Chapter 1:Refugee Index
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Merilan Yursalin: There is a point where if I stare any longer, my eyes are going to fall out of my head. Merilan is one of the reasons I am at that point. She has wings. This, I would think, would be a strange idea. Then again, I thought magic wasn’t real so..that shows how much I know about anything. I first met Merilan while exploring Traverse Town, if ‘being completely lost’ can be termed that. She was followed by smaller creatures I would later learn are called Yarhi. They have names as well. Merilan calls them Traya and Lemmy. They have a fondness for food, building sandcastles and oversized novelty junk. Merilan is a journalist, but doesn’t come from a world where machines are common. She runs a publication called Traverse Maniacs and takes her profession very seriously. She also takes it very literally. There is a missing column in Traverse Maniacs now, and two extremely vague descriptions of Sora and Kairi. I later provided her with a picture, because I had just finished eating my own poorly chosen words. She’s also had several run-ins with Manhattan’s variation of the killer taxi. More on that later.. also remember she doesn’t eat certain things, meat in particular, for some reason or another. I think she called it Kassroot.
Belle: This one seems to be always catching me off my guard. The little things Maleficent forgets to mention or downplays are always striking me in the face when I don’t need them to. This one lives in a small village in the countryside near a dark forest. The daughter of an inventor, she showed me around her home. I proceeded to draw attention because once again, portal magic is the bane of my life. I met her again later at Balamb Garden and for a case in point, the ‘reminder’ of our agreement I get whenever she or any of the other ones I’m looking for get too close nearly blew everything. I had to scramble to say something with enough truth in it to divert her attention. She’s sharp and pretty and she makes me grind my teeth together.. which I suppose is a bad thing since Sora also makes me grind my teeth, and so does Kairi, and I can’t afford to be friends. I can’t afford to be friends with any of them.
Jasmine: Why am I not surprised Maleficent has bitten off too much with this one? It shouldn’t. After all she ‘promises’ things and I live on the hope that these promises will be kept. This one is an actual princess. She was kept locked up in her palace most of her life until the heartless blew down the doors and took over with the help of a guy, the king’s advisor, named Jafar. She’s kind to random strangers and resourceful enough to deal with the regular types of heartless. I’ve also seen her at Balamb Garden, making me think she and Belle may be traveling together. While Belle looks for answers, Jasmine looks for strength. Strength enough to return home and throw Jafar and his minions out on their ears and reclaim her kingdom. Jasmine is actually the first that I met briefly in Manhattan. The.. ‘reminder’.. I had at that time I had sorted away as consequence of me falling out of a tree. Again. Portal magic.
A short note to myself. Princesses are very sensitive to the pain of others. If you can’t keep it off your face, don’t let them touch you. When someone tells you you’ll know when you’ve found who you are looking for, ask them exactly HOW you’ll know. That way you might not end up feeling like someone has taken your heart out and pressed it against a hot stove.
Jean Faraven: On Destiny island, I had the dream of becoming the best swordsman there was. I lived in that dream every minute of every day until the storm came and everything fell apart. Now I realize how far away that dream really was, and it’s people like Jean Faraven who remind me of why. It’s the way they move, how they make wielding a sword that explodes look easy. How they look at you as if they are seeing the beginning of the long road they’ve traveled, and can’t remember the start because it was so long ago. Jean Faraven makes me remember how much I’ve been shirking my sword practice just by existing. They work with Balamb Garden, which reminds me to make some notes about SeeD when I get a moment. The Heartless aren’t going to roll over this place easily, and I’ll have to put in even more practice just to remind myself not to look like such an amateur.
Reize Seatlan: Maleficent is overlooking one small but crucial detail. It’s something so terrible, I think for the sake of the universe I will keep the knowledge to myself and this journal. There’s an easier, much easier way to topple empires and destroy worlds and consume the universe than using the heartless. All you need to do is point Sora in one direction of an infinite flat place, point Reize in the opposite direction and wait.
Eventually, one of them will get so completely lost that they end up meeting each other somewhere along the way and the universe comes to an end. It does. The sheer amount of empty space between their ears opens up a hole in the sea of stars and everything falls through the puncture like water down a sink. I’ve met Seatlan a few times. He goads in exactly the same way Sora does. If anything, he’s even less likely to take a swing at me if I step on his toes and press down hard. He’s also got a quest to accomplish, which unnerves me because it might actually be important. Like handing a little kid a sword that explodes, this gives me a bad feeling. At least he seems to have others around him to minimize the damage.. or possibly add to it.
I don't know if I will be able to put this down or not. I don't know if I can explain this, but I'm guessing this is one of the things you want to know most. One of the things you will hold against me. But it's not like that. This wasn't my choice. Not really. I think-- I think this has been coming for some time now. Ever since the explosion that nearly knocked Dee into the next county. I guess I should start as if you don't know yet. I did promise I would explain.
Will Sherman is not an evil person. In fact, I think he's almost too nice. Let me see. If you haven't met him, let me back up and describe a little bit. He's the King of the Hobos (a self-assumed title but he pretty much fits the part) -- he came from the world Manhattan was a part of. It's hard to know whether it's still there or not. Like I said, it's going to be difficult to write this. Before this comes to an end, I am putting this Journal in a place where it will be found, with a note that its to be given to you or Sora should you ever come looking for me. Only you and Sora will be able to read it.
I'll retrieve it again if..
This is going to be one of the places in which I'm not sure I'm going to be able to explain in person.
In fact-- I'm almost sure of it.
Where was I.
Oh yes.
Somewhat thin, wears a wide brimmed hat. Messy brown hair. He looks like a teenager in tattered clothes with a cloak around his shoulders. Here. (Attached to this page is a fairly decent sketch of Will Sherman in his hat, cloak and Hoboesque glory. There are no eyes attached to the picture. There are trace marks where it looks like Riku was starting to pencil them in, but for whatever reason he stopped and abandoned the picture as it was)
I suppose it's a fools hope to say that you will stay away if I ask you. Even when I was standing right there, you'd do what you wanted. So I'm just pleading for you to be careful. Will Sherman isn't who he appears to be. In fact, I don't even think he knows he's not. There's something so dark inside him that I can't describe it in words. I'm not stretching the truth when I tell you it's Evil. Evil in all capitals. A pure, undiluted evil that doesn't want anything but to inflict suffering on the world. On ALL worlds.
I heard it once. Kairi, I am hoping to anything that will listen to me anymore that you never hear that sound. It's old, and it's angry and something has to be done to stop it. A flickering moment, not even directed at me, and the voice-- the scream of that evil being gave me nightmares. In it's uneasy sleep it nearly killed me on the spot because of who I am and what I can do.
I'm going to put a stop to it.. but not without a cost. One of the things I can do is seal things away. I can take what I know, and where I am, and make it not fit in the same space anymore with anything else. It's immensely tiring, so it's useless even if I get close. Even if I could somehow trick Will into this trap, I wouldn't be able to keep it closed. It has to be powered.
It has to be powered with something big. Like Manhattan.
That should be enough. If you break open a world, there is a powerful light inside. Powerful enough for anything. Enough to lock the voice away. Enough to make sure you and Sora have a chance to return, so that everyone has a chance to save the day. To see the Shadow lords beaten. To restore our home. Hate me all you want. I would rather see a strange fragment of a broken world used to seal away the voice than see the whole sea of stars go out in a wave. In a spreading wave of black. Another nightmare made real.
If it is not enough-- then I'm sorry. It will fall to someone. It has to. The voice is too dangerous. Even to the other shadow lords.
Perhaps it will even fall to you.. and I will have failed you again.
