-Off the coast of Grimmoire-


The seas were rough, large swells high as mountains were being thrashed about. Thunder and lightning could be heard not far off, and the heavy rain that was pouring down wasn’t really helping with the Apollo’s dire situation. But it wasn’t anything that the massive ship couldn’t handle, the designers were prepared for much worse and made sure that the large ship wouldn’t run into many troubles out at sea. It was a truly beautifully designed machine, a fortress in it’s own right. The massive carrier could have seemed a bit much for what it was being used for, but the precautions were very necessary. Massive gun turrets lined the outside of the boat, and there were countless steel reinforcements that ran along the top of the deck. For such a large ship it required very little crew to man it, only a couple people to drive it and a handful of guards to make sure that no one got too out of hand, although it was unlikely give the state of the art facilities that the prisoners were in.

It was a dark room, with only a few dim lights circling around the cage like containers. The room was basically a large circle, the prisoners cages rounding the edges of the room, making it impossible to escape out of the sides. The only two guards in the room stood with shotguns raised, a little cautious because of the oddly open environment that they were in at the moment. But there was little need for them to worry, the cages were lined with some of the most powerful hexes known to man, creating a sort of magical force field surrounding the prisoners. Despite this though, the two guards seemed to be still very cautious, they knew not to underestimate any of the inmates and they’d seen first hand what they were capable of. They stood nervously near the only exit to the room, a large platform that rose to the upper decks whenever the operator would receive a call from the two guards. This of course meant that there was no possible means of escaping, the only way in or out was by way of something that wasn’t even in the room.
“God damnit… Why the hell do we gotta guard the prisoners… they give me the creeps” one of the guards mumbled.

There was a sudden flash of lightning, followed by an eerily loud crash of thunder. This thunder boomed onwards for what seemed to be an eternity, catching the attention of both the guards. The two men looked back at each other, each with an equally unsure smile from the terrible sound that they’d just heard. Sure the two men were trained to tone out such noises coming from the cells, but this noise came from above them, it came from where they were supposed to be safe.

Several dark and cloaked figures floated peacefully just above the hull of the thrashing ship. The three all looked to have been completely unfazed by the horrible sting of the weather, standing calm as the water rushed past their bodies. Two of the figures looked to have been male, one that was much larger than the other one, having several rounded looking shapes stitched into his dark cloak. The smaller male was much skinnier than the first, and this one had several boxes stitched into his clothing. Finally, the female member of the group, who had dark locks of hair that fell out from behind her shaded hood, had triangle looking figures upon her cloak. All three of their faces were shrouded in darkness, and it was almost as if they didn’t even have faces at all. The large man slowly raised his hand into the air, a soft blue light began to shimmer from his fingertips.

There was another lurching sound that came from the ship, however this time, all of the crewmembers and inmates could have felt a sudden jolt. The ship began to move in a new direction, something that didn’t really seem possible for something as massive as the Apollo. It began to raise into the air, slowly lifting out of the dark and swirling mess that was an ocean. A good portion of the ship itself was now glowing much like the dark figure’s hand was, and it was as if the man wasn’t having much trouble doing such an incredible task.

As soon as the ship was fully raised into the air, the large man tilted his head towards the smaller male.
“Vox, what do you want of them?” the man asked plainly, almost having a bit of irritation within his voice. The man named Vox continued to look down upon the floating ship, raising his hand up to his chin and rubbing it as if he had delved into deep though. The female member of the group simply let out an irritated groan and began to run her fingers through her black hair.
“I still say that we should just kill all of them now… don’t you think so too Vound?” she said in a somewhat mocking and obnoxious sort of tone, trying her best to break the large man’s concentration.
“Vangle… I swear I’ll…” the large man seemed to say through grinding teeth, only to be cut off by Vox raising his hand into the air.
“No… you know that we cannot do that… or at least not now we can’t…” his words seemed to instantly quell the other two’s arguing.
“Hmph… whatever you say… but I still think you should let us have a bit of fun…” the girl said in a somewhat bored tone of voice. Vox tilted his head to look back at the girl, and even though you couldn’t see his face, you could still tell that he was smiling.
“Don’t worry, you’ll get your chance…” he turned to Vound.
“We’ll be dropping them off in quite a few different locations… that should by them some time to get away from the coastline… especially if we put them into places that aren’t usual for a shipwreck…” he said as his face turned back down towards the ship. Suddenly a voice seemed to echo within the minds of all the inmates, a voice that began to slowly slip all of them deeper into unconsciousness.
“Sleep well my friends… for tomorrow… you’ll all be free…”



-The morning, several locations on the coast of Grimmoire-

The Apollo, once a great ship but now nothing more than a graveyard of destruction. Much like a beached whale, a good portion the massive ship sat helplessly on the shore. Metal beams and turrets were torn to shreds, and the waterlogged behemoth was but a shell of it’s former self. But there was a bright side to the scene though, the sun had finally come out, much like it normally would on any other day. All traces of the storm were gone, and the only thing left was a few sparse clouds that lined the sky.

It was morning now, and all of the inmates suddenly felt rejuvenated, as if a trance had been lifted and they were now free to do as they pleased. Their cells were open, free from all of the spells that bound them together. Nearby in a storage crate lay all of their personal affects, just laying in wait for someone to grab them. It almost seemed too perfect…




-Rottingham Castle: Throne Room-

A man sat upon a beautifully crafted and elegant chair, one that certainly was befitting that of any kind of king. It was obvious that this man hade a great deal of power, his posture, poise, everything about him just seemed to be completely perfect. But what was also clear, was the fact that the man seemed to have let all of the power go right to his head, and his ego just poured off of the man’s expression. He had beautiful hair, that of which was neatly combed and completely unaffected by the delicate looking crown that sat upon the top of his head. His eyes stared forwards at the group of soldiers that were gathered before him, all of whom were respected members of the Everafter facility, one of the man’s most prominent business ventures. The man was staring silently at one person in particular, another man who’s ego seemed to clash with that of the king himself.

The soldier was almost a mirror image of the king, not physically, but in all other aspects that seemed to define a man. His clothes were white, having gold and silver etchings that signified his high ranking of major. He had blonde hair, that of which was very long and seemed to have been well taken care of. The soldier stood proudly, eyeing up the king with an equally egotistical and arrogant looking smirk. His finger raised into the air suddenly, tapping onto the side of his cheek gingerly as he began to pace back and forth, taking his eyes away from the king as he began to walk.
“You know something my dear Prince Charming… I do so love your style…” he stopped walking, pointing his finger towards the seemingly unmoved king.
“You’ve been so kind as to offer us such wondrous hospitality that my words could never even begin to express my deep gratitude for it all!” the man was starting to ramble on and on, it was clearly apparent that the man liked hearing himself speak.

“If there’s anything else that you need Major Requiem… please let me know, because I’d much rather have your stay here being as brief as possible…” it was now clear which of the two were more malevolent, the Major seemed much more innocent and cheerful when he spoke, whereas the king seemed a bit more harsh when speaking towards others. The king’s words instantly halted the major’s rant, and inspite of the king’s harshness, he seemed completely unfazed by it.
“Ah of course my glorious king… we would never want to trouble someone as generous as you for too long, that’s for certain…” he said in a polite bow.

“You’ve got to be kidding… this king is an even bigger douche than the…” one of the soldier’s voices was suddenly cut short with a loud snap followed by a pain filled groan. The major’s foot slammed unnoticed into that of his lieutenant’s foot, causing his subordinate to suddenly shut his mouth. He didn’t even realize that his commander had heard him, and he knew that later on he’d be getting reemed out by Requiem. Stumpo let out a small sigh, wriggling his toes and hoping that their little scuffle had gone unnoticed by all of the others. The lieutenant was a slightly shorter man than that of the commander, having short black hair, cut into a spiky and somewhat military looking sort of style. He was very young looking, perhaps in his early twenties or late teens, and was very handsome even when compared to the two other men who seemed to have been hogging up the attention of the entire room.

It was clear that he wasn’t enjoying his stay there, even if it was part of the whole training program that all of them were forced to participate in. He really didn’t feel like teaching a bunch of knights how to deal with people who had special abilities, it was all just such a bother in his opinion, even if this prick of a king was the main sponsor to the asylum itself. His purple eyes twisted to the person who was sitting next to the king, a somewhat tired looking woman who was apparently the queen of the castle. He couldn’t help but let out a small and unnoticeable chuckle, thinking how funny it was that someone could actually put up with someone like the king.



((A little note, all of the people in Rottingham are in the throne room, and no one knows about the escape just yet…. HAVE FUN FOLKS!!!))

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~Inside the Apollo~
Kaguya was the first to step out of her cage, her bamboo shoes clicking slightly in the floor. She moved over to the broken crate, and her eyes roamed over the objects inside until she found exactly what she was looking for. First she picked up a small wooden fan, and tucked it into her obi, and left the string hanging over in case she wanted to wear it around her wrist and hide the fan inside her sleeve. The second thing she picked up was a long, dark blue ribbon, which she used to tie some of her hair back, so that she could see without having to push her long hair out of the way. Finally, she picked up a paper umbrella, painted in the same color as her kimono, and wraped it's tie around her wrist, and let th parasol hang at her side. Pleased with having her things back, Kaguya smiled and looked at the cages around hers, waiting to see who might emerge next. She had never seen any of her fellow patients, and was hoping she might see someone who would be somewhat interesting. So she moved and sat primly by the door, examining her things and idly pulling a jade comb through her hair. She was so happy that the nurses would allow her to keep her comb, how else would a princess keep herself tidy if she could not comb out her own hair.

_________________
Zath: Behold, Karo: The only woman in existence who can make Fenix shut the fuck up.
Redsnow: That, and, frankly, if Karo doesn't like you that much, your character is probably going to die soon after his acceptance anyway.
Keiran: Bad RPs don't get picked, unmemberable RPs get ignored.
Zelosse: I don't usually laugh at blatant attitude, but when I do. It usually involves Karo.

*~Rottingham Castle: Throne Room~*

Seated beside the king in his glorious throne room was a saddened and utterly exhausted-looking figure of a young woman: beautiful, petite, with a wise and loving air all about her. The scent of summer roses lingered about the woman, as if it had grown such a liking to her scarlet, gold-trimmed gown that it clung to it desperately, like a nearly forgotten dream. Her tired eyes of liquid amber were ornamented with hanging bags underneath, and she looked like she was about to fall asleep right in the middle of the Major's babbling.

In absolute truth, Queen Aurora, as she was now known by the nobles and royals of the Rottingham Court, would have rathered been anywhere else than sitting beside her ever so charming husband. He never even noticed her missing when she decided to go out for a stroll, so what were the chances of him noticing her slip out of the throne room right now?

Idly twirling her long, white fingers into the wheat-colored locks dangling over her shoulders, Aurora sighed, smiling a little out of amusement for the young lieutenant's rather rude commentary about her beloved spouse.

If only he knew how right he was. But Aurora wasn't about to say anything in agreement with the out-of-line soldier, as that would be improper of a lady of her particular stature. So she simply covered her cherry lips with her hand to hide that faint shadow of a knowing grin.

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[Beach, near Harewood]

He floated perfectly, as buoyant as any other piece of driftwood. The creature had been conscious for some time now, his glassy eyes deathly still and staring across the shattered debris of the Apollo. Beneath the numb blanket of his faux-flesh, his wooden frame felt ungodly and swollen, waterlogged joints groaning with every tug and pull of the tide. It could only be by a miracle that Ask Pinocchio, a boy made of slaughtered trees and sheer genius, could feel the cold swaying of the waves.

Eventually, the tide brought him face down to the curve of the beach, his fingers grazing the sand passively. The opal-eyed construct’s thumb was the first to twitch, followed closely by his forefinger. He watched it etch an awkward cross into the face of the beach, as if barely in control of his own actions, and finally clenched his ash-tree fist. The crevices across his frame sparkled with sun touched droplets as he pulled himself from his face, purging his hollow(?) innards of all offending saltwater with a few short-lived spurts.

His eyes oscillated testingly in their sockets, trying to shake off the distinct feeling of emptiness that plagued his skull. They roamed the tops of looming pines over yonder, watching half-interestedly as a raven took flight from the topmost peak. Over the veil of the trees, he thought he could see some vague wisps of smoke; telltale signs of a city or at least a town nearby. Was that meant to comfort him?

He licked the sickly taste of the sea from his lips, with a strangely human tongue, a sigh rattling through his torso.

“Lord…”

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“Sleep well my friends.. for tomorrow… you’ll all be free…” What would it be like to be free once again…


* ~ South of Harewood forest, SouthEast of Rottingham - I. Zavirone ~ *

The young frail ten year old form of which was the child Inaiyah, laid there within her cell, seemingly to be unconscious, laying beside her was Doll, a decayed body of a newborn baby which had been dug up from its grave, with its head completely severed from its body and replaced with a plastic dolls head, also with dark haunting eyes, which has a mind of its own. Indeed, a mind of its own. Inaiyah called her creation “Doll”. Both Inaiyah and Doll somewhat share the same appearance, and attributes. However Doll cannot speak at all like Inaiyah can, but is a silent companion to Inaiyah all the same, the two can never be separated.

Well it was the only way that the child could be separated from her family heirlooms, her prized weapons, a small crossbow and a sword. Luckily enough for Inaiyah, she demanded that her companion, Doll be kept with her, the asylum staff had no choice but to give in the child’s screaming and demanding, clawing and kicking.

Having been formed from darkness and insanity itself, shadows from around the room of which she was caged in seemed to cling to her, wherever she went, they’d follow her. Some might think that this child was very beautiful, with her long black hair, haunting dark eyes and soft white skin that had trails of long stitches embedded within, while others would simply scream and be terrified from her. And when they would, Inaiyah was simply amused by it.

The child’s very presence was indeed disturbing, with her dark, haunting eyes framed in her pale facade, it had almost seemed that this child was not human at all despite her human and feeble appearance, with a river of long black hair, it was only her dark eyes and the long trails of stitches that was embedded into her body that made her look nothing like a human at all, but almost like a doll which had been sewn back together. But what lies within her was an entirely different matter all together, her human appearance was merely a shell for a shadow. Considering that the child was infact a shadow she choose to wear only black clothes, including her shoes, and that was a medieval style skirt and a small top which allowed her stomach and bellybutton to be shown, simply because that was where she could of stored her small crossbow, unlike her arm where she stores her small sword, her weapons of which had to be taken away from her, though she wouldn’t let it happen without somewhat of a fight.

With the transfer ship that Inaiyah was trapped in being thrown about within rough seas, Inaiyah was quickly woken up, that as well as Doll was happily chewing away on Inaiyah’s frail-white arm, which effectively was not doing anything of damage at all, Doll was more like a leech. However the dear child was still forgetful of what happened in her terrible horrible past, including her capture by the furious Everafter Asylum followers who had turned her into the asylum. The child had no idea of what lies ahead of her or why she was taken aboard of the Apollo, but knowing eventually the child will, it was only a matter of time.

Inaiyah glanced up as she looked around the cell in a dazed state before finally noticing Doll was yet again attached to her arm.

“ARGH! DOLL!” Screamed Inaiyah, with that Inaiyah shook her arm until Doll had finally detached from her arm. But Doll care not, and neither did Inaiyah, instead Inaiyah loved Doll and picked her up and hugged into her.

When Morning came Inaiyah’s cell was delicately placed upon the ground next to her fellow inmates’ cell cages with a small crate next to it for all her belongings, her small crossbow and her sword which had the word ‘Zavirone’ itched into the blade. The child’s cell also had a large black sheet delicate laid upon it protecting the child from the harsh rays of the morning sun.

Even when Inaiyah had tried to walk out, she had quickly noticed that it was daylight and quickly moved back into her cell, letting the sheet fall back down again. And there she waited.



* ~ South East of Anting Village, Grenville Province - M. Lennox ~ *

Twelve year old Mary was 4.4ft tall and has a rather feeble appearance, with long brown hair tied up into two pigtails in checkered bows to tie up her hair and brown eyes, she usually dresses up in a 19th century black dress and a cream frilly 19th century apron, and she wears a belt made out of her silver chains and a total of six silver bells and a chain necklace which has a key dangling down, she had awoken that next morning with no difficulty with a new bound of energy laid within her, Mary smiled lightly as she opened the door to her cell and walked out to only notice a crate with all of her belongings and took out her scythe and her swinging weapon before wrapping it around her.

Mary felt pleased that she had finally escaped from the bounds of the Everafter Asylum, finally free to do what she wanted and there she waited next to her cell looking around to see in what direction she should take. Where would be the nearest town….

{Happiness Bunny}
~Somewhere near Harewood Forest(18) and far from Rottingham city(4)~

Happiness Bunny finally awoke and found himself inside a torn open cage, He was little groggy because of the night before as he had drunk enough booze to put the pope into a coma. He got off his bed and stood up for a moment as he looked around the area with one eye open, the Happiness Bunny then searched his black dress jacket’s pockets then his black pant’s pockets for a smoke. To his dismay, he found nothing and uttered a swear “Shit…”

The Happiness Bunny scratched the back of head and started to walk out of his cage as he was pissed now. He know no idea how he got here or this cage, but suddenly a thought appeared in his head of someone whispering into his head “Sleep well my friends… for tomorrow… you’ll all be free…”. He shook his head and continued to walk as he thought to himself “What the hell? Was I captured? Shit, I need stay away from the strong booze, because this crazy.”

While the Happiness Bunny was walking further and further away from his cage, he discovered a storage crate near some other cages that were similar to his and noticed that his lime green shades sticking out of the box. After spotting his shades, HB rushed right over to it to take his shades from it. Upon further investigating the storage crate, HB discovered his pack of smokes, his golden rings, his black tie, and most importantly his silver cane and bunny ears. Unfortunately for HB, he can not find the last thing that taken from him, which caused him to say “Fuckers, took my lighter.”

After taking out everything that was his, HB suddenly heard a nearby shout of "ARRGGH DOLLS" and turned to that direction and said " Yo, anyone else here!"

_________________
"Fate smiles on the strange. So its a good thing, I'm the strangest of all." - William Livingstone, Cirque de la Nuit

Ignore

_________________
Zath: Behold, Karo: The only woman in existence who can make Fenix shut the fuck up.
Redsnow: That, and, frankly, if Karo doesn't like you that much, your character is probably going to die soon after his acceptance anyway.
Keiran: Bad RPs don't get picked, unmemberable RPs get ignored.
Zelosse: I don't usually laugh at blatant attitude, but when I do. It usually involves Karo.

* ~ South of Harewood forest, SouthEast of Rottingham - I. Zavirone ~ *


“Is it daylight still?” Inaiyah murmured looking down towards Doll.

Doll didn’t answer Inaiyah, instead Doll was playing with Inaiyah’s long hair, Inaiyah sighed softly removing Doll’s hands away from her hair.

“Doll, you are supposed to answer me..” Inaiyah said glaring towards Doll. “Why don’t you go and get my family stuff.” Inaiyah said before shoving Doll out of the black sheet covered cage.

Doll nodded before standing up on her small chubby legs and moved her way over to the crate and climbed in to get Inaiyah’s crossbow and sword. But couldn’t get out when she had tried to do so.

Inaiyah blinked as she sat in her cage, hearing the voices of a man and a woman. It was then she had answered the man, squealing in her childish voice. “Yes, someone is here, but I cant get out and into daylight, for it is deadly.. Is it still daylight?”

~Somewhere near Harewood Forest(18) and far from Rottingham city(4)~

ODIN was watching the two drinking from a flask. "You people sure are strange. But than again i've been known to be strange myself." he stated with a slight laugh. He was dressed rather plainly to the point that it looked suspiciuos but what really drew attention was his left eye or lack there of.

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Xbox live gamer tag: Loudmoth

[South of West Harewood forest]

From one of the broken battered cages, a girl, around 13 years of age, emerged from the crumpled mass of glass, iron, and concrete. Her frame seemed thin but petite, a budding gir in midbloom of life. She had lovely long blond hair, and beautiful sky blue eyes.

Her skin was a soft pink peach colour, and she wore a pretty blue dress with white apron tied in a white bow in the back and white laced bloomers. Her skirt ended right above her knees. On the top of her head she wore a pretty black bow,

She seemed completely untouched, and yawned stretching as she looked around her surroundings.

"Is it morning already?" The girl seemed to turn back to her cell, only nothing was there....or at least...nothing no one could see or hear.

Emerging from the cell was a cat, purple and gold, with matted fur and the most twisted grin. His 'markings' defied what was normal...as they seemed to shift and move as if like a moving puzzle. One of his ears was bitten and scarred...and his tail waved back and forth in no real pattern like motion at all.

The cat stretched out its claws yawning before jumping onto Alice's shoulders. Alice daintly walked among the wreckage, childlike and naive...as she came across a silver sword and scabbard amongst the wreckage. She picked it up easily, even though it seemed far too heavy for someone of her size to carry as she looped it around her shoulder.

"Do you think any of the others survived?" Alice spoke aloud but softly.

"Are you worried if they did?" The cat questioned.

Alice scanned the scattered wreckage...which seemed to go on and on along the shore. "Mr. Dumpty...he won't be very pleased..."

The cat scoffed and smirked. "Eggs for brains is never happy....and how can one expect much thought from one who's insides are always on the move."

"I suppose...should we go back?"

"To that hardboiled beaurocrat? Hardly...besides...I don't think you liked that place very much."

"Mr. Dumpty did say it was for our own wellbeing and saftey..." Alice's voice suddenly softened to a low whisper. "From the Jabborwocky..."

"Somehow...." the cat spoke eeriely with his manical grin as he viewed the wreckage and few floating corpses bobbing up and down amongst the debre. "I doubt that is the least of your worries...."

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http://laurean.deviantart.com/
Everyone dies, it's creepy when they don't.

{Happiness Bunny}

~Somewhere near Harewood Forest (18) and far from Rottingham City (4) ~

As soon as Happiness Bunny placed on his bunny ears, his jaw nearly dropped as he watched a baby doll crawl into a storage crate, the very same storage crate that HB searched through to find his stuff. After that two voices, a young child’s and a young man’s made them appearance, HB turned to the closer one, which came from the cage where Zavirone was held and replied "I see…*still a little flabbergasted from the baby doll* ...huh?...*HB shook his head to regain his composure*…Yeah, Yeah, I guess you’re one of those albino children. Anyways, yeah the sun is still out, but just chill out for a moment. I’ll make something to get ya out.”

He turned away from the storage crate and to the other voice’s direction to see a young man like himself with one eye and replied “Good thing, you ended that sentence with that or else I would've said “ Look whose is calling the kettle black” . Anyways, help me out, we need to construct an umbrella for the albino kid.”

_________________
"Fate smiles on the strange. So its a good thing, I'm the strangest of all." - William Livingstone, Cirque de la Nuit

-South of West Harewood forest-

There was a figure, not too far away from the breaking tides of the ocean. It was obvious that whoever it was had emerged from within one of the crates, and had made there way onto what looked to have been a dried out log. The person was a young boy, one with messy blonde hair and dark rings beneath his eyelids. He was lounging lazily upon the top of the broken tree, laying atop of the makeshift bed with his body completely exposed in the sun.

The boy had a wide smile upon his face, and he looked as if he was enjoying every last moment of his time upon that raggedy looking log. He was happy to be out in the free air once again, and right then he didn’t have a single care in the world. All he wanted to do was enjoy the sun’s rays, and stare up into the clear blue sky with his equally blue and strange looking eyes.

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~Somewhere near Harewood Forest (18) and far from Rottingham City (4) ~

"Well that's easily enough done how does the young woman want it to look?" he asked forming normal umbrella in his hand and having it disappear just to show what he could do to answer that request.

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Xbox live gamer tag: Loudmoth

- South of Harewood Forest 18 -

In the water, among the floating mess of debris and destruction, only one thing really seemed to be out of place. There was a rolled out, canvas-looking material floating atop the water, entirely laid out. It was rather large in size, and it seemed to have been capable of covering a cage in its entirety. What was strange about it was that it was not moving with waves, nor in the direction of the materials around it. Instead, it was gradually moving towards the shore, against the waves, as impossible as it seemed. As it got closer to land, it was a little more apparent that there was an outside force driving it. When the water was apparently shallow enough, a lump suddenly appeared in the center of cloth, as if something was rising underneath water. This 'lump' only got taller and wider as the material began to reach land, until it was readily apparent that there was some humanoid shape underneath it all. Finally, after what problem seemed like forever to anyone who was actually watching, this figure began to move out of the water, walking upon the underwater sand until it had reached the more preferable dry sand.

"Wonderful," came a dry, and annoyed voice from underneath the cloth (not like anyone was close enough to hear him). The last thing he had really expected to wake up to was the pressure of ocean water all around him. And, on top of that, the sun was out. Freedom should've been sweet, but Aidan was bitter about it all anyways. It was to be expected though. When wasn't he bitter about something? Not quite being able to see, he just began to walk straight, hoping he'd hit a tree or something of the sort sooner or later. He didn't care about what kind of attention he garnered, nor of anything else really. He just wanted to be somewhere out of light as soon as possible.

_________________

"A pistol is a tool to save people. It's not a weapon for murder." "Then save me by killing them!" "That's kinda contradictory..."
My Characters' Endings

-Near the damn beach near the damn crashsite-

A black figure stood silhoutted by the sun up nearer to the horizon, seeming the person there was practicing swordplay. Wielding the weapon one handed and standing with his side facing an imaginary enemy, he made a short sword salute. Best he could with the far larger then should be used in this manovuer blade. Then a double thrust before he drove a third one home with a twin handed thrust, before spinning around and slicing down on another imaginary oppenent behind him.

This was accomplished fluidly as the hulk of armor continued to fight, trading off hands and moving to two hands at times to drive things home. It wasn't explicitly clear who was in the armor, but one would note at least that the armor was ancient. And if it wasn't so beat up, undoubtly extremely expensive. The shield, which lay near by, itself borne the fox symbol of this man, this at least in somewhat prestigious condition. Some buffing and a little metal work and you might make something out of it.

For now, he seemed oblivious to the wreckage. Whether intellentionally or otherwise, one could not be sure. he was just THERE and that's all that mattered.

* ~ South of Harewood forest, SouthEast of Rottingham ~ *

Inaiyah blinked when Happiness Bunny said that SHE was one of those albino children, Inaiyah shook her head and quickly spoke out in a rather harsh tone.

“NO! I am not an albino.. I don’t even look that way, sir.” Inaiyah said plainly looking through the cloth, sitting in her cage..

“But I’m not leaving this cage until darkness comes. You see darkness is my friend, as it should be everyone’s friend.” Inaiyah smiled, “Darkness is friend..”

Doll had finally came out of the top of the crate fumbling a sword in one arm and a crossbow in the other, Poor Doll had to manage carrying the pieces of equipment back to the cell.

Inaiyah smiled lightly as she watched the two pieces of equipment slide underneath the cloth and she took it away from Doll and placed the crossbow into her stomach cavity and the sword into her arm, before taking Doll underneath the cloth and hugged her.

“Thankyou Doll..” Inaiyah whispered nuzzling Doll’s plastic face.

~~{Three or Four Miles West of Spillville}~~

The fog and smoke began to clear. The ground ruptured by the crashing cell that had been once aboard the ship. The strange contraption was more of a giant capsule. The turbines and tubes that were cracked and ruptured at its sides had powered the tubular prison cell. The green glass was bright from the light sinside. The only darkness being caused by the short form within the confines of the capsule.

The monolithic creation of machinery stood at over twenty feet high and seven feet wide. Though it would have been larger had it still remained intact. The being within began to stir. The energy from the capsule now drained and dwindling down to only the battery reserves. Just how long had they sealed him inside?

{Some Time Ago}

"Yesss.... This is a fine piece of genius. The good doctor has outdone himself this time." Spoke a nurse as she watched the sleeping inmate being placed into the tubed cell. The collar around his neck dampened his energy and encased his form in a shaded silhouette of his true form. Even his trademark article of clothing was missing upon his noble brow.

"This fellow had better stay asleep forever... God forbid a creature like him break loose inside the asylum. He'd create chaos all over." Another nurse stated, somewhat slimmer than the first.

"Ha!" The larger lady laughed at the idea. "This cell was designed by Doctor Crooked himself! There's no way he'd wake up inside this monstrosity of a prison. The doctor is an absolute genius..." She said with a slight swoon. "The turbines that are installed are used to generate the power the color uses. Though the color uses a battery, the cell will amplify and constantly empower the collar to keep him permanently sealed in that shadow..."

The pudgey nurse looked at her younger, slimmer associate. "Good thing for you... He's known to have a taste for little girls with blonde hair."

The other nurse twitched a bit and shivvered at the thought. But upon looking back, she began to admire the prisoner's slim, boyish appearance. "He's a little cutie..." She whispered to herself.

The form within moved. His right hand shattered through the glass of the capsule. The dark, blackened hand opened its fist and stretched the long fingers. "Uggghh..." A soft groan emerged as it began to once again flex its muscles.

It had taken a lot of energy just to break the glass. But with the eerie, minty green fog beginning to pour out, he began feeling his body regaining feeling. His fingers slowly began to bend and stretch over and over again. One after another they flexed until they were fine again.

The hand came down, bending at the elbow to smash the remaining glass. The green shards punctured and stabbed at the dark ooze that covered the prisoner. Underneath, there was evidence of lightly tanned skin. Soon, the skin vanished again into black as the shadow tried to keep the form securely imprisoned.

The right hand began to reach up, straining and grasping for the sky above. That clear, blue sky that beckoned the lovely, joyous birds to flock to freedom upon opened wings of glory. He needed to fly again...

With his body still weakened, he slammed his right hand onto the edge of the glass window -- or door, if prefered -- that was shattered. The leftover shards stuck into the hand and crumpled at the same time. They could break the skin of the ooze, but the tough texture of the being within was too strong to tear into.

"OoooOhhhckkkkkk...!" The figure tried to speak, his throat and voice muffled as well as gargled with the ooze.

The form began to lift as the green smoke merged into the risen dust and smoke from the crash. The resulting fog gave off an eerie green color to the open field. He sat up, finally. His right arm suddenly buckling under the strain. He needed to be rid of this odd collar and its weakened encasement.

The turbines began to light up as their leftover energy began to stir. The voltage burst out and ran up to the figure. The bolts shocked and fried at the ooze. the dark form started to smoke and hiss. The black flesh bubbling and melting. Whoever was underneath must have been suffering as his form spasmed and shook with convulsions.

When the turbine energy was completely sapped, the form sat still. Smoke and steam rose from the oozed body as the strange substance began to melt away. The right hand became slightly exposed as the blackness slid down from the fingers. But something else started to replace it. Skin became covered by a thick material as his hand was quickly gripped within a white glove. The article of attire instantly appeared over each inch of flesh that was revealed.

All over the man, skin was either replaced by emptiness and shadows or by some piece of formal clothing. The man seemed to have slightly medium length hair that was a mixture of tones. There was almost time for anyone to notice the colors, but with none around it became nothing but a shadowy mass of voided nothing.

Once the ooze seeped into the capsule and fell from the man, he started to move his entire body. Taking it slowly, the slightly short figure slipped over the capsule's broken hatch to roll and fall to the ground below.

"Gahh!" He grunted, his gloved fingers planting into the grass as he started to recover.

"Ye... Yes..." He muttered as white teeth appeared among the blackness inside the dress coat. The tall collar showed the limit of the mouth as it started to smile.

"Free... I'm freee!" He stuttered as he began to rise to his feet. He realized he wore nothing over his brow and chuckled happily. "Finally, I'm freeeeee!!" He called out with a slightly ecstatic voice.

The capsule shook and shuddered with a rumbling crack. The man paused, slowly looking over. "...." His face began to slowly fade into existence from the darkness in the coat's collar. His tanned skin was facing the former cell as he watched the ooze begin to float up in a blob. "No... They... They took you away!"

The ooze started to slim and lengthen. The middle became similar to a cylinder at first, but it began to curve in on all sides as the top went outward slightly. The bottom expanded outward and generated a hole as the sides slightly curved upward.

"No! I'm free, now!" He stood and started to step back as the ooze took shape. The floating object formed a tall hat as it loomed ominously forward. "Get awaaayyyyy!!" He turned to try and run as his hair began to return. The hat suddenly shot forward at the man.

"AAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!"

The man's scream was loud and deathly. It carried out into the air and went out for a few miles. It faded somewhere near the coast. But anyone there could just manage to make out a voice shrieking in horror and torment.

Moments later and the man began to stand again. His face once more blanketed in darkness and completely darkened into nothingness. "Heh... Heheheh..." He started to float up slowly as his long shoes left the grass. "Heeheeheeheeheeheeee.... Heheheheheheheh." The bizarre man started to slowly turn in a circle in the air. He was able to fly once again...

"HAHAHAHAHHAHAHHAHAAHHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAAAAA~~!!"

The short, slightly pudgey, strange man laughed and cackled into the sky as he lifted his long arms outward. Black and green voltage emerged around him as the clouds began to suddenly fly toward him from miles around. He felt happy. He felt joyous...

But of course. It wasn't everyday that the world got to celebrate the glorious return of a great and powerful...godling.

"THE HATEERRRRRR...LIIIII~~IIIIIVVESSSSSS!!" The Mad Hatter screamed as the clouds circled overhead and formed a vortex over his area.

The Hatter suddenly shot up into the sky. a loud boom emerged as the clouds were shot outward all over the landscape. The force of the flight seemed to rip the sky as a wave of green began to discolor the blue pigment above.

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- South East of Anting Village, Grenville Province 6. Exactly there, wherever it is. -

"...Wow..."

The girl looked around, a calm smile on her face. Fresh air, just what she was dreaming about last night...She didn't have the finest idea of what she was doing there, right outside her small cell, and surrounded by lots of other cells. It was just like that day...oh well, it wasn't time to go so behind the memories right? The girl looked around, she didn't spot anyone at first sight, but she hoped she could find anyone to talk with, and to gather some information. Before the Assylum, she didn't know alsmot anything about that place, and she knew little more than that time. She didn't recalled anything significant from the last day, but a weird noise and a voice telling her to sleep. That was ood, but not odd enough to make her go suspicious about it.

"Anyone there? I'd really preffer to see somebody else around..." Maybe she should just start walking, but walking where? She would certainly get lost in a matter of seconds, and getting lost wasn't a good thing, not by a long shot.

"Maybe I should just wait for somebody to come and tell me what is happening...wait, that would be kinda dumb, but I can't walk either...what a predicament." Although the girl was usure of what to do, she sounded quite happy; freedom was something she hadn't thought about since the very moment she entered Everafer, and she wasn't expecting to reach it in such a sudden way.

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~South East of Anting Village, Grenville Province 6~

Jack stood up and stretched himself. It felt like they were on the boats for weeks. Jack was extremely bored. The only thing he did during the boat ride was contemplating how to kill the guards on the boat, but it seems they have already died in the crash. Jack just shrugged and left his cage, glad to be free from the Asylum. Jack began surveying his surroundings, to see if there were any surviving guards. When he was sure that there were no surviving guards, Jack climbed up on top of his cage and crushed it. He did not know why he did it, but it seemed like to would of been fun.

After flattening his cage, Jack turned away from the crash site and began asking himself which direction he should take. "Let me see...First I need to identify where I am. Once I have a vague notion of my location, I'll need to find some kind of protection. With the Big Bad Wolf out here, he'll surely find me sometime soon. It might not be today, or tomorrow, but I'm sure I'll see him." he said to himself casually. He sat down on a nearby crate and began thinking long and hard.

-- South of West Harewood Forest 1. --

Her cloak was soaked to every last thread and torn to bits. "What a shame," thought Riley to herself, or Bo Peep, as many had called her back in that large building where they kept her cooped up for such a long time. There were others that called her that, of course, but never to her face. Honestly, people these days had no discresion. She wasn't even the one who thought of the name, after all. Anyway, the matter at hand was her old, tattered cloak that she had so much history with. This was the same cloak that had started her many conquests in her life. There was no sign of remorse or sadness on her face, despite the words she spoke, and she dropped the cloak onto the ground without a moment's hesitation. "I rather liked this cloak, too."

Riley would most likely be set back by this predicament, but at least she had her walking cane, its ribbon still attached. The permanent enchantments she had placed on them were still effective, even after her capture. She had escaped from that ship somehow, though she never intended to try in the first place. While the fact that she was no longer a captured convict was pleasing to her, she found it rather distressing as well. Apparantly, there was a shipwreck, and she had somehow ended up here, at the edge of a forest with an ocean at her back. Her clothes were soaked with saltwater, and there was sand at her feet. Her bonnet was still on her head, fortunately, and somehow she had managed to hang onto her cane all this time. She figured standing in one spot would do her no good, so she began to walk down the shore to see if she could meet up with more escapees. There was safety in numbers, after all, and she had little idea of what this area was. Also, she was hoping a brisk walk would dry out her clothes at least a little bit.

She tried to recall the events that she had just experienced over the last day or so. According to her memory, she knew that she was being transported on a ship of some sort, along with a countless number of other potentially dangerous passengers in cells oozing with the stench of various hexes, which Riley really didn't care to dispel, because then she would have to face the armed guards waiting just outside, and she simply didn't care much for close-ranged combat. She had been sleeping when the ship had supposedly crashed. She couldn't remember anything after falling asleep, really, but she knew for certain that the ship had crashed due to all the parts scattered across the beach. How she had lived throught such an ordeal was certainly miraculous to her, but in Riley's world, one made their own miracles, and didn't rely on divine intervention that was unlikely to exist. Riley theorized that a ship that large could not hope to sail in water shallow enough so that a victim of a shipwreck could be easily brought to shore from the tides. The girl pondered this heavily, trying to recall what she knew about oceans and tides and sailing ships, but only managed to give herself a splitting headache. Drat...she must have knocked her head on something when floating to shore.

She peered ahead of her as she moved along the beach, combing the shore for anything valuable she could pawn off and use the money for a warm bed at the local inn. There was smoke in the distance, which meant there was civilization in that direction, but she would have to be wary of what sort of civilization. After all, between here and that smoke, there was a forest, and bandits loved to frequent forests. Hm...perhaps she could wander into that forest and recruit some bandits as her entourage. Then again, there was no telling if there really were bandits in there. She was more likely to find other living things combing the beach.

Just as she thought this, a blue eyed boy staring at the sky sat on the sand far before her. She didn't know if he noticed her, but she figured it best to attract his attention before he deemed her an enemy. To make her seem like less of a threat, she limped along off of her leg that she had deemed injured. The fact that there was a pink knee brace on this leg helped enforce the crippled look, and she leaned on her cane for balance. The boy ahead seemed like another escapee from the shipwreck, but Riley wouldn't take any chances. "Excuse me, sir!" she yelled out politely to the young blond on the log. "My ship has crashed, and I was wondering if you could tell me where this place is? As you can see, I have an injured leg, so if you can help me out, I'd be most certainly very grateful." Her lips curled into her most polite and charming smile, one that was known to melt the hearts of many men in her hometown. Such simple-minded creatures men were.

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-- Sketch Blog -- My Art Thread -- DeviantArt --

- South East of Anting Village, Grenville Province 6. -

"Excuse me."

The voice came right from Jack's back. The girl had spoted the guy once she heard the sound of a cell being destroyed. Now, the guy seemed to be thinking on something...the girl wondered what could that be.

"Do you have any idea of where are we? Were you in the ship with the others? Or you just were passing by?" The girl smiled at Jack, with a simple, innocent smile. She had finally found someone, and there was no reason to be impolite or rude. Hmmm...but I'd rather hoped Aidan could be around...

"So?" Her smile just grew a little bigger, as she waited for Jack's response.

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~South East of Anting Village, Grenville Province 6~

Jack almost fell off his crate in surprise. He looked towards the direction the voice came from and saw a woman. Must be one of the cell mates who were forced to come here... Jack thought lazily. He didn't really care if there were any other surviving cell mates. Suddenly, Jack came up with an idea. He needed to ensure his protection, and remembered his deceased mom saying once that "There's power in numbers." Power is what he needed to protect himself, and if he could surround himself with other people, he would be protected. Jack stood up and faced the girl. He decided that he should pretend to be nice to her and any other surviving cell mate.

"Sorry, I do not know where we are." he said with a big smile on his face. "But I'm sure I'll be able to find out where we are. As for your second question, I was in the ship with the others, but is seems most of us have been separated from the others. I'm not too sure where the others are, but I'm pretty confident that there may be more of them around here." Jack stared at the girl, imprinting her image in his mind. "Now, allow me to ask you a question. What is your name?"

{Happiness Bunny}

~Somewhere near Harewood Forest (18) and far from Rottingham City (4) ~

Happiness Bunny looked at Odin with a surprised look on his face and replied “Huh?...I don’t think it matters what it looks like. Also do that thing you did again, except this time with a lighter and some red wine. I think I’m going to need a lot of smokes and alcohol to handle this day.” He sighed deeply and shook his head as he thought “How fucking strong was that booze? My god! Am I really awake or is this a fucking dream? Seriously no more Tigre Ale, for the rest of my life.”

As soon as Inaiyah started to yell at Happiness Bunny, he shrugged and said “Look, I’m sorry kid, but if you’re not an albino, then I don’t know what the hell you are. Anyways, how about we cover you with a blanket and umbrella? Because I don’t know how we got here or why we’re here, but we shouldn’t stay here very long.” While he said that, HB thought “Darkness should be everyone’s friend? That’s kind of weird and how the hell did that doll carry that shit? Damn, this is getting crazy .”

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"Fate smiles on the strange. So its a good thing, I'm the strangest of all." - William Livingstone, Cirque de la Nuit

- South East of Anting Village, Grenville Province 6. -

"Name you say?" The girl looked surprised. All that time, and it was the first time in a while that anyone but Aidan that used a name to refer to her. Guards often called her "sweetie" or something related to candies, and the nicer ones just called her "little one", but those weren't proper names.

"Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeell...I don't remember my name very well...but the guards told me that when I was brought to Everafter I said something that sounded like a name, and since then I guess that's my name right?" The girl smiled back at him, she didn't feel anything odd about that guy, he was rather nice, and if he wasn't, he didn't seemed to be dangerous.

"Sooo...I'm Lux, Lux Bell, but you can call me just Lux."

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* ~ South of Harewood forest, SouthEast of Rottingham ~ *


Inaiyah sighed lightly and placed Doll beside her before crawling to the edge of the covered cage looking outside towards Happiness Bunny and shook her head lightly sending a river of long black hair around her form.

“I don’t want to go outside in this sun, its hot and it hurts.. So can we wait until dark, when it is safe? Because darkness is our friend…”