FFIII role-play (open)

[aliera]

I can't believe what I have just heard,
"he is your dad?" I ask, Refia is too shocked to say anything, she just stands there with her mouth hanging open.
"but why would he do that to his own daughter?" Refia finally manages to break the tension that is building.
"but why?" I ask, Arc is coming back with the still two bickering boys.

[Heartless Angel]

She shrugged her shoulders and replied in a nonchalant tone, "Just the way he is. Far as he was concerned the whole thing was my fault for not being able to dodge the attack which in a sadistic kinda way, makes sense really. Thing you gotta understand is that he was sculpting me to be a warrior. When I had a weapon in my hand, he wasn't my father, he was my master. It wasn't his job to protect and baby me. It was his job to make me stronger. Though I'm not terribly fond of his methods, he did make me strong. And really I don't begrudge him for that. What I hate is the kind of warrior he wanted me to be. He was training me in the ancient Dark Knight ways, the ways of the evil warrior, bringer of death. He tried to turn me into a heartless killing machine like him. Had me committing my first murder at seven years old... but, enough about that. That's all behind me. I'm a paladin now, a warrior of the light.", she said.

[aliera]

As I listen to what she says the seriousness of the situation dawns on me, a daughter going against her own father, turning from a warrior of darkness into light, it is overwhelming, I sit down on the ground, enjoying the grass on my skin, Arc slumps down next to me,
"you ok?" he asks me,
"yeah, I'm good" I reply,
"you don't sound it" he says
"I told you, I'm fine!" I say and get up off the ground, walking away into a nearby glade of trees.

[Heartless Angel]

Lailah looked over towards Arc with a bored expression, once more caught in the middle of children being children. She sighed and shook her head as she watched him, "Since you seem to have very little experience with girls, I'll give you a few pointers. 'I'm fine' never actually means I'm fine, but you're not supposed to let on that you know that. That just makes us more upset. You just have to find out what 'I'm fine' actually means on your own.", she explained. She laid back and sighed. "It's really not all that complicated, why can you guys never figure it out?", she asked to no one in particular.

[aliera]

"what do you mean? find out what 'I'm fine' means?" Arc asks Lailah,
"she has been acting wierdly lately towards me, like she doesn't want to be near me, yet she always seems to want my attention, I am so confused"

***

I walk through the glade, was that a foolish move? what if he hates me now? what have I done? maybe I should go back and apoligise, no that's weak, he wouldn't think that was cool, aggh help!

[Heartless Angel]

She laughed slightly. "One thing Abaddon taught me well was how to read people. I almost find relationships comedic now that I really understand the whole process.", she said, standing up again. "Y'know, I don't really feel like explaining the whole ordeal to you, it'd be a major pain. Besides, I'd be cheating you out of the whole experience if I just gave you the answer.", she walked past Arc, patting his head as she walked by. "You'll have to figure women out all on your own some day, may as well get a start now. As for me, I need to go hit something, real bad. I'm gonna go find some monsters, been days since I got any combat practice in.", she said, wandering off.

[aliera]

Arc sat on the ground staring gormlessley after Lailah,
"but I don't understand" he whispered to himself, then he made his mind up, he would go and look for Aliera, he needed to know what she was thinking and feeling, would it be that straight forward? only one way to find out, he walked into the glade of trees,
(sorry for the change of tense, just thought it was appropriate!)

****

I can hear footsteps approaching, is it a monster? I am completley unarmed as I left my sword on the grass outside the cave, why didn't I think to bring anything with me?
I raise my hands in a defensive manner, at least I can give it a good beating up if it attacks me.
I scream as I see something move in amoungst the trees.
"Calm down! it's only me!" I hear Arc's voice speak,
"what are you doing here" I try and keep my voice steady and uncaring.
"I just wanted to see if you where ok, Lailah said I should look for you" he instantly knew he had said the wrong thing.
"Lailah said, did she?" I reply, so he's now taking advice from a rouge who he met about two hours ago?
"I'm sorry, I'm just so confused, why are you being so... so stand-offish?" he replies,
"I can't say" I reply,
"yes you can! you can tell me anything" he replies,
"this one thing I can't it's personal and it would freak you out" I say and hide my face in shame,
"please" he asks,
"I don't know, I'll give you a clue, this whole thing is overwhelming, there is so much chaos, maybe I should go back to a quiet viallge life without so much extremity" I say
"you can if you want to, you know that we are not keeping you here" Arc says, looking into my eyes, "and I don't think that is all you are keeping from me, there is something else, I know you of old and you are not telling me everything"
"......"
"please" he asks
"I can't, I just can't!"I say and run off into the forest, I can never tell him, it is just so awkward, what if he doesn't feel the same?

****

Arc stared after Aliera, great! he's gone and blown it, just like Lailah thought he would, she was right, what should he do? go back to the others or chase after Aliera, maybe even find Lailah himself? No he would go and find Aliera and find out the proper way, he dahsed after where she had ran through only moments before, despertae to find the fleeing girl..

[Heartless Angel]

She stood surrounded by monsters deeper in the forest. "Only twelve of you? And I was hoping for a decent workout... Ah well, guess you'll have to do for a warmup.", she said, unsheathing her red-violet bladed sword. One of the wolves lunged at her, quickly finding itself impaled and tossed aside. Tow more attacked, meeting similar ends. Waiting for another to make a move, she was distracted as Aliera ran by, Arc chasing after. "...Seriously?", she asked herself quietly. In her moment of distraction, another wolf attacked, knocking her to the ground as it sank its fangs into the flesh of her shoulder. "Damnit!", she yelled out in pain. She quickly regained focus and threw the wolf off of her with a well placed knee. She changed her stance to one more befitting a Dark Knight. "Damn it all to Hell! Sacrifice!" she yelled as her blade began to glow with a red aura. She spun around quickly with her sword as the remaining wolves were stricken with dark energy, burning them with black flames. She got to her feet and attempted to heal her injury with white magic. "Was she unarmed? I gotta go after em, that's the most dangerous part of the forest...", she mumbled, chasing after the pair.

[aliera]

as I run manaically away from Arc I see a gap in the bushes up ahead, perfect I can make my escape through there, I am pretty sure Arc will run straight past, I cahnge my course and dart up to the bushes, carefully weaveing my way through, a glade is visable through the branches and I finally manage to squeeze my way through, coming out the other side with only a few scratches, I turn around so that I can continue running, just in case Arc is clever enough to realise that I came through this way, thinking about it he is the most clever person I have ever met, better keep running! as I turn to run something stops me, a barrier of invisble magic, I reach down for my sword and realise it's not there,
"Dammit!" I shout and try and find a way through the magic, "why can't I gewt through!?" I turn to get back through thr gap in the bushes, only to be confronted with a monster, it is at least twice the height of me and it doesn't look too happy either
"help!!!" I scream, I don't care if Arc finds me now! I run over by the trees and pick up a big branch, I wield it in front of me, it won't last long, but it's better than nothing.

****
Arc heard screaming up ahead, great, she's in danger, he thought,
"I'm coming!" He shouted, he stood around panicking for a while, he couldn't see how she could've run down the open valley, as she would be visable, becuse her voice was so close, that's when he saw it, in the corner of his eye, he saw a gap in the bushes, it had obviously been disturbed, at least twice perhaps. sprinting, Arc charged through the bushes, on the other side he saw Aliera with a branch in her hand and a huge shadowy monster,
Arc couldn't identify the monster as any common or rare species, 'it looks like the work of a shape-shifter' Arc muttered to himself, then he unsheathed his sword and pointed it at the monster,
"over here!" He shouted, he would defend Aliera, she was practically unarmed, even though Arc knew more magic than combat, he knew that his magic wouldn't work on something so powerful, he shut his eyes and prayed to the crystals, hoping that he and Aliera would get out alive.

[Heartless Angel]

"Holy!", a voice echoed as several orbs of light surrounded the beast in a circle spinning around rapidly before they all converged on it, triggering a massive light explosion. Lailah ran up and got in between the creature and the children. "What were you thinking not bringing your weapon?", she asked, taking a defensive stance, though her stance was off a bit, she held her sword lower than normal because of the wound to her shoulder. She analyzed the monsters further. "This is not going to be fun...", she mumbled as she held one hand out. "Protect! Shell!", she called, as she prepared her magical defenses for the beast's counterattack.

[aliera]

As soon as I see Lailah I know that something is not alright with her, she is holding her sword too low to be of much use to her, then I notice a huge bite wound in her shoulder, that's gotta sting! Arc notices too and rushes over, he places a hand on Lailah's shoulder "cure" he says, the spell is not a strong one, bit Arc is trained in the black magics, so any White magic spells he can conjure is a good effort.
"That should take should take some pain outta it" he says to Lailah and stands by her side to fight, I feel really stupid for runningnibto a forest unarmed and now two people are having to risk their lives to fight for me!

[Heartless Angel]

She lifted the sword and held it behind her back with one hand, a traditional Dark night deathblow stance. "I'll wrap this up quickly. I'll need to treat this wound soon.", she said. A black aura surrounded her body and the sword. She lunged forward into a heavy downward cleave, cloaked in shadow. "Darkness!", she called as she let the dark energy fill her body, enhancing the strength of the blow greatly at the cost of her own lifeforce. The blow struck home, dealing heavy damage, but the beast still stood. The dark energy surrounding her grew over time as it built up to its maximum. This was the legendary ability of a Dark Knight, to sacrifice one's life energy for superhuman strength, even if for only a short time. She effortlessly lifted her heavy blade with only her injured arm, the darkness seething within her granting her strength, and the ability to fight through the pain.

[aliera]

I watch as Lailah uses her dark powers. I thought she was a warrior of the light not dark now, and with a father like hers i am wondering why she is using his fighting techniques! Arc doesn't seem to notice he runs at the beast and brings his sword down, hoping he will hit something important, he definatly seems to hit the beast but whether he did any actual damage to it or not...
The beast roars at him, he seems to cower for a moment but tries to hold his sword steady in his shaking hand,

[Heartless Angel]

She shook her head. "Damn... she's no use without a weapon, and the kid's too inexperienced to be of any help... guess I gotta bring him down myself!", she yelled. The darkness flared up around her once more as she pointed her free hand at the beast. "Holy!", she called as spheres of light began to form around it. Before they could converge, she cut through the beast with a heavy bodyblow, the holy orbs colliding and detonating moments after the strike while the creature was still defenseless, a lethal combo. The beast was defeated, but at a price. Lailah fell to her knees, dropping her sword and grabbing her injured shoulder in pain. Her breathing was labored, her strength drained from her body. The darkness faded away, along with it, the strength she'd been relying on to fight through her injury and the pain, leaving even more pain in its place from the damaging effects of the Dark Knight arts. Panting heavily she managed to speak, "It's... done for... let's... go back...".

[aliera]

Arc and I both rush over at the sane time to help Lailah " you are in no position to go anywhere" Arc tells her, he makes sure she doesn't try and get up, carefully her examines her looking into her eyes to make sure she isn't suffering from concusion or head damage, once he is certain she is not suffering any mental damage he let's her get up.
I make sure Arc is ok next, that was not an easy thing for him to do. Escpecially because he has confidence issues " why would you care so much?" he asks me,
" because I was worried that you would get hurt I say" this is really awkward to say in front of Lailah...

[Heartless Angel]

She got to her feet using her sword as a crutch, "I'll be fine. I've suffered far worse than this.", she said. She looked back at the two, yet again awkwardly trying to interact. She shook her head and sighed, "Kids...", she mumbled to herself, making her way steadily back to the others.

[aliera]

I blush and quicky turn to follow after Lailah, I just need to get away from all this for a while, and I know just the place. I think I know a nearby Chocobo forest, it would be an easy escape. Just to be free for a while, no one would even have to know I had gone!
Eagerly I run off in the direction of the rest of the party, I run over to my sword and place it back in my belt, then I dash off back into the forest, I will find the Chocobos, I will get my freedom!

[Heartless Angel]

She sat up against a tree back with the group, bandaging her wounds, speaking with one end of the bandage roll still in her teeth. "So, it's painfully obvious none of you know anything about combat.", she said, biting off the bandage as she finished. After properly clothing herself, she got up and stepped out from behind the tree, back into the sight of the others. "And I do mean painfully obvious, I'm good, but I can't cover for five, and I don't really like getting this banged up and having to rely on Dark Knight arts to protect you. We need to get you amateurs to improve pretty quick if you expect to make it as warriors in this world.", she said, picking up her weapon and returning it to her back. She looked at them, taking a quick head count, coming up with only four. "Uh... hey guys... we're missing a head. Where did um... oh what's her name... Aliera. That's it. Where'd Aliera go?", she asked.

[aliera]

I run towards the forest, I hear the sound of Chocobos calling within the trees, I see a flash of yellow feathers, phew I made it, I laugh in relief and walk up to the nearest Chocobo.
"warp?" It look at me, I jump on its back and shout,
"YAAH!" we run off at great speed through the forest. this is as good as ot gets!

[Heartless Angel]

She looked around briefly. 'Well, looks like she at least took her weapon this time. Should probably be alright... Hey kids, listen up, if you hear screaming, wake me up. I need to rest for a bit.", she said, laying down and closing her eyes.

[aliera]

As we rush through the forest at uncharted speeds I hear something, a booming noise like huge footsteps or surges of power, I can feel the ground shaking and the pulses are getting stonger! I push the Chocobo on as hard as I dare, I must get outta here asap!
I turn in a huge U-turn to get back to the party, maybe they are in trouble? I dash forwards, I hope I reach them in time!

[Heartless Angel]

Lailah fell asleep quickly, having most of her energy drained in the last fight, the remaining darkness in her system caused her to fall into a nightmare. She stood in the middle of a large area, dark as can be, she could see nothing in any direction, but could hear his twisted laughter... She broke into a run, trying to escape it, but it seemed to come from all directions. She prepared her sword, knowing she would soon face him as the laughter began to grow louder...

[aliera]

I near where I left the party behind, as I approach I notice that something is not alright, I dismount the Chocobo and it goes off to where ever it is Chocobo's go to, I dash madly towards them through the trees, I hope I reach them before anything happens to them...

[Heartless Angel]

As she dreamed, a dark aura flared up around her, the darkness she awakened earlier had not completely dissipated. Her nightmare was fueling the darkness in her heart, a dangerous situation...

[aliera]

I crash through the trees at full speed.
I burst out through the clearing there is nothing out of the ordinary, the party is in a huddle asleep, I notice that Lailah is tossing and is in obvious discomfort, but she doesn't see, the type of person I wanna wake up, so I leave her be,
I walk over to Arc and lye on the ground next to him, I shudder in the cold.
"Are you awake?" I whisper through the night, I hear shuffling,
"Yes," I hear him reply, I see two shining lights through the dark (black mages eyes are glow in the dark or something becuase of the magic they are involved in)
"Are you cold?" He asks me, of course he can see, he has like night-vision, I nod my head and a breath of cold air comes out.
He wraps his arm around me, I am in utter shock!
"Are you ok?" He asks me, looking into my eyes,
"Yes I am f-fine just a b-bit cold" I say, I know he is just trying to keep my warm, but I like it, I hug him back and fall asleep.

[Heartless Angel]

She stopped moving for a few moments before quickly sitting up. "Something's nearby, I feel an intense intent to kill. On your guard!", she yelled, taking her sword and getting to her feet, looking around for the source of the feeling.

[aliera]

I snap my eyes open and Arc does too, we both sit up straight and get off the floor, panting from the quickness of the movement,
"What is it?" I call, picking my sword off the ground and holding it at the ready.

[Heartless Angel]

She looked around for a while before sighing and lowering her head. "The feeling is fading... it must have just been a nightmare. My sincerest apologies.", she said. She got to her feet. "I think... it would be for the best if I were to sleep elsewhere, where I won't disturb the rest of you. This sort of thing isn't terribly unusual for me after using the dark knight arts. I won't return to normal until several hours after activation, it takes at least that long for all of the darkness to leave my system.", she explained before walking away from the group.

[aliera]

All of us are awake now, Luneth doesn't look happy about being woken up, and looks like he is going to say something but Ingus and Refia give him the death stare and he shuts his mouth again,
"We should stick together" Arc tells her,
"I agree, we will be safer together, but if you really want to go we cannot hold you here" I say, I hope she understands that I don't want to hold her back

(due to a request I will be changing tenses during this to it all being in third person)

[Heartless Angel]

She shrugged. "I'll be fine. I survived sleeping while Abaddon was giving me survival training. Nothing that can happen here could possibly be any more dangerous than that. His training got me into the habit of counterattacking before I even had my eyes open. Besides, I'm a pretty light sleeper, and you kids could use the rest, don't want to be keeping you all awake.", she said, walking away from the clearing. Once out of sight she began walking more slowly, putting her hands up to her heart. "What... was that feeling? It almost felt like father... but devoid of any humanity...", she mumbled. Her heart rate increased as her breathing became shallow. I told them it was just the nightmare... I wish I was half as sure as I sounded...", she said.