Kingdom Hearts: Recollect

"Well, I think we should go down the left path. Like Alder said, it's safer to stick together and with our memories lost splitting up would be a really, really dangerous thing to do. Besides, I think I can hear machines coming from down the paved road, maybe we can find out more about exactly why we've lost our memories and how to get them back" Kara suggested. While her decision was the one she felt she'd make regardless of the situation, she really didn't like the idea of walking down a path that was radiating darkness.​

 

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After having bested the broken keyblade wielder, they seemed to still have some manner of confidence in themselves to complete whatever it was that they were attempting to do. As they had left the area, memories started to flood through Marley's head again, as they were reminded that they didn't know at least one of these people before but the whole of them. After shaking their head a bit, the meaning of the name "LIGHT" was made apparent to them as well, which the keyblade wielder couldn't help but chuckle a bit at. However, as these thoughts had all passed through their head, it seemed that they weren't the only one who had remembered these things. In fact, everyone else had seemed to know just who the rest of the group were and that they had been doing things for at least a year prior to this. Well, that felt all well and good.

As they were starting to recollect themselves from the fight, at Alder's question of who "Aevum" was, Marley tried to search their head to see if they had any kind of recollection as to what that name meant. However, no matter how hard they thought on it, nothing was coming up so they could only help but shrug. Once everyone had settled though, they had decided that now was indeed the time to get a move on get going from this area. Marley couldn't help but agree, as they didn't really want to spend much time in this desolate looking place, and so looked along the two available routes to them. One looked clearly more safe and to some form of civilization. However, the other...

"Whoa," they exclaimed looking at the dark mist and heard the whispering noises coming from the dirt path. "Man, that place looks pretty spooky." While they seemed like they were about to say something beyond that, they heard Kara speak up about going down the paved path. A disappointed expression crossing their face, Marley said, "ah come on. That place is way cooler," they pointed towards the darkness. It definitely looked like there was something neat down that road. Or some kind of radiation poisoning. One of the two. However, they shrugged, still disappointed saying, "but if we want to go the more boring route, then I guess so."

 

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Daeni looked between the two paths and tilted her head. She heard strange machinery from the paved road to her left. She also saw some birds and honestly, if Ria was any example, going that way was probably not where they ought to go. "I feel like going an easy way might not take us to where our answers are. Ria looked dark and mysterious like this other road." she said, looking towards said road. It was full of darkness and odd whispering.

"The dark road looks scary but, uh....it....it's probably a better path to take." she gulped, playing with her fingers and vest. She was still scared, but she didn't feel as scared as previously. Maybe getting her memories gave her some more courage. Maybe having Kara nearby helped. Either way, Daeni took a deep breath and nodded to herself.

 

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No one appeared to have a answer to the 'Aevum' question that Alder had proposed to them. Normally it would've been odd to have something in his memory missing, but given have the other things that Chrono had either just remembered or still didn't remember, it wasn't all that surprising. Now as for the two paths before them that they could take, Chrono's focus was on the one with the paved road.

There was a simple reason behind his curiosity and it was the sound of machines that were coming from the direction of the paved road. The more he heard the sounds of the machine, the more his curiosity started to get the better of him and wanted to head towards that particular path. "I say we go to the left path, something had to be making all that noise." Chrono said. Plus whatever that thing was could easily help them out in the long run...in theory...hopefully.

 

Relli looked outwards, towards where everyone else was looking, and looked back and forth between the two paths. They seemed equally mysterious, and equally likely to get them killed. After all, the light was no guarantee of safety, just as the darkness was no guarantee of danger.

But, the rightmost path seemed more... intriguing. Moreover, Relli could hear the whispers coming from it, and they were drawn to them, in a way. They almost seemed to call out to them. Disregarding the rest of the group, Relli slowly walked over to the beginning of the dirty path and stared down into its depths. This way seemed like the right way to go.

Behind them, Relli could hear the group talking and deliberating on their route, and whether they should split up or not. Splitting up seemed like a bad idea, and they would much rather they all stick together, but it wasn't like they could stop them. They would just have to go where their hearts were leading them. And right now, Relli's heart was telling them to follow the whispering.

Glancing once behind them, Relli took a few hesitant steps down the dirt road.

 

Kara stared at the group, dumbfounded. She could remain calm no longer; here she was supposed to lead the group, but leading them into death was most certainly not what she had signed up for. "Guys, would you take a look at yourselves for a minute please? We have no memories of this place, including why we're here or how we got here, we just fought a guy who clearly has control over darkness, and most of us can barely even hold the damn keyblade. We have one path that seems relatively safe and has machinery that could help us both get our memories back and find out why we lost it, and you guys are all going down the path that is screaming 'death'. It's literally radiating darkness, it has whispers which could easily mean there's a trap ahead since we don't know anyone else here and at the very least it surely leads to mountains of heartless. I'm sorry I have to be so blunt about it and so rude but please, can we just go down the path that actually looks like a reasonable choice? The darkness can do some horrible, evil things, we shouldn't be going towards it!" Kara cried out, clearly distraught.

With that being said, she took a few steps towards the paved path. "I can't force you to go down this path, and I won't. You're all my friends, and that's why I hope that you'll listen to reason" she stated, turning her back to the group. Then, without another word, she began walking down the path. If she was going to be a leader, she had to stand her ground and do the right thing. Even if that meant she was leading a considerably smaller party.​

 

Getting up, Kara turned around to face Cerdic immediately. "Cerdic, they're just birds. They literally just fly around, doing nothing. You'd rather fight a thousand heartless than a few birds? Go for it, that's your decision. Just...be careful if you do. I hope to see all of you safe on the other side of this thing" Kara said sadly. She then turned back around and continued onwards, before stopping momentarily. "And if you try to make me step into darkness, then good luck with that" she said. She wasn't about to threaten a comrade, but she wasn't going to go back on this decision either.​

 

With a great deal of squirming, Kara got free and fell to the ground. She stood up and dusted herself off quickly, before turning and slapping Cerdic straight across the face with a great deal of force. She then took a few steps towards the paved path, and said a quick "thank you, Alder" before continuing. If Cerdic tried that stunt again, then he'd find it very hard to sit down properly once she was done with the keyblade.​

 

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Chrono didn't really pay much attention to what Kara was saying regarding going down the path of darkness. It was likely directed at the ones who wanted to go down the dirt path while he chose to go down the paved road towards the sound of machines. In fact during her speech he had actually started to casually step off towards that direction. His steps weren't large enough for anyone to notice him, but small enough so that he was making slow progress.

Then things took an interesting turn when Cerdic tackled Kara and started talking about how the birds were the ones who had stolen their memories. Now if he had said that directed towards something a bit more believable, say some sort of strange creature that they hadn't seen before, then maybe he would've believe him. Heck, he probably would've believed him if he'd said Ria had done it. But birds, that was a bit of a stretch. At the end of all this Alder had decided to go with Kara down the paved road. Well he didn't need to slowly sneak down that way anymore it seemed. "I'll go down the paved road as well." He finally spoke up.

 

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As his companions argued over which of the two roads to take, Chrys merely observed the two paths carefully. While the road to the left looked brighter, looks could be quite deceiving. While splitting up may not have been the best of decisions, it seemed at this point to be an inevitability. The least he could do in this situation was make sure he chose the path that he wanted to take.

Like it or not, the dark path seemed to be calling to him. Something stirred within his memories just looking at it. Something about... duty. His mind conjured up an image of his keyblade: Light Seeker. Did that have something to do with it? Was it his duty to seek the light in the darkness? Or was he just twisting logic? Regardless, it seemed his choice was clear.

"I can't say I agree with their logic, but... I want to go down the dirt path too." Turning to look at the leader, he gave an apologetic shrug. "Sometimes the right path is the hardest path to take. Still, I'll stick with what you decide." Chrys didn't really like placing his decision in her hands, but it couldn't be helped. He had already made the choice to follow her judgement, and that wasn't something he could change now.

"I'm not sure if you can change their minds, but for me... I won't go that way if you don't want me to."

Chrys waited silently as he waited for either permission... or orders. Staring at the ground, Chrys silently considered how much easier it would be to choose a path if they already kner where it would lead them. Had they known once? Surely they must have taken one of the paths to get here.

 

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She watched Kara almost get carried off by Cerdic. Daeni stepped forward to try and stop him, but luckily she wasn't needed. Kara managed to get away from Cerdic and that didn't help Daeni in trying to make her decision. She wanted to say something, but others were voicing their opinions and soon enough, a quietness befell the group.

Daeni spoke up and looked at everyone. "Just because something looks easy, doesn't mean it's gonna have the answers we want. I wanna know what happened and I really hope that sunny path will have my answers, but I have a strange feeling that this way will be better." she said, looking to see Relli heading down that path. Reluctantly, Daeni stepped behind them, watching behind her before turning to face forward and ignoring other events as she tried to catch up to Relli.

"Well, I'm here at least." she said to Relli, walking beside him.

 

As the splitting of the group was finally determined, and groups had taken their respective paths. Ria reappeared in front of the caved in cave, pushing at it slightly saying, "This *was a horrible idea... we could have gotten them before they woke up..." there was silence before they said, "No... I need them. For now. But once things are settled, I know this'll be the best route... if only I could get to that extractor..." Ria clenched their fist before chuckling and saying, "I think I used it correctly, but you would disagree, huh, Alder?" there was a bit of silence between themselves before whispering, "Of course..." and they faded on back into the darkness.

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The paved road led them down a pretty winding path, and eventually to the top of another mountain. The paved road still continued downward towards a valley, and revealed a village below. The village was swirling the darkness, but the village seemed to be in... operation? The machinery of the village was clicking and clacking, stuff that looked to be factories. There seemed to be not a soul in sight though. And even as the sun rose higher, it just couldn't break the shadows of the village.

That was, until a flash of light happened near a factory, and suddenly a figure was running, being chased by several heartless. From the way the heartless slashed at them, they appeared to not be on the friendliest of terms.

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Down the dirt road, the viewing distance only became harder and harder to see. This was until the path simply, seemed to end. With a wall. But as they edged along, they should have been able to find a gate that was locked tight. The whispering was much louder and with greater intensity than before, but it somehow ended up less and less... human. There was a loud cawing noise up ahead. Not the call of the blue birds or anything but definitely something along the lines of a raven.

Right by the gate was a sign labelled Orphic Coast Graveyard

 

Dimly, Relli was aware that they weren't alone on the pathway; at least a few of the others had followed them, but they weren't sure exactly who. Their mind was distracted, feet decidedly following the sounds of voices, and the few spare thoughts they had for their companions flitted from their mind as quick as they came. Gravel and dirt crunched under their boots, and as they went the path became more and more overgrown until the group practically had to walk single file to follow the path.

For nearly fifteen minutes they walked along the path, the fog and darkness growing steadily until it was difficult to see, until the path simply trailed away into a large, imposing wall. Relli picked their way along what was left of the path, all the way up to the wall, until they were practically pressed against it, palms pressed against the smooth stone. They looked up, and the top of the wall, and not even the sky itself was visible through the blackness. The whispers were louder now, and to the young prince the voices bombarded their ears from all directions, but somehow were even more indistinguishable.

Relli walked along the wall, fingers trailing across it as they went, following the party as they turned left. Despite leading through the path, Relli was now the last to join the group in front of an iron-wrought gate that trailed up two stories, with solid bars and a heavy lock. As they approached Cerdic (ew) opened the lock and pushed the gate open, then stepped back. Relli gave him a quick glance, then looked further inside the walls. The whispers were louder than ever, but they called to Relli, so they took the open invitation to go first and walked through.