Unexpected Reunion [Night]

[Morrigan La Fey]

Recently, a series of monster attacks had been plaguing a human settlement not far off the border of the desert lands. The people there thought the attacks were arranged by the Emperor as a warning for being too close to his land, but in reality they were just rogue monsters that were acting outside of his rule. Still, they had no aid from the Hylian Knights, who were busy with other affairs, and so for a while they had to fend for themselves. However, help arrived in the form of Morrigan, who was at least able to repel them for a time. The monsters would return with time though, and so she took this opportunity to seek out the Monster Emperor and get him to halt the attacks. She knew where he resided, but not who he was, which would change soon...

It had been a long trip through the desert, and it was somewhat tedious, but eventually she made it to the massive gates of what she knew to be the Monster Emperor's palace. The exact government of the beasts of Hyrule was a recent thing to her knowledge, and were newcomers into the political world, so she had to try and establish some kind of peace, whether it be by negotiations or threats of violence. Sure, the Monsters had physical power, but humanity had numbers, technology, and in many cases greater powers than Monsters could manifest.

The gates were shut, and two large orc-like creatures with halberd-like axes stood guard in front of them. They were easily about twice as tall as her, but she didn't scare easy. Morrigan had dawned a tattered brown cloak for the trip, to use as shade against the sun's rays, but she lowered the hood so she could properly look up at the guards. They looked down at her, and both had a mix of ugly and scary looks, the large fangs sticking out from beneath their lips adding to it. She didn't budge though, and in fact, took a step towards them.

"Let me pass! I must see the Emperor!" she shouted, gesturing towards the palace. The guards responded in a garbled tongue she couldn't hope to understand, most likely their native tongue, and she couldn't tell if they even understood or not. She didn't want to think they were stupid, but if they didn't speak her language than this would get much more difficult.

"Let, me, in, there! I must see your leader!" she shouted once more, getting annoyed as she made gestures to help in case they didn't understand her. The two looked at each other for a moment, before looking back at her, and one of them began speaking in a rough, very broken form of hylian.

"No body go in."

Well that's great, looks like I might need to force my way in. Most likely there is a pulley or lever somewhere on the outside which I can use to open the gate, as I cannot see anyone inside to operate the gate.

[/color] Morrigan thought to herself as she held out one hand, her sword appearing in hand along with her gauntlets over her hands. She had abandoned her armor for the trip, but if this would become a fight, she had to arm herself appropriately. For now, it was simply the gauntlets, but she would take up the rest if it got bad. Her cloak still hid most of her figure, aside from her head, her blue-clothed arm, and her now armed and armored hand.

The two guards responded to this gesture by taking up offensive stances with their axes, ready for a fight and one of them looked eager for it. They clearly didn't like her, and she wasn't fond of them either. They were impeding her progress in trying to resolve matters, and she did not intend to allow them to keep blocking her path.

"I will only say this one last time! Let me pass, otherwise I will have to use violence!"[/blockquote][/size]

[Nightmare Darklight]

Right away, Nightmare had heard of someone at the gate, trying to barge their way inside. And all to see an audience with him. Nightmare sighed, it was probably someone challenging him for his title, or something stupid like that. He figured that he would go take care of it. On his way out, he slipped on his battle armor and grabbed Silversnake. He figured that this wouldn't take too long. Most people who challenged him were young upstarts, thinking that if Nightmare was able to take the throne at such a young age, then they would be able to as well. To this day, he had yet to lose a title match. Which was obvious because if he did, he'd be dead.

He made his way through the black lands, all the way to the large gate itself. As the trolls pulled the massive gate open through pure strength alone, Nightmare walked out of the gap to meet the challenger. Waving a clawed hand towards the orcs that stood guard, he let them walk inside the gate. If this truly was a challenge, then it was one that he had to answer alone, as much as he hated to admit it. Though, despite being prepared for a challenge, he wouldn't be prepared for what, or who exactly, would be staring him in the face; Morrigan La Fey. What in the world could she be doing out here?

Nightmare tried to hide his surprised expression as he closed the distance to only about ten feet away. Right, she knew him as Alexander. No one really knew him as Nightmare Darklight. So, as much as he rather enjoyed the idea of greeting her as an old friend, he was afraid that he couldn't. At least not sure. He wasn't crazy about the idea of her calling him by his real name, and having it spread about the Empire. So for now, he kept his sword at his side, and quirked an eyebrow. "You wished to see me?" Nightmare inquired Morrigan. He wasn't even sure if she would recognize him at this point.

[/justify]

[Morrigan La Fey]

Soon after her shout, before things had gotten violent between her and the guards, Morrigan saw a figure approaching. The gate opened, other monsters seeming to be the ones opening it, and the man waved the two guards inside. He had authority over the monsters, able to issue orders to them with a wave of his hand. He was either the Emperor, or someone just below the Emperor, an adviser of some kind. That part didn't matter, as she was more curious as to why a human was in a seat of power in the monster empire.

"Ah, y-yes. I need to speak to you regarding some monster attacks," Morrigan straightened herself out and lowered her arm, the gauntlet and sword vanishing from her hand as it slipped back inside the cloak. She didn't need to show any hostility right now if he wished to simply speak. So long as this could be settled diplomatically, she didn't intend to fight. However, part of the reason was that this man, who claimed to be the Emperor, was strangely familiar to her. No, it can't be him, he's a human and this is the Monster Emperor.

[/i] she thought to herself, shaking her head for a moment before fixing her emerald eyes back on the Emperor.

"There's a human settlement just outside the bounds of the desert, which has been repeatedly attacked by monsters in the past few weeks. I am uncertain what reason there could be for these attacks, but I came to..." she paused for a moment, avoiding using the word 'demand' so she would seem more polite, "request that you call off your men and leave the settlement alone."

As she spoke, the nagging feeling of familiarity continued to remain in the back of her mind. This man looked so similar to Alexander, having the same hair and face, but the attire and blade looked entirely different. Not to mention that he had grown up with Alexander, and he was a human being, not some sort of monster. A human being couldn't be the one leading the monster empire; it simply wouldn't make sense. The beasts of Hyrule hated humans and would kill any human that tries to conquer them. This one had to be a creature who could take on a human form then, and it just happened to be similar to Alexander. Yes, that was the explanation that made the most sense.[/blockquote][/size]

[Nightmare Darklight]

So that's what this was about. Apparently some monsters were going around, ransacking villages that were living in the desert. He had to wonder what the hell a bunch of villagers were doing settling in the hellhole that was the desert anyway. It was good for the black lands as they were well fortified behind mountains, and they had food through the various pigs and boars that lived in this area. But the sweltering heat was no place for a bunch of humans to make their home. Especially if it was out in the open. The Gerudo were able to get by, barely, by setting up a massive fortress. A tiny village wouldn't even stand a chance.

But the problem was that there were monsters that were going around and causing trouble. Nightmare crossed his arms for a moment. Really, there was only one way to put it. "I didn't authorize any raids on any villages. So sorry, but it's not my problem. Those Ainur are acting outside my rule." He looked at her. "And for the record, we actually find 'Monster' racist. Like the Hylians or the Deku, we do have actual names, it's 'Ainur.'" He figured he would just let her know. It was always fun to correct people on this kind of thing, as no one ever expected that the monsters would have an actual name for themselves.

Though honestly, it looked like that there had been no recognition of him per se either. Perhaps he jumped the gun in assuming who it was. There were people that would undoubtedly look alike, and this woman was arguably just one of them. Oh well, it seemed that he had given his answer. And unless there was something else she was here for, then he figured that would conclude their business. To be honest, he was kind of glad that it didn't turn into a fight, and even more relieved that it wasn't a title match waiting for him. Maybe now he could actually get back to his tower in the black lands.

[/justify]

[Morrigan La Fey]

"My apologies, I had never delved into...Ainur political affairs before, and so I was not aware of this. I will keep it in mind for future reference," Morrigan replied, giving a small bow of courtesy before raising her head to meet his gaze once more. It was interesting....they seemed much more civilized, organized than she had believed them to be. Perhaps there were peaceful means to resolve more issues than this simple matter. Though, she had to still work on this problem at hand, as it seemed the Emperor wanted to just dismiss the problem as 'not his concern'.

"Now, even if those Ainur are acting outside of your orders, they are still your subjects and therefore, are your concern! I am not the only who assumes you organized those attacks; the entire settlement had this belief, and if it gets bad enough, then others will step in. Eventually, it could expand to the Hylian Royal Family, and then a war could ensue! You cannot simply brush things off as 'not your problem' simply because you didn't organize it!" she continued, her voice getting louder as she got more and more into it. This was something that she could get behind; even without a political background, the progression of events was obvious if the Monster Emperor continued such a laissez-faire attitude about the going ons of his subjects.

"Such an attitude is unfitting of a ruler! Rulers must act decisively to eliminate trouble before it arises! Criminal acts cannot go unpunished, or the whole world would plunge into chaos! The world needs order, the world needs justice! We cannot afford to have things go as wrong as they did over a hundred years ago, and as it is now, history will just repeat itself! You cannot afford to have such a thing happen, because you too will lose any station and be nothing but a slave!" For once, Morrigan was actually getting carried away. This man reminded her so much of why someone like her had to exist; why the people had to take matters into their own hands. He reminded her of a lot of things, but most importantly, he reminded her of...

"Alexander, you're always just cruising through life without any conviction!"

There, she had blurted it out. Her mouth spoke too quick for her mind to keep up. For once, she had lost herself, her mind mixed up between memories of the past, knowledge of her ideology and the means of enacting it, and her annoyance towards leaders such as the man in front of her. He behaved so similarly to the man she knew as Alexander that without intending, she simply blurted it out. Once she realized what she had said, her eyes widened as she moved a hand to cover her mouth. Her mind had then processed the entirety of what she had said, and she took a step back, almost a bit horrified at herself. She prided herself on being controlled and being able to calmly deal with situations, but for once, the circumstances were right for her to lose it.

"A-ah, I....I...."

Morrigan was at a loss of words now. She had no idea how to fix what she had just done, and no way to know how the Emperor would react. Her only hope was that he didn't simply execute her for such a rude display.

[/size]

[Nightmare Darklight]

To be honest, he was blowing off most of what she was saying. Just casually nodding or only tossing in an indifferent mhm. Really, what was the point of him getting involved anyway? If he sent any of the monsters to deal with these rogue monsters, then the villagers would just assume more monsters had come to attack them and things would just continue to spiral downhill from there. To him, there was no real way for him to win if he got involved, so he figured that he would just do the wise thing and stay out of it. After all, this young woman seemed to be getting rid of them just fine. And if those monsters were willing to put their neck on the line, why stop them?

However, the words that came out of her mouth were really something that stunned him. For a bit of time, silence reigned over the entire area. Neither of them saying a thing. Nightmare didn't even move. So this really was Morrigan? What in the hell was she doing all the way out here, killing monsters? Why was she even in the desert? And did that mean that she had come all this way just to lecture him that he should be fighting for TRUTH and JUSTICE more often? Nightmare crossed his arms, his index finger tapping on one of them in a repetitive manner. "Well, Morrigan. Cruising through life has given me control of an empire, so I'd say that's working pretty well for me." He replied in a flat tone.

It was all out in the open now. Frankly, he wasn't interested in telling her his true heritage. He figured that if she really brought up how he ended up ruling the Ainur, and he figured she would, he could easily come up with something believable. Nevertheless, he knew that this was probably going to get really awkward really fast. And he was wondering if this would even turn violent. Morrigan was a pretty strict person. And unfortunately, unless she changed, he didn't particularly remember her having any real shades of grey. But, nevertheless, he waited for her to respond. He had to admit, there was a part of him that was curious as to how he would she would take it.

[/justify]

[Morrigan La Fey]

It really was him. He knew her name without her having introduced herself, and that kind of response had a sense of familiarity to it. She wasn't famous enough to have her name precede her, so the only way he would know her was that he really was Alexander. Morrigan was actually extremely shocked by this, because it showed how far the two differentiated in their paths. The two started from the same place, went to the same academy, but after that...they ended up on opposite sides. He had ended up somehow becoming the Emperor of the Ainur, while she was a wandering crusader of justice who lived in anonymity.

"It has been a long time, Alexander...five years now, if memory serves," Morrigan responded, her body relaxing as her arm fell back to her side within her cloak. Normally, a more shocked reaction would come of something like this, but so much happened at once that her mind and body ended up relaxing to allow her to process it. Indeed, he remained mostly the same as he did before. The sword and armor were new, but his face had remained mostly the same, which was most likely what triggered the recognition.

"I'm certain there are quite interesting circumstances leading up to you becoming head of the Ainur, and I won't demand you to explain them to me if you don't want to, but answer me this," she continued as the confident and collected look returned to her face, her emerald eyes meeting with Alexander's once more, "I do not intend to leave until something is done about the attacks, as I cannot continue to stay in that village to protect them while others suffer in Hyrule. You have business as the Emperor to attend to, I'm certain, and simply walking away will only worsen the situation. As the Emperor of the Ainur, how do you intend to solve this dilemma?"

Morrigan was doing this for multiple reasons, more than just the simple matter of solving the attack problem. She didn't know how long Alexander had been in this seat of power, but she felt that his current attitude would just cause more problems than solve them. She wanted to test his abilities as a leader, and more importantly, she wanted to see if he had grown from his time at the academy. Sure, he was a year older than her, but she felt that the physical age wasn't the issue here. Sometimes, he seemed to be younger in mind than her, but sometimes not so much. Her mind told her that she was right, but a nagging bit in the back of her mind was uncertain. Who was right in this situation, and who handled things better; that would be found out right now.

[/size]

[Nightmare Darklight]

Nightmare looked at Morrigan. Apparently she still wanted him to get involved. There was just a problem with that. It seemed that the girl wasn't thinking things through when it came to this situation. "I can't get involved, Morrigan. My hands are tied." He informed her once again that he simply would not be getting involved. There were things about it that prohibited him from getting involved. Namely, there was the fact that if he did get involved it would probably make the situation a whole lot worse. He scratched his cheek, trying to figure out some way to at least help her situation without getting involved, but so far, nothing.

He gave a sigh. "Look, when you came here, you immediately assumed that I was the one behind the attacks, right?" He knew where he was going, but he was actually curious if Morrigan would catch on about his reasons for not getting involved. "Well, then it's probably a safe bet that the village thinks they're my Ainur. Even though they aren't, they immediately, and likely still assume that they are." People could be so unreasonable, even if things were explained to them, they would still probably think he was behind it. He had thousands of years of problems to take care of before the long conflict could finally end.

"So if they aren't mine, yet everyone thinks they are, do you really think that Ainur showing up under the banner of the Empire will alleviate things?" It was a question that he really didn't expect Morrigan to answer. If she did though, that would be great. Nevertheless, he would spell it out for her. "Of course not. If anything, recent attacks would heighten tension. All it'd take is one villager's anger to boil over, and which it will, and the village would be subject to an actual battle. And this time, it would be Ainur under my control that'd killing them. It'd just make things worse." And explanation over.

"So yeah. Sorry, can't do it. Hands are tied." He spoke in an indifferent tone.

[/justify]