sunbox | (no subject)

It had to be close. The signal was getting stronger.

It was strange to find an anomaly this far out in space. From what she could tell, no one must have lived on this world for years. Which only makes her ship detecting a rift all the more concerning. It can't be any of her own Time Pieces this time, whatever else caused it had to belong to someone else, same technology, or same sort of power.

Ugh, the kid really wants off this planet soon. It's giving her the creeps. Beats out most things in that forest by a long shot. But if the grey, dark, lifeless atmosphere was an effect of a rift, it had to be fixed. It will only get bigger and unruly. It could take a long time for another traveler to find it, and by then it could be too late.

All she had to do was find the tear, the source of it. Despite how dead silent everything was, she could not shake off a feeling of being watched somewhere. An overactive imagination probably - there's not a soul around for miles, she had spent way too much time in that haunted forest after all.

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It's not just a feeling. There is a watchful eye, gazing out from the shadows. And perhaps more besides, the darkness of this particular world a very palpable thing, even if it's ... tamed. Held in check, for the moment, by a darkness greater still, not that this makes the overall feeling any less oppressive - nor any less concerning, for that matter. After all, what sort of power would it take to hold even the darkness in check?

The time rift, meanwhile, is easy enough to find. Its presence echoes across the world, past and present held in a delicate, impossible balance in anticipation of the future that is still yet to come. And for a time, there's nothing save the feeling that she is very much being watched. It's only once she starts to draw closer to to the source of the rift that a voice finally speaks up.

"We have a visitor."

It's an unhurried voice. One that speaks with a quiet sort of power, one that very nearly ripples through the air. Who, exactly has spoken, and where they are is another question entirely given that there's no one to be seen. But nonetheless it's apparent that she isn't as alone as it might certainly appear. Even if that may not bode well.

The voice startled the kid for a second. In that instance her hair was practically standing on end. This was the kind of thing she was worried to find...Or technically hear in this case.

But, she doesn't stay that way for long. In fact before the voice had much time to finish, an umbrella was already being brandished towards the nothingness. Hard to know who or where it should be pointed towards so she stays primarily steady and alert. Either waiting for the voice to speak up again or looking for any sign of movement next.

Regrettably, it's not going to get any more comforting from here on out. Not least of all because there's simply a low rumble of a chuckle at her drawing her umbrella. One that is almost more menace than mirth, bouncing off the buildings in such a way that there's still no good way to tell where it's coming from.

"A bold choice. But do you truly believe that will be enough to protect you?"

It's not - yet - a threat. But there's an echo of it, behind the words. One that suggest that it very easily could become so, if that should be the path she chooses.

The umbrella has only been reliable before. It seems rather ordinary, but if it was her weapon of choice then there probably was something more to it.

"...I'm not afraid to use it."

She rather not double down on a fight right now though. Whatever was causing this disturbance in time was undeniably close. If not corrected soon reality may start unraveling at the seams. It's a far greater concern at the moment, if she can just pass.

It is certainly not beyond the realm of impossibility that there's more to that umbrella than first might meet the eye. But it's certainly not the most of imposing weapons based on appearance alone. Not when Xemnas has stared down greater weapons. But he leaves the comment be. There's no need to push further. Not when he has no immediate desire to destroy the heart that stands before him.

"Is that so?"

The question hangs in the air for a moment, and then, finally, something changes as a swirl of darkness appears several feet in front of her, before fading to reveal a hooded figure. Presumably, the person she's been speaking to, but it's a little hard to tell.

For a moment the question confused her and her guard dropped. Just long enough to feel tension again as the darkness appeared. She raised the umbrella at it just in case it was planning to attack.

The...black cloak does make the kid uneasy, but she does not sense any hostility. Not yet anyway. She finally lowered the weapon again.

"...I gotta get through. Or else, we're all in trouble."

As well she shouldn't. While there's still the possibility that things might turn violent, Xemnas is still willing enough to be patient. After all, there is thus far nothing to suggest that she's necessarily a foe, as opposed to someone who has merely walked into the wrong place at the wrong time. Besides, all he needs to do is stall until such time as their plans come to fruition.

"And what sort of trouble would that be?"

He is, yes, aware that they are bending time in order to bring all of his original self's fragments together at this one single moment of time. But he has no way to even so much as guess at the fact that she can sense the growing 'wrongness'. They way they are carefully holding time itself in the balance, in order to achieve this one, single, union.

Thinking about it now, she never really had to explain the dangers of time rifts and the like. She half wondered now if that in of itself could some repercussion. After all, those that learn that time can be manipulated automatically try to benefit from it. And it never goes well.

...On the other hand. That outfit, mixed with being the only other one here on this dead world. He had to know something.

"...A really big one. One that could spread out to the universe."