Video Game: Kingdom Hearts SOS: The Road To Light

Steel actually smiled. His lips parting to reveal the rows of very sharp teeth, with his eyebrow raised in a manner such as to convey his amusement.

"One would think that I could decide for myself that which is a loss and which is a gain." He really shouldn't be pushing it. If he wasn't careful he would screw up and cause a fight, and he had already told himself to avoid that possibility. It would probably be best to just concede the point before it became an argument. After all, his statement didn't have much truth to it.

"Then again... I'm hardly the person to know what is best." His smile became sad as his eyes wandered to the vast and empty distance beyond them.

"Most people don't, really."

 

Raisor continued walking through the dark, following the giant pillar of light. He walked in silence as Kaida began talking about her worries while what sounded like a knife being scratched against something, while D'daear kept silent as well. Raisor wasn't really in a mood to talk at this point. He knew exactly what Kaida was feeling because he'd felt it before years ago. That point of where you just won't make it out of the current situation and you should just give up. This time he wasn't going to give up though, because he knew what was at the end of that road. It might have been better if he said something to Kaida, but he just wanted to walk in silence.

They continued through the darkness until Raisor spotted something in the distance. It looked familiar, but he couldn't quite place the image. He walked faster, making out the shape to be the same exact thing they saw before the end of Disney Town. The object was that Cornerstone of Light thing. Although didn't Dreamer take it away, which caused the fall of that world? Raisor looked around, trying to figure out who placed the orb there and to see if anyone else might have gotten there as well.

 

Steel thought carefully on Karina's words. She was afraid of getting hurt. She was afraid of others getting hurt. She was sad.

Yeah, being careful was going out the window. He was just gonna say what was on his mind now. It was clear enough that nothing he currently had to say would set her off. Which actually made sense: He had yet to mention "friendship" once, so maybe as long as he stayed away from that one word...

"Karina..." He began. "...Imagine with me, if you would, the most foreign of concepts: Other people." He gave a slight shiver in jest, though he doubted she would find it amusing. "In fact..." He continued. "...Let's think of a very specific group of other people: Our associates. Call them to mind: Kaida, Kel, Hikaru, Glen, D'daear, heck even me if you want. Everyone."

"Now really think about them."

"Can you find anything that they all have in common?"

"I bet you could if you really tried."

Steel became silent so as to allow her to think clearly. He awaited her answer.

 

As Stratos began walking towards the light, he realized something. There were no sounds of anyone following after him. Wondering if Luna was having trouble with something, Stratos turned around to see that she hadn't moved from her place. Raising an eyebrow at this, the boy started to walk forward towards the girl as he noticed the expression on her face. The girl definitely seemed to be deeply troubled by something, given the expression on her face. And based on the rest of her body, she had definitely seemed to be in an almost fearful state. While he couldn't do much, not knowing its source, he couldn't very well just leave her like that. If that light was their ticket out of here, then they both needed to get to it. And so, walking in closer, with a concerned tone in his voice, Stratos asked the simple, "hey, Luna. Is something bothering you?"

 

Steel did not bother trying to hold back his laughter.

"We're sorry, but that wasn't the answer we were looking for." He smiled "But you do get points for the nature of your response. I'm sure you're so thrilled." The last bit was obviously sarcastic. "As for the proper answer; you may have noticed, as we go from world to world, that everyone tends to get these sad little looks in their eyes. How they get determined every now and then and suddenly rise to the occasion, kicking buts and taking names all in the name of..." He paused just a second as he neared what had apparently been deemed by his companion as something akin to the deplorable word. "...Friendship..." He shrugged as if admitting that yes, that was a thing here, before moving on to his real point. "...as well as their lost loved ones." He gestured to imply the importance of one over the other.

"Do you see?" He continued. not really giving her the chance to respond. "We each have something else in our hearts and minds: something other than our pretenses of the world around us: Goals. Something to shoot for." His excited manner became more calm over time. "Something that pushes us to do better, whether it be a memory, person, or simply wish." his smile had gone from full teeth to closed lips, and his mouth was not stretched near so far. He almost looked to be a serene sage imparting wisdom to one who had come to seek it. "Each of us strives for something. When faced with danger, that something pushes us to great lengths of bravery and allows us to perform heroic feats, and that's why..."

"...We're all just selfish bastards."

 

"I don't know any Master Hikaru," Xara muttered. She scratched her head and paced a bit in place. She had a feeling she was missing something important until the light was mentioned. "Light?"

Xara looked up to see just that. "Oh..." it was a beautiful sight to see instead of just sand and swirling darkness. She also felt a little uneasy. It couldn't be that easy to get out of here, could it? Why hadn't a light showed up until now?

 

"I'm going for the light." Ananta said, breaking out into a sprint. She had been in this darkness for long enough for her. She didn't want to be here any longer. Feet aching and legs hurting from the previous walking, Ananta was already partly there. She stopped only a few yards away before she fell to her knees, gasping. "F-Finally..." she muttered.

Waiting a few moments, she stood up and looked around. She could make out shapes in the darkness and, honestly, she wouldn't be surprised if they were those beings of darkness again. What sucked for Ananta was that she had no way to defend herself at the moment. So, she hoped staying near this beacon thing would at least protect her until Xara caught up.

 

Steel's smile did not falter. Why would it?

This was hilarious.

He brought a hand to his chin as he looked on at the angry young girl in front of him.

So freaking worth it. He should have done this ages ago.

His smile did waver briefly then, however. When had he become this? Now that he was whole he was sadistic...

Shaking that thought aside, Steel responded to Karina's latest outburst.

"Are you really so Naive? So short sighted? You would truly argue to the last breath even with someone who so clearly shares such a similar view? Very well then. Before we go on, I would ask you a new question. How would you define goals?" Despite his statement, he didn't actually wait for her to answer his question. "Are they great accomplishments that one can only attain with years of training? Are they a destination that you seek to go towards? Are they the person you wish to be like?" He shook his head. "Nay, it is none of those things."

The two had long since stopped walking at this point.

"A goal, in it's simplest form, is an intent." Steel took a moment to brush aside his hair from his eyes. "Now, I must ask, as you speak your words of hatred, are you really so ignorant, so pathetic, as to go against them and say now that all intents are pure? For to harry, to steal, and to kill, these are all goals."

"To die in darkness is still a goal."

"A desire of your own. The story you read does not take to the course you would prefer, so you seek to rebel in anyway possible. Even if it your own demise: to you it is simply not an ending if it is not for you to decide. A goal, does not need a goal. People are all selfish Bastards. So what does that mean exactly? It means people don't care about what they need, they all just do what they want. Even as the shiny bauble they craved burns their flesh and devours their soul. None of them care. None of them." Steel turned to the dark abyss and threw his arms into the air to gesture towards it as if it were a grand sight to behold.

"There are those who would dream of shining cities built upon their ashen corpses!" His toothsome smile had returned in full force, and he looked to be absolutely enraptured with pure glee.

He looked mad.

"it reminds me of something... I believe you said something... not too long ago... I believe it sounded something like..."

"Self Destructive Behavior."

"That's right 'Oh Mighty Karina.' The world already has that category down pat. You got that? It's not what makes you special hon. Thanks for playing, but you lost the grand guessing game; and unlike me, life won't give you points for 'Close enough.' Because you're not the only one." His smile left entirely. His maniacal gaze and gentle knowledge both gone, only to be replaced with a cold and empty monotone.

"You're not the only one to push others away."

"You're not the only one to hate."

"...And you're most certainly not the only to argue till you're blue in the face to ensure you get the last word, or to give up halfway down the road because it's secretly a pathetic bid for your own future: you're own little pot of fool's gold at the end of a dark rainbow."

"I may or may not have done these things. It matters not. Yet I need not 'Understand' as you claim I think I do. I don't have to because we all have the same base desire. Something that reaches through even in our darkest despair: and that something is the all consuming concept of 'Me.'

Steel made sure he was facing her directly before bending over with his hands on his knees.

"I'm going to tell you a little secret Karina. You'll love it. About two in sixteen people will be drowning in their own tears as they die in a simply fantastic explosion, the fuse of which was lit by their..."

"...own..."

"...selfish..."

"...actions."

"Not the least of which is forfeiting."

"...And unless my arithmetic is grossly wrong..." Steel started pointing back and forth between himself and Karina and mumbling to himself in a mock fashion as if to convey counting.

"Between all of us, there should be about two people here."

He allowed for a brief silence following his words, merely pausing to let them sink in. After a brief moment, his more... jubilant... smile returned.

"So. You, me, that giant pillar of light that may or may not be a trap?" He opened his mouth and gave to very noticeable stage winks' before turning around and walking off, not really caring if she followed her not. If she spoke up, he'd reply.

 

Before the purple haired girl knew it, Ananta already bounded off. "W-wait!" Xara called out, reaching a hand out to the girl. She sighed under her breath, shaking her head as she summoned her keyblade and ran after the girl. She didn't know what she'd run into running like that through the unknown, and she wondered if Ananta had the same keyblade to protect herself with. Then again, she thought she remembered her saying she couldn't summon it.

Xara could barely make out her outline in the darkness, but sprinted enough to catch up just as Ananta collapsed to the ground. Xara slowed her pace, panting and then finally stopped in place. She placed her hands on her knees, keeping the keyblade there just in case something decided to sneak up on them. "B-boy... you sure run..." she gasped for air and then continued to talk, "fast... gees."

She looked up at the pillar, seeing that they were mostly there. "So you can't summon one of these things?" Xara asked as she straightened, then held up her keyblade. "If that's the case, stick close by me." Xara looked at Ananta and smiled a bit. "There's a lot of creepy things here..." she then looked to the light and breathed in deeply through her nose. "I dunno how long I've been here... but I don't remember you... or much of anyone. Maybe it's because of this place and it does things to your mind... but I hadn't found a way out at all... and this light," she gestured to it with her hand. "I dunno if it's a trap... or really a way out."

She glanced back at Ananta and extended a hand out to her. "But this is better than walking around trying to figure out what you did to end up here." She smiled and tilted her head to the side. "Ready to go?"

 

This was so

ridiculously

Hysterical.

So he laughed.

No intent? No idea? Then by whose self righteous anger was she punching him into the dirt? What fury had provoked such a thing if not hers? Not to say that it didn't hurt. It most certainly did. She may not have near as much power, but he hardly had his magical defenses anymore either. Still, whatever was holding him together seemed to stand fast against her blows. He didn't really feel any particular injuries over time. Come to think of it, did he even have bones anymore?

That was another topic altogether though. What was on topic however, was that Karina had done naught but prove him right.

Because she hadn't listened.

She ignored reason and fact altogether, and focused only on what insulted her. She had completely disregarded his blatant acknowledgement of selfishness and continued to think only of herself. She took the fact that everyone single other person, namely their comrades, had been just as selfish as she had, and traded it in her mind for the continued maintenance of her sparkling shrine to "me."

Mayhap if he had used the word "action" he would have been more clear, but he doubt it would have helped. Because whatever this girl said about how much nothing she had, she was actually quite determined.

Determined to be a waste of breath.

She could not accept praise, and criticism was met with a know-it-all attitude. Clearly however, she didn't know, otherwise she wouldn't be in her situation. She was impossible.

Steel had spent his entire life wasting his breath. He really should have learned from everyone else's mistakes and just let her be... for her sake. For if he had stayed silent, he might actually have some respect left for the girl. But no, she was just the same as everyone else. She said otherwise, but despite her words, she actually thought she was special.

Otherwise she would not look down on all the others.

Otherwise she would not run away to hide because of what ultimately came down to the fact that others did not bow down and worship her.

Others might look and see what was sad, but Steel only really saw the figurative punchline (Though the literal one was quite hilarious as well).

Not a single thing he had said, had actually made it through her thick skull, because otherwise, she might realize that she was only making his point for him.

So he was done wasting his breath. Heck if he hadn't had a fun time with it though.

So he kept on laughing between punches.

 

D’daear kept an eye on Kaida’s knife chipping away at some block of wood. How or why she had a block of wood was beyond him, and it struck him as odd. Out of all the things one could do to kill time in a quiet group. Well he couldn’t blame them for being quiet. They were probably about as moody as him right now, distressed over their second defeat (or third?). Putting hands in his pocket he simply kept on walking beside the two while occasionally looking back at Kaida’s block of wood. It was a good distraction from the gloomy atmosphere the three were experiencing. After sometime walking, Kaida finally spoke her mind which to some degree was in his as well.

Eyes narrowed at her last words as he averted his line of sight to the ground. Bangs assisted in his downcast. “…Yeah…” was all he managed, not attempting to bring his head back up. He wanted to engage in this conversation, but something inside wouldn’t let him speak. He wanted to share his thoughts, but he felt restricted by his own heart. The thought of admitting defeat was too painful. They were supposed to have gotten stronger not weaker. It seemed every time they won one battle, the enemy would win five more. On top of that, Aux had humiliated the entire group, rubbing in his ideals. Even now D’daear could still feel the sore spot where that monster had punched him.

As a few minutes passed without saying anything, it felt pointless to talk about it now. He let out a faint sigh while remaining on course with the group to the beam of light off in the distance.

 

Hearing footsteps grow closer and closer towards the motionless girl, Stratos made his way toward her. "Hey Luna. Is something bothering you?" Luna snapped out of her trance-like state as she heard Stratos ask her with a concerning tone in his voice. She looked up and saw worry in Stratos' expression. She started to talk but quickly closed her mouth before she could say anything. The girl looked down to collect her thoughts before raising her face once more. "I would be lying if I said no." Luna went silent once more before speaking, "Umm..it's a little hard for me to talk about but I think now is a good time as any." Luna sat down before speaking again."I'm sorry. I need to sit down before I explain myself."

Luna grabbed her necklace and held onto it as if it held the entire world in her hand. "To get to the point, I was or I'm currently engaged to someone from my home. However.....issues have arisen....." The girl looked up toward Stratos as she went silent once more. As she recollected her memories, tears had started to well up in her eyes. She took a couple moments to recollect her thoughts before she opened her mouth. "It was the night of me and my brother's birthday, my fiance wanted me to follow him to our secret place. We left the party my parents held for us before anybody could notice. When we got there, we sat down and talked for a little bit. Before I knew what was going on, he pulled out a box and opened it. Inside was the necklace that I'm currently wearing, in my home world whenever asking for someone's hand in marriage, one presents a betrothal necklace instead of, what do you guys call it? An engagement ring? Anyway, I accepted it and it felt like we w"ere the happiest people in the world before....." Luna closed her mouth and looked toward the ground. She could feel the tears in her eyes escaping and fall to the ground one by one. Her hands grabbed the earth beneath her in pain. Her voice kept getting caught in her throat when she wanted to continue her story. After a few moments, she finally caught her voice. "There were these people in red robes right above us. There were two of them, one of them looked like they were a man and the other might've been a woman. We looked up and and my fiance immediately got in front of me. A fight broke out between the red robed man and him. However, we didn't focus on the woman and I was standing completely still. I don't know how she did this but I felt myself sinking and I looked down and I saw a dark portal right under me. Before I could process anything, I felt someone push me away from the portal and when I looked up and I saw him sinking in my place. I grabbed his hand and tried to pull him up. I looked at him and I saw a sad smile on his face as if he was saying goodbye......He shook my hand off and before I knew it, the portal closed, the two in red robes disappeared and Blake was gone......" Luna looked down and grabbed her arms as she started sobbing. She leaned over toward the ground while her tears hit the ground multiple times. The girl remained in that position for awhile crying her eyes out while her necklace hanged from her neck.

 

Steel had still been cackling as he received blow after blow, disregarding the pain as his thoughts grew darker.

He hated being ignored.

He hated, hated, hated, hated, hated, hated, hated, hated, hated-

Spoiler: One Fleeting Moment

-Hated, hated, hated, hated-

The thought continued to stream endlessly as a small form plunged over the edge of the cliff.
The wind on its' face as it plummeted, the young being had not expected the fall would be quite so long. It was almost peaceful.

He never would of thought that if he had known of the life to follow.

But it wasn't his only thought.

-Hated, hated, hated, hated, hated, hated, hated,

HATED being IGNORED.

That thought followed him all the way d-

He wasn't sure if the resounding thud came from within the memory (Which he was pretty sure at this point wasn't really his), or from Karina giving him one final punch to the face.

He both deserved and needed that.

What the heck was he thinking? 'Waste of breath?' Maybe she was... but so what if he was right? The very fact that he had spent his life wasting his breath was exactly why he couldn't afford to be silent now. It wasn't like that anymore. He wasn't like that anymore. He had a real voice. One that people could actually listen and respond to, instead of just going: "Oh, yeah ok, I guess, since we don't really have any better options, we'll do that."

So what if Karina was a self absorbed pup? Hadn't he just gotten done talking about how they all were?

The punching had stopped. So had the laughing. Karina was just sitting there looking like her goldfish (He couldn't see her owning any of the more playful kinds of animals as a pet) had died, and he was just staring up into space; looking but not seeing.

Nothing new on his end.

It was pretty silent for awhile, and Karina didn't look like she was going to say anything, so... he opened his own mouth.

"Well, that was quite the diversion, wasn't it? Cathartic I would say." He gave the empty sky a thoughtful look. "Maybe we should have done this a long time ago. Perhaps we both would have been more productive with clearer heads. Ah, but here I go assuming you actually got anything off your chest." He gave a chuckle- breaking the flat monotony with which he had been speaking- and rolled his eyes. "Self~ish!" He sang out before he continued in said monotone.

"So is there anything else you need to work out before we go to our possible deaths? I think I saw a rock awhile back. We could both go and pound on that for awhile. It won't laugh: I promise." He considered that for a moment. "Though maybe I shouldn't, considering where we are. Tell you what; if it does, you can just go back to punching me... cause that would be a little less creepy at least."

"Hey, you okay up there?" Steel inquired when Karina didn't immediately respond. "I'd offer to help you up, but I doubt you'd accept the offer, and I'm not really in the position to do it right now anyway.

 

As the two former wielders were on the path to their destination, Beuce sighed. He wasn't sure if it was relief or worry. On one hand, the guy in the white coat told them to "follow the becon when they were lost in darkness.". If there was a beacon in this place, there was no doubt as to what it was. Though on the other hand, they'd played into the bad guys' hands the whole time. Who's to say they weren't doing it again?

Though, it seemed like kind of a moot point to go so far as to set up a trap when they were cast into darkness and powerless already. They may have been trying to beat Dreamer to the punch by setting up a fake beforehand, but if that were the case...Beuce groaned. "Ah, to hell with it. I'm overthinking this. If it's a trap, we don't really have any alternative. If it's not. Whoop-de-doo. Either way there's not much we can do but go towards it." He said more to himself than Kel.

It wasn't long before they approached their destination. The front of an enormous castle. It looked pretty spooky and ominous. Perfectly like a villain lair. Not so surprisingly, several of his other comerades were there as well. Looks like they weren't the only one "So, let me guess, you want us to go in there?" He said to Dreamer, without turning his gaze down from the castle. After a second, he looked at the man in the white coat and the cornerstone. "Well, looks like you didn't let us down so far. We're kind of in short supply of help these days, so I'm not one to look a gift horse in the mouth. Staying stuck in here doesn't exactly strike me as a jolly time. So, lay the details on us. What can we expect in there and how will it help us?" Beuce said to him