Re: Org. XIV (story)

**Admin (HalcyonWandering)** Sun Feb 23, 2014 9:11 pm

Lance shouted in a mixture of pain and anger as the attack connected. As the light dimmed, the two fighters found themselves held apart by the glint of bright metal and the terrifying glare of the trained noblewoman. Her gaze was that of considerable power, trained over the years through excruciating amounts of practice.

"Both of you!" Thalia cried out her star-shaped blades glimmering in the afternoon twilight, "Stop this immediately! You've already injured eachother! Is that not enough?"

The sterling blade of his beloved was enough to pull Lance from the adrenaline rush of battle as he suddenly cried out noticing the incredible searing pain along his lower leg. He fell to the ground nursing the injured limb with sharp ground teeth and an unnerving wince.

**NebulaGregarZX** Mon Feb 24, 2014 5:15 pm

Aleri stood there, panting as the adrenaline left his system... and the pain set in. My arm...? Oh... Oh GOD my arm!

He turned away, trying to keep the others from seeing how much pain he was in, choking back a cry of agony. That last exchange of blows must've been too much for his body to handle... The keyblade wielder clutched his right arm, trying to set his head in order enough to cast a healing spell.

Easier said than done. The pain interfered with his higher thought processes, making anything above Cura nigh-impossible. Maybe if he took something to ease the pain, he could concentrate, but it was a pretty bad break. Even with magic, it would take time to heal.

Quickly wiping away tears, he looked back at Lance. The king's injury looked a little better... but he didn't know any healing magic, unless he'd been practicing all that time. Two years ago, Lance had just barely started working on it, and giving up his light may have resulted in losing access to White Magic.

"M... maybe this was a bad idea." Aleri chuckled nervously. "Fighting just after her got back... sorry, Thalia." I was just... excited. I haven't gone so all-out in battle since my trials at the Edge.

Casting Cura on his arm and Lance's leg, he did his best to dull the pain they were feeling. The king seemed to be doing better, but maybe his body had become unnaturally tough thanks to Chaos. ...Wait a sec, did White Magic still work normally on him!?

Maverick Entity Mon Mar 03, 2014 2:19 pm

"Good show Lads!" Muttered Roland with a clap of his hands. The old fighter was riled up by the duel, to say the least. Gunamnex remained silent, peering at Lance as though analyzing something.

Meanwhile...

"Come on out boyo, you are horrible at keeping a mark unaware."

Oxthmas, checking his pocket watch again, and snapped his fingers. From the surrounding area, a series of Jackpots returned to their master, before transforming back into the coins that created them, flowing back into Oxthmas' sleeves.

<BTW Nebula, I just saw the Joker and Gunamnex Retry pics. I pretty much consider the first canon (Wish I had such great hair though) and as for the latter, close enough really (It's the scar and face structure only) and Gunamnex would probably drink tea or something, he is more refined than the real me who drinks only water. Now, to pull off Roland, that would be a hell I wish upon no-one, lol. My sincere gratitude Tovarish.>

**Admin (HalcyonWandering)** Mon Mar 17, 2014 11:17 pm

Lance hissed as the healing magic did its job, it burned but it did its job. He and Soren had learned through the two years in the Dark. Healing magic might still work on a being who gave up his light, but it didn't put you back into fighting shape immediately.

Instead, the magic felt like venom, it seared painfully as it healed and often left a throbbing soreness for a day or more. Oftentimes, healing magic was a last resort, not a first option. Items, if they managed to find any, did the job much better, they'd even been able to create certain concoctions that did a better job than the average potion or ether.

Slowly, as the immediate pain left his injury, Lance attempted to stand up. Thalia, however, had none of it.

"I do not think as such." She spoke sternly surprising the keyblade wielder, "You will stay on the ground until I have fully assessed your injury."

Thalia took a moment to give Aleri a stern look as well, telling him that it went likewise for him as well.

**NebulaGregarZX** Sun Mar 23, 2014 4:01 am

Aleri silently shrank back from Thalia's glare. Maybe he'd have shown some backbone if he didn't pretty much agree with her. That had gone too far.

**khfreak358** Tue Apr 01, 2014 9:44 pm

<Well, I'd say this is long overdue.>

Necro shot out his hand, telekinetically sending Wayne flying and slamming against a tree. Not wasting a second, he pulled the mercenary back towards him, leaving him hovering slightly above the ground, but still at face-level.

"Did you honestly think this would go any different?" Necro asked with a bemused tone of voice.
Wayne chuckled dryly, "On the contrary; this is exactly how I hoped it would go."

A small device then slid out of Wayne's sleeve and into his hand. Before Necro could react, Wayne had slapped the device onto the back of Necro's neck. Necro immediately felt the device drill into him. Suddenly, Necro found himself struggling to use his powers. Before he knew it, Wayne was released from his grasp and the Jedi fell to his knee, his weapon falling from his hand and deactivating in the process.

Wayne casually walked over and kicked the weapon away, smirking at his fallen opponent.
"Neural inhibitor," he explained, "Put it together after our last encounter. Keeps you from focusing enough to use those fancy powers of yours. Makes this a lot easier."

With that, Wayne kicked Necro across the face, sending him sprawling backwards. "Shouldn't've gotten involved, Necro."

**khfreak358** Wed Apr 02, 2014 2:48 pm

**Admin (HalcyonWandering)** Tue Jun 03, 2014 12:19 pm

After taking a brief moment to mother over both of the young men, Thalia walked back to Lance and began to speak tough it was clear that she was speaking to the both of them.

<This is much, much more overdue.>

"You've both sustained reasonable impact injuries from the kind of blows that you received. I don't see either of you participating in combat any time soon due to these injuries... Thankfully, due to the current lull in events, you should have the time you need for your bodies to recover." Thalia spoke kindly but with a slight hint of irritation as she helped Lance to his feet and supported him so that his injured leg wasn't feeling the weight.

Lance breathed in shortly and gave a short, deep chuckle, "Heh, looks like we went a little far, Al."

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

From the darkness of the side alley, Wayne could have heard a small, airy giggle, "You know... hehe, when someone hurts Maya's friends, she repays in kind." The young woman stepped out the shadows, a small sashay to her stride as Pain and Panic slid from her sleeves and into her grasp.

"Now, Mr.Bear, what part should Maya cut up first? His toesies? Maybe his mouth?" As her words slid through the last sentence, Maya's gaze became incredibly dark as she glared at the man.

**NebulaGregarZX** Wed Jun 04, 2014 12:04 am

Aleri sighed. "Ahhh, well, yeah. Let's not do that again. I'd offer to take care of the paperwork to get you officially registered again as an active member of the organization, but I'm right-handed. ...I guess I could ask Rex to handle it."

The young man scratched his head, not sure how to respond to Thalia. He wasn't so good at dealing with these situations. "I'll, uh... I'll get a cast on this as soon as I can. There should be a doctor in town I can see about it." He sheepishly grinned, moving back to the Station Tower as swiftly as he could without further injuring himself.

I guess I can forget about the Mark of Mastery for a while... there's no way for me to take it while I'm injured like this. Still, does Thalia really think she can keep me out of combat? Ha! No way am I letting everybody else take care of the work.

The Avenger opened a Light Corridor and slipped through, closing it behind him. "See you guys later! Stop by Asylum when you get the time, but you should probably go back to Synthisle first!"

<I was actually on the verge of announcing that anybody was free to post, and we would stop being so strict about interrupting each others' plots.>

Some time later, Aleri emerged in the main hall of Castle Asylum wearing a cast on his arm, humming to himself as he walked. As he made his way to the Round Room, he heard somebody approach from a side corridor. Oh... that'd be Vita. I thought she'd be on a mission, or out searching again by now.

"...Al. Would you please explain why you're wearing a cast?"

His blood ran cold at her tone. Oh, no, not this AGAIN, not right after Thalia! "Oh, er, um... I fell down some stairs."

She tapped her foot impatiently. "Yeah, sure. Because you always get this messed up when you fall down the stairs. Your clothes are singed, you've got bruises, you smell like you haven't showered in days-"

"Hey, I showered this morning! I'm just sweaty from-"

There was a pause.

"...From what, now?" Vita asked, her expression growing sour.

"From, uh... running! Gotta keep training!"

"Oh, I see. So, you were running, tripped, fell down some stairs, and then got your ass kicked."

"No, I wasn't losing- GAH!"

Vita sighed, shaking her head. "Lying is not your forte. Who was it this time? Nathan? Dispatch?"

Aleri hesitated before answering. "...Lance."

"Lance? Wait... didn't he die?"

"No. And now he's back! Isn't that great!"

She frowned. "Actually, I didn't know him for long before the incident. He definitely seemed like a good guy, but it's not like we're childhood friends, or war comrades, or anything extreme. We hung out once or twice. ...In fact..." Vita's face turned red. "...Both of you fed me some stupid excuse about being 'transfer students' instead of actually telling me anything!"

Aleri backed up a couple of steps. "We couldn't tell you about that stuff, we're not allowed! This isn't just some clubhouse where we promise not to tell about it, but then do it anyway, this is an organization! We could get fired, or worse!"

"Uh, when has anybody been fired?" Vita pointed out. "You even told me there was a guy who spied on you guys, reported to an enemy group, then was let right back in! That Dispatch guy ran off to train somewhere all this time, and don't get me STARTED on Nathan nearly burning down a port town just because he decided to lord over people!"

"Okay, so our members are a bit... eccentric." He grimaced. "It's not like there was any choice. This group started operations with only Xeromus, Rexial, and Siks. They didn't have any choice but to take in as many people as possible to work for them. Besides, they still do their jobs, they just get a little crazy once in a while! It happens to all of us."

"I swear, if you ever withhold information from me like that again..." She grabbed the front of his shirt and pulled him over to face her. "...You WILL regret it. We may be friends, but finding him takes priority over everything else. Got it?"

A pained look crossed Al's face. "...If I knew anything about Aleri, I would have told you. C'mon, I'm sorry that we had to lie to you, but I explained everything to you."

"Do you really think I'll find him?" Her tone and expression relaxed.

"Of course you will."

"...Then come and help me with my search today!" Vita glanced at her fist, releasing Aleri with an apologetic look. "My bad, I'm just a little tired. I was up too late last night when I couldn't get a corridor back to the castle, and the Warp Drive was acting up."

"Oh, that... sucks that you can't summon your own corridors. But, hey! Zane can't do it either!"

His feeble attempt to help was brushed off as she started down another hall. "We'll meet up at your room later!"

Aleri waved goodbye to her before continuing on his way.

**khfreak358** Wed Jun 04, 2014 2:10 am

Wayne looked over to the small girl and sighed upon hearing her state her name. "Maya. The illusionist, right? Funny, they neglected to tell me you'd be such a half-pint." He pulled one of his guns from it's holster and pointed it at the girl. "Sorry, kid," he said, with an honest-to-God regretful tone in his voice, "I've got my orders." With that, he let a single bullet loose, flying at Maya's head.

**Admin (HalcyonWandering)** Thu Jun 05, 2014 3:21 am

Maya smiled cockily and melted like a puddle before his eyes into the shadows of the alleyway.

"Oh? You'd shoot little old Maya?" Her voice teased from behind Wayne as the chill of metal touched his neck, "Big, big mistake, Mr. Bear might just come out and play if you do that! Teehee!" The young woman giggled as the lingering malice in her tone settled in the air.

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

A dark corridor opened into the gathering hall of Synthisle Castle from which Thalia and Lance stumbled. The young woman finding it difficult to support the much heftier young king.

"Heh, looks like you'll be supporting me for a while." Lance chuckled as he shifted his weight to his good leg to ease Thalia's burden.

"It's the least I can do. You've done more than enough for me in this lifetime." The young woman smiled readily, her tone had lost its edge and she had settled back into her informal speech.

"So, you've picked up the royal tongue? Sounds like you did a good job running this place while I was gone." Lance smiled gently as he eased himself to a sitting position at the steps to the throne, still not comfortable with sitting in the massive chair that his father had once occupied.

"Of course, I had to in your absence. Phen has become a leader in the guard as well. Her unit consists of Nick and his comrades." Thalia told him sitting down next to him and resting her head on his shoulder, "I'm still worried that this is just a dream. It was so long..."

Lance nodded gently, "It's no dream. But, we're not quite out of the muck yet."

"I'd be bored if we ever were." Thalia responded with a light laugh.

"What's a life without a bit of a struggle?" Lance agreed heartily, his heavy chuckle mixing with her airy laugh.

**khfreak358** Thu Jun 05, 2014 4:39 am

Wayne tensed up a bit at feeling the blade at his neck. "Your imaginary friend doesn't scare me, squirt." He said as he silently allowed a flashbang to slip out of his sleeve and into his hand. "But having a sword at the back of my neck does leave me a bit on edge, so, I'm afraid we may have to cut this short."

He then lightly tossed the flashbang into Maya's torso, where it detonated in a blinding burst of light, giving Wayne the chance to tap a button on his watch. He then vanished in a beam of bluish-green light, leaving Maya to tend to the disabled warrior lying on the ground.

**Admin (HalcyonWandering)** Sat Jun 07, 2014 3:37 pm

Maya gasped as she juggled the grenade for a moment before it went off with a loud bang.

"Oh, ow, ow, ow." Maya folded in her legs and fell to her knees as she clutched her aching head. Her shirt was singed from the close proximity to the device but she seemed to be able to mitigate any burns that it would have caused her stomach.

As the light and pain faded from her head, so did the malicious glint in Maya's eyes. She crawled on her hands and knees to Necro then laid down so her head was in her hands uncomfortably close to the disabled man, "Yoohoo!" Her voice sung cheerily, "Necro, you home?"

**khfreak358** Sun Jun 08, 2014 12:31 pm

For a moment, Necro seemed almost completely nonresponsive. After a few seconds, though, his arm began to slowly move to the back of his neck, finally resting on the inhibitor that was keeping him downed like he was. He then lifted it from the device and let it lay outstretched on the ground, with one finger pointed at his own weapon lying a few feet away.

**Admin (HalcyonWandering)** Thu Jun 12, 2014 2:19 am

Maya giggled looking at Necro with a curious gleam in her eyes, "Oh, laser surgery? Maya can help!" She rolled over the lightsaber, clutched it in her hand and then rolled back to Necro all the while making small noises imitating gunfire and clashing swords.

Then, she held out the weapon to Necro's outstretched hand and looked on in curiosity as to what the man was going to do.

**khfreak358** Thu Jun 12, 2014 4:03 am

Necro took hold of the weapon and, very slowly, depressed the activation stud, igniting it. He then lifted the blade to the back of his neck, shaking slightly while he did. Wayne's device was clearly taking a toll on his mind.

With as much care as he could muster in his current state, he lowered the blade towards the inhibitor. As soon as the blade was halfway through the device, Necro felt everything rushing back to him, as he regained full control of his mind. He quickly deactivated his weapon and, using his abilities, telekinetically yanked the device out of his neck.

"Ow," he groaned, rubbing the back of his neck as he sat upright. The device hadn't drilled deep enough to cause permanent damage, but it had still hurt like hell coming out, leaving a small entry wound. The warrior then looked up at Maya and smiled under his helmet. "Thank you, Maya."

**Admin (HalcyonWandering)** Mon Jun 16, 2014 12:08 am

"Not a problem!" Maya practically sang as she spun around and sheathed her daggers away.

Around them, the townsfolk had grown gradually more restless all of them moving towards the castle with shouts of banquets and food being shouted throughout the crowds.

As Necro stood up, a small silver disk floated to him and halted a short distance from him. Thalia's voice was heard from a small speaker within it, "Please stand still for identification purposes."

The device swept the Jedi with a few passes of light then unfolded, "Confirmed. Necro. Please stand-by for message transmission."

The device emitted a hologram showing Thalia in formal wear, her hands were folded neatly in front of her and she spoke with dignity, "Hello..." There was a short pause revealing the obviousness of the pre-recorded message as Lance's voice spoke Necro's name, "The palace of Synthisle would like to formally invite you to a banquet celebrating the return of King Willright. Please excuse the formalities and the sudden nature of this event. We did not plan on such an event this evening so please only appear if you so wish. Have a good evening." The device then folded itself back together and dashed away from the pair towards Castle Synthisle.

"Oh! You got invited to the castle!" Maya giggled, "Would you be my escort, Necro?" The young woman said playfully as she watched the Force user.

<Whoever wants to join in one these happenings, feel free to "receive" one of the invitations.>

**khfreak358** Mon Jun 16, 2014 3:09 am

Necro seemed hesitant for a moment, no doubt trying to take in this revelation about his old friend's return. This faded quickly, however, as he looked down at Maya. "I'd be happy to." He said as he bowed in a slightly more over zealous fashion, his arms out at his sides, trying to elicit a laugh from the child. Despite this, however, there was a distinctly… forlorn tone in his voice.

**NebulaGregarZX** Mon Jun 16, 2014 7:42 am

Aleri stepped into the Round Room, immediately noticing a dark figure against all the white. Rexial. "Hey, what are you up to?"

"Filling out paperwork. Do you have any idea how hard the process is to change somebody's official file from 'deceased' back to 'living'?" He looked over at Al, eyes half closed, eyes slightly red. "Xeromus made it like this to discourage pranks and make sure people don't declare anybody dead too easily. It took three months just to process THAT. And now I'm going to have to do twice as much work just to get him re-registered!"

The avenger blinked. "...You weren't the one to do any of that the first time. You went missing, remember?"

"Shut up, I had to listen to Xeromus telling me all about how he had to go to all that trouble when I offered to put Lance back into the system. I'm not in such a great mood." Rexial glanced back at the papers in his hands, sighing. Why did I sign up to do this...?

Aleri looked up at the boss man himself, high up on his throne. "...I guess I should tell him I'll be out looking with Vita today."

"He's napping, don't bother."

Throwing his hands up, the young man walked out and started for his room.

...

"Oh, shit, wait!" Rexial called out, too late. "Ahhh... I was supposed to tell him he was invited to Lance's welcome-back party. Hell if I'm organizing a group trip, but I'm not missing this. Not for... THIS stupidity."

**Admin (HalcyonWandering)** Wed Jun 25, 2014 11:14 pm

Maya slipped her arm into Necro's and gave him an uneasily happy smile, "What's the matter? Don't like parties?" She asked, cocking her head in confusion.

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

Meanwhile, Lance conducted an army of waitstaff with an irritated expression on his face, "All I did was take one step outside and the place explodes with happy! Was I really gone that long?"

Thalia smiled before smacking him upside the head illiciting a yelp from the young king, "Yes, and I wasn't the only one who missed you, smart ass." She whispered to him before being hurried along by a pair of busy body maids who were intent on the queen to be to be as well dressed as possible for a formal event.

**khfreak358** Thu Jun 26, 2014 4:30 am

"I… don't think I'll be staying at this one for too long, Maya." Necro regretfully replied, turning to look at her. "I'm sorry." His apology, however, seemed as though it was about much more than leaving the party early.

**Admin (HalcyonWandering)** Tue Jul 08, 2014 4:25 am

Maya halted her skipping to turn and look at Necro tilting her head curiously as she looked up at the taller man with big eyes, "Is there something wrong? Maya's good at reading hearts. She is!" She giggled, "I might be able to help a little bit."

**khfreak358** Wed Jul 09, 2014 12:42 am

Necro quickly broke eye contact with Maya, unable to look into her big, adorable eyes. "I… I'd rather explain when we get there," he said apprehensively. "The King and Queen deserve to hear this more than anyone."

**Admin (HalcyonWandering)** Mon Jul 14, 2014 6:55 pm

Maya nodded in understanding as she beamed at Necro, "That's understandable. We probably shouldn't keep them waiting then."

**khfreak358** Tue Jul 15, 2014 3:31 am

Necro blinked in surprise. He hadn't expected Maya to be so understanding. He quickly shook that off, though, and nodded in agreement. "Right, let's keep moving."

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