release [open]

[aqua]

“Your fate…spans so much longer than wandering this realm.”
“What? Who’s there?”
“You are being punished solely for loving someone. That is not reason enough for you to remain trapped here.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean that the time has come for you to be released. You are needed in the Outside Realm, as all warriors of light are. Leave this place, Aqua. Fulfill your destiny.”
“I will…hey, wait!”
“Yes, child?”
“What about…my friends? Terra and Ventus. Are they safe?"
“Patience, dear one. All the pieces will fall into place, in time.”

[/color]

Clear sapphire eyes opened as the mysterious voice faded once again, the memory still as peculiar as it had been when she first witnessed it. Placing her confusion aside, Aqua brushed a lock of blue hair behind her ears and observed her surroundings.

It hurt her to even rest her eyes on this monstrous villa, with its crooked spires and rustic golden color. The only thing that reminded her vaguely of home was the stained-glass windows, and even then they were the wrong color and failed to radiate a welcoming feeling as the beautiful castle that once stood here did.

She truly didn't have a clue why she was here in the first place, as she was reluctant to behold at the sleeping body of her friend without Terra by her side, as she had promised him so long ago. And Aqua was a woman of her word; that part of her hadn’t changed. Her fists clenched and unclenched at her sides as she glared at the towering shape of Castle Oblivion, nostalgically longing for her childhood abode and disliking this place for being here instead.

Drawing in a deep breath, Aqua took an unsteady step forward, Wayfinder clutched in her left hand with her fingers protectively wrapped around it. It wasn’t like she was walking into the face of certain death, but still…this used to be her home. So many precious memories were based in this place… so many that could never be repeated, no matter how much she yearned for them.

She could picture Ven’s sweet laugh, Terra’s reserved smile, and the loving but strong hands of her teacher who served partly as her father. Until now, she had taken those simple things for granted, and she had paid dearly for it as the endless time wandering about the Realm of Darkness. The hours and days had blurred into simply ‘a while,’ and she still had no idea exactly how long she had spent down there.

Were her friends and Master gone forever? Or were they destined to return, as she had?

Only time would tell. And until then, she’d search until she found Terra and Eraqus, and make absolute sure that Ventus was protected until he awoke. Might as well begin with the latter.

With a sudden rush of determination, she took those crucial first steps and pushed open the doors to the castle, staring into the vast white halls with an icy resolve.

Ven. Hold on for just a little bit longer.

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[Lucario]

A few hour prior to Aquas awakening a gummi ships engine could be heard echoing throughout the empty space, but it was no ordinary gummi ship this gummi ship had been modified to fit more than three people. It was able to carry up to eight which was a good thing since it was fully occupied. One was the pilot who designed the ship himself, the next was none other than Lucario who sat in the co-pilots seat sleeping. The reason that he was hired by the pilot to protect the ship and find survivors of a barren world that had long ago been destroyed and lastly the other six occupants were the survivors that Lucario had rescued from planet.

Lucario slept wearing his usual monocle over his left along with his royal purple pants and a long royal purple jacket with the tail extending all the way down to the back of his knees. His jacket was left unbuttoned exposing the untucked white button up shirt underneath. The jacket had black trim on the wrists of the sleeves along with the collar, and just on the inside of his collar a scarf that had been wrapped around his neck several times and neatly came to an end in a knot. Just above his scarf a red amulet the seemed to have never lost its shine over the many years he had it.

His luck so far hadn't been the greatest in the world. For instance when the pilot and he first arrived at the planet the ship was damaged by a shock wave that was sent from a man by the name of Sephiroth, who later one would fight Lucario in a short encounter. Then while he was fighting Sephiroth he was ambushed by the heartless which cut his fight short. To Lucario everything that could have gone wrong did and hoped that lady luck would be on his side once more.

Suddenly the ship shook violently as heartless ships fired upon it. Lucarios eyes opened exposing their electric blue color. He closed his eyes hoping that it was only a bad dream but then the ship shook violently once again. "What the damage flyboy?"

[/color] He asked calmly. The pilot who was now starting to sweat looked at Lucario replying "She can't take much more I couldn't finish the repairs to the wing completely so that takes her integrity down significantly, but there's no way we can make it to the next world." Lucario smiled and looked out the window seeing the heartless ships take formation.

"Well guess it can't be helped."[/color] He thought. Lucario turned his attention back to the pilot. "Well flyboy this is it I guess. You take the refugees and get into the escape pods. I'll take pilot seat and lead the heartless ships away from you guys."[/color] The pilot looked over about to say something but Lucarios gaze easily told him that there was no arguing with him. The pilot nodded getting out his seat and left the cockpit. Lucario stood up grabbing his okatana the rested against the back of his chair. He sat in the pilots chair grabbing the control wheel and took a deep breath.

The lights inside the ship turned red as it was hit yet again. Lucario finally let his deep breath slowly come out and he tightened his grip on the wheel. A noise echoed around the cockpit as the pilot voice entered through a speaker box saying "Lucario we're all in and ready to go."[/color] Lucario looked at the speaker then at the controls seeing a red button with the words escape pod release and he pushed it. The sound of the pod firing off and leaving the ship echoed even with all the alarms going off in the ship. With the pod away Lucario turned the ship heading in the opposite direction.

Lucario maneuvered the ship the best he could avoiding the attacks from the heartless ships but in the end it was for nothing. A heartless ship made its way next the gummi ship then turned sideways and fired its weapons. Lucario turned his head seeing the the shots fly towards him and time might as well have stopped. Just as the shots were about to neat Lucario he the pilot ejection sheet and flew out of the cockpit but he had cut it to close. When the shots hit the gummi ship they cause it to explode making the force produced by explosion to throw the seat to the side.

The force from the explosion knocked Lucario unconscious and his life now rested with lady luck. The belts that held Lucario to chair snapped from the force and seat slowly made its way from Lucario along with his weapon, but lady luck had been on his side this time that when he floated unconsciously he flew threw a stained glass window. The shatter of the glass echoed in the halls along with a loud thud as Lucario hit a wall and landed on the ground, but then another thud could be heard as Lucarios weapon flew through the window and landed right next to him. He laid unconscious in the hall for the next several hours.[/blockquote]