paixaorpg | The Nightmare and the Keyblade-bearer [Active]

Sora had been busy--he was pretty sure he had the layout of the city down, now, as he had wandered all over it exploring and getting lost and finding his bearings once more. And then there had been the heartless attack--something that he needed to tell Kairi about. He needed to make sure she was safe, because as a Princess of Heart she might be a target. He couldn't let her get hurt again.

As it was, he was walking right by Niflheim gate, but he wasn't looking up, and so was about to walk right by NiGHTS.

NiGHTS had idly opened his eyes to scan the area when he saw Sora walking by. With a light, tinkling little laugh, he flew down and hovered in front of Sora, a grin on his face. "Hello, stranger," he teased, laughing again. "I thought I'd never be able to find you."

A thought, and the maren crossed his arms, mischief in his eyes. "You do remember me," he chuckled, "don't you?"

Startled, Sora jerked back a bit before he recognized the face in front of him as one he had seen over the journals. "NiGHTS!"

And then he remembered he was supposed to meet up with him. He grinned sheepishly. "Some things... Came up. Heartless, and then I got lost..."

There was so much going on in this city that it made him wonder if things were always this chaotic. Anything with Maleficent and the Organization involved meant things had to be dangerous. He had to save this place.

NiGHTS gave a cheerful wave and drifted back to allow the human boy his space. "It's all right," he reassured, "I understand. Things have been pretty crazy around here, huh?" His face darkened, almost imperceptibly, at the mention of Heartless. "Are those the weird shadows that have been going around?" he asked. "Because if so, I've run into a few of them, myself."

NiGHTS had kept himself busy ever since arriving here, and as of late had met a few new friends, including... "Hey, do you know someone named Riku?"

Sora would have explained the Heartless to NiGHTS under normal circumstances, but it was the mention of the silver-haired boy Sora had lost upon arriving here that caught and absorbed his attention instantly.

"Riku! Silver hair, kind of serious, scowls a lot?" he said, speaking rapidly as his excitement grew. "He's here? I'll have to tell Kairi! Where did you see him?"

NiGHTS laughed and nodded. "That's him, all right," he replied. "Riku seemed pretty happy to learn that you're here. He also mentioned Kairi." Not that NiGHTS knew who Kairi was, but he was glad to see Sora happy. NiGHTS, though not good, wasn't evil, either - most of the time, at least (and he was more likely to choose good over evil when he needed to make a decision, being that good often let people be).

"I saw him near one of the gates," NiGHTS answered, his head tilting to one side as he thought. "I believe it was near Joutenheim gate."

Sora was practically bouncing out of his skin. "We have to go find him! Which way is--oh there's a map on here isn't--that way!"

And, with a beckoning gesture to NiGHTS, he was off. He could talk to NiGHTS on the way, and then meet up with Riku, and then find Kairi. Between the three of them they would definitely fix things. And maybe Donald and Goofy were around somewhere, too!

NiGHTS grinned, amused and pleased by Sora's enthusiasm. "He's not there now, you know," he laughed, easily keeping up with Sora over the air. "I don't know where he is now. Maybe you should ask over the journals?" NiGHTS had done that a couple of times in his own journal, with little luck - but one never knew what might happen when one tried.

"How long ago did you see him?" Sora asked even as he slowed to a stop and pulled out his journal to call out to his friend. "Did he seem like he was okay?"

He began typing out his message, even as he listened to anything NiGHTS might be saying.

"A while ago," came the reply as NiGHTS waved a hand airily. "At least a few days." He watched the boy, intrigued by the warm glow he felt emanating from his spirit.

"Hey," NiGHTS started, sounding innocent rather than mischievous for the moment. "You've flown, right? Can you do that normally?"

"Then I guess we should wait," Sora said, putting his journal away. He blinked at the abrupt topic change. "Not without pixie dust. I can glide a bit."

He grinned, though--flying had been so much fun, and he would have loved to do more of it. But he hadn't seen Peter Pan or Tinker Bell here, so he didn't really have any way to gain flight.

NiGHTS grinned. "Would you like to?" He had never done this before, but if Reala had the power to create Ideya cages and summon those attack fields of his.

Flying was fun, and NiGHTS greatly enjoyed it - but he enjoyed it even more when he could fly with others.

"Yeah!" Sora said, grinning wide and childishly, his enthusiasm entirely unhidden. "You can help people fly, too?"

NiGHTS didn't look much like Tinker Bell, but Sora suspected that was simply a matter of difference in worlds. And this was a sort of world meeting point--like Traverse Town had been. So he couldn't be too surprised that there were people and creatures with all sorts of abilities.

"That's right," NiGHTS giggled in reply, still grinning. The Nightmaren closed his eyes and focused, drawing on his inner strength in order to do what he wanted. He laid a gentle hand on Sora's shoulder and focused on his Ideya to form something that looked suspiciously like a keychain.

"There you go!" NiGHTS said cheerfully, not really knowing how he did it - but he had done it, and that's what mattered, at least for the moment. "As long as you have that with you, you'll be able to fly whenever you want."

Sora accepted it with a grin, immediately holding the keychain out in front of him and calling the blade within to full length. It was intricate, delicate-looking silver, with blue highlights and a sparkling red stone near the handle. He looked at it for a moment, feeling its weight in his hand, and then he lifted off.

Slowly, uncertainly, he began to float. His grin widened, and he rose higher, fell into an uncertain flip as his center of gravity readjusted, and then righted himself.

"This is great!"

NiGHTS grinned as he watched Sora, floating easily in the air. So that's why NiGHTS' gift had taken the form it had. A keychain, no matter how pretty it was (if NiGHTS did think so himself - and of course he did), was useless without a key. His grin widened as Sora lifted. "There you go! You're a natural!"

There, that was much better.

Sora couldn't contain his excitement. "This is awesome!"

He moved forward after a moment of silly-looking pushing at the air, and found that it was more a matter of thinking and pointing himself in the direction he wanted to be in than an effort of his muscles. He still found himself making a few unexpected flips, but it wasn't long before he was flying about easily.

"Hey, NiGHTS, c'mon, let's fly!" he said, shooting up higher and arcing a swift path near the top of the dome.

"I know!" was NiGHTS' shameless reply. "Flying's the best feeling in the world, isn't it?"

He laughed at Sora's attempts, his voice free of malice or mocking, and twirled in the air happily, glad to have someone to fly with. He nearly danced above the rooftops, still able to catch up with Sora easily. "You're not bad, you know. If you like, I can teach you more about flying."

The maren laughed again, holding back so as to not leave Sora behind in a trail of glittering dust, performing more complicated acrobatics as he did so.

"That'd be great!" Sora replied, yelling even though he wasn't all that far behing NiGHTS, tracing the strange creature's glittering path as best he could, although finding himself unable to manage the complex stunts.

That didn't keep him from trying, however, and more than once he almost ran into a statue or the dome itself. But that didn't stop him or put even the slightest damper in his enthusiasm, and he laughed aloud the entire time.

"Alright, then, it's settled. I'm definitely going to teach you," returned NiGHTS. He flipped gracefully while flying, laughing while Sora tried to match his moves. Not even Reala had been able to do such things; NiGHTS was the only being in all of the Night Dimension to be able to do these, and they came as naturally to him as breathing came to others.

"Careful!" NiGHTS called, whirling easily around the obstacles that seemed to impede Sora. He stretched his arms out to the sides, free as a bird.

"Let's start now!" Sora said, grinning even at NiGHTS's warning and coming to an uneasy perch on the head of a lion statue. It took him a moment to regain his balance, switching from the air to a surface, but once he had it, he stayed fairly still on the statue.

Fairly still, anyway. He was still buzzing with energy and was considering taking a leap off of the statue and seeing just how fast he could fly.

NiGHTS laughed. "Alright, then," he said with a wink. "Let's start with the basics, shall we?" He flew idly around Sora, careful to break away before he could come full circle and create a Paraloop. A few moments of thought, and the nightmaren drifted away from Sora, going slower than he normally would. "Come on!"

With a grin, NiGHTS began flying ahead of Sora, letting the other see how he tilted his body to turn.

Sora lifted lightly off of the lion instead of leaping dramatically, but only because he was following NiGHTS. Turning seemed easy enough--he tilted. And then he ended up spinning as if someone had taken hold of his arm and spun him, ending up upside-down, although indeed having turned.

"Oops," he said, righting himself.

His second attempt at tilting to turn was, while still ending up orienting him almost sideways, more stable.

NiGHTS laughed again, watching Sora. Then again, laughter had always come easily to him, and it was definitely something he enjoyed. "Careful," he giggled, making no move to help Sora back up - learning to fly was not something one could be carried through.

"That's better," he said upon seeing Sora's better attempt. "Try again next time we turn, okay? Don't just rush into a new direction."

Sora nodded and followed along in what was almost an aerial version of follow the leader. The next time they turned, Sora was more level, and the time after that he was more or less turning as he wanted. He made one or two practice turns, and spun in a slow circle, and then grinned.

"That's much better!" NiGHTS was pleased at Sora's progress. "You're much better after a few tries." It was usually pretty difficult for new (or relatively new; NiGHTS had been doing this for what he supposed were thousands of years) flyers to catch on for a while, and NiGHTS smiled to himself as he remembered how Elliot had especially had a tough time adjusting to flight.

He turned again and idly twirled a few times, glitter spinning itself from his fingertips and lingering in his wake for a few moments before dispersing.

"This isn't too hard," Sora said, even as, as his attention wandered, he began tilting until he was looking at NiGHTS at an angle. "Well--still not too hard."

He readjusted himself.

"You'll get used to it," NiGHTS replied, nonchalant on the issue. "Just keep practicing and do your best." He flew on his back to watch the boy. "So who did you fly with before?" he asked, genuinely curious. Aside from perhaps Owl, NiGHTS didn't know anyone who would teach a human boy to fly, aside from himself.

Sora managed hovering in one place much more easily than turning. "Peter Pan and Tinker Bell!" he said, and only after a beat realized that might warrant an explanation. "Peter's a boy who never grows up, you see, and Tinker Bell is a fairy. To fly in Neverland, you need to think of happy things. Oh, and pixie dust!"

It all made sense to him.

Peter Pan? Why did that name sound so familiar to NiGHTS? That's right. Many children dreamt of the boy who never grew up, and while NiGHTS had yet to meet him, he thought it would be interesting. "You mean you met those two? That's great! I've heard a lot about them where I come from."

It made perfect sense to NiGHTS, too, but that was no surprise.

"Oh, right, because of the dream thing," Sora said, nodding. "Yeah, I've been to a bunch of places--lots of different worlds!"

He grinned, hovering easily, now able to maintain his balance even in the air. "Peter and Tink are why I can hover. I've got a lot of keyblades from all over."

They were like souvenirs, really.

NiGHTS laughed. "I've mostly just been to Nightopia and the Dream Gate," he replied. "This is the first time I've ever been in the waking world for so long!" Of course, NiGHTS had spent a substantial amount of time in the realm of nightmares in the past, but he didn't think Sora - or anyone else - really needed to know that.

"That's interesting," he mused, looking over at Sora again and watching him hover. "I've never met a human who can do that before. And what do those keyblades do, anyway?"

Sora summoned his keyblade once more, swung it in front of him. "I fight heartless and nobodies with it," he said. "That's why I've been travelling around between worlds. And I've been looking for my friends. But I found them!"

And they were here with him. He still didn't understand why he had ended up here and not on Destiny Islands, but having Riku and Kairi here with him was comforting. He wouldn't want to have to chase them around across space again. He just hoped they'd stay.

NiGHTS nodded. "Those Heartless must be hard to fight for normal people," he mused, looking upon the city carefully, "but the citizens here don't seem human, somehow." He may be wrong - but he knew he wasn't. It was an innate ability of all Nightmaren to be able to seek out Ideya - and the citizens had none whatsoever, which meant that something was very wrong.

"I'm glad you found your friends," he continued with a smile. "It's always good to keep track of them."

"Really?" Sora said, looking down on the citizens as if he might be able to see through some sort of disguise they were all wearing. "They look normal enough to me..."

He looked up at NiGHTS, and down at the people walking below, but nothing changed. He looked back at NiGHTS again.

"How can you tell?"

NiGHTS hummed to himself contemplatively. "They just don't seem right to me," he said, brushing off the question. "Have you ever looked into their eyes? They're completely blank."

He spun in the air, falling easily into a few of his favorite acrobatic tricks. He didn't know what the citizens really were, but he didn't like it at all, and avoided them as much as he could.

Sora floated down closer, although still easily high enough to avoid attention. Actually, had any of them looked up once to see the two of them flying overhead? It didn't seem like a normal thing, for people to be flying like this. Maybe all the new people falling into their world had made them used to it? But not even the children were looking...

"Weird," he said, suddenly realizing just how odd the citizens of the town would be if they were people. "So maybe they are something else. Just something that looks a lot like people."

NiGHTS nodded. Some of the Heartless had taken the forms of people to lure others in; maybe this was something similar. He watched the citizens and Sora with a shrug. "I don't know what's going on in here," he replied, "but I'm not sure I like it." In fact, he didn't like it, but for now he kept it to yourself.

"I wonder what's really going on in here..."

"The Organization is," Sora said, automatically. "And the Heartless."

This was a town under attack from both sides. Even if its people were a little weird, they didn't deserve to have their home used as a battleground like this. Even the people who just started showing up must have been causing problems for the town.

Sora would have to find the key to this world and seal it, but first he'd have to get rid of the Organization and Maleficent. And then maybe he could get everyone else home.

NiGHTS nodded. He'd heard quite a bit about the Organization over the journals - and the Heartless were reminding him a little too much of third-level Nightmaren. He didn't like them at all, to say the least - but if they were like the creatures back home, it wasn't as though they were acting on their own will.

"But why are they doing this?" the maren murmured, almost to himself. "They've kidnapped a friend of mine, and I haven't had any luck in finding her." NiGHTS had decided to split off from the rescue group, deciding that they were doing just fine on their own; he'd never really worked well with so many people anyway.

"They're kidnapping people?" Sora gasped. "Who? The Organization, or Maleficent and her cronies? Both of them?"

Sora couldn't tolerate kidnapping. Well, he couldn't tolerate evil in a nice city like this, messing with the people and trapping people from other worlds here. But if they were kidnapping people even from the city, he would have to rescue them.

"I don't know for sure," replied NiGHTS, "but I think it's the Organization. Maleficent and her gang haven't really been doing anything, from what I've seen." Surely they were planning something, however; one did not announce that they were taking over the city and simply sit.

NiGHTS didn't care about right or wrong. He just wanted Nina back safely, and to rip apart whomever had done this. Of course, he would only do that once Nina was safe and sound and far away from the scene.

"They just aren't doing anything yet," Sora said, scowling in the direction of the wall of thorns--he could just see it from this height. "But Maleficent has fought the Organization before. I bet they'll fight here, too."

Never mind the Organization was supposed to be gone. Never mind most of Maleficent's power was supposed to be gone, too. Never mind a lot of things. However it had happened, he would have to deal with it.

"Yet," NiGHTS agreed, as pleasant and casual as though he were discussing the weather. "But they're sure to start something sooner or later." He tisked to himself. Honestly, bad guys these days didn't even try to be subtle, did they? He'd have to teach them a thing or two.

NiGHTS flew around Sora, careful not to make a paraloop. "Hey, Sora," he said, grinning, "Why don't we cause them some trouble sometime, you and I?"

Sora grined, a hint of mischief now in his tone and his face. "Why not? And you could teach me how to really fly while we're doing that."

Sora was nothing if not one who learned by doing, and that seemed like the best way for him to really learn.

NiGHTS laughed. "Of course I can!" he grinned. It was really too bad that Octopaw wasn't around here; that was how NiGHTS' friends WIll and Helen had gotten better at flying - and chasing after the little fellow was one of NiGHTS' favorite pastimes, anyway.

"Then let's go!" Sora cried, darting off toward the thorns in the distance, spinning a bit as he did so and then diving down and then up abruptly.

It wasn't the most efficient way to fly, but it was definitely more fun than travelling in a completely straight line.

NiGHTS dashed off after Sora, whirling and dancing as he did so. It wasn't certain that they'd find anything around there, but who knew? It could be fun. Causing trouble usually was, anyway. Curiosity burned in NiGHTS to know just what was going on in there - and also to know whether they were behind the Heartless invasion. NiGHTS found keeping up with the journals somewhat boring, so he didn't look at them very often, preferring to gather information by speaking to others directly.

It was never any fun if people knew what one was planning all the time, after all.

The Nightmare and the Keyblade-bearer [Active]

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