#.exe ▶ the enigma with no name {freeshooterxig}

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"I understand."

A nod was given along with the words. The mark made him even more of a pawn in this game of chess, it seemed. He could be called upon at any time now that he bore the sigil, and while he wasn't exactly pleased by that, it certainly could have been much worse. The fact that he had gotten this far was a huge achievement, considering who he had struck a deal with. He was sure that the other wouldn't let him forget that fact anytime soon

When he was told to leave, he was suddenly all too aware of his injuries again, and he nodded once more. "Should I return here when I'm recovered?" He asked, perhaps stupidly; he did have a homing beacon burned onto his shoulder now. Luxu could probably travel to his worldline with a snap of the fingers if he wished.

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He doesn’t give an answer as to why he asked about the power. It was more of a question from a curious mind, rather than something he actually wanted to learn how to master. Although, there was one person he could think to use it on…

Snapping back to reality, he studied the blade for a moment before he grabbed the hilt. The sudden burning in his right shoulder was painful but not unbearable, as it dissipated before he could react. He didn’t need to look to guess what symbol now marked his fate, and his gaze traveled from the blade back to Luxu.

“A recusant…” The word may have once terrified him, but now he felt neutral about the term. It was just another title that he would bear for the grand scheme of things that he was now thoroughly wrapped up in.

The Mark of Death. Nostrils flared, almost hearing the Old Coot’s voice ringing in his pointed ears. His partner’s methods had been effective, if not insane…

“One heretic to another,” he started, tone changing lightly between sarcasm to bemusement. “Little trick learned from an old friend. The worlds are big places. With that, I’ll be able to find you.” Keyblade fell away in a break of darkness, watchful eye once more out of sight. A veiled threat, a promise? Always marked, with something that could follow your every footstep. They were tied more than just that fated blade. “Now get lost,” his left hand swept once over in a wide arc as he walked past Brain, “I’m not training you when the wind itself could knock you over.”

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freeshooterxig‌:

He looked over his shoulder lightly towards the other before forwards again. Ava’s role. Nostrils snorted lightly to the notion remembering it well. There presented a thought; where even had Ava ended up. The other Fortellers managing to be pulled into the future, but sans the clever fox only meant that her Heart of all things wasn’t lost.

High probabilities only meant that she was alive somewhere then? Hiding, running - seeing that the last time they crossed blades such a reunion might not turn best in his favor..

He shook his head slightly before shoulders raised in a shrug. “Nothing stopped you before,” came the remark, lips turning into a small smirk. The man half turned, fingers flexing in an open gesture. “Shoot.”

"I've been your apprentice for some time now, but..."

The normally blunt and bold young man hesitated, fingers playing at the edges of his cowl before it was pulled down. Short, messy hair had long since replaced his neat and tidy ponytail; a testament to how he had changed-- how he had finally welcomed the darkness and stopped attempting to control what shouldn't be.

"What do you think of me? I feel as if at times you're sick of me, and othes you tolerateme more than usual. It's hard to pinpoint where exactly our relationship lies." He tilted his head at his mentor, tired golden gaze filled with familiar curiosity. "I know that I made a deal with you merely to go to the future and reunite with my friends, but I will admit... I am glad you are my mentor. I've learned much from you that I never would have learned otherwise, and your company has made being trapped in the data world easier to bear."

Was it his sleep deprivation that made the words fall so easily from his mouth? He was certain the older male was not one for sentimentality, and normally he wasn't either-- they barely knew each other beyond training. Yet even so, he had genuinely come to enjoy his nightly training, as brutal as it could get at times.

"Thank you for being my mentor."

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"Everyone fears what they can't change, or control." He mused. "That was the epitome of what the Book of Prophecies was. The darkness didn't need to lift a finger in order for that future to happen; the Foretellers and their fear did all the work. They put themselves in their own destructive cycle. That's why the Keyblade War happened."

The apprentice watched the other create a portal, eyebrows furrowed in thought under his cowl. "Master, if you could go back to the age of fairytales and do something different, would you? If you didn't have to worry about your role, or the book, and could save the Foretellers from their own destruction?"

He didn't know where the question had come from, but he felt that he and the other were more similar than he initially realized. His mentor had sacrificed his bonds with his family to pursue the darkness and his role; while he had discarded his role to embrace the darkness and see his friends again. Though they were opposite, their experiences resonated in a way that got his curious mind working.

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“The Foretellers taught us that it was something to fear, and that we would be struck down if we were found to be harboring it.”

The apprentice held out his hand, studying the black wisps with a curious eye. Despite everything, his thirst for knowledge had never faded. “Yet… I don’t think it needs to be feared. I suppose it can’t be controlled like I initially thought, either. It’s just another side to light– one that shouldn’t be forced down and ignored. That’s what makes it stronger, even more so than humans and their thirst for power.

“I only know these things from my own observations. Any books that mentioned darkness are few and far between in the tower library; or at least the data version of it. No doubt a measure to keep us repeating the same mistakes the Foretellers did.” He gave a shrug, closing his fist and letting his hand drop back to his side.

“Just somebodies skewed philosophy,” he shook his head with a small sigh. In truth, he had no idea what the Fortellor’s left behind. Once he had left he had been forbidden to interact with them. Seeing the text would have told him another story - albeit the Master’s hand writing or not - but somehow he wouldn’t be surprised if his brothers and sisters had been the root causality.

“That last page of the book terrified them.” The World shall be consumed by Darkness. Tongue clicked behind his teeth. “So much so that they were destroyed by that fear. But fear, anger, rage - they all exist in nature. Push come to shove, those very instincts are something that can save your hide. Sitting back on some holier than thou platform saying that its evil is just nonsense.”

He turned his back on the other, before raising his hand summoning a large pink spiked portal to another fraction of the Sleeping Worlds. “Long as you respect them, it doesn’t matter which wolf you decide to feed.”

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He doesn't give an answer as to why he asked about the power. It was more of a question from a curious mind, rather than something he actually wanted to learn how to master. Although, there was one person he could think to use it on...

Snapping back to reality, he studied the blade for a moment before he grabbed the hilt. The sudden burning in his right shoulder was painful but not unbearable, as it dissipated before he could react. He didn't need to look to guess what symbol now marked his fate, and his gaze traveled from the blade back to Luxu.

"A recusant..." The word may have once terrified him, but now he felt neutral about the term. It was just another title that he would bear for the grand scheme of things that he was now thoroughly wrapped up in.

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The younger master listened intently, wanting to get any knowledge he could from his new mentor. He didn’t seem like the type to dole out explanations very often, or long-winded ones at that, so Brain was going to make sure he memorized every word that was thrown his way so he could write it down later.

“Where does the Power of Waking come into play?”

He knew more about that topic, but the books he read still hadn’t offered as much as he was sure that Luxu could. When asked to choose an arm, he raised an eyebrow, staring down at his hands. Why was he choosing an arm? He debated for a moment before holding out his right arm; as that wasn’t his dominant arm and whatever was going to happen to it would still leave him with the hand he was more comfortable with.

“The Power of Waking.” It was an odd request. One that was on a short list of most powerful techniques, yet came at the highest cost when you didn’t follow the rules. Lost Hearts without a direct access to bodies… The man’s face tilted slightly, eye narrowing from under the cowl. “Why would you need to bring someone back from the dead?”

A small snort left him, before the man shook his head considering it rhetorical. A small pace towards his right. There was a moment of bitter hesitation that crossed his mind. How long had it been since he’d given this right. Hundreds, thousands of years? Or was the passing just in this moment.

Yet a deal was a deal. “One more hoop.”

Summoning the dark blade he offered the hilt to the other right handedly, black fingers still clutching it like a vice grip.

“ In your hand, take this Key. So long as you have the makings, then through this simple act of taking, its wielder you shall one day be,” his words paused more from a candor from memory, a small smirk formed on his face as he stared at his right shoulder. When Brain’s fingers wrapped the blade a dull burning sensation caught under his sleeve, power surging up into his arm coming rest in a dull stylized scar.  χ

“And as your flesh bears the sigil, so your name shall be known as that as a recusant.”

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He frowned beneath his cowl, eyes turning towards the shadows that curled around his body and clung to him like wisps of smoke. "Darkness is so potent, and yet.." His voice trailed as he pondered for moment, then turning to the other. He caught the potion and nodded his thanks, drinking the bubbling green liquid with a look of distaste on his hidden face. He never really liked the flavor of potions.

"There is no true balance of light and dark, is there?" He continued his thoughts, tilting his head. "They work in harmony, sure, but corruption is so much easier to succumb to than letting the light heal one's self."

He seemed disappointed in his own conclusion. "It's human nature to fall to darkness for power, no matter the reason." After all, it's what he had done.

"So perhaps it is only hurting me the longer I don't accept the darkness completely."

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He almost felt guilty for how easy it had been to accept the darkness, once he was marked. The power had surged through him, whispering him promises of seeing his friends, of escaping his fate in the data world, of strength and power that he had previously lacked. It was always teasing him, tempting him into falling in completely and being swallowed up.

He refused to become a shadow of his former self. Or at least that’s what he liked to tell himself at night, when he was too restless to sleep and the whispers were strongest. He had accepted the darkness, but he could not afford to let it consume him. He wanted to control it, to use it only when he really needed it. Though as the days passed and his training continued, his former Chirithy, now a Nightmare, chided him for thinking so foolishly.

Darkness was not one so easily controlled.

The apprentice stood before the Skelterwild, unflinching as it roared directly at him. He slipped out of the way of it’s ice breath, but it managed to catch his foot and freeze it to the ground. Remaining ever calm, he struck the ice with his keyblade and freed his foot, shaking off the bits of ice that had embedded themselves in his boot.

The Nightmare followed up with an ice spear, but the wielder used it as a ramp of sorts; springing onto the spear and running up it to reach his target. He managed to get onto it’s head, before it realized as such and began to try and shake him off. He turned his blade in his hand and struck down into the hollow skull of the Skelterwild, a roar of pain sounding.

Angered, the beast threw it’s head wildly and the apprentice was thrown to the ground, keyblade promptly disappearing from the skull of the beast. He stood back up; darkness coiling around him like a blanket. He let it form around his keyblade as he resummoned it, the shadows melding together and weaving themselves into a keyblade that was twice as large as the one in his hand. With a sweep of his hand it shot at the Nightmare, striking into it’s chest and turning it into a burst of muted fireworks.

Breathing heavily, the apprentice turned once more to his mentor, wiping some blood from his mouth with the back of his glove. The darkness coiled around his arm had spread, remaining around his full figure– but if he noticed, he wasn’t concerned. It was still under his control. ‘For now.’ he could hear the whispers tell him in his head.

Another swing and clash as the heavier bony frame of a Nightmare struck hard and was beaten back. The man’s coil traced and followed each trace of the blade, force and strike, yet his mind was half else ware. The Heart could only travel along its designated time line. Cast off from the body, it could go to anywhere past or future to one’s span of normal life. Pick a direction, and that’s the only direction you could travel. Three simple rules. If you tried to break nature laws, there was a punishment for the taboo. That’s how it went. ‘Whatever the cost had been’ his direct words. But all this training would have been nothing but a waste of time in his eye if he was just going to fail or loose his mind on the other side.

‘You won’t even know them,’ he thought to himself, which was the greatest dramatic irony of all. Maybe it would just be easier to strike him down, and pull his body forwards with the Power of Waking.. Like the other Fortellers.. But did he owe the kid that much? As if…

A change of aura, vitals elevated. Nostrils flared as he watched a firaga spell turn dark, the rage coming to a climax as the Nightmare was finally beat back. Funny.. He looked a lot like Terra before..

“You’re working too hard,” his voice finally broke with a soft smirk, fingers flexing across his raised knee. With a long silent breath, the man finally moved from his perch. Slipping off into a freefall, before his momentum halted completely in a hover before boots touched the ground. Arms crossed his chest as he approached, cowl tilted to the side. “You can’t control when your heart beats, or when you blink. It needs to be a reflex, a part of you. Its a tool like anything else, but it needs to move through you, not forced.”

That was the age old secret that so many people failed to learn. “Life’s great illusion, deep down there’s really no such thing as control. You try to push it, and it’s only going to corrupt you.” 

A shake of the head, before his hand turned over a Hi Potion and threw it towards Brain’s head. “Take a breather, kid.”

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freeshooterxig‌:

Arms crossed easily over his chest as he looked back over to the river. Hoods down but it seemed as ever walls were still high. With a snort, he knew how he had been treating the other only had something to do with it. Sleep, come in, throw monstrosities at him, come out. Regiments aside, he didn’t think it was a matter of taking too hard on him yet.

Lack of sleep. Something else was on his mind.

“I spent too many years in the Graveyard. When I finally got the nerve to saunter back, Daybreak town had broken. Most of the tower had fallen into the water. Heartless were gone, seeing as there were no more Hearts to take. Just the ruins,” another pause before he turned an easy smirk towards Brain. “Then all of a sudden wielders started poppin back like weed.” Ava’s chosen. While maybe he had sequestered himself high in the tower as a leader in the datascape, they slowly left and started to rebuild..

Putting pieces together.

His head cocked to the side with a small snort. “Though, you could already know all this, who knows.” Being able to have access to the Book of Prophecies. There was a chance that he had already read it, lived it or the rest could have just been paradoxical in a way.

"It was Ava's role to save the light by putting us in the data world. Once it was safe, they had to go back. That's the extent of what I know."

It wasn't. He had read the Book; memorized it, even. He knew all that happened in the tome before he had allowed his mentor to destroy it. It was a burden of knowledge that Ava had entrusted to him, and he wouldn't share what he didn't need to without careful thought.

Something, unfortunately, he could not achieve in his sleep-deprived state.

Studying the older male as they walked, his head tilting thoughtfully. He was an enigma in every sense of the word, and he couldn't pretend that he understood anything about him. Motives, thoughts, feelings-- it was all a cloud of mystery when it came to his mentor. "..May I ask you a question, Master?"

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freeshooterxig‌:

Passing a small crowd, puddles on the street from an early rain, the beat of wings from a flock of pigeons alive in the air. The enigma shoved his hands in his pockets,  leading the way past bread shops and the common vagabond begging for coin. Winding streets gave way eventually showing a wide river, a patch of grass and tree. The way the light hit the ripples of waves as it lightly danced down stream. The pocket serene place; though it wasn’t to his personal tastes, it was quiet.

He kept his eye on the water line for a moment, debating on if it would be any good to set him up on the bridge in a few hours. Have nightmares attack from both sides and see if he could take advantage of the rigging from a high ground. A hum pressed his lips before his hands raised pulling the hood down. Lone gold eye narrowed lightly to the change of shadow. A flash of gray silver hair, a jagged scar on his left cheek.

“Do you remember how many years its been in your time?” he asked briefly, the question peeking some mild curiosity. “Since Ava put you lot in the data scape I mean.”

He followed along dutifully behind his mentor, taking in the sights of this sleeping world with a bit of awe, even in his sorry state. This world was beautiful, and he wondered what had happened to make it fall into this realm. He could see exactly why the older man had brought him here to rest; though he still was unsure if there was a catch to his kindness.

Despite how long it had been since the enigma took him under his wing, he still wasn't quite sure what to make of him, or where his motives truly lie.

His attention was immediately pulled in the direction of his mentor, eyes widening a bit under his own cowl as the hood was pushed down. It hadn't been the first time he had seen the other's features, but it was such a rare sight that it surprised him every time. It took him a moment to process the words directed at him in his sorry state, blinking as he thought about it in silent for a few minutes.

"We kept track while all of us were there, but when I sent the others to the future, I stopped keeping track. The years started to blend together when it was just Code and I alone in there."

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freeshooterxig‌:

The correct comment escaped his voice, knowing berating the other of lack of sleep would do him little good. Insomnia he could offer little cure for, for that matter as well, seeing that most causalities were stress induced or of the mind. The man snorted, letting a hand fall to his hip.

“At this rate: R and R before you keel over,” the voice came dryly before he shook his head. A snap of a finger and the memory changed, the dark sky to a blue, white walls to high wooden double town homes with slatted roofs on a cobbled road. The man looked up slightly, ignoring the fact that the City of Bells often reminded him of home.. The old home.

“Come on,” he started musing out a sigh before he turned to lead. “There’s a spot by the Seine that gets little foot traffic.” 

"Oh.." Of all the things that he expected would come out of his mentor's mouth, he younger male hadn't considered that. Even so, the apprentice wasn't going to waste an opportunity of kindness shown by the other. He watched as the scenery changed before his eyes.

This world wasn't familiar to him; but then, most of the sleeping worlds were not. Even though they trained in multiple different slumbering worlds, the apprentice often got no knowledge of them save for a name. This world that he suddenly seemed much too pretty to sully with training-- maybe that's why the other was using it as a place for him to rest instead.

Shaking from his thoughts, the younger male followed the older through the unfamiliar city; doing his best not to lose him and get himself lost in his current exhausted state.