The Sprawl [Active]

[graviga]

Character(s): Emizel, Xemnas, Xigbar
Content: Emizel awakens to find himself in the midst of bad company.
Setting: ???
Time: ???
Warnings: Unknown at this time

To say things could have gone smoother was an understatement. Xigbar may have anticipated a fight but certainly not one with the outcome he had faced. His coat was beyond repair, sleeves consumed completely by flames while his eye still stung from the dirt that had been thrown in it. The Nobody grunted and rubbed it irritably at the thought. Had he his say in the matter Xigbar would have left the boy in a far worse state.

“You gotta lot of nerve,” he spoke up and adjusted the unconscious demon he’d chosen to carry over his shoulder. “Yeah know that? This was a nice coat up until you came around. You outta consider yourself lucky, what with him having these here plans for you and all. If it were up to me, well, let’s just say you wouldn’t be here right now.”

Xigbar reduced his steps as a familiar set of doors came into view, his grip on Emizel suddenly tight.”This looks like our stop.” He said, all too eager to abandon the boy. “Just in time too. Talkin’ to you is no better than Lexaeus.” With that, he pushed the long since used doors open. Xemnas was expecting him – though with the common method of travel through Corridors of Darkness, he hoped to catch the superior off guard with by his use of the doors.

“Knock, knock!” he called out as he entered the room, smile plastered across his face. “Heard you were collecting a few strays... You think this one’ll do?”

Comments

[paixaosuperior]

If Xemnas was going to comment about Xigbar's choice of arrival, it was instead overshadowed by the Nobody's appearance. He didn't move from the table of paperwork he had been standing over, almost disinterested, for the moment at least. He merely rose a brow, then his attention flickered to the boy strung over Xigbar's shoulders.

Interesting. Had it been the boy to "rough up" Number II? Or had there been another present that had done the damage?

Strays. Of course. It wouldn't be how Xemnas would put it, but he's long since grown... accustomed to Xigbar and his ways.

"And this 'stray' is...?"

[graviga]

Xigbar drew back in mock surprise, Emizel nearly falling from his shoulder in the process. “Why, the next best thing to our little culprit, of course!”

Carelessly, he shrugged the demon off and pushed him onto the floor between them with his foot. There Xemnas could examine him better but not without meeting with Xigbar’s gaze first. He let his ravaged boot rest on Emizel’s stomach while he leaned in closer to Xemnas, obstructing his view of the boy. “What, you think I’d drag just any ol’ stray in?” He asked before leaning back and laughing at the notion. How true it was.

He moved to the table Xemnas had been working from and leaned against it. “As if. You get the real deal.”

[paixaosuperior]

That certainly got Xemnas' attention now, and he gave Xigbar his full focus; he had no problem meeting Xigbar's singular gaze, his own eyes narrowed and sharp. If he thought about it, he could remember this boy from the Message Boards. Yes... his reaction to the incident of the domes, before and after, had been peculiar. Xemnas could easily flip through the boy's memories to get everything he needed, but no... Not this time.

This time he would do things differently.

Xemnas moved to the left behind body of Emizel, reached down, and grasped a bundle of clothing around the boy's neck to drag him up from the floor, holding his limp form at eye level.

The boy looked... pitiful. But he had done a number on Xigbar. Keeping this one strapped down would be wise.

...Ah, Number II. Of course.

"You are dismissed."

The words 'thank you' weren't needed in this business.

[graviga]

Xigbar was not surprised by what his cocky attitude had earned him. If anything, he seemed pleased by it. It was true, the words ‘thank you’ were nonexistent in their business, as was the thought of any other reward. The small few that Xigbar reached for however were in such small and fragile moments as that he had just shared with the Nobody.

His Cheshire smile seemed his only response to Xemnas as he backed into the Corridor of Darkness he had summoned. But, Xigbar was determined to have the final say.

“Lookin' forward to that coat. Ciao, for now.” He said before engulfed by the darkness.

[trademark_skull]

Emizel had one hell of a headache. If he ever saw that eye-patched freak again he would have to return the favor someday. Assuming he ever would see him again anyway, the demon was afraid to find out how long he was out and what could've happened during that time. It's no wonder he almost cringed the more and more he came to.

"-?!" Emizel was wide awake the second he realized his situation, looked like he woke up just in the nick of time too. But he was going have to try to squirm his way free, or kick if he had to. Anything to get back on the ground and hopefully far far away from where ever he was taken to.

[paixaosuperior]

This boy was going to be one of those problem ones. They always were. So troubled, but the boy did not even know just how much danger he was in, did not know just who it was he was facing.

Xemnas scowled. His eyes took in the change of the flame, right before he decided that if the boy was so keen on returning to the ground, then Xemnas was happy to oblige, tossing him towards a wall as though he was rubbish. But he did not let the boy fall, not fully at least, shooting a jagged streams of white-hot nothingness, like static, around the boy's neck in order to force his head up, force Emizel to meet his gaze.

"Your heart is a disease to this city, to the order I have strove to uphold." The energy tightened. "No, perhaps this ruin is not of your creation; however, you are the 'next best thing' to be brought to me." The energy jerked away and released Emizel, but still sparked, wild, around his gloved hands. He took a step near the boy, voice low. "Do you know of who I am?"

[trademark_skull]

Getting tossed was not something he had in mind, nor did he really enjoy getting hurt more as that pained yelp seemed to have implied. Followed by a whimper and a flinch as the static came into play too. Possibly thinking it was going to kill him rather than bind. Which at the moment Emizel was more than 'happy' to oblige.

Order to uphold? Sounded like someone thought highly of themself. But if that's really true, and what going by what Marluxia had once said about those reports... If he was what Emizel thought he was, he really was in heaps of trouble. Probably more than the demon could even imagine.

"Y, you're..." it was hard trying to hide the fear in his voice, but he'll have to make do, especially if he was going to have to fend for himself.

"What happened to the city was not my fault!" shakiness aside, it was still the honest truth.

[paixaosuperior]

Did he really think Xemnas truly cared whether or not it was his fault? After all, someone had to accept punishment for what happened, and the real culprit was gone - Xigbar would have brought him if he had still been in the city.

He took another step forward and crouched before Emizel. "Isn't it?" he asked. "You knew something was going to go wrong, and what did you do? You sat back, and you watched." He tilted his head. "How, do you think, that makes you no better than the one who caused this? Is it because your 'friends' told you otherwise? Fooled you? Gave you false hope?"

He shook his head.

[trademark_skull]

Emizel was a little stunned yet again. He knew what the Nobody was trying to accomplish here, or so he thought, but wasn't going to give in so easily. "... You're wrong! I didn't know what exactly he was planning. How could have I prevented that?"

[paixaosuperior]

"How?" he repeated, expression darkening. A fist tightened at his side. "How much did you do to even try to prevent it? Maybe if you had done more, you would have discovered his plans."

[trademark_skull]

"That's because he's not my main problem as long as I am here. Isn't it actually your fault that he was brought to your stupid fake city in the first place?"

[paixaosuperior]

There was a small twitch in his expression to give away Xemnas' annoyance. He reached up and placed a hand besides Emizel's head, fingers pressing hard against the wall. "Ahh, yes," he murmured, "you do have other problems, don't you? For one: you have me to worry about."

Darkness swept up behind the boy, the portal connecting them to one of the many labs hidden throughout. The room they were in now was not the kind of place Xemnas needed to deal with this boy. His hand shifted down to Emizel's shoulder, and he shoved the boy, roughly, through the portal, then stood and followed.

[trademark_skull]

"Wha--?!" Emizel was temporarily swallowed up by darkness before he was spat out on the other side. A different room, though still not one that gave any clue to where he whereabouts were. Judging by some of the equipment though, the familiar and strange alike, this room looked like it was.

... I-it was...

... This was some of kind of lab, wasn't it? Which meant, oh no.

Once Xemnas stepped out of the portal he was going to be greeted with an angry scythe. It was probably futile, but maybe it would back him off.

[paixaosuperior]

Yes. Fight him.

The same static from earlier wrapped around Xemnas' hands again, but this time the nothingness took the form of long, red blades, one of them striking across to meet the scythe, the second blade following shortly after as Xemnas rushed head-on for Emizel.

[trademark_skull]

Blocking both attacks was going to be a challenge. If only Emizel had time to transform he might stand a better chance in general. Ah well, no point in thinking about all the things he could have done if he had the opportunity. Besides, that sort of thinking never helped him before.

Too bad Emizel doesn't really have the weight to hold Xemnas back. Sure the demon might be able to prevent his head from getting chopped off by lasers, but keeping himself from skidding further back while doing so was a little out of the question.

[paixaosuperior]

Unfortunately for Emizel, Xemnas was well accustomed to trying to break an opponent's spirit while fighting.

"Your so-called friends have only lied to you," he told the boy, drawing out each word. He continued to slash the blades at the boy, not quite intending to kill, but certainly to wear the boy out. The boy had only recently become conscious from his fight with Xigbar, after all. "All they ever will do is lie." Another slash. "It isn't to protect you; it's to hurt you. All their pain, all their rage in their hearts; they blame only one for it: the blame you." Slash. "They wish to make you suffer for it."

[trademark_skull]

"You're lying!" A weak fire spell was all he could do a the moment, thankfully he at least did still have some magic over from the other fight. "They have cared about me! In fact they must be worried right now!"

Eden, NiGHTS, Urd, all of them. One of them were always at least there, always tried to help him. Surely one of them also knew he was missing, right? Weren't comrades, friends, supposed to care and protect one and another? That was the kind of thing 'he' used to preach about too, after all.

[paixaosuperior]

An easy deflection. The spell was pathetic. Even Axel could do far better than that.

"What reason do I have to lie?" Except, of course, he was lying. He grinned. He temporarily stopped his assault, drawing back, the blades idle at his side. "Why would they have any reason to care about a demon?" he asked. "A child, no less."

[trademark_skull]

"They never seemed bother by it," noticing that the Nobody appeared to have stopped attacking though a little confused why Emizel used this time to swing back instead. Maybe not as strong as he would have hoped though, poor thing was beginning to feel a little too exhausted.

[paixaosuperior]

"Is that so?" he asked, and that was all. Something so simple.

Before Emizel's attack landed, Xemnas was already across the room behind him after a short teleport, a blade to the boy's neck. His eyes were on that flame again... so curious.

He raised the blade, and swatted Emizel across the back with it.

[trademark_skull]

Emizel tried to whip back around in time but was a little too late. Should have predicted that telportation a little faster when Xigbar had done the same thing a number of times too, but his reactions were starting to get a little sloppy. Next thing the demon realized was that he was collapsed on the ground and scrimmaging to get back up.

As far as the flame though, it appeared to have began flickering after getting hit. Though it had been burning quite violently around the time Emizel woke up (as much as it could for someone finally getting consciousness anyway), his movements weren't the only thing starting to slow down.

[paixaosuperior]

"'Friendship' is merely a concept built upon distrust. Lies are innate to any heart, unavoidable," Xemnas was saying as he approached Emizel again. "Better to snuff out all connections, like one snuffs out a flame," he closed a hand around Emizel's flame, though it did not go out as Xemnas had been assuming, and it was warm, not burning as hot as a flame should.

Interesting... was it connected to the boy's physical well-being then? If the boy were to die... would his flame at last go out? Lucky for Emizel, Xemnas would not test his theory that far. Death for the boy would only be a reprieve, after all.

[trademark_skull]

"You really... expect me to believe that?" that hit did a bit more to him than he realized. It hurt trying to move, trying stand, though once Emizel saw his flame getting touched he knew he had to do something.

"Get away from that!" he called out and pulled it away from Xemnas. A terrible move over all. If he didn't already know there was something unusual about it now he definitely should have.

[paixaosuperior]

Xemnas grinned, drawing away from the flame. Yes, he would have to keep an eye on that.

"It's true, is it not? Surely you have encountered an abundance of deceit from those around you," and not just Organization members, "Or are you too young to see through all those masks? Too naïve..." He looked on at Emizel with something like pity.

[trademark_skull]

Especially now that Emizel was holding it rather protectively. How very curious.

"Not everyone is like that. You don't have anything to prove it with either."