something which I am not. This is a quality I'm sure your Acteur could appreciate..."

He paused again, then lifted his hand to his chin in thought. "As for the point of your assistance..." he continued before dropping his hands to his sides. "This doppleganger is correct in his theory. It would be possible to rescue your Acteur from darkness with the use of a keyblade. Further, it would allow the wielders to strike back at the source of our current predicament..." He pointed skyward to indicate the sad state of affairs regarding the near-death of Kingdom Hearts.

Sai watched her reactions carefully, but went on. "My heart has caused too much damage. I do not ask this for myself... as much as I desire to be whole. This madness needs to be brought to an end so that people like yourself and your heartless companion can see peace in your lifetime. Without your aid... I cannot test my findings. If I cannot test my findings, we cannot create a weapon strong enough to defeat him... If he cannot be defeated... then things like light, music, and even love will die forever."

[General Beatrix]

When they arrived and Sai gave her his instructions, like an obedient pup marched off with Ria in tow, to gather soldiers and anyone else whose ears were needed in the time to come. Meanwhile Zolapaz spoke quickly to the general, explaining his situation and identity, causing the general to take pity on him. Lowering her blade Beatrix shook the Nobody's hand and bowed to the others, walking off with Brass over to the Red Rose.

Apparently Cobalt, some other servants and a battalion of golems had finished chalking out the large magic circle, as well as the detailed runes, symbols and the like, around the ship, and it would be time for the Steam Golem Wizard to live up to another of his titles: the Fabricator.

Given a detailed set of blueprints by one of the bridge ensigns, Brass and the general went over every detail while orders were sent to evacuate the Rose. Beatrix wanted to wait for Abby to arrive, however, as she wished to discuss with both she and Cloud a unique hunk of machinery she had seen back in Midgar.

"Give us some time," she said to Brass, who acknowledged her request with a snort and went back this studying.

Daphne, worked with senior officers in the evacuation of the ship and, when the last of them were ushered out she and Linda stopped to grab some supplies from the lab. When finished, they exited the Rose and began a head count.

[Twilight Path]

Sarah could feel her hand hold tighter to the piccolo in her pocket. His inability to feel made her heart sting, quite a lot. Not because of what seemed to be sympathy, but annoyance at his way of talking so calmly about things. "I chose the path between light and darkness, not one or the other." She put her free hand to her loose hair, putting it behind her ear.

"You want me to merely represent light, don't you?"

[Ellin Destroix]

Once Ellin had made the clearing, it was straight to work for her. She ambushed by other Alexandrian soldiers to stop pulling her weight around, because there was actual weight to be pulled around, and they needed help! She set off immediately after saying her "see you soon"s to Abigail and marched straight to work. Unlike how Agrias was, she was able to hold at least a quarter more than the woman, and she used her blood abilities to increase her strength to do so.

Her strength was needed more than her thoughts at this time, so she stuck around Agrias to do most of the heavy lifting. Every now and again, the archer classed woman would save the poor Ellin from the rantings of the fellow soldiers, because she simply could not split herself into 20 different persons to help out.

"Thank you, Miss Agrias!" she would huff a little, holding a massive Iron pole over her shoulder to set in place as a support beam.

"Pay no mention to it." would assure the woman, giving her a soft smile, " I saw from the corner of mine eye that you and Lady Abigail are getting along quite fine, Lady Ellin. I am glad."

"O-oh...well.." she dark one would blush a little, idly drawing hearts upon the iron surface (and leaving a bit of scratch marks because of her armor's claws,) "She's... She's amazing... you know that..."

"Indeed I do." Agrias would chuckle, helping Ellin with a bit with one of the massive support beams of the lower ship, and allocating it in place, "... I must ask a favor of you, Lady Ellin... I know it is a far reach, since we barely know the first page of one another..."

"O-oh! No, please ask away, Miss Agrias!" The dark knight would face her fully, highly curious, "What is the favor??"

"Eheh.. T'is not simple to say this..." she would whisper so others would not hear, "... I am at a weak state, Miss Ellin... and I might not be able to protect Lady Abigail as I would like... Lady Beatrix is able to protect herself more than I, so..." she shook her head, trying to get her thoughts straightened, "What I ask...is for you to protect Lady Abigail for me... of course, cautious of your own life as well... but--"

"Miss Agrias..."

"..hm..?"

Ellin reached up to rest a hand carefully on the woman's shoulder, giving her a big grin and a thumbs up before speaking, " You don't need to ask me... I was going to protect her with my life either way! Hahah-- I love her after all!"

"You lo--..." Agrias would gasp a little, knowing the troubles of the dark knights and such language. Ellin was far different from any other dark knight's she has met or heard of... and that is why she was trusting her to guard the purest light. The woman smiled to the girl, and also rested a hand carefully upon the other's shoulder, "... That ... brings me much ease, Lady Ellin... thank you... now! On to the next one here..!"

"Yes, Ma'am!" and with that, the two began to work again harder than before, wanting to get the most done in little time so maybe they could go take a break... and spend some time with the ones they love later.

[Sai]

Sai shook his head lightly as Sarah asked him if she was to only represent light. The simple fact was... he didn't care what she represented. However, putting it that way would hurt his cause, so he tried another route.

"I only seek to put an end to a massive imbalance..." Sai said calmly, pulling out his wand before knealing down to pick up a stick from the ground. "Peace exists when opposing forces exist in equal parts..." he said, balancing the stick on the end of his wand perfectly. "All held in harmony, each maintaining the other. The fundamental flaw in the notion that one force, light or dark, is somehow 'better' than the rest produces an imbalance..."

Here, Sai pushed the stick so that one side hung over farther than the other. When he pulled his hand back, it toppled off easily. "... and when there is imbalance, no single part shall stand..." he finished before slipping his wand back into his pocket.

"The Fallen is the catylist which has produced this imbalance. The only way to mend the fulcrum of this scale is to utilize the keyblade..."

Looking to Sarah a moment longer, he nodded, then slowly turned away. "However, this is not your responsibility to fix. It is my own. I apologize that you had to be a victim of my rampant heart." With that, Sai started walking away from Sarah. He had already calculated out this conversation based on her reactions.

She was not going to help him. It was his fault that Acteur was to die, even if it was also his fault that Acteur came into being. In the end... you just can't have it both ways.

[Abigail Crescentlight]

"Thank you, Oeilvert!" Abigail said happily once the mansion was up. Eagerly, she ran inside and collected the food she had started (and thanks to the servants of this interdimensional home, there was now plenty to go around for everyone). She smiled happily as she pulled the pot from the kitchen and set up a table where exhausted workers could get a bowl of chicken and dumpling soup before continuing on.

At one point, she was able to recruit a younger soldier who hadn't the strength to help much to be her designated soup kitchen girl. Finally free a moment, she walked over to where Everyone seemed to be gathering, near Daphne. She blinked a bit, trying to find out what was going on.

She stumbled into Beatrix and smiled a bit. "Oh! Well, good to see you!" she joked lightly, then motioned to the soup table. "Don't forget to eat, Bea. What's happening here? What's the Duke doing to the ship?" she asked, noticing now that he was doing something... well bizarre. Meanwhile, Sai and Sarah were talking together about something rather heated, and she just felt completely out of the loop...

[Twilight Path]

Sarah could feel energy inside her. Being unable to be near the one she loved was merely a start of the energy that brought her to pulling Sai towards a private area, one in the woods. It was the thought he would merely walk away from their conversation that bugged Sarah the most. She waited until they were far enough away to take the next action. Had she been thinking, she might have thought it rather crude.

"I don't care if you apologize like hell for Atticus killing that strange woman. However, if it will save Acteur I will do whatever it is that is necessary. Stop walking away as if you're smart enough to know what I want!" She spoke, feeling tears well in her eyes. One of her hands tightened into a fist, hitting the nobody straight in the stomach. "Don't you get it?" She could feel her legs wanting to fall, to cry again. "I want to save Acteur. I don't want him to die like that woman died..."

She put a hand towards the piccolo, tightening on it again. How was she supposed to be strong if she felt the wound constantly tearing? She had to be strong for herself and Acteur's sake.

[Secondary Characters]

Kim might have been a little out of her element, but when it came to helping others, she always knew just what to do! She didn't need any instructions to know that people needed help moving things, and that she was among good people who were struggling to deal with whatever evil was tryingo kick the good guys around.

Looking up, Kim noticed the black sun and frowned. Seems a lot's happened while she was knocked out... No time to lose! She helped heft heavy equipment and move other such items. She wasn't much, but she could do anything!

[Sai]

Sai was wrong on very few occasions. Once, when he gave up his heart and began this nightmare, and now when Sarah suddenly grabbed him and pulled him aside. He did not know what to expect, so when suddenly a fist made contact with his stomach, he could only bend slightly and let out the "oomf" of air rushing from his lungs as a result of direct impact to the diaphragm.

As he looked to the girl, trying to understand her over-emotional behavior, he noticed how much this was hurting her. Probably much more than it was hurting him, if he remembered anything of loss and despair. Standing fully, he tried to console her as best he could by placing a hand on her shoulder and nodding.

"I understand..." he said simply, then went quiet for a long moment. In order to break the silence between the two, he explained what he needed from her. "If your instrument does in fact have hearsteele trimmings... and it might not... I could use your assistance in a demonstration. After that, how you use the weapon will be your own choice. I won't, nor will I be able to, take the weapon from you. No one will..."

He paused again, then added. "This is one path which might save your Acteur from the fate you fear. One out of who knows how many. I do not... nor will I give the illusion that I do..." he looked away, then back to her.

"The meeting is about to start. The next decision is yours, but the next move is mine..." he gestured lightly. "May I take my leave?"

[Twilight Path]

Sarah listened, noting that at least he was listening to voice that tried to hide around those outside. Slowly, she let her bare hand wipe away any tears that were going to fall. "Alright, but...just one look." She spoke, moving back from Sai as she pulled the piccolo from her pocket.

"A relative to the flute...indeed, both instruments are part of the woodwind family. And yet, a piccolo possesses a variety of melodies entirely its own. With its higher octaves, it provides resonance to the songs of the violin and flute. In the works of the oldest composers, it always had a place; even among its more visually-impressive brethern."

"In summary, it was a deceptively formidable instrument; both accentuating others and capable of standing on its own..." Another pause, and his keen yellow eyes held hers. "...Ergo, one that suits you rather nicely, cherie. Time, I think, for another bit of puppetry..."

"Behold, cherie Appleton! An instrument imbued with the essence of the night, crafted for you expressly! With this, you'll find yourself prepared to begin your journey down a path of study that very few--artists or otherwise--think to tread."


She held the piccolo a tight, holding it loosely in her hands as she waited for Sai to either touch it or examine it with his eyes. "I'm willing to at least try."

[General Beatrix]

Oeilvert had been happy when he saw Abigail's cheeriness and let her do her thing while he made his way into the crowd where Daphne and the other senior officers were setting up uniform rows. Beyond them the general stood with Brass, Cobalt and apparently now Abigail, and took his place beside a handful of soldiers sitting nearby the gathering, munching on their meals.

-------------------------------

Turning to the White Mage, Beatrix nodded back to the duke with a triumphant grin. She waved an arm in his direction to show what he was up to.

He knelt down and cracked his knuckles, running a hand over a chalk-drawn line once, inspecting how solid it was; a rickety transmutation could result in an explosive result, so everything needed to be checked twice.

"The Brass Duke will be using his powers to fully mend our ship, thereby making her space-worthy enough to travel at full-speed to our final destination."

When she remembered that she'd been seeking both Abby and Cloud, she snapped her fingers and grabbed the woman hard.

"Which reminds me! Miss Abigail, do you remember back in Midgar...the large, cannon-esque machine that lay in ruins on the skyline?"

Bringing a finger to her lips she tried to remember what it fully looked like before Kefka made it disappear in a massive burst of fire.

"His Grace will hold off until we have a relative idea and some vocal schematics to simulate one of our own."

[Cloud]

Cloud looked up from Fenrir when he heard whispers of an emergancy meeting. With a flip of his hair, he coolly informed the soldier that told him that he'd pass. However, when another and another came up saying that Beatrix needed him, he could no longer play the loner and stay by his bike while the rest of them had their little meet-n-greet.

He pushed his way through the crowd and found the General, tapping her shoulder when he did. "What did you want?" he asked, his tone so monotone and distant that it was hard to say that it was a disrespectful one. He seemed uncomfortable in crowds, and anxious to get out of this one...

He heard the general ask Abigail something about the canon from Junon (which had been relocated to Midgar prior to Meteorfall), and lifted an eyebrow. "What about the Mako Canon?" he asked, wondering what on earth could come from ShinRa trash like that...

[Sai]

When the item in question was produced, Sai leaned forward to get a close look. In respect, he kept his hands behind his back. Glancing it over, he was able to identify the metal quite quickly. Certain properties gave it away (such as a barely-noticable glow while in Sarah's hands). With a nod, he stood up fully once more.

"This will be satisfactory..." Sai said finally, nodding. "The metal fixings are in fact made of Heartsteele. You would be entirely capable of producing a keyblade of your own..." He looked back to where everyone was gathering. He'd have to join them soon. With a glance back to Sarah, he continued.

"We must be going, then..." Sai said, then made his way to where the group was gathered. Luckily, Daphne had had the foresight to pull a makeshift table together, consisting of barrels and some planks of wood. It would serve. Sai placed all thirteen notes down on the table in a specific pattern before nodding to Daphne, thus calling the meeting to order.

When the crowd became quiet at the start of the meeting, Sai immediately took charge. "I'm not going to draw this out into a long, overblown affair. We have the knowledge to create a Keyblade, a True Keyblade, and I intend to demonstrate for everyone here and now..."

Sai stood up, gesturing to the notes before him. "It has been a long time coming, but we have all the notes which lead us to the answer. And while what is written on the fronts is important..." Sai waved his hand here, causing each and every one to flip over. When the last note hit the table face-down, the backs lit up suddenly to reveal a diagram of sorts written in a reactive ink. "...it's what's on the BACKS that I've been after..."

Looking to Sarah, he gestured for her to step forward. "Miss Appleton has generously agreed to help me show you what needs to be done to craft a keyblade of your own. This is a very special ability, which few still possess. We call those who still can... Chasers."

When Sarah was near, Sai turned to her and nodded. "Please place the item to be transmuted on the table?" meaning her piccolo. "After you do this, hold your hands over your heart... and I want you to close your eyes and picture every memory you cherish. Tie your heart to these memories by feeling every emotion tied to them. Love, hate, anger, sadness, joy, excitement, everything. Every emotion carries with it power, and the more you pour into your keyblade, the stronger it will be, the result of a strong heart. As you focus your heart into these memories, force them out of yourself and into your hands. They will solidify... and become a KeyChain. Remember, you can only make one of these in your lifetime, so do not stop until you are personally satisfied that it is the best you can make..."

Sai paused, then nodded. "When your keychain is complete... attatch it to your heartsteele... and bind your heart to your blade. You two will become inseperable. One heart shared between you two, held together by a Chain of Memories... Miss Appleton..." he backed away from her so she could do so, with a gesture as well.

"Whenever you are ready..."

[nexus]

A light poked out of the darkness over the forest as Nexus riding on Airinose came flying out of the sky. They circled the gathering below a couple times, before landing near The Rose, after landing Nexus leaped from Airinose's back and with a "thud" he turned back and petted the dragon some. Airinose nudged him toward the group, "ok, ok i get it"

Nexus walked over to Beatrix scratching the back of his head "sorry it took me so long, i uhhhhh, got a little lost on the way here" he said. Nexus looked over and made a mental note of where Ria was, and shot her a smile with a wink attached,