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Key to The Heart (SilentProtagonist x SweetMarie)

TheSilentProtagonist

TheSilentProtagonist

Star
Joined
Nov 1, 2014
Harik has had enough. The fire haired young man has been training in the art of using a keyblade since he was old enough to walk. Now in his twenties, he’d grown into a strong, quick-witted warrior. The years of training helped to develop his 6’1” body into a lean athletic build, his naturally bronzed skin appreciating the extra color the sun’s kiss gave him. His hazel eyes always had a glint of mischief to them, some plan constantly at work in the back of his mind as he adjusted his course of action to suit the current situation. Twenty long years, he’d been training, and it should have been worth it. Today of all days, he should have earned his mark of mastery.

That didn’t happen though. Harik dressed in his best suit, a fine black jacket and pants with a crimson red shirt, and gone to the hall where the other trainees would be. There he waited practically shaking in his shoes for Master Xine to make the announcement that he’d passed the mark of mastery. When it came time though, all the keyblade master had to say was that Harik wasn’t ready yet. “You’re too impulsive. You can’t control your emotion or your drive. The risk of you welcoming darkness into your heart is too great.” The answer had shocked the keyblade wielder so much that he’d stormed out of the hall in anger, forgetting completely about the day’s lesson.

Now Harik finds himself sitting on the pier, staring out at the night sky. Reaching his hand up, the young man silently calls out for his keyblade, the Crimson Star. The hefty weapon appears in his hand, its long red blade ending with a star pointed tip. “I will see the other worlds.” Harik decides, standing up and pointing his weapon to the heavens as he makes his declaration. “I don’t care if they say I’m not a master. I’m ready! I won’t stay here anymore when there’s an entire universe to explore!”

The lights are off all around the island. Only the stars provide any illumination. Harik never bothered changing from his suit, but he doesn't need to worry about that anyways. His red and silver armor covers him from head to foot, serving as protection from the dangers that traveling between worlds brings. He's observed the masters enough to know how this should work. Holding out the keyblade, he wills it to turn into something he can ride. It resembles a motorcycle in a way, though the lack of wheels makes the term inappropriate. Getting on his Crimson Star, he gives one last look back at the only home he's ever known before lifting off and traveling to worlds unknown.
 
Ree was happy today was the day she would be told if she was ready to be a Master. The pure white haired female had been training for this day since she was five years old and now here she was looking to be a Keyblade Master though she wasn’t as old as most of the others she was just as skilled as them. Being almost twenty she had grown to be smart, brave, and strong like all those around her. The training had toned her 5’6’’ body into something even an athletic person would die for. Her skin was pale much like porcelain and clear of any blemishes. Though she loved to be in the sun she almost never seemed to tan out like the others. Her pale blue eyes seemed to catch any light to make them sparkle like the twinkling stars at night. This was her time to learn whether if she earned the mark of being a master or not.

Ree had put on a white dress that hugged her curves and flared out at her hips. It had a thick stripe that went down her sides and were a deep dark blue that almost seemed black. She had on the same color blue leggings that stopped just above the knees. She stood along with the other trainees and looked around at each of them taking in their looks of hope. She stopped and stared at Harik as his hope to become a Keyblade Master was worn on his handsome face. She wondered if such a man was really ready to become a so called master and she would find out soon enough. They all stood waiting for Master Xine to come and announce if you had passed or not. Of course Ree watched at Master Xine had announced that Harik wasn’t ready for the name of a master. She lowered her head she felt bad for the poor man but they were most likely right and he wasn’t ready. When everything was over only a few had actually passed onto Mastery and Ree was one of those few. She hadn’t gloated it wasn’t something she did. She was in so much shock the days lesson seemed to be unheard to her shock of the day.

Ree had finally found herself sitting on the edge of her window seil looking out at the night sky. She looked down to where Harik sat on the pier. Though she couldn’t make him out completely she knew it was him from his fire red hair. His hand reached up as if trying to grab the stars or call them to him. The words of his failure echoed in Ree’s mind she felt bad for him but he wasn’t ready. Then his Keyblade was in his hand and she leaned back into the window well with a grin. She wondered what he was doing and watched him closely. Ree wished she were down next to him to hear what he was saying to the nothingness around him.

It was so dark outside from the lack of lights on in the city but there were the lights from the stars that shinned with a brightness that would have beaten the lights from the town. She couldn’t believe that he had kept his suit on it looked more uncomfortable then what she wore but then again she wasn’t a man. Her body edge to the tip of the window as she watched him move. He was going to do it! She shook her head he wasn’t a master he wasn’t ready to travel between worlds. If the masters found out about this he’d be in so much trouble. “Don’t do it.” She muttered to herself as if she were his conscious. “Harik don’t!” she screamed from her window knowing well enough that he wouldn’t hear her but she couldn’t stop herself from trying to warn him. His feet were off the ground before she could run off to stop him. “No, no, no, no!” she screamed off as he disappeared to travel to unknown worlds. She didn’t know what to do she had to talk to someone who could tell her what to do.
 
Harik never hears the voice call out to him. Maybe if he did, then he would stay behind, if only because of Ree. He has no idea she’s seen him. Then again, maybe that wouldn’t have made a difference. He’d been here longer than her, but still she made master before him. Maybe his jealousy at that one fact would have made all the difference in the world. Harik wants to explore the new worlds, and truth be told, there’s no telling if anything on this one would have stopped him. Looking to the heavens, his vehicle lifts into the air before thundering off towards the nearest star.

Immediately, as soon as he’s in space, Harik feels the grip of darkness reaching for him. That’s what the armor is for though, to protect him from it. It does the job well enough, but the keyblade wielder knows that he can’t stay like this forever. The further he gets from the only home he’s ever known, the stronger it feels like the darkness becomes. “I can’t give up.” He mutters to himself, leaning in close and driving himself to keep going further. Just when it seems bleakest, and the grip seems to be at its worst, he sees it, an odd looking planet that he can finally land on!

Harik makes a beeline for the jungle world, swerving through the trees until finding a safe clearing to land on. His armor vanishes and the keyblade returns to normal. Looking around, Harik expects to only hear the rustling trees, but it feels like hundreds of sounds mixing together in an odd cacophony. Crickets chirping, birds squaking, a running stream nearby, and various cries and roars of animals. The noise surrounds him from all sides. This deep jungle was very much alive. Smiling widely, Harik moves forward, eager to explore it all.
 
Ree clung to her window as she watched Harik. She knew he wouldn’t hear her from so far away but she prayed he’d be smart enough to not take off to another world where the dangers awaited everyone who ventured out there. She wondered if Harik would have actually left if he had known she was watching him from afar. She figured most likely he would have run just to spit her for having passed and he didn’t. Ree bit her lower lip she was a master even though she wasn’t as old as him or had done this as long. She knew Harik wanted to explore the worlds around them but the masters told him he wasn’t ready. “Don’t do it!” Ree said watching his vehicle lift up into the air and then just as quickly as he was there he was gone. “Damn you Harik.” She growled jumping from her window into her room.

Ree grabbed her jacket that was pure white with blue lining around the wrists by the zipper and over the pockets. “He’s so going to be in trouble.” Ree said walking outside and flicked her wrist her keyblade appeared in her hand and she twisted it from side to side as if making sure it was the right one. The long white blade was long with a crescent moon in black white a white star sitting on the tip of the crescent moon. She sighed loudly she didn’t want to leave her home at least not yet but she needed to bring Harik back before he got into big trouble. She was going to be very theatrical and she threw the sword in the air and as it shifted in front of her it formed into a motorcycle but it didn’t look like it had wheels that moved. It was navy blue with white designs all over it and she grinned and jumped on it with excitement.

This was going to be the first time Ree ever got out into the world and here she was feeling excited but somewhat unprepared for this. She slid onto her motorcycle and leaned down as it shifted into more of a space shift and she took off after Harik muttering to herself in anger that she was going to have to get him back here and then kick his ass. She followed a trail he left behind the path was cleared of the darkness just enough that Ree didn’t have to worry too much about herself. She looked at the world Harik had lead her too and she slowed down wondering if she should turn around or not. She shook her head and shot herself into this new world.

The world was a jungle filled with things she never thought she would see. The land was thick with vegetation of all kinds with trees that towered over her like sky scrapers. Ree walked around looking more for Harik but also looking at was around her, she couldn’t help but be happy to see the outside world. She could hear things like crickets chirping around her and bird songs she’d heard on tapes and running water somewhere nearby and then cries of animals she couldn’t see. She shifted in her spot and nodded this wasn’t the time to take in the world around her it was time to bring Harik back home with her.
 
Harik doesn’t waste much time when he lands. For all he knows, the masters could have already sent someone after him. “That’s assuming they care enough to.” He remarks as he begins to walk away from the clearing. Still, even if they did, there’s no telling where the other person would be now. Plantary rotations and the time difference means they could end up in different spots, or he might walk right into one of the other keyblade wielders as they’re landing. He isn’t too worried about this though. If the Mark of Mastery was based solely on pure combat ability, then Harik would have made the cut a long time ago.

There might not be another person holding a keyblade here, but as Harik walks, he has the distinct feeling that he’s being watched. Every rustle of a leaf or odd noise in the wind has him look around quickly. Was there someone or something following him? “Who’s out there? Show yourself!” He cries out, holding his weapon up defensively. Harik’s main specialty is quick wild attacks supplemented with fire magic. As he moves around, he starts to realize that might be a disadvantage here. The lack of space to move around and the overabundance of flammable items means it could be a disaster if he isn’t careful. Still, he’d figure something out. The young would be master is resourceful.

Seeing a group of vines start to shuffle, Harik grins. “Gotcha!” He shouts out as he jumps, swinging his blade to cut at the vines. As the weapon hits into something thick hided, it causes Harik to bounce back. “What the…” He begins to mutter before his eyes widen as he realizes what he struck. The large gorilla steps slowly out of the vines, bearing its teeth at Harik. It inhales deeply before leaning close to him and letting out a large roar of anger. As two massive fists come down to smash Harik where he stands, the keyblade wielder quickly rolls to the side, barely avoiding the hit. He’s about to retaliate with his own attack before stopping. That would be interfering, and while he’d come to this world to explore, he still can’t bring himself to break even more rules.

“There!” Someone suddenly cries out, his voice immediately followed by the sound of loud gunfire. Harik flinches instinctively, and the gorilla turns to roar at the source of the noise. As it charges towards it, the gorilla’s steps become uneven before it starts to get unbalanced. Slowly, it falls to the ground with a loud thud, clearly knocked out. “That may have been my best shot yet. Don’t you think, boys?” The man’s voice says as he comes out from the trees. The burly, large chinned man is clearly dressed for travel, carrying a long double-barreled rifle. As he orders the people with him to net the gorilla and get it loaded, he notices Harik. Eyeing the keyblade wielder suspiciously, the man starts to lift his weapon up. “Hello there, and who might you be?” He asks warily.

Relieved to see another human, Harik smiles and bows his head respectively. “Hi, my name’s Harik. Sorry, I was traveling and ended up lost here. Thanks, you really helped me out of a bind there!” He says, holding out his hand. The man doesn’t lift his gaze right away, taking a moment to appraise how honest the boy is. Finally, he shakes Harik’s hand before saying that he’s Clayton.

“The professor I’m with has a campsite not too far from here. Let’s see about you, shall we?” He says before walking ahead, back the way he came.
 
Ree walked around grumbling to herself she wanted to see the worlds but she wanted even more to drag Harik back home where he still belonged and away from danger he most likely wasn’t ready for. She took a deep breath trying to calm herself as she did normally to keep herself from going crazy. “Harik!” she yelled out now regretting it. After all she was in a strange world who knows who she’d run into, and of course no surprise there was no answer. She knew the second she saw him she was going to drag him back home and kick his butt before taking him back to the masters he disobeyed.

Ree flinched at the sound of gun fire in the distance guns were never a good thing they were dangerous and normally something she didn’t like being around. “Shoot.” She said she didn’t want to go in that direction but knowing Harik he would have followed that sound like a mouth to a fire. She shivered and started to walk in that direction when she bumped into or more like ran into a gorilla. “I’m sorry…” she said looking up at the very beautiful silver back female gorilla. She watched Ree with tentative eyes as if to say it was alright. “Please forgive me I mean no harm.” She said slowly backing up her gorilla was probably very rusty and most likely she was saying it wrong but the female looked at her almost taken back by a human being able to speak to her. “My name is Kala.” She said softly and Ree looked at her she didn’t know how to say her name in gorilla so she decided the closest thing to her name “I am Rain.” She said and Kala laughed and Ree blushed furiously her face turning red in embarrassment. “I’m looking for a human named Harik he’s god hair that is fire colored…” she paused wondering if Kala had ever seen fire before and then saw a red flower “That color.”

Kala shook her head as if to say no she hadn’t seen him “But maybe Tarzan has.” Kala said moving and motioning for Ree to follow her. Ree of course wasn’t going to leave the gorilla and followed close behind her. “Tarzan is most likely with Terk and their playmates you’ll find them that way.” She said pointing straight ahead and Ree walked in the direction. There weren’t any gorilla’s but there were humans a young women with thick brown hair and tanned skin and a very muscular male and thick tan skin. “Tarzan?” Ree said in the gorilla language she forgot to stop using. His eyes widened in joy that someone other than him could speak in the language his most like had been emerged in all his life. “I am Tarzan.” He said in English and Ree smiled she was glade to be able to speak English. “I’m Ree.” She said her hand on her chest “I’m Jane.” The women said pointing herself out. “Hello.” Ree said softly bowing her head “I’m here looking for a friend I was wondering if you could help me.” Ree then explained that her friend Harik ran away and she was coming to bring him back and that she was wondering if they could help her. “Of course we’ll help you dear.” Jane said softly with a sweet smile that seemed to fit her. “Thank you so much.” Ree said “We’ll go talk to my father he’ll be able to help and maybe we can get Clayton’s help.” She said as both Tarzan and Jane lead the way.

They arrived at the campsite where a short and elderly man stood playing around with things and a tea cup sitting next to him he reached out grabbing a glass beaker and started to put it to his lips when Ree grabbed it. “I think this is what you were reaching for sir.” She said holding out the tea cup. “Thank you child…” she said starting to drink but then stopped almost spit his tea out and stared at Ree for a few seconds. “Another human?” he said wanting to circle her and Ree looked at Jane “Yes father but not like Tarzan she’s not from here her friend ran away and ended up here.” Jane informed him “She needs our help.” Tarzan said as if he were having trouble getting the words out and Ree smiled and nodded letting Tarzan know he said it correctly. “Ah well you’re friend what does he look like?” asked the elderly man and Ree began to describe Harik once again in greater detail her eyes closed she could easily see him. “It seems you have a thing for this Harik.” Jane said in a whisper to Ree and Ree’s eyes popped open and her face turned red. “No!” she blurted out “He’s just a friend… sort of.” They all eyed her and Jane smiled widely as if she knew a secret Ree didn’t.
 
The journey through the jungle is much easier now that he has a few companions. There’s something odd about the men though, Harik notes, but isn’t quick to jump to any conclusions. Even if they’re talking in hushed tones and appear a bit suspicious, they did help him against the gorilla. They can’t be all bad, as far as he’s concerned. As they start to reach the tents, Harik suddenly sees a familiar sight that makes him stop though. Was that… what was Ree doing here?! So someone already found him, but why would they send a girl who just made master. Well, it could be that she isn’t alone. Not having been spotted yet, Harik remains in the trees, falling back deeper into the jungle.

To his surprise, Clayton catches up to him quick. “I’m uh…” Harik tries to think of how he can explain the situation. “I’m not actually supposed to be here.” He finally admits. “That girl back at camp, she followed me here and will try to make me go back. I’d rather avoid a fight, especially against a woman.” That, the older gentleman seems to understand.

“Of course, it would be quite unchivalrous.” He says, walking alongside Harik. “Why would she do it though? Is there some reward for her bringing you back?”

Harik shakes his head. “No, we don’t often deal with money or anything where I’m from. For the most part, it’s likely all that will happen is she’ll get praised for a good job.” He explains to Clayton, his voice a bit incredulous.

“Oh.” The older man replies, sounding rather disappointed. Harik raises an eyebrow but doesn’t think too much of it. Clayton nods and starts leading the way. “Right then, well, I can understand the stress of dealing with authorities. Often times, it can just lead to stressful situations. So come along then. I think I can help to keep you hidden somewhere for now until she leaves. How does that sound?” Clayton offers. Right now, his men would be loading the gorilla onto the ship anyways, so he would tell them afterwards to not speak a word about the boy they met to anyone else.
 
The elderly man looked over Ree a few times as if trying to decide where she was from exactly and how she had gotten her. “Did you get her by ship and did your friend?” he asked and Ree bit her lower lip she didn’t know how to answer that so she nodded “Sort of.” She answered and looked at Tarzan. “Then let’s find his ship.” She elderly man said and Ree winced “I don’t think you’ll find it. I couldn’t and I know what I’m looking for.” She informed him and he said as they walked over to a tent and Jane grabbed some cookies and tea for them. “I suppose we could put the search off of the gorrela’s for a while…” The man said almost sad and Ree shock her head no. “Don’t do that I’m just we can do both for now.” She informed him placing her hand on his shoulder.

Then she felt it, something strange and familiar. She turned her head looking around “Harik.” She muttered just loud enough for the other three to hear her but no one else. She tried to find him it felt so much like him but there was someone or something almost blocking his aura or something of that sort. “Can you sense him?” Tarzan asked in a low voice and Ree looked at him and shrugged “I don’t know I mean it seemed familiar but different.” She sighed “I want to find him and take him home before he gets into trouble.” She tucked a stray stand of hair behind her ear and looked down at the ground. “There’s gorilla prints.” She pointed down at the moist ground and they all looked down with her in wonderment.

“We had gorilla’s here!” the elderly man said with glee almost jumping up and down and Ree looked at him like he was crazy. She traced the outline of the foot print and thought about Harik. Sure she was mad at him for leaving but if she could get him back in enough time that no one would notice maybe he wouldn’t get into too much trouble, but she was sure Harik wouldn’t listen to her after all she had conceded where he failed and she was younger and less experienced then she was.

Ree stood back up and looked around the camp site there was a large mess that Ree and the others hadn’t noticed before and her brow wrinkled “Looks like a couple of them had been here.” She said looking around as if tracking them. “Terk.” Tarzan muttered under his breath in gorilla and Ree looked at him with a smile “A friend I suppose right Tarzan?” she chuckled as she spoke gorilla to him so the other two didn’t know what they were saying and he nodded. “Doesn’t look like anything is to badly damaged.” The elderly man said “But some of my china is ruined.” Jane said with a sigh. “they must have had a lot of fun in camp.” Ree laughed loudly and looked back in the direction where she thought Harik was and sighed long and low.

For all this trouble Harik better be worth it to her and he was. He was worth a lot to her even though he didn’t pay much attention to her and he probably hated her cause she surpassed him in training and became a master at a younger age and before him. She wondered if he hated her cause of it. “Please don’t hate me Harik.” She whispered softly to herself and went back to listening to Jane and the elderly man try and convince Tarzan to bring them to the gorillas.
 
Harik really can’t thank Clayton enough for helping him. “All I ever wanted was to explore beyond my home. They insisted I wasn’t ready. That I would interfere and be too rash. They ignored all my skill, my power, my strength! All they really seem to care about is pomp and circumstance, and upholding some old tradition that doesn’t even seem to make any sense.” The keyblade wielder complains, glad to finally have someone he can explain all this to. “So really, thanks for helping me get away from her. You don’t know how much this means to me.” Harik says, smiling at the man.

Clayton turns back and smiles at Harik. “No, I think I understand it well.” The guide explains that he always felt that authorities tended to just get in the way of letting men do things as they should. That a girl younger and smaller than Harik was sent to bring him back only served to show how little the other masters thought of him. “Believe me, this is not my first time skirting with what some claim is proper order. They immediately turn down the way I choose to do things because it makes it unfair to them. That’s all the rules are supposed to do, stop those who are able from winning against those who aren’t.” Clayton sound almost angry as he talks, leading them both further into the jungle.

Soon enough, the two come across a large cavern hidden away by a multitude of vines. “In here, no one should be able to find you.” Clayton explains. “I’ll come back to get you after the coast is clear and your young lady friend has gone.” The guide promises with a smile before turning and leaving. Harik thanks him once again. When alone, he lets out an annoyed sigh. So much for exploring. Well, he figures. If Clayton doesn’t report back soon, then Harik figures he would just head out and try to leave the world. As much as he doesn’t want to abandon this one already, trying to stay ahead of Ree may be his best bet.
 
Ree stood there a smile plastered on her pretty face but her mind was on Harik she could have sworn she felt him but there was something off about it, as if it were almost being blocked by something else. Ree shook her head she didn’t have time to doddle around she had to find Harik now and bring him home so that he wouldn’t get into trouble and so she wouldn’t either. Sure Ree was a master now but it didn’t give her free rein to just leave at any time and to go just anywhere, there were rules and Ree followed them to a tee that is till now. Why was it Harik seemed to bring out the worst in her? She looked over at Tarzan “I don’t know how much longer I can wait for this Clayton I need to find him and take him back before he gets into trouble.” Ree said biting and pulling on her lower lip a nervous tick she had gained since joining the academy.

“We can go talk to my friends.” Tarzan said to Ree in gorilla and Ree nodded and pulled a dog whistle out of her pocket and tossed it to Jane. “We’re going to search for Harik blow this when you see Clayton and I’ll hear it.” Ree said eyeing him and Jane looked at it oddly “But it’s a dog whistle…” she said almost like she didn’t believe that Ree could hear such a pitch. “Trust me Jane I can hear it.” Ree said with a nod and motioned for Tarzan to lead the way. If she could find someone who could lead her to Harik ape or human she didn’t care she just needed to get him back home and unharmed.

Tarzan took off in a full sprint that Ree had a bit of trouble keeping up with it wasn’t every day that you had to keep up with an ape man in a territory that was made of vines and trees. “Tarzan where are we going?” Ree asked as she sped up just a bit so that her strides where longer. She didn’t want to have Tarzan slow down but it was getting incredibly hard to keep up with such long legs. “We’ll go talk to Terk and the others if anyone has seen anything Terk would know.” Tarzan said and Ree nodded “Then we better hurry I don’t want to lose him before even trying to talk to him.”

It took Tarzan a lot longer to get to where they were going and most of it was just so that Ree could keep up with him, though he didn’t complain maybe because he was starting to get used to being slower with having Jane around with him. “This Terk… is she an ape?” Ree said climbing a tree the best she could which was probably sloppy in ape terms. “Yes she’s a good friend of mine we grew up together.” Tarzan said reaching out his hand to help Ree and she took it. It was nice having someone’s help. “thank you.” She said as he pulled her the rest of the way up and a smaller but large enough Ape jumped down from some hidden place.

“What’s this you got her Tarzan?” she asked pocking and proding Ree like she thought Ree couldn’t understand her “I’m not a what I’m a who.” Ree said snapping at Terk or who she assumed was Terk. The gorilla’s mouth dropped open as if the thought of another human speaking the language of apes was impossible. “It speaks!” She said with attitude and then feel over laughing hysterically “You found one that can speak to us Tarzan!” She said and Ree looked at Tarzan “Listen I don’t have time for this…” Ree said as Terk slowed down from her laughter and looked at Tarzan “It’s important Terk.” Tarzan nodded “She’s looking for a male human.” Tarzan added “With hair that the color of blood.” He said thinking of something red and Ree smiled she’d never compared Harik’s hair to blood but it was the color. Terk thought about it as if going over it in her mind “I think so but that kid was heading your way Tarzan.” Terk said sitting down.

“So it was him I felt!” Ree said with joy but then why was it that he felt so different not like himself? She shivered and wondered what it could have been that had hidden his aura from her. “He couldn’t be to far… did you see anyone else Terk?” Ree asked getting ahead of herself and Terk just looked at her like she was speaking another language and then she remembered she was speaking English and then asked her once again this time making sure she would understand her. “Nah. Though I’ve been seeing this one human a lot lately gotta keep away from him he’s something dangerous everyone out there’s been scared of him. And we got some of use missing too Tarzan.” She said looking over at Tarzan like he would or could do something about the missing Apes and animals within the jungle.

“We’ll look into that too Terk thanks.” Ree said bowing slightly to the young ape and she looked at her almost like she was crazy and shrugged “See ya around Tarzan.” Terk said jumping off and disappearing into the thick jungle. This was great now Ree knew Harik was there that she did feel him not that long ago. He was on this planet and had to be close now it was time to send out a search party for him.
 
Harik does his best to keep track of time. Clayton doesn’t come back soon at all. If the keyblade wielder has to guess, it’s because Ree isn’t planning on leaving anytime soon. She would know that he’s here, and pursue him as well as she could. Well then, he figures. If she isn’t giving up, then he just can’t stick around. First he decides to leave a note in case Clayton does come back looking for him, the Harik heads back out of the cave and into the jungle. What he needs is to find a safe clearing where he can lift off from while also avoiding Ree seeing him take off. To do that, he’ll have to put distance between them, and preferably leave in the day time so that he doesn’t stick out against the night sky.

Venturing once again through the trees, Harik walks around admittedly aimlessly. He doesn’t know where Ree is, so he’ll just have to hope that he can somehow keep his distance from her for a while. A roar throughout the jungle has him summoning his keyblade while looking around, trying to figure out what that was. All the animals in the trees begin to freak out. Harik has to stop and concentrate for a minute to understand the ones whose language he knew. He admittedly never had been too good at other languages, so it takes him a bit of time.

Finally though, he’s able to make out what’s being said. Something about Sabor being here. This has Harik’s full attention now. He knows how he can properly help this world if everyone is afraid of this creature. Keeping his weapon at the ready, he ventures deeper into the jungle, cutting away at any vines that get in his way. Whatever happens, he wants to be prepared for the worst. Soon enough, the keyblade wielder is left with the distinct impression again that he’s being followed. This is different from last time though, and feels much more sinister.

It’s only when he comes upon a stream though that the hairs stand up on the back of his head. Dodging to the right as he turns around and holds his blade up, Harik manages to just deflect the claw of a large leapord. The creature lands a few feet from him and begins to prowl around. “I’ll take it you’re Sabor, aren’t you?” He asks. There’s no response though, the leapord only snarling at him. The absence of other noise, signifying that other animals have run off pretty much confirms his suspicions though. Well then, Harik thinks. This works for him. He holds the blade down and charges forward.

Sabor leaps towards Harik again, but he quickly sidesteps and retaliates with a smack to her side. Sabor roars at that, turning faster than the Keyblade wielder expected. He cries out in pain as her claws hit his left arm, leaving a rip in his suit with three scratch marks showing red. “Dammit…” He mutters, jumping back. When Sabor leaps at him again, Harik calls on what magic he knows. His specialty is fire, but simply casting and blasting wasn’t his forte. His main method tended to be focusing it on his keyblade, engulfing the weapon in flames to power up his strikes.

Sabor’s eyes go wide and her brief moment of hesitation allows Harik to get a clean strike in against her head. The leapord roars out loud enough to echo through the whole jungle before leaping back to put distance between herself and her opponent. Digging his heel into the ground, Harik jumps forward at the same time that Sabor jumps back. His blade barely connects with her belly. It doesn’t cut her, but it does send her to get knocked back into the water of the stream.

The keyblade wielder lands and kneels down, watching the river closely. Was that it? Was it enough? Movement across the water tells him otherwise though as Sabor comes out on the opposite coast, drenched and looking worse for the wear. She roars at Harik before turning and running back into the jungle to recover. Letting out a relieved sigh, Harik plops down on the ground, not even caring that his suit is getting covered in mud. He’ll figure out what to do about his clothes some other time. For now, he drinks up some water and washes off his minor injury, taking the time to rest and recover after that fight.
 
Ree couldn’t wait she needed to find out where Harik was and waiting wasn’t an option any more. “Tarzan what’s the biggest problem going on besides the disappearance of the creatures here?” She asked closing her eyes trying to think of where Harik might be. “Other than that I guess it would be Sabor…” he said as if thinking about it. “Sabor?” Ree questioned him and Tarzan nodded they weren’t talking English it was an old habit Tarzan had and Marie wanted to brush up on as much gorilla as possible so she continued speaking it. “Sabor is a leopard.” Tarzan informed Ree and she nodded. “that’s where Harik will be I have no doubt he wants adventure and defeating something or someone like Sabor will put him in high spirits.” Ree said with a nod as if she knew exactly what she was talking about.

Tarzan raised an eyebrow almost like he couldn’t believe someone would go after Sabor. “Where would this Sabor hunt?” Ree asked and Tarzan glared at her as if telling her he wasn’t going to let her go there to her death without a weapon. Ree sighed with frustration she swore she didn’t look like she was so weak she’d need a weapon but she obviously did to Tarzan. She swung her hand down and her Keyblade appeared in her hand with a small jewel hanging from the bottom that wasn’t there before. “That’s new.” She said looking at the jewel that swung as she moved her hand around with the sword. “See got protection.” She grinned at Tarzan stared at the weapon within her hand. “Now will you take me?” she asked bringing Tarzan out of his frozen stupor.

It didn’t take much to convince Tarzan to take her where she wanted… no needed to go. She followed Tarzan a big quicker then before and grinned it wasn’t this easy to keep up with Tarzan before. She grinned as they raced around the tree’s like they were on a slide from one tree branch to another until they came to a hault and Ree almost went skidding down to her death. “Sabor’s hunting grounds.” He motioned to almost the entire jungle and Ree’s mouth dropped this was going to be like a needle in a haystack.

Well this sucked and Ree was getting tired of waiting she was going to get something to drink from that river maybe swim for a minute or two and then search once again for him. “Can we go to the river Tarzan?” she asked him as sweetly as she could muster but it wasn’t very sweet. Tarzan nodded he could tell that she was starting to get annoyed with the fact she couldn’t find her friend or whatever this Harik kid was to her.

A roar echoed within the jungle and Ree looked at Tarzan questioning what that was with her eyes. “Sabor.” Tarzan said in a hushed voice almost shocked at the fact the large cat had made a sort of sound like the one they had just heard. “Does not sound right.” Tarzan added and then took off in a full on sprint and Ree followed “What do you mean…” she echoed after him keeping up with his strides. “Why doesn’t it sound right?”

Tarzan didn’t answer he wouldn’t have to by the time they got there they saw the river and Harik. Ree froze in her spot she looked around fort the leapord but some nothing. Then it popped out on the other side of the river and Ree let out a sigh of relief sort of. It was good that they had found Harik but now that leopard wanted to sink it’s fangs inside Harik more so then before.

“Harik!” Ree said jumping from the trees while his back was to her and she knocked him over straddling him and pinning him so he was on her stomach and not moving. “Where have you been?” she snarled at him “Why’d you run?” she questioned there were a tone more questions on her mind but right now she wanted to only know those two. “We need to go back you’re not a master yet.” She stared Harik in the eyes “When we’re both masters we can hop one world to another all you want.” Ree said and Tarzan looked at the two of them with great confusion as if they were speaking gibberish.

Ree wasn’t sure if Harik was mad at her but if he was she’d deal with it when they got back if she could drag him back. “Harik this is Tarzan, Tarzan Harik.” She motioned to the two of them. “Jane will be happy to know you have found your mate.” Tarzan said almost dumbly and Ree shook her head “No friend Tarzan.” Ree said still holding onto Harik so he couldn’t run away without hurting her and she was sure he didn’t want to do that.
 
While resting, Harik reflects on the fight. Something had seemed odd about it, but when caught up in the moment, the keyblade wielder didn't really take the time to think everything through. Now that he has a moment though, Harik starts to remember what he'd learned back on the island. Every world is unique, bringing its rules with it. Some lands are nothing but jungles. Others are submerged under the sea. Some were populated by only dogs or cats, or everything known to exist. No matter how many worlds someone visits, eah and every one will be unique in some way. That is the rule.

However, despite this rule, there are certain similarities in how things will happen. Non sentient characters very rarely deviate from a norm. Predators will hunt prey. Smaller animals will run and hide, only fighting when they have to. Nothing that relies on instinct will enter a fight with a creature it couldn't have a strong advantage over, and will generally choose to retreat if things look dangerous. When Sabor saw Harik's keyblade, and then when he ignited it, that should have been enough to scare the leapord off. That's not what happened though. Instead, it continued to attack the young man, only running away when it had thoroughly lost. That had been... wrong.

Harik continues wondering about this for a moment. Could it be that he's remembering things wrong, or that this world is an exception to the rules? No, not likely. If it was, and so close to their home, then he's sure they would have discussed it before. So that would mean one alternative. This leapord, Sabor, whatever was happening, it was the result of an outside force. Now Harik is too curious about this world to want to leave immediately. While fighting the leapord again likely isn't a good idea, his curiosity is piqued and he wants to explore the jungle for a while longer.

Just as Harik begins to stand up, his name being called out catches him by surprise, allowing Ree to pin him. "What the, crap!" He shouts, falling back. He immediately tries to get up, starting to push Ree off him. "Come on!" He shouts, but she seems to keep a good grip on him, all things considered. "Forget it, Ree. I'm not going back! Not yet, at least..." He mutters the last part, starting to stand up. "I'm already going to be in trouble. Who knows what Master Xine is going to do when or if I go back. I'm free right now. I'm free to explore, so I might as well enjoy it while I can." Harik tells the keyblade master, looking her right in the eyes so she can see just how serious he is. The rareness of that alone puts more weight behind what Harik is saying. He's usually the type to like a joke and be rather light hearted, even shooting quips while fighting. When he wasn't smiling, people tended to notice it.

The young man looks over to Tarzan, examining him closely before nodding his head respectfully. "Hi." He says. This Tarzan was... completely different from the other men that Harik met. He looks leaner than Clayton and the others. Something about him seemed more wild too, and it wasn't just his being underdressed. His poise, constantly crouched low somehow reminds Harik of the gorila he ran into when he first arrived. Ree seemed to trust him though, so Harik doesn't immediately jump to any conclusions. He figures the man doesn't mean him any harm right now, and was just acting as a guide for the girl much like Clayton did for him. Speaking of which, Harik decides against telling anyone else of the man who helped him, not wanting to get him into any trouble on his account.

Harik cracks up laughing at Tarzan's assumption. "No, definitely not a mate." He says, though admittedly, he wouldn't exactly mind that outcome. Ree was a pretty girl, and he'd watched her with appreciation more than a few times. Still, this isn't really the time to worry about that. "She's just chasing after me. Not that I can blame her, of course. All the ladies do at some point." He says with a joke before facing Ree again. "Now come on, let go!" He pulls his hand hard, breaking it free from the girl's and stepping back. "I can't go back, alright? I can't. Not yet..." He mutters, assuming a defensive stance.

Looking back to where Sabor had run off, he mentions what he noticed. "There was something weird about that leapord, and I want to figure out what it is. That's what we're supposed to do, isn't it?" Harik asks, summoning his keyblade. "It's why we have these in the first place! If the creatures and people in a world are acting in a way that goes against the natural balance, then it's the duty of a keyblade holder to find out why and fix it. So that's what I'm going to do!"
 
Ree stared down at Harik as he shouted up at her trying to push her off him and really it wouldn’t have taken too much effort on his part if he really wanted her off of him then again she liked being on top of him. She stared down at him watching and listening to his protests of having to go back. She hadn’t told Master Xine that he had left and she wondered if she should tell him that and decided she would soon and maybe that would make him feel better about going home. “Harik you’re not a master yet it’s too dangerous for you.” She knew he was serious and she sighed he wasn’t going to come back not without a fight and Ree was in no mood to fight him.

When Ree introduced Harik and Tarzan she grinned with pride as if she were showing off something more than a friend and watched as Harik looked over Tarzan. Ree turned red at Tarzan’s words of mates and said they weren’t but it still kind of hurt that he agreed that they weren’t. She looked at him and if he looked at her he would have seen those words stung. Though she knew it wasn’t the time or place to be thinking of Harik romantically though she couldn’t get it out of her mind.

Ree looked at Harik as he attempted to make a joke which sort of took her off guard. Had others chased after him too? She knew he wasn’t talking about people coming here looking for him but girls chasing after him as a sort of prize. She wanted to punch him for trying to make himself look so desirable even if he was. “Not all.” She said rolling her eyes “I have no interest in him one bit.” She added matter of fact even if it was a lie she didn’t want him knowing she liked him.
Ree looked at her empty hand as he yanked himself away from her grip and she frowned deeply. “But you will go back?” she watched him as he took a defensive stance. She wouldn’t force him to go back at least not yet there were things she wanted to do here too. She knew there were animals going missing from the jungle and that smelled like trouble to her.

Ree nodded it was what they were supposed to do she guessed it wouldn’t hurt to let him have some bit of free reign here if it meant that she could do her thing and find out where all the animals were disappearing too. “Ok Harik, you can stay and figure out what’s going on here, WITH ME and then we’re going back home and you will face my wrath.” She grinned she had no wrath. “I have somethings I wanna check in on as well, so let’s start with yours I think it’ll solve my problem if we start with yours.” She grabbed his wrist and slapped a stainless steel cuff around it with a grin. “So I can find you wherever you go.” She grinned tapping it with her index finger with a large grin on her pretty face.

The stainless steel cuff was tight around his wrist not so much that it cut off circulation but tight enough so he couldn’t slide it off and the thing looked like it was one solid piece of metal that wrapped around his wrist and didn’t have a breaking point and was about an inch wide and as thick as paper around his wrist though it weighed a fair amount and would be cold against his skin. “Now you can’t run away from me and disappear.” She grinned widely and slapped one around her wrist though hers was a black metallic. “My own invention!” she grinned widely.
 
"It's not too dangerous." Harik insists. "I can handle myself. You know that. I'm the best fighter back on the island. I won't get beaten so easily. Everything will be fine." He assures Ree with a broad grin, confident in his own skill. Okay, he may not be the best ever at the island. Rather, the best among the trainees. Harik still has his doubts as to how he'd do against Master Xine. He gets the feeling that while he'd be able to at least stand against him for a while, he still would end up losing in an even match. Either way, the young man would love the chance to test his skill against him some day.

Ree's quick denial actually brings a smirk to Harik's face. He had just been teasing about the whole getting chased around thing, and Ree's overassertion that they aren't mates seems to be a bit much for something she insists is true. So it seems likely to him that the girl is just an incredibly bad liar who at best is being dishonest to herself. He just chuckles about it. Now isn't the time to push for how she really feels, after all. There are more important things to deal with than potential romance, after all.

The question brings Harik out of his stance as he looks to the ground. Would he go back? "I... probably..." That's the most he can give right now, not wanting to promise anymore. Would he even be accepted back? That isn't something he really wants to consider right now. The potential punishment of not showing back up right away. Well, maybe it doesn't even matter anymore. He's broken a pretty big rule just by coming to this world. The interaction took it further, and straight up fighting a creature of the world kind of went against preserving the balance, at least, that's how the masters would see it.

He nods to Ree. "Fine, I"ll go with you for now." He mutters in agreement. If things don't go as planned, well, he'd find some way out of it. All he has to do is get some distance between them to ride away. Harik figures that won't be too difficult to pull off on its own. Turning to walk away, he nods again at Ree's plan. "Alright yeah, let's go after Sabor so we can find out what the hey is this?!" He shouts in surpise as the cuff appears on his wrist. He tries to shake it off before hitting it with his palm.

"Lets you find me, huh?" Harik asks, clearly digruntled. Still, at least it won't be tethering them together or something. He can work with this and find some way out of it. Maybe his keyblade could unlock it? Or if he put enough distance between them... well either way, this isn't something he can worry over now. For now, it's just a trinket on his wrist and a cute girl chasing after him. Both are things he doesn't particularly mind too much. "Alright, fine then, let's go. The cat ran off that way!" He shouts with excitement before running ahead of the other two. He leaps over the river, using a burst of flame to carry him across.

Landing on the other side, Harik doesn't take a moment to pause as he runs into the jungle. The leapord's footprints start to space out, but they at least give Harik enough of something to follow. A gut feeling tells him that Sabor wouldn't hide from a fight anyways. No, she'll probably try to meet him for a rematch soon enough. Harik figures he's gotten a good head start over Ree and Tarzan to where they'd have to struggle to catch up. So when the tall feral man swings past him on a vine, the keyblade wielder is caught by surprise. Well fine then, that doesn't matter too much. The important thing to Harik right now is finding the leapord and figuring out exactly what's going on with her. The animals going missing comes after that. Was it really so odd though? In the wild, with so many dangerous things lurking around, isn't dissapearance and death common? No, he's sure it's something other than that, just like Sabor's aggressiveness.
 
Ree grinned widely at Harik and her cuff she placed around her right wrist. She was going to make sure she could find him even if he ran away from her in the future. She wasn’t sure if he would go back to their island or not, so if he decided not to she was going to chase after him and bring him back with her, and he couldn’t hide from her. In a little while that cuff would basically fuss into his skin and the only way it would come off is if she put a code in that she knew that Harik would never get. She grinned at the cleverness of herself as he looked down baffled at his new cuff.

She nodded with a wide mischievous grin that told him she would find him no matter where he went even if he ran. She had no doubt that Harik wanted it off him but that wasn’t going to happen. Sure they were tethered together like she would have liked but she figured Harik would be against it and opted for the cuff. She watched him looking at the cuff and she sighed “Your keyblade won’t unlock it Harik. It’s code only and I know the code.” She said almost as if she could read his mind, more like she could read his face. “Plus in a few seconds it’ll fuse with your skin and you won’t be able to break it off…. 5, 4, 3, 2, and…. 1.” She grinned looking at his arm and the mettle of the cuff seemed to thin and become something like his own skin. “It’ll still come off with the code.” She grinned widely with how smart she was.

Ree looked at him slightly taken back by the fact he seemed alright with the cuff on his wrist and then pointed to where the ‘cat’ had taken off at. She sighed annoyed and rolled her eyes as he leaped over the river with a burst of flames. Ree looked over at Tarzan and nodded he was going to be much faster than her in the jungle so he would watch Harik for her. “Thanks.” He spoke ape-ish for him and he nodded taking off after him Ree sucked in her lower lip she took her keyblade moved so it was pointing down to the earth.

Ree took a deep breath and like Harik she could use fire but she preferred not too it was an element that was to unpredictable especially in a jungle. She swiped her sword down and behind her and the rivers water spilled out and formed what would look like a bridge made of liquid. She walked over to the edge tapped it with her foot she had done this once before and feel through and soaked herself to the bone and she so wasn’t doing that here. She felt it was solid and crossed the river and took off after Harik and Tarzan. She looked down at the little jewel thing hanging off her sword and wondered if this was somehow helping her magic stronger or if she was just stronger than before.

Ree knew she was well beyond behind Harik and Tarzan and she heard something. Ree frozen in her spot something was wrong. She turned her head in the direction she felt a darkness coming from. Ree looked where she knew Harik was and the direction of the darkness she could feel. She stood there only letting the distance between Harik and her grow. She shook her head she needed to see this thing she needed to stop it. She knew Tarzan would watch Harik so she took off after the darkness that she could sense. “Sorry Harik I’ve gotta see this.” She whispered more to herself as the dashed off where she knew the problem laid.
 
The thing about the cuff that surprises Harik the most s that it seems so weightless. He’s able to move his arm around without any extra energy needed to be exerted. He’d be worried if it affected his swing speed in any way. Looking back, he’s a bit surprised to see Ree run off in a different direction, but figures he’ll leave her to whatever she’s doing. Right now he needs to worry about finding Sabor, after all. The leopard had left a pretty obvious trail for him to follow during the chase. He realizes there’s a good chance this was intentional. Could the large beast be that intelligent?

“Do you see her?” Harik shouts up into the trees. There’s no reply from Tarzan, but following him isn’t too difficult as he continues swinging with ease through the vines. The keyblade wielder wishes he could move like that right now. The best he can do is use his fiery leaps, which now in the middle of the jungle would be a pretty stupid endeavor. Instead, he settles for just running through and following Tarzan as closely as he can. It’s not long after all before they come across a clearing. The other man lands on his feet and one hand, his other one gripping a spear tightly. He’s sniffing and looking around, clearly trying to pick up on where Sabor went.

Tarzan suddenly snaps back around and shouts out a warning, but Harik is already expecting it. Turning and leaping back, he brings up his arm with the cuff on it. Sure enough, the leopard jumps out of the brush, its teeth trying to sink into the magical armlet and failing. She leaps back and roars before crouching and growling. Tarzan moves to the other side, but Harik gives him a sharp look. “Me alone.” He says gruffly. The other man seems to consider this for a moment before slowly backing up. “Perfect…” Harik mutters, leaping forward to attack his foe.
 
Ree stood in her spot for a few minutes before she decided Tarzan and Harik would be fine without her. Then for a split second and only for a split second she wondered if she would be fine without them. She quickly tossed that thought out of her head and took off in the direction that the darkness was pulsating at. Sure Ree wasn’t positive how she was going to destroy the thing or if she could, she just knew she had to try.

Ree’s ran like there was nothing under her dodging and darting through large trees and vines. It was as if everywhere Ree turned there was another tree or impossibly large vine trying to hinder her from getting closer to the darkness that pulsed and almost begged for her. “Damn it.” She huffed ducking under another oversized vine. If Ree kept up this she was sure she’d be too tired to fight this thing before she even got to it. Ree closed her eyes and let out a long slow sigh of frustration exit her lips and spill out into the empty air around her.

She hadn’t noticed before that as she grew closer to the darkness the sounds of the jungle had slowly began to diminish to the point that sound was just a thought in her mind. This wasn’t good. Ree knew she wasn’t to the point where she could face this type of darkness on her own. Her mind raced along with her heart she didn’t like this type of silence it was defining. No she wasn’t ready to face it alone she had to get Harik she needed him to help her defeat whatever it was that was in the forest.

When Ree turned around something grabbed her, a scream shoot out of her mouth loud and harsh even to her own ears. That scream echoed within the darkness it was almost as if it was trying to keep itself concealed like it knew if it was released from its grasps someone would come to help her. “HARIK!” Ree screamed as darkness seemed to envelope her completely and only her scream for help would be found.
 
The leopard quickly avoids Harik’s first attack, leaping to the left. She had learned from their last fight, it seems, and is planning to avoid Harik’s moves while looking for an opening to attack. Unfortunately for Sabor, the keyblade wielder has more tricks up his sleeve than she knew about already. He leaps towards the creature again, bringing his keyblade down, but of course, the leopard sidesteps the attack. What Sabor didn’t see coming though was the burst of flame that surrounds Harik. It’s short, so as not to burn the vegetation, but the intense heat and fire lick at the leopard, causing her to roar out and jump back.

Tarzan watches on with amazement. He’d had his doubts that this boy could actually take on a creature like Sabor on his own, but clearly these two humans were extremely powerful in ways gorillas weren’t. He keeps his distance from the fight, knowing the importance of shows of strength. He’d had similar situations in his own past. Looking around, something seems odd though, and he starts to climb a tree. Sniffing the air and looking around, listening to the sounds of the jungle, the feral man realizes what the problem is. “Harik!” He shouts out, landing back on the ground. “Ree gone.” He informs the keyblade wielder, no longer able to sense the girl.

“What?” Harik shouts out in surprise. The pause is long enough for Sabor to lunge at him, but the young man focuses quickly, knocking her back with a red glowing barrier. He reaches out with his senses, trying to find Ree, but can’t pick up where she is. “Oh no…” He mutters under his breath, feeling like something is extremely wrong here. Sabor roars as she stands back up, prowling around Harik in search of another opening. Harik grits his teeth. “Tarzan, can you fight the thing?” He asks, not taking his eyes off the leopard. Tarzan answers in the affirmative and jumps over to Sabor’s flank. She jumps back, watching both of them cautiously. “Thanks!” Harik says, blasting one more fireball at the leopard to keep her off guard as Tarzan lunges forward. With that, Harik retreats into the jungle trying to track what way Ree went to find out what happened to her.
 
Something slipped around Rees ankle and yanked harshly making her legs go backwards and her body lurching forwards. She hit the ground hard and if it weren’t for her quick reaction she probably would have busted her nose. There was a sort of scream almost ear shattering and when she realized it had come from her she was horrified. She didn’t see anything around her that could have grabbed her and made her fall. Either this thing was fast or she was dealing with something very, very scary. Her eyes widened at what was forming in front of her or maybe what wasn’t forming. A large black mass formed in front of her growing in size almost as if it was enveloping the forest around her. “No.” she screamed backing up “HARIK!” she screamed once and only once when the darkness swallowed her.

Ree’s hands rose as if to block whatever kind of attack was heading her way but nothing happened. She looked around there was just darkness pure and simple darkness. Ree shivered at the coldness around her that wanted so badly to engulf her. “Hello.” Ree said standing up she didn’t know where she was but she was sure it wasn’t the jungle. “Anyone there?” she asked almost in a whisper. Just as soon as her mouth opened she wished it had stayed shut. “Heartless!” she said almost flabbergasted. There were heartless here!!!! Her hand swung down to her side and as she did something else appeared along with all the heartless, was her very own heartless. She shivered as it mimicked her movements her Keyblade in her own hand. Even though she couldn’t see a smile on her personal heartless she knew it was there.

“Harik where are you?” she whispered more to herself than anything else. Ree took a long calming breath this heartless wasn’t going to make the first move and Ree was sure she wasn’t going to get out of here without defeating her personal heartless. She shifted her right leg behind her and with a quick movement she launched herself at the heartless that was her own. It moved with the same smooth agility as her and, dodged as Ree attacked it was going to be an interesting fight. Ree was going to have to try something other than her typical moves. Jumping back Ree flicked her arm up raising the keyblade to height range of the heartless she slashed the blade in the open air making an X shape with a dash in the middle. It was easy to see it if you were behind her and she thrust her sword forward almost as if she were opening a lock herself. The heartless watched her with wonder and if her own had a face she was sure it’s have a very toothy smile as the wind entered into the battle sending her hair forward hitting the heartless and sending them flying leaving only her own heartless behind.
 
Harik runs back the way he came, heading towards the river where he first fought Sabor. From there, he can retrace Ree’s steps to figure out exactly where she went. There’s an odd force pulling at him that he’s unfamiliar with, and it worries the key blade wielder. There’s something, well, dark about it, and he’s not sure what to make of that. He’ll have to figure things out when he gets there. Harik isn’t a pushover, after all. He’s a competent and powerful fighter. He’s confident in Ree’s skill too. She didn’t become a master for no reason, after all. He may have been angry and jealous that she received the mark before him, but he didn’t for one second feel she didn’t deserve it.

Upon reaching the river, Harik turns on the spot and starts to look around. There’s something off in the distance, he’s sure of it. Worse than that though, any trail he can pick up on Ree ends there. “Okay, just hold on. I’m coming.” He mutters under his breath before running forward at full burst in search of the white haired girl. The trail is easy enough to navigate, and it’s not difficult to tell he’s on the right path. Everything is getting quieter as he moves, starting to feel more desolate. Not even any insects are staying close to whatever this thing is. Natural instincts dictate running away at full burst. Harik does the exact opposite, launching himself forward at top speed, hoping to reach Ree before it’s too late. What it might be too late for… well, he’s not really sure. Whatever it is though, can’t be a good thing.

Sure enough, the swirling mass of darkness that seems to be expanding looks like nothing but pure trouble. Harik stops in front of it, his keyblade at the ready. “Ree!” He shouts out, hoping to find her in it. The darkness seems to move towards him, hoping to entrap his body. Dodging to the side, Harik lobs a fireball forward. Whether it’s actually effective or not is hard to tell. From inside, some small creature steps out. Its head seems too small for its body, and the black shadowy figure ends in tendrils of darkness with large yellow eyes looking around everywhere. It looked unnatural and cause Harik to take a step back. He’d only ever heard of heartless and seen them in books. This was his first time looking at one in person. Shaking his head, he realizes now is not the time to be frozen in surprise. “Get away from here!” He shouts, leaping forward and swinging his blade at it, connecting hard. It retaliates with a claw swipe at his chest, but after a hit from Sabor, that felt like nothing. A fire infused slash is enough to end the creature when some odd glowing heart comes out of it. Harik decides to worry about that later. Ree is still somewhere in there, and he needs to find her. Without hesitating, he charges straight into the darkness, yelling at the top of his lungs for Ree.
 
There Ree stood her body ready for what she had set her mind too. She was going to fight this heartless win and then find out where the source was coming from. After all that was done she’d head back with our without Harik for the time being. The Masters had to know how close this thing was to them and she was sure they would be of great assistance. Ree balanced her body standing on her tip toes as she shifted in her spot letting her weight slide to the middle and watched as her double did almost the same thing as her. It was odd that this heartless was copying her to a tee.

Fine, if this thing wasn’t going to attack Ree was going to make the first move and attack it. She shifted allowing her magic to help her with her movements. She slid into a run or maybe it was a dash. She ran at full force and the heartless followed exactly the same way ready for Ree’s attack. Ree dodged and sliced her keyblade at the black mass that was a heartless and shaped exactly as her. It would have been cool to see something like this if this was in a safe place like home and were thousands of other masters would be.

As she turned to face her heartless a fireball blasted in at her and just missed her heartless and headed straight at Ree’s head. “Shit!” she ducked giving the heartless an entertaining show of Ree’s hair singed and turning the bottom a black color. She looked down at the frayed and burnt eyes angry with the fact her beautiful white hair had been changed. “I’m going to kill him.” She growled to herself and ran at full sprint at the heartless and her keyblade cut through the heartless and exploded leaving a heart in its place.

“Hu.” She huffed and looked at the heart that seemed to float in front of her. Whatever this thing was she wasn’t going to live it in the darkness. She reached out took a hold of it and suddenly it just disappeared. She looked at her empty hand and wrinkled her brow. “What the hell?” she muttered and looked at her once fried hair was back to normal and her bruised and beaten body was healed too. “Interesting...” She whispered to herself wandering if that heart healed her in some way or maybe made her stronger.

Ree could hear something she wasn’t sure what it was saying but she was sure it was Harik or maybe a trick. “HARIK?” she yelled out and started running in the direction she assumed was where the voice was coming from but within the darkness you never know where you’ll end up.
 
Harik is sure he heard someone yell out, and as such moves towards the source of the noise. It’s his best course of action to find Ree. The darkness continues to grip at Harik. He can feel it trying to reach out and consume him, but he refuses to be taken so easily. As he charges through it, more heartless seem to start forming, but Harik doesn’t even give them time to finish growing out of the shadows before striking them down. There’s no time to waste, after all. The longer he waits around, the more likely it is that Ree will be in serious danger.

Appearing in a circle, the keyblade wielder looks around. She isn’t here, but something is pulling him to this location. Holding the Crimson Star up, he looks around to keep from being ambushed. It turns out that’s not what Harik has to fear. The tendrils of darkness seem to start pulling together, forming a large mass of black snake like limbs. It doesn’t stop growing and combining, all while moving towards Harik. A pair of deep purple orbs appear that he can only guess are the creature’s eyes, and the pair of them stare him down. It brings up a large, well, Harik can only call it an arm as it swings it down to smash into him.

“Just what are you supposed to be?!” Harik shouts in surprise, swiftly dodging its first attack, though the sheer force of it knocks him back. ”Well, whatever you are, it doesn’t matter. You’re going down either way!” Leaping at the heartless, he’s caught by surprise as it swiftly locks eyes with him, the tendrils suddenly reaching out and grabbing the keyblade wielder, holding him in place. “H-hey! What the!” He starts to shout before it moves closer, at dark purple orbs staring right into him. There’s a sudden blast of darkness. Harik doesn’t know what it is, but it knocks his head back and leaves him feeling dazed.

“Just what was that?” Harik asks himself before looking up and seeing that the heartless is about to bring its arm down on him again. “No!” He shouts. Raising his keyblade high, he cries out, a barrier of fire surrounding him and knocking the foe’s attack back before it strikes him. Gathering the flames around his weapon, he leaps up to retaliate, but the smack against its chest seems ineffective. “Ugh, you want me hitting your eyes instead, don’t you?” Harik mutters through gritted teeth as he quickly pieces together his primary strategy.

Blasting a fireball, the Heartless recoils when the attack meets its intended target, forcing it to cover its face. This only causes to unleash a savage combination of swipes and slams, forcing Harik on the defensive to avoid it. “Okay, this is going to be harder than I thought!” He says, keeping his distance as he starts looking for an opening. He’s starting to evaluate his options when from the darkness, he sees someone else emerge. “Ree!” Harik shouts out in excitement, glad to see she’s okay.
 
Ree ran within the darkness and it seemed to let her through without touching her like it had something bigger on its line that it needed its attention on. Was this thing after Harik? Was he winning or losing? Those thoughts filled her mind to the brim and almost flooded over. Harik was more than capable on facing the heartless but what if this was more than just a heartless, and would he be able to handle it alone while she was running to him? She wasn’t sure.

Sure Ree knew Harik and herself had never faced anything like the heartless but they knew of them so they knew what they could and couldn’t do and how they were supposed to be shaped. Though Ree wasn’t sure why one looked like herself. Maybe once you became a master you learned about these little things and Harik wasn’t ready for this stuff or at least the masters didn’t think he was. She quickened her pace a bit in hopes that he didn’t run into anything worse than she did.

Ree’s fingers gripped tightly to her keyblade and her eyes widened to the site before her. Her feet slowed Harik was fighting a heartless but it wasn’t just any kind of heartless. She was out of site for Harik as she thought of what to do she stepped out into his field of site and her head lowered and her feet moved in unison as he shouted her name most likely glade to see her and she froze in her spot at his glee. It was odd she never thought he’d seem too happy to see her.

Ree cocked her head to the side and grinned “Didn’t think I’d let you have all the fun did you.” She tossed her Keyblade in her hand sifting it from side to side faster and faster until it looked as though there were two blades on either side of the hilt that she held within her hand. “That was fun.” She muttered to herself as she stopped moving and held what looked like a new keyblade in her hand, but it wasn’t just a keyblade it was something altogether different.

A KeyBlade Bow! It was larger than her Keyblade and if she set it down on the ground beneath her it would stand almost as tall as she was but weighed nothing in her hands. There was a thin silver string that if you didn’t catch it on light you would never know it was there. Ree grinned “Are you ok Harik?” she asked she was better at fighting away from things then up close for the pure fact she probably wasn’t as fast as Harik. She aimed her bow up slightly aiming for the heartless eyes pulled on the invisible string and released nothing into the air until something red hit one of the orbs floating around and sparked.
 
Throughout the battle, Harik is trying to figure out just what this thing is. Obviously it’s a heartless, yeah, but it’s huge. He could probably run up its arm if he tried. What sort of creature could this be a heartless for exactly? Well, hold on now… he’s trying to remember his lessons if he can. The heartless don’t always take the shape of the creature they come from. Rather, it’s based on the hatred and power of whatever was there. So then, that means that… whatever this thing came from must have had a strong will or something. Harik lets out a groan, unable to remember the exact details off the top of his head.

Seeing Ree is a breath of fresh air. Okay, so the bow thing is pretty cool, and Harik isn’t going to complain about not being able to do it. He’s not a fan of long range weapons anyways, preferring to get up close and personal when he can. “I couldn’t be better!” He shouts to Ree, though it’s a bit of a lie. Something feels off, but he won’t let it get in the way. Besides, physically he feels okay. As the almost invisible arrow is shot at the creature’s eye, Harik leaps into the air, pummeling his keyblade into its chest and using that to send him further up towards the purple orbs of the giant heartless.

As its head is knocked by the blast from Ree’s bow, Harik’s flame engulfed keyblade comes down on one of the eyes, stabbing hard into it. There’s… well, not exactly a roar, but the ground shakes and the wind howls as Harik is shot back from the heartless. It covers its damaged orb with one appendage and swings at him with the other, though Harik manages to barely avoids getting hit by the attack. “I think he’s angry now.” He comments to the white haired girl. Sure enough, as the heartless stands back up, it brings both appendages together and slams them down at the ground. Spikes of jagged rock shoot up as the area begins to crack and darkness starts seeping in.

There isn’t really anything to do to avoid the attack as the whole earth shakes under them, fissures appearing to knock the two off balances. Worse still, this retaliation from the heartless seems to cause a group of the small shadow like ones Harik fought earlier to start appearing. Clenching his teeth as they start to surround the duo, Harik looks to Ree. “Alright, you stay back and fire shots at them, I’ll keep their attention!” He says, not even sure if she would listen to him. As multiple heartless jump at him to attack, the young man surrounds himself with a ring of fire, forcing them to flinch back. “Right, I’m coming for you!” He shouts at the top of his lungs before charging towards the large creature again. Most of the shadows follow him, though a couple stay behind to attack Ree instead.
 
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