Before anyone could stop them, they were gone just like that. Aria frowned deeply, wondering if it was really a good thing they took off or a bad thing. There were a sudden swarm of... hats? They didn’t look like hats. More like angry robot octopuses with claws. Knowing that everyone was at their limits by now, Aria raised her keyblade and casted her Rainbow Glow defense on everyone. She then gritted her teeth and looked over at her friends. “Come on, let’s finish this up!” She then jumped into action immediately, going after at least five of the angry hats at once. HP 46/65 AP 0/30 MP 0/20
"Eep!" The blades from the masked guy were coming at her, and she instinctively ducked. Tinarah then told her to go for the woman, while she went for the masked man. That was a fine strategy, which Aria nodded to her. "Understood!" Just then, a marble table pieces were chucked, and they pelted Tinarah, Qamar, and slammed into Glyde the hardest. "Glyde!" Aria called out in concern for him. Sadly, she couldn't help him at the moment, not with her magic completely gone. She then turned to Mezmerella, keyblade up and ready. She was the main target. If they were able to take her down, then they would have Mr. Incredible back with them again and be able to stand against the other two. Her eyes then spotted some couch pillows strewn around on the floor and an idea popped in her head. She couldn't use magic, but that didn't mean she was limited with other things. "Hey! You're cranky. Why don't you take a nap!" She picked one up, chucking it hard at Mezmerella to throw her off balance. She then picked up a second, and a third, throwing them at the villain hard and fast while edging closer to her. Finally, she jumped at the villain, using her Blitz+ ability to try to strike her down. She then moved to counter attack if needed, staying light on her feet. "You know, your name sounds like close to Mozzarella. Like the cheese," she taunted, trying to keep her distracted so she couldn't command Mr. Incredible to do more damage to her friends.
The quiet, insulting moment was short-lived when the window suddenly shattered. Aria covered her head as shards of glass bounced off of her, and then she saw they were faced to face with the masked guy she saw earlier, and then someone new. "You were on the roof fighting Torrin!" Aria declared, pointing a finger at the masked man. However, things suddenly took the turn for the worse. Mr. Incredible seemed fine one moment, and then got really quiet the next. "M-Mr. Incredible...?" Aria then saw him pick up the marble table and dropped down to a defense position. She summoned her keyblade, only then to realize all of her magic reserve was gone and there was no calling it back. "Look out!" she called. She then dodged rolled out of the way, jumping back to her feet with her keyblade in her hands. Whatever that lady did earlier to Mr. Incredible, it seemed to make him turn on them. "Snap out of it!" Aria yelled at the hero, even though she felt it would be useless at this point to try to call him back like that. She then turned to the new villainess, raising her keyblade and charging at her with might at the woman and started to swing at her.
The girl made a face when Edna commented about her personality in a negative light and then scratched her head. Soon afterwards, Mr. Incredible tried to apologize for Edna’s behavior, which made her shrug her shoulders. “No feelings hurt here. It just adds to my current list of flaws.” She started to count them off on her fingers one by one, “Too reckless, too innocent, and now too sweet to the point where no one would take me seriously.” She puckered her lips in amusement and then shrugged once more. “I mean, it’s kinda true.” She then took her braid in her hands and examined it a moment while trying to come up with a way to explain how it was. “Uh, well... I was kinda born with it? All I did was let it grow out. No colors added or anything.” She didn’t know what Edna meant by black, but that was the last color Aria would have thought of for... anything really. She wondered what Edna had in mind...
Aria was caught off guard by the sudden notes of the violin, and looked to see that Tinarah was playing it. She smiled a bit, understanding a little that Tinarah needed this, but hoped their hosts didn’t mind the sudden seemingly randomness. No one could easily explain away tha the girl had been through a lot and coped in a different method than what one was used to... even if it seemed a bit distracting and out of place. She was then approached by Qamar again. This time, it was she was worried about the well-being of Torrin... the mention of him dealing with a blood-curdling scream made her confused a moment, and then Aria was reminded that indeed she herself woke up with a scream. She wasn’t ready to talk about it though, and now wasn’t the time to discuss it anyways. Aria didn’t know what she was dealing with or what was happening to her. And the people she could trust with the matter were on a recon mission or catching up on old times and memories at the moment. Plus, they had this magic inhibitor machine to deal with, and new people to interact with and get to know at the moment. Aria held back a sigh and glanced to Qamar. “I don’t think we can force Torrin to do anything, really,” she said with a shrug. “He doesn’t seem like the person who would be bossed around. I mean, we can suggest it, but at the end of the day it’s his choice. No matter how tired or worn out he is.” She thought about how Torrin said he stayed close to her room anyways on purpose, but didn’t feel like to bring that up. Not with others accusing him and his guard of having an alternate motivate besides helping the realm of light.
Aria didn’t stick around with Chrono and Tinarah after she gave the violin. She instead offered a thumbs up to the pair, and then followed after Mr. Incredible. They soon met the owner of the house, and the older teen was taken aback with how short she was. Aria thought she herself was small in stature... but that didn’t seem to be the case here. She quietly followed after the others, and was soon met by the gerogeous view of the place. “Whoa,” Aria breathed out as she turned around in slow circles to get a good look of the room. There were large spacious windows, and the wall behind them had interesting carvings on them. “I really like your... erm... abode Ms. Mode. It’s very nice.”
Chrono was next to approach Aria, and Aria smiled when Chrono finally asked for Tinarah's violin. "Yeah, sure!" She paused with walking and reached into her magical bag, carefully pulling out the violin with the bow. It was surrounded by her Rainbow Glow and she smiled sheepishly at the older teen. "I wanted to make sure it stayed safe. Here." As soon as she handed the violin over, the bubble disappeared in a pop.
Aria turned to look at Qamar when she suddenly caught up to her. Qamar seemed a little nervous, and maybe somewhat lonely. Aria realized that this was the girl's first mission ever and gave her a friendly smile. "It's really easy," she said, dropping her voice a little since she was trying to not meddle with the affairs of the world by getting Mr. Incredible involved. "We protect the worlds from the darkness, do what we can to help out while we're here." She shrugged her shoulders and looked back to Master Thallasa before looking at Qamar. "So yeah, missions are usually protect, find princesses, and-or help a world out with something they need. Oh yeah, and try to just go with the flow of the worlds. Follow their laws and rules, be friendly, and you'll do fine." The purplish-pink headed girl looked back at the group and smiled a little at those following. "So the blonde hair one is Tinarah, as you know she just came back to us yesterday after... stuff... She was training with me and Master Choma before this whole Light Chaser business. Her older brother with the white hair is Chrono, and the black haired guy is Glyde. Both of them trained under Master Atmos. Well, I think Glyde was in a coma of sorts... I dunno why. It's just what I heard. Takehiko, or we call him Take, trained under Master Atmos too. He's the one that went on the recon mission. And then you already know Torrin, and I think his friend is named Boreas? I dunno much about him. Oh yeah, and there's Illiana too. The one with the umbrella. Don't touch it, she gets kinda angry if you do. She trained under... Master Atmos too." Aria grinned and placed her hands behind her back as she walked. "Got all that? I know it's a lot of names."
Reading this thread makes me go
Aria didn't like splitting up the team like this. With villains out running amuck and putting people in danger, it didn't feel right to call it quits so soon on their arrival. Even though she was feeling tired and kind of out of it, she wanted to get things taken care of before going to sleep. If she could even sleep tonight, that was. She hung back with the others while Mr. Incredible was talking to a screen when a short lady seemed to pop up on said screen, and let them in. She looked down at her own clothes, wondering what kind of costumes was in mind for them. Suddenly remembering something as they walked, Aria reached into her bag and went over by Illiana. "Hey, I know you probably already forgot about it by now, but uh..." She pulled out a bundle of herbs from her bag tied with purple ribbon and smiled a little and handed it to Illiana. "I got you some more Valerian Root before we settled in for the night. I just kept forgetting to give it to you. So here. Hopefully this replaces the supply I didn't uh... drink... or save." She then looked back over at Tinarah to see how she was doing, seeing that she and Chrono were kind of hanging out together and was glad for it. She smiled at her and then looked back ahead to the mansion on top of the hill. She wondered what this lady was going to be like, and she wondered if the recon group would be fine. Realizing she hadn't said much to Mr. Incredible, she walked by him. "Um, I didn't get to say it back there, but thank you for helping us out," Aria said to Mr. Incredible as they trudged up the hill. "We really appreciate it."
Aria felt a swell of pride when Take stepped in beside her and agreed with her on the manner. Illiana didn't seem to think it was a good idea, which made Aria frown a moment... Until Tinarah and Boreas spoke up and agreed with her and Take. Glyde seemed to side with Illiana, but then the verdict came down to Master Thallasa. Aria, of course, didn't like it. She was told to stay back and let others handle it on their own without her help. But instead of arguing, Aria hung her head low and eventually nodded her head. "Alright... I'll stay back this time," she mumbled. She couldn't go off and fight at will like the others; she had to remember she was a princess of heart at the end of the day, and she had to take certain cautions. No one was in immediate danger like Torrin was earlier, so there was no need for her to rush in and fight as she did previously. It made sense, and it was logical, but she still didn't agree to it fully. She then looked at Torrin, who spoke quietly to her about his condition. She was a little concerned for him, and the others for that manner since it seemed like some things were suppressed that came with the ability of wielding a keyblade because of this machine that was somewhere out of sight. She silently gave him a small smile and nudged him in the shoulder with her own. "Be careful," she stated back to him. "I'll try to have some hot chocolate waiting for you and the others when you get back... If I can make it where we're going anyways." She then looked to Take and smiled, patting him on the shoulder. "I really wish I could go with you guys... but it is what it is... You be careful too, okay?" They really didn't get a chance to talk much after the cannon incident, but she considered Take as her friend too. She didn't want ANY of them to get seriously hurt and her having to sit back and let them fight. This was going to be tough for her hanging out with the others, but she knew that it had to be.
One point for HP and One Point for AP. And taking that Sonic Blade, plox
This was going a lot faster than previous fights, and that was a good thing. Aria nodded her thanks to Torrin when he healed her and saw that the remaining Heartless were the icy cube ones. Yaaaaay!”She silently cheered to herself as she went after a small group. But then Chrono went in and got rid of ALL of them. Aria stood there a moment, a little dumbfounded while holding her keyblade in her hands. "... Ah man...." She unsummoned her keyblade, trying to not let her disappointment show. Her attention was soon turn to the heroes that showed up, and she thought they looked kinda cool. Frozone ended up not being so nice, but this Mr. Incredible was kind enough. It was then she heard the sound of the creepy clown and looked around warily. She then noticed Torrin act kind of funny and raised an eyebrow at him when he asked how she was. She then heard Qamar's quip and shrugged her shoulders. "I'm just fine," she answered Qamar's and Torrin's question. "You on the other hand don't look so good," Aria said with some concern to Torrin. "You okay?" She then overheard a bit from the new master and two heroes, well, now one, about finding a place to stay for the night. "W-wait, were not going to go look for this Magick... thingy-ma-gig first?" She pressed her lip in a thin line and turned to Master Thallasa, bowing quikcly. "I mean no disrepect... I know we're tired and all, but uh... Should we check this thing out before we crash for the night?" She didn't want to leave this thing unattended, not for long anyways. And since the clown never showed himself, it could mean that he was watching them carefully. And the last thing Aria wanted to do was get anyone hurt because they let this go unchecked. Spoiler: Tales of a Princess: The Darkness on the Horizon- Part 2 Age: Seven Years Old The next few weeks were grim. Two out of the nine farms fell entirely, their stock completely ravaged by the attacks for the wrenfel as well as their crops being destroyed by the large monsters’ movements. Nobody slept well at night anymore, for they were constantly onguard when and how the beasts would strike. And since they were simple farm folks, they didn’t have the strength to go to the source of the problem and wipe them out. They asked the village for help, but they too were beginning to be visited by the wrenfel and other strange beasts. All their reinforcements were being used to protect the town’s folk and make sure everyone stayed safe. The farms were on their own. It was a dreary, cool day on the Dorin farm. The skies were grey with rumbles of thunder here and there, threatening rain to come later in the day. Aria was dressed in a dark green woolen poncho, brown pants, boots, and a long sleeved, buttoned up cream shirt. Her poncho had a little hood on it, which she kept up and over her head as she rode her young brown Chocobo over the fields. She was taking lunch to her uncle, Gerrit, and a couple other new workers on the farm. Lanar has work available for those who lost their farms recently since raising and training Chocobos wasn’t his only specialty. He raised a few small crops to be able to feed the feathered creatures as well as food for the village and surrounding neighbors. Aria held the reins tightly in her hands as she searched the fields for the men. The monsters seemed to only appear at night, so Anja felt it would be safe for Aria to venture out of the house for awhile and be out in the fresh air. A blood curdling howl echoed through the wind. Aria’s Chocobo made a funny sound and stopped in place, nervously stomping its feet. “It’s okay Dubble,” Aria assured as she stroked the bird’s neck. The little girl looked around, not seeing anything out of the ordinary. Another howl followed after it, this time it was louder. Aria could feel her heart pounding in her chest as she did her best to keep Dubble calm. “Wrenfel only come at night. Wrenfel only come at night…” It was then she heard a snarl, and then a yell of someone she knew. “Uncle Lanar…” Aria couldn’t let fear hold her back at this point. She snapped the reins, urging Dubble to a full run towards the noise. She didn’t know what she was doing, but she wanted to make sure everyone was safe and she would be there to help out if needed. The yelling turned into screams of agony as the little girl got closer. She hopped off of Dubble in mid trot, running on the ground as fast as she could through the wheat fields. Her lungs burned as the cold air surged through body, which only pushed her on. A flash of black fur jumped in front of her vision, and suddenly she was face to face with a gruesome scene. Her uncle was on the ground, his face contorted in pain. He was being pulled left and right by wrenfel with teeth sunk in his skin and clothes ripped to ribbons. Pools of crimson were already spilt on the ground, and specs appeared on the wolves faces. Some of their muzzles were soaked in it. Aria balled her fists, knowing she had to do something! She shut her eyes and inhaled deeply. “LEAVE HIM ALONE!” A blinding, bright light suddenly shot out from the seven year old’s body, rippling towards the wrenfel. They had no time to act as the wave of light zoomed towards them, hitting them back and making them all disintegrate into vapors of curling darkness. All was left was a shaken Aria trying to catch her breath, and her uncle, lying on the ground in his own blood. “Aria…” She opened her eyes, seeing all the monsters were gone and her uncle was reaching out to her. “Uncle Lanar!” Aria rushed over to him and knelt down by his side while he coughed and groaned in agony. He was in pretty bad shape as she grabbed for his hand and held it tightly in hers. His grip was weak, and his breath was ragged. “H-hold on, I’m going to get…” she trailed off as she looked down and gasped. One of his arms, and even a leg was not there anymore. Aria didn’t even hear the rush of footsteps as the rest of the workers hurrying over. Someone picked up Aria and placed her away from her uncle while they moved in and did their best to stop the bleeding. She didn’t even see Gerrit hobbling over with his own wounds while being helped by someone else. Lanar’s good arm suddenly fell to the ground as he went unconscious, and someone shouted to shoot a flare. A purple light blinded Aria for a moment, and she blinked as she looked up to see a flare going up in the sky. Purple meant that a farmer or one of their family members was seriously hurt. This was the first it had ever been used… As it burst in the sky, rain droplets began to fall on her face. She didn’t bother to pull up her hood as she stared up into the bleakness before her as the rain came down harder. She knew they needed serious help, and she was not capable to do anything with what was before her. But she knew someone who could. “Grandpa Gero…?” She called out softly. She held held her hands together close to her chest as that talk about death she had three years ago flooded through her mind. Her turquoise eyes landed on her unconscious uncle on the ground being tended to quickly and efficiently as possible. “Please wake up,” Aria whispered as tears rolled down her cheeks. “Please wake up…” There was a flash followed a second later by the crack of thunder, the sky continuing to rumble long after the light faded. No one had taken notice of the sudden appearance of an old man, his cloak dry until he stepped out from into the rain from the corridor of light that vanished as soon as it had appeared. His eyes darted over towards the redheaded boy but he chose not to act. The boy would live. “Out of the way.” Gero commanded as he moved closer, pushing some of the other workers out of the way. One of the men who had already begun bandaging Lanar stood up to complain but Gero narrowed his eyes at the man. “I can save him. Now all of you go and make sure there are none of those creatures around to attack again.” His voice held absolute authority, unlike the mild voice of a weary old man he normally put on. To no surprise, the others listened and took off. “It will be alright, Aria. Rest for now.” Gero took off his cloak and placed it around the small girl to keep her warm. There was nothing he could do to save the limbs that had been damaged beyond repair but there were ways beyond the organic… For now, he had to stop the bleeding and that would require more than just a few bandages. “Sleep.” He whispered and in the instant he uttered that word Aria began to feel drowsy. In the daze of her newfound weariness she might have imagined Gero’s cane having turned into a giant key, green light pouring onto Lanar’s body. But perhaps such thoughts were that of a child’s imagination. Aria then drifted off to sleep.
They just couldn't catch a break, could they? Aria loosely blew a raspberry between her lips, making her bangs dance on the light wind before summoning her keyblade once more and dropped into a defense position. She felt as if she was all out of magic at this point, but she still had some spunk left to maybe beat some heartless over the head. She eyed the larger ones and headed over in that direction, raising her keyblade and letting out a battle cry to get her spirits and energy back up. She landed a hard Blitz + on one Defender, and hacked and sliced at another big guy until that one went down with more difficulty than the first. She then realized how annoying the little guys were and started to beat up the ice cube thingies, finding it just a tad refreshing when they would explode into ice shards pretty much and sprinkled on her as she fought. Heartless Defeated 1 Defender with Blitz + 1 Defender normal hit 6 Icy Cube Remaining Heartless 2 Defenders 36 Icy Cube 5 Neoshadows 21 Blue Rhapsodies 11 Yellow Operas 6 Bolt Towers 0/28 AP 30/60HP 0/20MP Blitz +
Aria heard a voice and glanced up to see... Take? “Yeah! We’re okay! Torrin’s a little beat up, but nothing too bad. There were three creepy guys, two of them clowns... or something. Third one was wearing a cat mask. How’s everyone?” She was glad to hear the rest of the people trapped had gotten out, and at least that was a win on their behalf. But with the villains escaping, that just meant bigger trouble later. It left a sour taste in her mouth knowing that, but there wasn’t much to be done on the matter now. Spoiler: Tales of a Princess: The Darkness On the Horizon- Part 1 Age: Seven Years Old Seven year old Aria woke up with a half-scream, sitting up in bed and kicking in front of her. She cried in fright, not realizing she was awake and held her head with her hands. Fast moving, soft footsteps were heard coming down the hallway of the farm house, and then the door creaked open. “Aria?” The familiar soft voice of Aunt Anja called for her. The oil lamp in Aunt Anja’s hand dimly lit the room, and little Aria turned turned to it. Anja’s heart nearly broke at the sight; Aria was crying softly, her eyes wide and glassed over from just waking up, and she was shaking badly. Without fail, Anja came in the room quickly, setting the oil lamp down on a dresser while turning up the flame inside to light up the room more. She moved over to Aria, wrapping a blanket around her shoulders and bringing her close to her.”There, there,” Aunt Anja soothed while hugging Aria to her and rocking her gently. “It’ll be alright, my love.” The older woman kissed Aria on top of her head, who was sniffling and crying silent tears at this point. Aria hated for others to worry about her so much, but this was welcoming after experiencing something so horrible. “You’re safe here,” Anja assured while stroking Aria’s long hair. It was then she noticed Aria was soaked to the bone, and realized the girl had woken up in cold sweat. Anja sighed out softly and kissed her niece on her head once more. Heavier footsteps could be heard coming down the hallway, and Lanar poked his head in with his own oil lamp in his hand. He saw the scene before him and his eyes soften. “The nightmare again?” He asked quietly. Aunt Anja nodded her head while rocking Aria. “We need to talk to Gero about it. It’s getting worse.” “I know, I know.” Lanar stroked his bearded chin. “Hopefully we can get a hold of him. He’s been busy lately.” Aria sniffed and rubbed her eyes on her sleeve. “I’m okay,” she whispered, not wanting to worry them anymore. “It was a little bit scarier, but I’ll be okay. Honest.” Uncle Lanar and Aunt Anja looked at each other, silently communicating to one another. Now wasn’t the time to talk about getting ahold of the wise old master. Uncle Lanar cleared his throat while Aunt Anja ran her fingers through Aria’s bedhair. “Hot chocolate?” “Hot chocolate.” Uncle Lanar nodded his head. “Coming right up,” he said with a sleepy smile and then disappeared from the doorframe. Aunt Anja then turned to Aria, who was still shuddering and recovering from the horrible vision. She offered the little girl a handkerchief, who then took it and wiped her eyes before blowing her nose. “Come on my dear, let’s get you changed.” Aria looked down at herself, seeing that her whole nightgown was saturated in sweat. No wonder why she felt so cold. She nodded her head silently and slipped out of bed while Aunt Anja dug through the drawers and pulled out a towel and a dry set of fresh clothes. Aria disappeared behind a room divider painted with butterflies, flowers, and the rainbow sunsets of Amerath over a serene latke. “Can you tell me what happened this time?” Aunt Anja asked softly as she handed the items to behind the room divider to Aria. “Or is it too scary to talk about?” Aria’s body shook as she changed out of her clothes and grabbed the towel to dry herself off the best she could. “It was scary,” Aria said almost inaudibly. Aunt Anja frowned and then made herself busy to change her niece’s bedsheets. She honestly had no clue where the nightmares had come from, save that Aria’s peaceful sleeping hadn’t been the same since the snake tried to attack her in the garden. She was assured though Aria would grow out of it, but now she was beginning to doubt it. Perhaps something subconsciously was carried with her from her world that was destroyed by the darkness. “That’s alright dear, you don’t have to talk about it.” “It was hurting someone,” came a small voice from behind the divider as fabric rustled. “I couldn’t scream or help them. And then when it ate them, it looked to me and grabbed me hard. And then it was going to eat me too.” Aria walked out into view, examining her arms to make sure it was a dream. Her skin was left untouched, which made her sigh in relief. “And then that’s when I woke up. I’m really sorry I woke you up too.” “There, there,” Aunt Anja assured as she finished putting clean sheets and Aria’s favorite quilt back on her bed before sitting down. She invited Aria to join her, which the little girl did in a heartbeat. Aria was pulled onto Aunt Anja’s lap and then hugged affectionately to her. Anja rocked in place with the small child, giving the little girl a chance to calm down and to warm up. “We love you, Aria. Uncle Lanar and I… we are so lucky to have you here with us. We’d do anything for you. Never feel sorry about that,” Anja said seriously while meeting Aria’s eyes. “You never cause us any trouble. It’s okay if we worry about you sometimes and you worry about us… it’s what people do when they love someone. Never forget that.” Aria slowly nodded her head, and then wrapped her arms around Anja’s neck. The older woman kissed her on the cheek and hugged her close as they sat on the bed for a moment. It was then that Anja looked to Aria’s nightstand, seeing her niece’s own oil lamp sitting there. It was supposed to be always lit since Aria was not a fan of the dark, but the fire had went out. Anja raised an eyebrow and gently set Aria by her as she picked up the small oil lamp carefully. There was plenty of fire fluid inside, and the wick was in great condition, but it felt cold to the touch as if it had been out for hours. “Strange,” Anja muttered as she examined it further. “I knew I lit this before we tucked you into bed.” A deep, threatening howl sounded off outside of Aria’s bedroom window. Aria instinctively clung onto Anja’s nightgown as her eyes widened in fear. “Aunt Anja…” “It’s alright,” Anja assured, though she too sat rigid on Aria’s bed. There had been talk lately that packs of wrenfel wolves had been spotted on the edge of farms lately. The wrenfel usually stayed in the mountains, but for some reason they had migrated down and began to appear in populated areas. It was concerning, due to the fact of their large sizes and their nature to hunt and kill their prey. Some farmers had experienced some of their stock being killed by the wrenfel, and it seemed they were becoming more bold and aggressive over the last several weeks. “Stay here,” Anja told Aria while patting her on the head. “I’m going to talk to your Uncle.” She gave the little girl a small smile in an attempt to reassure her and then ruffled her hair before getting up and quickly making her way out of the room. Aria sat there for a moment alone in her room. She could feel the apprehension in the air. She only knew a bit of what was going on lately due to the fact her surrogate parents didn’t want her to worry so much. However, she knew when there was howling near their farm, there was something bad around. As if on cue, the howling broke out again, except this time with growling and barking. She could hear the chocobos becoming restless in the stables and suddenly felt scared. Aria grabbed her shawl from a rocking chair in the corner of her room, and rushed out. Her little feet ran through the darkened halls, and her eyes caught a small light from downstairs. She was was halfway down the steps when she spotted her uncle dressed in his brown coat, boots, and equipped with a rifle and a flare gun. He was about to head out the door, which made little Aria even more afraid. “Uncle Lanar!” She called out to her guardian. The burly man turned to see his niece wide awake and scared. He gave her a small smile as he picked up a lantern and turned it on. “I’ll be back, little one. I have to go check on the Chocobos. Hot chocolate is ready, I love you.” He blew Aria a kiss before slipping out the door without another word. Aria gripped the railing of the steps as she held the shawl tightly in a ball with the other hand. She made it down the steps and ran to the front window, just in time to see the lantern moving swiftly through the darkness. Anja approached Aria from the kitchen and carefully laid a hand on her shoulder. “Come over here,” she coaxed, moving her away from the window. There was a sudden sound of yelling, and then explosions that Aria didn’t recognize but Anja did. The rifle had went off. Aria broke away from Anja’s grasp and ran to the back window to where the Chocobo stables were visible. Her hands were pressed against the cool glass and her turquoise eyes peered out into the night. Sounds of whimpering and whining were heard, and then Aria saw movements within the shadows. She sucked in a breath of air and held it as she realized the shadows looked almost like dogs, but much larger. One looked towards the window, its eyes glinting a yellow glow towards the girl before bounding off. For some reason, Aria felt panic swell inside of her for that brief moment when she saw the eyes, but she couldn’t figure out why. Maybe it was because the danger that was often talked about was so close to home… A golden flare was suddenly shot to the sky, illuminating the whole farm for that moment. She could see her uncle standing there under the flare, panting and holding the flare gun up high for that moment. “Uncle Lanar!” “He’s okay,” Aunt Anja assured while standing at the window just behind Aria. As soon as the wrenfel began to make their appearance, the eight farms surrounding theirs made a decision to communicate with flares since they were far apart. Soon other flares were appearing in the skies far away, and Anja looked on and counted to herself; there were five green ones one yellow… and two red ones. It was the first time any red ones were seen since this system was established just two weeks ago. Anja covered her mouth, and then looked to Lanar under the fading flare light. He looked conflicted as he spotted the red flares and rubbed his neck in frustration. He looked over to the farmhouse, and met Anja’s gaze. They stared at each other for a moment before Lanar nodded his head and ran off to the stable to grab his mount. “Where is Uncle Lanar going?”Aria’s voice broke the silence and Anja glanced down at her. Eyes softening, Aria’s aunt knelt down to her height and pointed outside the window. “Do you see those lights in the sky? Green means everyone is safe, yellow means the wrenfel were spotted but everyone is fine, and red means there’s trouble and they need help.” Aria’s eyebrows furrowed as her lips turned downward. “There’s two red lights…” Aunt Anja gravely sighed out and nodded her head. “You’re right…” The pair stood in the kitchen longer to see Uncle Lanar take off as fast as he could on his Chocobo. Life on Amerath was changing, and Aria was very much aware of it. It would not be calm and peaceful as it once was, and those innocent, carefree days would soon be lost.
It was nice to see that someone else had come to Torrin’s aid. And based on how he was doing before Aria showed up, he really needed it. She barely took Torrin’s scolding to heart as she prepared herself to jump into action, only to be grabbed by Qamar, and then suddenly be teleported away. She blinked as she was instantly on the ground where she had left the others, and then looked back to where they were. They had escaped, and so did the bad guys. ‘Drat...’ Aria was then addressed by Torrin, and how he was starting off made her puff her cheeks out and furrow her brows in contempt. She was about to protest, when he suddenly changed tones and seemed more concerned for her than angry. She sighed out and rubbed the back of her head in frustration and then looked to Qamar. “Aria, nice to meet you too,” she said to the girl. She then turned back to Torrin and sighed out. “Look, I understand that everyone’s concerned about me and all since I am a Princess of Heart... but until I’m locked up in the castle for who knows how long, I’m going to pull my weight in the group.” She lowered her hand from her neck and nodded to the burning building. “We were almost done wrapping things up here, and you needed help. Nobody else was really available. You weren’t going to be able to last up there alone much longer, Master or not.” Her eyes soften as she looked from Qamar to Torrin and she fiddled with her bun, letting it fall out to its long braid again. “I’ll do my best to be careful, but just because I’m a princess of heart now doesn’t mean I’m going to back down when someone needs help.” She then fell silent as she listened to Qamar talk to Torrin about something she felt with the bad guys. She knew that it was a risk to take her with the others, but all she wanted to do was help. She was more than capable of that, right?
She was relieved to see everyone working together and getting the last few victims out in a timely manner. Aria had taken her scarf back after handing the children off to their parents and the paramedics. It seemed as if Floor 10 and 8 were cleared, and Floor 9 still had some left up there... Or that's what she gathered. Coughing from inhaling smoke on the last run, Aria summoned her keyblade and cast Cura on herself before darting back into the flames. She had tied her scarf to back around her mouth and nose, feeling like it helped at least a little bit last time. The heat burned her arms, and she winced as she pushed on. Soon she came to the ninth floor and heard the cries of a couple of older folks. One was holding a small dog or something, she couldn't really see through the smoke. "Follow me!" she called to them after clearing a path. Almost feeling like she was hacking up her lungs, she lead them out to ground level and then took off her scarf, inhaling fresh air deeply and then looked up at the others, giving them a thumbs up. Aria ran to Floor 9 4/7 Left on Floor 9 Aria cast Cura on herself Something caught her attention at the corner of her eye, and she looked up to see lights, puff of fire, maybe some ice shards, and tiny explosions being shot up in the sky. Realizing that was where Torrin went, she glanced to the others. "We're almost done here! I'm heading up to help Torrin. Something is going on up there," she said, pointing to the roof where there was activity happening. Aria then grabbed her bag and bounded off, finding a fire escape on the outside of the building and starting to make her way up. She wished she had those fancy keyblade gliders that Qamar and Torrin had, but she could live with this. She was used to a bunch of physical activity after all. Once she got to the top, she saw what was happening and watched with wide eyes for a moment. There were three people up against Torrin, all of them in weird looking costumes or just... looking weird in general. She could understand weirdness in the second to last world she was in because... aliens... Nevertheless, she couldn't stare at this freak show for long. She had to help even the odds. She summoned her keyblade again, staying silent as she aimed her keyblade at the clown-like guy with the weird feathers, or hair (she couldn't tell what it was). One thing she learned from Master Choma was that sometimes it was best to not make one's presence known until you land some kind of hit on enemy. With that in mind, she took a breath and furrowed her brows, knowing that she was about to get herself involved into some serious fighting shortly. "Thunder," she whispered, sending electric bolts at the clown-guy to get him away from Torrin.
Aria was surprised when Gero approached her. It took her a minute to process his words,and then her eyes widened with understanding and glee. “Oh yeah,” she said with a grin. A very special day was coming up for her soon, and with all that was happening, she had forgotten all about it. Before they embarked, she gave Grandpa Gero one last hug. “I’ll see you later,” she said softly. “Please feel better soon...” With that, she was off with the others. It didn’t take long for them to be fully immersed in the new world. Seeing all the modern technology all in one place caught her off guard, and she spun around in awe at all the people and interesting sights. But the sight seeing cake to a quick end when there was an explosion nearby. Everyone was suddenly on the move. Torrin went after someone who bounded away from the flames, Take was already heading in, and right when she was about to check on Tinarah, she had surprisingly dove in too. Aria took in a deep breath and looked at the others briefly, grateful she kept her longhair up in that bun. She quickly scanned the building, seeing a problem immediately. “The very top floor would be best to clear out first!” She called out to those who were left. “We don’t know how long the building is gonna stand like this! With that, I’m heading to the top!” Aria pulled a scarf from her bottomless bag and tied it around her nose and mouth. With that, she tossed her bag aside at a safe place and then bounded inside after Take and Tinarah. The smoke burned her eyes, and she could already feel it hard to breathe but she pushed on. She passed Tinarah, giving the girl a thumbs up on the way up. “Don’t push yourself too hard!” She called out to her friend and then ran up the stairs. She passed Take coming by with his small group and summoned her keyblade as she saw more people trapped. She coughed and raised her arm to shield her face to try to see passed the smoke and then saw what she had to do. “Don’t worry, I’m here to help you out!” She called to the small group of three huddled together. “Water!” Water out of her keyblade and dosed the flames in front of her, making it easier for her to get in and kick down debri in the way. She got to the group, seeing it was two kids about twelve and eight, and a small baby screaming and crying. Aria carefully took the baby out of the oldest kid’s arm and took off her scarf, loosely putting it over the infant’s face before motioning the other two to follow. “Let’s go! Hurry!” She moved as fast as she could with her group, holding her little bundle close to her and trying to shield the baby from the heat and flames, coughing and gasping all the while. Aria went to floor 10. 9/15 people left on Floor 10
Village in Peril- Conrad, Everette, Samuel Samuel let the two young men discuss their finds, pulling out a handkerchief from his pocket and dabbing the sweat off of his forehead and the back of his neck. "I managed to bring a few people back from death's door," he said quietly after a moment, placing his hands in his pocket. "They were... in pretty bad shape. It almost looked like they had small pox; completely infested with pimples and boils... Mostly around their head near the mouths and nose... There was some sores inside their mouths too. They had the hardest time breathing, like their airways were being shut off... And their blood seemed... thick. I can't describe it really well. All were running high fevers or having severe chills, throwing up, cramping up in their stomachs, having muscle spasms or convulsions... It's not pretty in there," he murmured, glancing back at the Town Hall. He sighed out, shaking his head. "I want to do our research outside... I kind of need the sunshine after that." Renza wasn't exactly dismissed from the group, and quietly picked up a stick and started to draw doodles in the dirt while the boys talked. She didn't know if she was needed for anything else, so she decided to stick around unless someone told her to be on her way by now.
