"Master, please don't push yourself so much." Ven was at Eraqus' side with his hand on his back and crouched by his side. “Your body is still recovering...” He put Master Eraqus' arm around his shoulder and hoisted him up, putting him on the bed he was laying on and fluffing up the pillow behind him to make him more comfortable. "I want answers just as much as you do... Apparently I was asleep for a while myself. They're in some kind of meeting right now anyways. I'm sure they'll come to us soon and tell us what's going on."
Ven perked up from staring off into space when the old man started to move. The boy reached out and took his hand into his, smiling a little. "It's okay, Master Eraqus. You should probably stay laying down. They said you were in some kind of cyrosleep and need some time to recuperate. Take it easy." He placed his other hand over the one he was holding and patted it gently as if to try to comfort him, even though he himself was a little lost. His eyes saddened when his master asked where the other two pupils were and he glanced down at the bed. "I wish I knew where they were... I just woke up from a long sleep myself apparently." He looked around the room, seeing that they were alone in this eerie place. "We're in a med bay in a place called Central Haven. That's as much as I can offer... I followed this group of keyblade wielders called the S.O.S. I woke up on their ship."
The news was very disconcerting to say the least for young Ven. He wasn't exactly sure what Shiro meant. All he knew was he got caught up in something strange and life-changing. He was so confused right now, trying to make sense of everything. When he tried to think hard back on the night of the kidnapping and the events after that, he was met with a weird, shock-like sensation in his head that made him wince and grip his hair. That one girl said he was evil and did some messed up stuff for someone named Nequa... But that wasn't him! He would never be somebody's puppet! Would he...? His eyes landed on his Master, hooked up to a machine and laying there, lifeless. He frowned heavily and released his hair, sighing out a weight on his chest. It went away for a moment, then it seemed to flutter back. "Master... I don't know what to do. I don't even know what's going on." He found a dusty old chair and pulled it up, straddling it so he was sitting on it with his chin resting on the backside of it but still facing the bed. "I know it's something bad... and I was caught up in it. But that's about it. I want to help out, I really do. I just don't know if I'm strong enough to. Apparently it's been a whole year since I've been awake... I've been used for something, too. And I don't like the sound of that at all." He shook his head a little and rested his chin again on the back of the chair, staring at the machine's lights. "I wish I knew where Terra and Aqua were. They probably would know what to do."
"That bad, huh...?" Ven was starting to believe what ever mess he was caught up in wasn't very good news. When the strange dog... human... thing? showed up and the duck too, he gasped when he recognized the figure. "Master Eraqus!" With the condition he was in, he wondered if he too ended up in a coma somehow just like him. Or if something more sinister had happened. He looked to Kel and nodded his head and then followed after Shiro, looking at his master with worriment. "What's wrong with him? Is he like how I was?"
Ven wasn't sure what to think of the whole situation. Apparently something bad had happened here, but he wasn't sure what exactly. And a threat was around? Now they were nominating people for a meeting. He smiled nervously and shrugged his shoulders, moving over to Kel and dropping his voice down. "Sorry, I'm a little behind everything... What threat are we up against again that has to call for a meeting? And what happened to this place...?" Man he was beginning to wish he wasn't in a coma for nearly a year.
"Oh wow, really?!" Ven was clearly impressed with Kel. "That's my dream; to be a keyblade master. I know I have a long ways to go though. Especially since... yeah." He was referring to being in a coma to a year, but he trailed off before he made that part clear. He still couldn't wrap his head fully around it. When they got back to the ship, he waved to everyone and calmly hopped aboard, seeing everyone else was there. "Sorry, were you guys waiting on us?"
Ven smiled at the thought of family training someone to use the keyblade. "A wooden sword, huh? I kind of had to practice with wooden weapons for a while myself." Soon they found the clothing shop and they wandered in. Ven had a look around, but he didn't see anything too interesting to him. He did, however, find a ring and a chain that was kind of cool. And to his surprise, he did have some munny on him. Huh, weird. He figured he would be stripped of that when he was kidnapped. He of course paid for it and slipped these items on and then waited for Kel. Surprisingly enough, the clothes that Ven had on still fit him alright. Nothing was tight or fit weirdly. Guess he didn't have a growth spurt while he was in a coma. "So, are you still a student? Or are you a keyblade master?" 1
"Oh, alright." Ven didn't mind to tag along in the slightest. He glanced over at Kel and thought about the question for a moment before replying. "Kind of stern. He means well. He's a really strong keyblade master; one of the best. What about you? Who's your teacher?" Ven was genuinely curious to know who taught all of these people their way in using the keyblade. 1
Ven was determined to get back somehow, even though if no one seemed in agreement to go. A.J. went one way, Beuce went another way, and as he was walking, Kel caught up with him and asked him to tag along with him. Which told him he was probably going the wrong way. "Uh, sure!" He smiled and gave a thumbs up then looked around. "Where are we heading to?" He wondered what was there to see in this place. It looked very... Towny. Then again, he figured he could get lost here if he went too far and that wouldn't be a good start for him on this new team. 1/31
Ven let go of Beuce's glass hand after a moment, trying to hide a shiver. That was one of the weirdest, but coolest experience he had ever had. He nodded to A.J., taking his explanation into his thoughts. He could only take his word for it with what happened when he was out cold. Then A.J. suggested they should find others- There's more of them?! And Kel suggested they should go back on the ship. "I'm with Kel on this one. As much as I would like to stretch my legs and explore, we should probably head back to where everyone's going to end up at if we're going to leave soon. That way we don't end up on a big goose chase trying to find each other. Heh, I haven't been introduced to everyone to really know who to look for," he said with a nervous laugh and rubbed the back of his head. "Well... Should we head back?" With that, he began to lead the way back to the ship.
There was that name again; Nequa. It left a bad taste in his mouth and he had a nagging feeling he needed to know this name more than this person was just one of his kidnappers. He glanced at Beuce who extended a hand out to him, which at a first glance he caught was rather reflective for a hand. Wait. Was it actually a hand? Don't stare, Ventus! That's rude! He thought of his options for a moment, looking around the strange place so he didn't have to focus on the hand. Agh! He needed to stop thinking about hands!!! He could stay here where it was unfamiliar and not get the answers he wanted, or go with unfamiliar people to even more unfamiliar places and get the answers he was looking for. And Beuce was right. Based on what little Karina had told him, he had a feeling he was going to face a lot of things he wasn't going to like. But with Aqua and Terra still M.I.A, he couldn't afford to let them down. "I'm ready." He said with a nod of his head, taking Beuce's hand confidently. Ah! It's cold! He kept a firm grip and gave a good shake. "I'll try not to slow you all down. I just want to find my friends and help out in any way I can along the way."
"Sanctuary? What's that?" Ven asked A.J. Was that where he was held as he was kidnapped? And then Beuce spoke up. It was as if his heart dropped through his stomach and kept falling through the floor. A year? Or two? No way... Where had Aqua and Terra been all that time? Through the shock of it, he barely caught the words of 'when Eraqus was still around'. What did that mean? What happened all that time?! Beuce dropped a name, Kel. Another name he didn't recognize. But apparently he could piece together what had happened in the year and a half-ish gap. It was then the girl named Karina spoke up and brought up another unfamiliar name, Nequa. He felt his mouth go dry as she explained bits and pieces of the deeds he had unknowingly done. The pain, the flashes of blue, unknowing voices in his head... it wasn't a dream after all? Tried as he could, he couldn't form any kind of memories. It was like his brain kept short-circuiting, sending mini shockwaves through his head as he tried to think and he shook his head again. He didn't like the idea of being so pliable to someone's will, following orders to hurt others. A knot formed in his throat and he felt like he needed a seat. Instead, he leaned heavily against the wall, swallowing hard. "I..." Things were so overwhelming now, but he couldn't afford to shut down, that much he knew. He was a long way from home, and as far as he knew, he was fine. Save for the weird headaches in his head if he tried to think too hard about gaps in his memories. And as far as he could comprehend, these people were here to help... So far. He wasn't being held against his will anyways. "I need to go talk to this Kel." He finally said after a moment as he took in a deep breath to regain his composure. He needed to know what happened with Terra, Aqua, and Master Eqarus. He pushed off against the wall and rubbed the back of his head. "I'm... sorry for the things I've done. I don't remember it at all. But I don't like the idea of being used like that." He nodded to Karina and the others and then followed after Beuce to find Kel. Once outside the Gummi Ship, Ven walked around for a bit, looking at the sights and structures. His master never let him off of his previous world before, but his mind was whirling with too many questions and worries to really enjoy it. Almost two years he was out... And used as a puppet? What then were the Fates of his friends? Beuce stopped walking and gestured Ven to a blue haired boy, referring to him as Kel. Ven looked to Beuce for a moment and then approached cautiously, hoping he didn't do anything to this guy while he was a puppet... or asleep. Just in case, he offered a small smile and a wave. "H-Hi, name's Ventus, but you can call me Ven. But you probably already knew that. Beuce, uh, said you can help me answer a few questions?" He stood there awkwardly for a moment and then looked at him. "Do you what happened to me the night I was kidnapped? What happened to my friends Terra and Aqua?"
His attention was drawn from the spikey haired boy to the one that called himself A.J. He had a place to where he was at. He was no longer at The Land of Departure, just as his suspicions confirmed. Another person spoke up, someone who just arrived on scene who introduced himself as Beuce. What he said to Ventus made the boy's head swirl with questions and confusion for a moment. "I..." Before he could answer the inquiry of his name or what he remembered, the girl named Karina brought up something interesting to him. "E-evil?" As he tried to think back on a time when that could have possibly happened, it was as if someone pressed their finger on his brain after rubbing their socks on the carpet and giving him a solid zap. "Ah!" He hissed under his breath and grabbed his head, shaking it as he tried to shove off the dazed feeling. Weird. He blinked rapidly as he looked to Karina, wishing he could remember her face because she seemed to know him, and then back to Beuce. If they were keyblade masters... maybe they knew where his other friends were. "I'm Ventus," he finally said as he lowered his hand from his head as the pain seemed to have ebbed away. "But you can call me Ven. I the last thing I remember was I was trying to get to sleep in The Land of Departure where I was training under Master Eraqus with my friends, Terra and Aqua. And then these masked people took me out of my bed and... I fell unconscious. I know you said you didn't know what happened, but... Do you have a guess for how long I was out for? I don't have any other memories other than from that night. I'm sorry if I did anything bad, or if I hurt anybody," he said, his eyes saddening as he looked over to Karina. "What did I do?"
Mummering words all around him, sometimes silence, sometimes he was staring into a world that didn't seem to make much sense. It would glitch, and shift, like he was looking through a world of a computer screen of some kind. There would be lights flashing, swift movement, and then nothingness... He felt like he was floating in space at other times, like he had no control over his body. It was a little unsettling, but at least it was somewhat peaceful. Better than the colorful flashes and the brief pain he swore he felt sometimes. But he wasn't quite sure. Everything was just so muddled... "I dunno. It's like this weird feeling I haven't felt since I was little..." It startled Ventus to hear actual words within his mind. When was the last time he actually heard someone speak so clearly to him since he was like this...? That voice. I know it from somewhere... "We were floating across the ocean for a while until DJ found us and picked us up." The name was strange. Nothing made sense, but that voice, it was recognizable. Ventus tried to wrack his mind from where he could possibly know it from, but he had a feeling that this was his ticket out of here. I... have to wake up. In the darkness, shined a light. It was the most welcoming thing in this muddling world. It seemed it was beckoning to him, calling to him to come that way. He found himself reaching out to it, the first time he could make a movement in this weird place and then everything seemed to envelop him all at once. The first thing he felt was the gradual gravity catching up to his body. His limbs felt heavier and the sounds were becoming more clearer to him. He groaned and his eyelids fluttered open. There before him he saw an assortment of colorful people, though a little blurry at first, all of them he didn't recognize. The night he barely remembered suddenly flashed before his eyes; people in masks kidnapping him and taking him out of his room. He felt panic swell up inside of him like a balloon and started scooting back from everyone. "Who are you?!" His eyes wildly scanned the room, but there was no one familiar to him in the space. Not at first. "Where's Terra?! Aqua? Master Eraqus?! Where am I?!?" His back was up against the wall by this point and he looked like he was about to spring into action. His eyes then landed on a brown haired spikey boy and his panic lessened for some reason, at least for that moment. "I... know you. I don't know where. But I know you, somehow."
It was just a dark, empty void. The boy couldn't remember anything from the night he said sweet dreams to his dear friends before the lights went out. There were faint, painful memories of his mind and body being electrocuted? Probably was a nightmare of some kind. Maybe he slept on his arm or leg wrong and his being was trying to wake him up. But he couldn't. No matter how hard he tried, he just couldn't open his eyes. He was stuck in this emptiness that seemed never ending. For how long, he wasn't so sure. Voices kept flitting in and out of his consciousness, some that he seemed to recognize, others not so much. He didn't know if he should scream for help or just wait it out. And even if he wanted to scream, he didn't think he could. There was something holding him back. He sat by D.J., legs sprawled out under him, hands hung limply in his lap, eyes staring out into nothingness as he chin hung to his chest. He had no light in his eyes whatsoever. It seemed he was stuck in some kind of dark trance and could not wake from the spell he was under.
"Sounds like a solid plan to me." Danni wanted to get home as soon as possible and as soon as they could get on to this case, the sooner they could be done and over with this. She figured it wouldn't be cut and dry, but at least they could get a move on. She just hoped whatever she was doing wouldn't effect things in her personal life and she could figure out how to not get everyone killed with her lack of skills and know-how. "Let's get a move on." ~Smallish TimeSkip: Police Station where Jaycob works~ Police stattions to Danni gave her a weird vibe. She didn't like them. She knew they were just people trying to help out the public, but she never felt safe about it. Not with what happened in her childhood. Visiting jail was nervewracking to say the least and she only done that once or twice, and a police station was different than that, but she always felt like she had to watch herself like she would get in trouble for just breathing. She fiddled with her bracelet and made sure her gloves were on tight before she took out the note and handed it over to Jaycob. "So... first names of his friends.... Unless we can somehow find some last names to tie into them as well." Suddenly a radio went off on someone's desk which made Danni jump. "10-71, 10-71. We need all available units to the Purgos outskirts. All available units to the Purgos outskirts." The station came alive and police officers on duty put on their hats, jackets, gun belts, and started to head out. "W-what's going on?" Danni asked worriedly, looking up at Jaycob.
Danni wasn't prepared to be handed a little piece of paper in the special way it was delivered and nearly recoiled as it floated to her, but she grabbed it anyways and opened it up. There was just so much information to process, she felt like her brain was a muddled pile of mush. Chrinistar Timestop, escaped possibly dangerous convict, a cult involved, time tears and other shit just to name a few things. Just earlier she was making bad orders of coffee and worrying about getting home to her cat. She left the room sullen faced, holding the piece of paper in her hand as the weight of what she was dragged into was weighing down on her. Where would they even begin...? The Speaker said something vague, but didn't give anything specific. Was it in the files? She was already out of the room, and she didn't feel like going back in. She pressed her lips in a thin line as she looked behind her, holding back a sigh as Spectre's voice brought her out of her thoughts. The letter... She held it up for Spectre to see. "Some parts are hard to read though. It's mostly first names... There's no last names."
Danni took as much information in as she could, trying to store all the names and whatnot to the best of her abilities. She was more of a face person than a name person. Jay seemed like he was ready to go more than anything and just wanted to get out of here. When Nicholas said to not do anything too illegal, Danni gave Jay a sidways glance and placed her hands behind her back as she faced the Speaker. "So... where would you like us to start...?"
Danni quirked an eyebrow at Jay, wondering if he was just being silly with his flirting. Spectre even gave her vote of confidence in her, saying that she could practice her powers on the job. "I suppose you're right..." She didn't have any more time to dwell on it when everything was suddenly sealed and they were faced to face with their supposed assignment. Guess there was no turning back now. She wasn't too sure about it, but if two out of the three people in this group said she could possibly be of help... she would stay. She tried to process the information the was given to them, her mind trying to circulate current events, names, and anything else that came into mind that would help her figure this all out. When it was all said and done, she saw Nicholas' reactions. A couple of things bothered her; like the seemingly lack of evidence behind this Rex's arrest even though things seems to be pointed to him, and at the same time, it seemed like too many things were pointed to him. "I know it's been three years now, but there's a few things that I have questions about... Is there a possibility that other people could have been sucked into this time vortex?" She asked while tapping her knuckles on her chin. "Like while time was stopped, some people could still walk around and be unaffected by it?" She began to pace back and forth, her mind whirling with even more questions as they were starting to tumble out of her lips. "... Did he have a previous hatred or motive to target the Church? Like I know I heard some not so good things, but... Was there anything in his history that suggested he had a personal tie to them in some way to target them at all?" Danni was in no way a detective, but she was interested in how the mind work and watched a lot of criminology shows and the likes.
Danni listened very carefully to what was being said to her. She didn't like this one bit. To be watched and pushed under someone's thumb like this. Well, that's what you got when you weren't exactly... normal. Even if you tried to act normal it seemed. When the speaker seemed to be reading them their terms and conditions to the job, Danni pressed her lips in a thin line and pressed a hand to her lips in deep thought. "So, you're telling us even if we say no, we have to keep this meeting a secret...? Does that mean we can really say no then?" Danni looked up at Nicolas lowered her hand. "If you really kept an eye on us like you said, you know I hadn't really used my powers. I wear these gloves and these boots for a reason," she said as she showed her hands and kicked one foot up in view before standing normally. "I don't know how useful I'm going to be to you all. I feel like I'm just going to get in the way. I don't know anything about combat either." She shook her head stepping back a little. "I think you got the wrong girl for this... assignment you're putting together."
