The Superior's Story

Seth



The ending of a song, as sweet as its first three words, and as sweet as it had been sung, drifted into Seth's ears. He had to assume it was the ending; the slow concluding pace, the mournful tone...almost like the ending of a fairy tale gone wrong. His lips pursed as his eyes instinctively scoured the area for the source of this harmonious song of sorts. It wasn't hard to spot the perpetrator; following his ears, his eyes were lead to the top most of one of the very tall buildings in Hollow Bastion.

Good thing I have good eyes, he thought grinning smugly as he spotted a girl, craning his neck backwards to get a better view. It was hard to make out details from this vantage point, so low below, but from what he could tell, she was preparing to come down. He waited patiently.

It wasn't in Seth's nature to just jump into relationships. He vehemently rebuked that sort of thinking. But it was in his nature to be friendly. And he was a teenage boy. Flirting and the sort were in the fiber of his very being.

Turning away for a moment, he caught glimpse of himself in the reflection of the display glass of one of the stores. His lips twisted into an unruly grin. At six feet tall, it was hard for Seth to tell if his height was an advantage or a disadvantage. The sheer length of his body would never betray his age; but his face and proportions were another story. He was still filling out, growing out of that teenage disposition. His jaw was still only in the process of hardening out of its prior roundness, and his legs and arms, while not immediately obvious, had outgrown his body. In basic, he was just a tall, lanky, teen, lucky enough not have acne.

He sighed, turning back around. If mom was right he would "grow up" one day.

By the time he had turned on his heels he realized a very odd thing. The top of the building was no longer occupied. Which meant....ah! There she was! The dark maroon hair was a key indicator, something that had been recognizable, even with the height of the building.

"Hey, miss!" He called, his long legs striding easily to catch up to her, "Was that you singing up there? You have a really beautiful voice," he flashed an inviting grin, olive green eyes smiling along with his face. Internally he grimaced as he felt his teenage boy instincts kicking in. Even if guys showed it less, they had doubts too. Doubts about messing up, saying the wrong thing, getting girls on their bad side....and God knows how girls are when they're angry at you.

Nexree

Traveling through the Corridors of Darkness should have been unsettling to any normal person. They weren't a happy place, weren't a place any sane person would want to traverse. But here, without emotions, Nexree felt no aversion towards the convenient travel system the Organization harnessed to their use. She sighed, guessing this would be the time to be "unhappy" or "discontented". Xato, as was The Superior's name, had given them bare, almost annoying orders (she was wishing she could feel annoyance right about now).

She grudged along int he Corridors, dreading the meeting she would have with her boss. But it felt needed. She had been given almost empty orders, devoid of any meaning if there was no starting point. For all Xato knew, she could go around jerking off and he would be unaware of it.

Or would he?

It was an unsettling thought. What if Xato knew they're every move? What if he stalked them? Maybe he had a magic ball he glanced into every so often to check up on their progress. She swallowed noisily and imagined she would be feeling anxiety right about now.

And so, with psuedo-anxiety in her empty chest, she allowed herself into the halls of the Castle that Never Was. This was her unwilling home now, where she ate, slept, and performed other bodily functioned that caused her to question her "emptiness". He was there, as usual. Tall, imposing, and all over very threatening. She imagined if she had been able to feel, she would have felt disconcerting nervousness, and immense fear. Her lips pursed. Ironically, he face away from her.

She coughed quietly before addressing him, "Superior," She called carefully, pronouncing the name with caution. NO ONE ever called Xato by his name. While they didn't feel fear, they certainly understood death. And the threat of death surrounded this man, "About those orders. Exactly where would you want me to start?"

Her brows crumpled together. She knew he would stare at her with those ice hard eyes of his and reprimand her in some way. All of sudden, she felt the need to further expand on her question, "I mean, I'm sure you know more of this than I do. And honestly," she chuckled for a small moment, finding the word "honestly" to be "funny"; she couldn't feel honesty, "I don't have an clear and direct intuition on where any of these new Keybearers are..." she cut herself off, realizing she was drawling on. Snapping into a straighter position, she patiently awaited her orders like any good soldier would.

He had hardly dared to hope -or what passed for it in this empty existence- that he could predict the powers of Light as well as he could those of the Darkness, and yet he had been accurate in assuming that there would be more Keybearers to replace those that were lost.

It as also logical to assume that these keybearers would start out young and inexperienced, and in this too, he had thus far been accurate. He was very pleased... or what passed for it.

Yet, as one of his allies stepped out of a portal behind him and he turned slowly to face her, none of this showed on his face. His expression was not only unreadable, it was written in a dead and long forgotten language. He had somewhat expected for some to want elaboration on his orders. They had, after all, been dreadfully vague. Deliberately so.

"You could use the Heartless or even the lower Nobodies to your advantage to locate the Keyblades..." His tone was thoughtful, as if merely pointing out a fact.

In truth, while he probably seemed woefully absent minded to his allies... he didn't much care how they accomplished their goals. The task was simple... keep an eye on the Keybearers and help them do what they were already going to be doing. All the Organization had to do was keep a few things secret.

He seemed to come to a decision. "Hmm... very well. I have recently learned that a young girl in Wonderland was seen handling a unique weapon."

He had his doubts about this report. The world itself was unusual and illogical; a weapon like the Keyblade would probably fit right in. Yet the witness seemed to think that it was strange enough to attract the Organization's interest.

"If you wish to have somewhere to start, you may go there and investigate. Determine if the girl in question wields a Keyblade and how much she knows. If she does possess a Keyblade... it will be your job to ensure that she is on the right path. If she doesn't, and you find that she knows too much, erase her."

The Superior started to turn away, but paused halfway through, as if he'd forgotten something. It was an almost human thing to do. He removed a small but weighty bag from an inner coat pocket and held it out to Nexree.

"Oh, and give this to the concerned shopkeep who was kind enough to report the stranger, even if his lead is revealed to be useless. The Organization always rewards those brave enough to confide in us."

It was hard to say if he was being sarcastic; his tone was as indifferent as usual, his face carved from stone. Then he turned in a clear dismissal and continued down the hall.

(Changed my post a bit to target Freya, hope neither of you mind)

Paintrix was planning his next move outside The Superior’s room waiting to give his report. He could try the befriending plan again but if he ran into those two then it would be ruined. Most of his other plans he could pull off right now relied on releasing heartless, well mainly the two that hated each other, but it would be funny to release them from their cages, what was once the beast and his enemy Gasgon, no, Gaspon, closer, Gaston that was his name. Well it would be funny to release them and watch anyone they meet become heartless, but it was time to give his report.

“Sir, I found a young shield dog and a keyblader, but I lost them when No. III broke my cover, I was in the process of trying to join their group, I believe that she was vindictive because I encroached on her territory; her blunder has cost us a valuable chance for info on world hearts, the king, and potential to turn a keyblader to our side. I was wondering if you have an item that will allow me to disguise myself so that I might try again. I’ll stand outside while you think this info over, if you don’t believe I should have such an item I’ll probably go on a rampage creating more heartless.”