Kingdom Hearts - Blades of Three Realms

[[XIII] Roxas]

Cloud wasn't going anywhere anytime soon except back to 7th Heaven to let himself recover from the beating he had just taken. Thanks to Vanitas's intervention Shiro had made it out of the encounter with Sephiroth more or less unscathed, aside from the explosive residue from the orb of darkness Vanitas had personally swatted at him. Vanitas himself was entirely unharmed. And after listening to what Tifa had to say it was finally decided that they would all head back to 7th Heaven before trying to deal with anything else.


Cloud was stubborn, but by the time they finally made it back to the tavern Tifa would have been carrying most of his weight form him as the blood loss and the decline in adrenaline did eventually catch up with him leaving him physically and mentally exhausted, not to mention barely conscious. Axel was most likely still in Twilight Town acquiring the karaoke machine from Demyx while rallying the others at the mansion to come back with him to Radiant Garden for the welcoming party. The response when Cloud and Tifa entered with Shiro and Vanitas was immediate. Leon was about to offer his congratulations to Tifa for actually managing to find Cloud and bring him back when Ventus immediately shot up from his chair.

"Vanitas!" he pointed dramatically at his dark half with a look of surprised bewilderment evident on his face. "How are you even here?!"

Aqua moved protectively in front of him with the Master's Defender Keyblade materialized in her hand in a defensive stance. "What are you doing here Vanitas? And how?" She genuinely believed that when Vanitas lost his own physical body and possessed Ven's heart that he was completely destroyed along with the χ-blade.

Roxas and Xion weren't surprised given they had already discussed Vanitas being there with Crystal, Roveth, and Axel before arriving back at 7th Heaven themselves. Sora, on the other hand, was totally clueless and put himself between Kairi and Vanitas with the Kingdom Key already at the ready.

"Not you again!" Sora really wasn't thrilled to see Vanitas again considering what had happened the last time they had met.

"Okay, okay, everyone just settle down and let us try to explain," Crystal had already moved herself in front of Vanitas. "I know this must seem hard to believe, but he's not here to cause trouble."

"What are you talking about?" Aqua remained unconvinced and Ventus was too shocked to say anything right now. "He's a monster working for Master Xehanort and he tried to kill me and Ven!"

"He's tried to kill us too," Crystal admitted with slight shrug. "On more than one occasion, in fact. But take a good long look at him now and what do you see? Does he look like a monster? Does he look like he's here to pick a fight? Because to me it looks like he's just scared and confused, like he's lost and has nowhere else to go."

"He's one with the darkness!" Aqua continued to protest.

Sora, however, did lower the Kingdom Key with a somewhat puzzled look on his face. "Huh, I guess you're right," he commented after he'd actually taken a better look at Vanitas. "He doesn't even have those scary golden eyes anymore either."

"Thanks Sora," Crystal nodded to him appreciatively.

"But that still doesn't explain what he's doing here," Sora pointed out.

"If you must know, I came here totally by accident after my last time fighting with Crystal because I knew I couldn't go back to that b*****d, Xehanort," Vanitas finally spoke up. "As much as I hate to admit me, I was beaten up pretty badly so I've been hiding out up in that weird castle place overlooking the town. That is, until I noticed Shiro and these two," he gestured toward Cloud and Tifa, "fighting with some jerk overcompensating with a ridiculously overlong sword. That's about all there is to it."

"But how can you even still exist?" Ventus demanded.

"Your guess is as good as mine," Vanitas shrugged. "All I really remember about that is suddenly re-materializing a couple of years ago and I guess Xehanort must have managed to find me again pretty much immediately so I didn't have a lot of time to really question it before now. Which is really her fault," he gestured toward Crystal. "Because ever since we last fought it's like I suddenly have this weird sense of clarity. And I'm sure you've noticed it too, but there aren't any Unversed materializing either. And believe me that's not for a lack of trying."  

[Kuukyo_Fushichou]

Shiro would twitch an eyebrow, but said nothing as Roveth actually stepped up, frowning at Aqua's outbursts about Vanitas "i'm sure outside of probably the normal residents of this tavern and Kairi, everyone here has had a bad encounter with Vanitas. this is fact. however!" he would state, before moving right next to Vanitas, and then at least release part of his control on his own darkness, letting it seep out "is he any different from me right now? hmm? i know most of us here are capable of sensing signatures and darkness, please tell me if you sense anything different." he'd say with an annoyed stance "honestly, i think the fact that whatever happened to Vanitas the last time he battled Crystal has honestly cleared him of a lot of things, possibly even some sort of influence Xehanort had over him that even Vanitas didn't know about. most importantly, it has also eased if not removed the pain his soul was in due to the fact of the Unversed, that may have also been another large part of his anger problems and insanity." he'd state, while Shiro spoke up, now having been thinking on Vanitas's words "a couple of years ago... but the only thing that'd be major that happened around that time was..." Roveth nodded, crossing his arms "Crystal and Shiro's emergence at Destiny Islands, where Roxas was reborn, paving the path for Xion and Namine to be reborn as well." he said, looking to Ven and Vanitas "if anything.. i wouldn't be surprised if Lady Cosmos did this because Vanitas deserved a second chance to make things right, only Xehanort probably found him and got ahold of him before anything good could happen and well, that's why we've had to fight Vanitas multiple times as well." he stated, while frowning a bit as Shiro spoke up "either way, while he has done bad things in the past, from what i can tell, even if he's confused about his feelings.. i think he wants to at least try to make up for what he's done." he'd honestly say, while putting a hand on Roveth's shoulder, with Roveth reaching up to said hand with a nod "we're not asking you to immediately force yourselves to be buddy buddy or anything like that... Shiro and i both know it takes time for trust to build, especially if people have been hostile to you before now. just give him a chance to try and build that trust."


Axel of course would be kinda working hard in getting the gear set up for transport while Demyx fetched everyone, hence why it was taking so long for the two to show up and all as he hummed along in gathering gear and the likes.  

[[XIII] Roxas]

"Listen, I don't expect for you to trust me and I know I can't ask your forgiveness for all that I've done, but I am sorry for what happened," Vanitas looked to Ventus again. "I'm glad you managed to survive and I was relieved when I felt you had finally woken up. I wanted to see you again. All this time, that was all I ever really wanted. But I was weak and I was pathetic and I let Xehanort twist my feelings around and did his bidding because I really believed that would stop all the pain I was feeling and I was wrong. Now that I've realized that I don't want to let it happen again and I don't really know if I can do that on my own."

"Vanitas..." Ventus was even more confused now that he was seeing his dark half vulnerable like this. It was a far cry from the Vanitas he remembered. "I had no idea..."

"Just what are you?" Aqua was more preoccupied with Roveth after he let his own darkness seep out.

"Isn't it obvious?" Vanitas spoke up again. "Xehanort attempted to recreate the same circumstances that produced me by extracting the darkness from someone else's heart. However, Shiro's darkness proved to already have a strong will of its own so when Roveth was given physical form he refused to let himself be controlled by Xehanort. In that sense, Roveth is much more powerful than I am."

"Which means, Master Xehanort's goal hasn't changed in the time that I've been asleep and you alone were insufficient to produce the χ-blade," Ventus quickly realized.

"The only reason I originally attacked these guys was because of him," Vanitas indicated Roxas this time. "We thought he was you, but it turns out that even though he looks just like you his heart is totally incompatible with mine. Not that it matters anymore. I have no interest in forging the χ-blade for the old man. I just want to be rid of him."

"You've caused us a lot of trouble," Roxas pointed out. "But I guess those experiences also brought us closer to together so it wasn't all bad."

"Speaking of which, you had best be careful with this crazy girlfriend of yours," Vanitas regained some of his old mocking tone. "She's scary when she's angry."

Roxas glanced skeptically at Crystal. "What exactly did she do to you?"

"I was expecting it to be an easy fight because the other times I had dealt with you guys it seemed like you or Shiro were always rushing to her defense so I figured she was weak or something, but that girl packs a serious punch with those summons she uses and she's got a pretty mean swing with her Keyblades too," Vanitas explained with a mild shrug.

"Did you really do all that Crystal?" Sora was staring at her now.

"What?" Crystal feigned innocence. "At the time I really thought he had it coming to him."

"But then you must have changed your mind," Aqua realized. "I'm still not really sure what to think about all this, but clearly something happened during that encounter that changed Vanitas into what we see now. And you're right, he's clearly very different from how he was before."  

[Kuukyo_Fushichou]

Roveth would nod with a grave look on his face "that he did, after experimenting on Shiro a few times before to artificially grow his already strong darkness, between that and Sephiroth's doing of the same, micro heartless constantly within Shiro's body causing him constant pain whenever he used any of his abilities, it did give me quite a bit of a sentience of itself, and i'm not the kind of person to take orders from -anyone- who has caused my light pain, or at the time i told him not so politely to go screw himself... i don't work with anyone who has a typical villain stance of taking over the multiverse and will take away my freedom." he said calmly enough, while nodding to Ven lightly, frowning lightly "yeah, he was looking to make that so called χ-Blade, because for some reason he saw potential in Shiro." he said, shrugging, not realizing what -was- buried within Shiro's own soul as it is while Shiro looked to his hand, and summoned Ancient into it to look it over with a thoughtful hum a bit gently.  

[[XIII] Roxas]

"So what do you intend to do now?" Ventus addressed Vanitas again whilst eyeing him critically.

"Like I said before, that's the thing, I don't really know," Vanitas answered with a slight shrug. "Even though I might have gotten away from Xehanort, I still don't really get people and his is the only guidance I've ever had. And I know in my head that that's screwed up, but it's all I've ever really known."

"Well, me and Aqua are going to be staying here a while so if you really want to maybe you could stay here with us," Ventus suggested.

"Are you serious?" Vanitas stared at him in shock.

"I really don't know how I should feel about any of this right now," Ventus admitted while gauging Vanitas's response. "But I do know that I'd rather not have to fight you again. If Xehanort somehow manages to get control over you again, then us fighting each other is more or less a certainty, but if we can keep you away from him and help you to form your own identity, then maybe we won't have to."

Vanitas hurriedly turned away as he felt the first wave of tears begin streaming down his face. "Hold on, are you crying?" Ventus circled around him to try to get a better look at his face.

"Shut up!" Vanitas muttered as he tried to wipe away the tears which was really quite impossible because more kept coming.

"And here I thought I was the one who was broken," Ventus tugged Vanitas over and just kind of instinctively hugged him. Vanitas remained silent as he simply clung onto Ventus letting the tears flow since there seemed to be no stopping them at this point. Ventus tried to comfort Vanitas while glancing over at Aqua. "What do you say, Aqua? Can we keep him?"

"Did you really have to go and say it like that? Do you have any idea how embarrassing that is?" Vanitas struggled not to laugh. Of course, he still refused to let anyone else see his face as he went right on clinging to Ventus anyway.

Aqua sighed in defeat. "I guess we really can't just turn him away now that he's here. And who knows, maybe with some positive influences in his life, Vanitas might even turn out for the better." She looked meaningfully at Roveth when she said that last part because he seemed to represent the potential for some semblance of good even within the darkness.

"You hear that, Vanitas? You're staying with us!" Ventus continued to hug him since it was clear that Vanitas desperately needed to get all that crying out of his system. Ventus seriously had no idea that Vanitas could be such a crybaby.

"I'd say that's a job well done for us," Crystal nodded and gave Roveth a thumbs up before finally returning to her spot next to Roxas.

It was then that Sora noticed something he hadn't realized earlier. When he and Aqua had both jumped up with Keyblades in hand ready to fight Vanitas, Crystal had actually put herself between them without even drawing a weapon. It reminded him of one of the lectures he, Donald, and Goofy had gotten at Olympus Coliseum about how a true hero isn't measured by the size of their strength, but by the size and strength of their heart. Considering Sora himself along with Donald and Goofy were still classified by Phil as only being junior heroes, Sora kind of wondered now how Crystal ranked with him and also if it had something to do with why she had been chosen as a vessel for Cosmos. For all his boasting, Sora seriously had some major catching up to do.

"I'm glad that didn't escalate too badly," Roxas smiled at Crystal as she took the chair next to his.

"I like to believe we're all capable of being fairly reasonable," Crystal smiled back at him.

"I hope Axel gets back soon," Xion added. "We could all probably use a diversion after this."  

[Kailah S Majessta]

Kailah smiled bright when Tifa walked in, happy to see her back, especially with Cloud in tow, but her smile faded, and she quietly put her violin back in it's case, a worried look on her face as the outbursts occurred regarding the new boy (who looked remarkably like Sora), being addressed as Vanitas. She bit her lip, feeling a little out of place as the keyblade wielders summoned their weapons against him. She was only slightly relieved when things seemed to be resolved, although she still almost slunk back behind the bar near where Leon stood. A bit more relief across her features when it seemed they were accepting the new person- needless to say, she was confused, but accepted the situation as was per usual nowadays for her.

Tifa, on the other hand, let the kids handle things- if anything, she felt Shiro and Crystal could keep things under control... although she would be ready if anything were to happen inside of her tavern. She was relived when Vanitas was accepted- at least enough. She did take note of the newcomers, but had her priorities right now.

Her mind was on other things- like getting Cloud upstairs so he could rest. After waiting until things were mildly settled, she noticed Cloud zoning in and out, nodded to Leon, and practically carried him upstairs. Once there, Tifa laid him on the bed frowning, and sat on the edge next to him.

"You really need to stop getting yourself hurt," she sighed, "Or at least try to tell me the next time you decide to up and chase Sephiroth. You know I'd go with you." A pause, "I think it's obvious that I'd try to find you anyway."  

[Kuukyo_Fushichou]

Roveth nodded to Crystal while smiling a bit, so with that he'd also pull in his aura of darkness and move to get himself situated so he could keep an eye on things, while also keeping an eye out for a corridor of darkness, since Axel wasn't anywhere in general sight, he might need to help him, Demyx, so on for the equipment setup and all. sure enough, it wasn't too long after Xion made that comment that a Corridor of Darkness opened, and out came Axel wheeling in the gear "Oi, Roveth! need your help with this stuff since Demyx is being lazy again!" he called out, causing Roveth to chuckle and get back to standing before going over to help set up the karaoke machine in a place where it wouldn't take too much room, so on.

Shiro of course was smiling seeing that Ventus and Vanitas were getting along somewhat at the moment, but then froze when he looked towards where Axel and Roveth were at, setting up the accursed machine, slightly paling a bit "... oh no, no way, i figured Roveth was good enough for another fireworks celebration at say Destiny Islands for things!" of course Roveth would sing-song out "nope, it's music time tonight~!" before continuing to hook the machine up, and Shiro was just sweat-dropping at his dark half and all "... great..."

Demyx of course came out after axel did carrying the mic gear and all pouting at Axel "not cool Axel, how many times are you gonna poke at my laziness?" he'd whine out, with Axel snorting as he and Roveth set up the speakers and all "given you said -you'd- round up Riku, Isa, and the others instead of helping me with -YOUR- gear and equipment that says otherwise!" he'd snark out, with Demyx pouting "but it's heavy~!" he'd whine out, with Shiro and Roveth both eyerolling at him and all.  

[[XIII] Roxas]

Axel and Demyx weren't the only ones who emerged from the Corridor of Darkness, of course, as they were soon followed by Isa, Riku, and Namine. Isa was helping to cart in more of the karaoke stuff, namely the television monitor they were going to be using to display the lyrics while everyone was singing. Riku was notably empty ended, but he had a very good reason for not assisting with carrying any delicate equipment as he glanced to Namine. "You should probably stand back," he warned as he braced himself for Sora's inevitable greeting.

"RIKU!!!" Sora moved from his chair to tackling Riku onto the floor in the span of a single leap. By that point the Corridor of Darkness had closed behind the group as Isa joined Axel and Demyx in hooking up the karaoke machine. Kairi couldn't help smiling to see how genuinely happy Sora was to be reunited with Riku.

"There's never a dull moment with any of you kids around," Leon commented from behind the bar. He was glad that they seemed to have the situation under control although he was still a bit wary of the boy called Vanitas who had been brought in by Shiro. The fact that Crystal was sticking up for him was probably enough of a reason to just let the whole thing go, but being as Leon was head of security for the restoration committee he couldn't afford to be too careful even if it did turn out to be nothing to worry about. He glanced over at Kailah. "It's going to be busy tonight. Think you can manage to keep up?"

"Relax Shiro," Roxas spoke up as Shiro seemed to wilt in the presence of all the karaoke equipment. "It's not like you'll be the only one singing."

"You have got to be kidding me," Leon's expression darkened although he kept his voice lowered so that none of the guests beyond the counter would hear him although Kailah would undoubtedly take notice of his change in tone. "He sings too?"

"What's the matter Leon?" Yuffie had ducked behind the bar when it looked like there was possibly going to be a fight in the tavern so he eavesdropping range was somewhat limited. She peeked over the edge of the bar and then rose to her full height as she stared between Sora, still on top of Riku, and Vanitas still being comforted by Ven. "So, does this mean we're having a twins convention?" Yuffie began howling with laughter all over again.

"Is this establishment always so noisy?" Isa inquired as he sat down at the bar once he had finished with his share of helping to unpack and hookup the karaoke equipment.

Vanitas finally managed to get all that crying out of his system and pulled himself away from Ventus, although he still looked fairly embarrassed by the whole thing. Sora also finally pulled himself off of Riku and helped his friend to get back on his feet, still grinning like an absolute idiot now that they were back together again.

"Now then, if you're going to be staying with us, I think the first thing we're going to have to do is get you some new clothes," Ventus pointed out as he looked Vanitas over again. "That weird darkness body armor isn't exactly subtle."

"Oh yeah, well you're one to talk," Vanitas retorted still trying to regain his composure in his own way, namely by being rude and snarky. "I mean seriously, Ventus, who exactly dressed you like that? You look ridiculous."

"What, this?" Ventus glanced down at himself entirely unfazed. "I think this outfit makes me look cool."

"It really doesn't," Vanitas persisted. "You look like a dork." He did glance down at himself though with a contemplative expression. "I guess you have a bit of a point though. In order to blend in I should probably try to dress like a regular person."

"This is really happening," Aqua watched in considerable surprise, still totally baffled by what she was witnessing at the moment. "How exactly is this happening?"

"I suppose it might be more divine intervention from Lady Cosmos," Isa suggested as he watched quietly from his spot by the bar. "Not that those children seem to truly rely on such divine intervention, but there's no mistake that the Goddess of Light has been watching over them."

"Okay Ven, we'll take it from here," Kairi had grabbed Crystal and Xion from their seats to bring them over. "It will probably take a few more minutes for the guys to get all that karaoke equipment setup. You should relax and try to get better acquainted with the others. Let us worry about making Vanitas look presentable."

"Wait a second, how exactly am I being roped into this?" Crystal protested in confusion. "I'm pretty sure I have the worst fashion sense out of all of us."

"Because it's more fun if we all go together," Xion was already on board with the idea.

"It sounds interesting," Namine was in total agreement too.

"Fine, you win," Crystal gave a defeated sigh before being dragged out the door by the rest of the girls with Vanitas awkwardly accompanying them with possibly even greater confusion.

"They move fast if you're not careful," Riku chuckled in amusement. "But I doubt they'll do anything too bad to him."

"Honestly, I feel more sorry for whatever they intend to do to Crystal," Roxas pointed out.


Upstairs, meanwhile, Cloud was slipping in and out of consciousness so he wasn't really listening as Tifa spoke to him. The sound of her voice was comforting though and eventually, he did manage to actually fall asleep with his breathing becoming more steady and regular.  

[Kuukyo_Fushichou]

Axel would raise a hand, chuckling "no worries Leon, i'm sure Roveth will help me pack everything up after we're done for the night and shoo the young ones back to Twilight Town." he said while finishing in setting up the speakers and actual system, letting Roveth take up the majority of the Tech work especially when Isa brought through the monitor for the lyrics, and started to instead ruffle Roxas's hair a bit, chuckling "maybe we should get you a new hairdo, Kiddo, so we don't accidentally have confusion on you and Ven." he said with a cheeky tone as he grinned a bit lightly watching the girls kidnap poor confused Vanitas.

Shiro of course still cringed when staring at the being set up Karaoke machine regardless "even so, this is a lot of people we're talking about, not to mention -Leon-, Yuffie, and Tifa will hear it... i'm seriously considering escaping to Spira again for a few weeks to avoid tonight entirely." he said, with Apocalypse showing up from Shiro's neck in chibi form bonking Shiro on the head "Oi, chill out will ya? you're soundin' like a coward to me, and i thought we got you beyond the coward phase with most things." Shiro would look up to apocalypse with an eyetwitch "me singing in public, even if it's with friends, still irks me, because who knows when Roveth will get an idea to monetize this and help fund both his research in Twilight Town and our synthesis capabilities whenever he talks with the Moogles." Apocalypse just snorted "cowards talk to me~!" of course this led to a dust-cloud fight between the two all cartoonishly, thankfully with nothing getting destroyed in the process.

Roveth just snorted, listening to Shiro and Apocalypse's bickering before looking over to Leon "yes he sings, in fact Roxas is pretty good as a singer, Shiro's really the real star though, he keeps making Demyx green with Envy, or was it blue?" he'd snicker with Demyx twitching an eyebrow and grumbling a bit "don't remind me Roveth, i -still- can't believe Shiro's that good, myself, it's like the gods of music blessed him with an insane voice..." Roveth snorted "too bad i can never get him to do impressions, he'd be killer at them." he said with amusement, while Axel chuckled a bit lightly "too true, getting Shiro to do impersonations for a comedy routine's almost impossible compared to coaxing him to sing." he said with a sage nod and all.  

[[XIII] Roxas]

"Hey! Stop that!" Roxas protested as he made a disgruntled face at Axel and immediately worked to fix his hair back into the proper shape after Axel messed it up by ruffling it. "At least with Ven it actually makes sense why people might mix us up. Mixing me up with Sora is way more ridiculous."

"Besides, Crystal seems to like how you look just fine," Riku commented with his patented smirk. "So I guess in a way you were lucky you inherited Ven's good looks instead of being identical to Sora."

"Hey, what's that supposed to mean?!" Sora snapped at him rather comically as Riku merely continued to smirk at him.

Roxas, on the other hand, simply sighed disdainfully at Riku's obvious attempt to rile him up again. "Seriously, was that really the best you could come up with?"

"Well, it was worth a shot," Riku shrugged. He then swooped around to grab Sora in a headlock. "Not that it isn't hilarious how easy it is to get you all worked up. You've got me and Kairi so what exactly are you so worried about?"

"But you literally just said that Ven and Roxas are better looking than me!" Sora continued to protest as he attempted to squirm free from Riku's grasp.

Riku snorted with a laugh. "Well Sora, I didn't realize that my opinion on that was so important to you. Come on, we're best friends so you know you'll always be my favorite."

"You mean it?" Sora might very well have been blushing when he gave Riku a rather pointed pouting face as he finally stopped squirming. Riku very immediately dropped him onto the floor.

"Yes, now stop worrying about it!" Riku stated firmly as he casually went to sit back down in his chair.

Sora picked himself up off the floor and looked away from Riku for the moment toward the area being setup with the karaoke machine. "Well, I guess if Shiro and Roxas are both going to be singing, maybe I should try it too."

Ventus was struggling very hard not to laugh at the whole exchange between Sora and Riku at the moment. He wasn't really sure about the singing thing, but he definitely wanted to show off some of his dance moves to try to make Aqua feel better.

Leon, meanwhile, had furrowed his brow into an even deeper frown when Roveth mentioned that Roxas could not only sing, but that he was apparently pretty good at it because he didn't like where that was headed with regards to Crystal because he knew it was going to be a major distraction with how uncomfortable watching them was going to make him. He tried to relax a little as he glanced to Shiro's argument with Apocalypse while Roveth carried on with singing praises about Shiro's singing ability.

"It doesn't seem like he really wants to sing," Leon pointed out with an almost amused expression. "Are you sure he's really that amazing?"


Clothes shopping for Vanitas proved to be relatively easy because he was being fairly cooperative about it and in practically no time at all the they already had a handful of outfits picked out for him. They didn't have to get too carried away because he could always come back to the stores in town to pick out more later, but it was at least enough to get him started for about a week or so, during which time he would probably be learning how to do laundry and the like while remaining at 7th Heaven. For the moment he had settled on wearing black denim jeans, a dark red button-up shirt he had very intentionally buttoned up so that it was off by one so that it was purposefully uneven, spiked leather armbands, leather biker gloves, and red Converse shoes. Vanitas thought he looked cool and the girls let him get away with it because he was still so new to this whole fashion thing anyway.

Meanwhile, Crystal was subjected to her own special kind of torture as Xion, Kairi, and Namine insisted on having her try on dresses. When she objected initially they backed her into a corner by reminding Crystal that Roxas was going to need some cheering up after all the confusion being caused by being in proximity to Ventus. After that Crystal agreed to go along with it, but she was pretty sure the other girls were just using that as an excuse to get her to dress up. They eventually settled on a little black dress with silver trim and a small amount of fishnet around the bottom with matching black and silver hair clips, black fingerless gloves, and sequined flip-flop sandals. Crystal felt pretty awkward about it because the dress seemed kind of too short for her liking, but the rest of the girls insisted she looked cute. Which, while it was likely true, Crystal's misgivings about the ensemble seemed to be reflected by Leon's bewildered expression when they returned to 7th Heaven not long after.

"I thought you were supposed to be taking him shopping," Leon finally managed to speak while gesturing to Vanitas.

"Believe me, this wasn't my idea," Crystal looked meaningfully at the other three girls who were doing their best to play innocent. Leon wasn't the only staring, however, and Crystal couldn't help blushing when she finally had the presence of mind to face Roxas.

Naturally, Roxas was blushing too because while he had expected the girls might try something he wasn't expecting them to convince Crystal to return wearing a dress. He averted his gaze slightly, trying very hard not to make the situation any more awkward than it had to be. "Well, it does look good on you," he commented awkwardly while trying to ignore the way Leon decided to glare at him. He was beginning to wonder if Leon was ever going to stop freaking out at them like this.

"See, told you he'd like it," Xion smiled encouragingly and helped to make sure Crystal and Roxas would have seats next to each other by the karaoke machine for when Roxas started singing later after they let Shiro do his first song of the evening.

"You've got to be kidding me," Leon muttered once again beneath his breath for what probably wasn't going to be the last time this evening.

Ventus was totally oblivious to what was going on with that whole situation because he was busy looking Vanitas over. He was both surprised and impressed to see him looking so normal. Sure, Vanitas looked like a punk, but the look really suited him.

"He cleans up nicely doesn't he?" Namine mentioned with some amusement.

"Yeah, I guess he must have been in good hands," Ventus admitted with a thoughtful smile.

"Come on, isn't the karaoke machine hooked up yet?" Sora was growing increasingly impatient as Kairi sat down next to him and Riku where they were still waiting for the show to begin.  

[Kuukyo_Fushichou]

Roveth of course would turn away from the work on the Karaoke machine at the moment and proceeded to reach in with both hands to do a double smack upside the head, which revealed Shiro and Apocalypse both rubbing their heads from the smart blow to their skulls "cut it out you two, you're embarrassing yourselves." he'd admonish them, having Apocalypse slink back into Shiro's body in a sulking like fashion while Shiro grumbled a bit as Roveth spoke up about Leon's question "he is that amazing, it's just his blasted distorted vision of himself and his own self doubt about anything outside of cooking and combat that makes him not think he's that good and doesn't want to showcase that he actually -is-." he'd say, while glancing over to Vanitas as he and the girls returned, sure he noticed the new look Crystal sported, but he was more focused on Ven's dark half, as he settled into a smile "you definitely look the part of the 'bad boy' mentality, it suits you well." he said with a thumbs up, before settling back down to finish up the last connections in the back and making sure with a triple check on everything being in absolute working order "Sora... Technology takes three key things to make it work without a single issue: Time, Patience, and making sure everything is connected properly. so chill a few more minutes and it'll be ready." he said, continuing to work.

Axel meanwhile had stepped back and let Roveth finish the final pieces, since he was the tech head of the group, and looked over to Demyx who had brought out his Sitar and begun strumming a few notes out of habit, probably thinking on his next songs for his next album and all "you know... maybe you should let Roveth help you with your Album Recording and all, maybe even if we can convince him, we could make a small band and have Shiro as a singer?" Demyx had blinked, looking up a moment to Axel, before thinking a bit in thought about things, before snorting "maybe when you and the others can actually convince Shiro to not flee from a microphone whenever one's about to be handed to him and everything settles down into a lull." he'd say, while glancing over to Kailah with a raised eyebrow, and looked over to Axel a bit in amusement "so that's your mysterious violin player huh? she's cute i'll give you that much, but until i hear her play i won't judge her good or bad at her skill of it." Axel would chuckle a bit lightly, though the next sentence would have Axel fuming... "also good to know that you didn't start batting for the other team due to our time in the Organization." of course, this led to Axel twitching an eyebrow, before starting to throttle Demyx comically with clear irritation in his eyes "stop calling me Gay damn you!" of course, given how he wasn't really actively trying to kill Demyx probably shows how much of a running gag it was between the two.

Shiro of course just sweatdropped at the antics between Demyx and Axel, while shaking his head, of course the mention of singing more made him flinch a bit and a clear glare to the two bickering ones with the resounding 'like hell!' kind of look, before looking at Roveth once more with a pout on his lips "you really know how to drill it into other's heads about how good i am." Roveth of course looked up, and chuckled at how cute Shiro looked with his pouting and all "not my fault you have such a modular voice range that borderlines the impossible." Shiro of course flailed in annoyance at his dark half with Roveth chuckling a bit and tossing Shiro two mics, clearly the ones to be used in this karaoke thing as he proceeded to get out from behind the gear, turning it on... and Voila, it was ready! "alright, everything's set up and calibrated, so we're ready to give this karaoke night a full whirl." Shiro of course deadpanned his response a bit. "yaaaaaay."  

[Kailah S Majessta]

Kailah was watching Leon gradually getting more and more agitated, and actually laughed when Crystal walked in wearing the dress. Otherwise she was people watching, trying to get the feel of everyone there- it WAS only her second time meeting most of them again. Before she let herself get too carried away in the antics, she prepared glasses of strawberry iced tea- enough for everyone, especially if they were going to be singing and/or cheering. Working in bars back in her own world had her on auto-pilot for the drinks, and set them on a tray. She smiled a bit when she overheard the conversation between Demyx and Axel, setting theirs down first.

"And from the strumming of that sitar, I'd say you're the friend that he got my instrument from. Thank you for that, I'm Kailah. Maybe we should play together some time so you can see just how good I am," she smiled and winked at Demyx while Axel got after him for the joke, shaking her head before handing out the rest, addressing Crystal as well.

"You look really cute by the way!" a look to Leon and back to Crystal with a grin, "Roxas already told you, you look good, but you look REALLY good."

She then passed out the rest with a small hello to the few she hadn't met before, making small talk with the others "it's great to see you again" and such, before setting the extra glasses with the group, and personally handing the last one to Aqua.

"I made it earlier today. I hope you like it, and if there's anything else you want, just tell me or Leon," she half whispered with a small laugh, "Although I think he's too busy watching Crystal and Roxas from the looks of it."

It was then that Tifa, after watching Cloud all the while as he slept, walked downstairs, putting on a tired smile and met Aqua and Kailah at the bar.

"Welcome to 7th Heaven. I'm Tifa. Sorry I couldn't be down here sooner, but I'm sure there will be plenty of time to get you situated."

Roveth's voice announced that everything was ready, and as Kailah settled behind the bar, getting comfortable leaning on her elbows, watching Shiro with the mics, Tifa sat next to Aqua.

"Things are never really dull around here with that group. If Kailah and Leon haven't already told you, think of this as a place to call home if you need one. I'm sure there's a lot you've gone through. I can see it in your eyes." She set a hand on her arm gently, "If you need to talk, we're here, if you need to rest, you can do that too." Tifa's eyes followed Aqua's eyes every now and then looking at the Roxas lookalike, and at Vanitas, "We all make sure everyone is safe here. Everyone."  

[[XIII] Roxas]

"Yeah, but Vanitas isn't really as bad as he's letting on," Kairi mentioned when Roveth commented on his outfit. "I think he really stands a chance of doing well here."

"You guys are being so nice and sappy and it's kind of creeping me out," Vanitas was definitely still clinging onto that bad boy image. It was pretty much the only thing he had going for him.

"Quit complaining," Ventus took him by the arm to make Vanitas sit down next to him in the area that had been setup with the karaoke machine. "It was your idea to come here so you're going to have to deal with it."

The confrontation between Axel and Demyx certainly got Xion laughing. Sora and Kairi were too, while Riku was trying very hard not to. Namine simply smiled and found them to be amusing. Vanitas found it hilarious and wasn't even attempting to reign in his laughter while Ventus was laughing in a slightly more controlled manner, although it really was funny to him too. Isa was trying rather pointedly to just ignore the two of them while it goes without saying that Yuffie was outright cackling at the exchange between Axel and Demyx too. Even Aqua couldn't help giving a slight chuckle about it in fact. Roxas and Crystal also laughed about it, but then Kailah approached them and her comments derailed them both into blushing again while Leon looked on with a disgruntled sigh.

"Well, she's not wrong," Roxas mentioned with a sideways glance at Crystal, still blushing and looking a bit awkward about it. "I mean, I know the rest of the girls must have coerced you into it somehow, but you really do pull it off well."

"Roxas, you do know it's totally okay if you want to look," Crystal reminded him while reaching over and taking hold of his hand. Sure, she was looking plenty embarrassed too, but that was more because she still really wasn't used to being complimented on her appearance. "I really don't mind at all if you like it. I just don't want anyone else getting any ideas."

"Um... right," Roxas continued to fidget, although he did at least give a slight laugh at that last part. "Well, I think most of the others probably know better so you don't have to worry so much about that... and you know I'm here if you need me." He managed a more relaxed smile as the blushing finally started to subside. Naturally, Leon was still watching them both like a hawk.

"Thank you," Aqua nodded to Kailah as she was handed the strawberry iced tea. She also glanced in Leon's direction to see he was still looking very flustered. "I don't know why he's so high strung about the two of them. From I've seen they're very sweet together."

"I'm Aqua," she introduced herself when Tifa did finally come down and approached her. "Ven and I--" she paused and stopped herself. "No, that's not right. Ven, Vanitas, and I are all going to be staying here for a while so it's nice to feel so welcome," she corrected herself as she indicated the two boys while speaking to Tifa. "Leon and Kailah have been wonderfully helpful already."

"Come on Shiro, you can do it!" Sora was excited to see that the karaoke machine was finally finished being setup and did his best to be encouraging.

It really was pretty adorable how visibly and verbally flustered Shiro would get whenever the subject of him singing came up. Xion couldn't help but smile at how comically awkward he got about it. "Don't let Roveth's praise psyche you out," she tried to gently encourage Shiro. "We're all just looking forward to hearing you sing again."

"And I'm sure those who haven't heard it before are wondering what all the fuss is about," Riku chimed in with his patented smirk.

"Riku, you're going to make him nervous again," Kairi tried to reprimand him even though she couldn't help smiling. That was such a Riku thing to say.  

[Kuukyo_Fushichou]

Axel of course had calmed down once Roveth mentioned the Karaoke Machine was ready as Demyx had rubbed his throat, but hearing Sora try to Cheer on a rapidly paling Shiro, and riku -clearly not helping matters Axel would just roll his eyes and look to Shiro with amusement "Oi, Shiro... don't tell me Auron didn't make you spineless when it came to anything other than battle!" of course, Shiro would death-glare in Axel's direction at that stab at Auron's training, of course, what the other's didn't know the better as he took a deep breath and gulped. Axel just shook his head a bit while chuckling a bit in particular.

Roveth of course would at least laugh at axel's comments and all, but he did walk over to his Light half and whispered something in his ear, which made Shiro blink, and blink again, before raising an eyebrow at his dark half, apparently whatever was said was actually getting Shiro distracted on the fact that he was about to give people first impressions of his voice, but he did just shrug it off and turned away from Roveth and begun looking through the songs, if he was going first then fine. Roveth of course moved to take a seat himself near aqua, chuckling a bit "Leon's a bit strung up because he sees Crystal as a little sister or maybe even adopted daughter, what with his old man aura he constantly projects." he said, elaborating on things while looking to Leon with a largely amused face in general before continuing "so he's clearly not comfortable with those two dating despite the fact he knows good and well Shiro approves of Roxas if Shiro hasn't shown anything less than full support of them together." he said while leaning back in his chair a bit lightly.

Shiro of course had narrowed his eyes at the selections, sure he could play it safe and sing a couple of songs he's already sung before, but of course once more a song actually stood out as if saying 'sing me!' to him, and once he got a closer look at it, he'd mentally wince, seeing it was another female voiced song and all. either way he'd clear his throat a bit as he proceeded to set that song to play, before turning to the crowd who begun paying attention to Shiro as he closed his eyes, with the music starting up and sounding quite melodious, he would focus a bit, and swallowed... only for his Adams apple to at least pull itself in once more as he got ready "I look upon the Door of recollection... and i listened to the distant whisper, as it lead me through my Soul's labrynth... Along the path of a single speck of light..." he would continue singing, adding in some slight dancing movements as he got into the music now, clearly he's had much more experience than just the few times now with how at ease he's used to singing despite the fact he hates doing it. "Passing through, pain is an Innocent Trick... i want to believe that i am not Alone." of course, he would spin the mic in his hand a moment as if it was a baton before catching it again and continued "This is a wandering Paradise~ with the wings that dye my heart white, if they some how reach your very eyes... smile and embrace me in your arms, i will know the meaning of my birth~ Looking at each other... it Begins, a Destiny Legend~" of course he'd give off a soft smile and a wink of course just cause he's being a cheeky one now while he was in the groove of things "Turning back to look in a wasteland of Grief, it gave of whisper of the fragrance of hope~ it won't disappear, even if it's a fleeting dream... i want to feel that warmth~!" he then would start getting more active in his dancing, but it wasn't getting thankfully over the top or anything like that "leading me, your holding me beloved, is an Endless Chain... i want to be tied, overcoming my fate!" he woudl of course headbop a moment or two as he continued "Shoot off the ancient Paradox~! it dies all red in the opening within the darkness... if you can allow me to think of you, then gently kiss me on the lips~ my teardrops melt, the rain screams, this is the Last Inferno, surely...~" he then would close his eyes, seeming to dance and time his steps to both the music and his head "Through the Darkness, Call me in the Last Inferno~! the promised Crescent Wind awakens, this oath i made.. now becomes a legend~!" he said, fully getting into the swing of things, even as the music was working to wind down slowly "this is a wandering paradise... with the wings that dye my heart white~, if they somehow reach your eyes.... smile and embrace me in your arms~ i will know the meaning of my birth... looking at each other.... it begins... a Destiny Legend~!" he finished off with the music continuing to play in the background as he danced to it up until the end, where he actually posed almost too cutely for his own good, clearly leaving a certain sitar player blue in the face once more and mentally cursing at Shiro's insane singing voice, and how refined it sounded now.  

[[XIII] Roxas]

Along with Axel and Demyx, this was nothing new for Crystal, Roxas, Xion, Riku, Namine, and Isa. They had experienced Shiro's highly unusual vocal range the first time he had sung for them at the mansion. For everyone else, however, it was a totally brand new experience.

Sora stared gawking with his eyes wide and mouth hanging open. "How did he even do that?"

Riku was staring too, but he at least managed to seem a bit more dignified about it this time. "I have no idea."

"What a strange guy," Ventus was more amused than weirded out by it from the sound of it.

"Hold up, I thought you were a guy!" Vanitas decided to give Ven's statement a very different sort of context in his own bafflement at Shiro's singing voice.

Aqua was very surprised as well and did her best to politely applaud Shiro without saying anything that might upset him. "Will wonders never cease?"

"You were great Shiro!" Crystal called over encouragingly.

"That was amazing!" Xion added also trying to be supportive.

Leon was so shocked at the moment that he had completely forgotten that he had been keeping an eye on Roxas and Crystal to make sure they weren't up to anything. This was definitely weirdest and most surprising thing he had seen all day. "Well what do you know, the kid's got talent," Leon shook his head as he applauded.

"All that praise he's been getting makes a lot more sense now," Yuffie was grinning widely. Sure, it was weird, but it was also pretty funny that Shiro could do that with his voice.

Isa was impressed once again by Shiro's peculiar singing talents, but being as he had heard him accomplish this feat before Isa was somewhat more focused on Ventus. They had been so busy upon arrival with unpacking all that karaoke equipment and getting the show started that Axel hadn't actually gotten around to introducing himself and Demyx to the blond haired boy who so very strikingly resembled Roxas. "So Lea, I see you've traded in Roxas for a younger model," Isa kept his expression neutral and his tone passive as he finally addressed the situation with only the smallest hint of amusement evident in his features.

"Really?" Roxas turned to glare at him. "I'm sitting right here!"