Kingdom Hearts - Blades of Three Realms

[Kuukyo_Fushichou]

Roveth looked up at the stars listening to Crystal, she had some points, but he knew better on Shiro thinking he was glass, like hell he'd think like that. however, removing his self loathing... that'll take a long time, given how much it's built up so easily "good night, Ojou-sama." he said, in a non mocking tone like normal, and just left things at that, he had much to think about, and it seemed he was not getting any sleep that night. shiro of course would sleep uneasily, but at least it wasn't as bad as when he and Roveth were one, and no, Roveth didn't have nightmares, it's just his mind typically keeps him awake when troubled with things.  

[[XIII] Roxas]

The sleeping bags were basically unzipped to cover a wide area, overlapping in places to make a bigger overall blanketed space on the soft grass. The pillows were much more random in their distribution and as pillow fight had already broken out between Roxas and Xion as they also attempted to drag Shiro in on it as well. And all without any real prompting from Crystal. She had, of course, provided them with the ammunition when she'd arranged the sleeping bags and brought out the pillows earlier, but the decision to turn it into a pillow fight was entirely their own doing. Crystal ducked into a shoulder roll to dodge an incoming pillow, but instead of springing back onto her feet like she normally would she simply continued rolling until she collided with someone, namely Roxas, and grabbed the nearest available pillow to prepare for imminent retaliation.


"It's still fascinating how every now and again they really do still behave very much like mere children," Isa observed while standing with Lea a safe distance form the chaotic proceedings.  

[Kuukyo_Fushichou]

Shiro of course, being who he is, would take a few hits before growing an anger-vein, retaliate and join right in on the pillow fight swatting at Roxas, Crystal and Xion just as indiscriminate as a tornado, smiling soon after all the while as Axel chuckled a bit from the sidelines "and for all of them.. they all really need this kind of actions." he said, while glancing up to the trees, seeing Roveth watch out of the corner of his eyes with a small smile, but also turn away to at least think to himself as Axel chuckled a bit "shall we get our bags set up away from them so we won't get caught up in the the fight?" he asked Isa, out of curiosity, as much as he'd want to join in and whallop Roxas and Xion with a pillow, he'll at least take the more mature route... this time.  

[[XIII] Roxas]

"Yes, I do think that would be preferable," Isa agreed. "Although you're certainly welcome to take a shot at them if you'd like. I wouldn't mind watching you get ganged up on by the lot of them and forced to surrender."


The pillow fight would subside once they were all panting and out of breath from the combination of exertion and laughter. They would rearrange the pillows into a more comfortable pile to commence with the actual stargazing. Obviously, it was a strange new world and there wouldn't be any familiar constellations to point out so beginning with Crystal they would begin pointing out random shapes in the stars instead.

"This was a really good idea," Xion spoke between giggling.

"Glad to hear it," Crystal was genuinely pleased. After all, it had been her suggestion.

"Oh wow, a shooting star!" Roxas was also clearly enjoying himself as they all continued to look up at the sky.

"Aren't you supposed to make a wish or something when you see one?" asked Xion.

"That's what they say," Crystal replied. "So go ahead if you want to, but you've gotta keep it to yourself. The trick is that you're not supposed to tell anybody what you've wished for or they say it won't come true."

"I find it hard to believe that shooting stars could be so stingy," Roxas commented with a chuckle.


Meanwhile, back inside the tea shop, the Moogle could be found exchanging ancient wisdom with Uncle Iroh over a cup of tea. It probably wasn't anything too important though.  

[Kuukyo_Fushichou]

Roveth had seemingly ignored the shooting star, not that he believed in them but moreso because he didn't think he was worthy to wish on them, Shiro of course hummed a bit, thinking "well, i think that if more people hear a person's wish, they might wish that too, which makes it harder to come true" he said, having already made a wish in his head about something, but like the rest of his secrets, he'd never really tell them unless Roveth said it first, but since it was his wish, he'd be able to keep it silent. Roveth did glance to his light, and smiled a bit, before looking back up to the stars as Shiro pointed up "doesn't that one look like Axel if you turn you head to the right? at least that looks like his wild hair." he said in amusement all the while said person would mentally snort in amusement.  

[[XIII] Roxas]

"It does kinda look like him, doesn't it?" Roxas laughed as he tilted his head trying to view the arrangement of stars from the proper angle.

Of course, soon enough they would all drift off to sleep for the night.  

[Kuukyo_Fushichou]

Shiro had also fallen asleep into a dreamworld of his own, one he had already been into once before, the familar road down a foggy highway path, and of course, the all too familiar limo pulling up to Shiro, and opening up to let him in, revealing the Velvet Room, as it was called, once more, with Igor sitting as usual in front of Shiro, along with Margaret on his left (Shiro's Right) and that smile with those bloodshot looking eyes "do not be alarmed ,like before, you are asleep in the real world. i have summoned you within your dreams." Shiro nodded, lightly looking around "makes sense..." Igor chuckled a bit and proceeded to continue "and so we meet again." Margaret would nod lightly "this is a space, that only those who have, in one way or another, entered a contract may enter. in your daily life, you subconsciously heard the call to awaken, and you chose to follow the destiny of you inner voice... thereby enacting your glorious awakening to your power." Shiro had pondered it, but he had a feeling he knew what Margaret meant, as he could feel Izanagi pulse with agreement, as Igor once spoke up "hold on to this..." he said, passing Shiro a key across the table as he took it into hand, which made it glow a bit "from this night forth, you are our guest in this Velvet Room. your destiny will require you to hone your Power, and for that, you will inevitably require our help." Shiro raised an eyebrow "there has to be a price.. a catch 22, if you will." Igor chuckled a bit lightly before speaking up "there is but one price for this assistance... you must abide by your contract, and assume responsibility for all decisions you may make." Shiro blinked, and blinked again, before shrugging mentally "that seems reasonable enough." he said, given he had been doing his job, so to speak, especially if it meant destroying Xehanort's heart and all. "very well." he said, while starting to change the subject "the Persona you have aquired..." this made Shiro blink, and proceed to bring up his hand, as Izanagi showed slightly behind him in an image form "it is a side of you that shows itself when you face the world around you." Shiro raised an eyebrow lightly looking to Igor "Like a mask?" he asked, curious, while Igor smiled "perhaps you can think of it as... a facade of determination you wear to face various difficulties in life." Shiro nodded, as Izanagi faded from view, but Igor continued on "your persona ability however, is that of the wild card... compared to that of others, it is very special. it is like the number zero. empty, yet holding infinite potential within itself." Shiro blinked a bit, before looking skeptical "Special...?" he said, clearly not believing being empty was that special. "the Persona ability is to control one's own heart... and the heart, is strengthened through bonds." Shiro would become wide-eyed hearing this "Wait wait wait, so a Persona is controlling one's heart? mine was damaged!" Igor raised an eyebrow lightly "that is interesting to note.. but if your heart is damaged, then your persona ability may help bolster it. as you form bonds by becoming involved with others, your own Social Links will gradually develop. the power of these Social Links are what will determine your persona's abilities. also, the stronger they become, the possibility arises that your heart may heal, even if it does not regain what it lost." Shiro sighed, sitting down on the seat slumping "to control one's heart...?" Margaret would speak up next, diverting Shiro's attention to her "Social Links are necessary for more than just strengthening your Persona. at times, they will help light the way to the truth you are searching for." Shiro sighed, looking up to the ceiling "the Truth... sometimes i wonder if i'm worthy of the truth." Igor just smiled, and spoke up next "where will the awakened power of the Wild Card take you...? i look forward to travelling the road of your destiny together..." he then chuckled, before saying a parting "till we meet again..." slowly everything started to turn white once more, leading Shiro back to the land of normal dreams, of which he resumed a dreamless sleep. within his pockets however, the very key he obtained in the dream, was now residing in his left jacket pocket...  

[[XIII] Roxas]

Roxas was actually woken up by the first early rays of the sun getting him in the face. He was rather surprised to find that he had his arm around something warm and upon closer examination discovered that somehow during the span of the night he had ended up with Crystal actually curled up next to him partly using him as a pillow. It was all the more peculiar considering the literal mountain of actual pillows that surrounded them, but he wouldn't say he was disappointed with this arrangement. More surprising still was that she was actually still asleep. Roxas hadn't really had opportunity to see Crystal asleep under circumstances that didn't involve being unconscious after a traumatic event so this was the first time he'd seen her looking downright peaceful while she slept. And he knew she'd been having trouble sleeping lately so he figured he might as well let her.

There were a few other minor observations that Roxas made while in this rather unique position. Firstly, Crystal was smaller than one might expect from her rather impressive aura of presence when she was awake. Secondly it wasn't hard to see the results of all the rigorous training she had underwent as even though she appeared quite scrawny at a glance she certainly wasn't lacking in muscle. And lastly, while Roxas had previously teased Crystal for being cute when she let her guard down, it was definitely true. It was nice to see her as a just a girl without her putting up a strong front and being on edge all the time.

Roxas hadn't forgotten about the day before either. The whole reason he wasn't freaking out right now was because they'd had that little talk to set the record straight. And frankly, he was happy that she felt safe enough with him to be relaxed like this now that they had overcome that specific barrier between them. Roxas did glance around vaguely to try to gauge where everyone else had ended up. Shiro wasn't too far off, being wedged only a short distance away within the pile of pillows. Xion seemed to be next to him, leaning on him a bit, but not really in an awkward or embarrassing way, although with Shiro's attitude about personal space it might still be interpreted that way once either of them woke up.

Crystal was an early riser, of course, so soon enough she began to stir even if she was rather comfortable at the moment. She was a bit reptilian in the sense that feeling the warmth of the sun's rays was usually enough to get her feeling energized in the morning.

"It looks like you slept okay," Roxas greeted her with a smile while Crystal was attempting to get her bearings.

"Yeah... actually I did," Crystal blushed slightly while settling back down for the moment. Now she didn't want to get up on principle. "Even though I did have a bit of a weird dream. It wasn't bad or scary, just rather unexpected vision of sorts. It was the Goddess of Light, Cosmos, I've mentioned, but I'd never actually seen her before. She told me that she feels responsible for the turmoil the worlds now face and that she's been trying to atone in some small way by restoring the lost souls connected with my heart."

"So that's what happened!" Roxas had a sudden epiphany. "When you came to the Destiny Islands to meet everyone for the first time and suddenly me and Namine appeared there on the beach, that was all because of you! And then it happened again with Xion!"

"Honestly, I had no idea Cosmos even had that kind of power," Crystal responded vaguely. "But I think this world must probably have a strong connection to the spirit realm for her to have been able to make contact with me, even if it was only in a dream."

"It explains a lot though, including how I can exist separately from Sora and how I have my own heart. We just assumed I was still his Nobody, but that wasn't the case at all," Roxas realized. "From the moment I reappeared on the Destiny Islands, without even knowing it, I've been real."

Crystal would have said he was real before that too. It was a different kind of existence, but that didn't make it any less real, not in her mind anyway. She decided against it, though, because it was a bit too early to be getting him so hyped up, even if it was mainly because he had finally worked out for himself what she had suspected all along, more or less. Crystal had no right to complain though, given that she was now getting another hug out of it as Roxas held her close again.

"Now I'm even more glad that we had the chance to meet," Roxas was definitely feeling happy today and his smile was downright infectious.

"Well, you know I've always been glad for that," Crystal hugged him back. It was a weird and confusing morning, but taking it in stride was probably better than thinking too much into it at the moment.

Xion had woken up when Roxas started yelling in his excitement and upon noticing her position gave a small "Eep!" before scooting away from Shiro before he woke up or started freaking out about personal space again.  

[Kuukyo_Fushichou]

the one who had been awake the earliest was Roveth, but he had stuck to his tree, however he did peer down on the other 'asleep' individuals, and saw how cute Shiro and Xion were, and decided to take a small unnoticed picture of them at the moment, before turning and pretending to be asleep once more, he wouldn't disturb the others if he had a choice.

Shiro of course did wake up before Xion due to Roxas's exclamations, and when he saw how close Xion was, he didn't actually freak out much like he had with Aang, one reason because Xion was a friend and he would not dare hurt her, second she did look cute sleeping like that, and three, technically she didn't force herself on him like Aang did, so she really had nothing to worry about aside from seeing a -very- deep blush from Shiro about having a girl so close to him in his sleep, thankfully though he managed to control his blush with a few mental encouragements in his head, and 'pretended to go back asleep to wait on Xion waking up, when she did and moved from fear of being skewered (which Shiro would not do) he would groan and pretend to wake up with a yawn "mmh.. isn't it a bit early for loud exclamations of surprise..?" he muttered a bit, sitting up gently and looking over to Roxas and Crystal with a half-amused face.  

[[XIII] Roxas]

Hearing the other voices from Xion and Shiro respectively, Roxas and Crystal did begin to separate from their hugging pile, although not without Crystal first leaning down and kissing Roxas full on the mouth, this one being much more bold and passionate than the one he'd stolen the previous afternoon, and in full view of basically everyone who was awake, although especially Shiro who had been looking their direction to begin with. It was totally worth it though because Crystal really wanted to kiss Roxas and for once she actually didn't care that anyone or everyone might be watching.

Once that was out of their system the pair finally untangled properly from one another to assume a more vertical cross-legged sitting position in Crystal's case and for Roxas to actually be able to sit up in his case given that Crystal had been more or less on top of him throughout much of that exchange. Oh, they were both definitely blushing after that, but they were also still smiling widely and might very well collapse back onto each other at the slightest provocation with how giddy they were being.

"Sorry Shiro," Crystal looked directly at him with an expression that wasn't at all apologetic about what she had just done directly in front of him. "Kinda been communing with the goddess whose power probably shaped a lot of my own growing up and she told me something important that finally gave Roxas the answers he'd been searching for so we might have gotten a little carried away with all the excitement that caused."

Xion was finding it difficult to form a coherent statement given that she'd been reduced to blushing from seeing the pair kiss outside the day before, but this time they were basically right in front of her and it was way more intense and went on way longer than that first time. As a result she kind stumbled backwards right back into Shiro looking thoroughly embarrassed and blushing possibly even more than Roxas and Crystal were at the moment.  

[Kuukyo_Fushichou]

Shiro of course looked ready to respond, but with Xion landing back onto him made him light up once more like a tomato in blushing, given he was -clearly- remembering what position he woke up in with her, and just gave off a soft clearing of his throat after Crystal explained things, the embarrassment clear on his face from the awkward situation" well.. glad you got it out of your system i think before Roveth or Axel saw it." he said in a bit of a squeaky embarrassed voice and all.

Axel however had poked his head out of the nearby bushes, grinning a bit "too late for that Shiro, i -did- see everything. my, how bold you can be.. you should show that more often Crystal. also... nice tomato you're sitting on Xion." he said with a chuckle, as Shiro squeaked and flushed even deeper red all the way down his neck in embarrassment and clearly feeling awkward as hell, thankfully he hasn't gone atomic blush yet from it, since Roveth wasn't watching.

Roveth speaking of, was not watching because he figured the group could do without his teasing for now, though hearing his light, he smirked all the while thinking ~Xion huh...? maybe she'll be the one to crack Shiro's shell and save him...~ he would think to himself quietly and all while continuing to 'pretend' to sleep up in the tree.  

[[XIII] Roxas]

Isa was, of course, nowhere to be seen as he was still ducked behind the nearby bushes that Lea had emerged from watching the exceptionally juvenile teasing session with mild amusement. It really was the most juvenile thing to be doing so early in the morning, but it was so very like his old friend to engage this sort of behavior so Isa couldn't really complain.

"What the heck? Axel?!" The shock of seeing Axel suddenly popping out of the bushes was enough to knock Roxas onto his back again in surprise and partial embarrassment, not that he'd had enough time to actually stop blushing of course.

Crystal was a bit better balanced at the moment, being pretty stable in her cross-legged sitting position so she managed to remain upright although even she hadn't expected for Axel to suddenly appear out of the bushes like that. For Xion the shock was so great she ended up even more splayed out over Shiro as stumbling over him outright would have been difficult.

"Oops, sorry Shiro!" Xion began wiggling and attempting to roll off him, but it didn't appear to be working she couldn't seem to get enough leverage to roll off in either direction.

Crystal was of course still blushing and all when she glanced over in Axel's direction while scratching behind her ear. "This was... kind of a spur of the moment thing. I mean, we all know, I'm not usually like that."  

[Kuukyo_Fushichou]

Axel of course just stuck his hand out in a thumbs up manner "still, you should be a bit selfish more often, it suits you more when you go for what you want." he quipped, while Shiro meanwhile would give off a squeak in surprise in being landed on by Xion, causing his blush to start going atomic if the glowing red hands and neck and face were any indication up to the point of steam popping out of his hears and his eyes going into @.@ 'Oro!?!' #3 of pure embarrassment.