After hearing Nyx and Xemmsur give their brief and informative introductions, Lerxia and I exchanged glances at each other to determine who was going to be next. Lerxia…Nyx and Xemmsur possessed eyes that were calm, collected, and civilized, but Lerxia was an entirely different scenario. Sure, she seemed totally in control, but there was that tint of wildness behind those ever-watchful looking eyes that told me that she was more than average. (Not that Nyx and Xemmsur, or anyone else in this castle for that matter, fell into that category. What can I say? I find excitement in the unpredictable.)
Smiling, I broke the trance that temporarily fell upon Lerxia and me to give my teammates a glimpse of who they were dealing with. “Hmmm…my turn, then:
“Hello all. My name is Xakiah. I’m an independent, professionally trained assassin and have been to many worlds, including the one we’re going to, as a result of it. As you may know I used to be a member of the other organization until I…hehehe…’had a change of heart,’ so to speak.” I went on to say that whether or not they were wanting to know more I left it to them to ask me later…if I felt like answering them anyway.
Lerxia then gave her tidbit of her identity.
~*~
With Nyx leading the way we silently traveled towards Radiant Garden. Along the way I sighed a little and thought to myself, Such a shame that they changed it. I rather fancied the name “Hallow Bastion” myself. We eventually arrived at the Great Maw, where I watched the young, foolish Keyblade master of ten years ago cut through an army of one thousand heartless and was one of the last places Xemnas, the leader of the old organization, got to visit before his pitiful demise.
Without waiting for someone to ask, Nyx began to explain herself for having us arrive at that spot. "The reason I ported us so far away from our mark is because we first need to come to an agreement of what we are going to say. Merlin will not just give us the book if we say that we are on orders of the new organization's Leader, if he will let us see the book at all. He is quite forgetful, and he doesn't always remember people. Another reason that I took us this far is Cid's computer will not reach us at this distance. I don't know if he has upgraded the computer to deal with more powerful nobodies. Rather be safe than sorry, right?"
Being in the line of work I was in, words such as those couldn’t be any truer. Then again, considering the one who spoke this, I could have brought up a certain…”transgression” she pulled recently with the other organization, but that would have been besides the point. Besides, I learned the hard way years ago that making such comments against your comrades while out in the field is a guaranteed spell for disaster later on.
Before I had a chance to speak Xemmsur suddenly blurted out, "I can feel it." Hmm? Feel what? was the thought that ran across my mind as I stood staring at her. Blushing, she quickly corrected herself by saying, "Sorry, it’s nothing. Ummmm…the way I see it is we can either steal the book or trick Merlin" I said looking around at the others.
Sighing, I responded, “You clearly don’t know who you’re dealing with, do you? Merlin may be getting senile in his old age, but he’s no fool; he can easily pinpoint parlor tricks, and you don’t want to know what he does to thieves.”
With that, I turned my attention to Nyx. “Anyway…you make an astute observation. It’s been a while since I’ve last been here myself, so I don’t know what modifications the old engineer has done to his system yet. However…I can assure you we won’t have any problems with Merlin.”
All of them looked at me quizzically after I said that, and Xemmsur became the voice of their curiosity. “What makes you say that?”
“Ah, well…let’s just say that we have a ‘history’ together.”
“What type of ‘history?’” asked Lerxia.
I thought about what next to say very carefully. Another one of the many things I’ve learned while out in the field, not revealing every detail about yourself was certainly one of the most important; especially when it comes to those you don’t trust. “The ‘history’ between us involves things in which only…those involved can participate in. In this case, it’s the relationship between Master and Apprentice.”
If they wanted to press the matter further, I made certain to defer them from trying by changing the topic and leaving the old one regarding the details at that. “Anyway, let’s talk about that grand plan of ours to get inside the city.”
~Xakiah
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Alright, I leave the plan part to one of you three. (Mainly because I'm too wiped out to think of one up myself right now. x_x; The only thing that I ask from there is to leave the exchange between Merlin and Xakiah to me. I'll attack that FULL THROTTLE (tomorrow)!!! >D
