Out of the Fire [Sora]

[Cap'n Failz]

The only sign that marred an otherwise peaceful day in the small town in the middle of nowhere were the ominous clouds which roiled overhead. Many wary glances had been cast at them, but so far they bore no sign of doing anything other than being a nuiscance and so were rnot worthy of more than perhaps a passing mention. Such was the way of them for the majority of the day, until the sun began to set. The moment one of Genesis' suns touched the horizon, a monstrously powerful wind lashed through the area for an instant, tearing apart buildings and knocking people flying.

The brief blast of wind went unfollowed for several seconds, before a dull rumble split the air, which had gone deathly quiet. The clouds above swirled, funneling toward the center of their mass, even as it began to spear down toward the earth below. The twisting mass of clouds impacted the earth like a missile, gouging out a crater many times the size of the actual size of the pillar of twisting winds. A piercing noise, as of a thousand voices screaming in unspeakable agony, tore through the area for an instant.

The wind exploded outward as if a bomb had gone off. Everything within the blast zone was demolished, blasted to vapor by the force behind the screaming winds. When the initial blast settled, there stood but a single man, his eyes closed, silver hair and black coat whipping in the still raging winds. Slowly, his eyes opened, and he stared at the area before him.

It was unknown to him in its entirety. But the area reeked of humans, among other forms of life. And that alone sealed the fate of all that existed upon this planet.

[Ethereal Requiem]

Alright, so this was definitely new.

"Uuwaagh!" Arms flailing wildly, keyblade armor clinking, Sora found himself zooming through the air like a hurricane. Underneath his feet, his newly found Keyblade Glider was out of control, with the boy barely managing to stay on board.

How had he come to be in this situation? Well... To be honest, he wasn't really sure. He'd been taking a nap on the hillside, then suddenly found himself in his Dive to the Heart. A boy was there, Ventus, and he'd simply taken Sora's hand. A moment later, and Sora woke up, clad in the Keyblade Armor. His keyblade had transformed into this, a keyblade glider, the back of Sora's mind whispered, and his natural instinct had been to hop on and take a ride!

A decision that he was kind of regretting now.

Suddenly, there was wind, buildings whipping past him too fast to be seen. Any semblance of control that Sora had felt he had over the situation evaporated faster then the blink of an eye. If he'd looked up at that point, he would have seen an ominous, silver haired man standing in the distance. But he was too busy trying to just stay on his glider.

Suddenly, the entire world was flipping past him. The Keyblade glider had rammed into something, and sent both itself and the boy wheeling through the air. Eyes wide in shock, Sora slammed into the ground and came rolling and bumping to a halt, just a few meters away from Sephiroth, while the glider itself went sailing overhead, to jam itself into the dirt.

"Owww..." Sora groaned, then slowly looked up. Uh oh.

[Cap'n Failz]

His attention was caught by the clumsy youth who came crashing to a halt only a scant few meters before him. He spared a curious, if indifferent, look to the boy, before letting a faint smirk touch his features. The armor he wore was interesting, but would be of almost no use to him. The strange mode of transportation he had lost control of was of some minor interest as well, but he readily disgarded both.

"You."

"Tell me." He swept an arm out to one side, indicating the general area. "This place. Where is it?"

[Ethereal Requiem]

Sora stared up at him in surprise, the armor covering his face sliding back to show the youth's face. Seems like this man was really powerful, judging by all of the destruction that his simple arrival had caused. Looking away from the man for a moment, Sora glanced around the area, frowning. "You destroyed the town." He stated simply, watching the few people remaining stumbling about in a daze. Whether the man had meant to do this or not, he didn't know. But either way, it had certainly caused a problem for the poor townspeople. But there was no time for that. Sora looked back up at him.

"This is the town of Renor, I think." At least, that was what the signboards he'd seen around the area had told him. Not that he thought that they really had a reason to lie to him. What else would be called Renor? "Who are you?" Sora tilted his head at the man slightly, curiously, before getting back up to his feet. He looked so strange, compared to everyone else that he had seen here.

Suddenly, the area around them gave a violent shift, a ripple. One that Sora recognized all too well. "Heartless!" He gasped, jumping to his feet, the Keyblade appearing in his hands with a bright flash of light. Seemed like the emotions that the people of the town had been feeling after that sudden attack had drawn the Heartless. Hundreds, maybe thousands of Heartless appeared, marking the first time that they had gathered in such large numbers. Moments later, they combined together to create one huge Heartless-- A Darkside.

"Stand back, I'll handle this!" Sora told the stranger, turning and running towards the Darkside. Looked like the work of a Keyblade wielder was never over!

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[Cap'n Failz]

The youth showed no fear on his features when he looked up at the son of Jenova. There wasn't even a sign of recognition. That was most curious, and already began to sow a seed of doubt in Sephiroth's mind. Could this not be the Planet after all...? Not the place where he had been born? A most interesting thought, if also somewhat worrying. Now his work was doubly cut out for him. It would take so much effort.... Then the youth spoke up, stating the obvious. And Sephiroth could merely smile and let out a soft chuckle.

"I did nothing to this town that would not have come to it in time." He swept a hand across the town, producing a knife-like whistling noise as it cut through the air. "Its destruction was ordained. I merely made it instant, a gift more than they deserved."

The next question of who he was caused him to frown, his brows furrowing sharply. Then he was correct, this was not the world he had come from. Even the youngest and most cheltered children there knew him by appearance. He was both a legend and a nightmare to them. He was little more than a memory to some, but they all knew just how real -- and just how much of an utter terror -- he was. That was his "gift" to them

As he was to answer the boy's question, he was interrupted by the sudden exclamation of "Heartless!"

The One-Winged Angel cocked an eyebrow, turning his head to one side, and then the other. He had sensed the strange presence and energy several seconds ago, but thought nothing of it. As the strange creatures swarmed up seemingly out of the ground itself, the silver haired terror could only scoff. With a smirk of mild amusement, his fearsome blade flashed into being in his hands. A single sweep and it was held at his side, ready to be used. And as the Heartless pulled themselves together, forming into a much larger form, Sephiroth looked up at it....and he smiled.

No sooner had the youth said he would handle it did Sephiroth launch himself into the fray. He left the ground, shattering it in his wake and leaving a deep crater in the earth. His speed propelled him forward like a bullet, blade first, toward the massive Heartless. His initial strike carried him well past the massive crature, and cleanly sliced off its left arm. He immediately reversed his path and came rocketing back, his second strike cleanly severing the Heartless's right arm. He came to rest on the ground again for but a moment as he launched back up, tearing another chunk of earth out. His thord blow scored a long, shining gash from the peak of the heart-shaped hole in the dark beast's torso, clean up through its neck and on through its head, Sephiroth's momentum carrying him well above the beast and into the air several dozen meters up.

He came to a gradual halt, turning to face down at the beast even as it stumbled and fell, clearly nearly defeated already. His right arm slowly reached for the sky above him, and as he splayed his fingers wide, reaching for the clouds, the sky darkened and the clouds again swirled and twisted, writing about as they formed into a hellish funnel above him. He clenched his fist and brought a mass of cloud down upon the dark beast, boring into it and utterly decimating any chance it had left of rising again.

And Sephiroth himself came down immediately after such a fearsome blow, his sword alight with a wicked golden glow. He struck like a meteor, destroying all traces of the Darkside and releasing a massive blast of fire and darkness and leaving a massive, burning crater scorched in the earth. And slowly he rose to stand as the ash was whipped away in the winds, turning to face the youth.

"As I was going to say, before that little interruption...."

"I....am called Sephiroth."

[Ethereal Requiem]

Darksides were tough, powerful enemies. It took a lot to bring them down. But they were also very slow, and tended to stick to just one area. So as long as you were careful not to get sucked into the darkness they summoned, or slammed by an enormous hand, it would be fine. The appearance of one here though, it seemed rather strange. Was this Organization XIII's doing? But no, that didn't seem very likely. Not yet, at least. They were too busy just trying to find members it seemed. Something that they were succeeding at alarmingly fast. Still! As a Guardian of the Light, he would do whatever he could to stop them. He wasn't along either, all of his friends were there to help him too.

Suddenly, something flashed past the young boy, causing him to falter. A moment later and the long silver haired man had sliced off the arm of the Darkside! The giant Heartless recoiled, the detached arm falling only for a few moments before it faded back into the darkness. It seemed not even a second passed before the other arm followed suit; the giant Heartless gave a roar. Not of anger, or pain, simply a roar. Heartless couldn't feel. But that roar was cut in half the moment that Sephiroth sliced it clean in half.

"...Wow!" Sora gasped, eyes wide in amazement as the man seemed to bring the wrath of the sky itself down on the defeated Heartless. Then, he was forced to look away, bracing himself against the vicious winds that suddenly whipped up after the man's last attack.

Silence, aside from the crackling of flames, and the roar of the wind. Slowly, Sora looked back up at the man, seeing the light of flames dance off of his long blade.

"I....am called Sephiroth."

"My name is Sora!" The young keyblade wielder declared after a moment, running up to the man, nimbly dodging around the flames still crackling on the ground. "How did you do that? Can you teach me how!?" Excitedly, he looked up at Sephiroth. Seriously! Where did someone go to learn to do something like that?

[Cap'n Failz]

His eyes flickered as if they were alive themselves, the flames reflecting eerily in the feline green orbs. Their gaze was locked on the young boy as he stared -- in shock, amazement, fear, or some combination, he knew not. The youth gave his name as "Sora" and broke into a run, approaching the Legendary SOLDIER. Sephiroth calmly turned to fully face the boy as he neared, the blade of Masamune sweeping behind him in his left hand, and glinting red in the firelight as it came to rest against the back of his shoulder. The questions that Sora asked caught the soldier off-guard for a moment, though he quickly regained his composure.

"How I did it is not a thing to be easily explained." Opening the fingers of his left hand, Masamune disappeared in a flash of silvery light, leaving only a few specks of black energy to drift toward the ground. His hand casually swept across the scene, and the flames flared up, as if caught in a strong wind, before flickering violently and sputtering out. "As for teaching you..." His lips curled upward in a smirk of clear amusement. "....I could teach you the method, and perhaps the skill." He tapped his head, as if to indicate the mental side of the matter.

"But the power to actually perform these feats..." His hands dropped loosely to either side, as his smirk faded to a neutral expression. "That...is something you would need to...earn."

[Ethereal Requiem]

justify]
Wide eyed, Sora watched the man. He was so cool, calm, composed. Like there was nothing in the whole world that could really phase him. Excitement sparked through the young boy-- this guy was probably one of the most impressive warriors that he'd ever seen. The keyblade armor dulled somewhat as the raging flames seemed to all but blow themselves out with a single sweep of the man's arm. So those flames had been magical?

Was this guy as strong as any of the other wizards Sora had met? He eyed him curiously, watching. At his words, Sora grinned, somewhat excitedly. "You could?" He ignored the use of 'could' instead of will. Sora was extremely stubborn after all, some way or another, through hell or high water, he would find a way to convince the other man to teach him.

Giving up had never been one of Sora's strong points.

"I'll earn it!" Sora declared, confidently. He was, after all, quite strong, and more important than that, he was willing, wanting. "Just give me a chance, and I'll show you!" The boy grinned, excitedly, looking up at the silver haired man with both confidence and excitement. This would surely be fun.

[/justify][/size][/blockquote][/blockquote]