Grace Braid

By Grace Braid

• April 15, 2013

Age: 26

Gender: Female

Species: Non-Pony

Appearance: Maroon hair, put into a ponytail. Some of her hail also hangs down her front, just in front of her ears and reaching all the way down to about her chest. Blueish eyes; no lipstic or piercings on her face. About 5'8". Rather attractive. Wears a long, flowing coat typically that she leaves unbuttoned, along with some more casual clothes underneath and black gloves on her hands. Does not have a large bust(shocker, I know), but a small to medium one instead. Strapped to her waist is the sheath for her sword, which she carries around wherever she goes.

Personality: Has somewhat of a temper at times, although she strives to have it not limit her patience.<br />Loyal to those she considers her friends, and loathes to see them come to harm.<br />Believes in the "Greater Good" and such, but also in the good that just one person could do. She would sacrifice herself if it would cause the world(s) as a whole to benefit greatly, though.<br />Patient when she needs to be, like any good tactician.

Backstory: Grace comes from a rather high noble family in her country on her world- a fact that she found both helpful and unwanted at times. Raised like many other nobles in her country, she was instructed in how to fight with a sword, lance, axe, bow, crossbow, etc, although she only seemed to do better than the bottom of average when wielding a sword. When it was discovered that she could also utilize magic, she was taught how to control it, although mastery is once again elusive for her.<br /><br />What she seemed to lack in combat mastery, however, she made up for in tactical knowledge. Being perceptive and intelligent, she could come up with a workable plan for any battle situation as it developed. It may not be a perfect plan, but they would work nonetheless.<br /><br />Soon after turning 19, she was appointed to be a Captain in the army. She didn’t let it get to her head, though - she knew that she had acquired the position through nepotism, not by her own talent. Facing accusations of incompetence, she tackled her new job with some measured caution, not wanting to prove her detractors correct so quickly. Over the next few years, she managed to at least stop those who she was leading from openly questioning her ability by winning several war games against other companies, although there was still the problem of her never leading in “real” combat.<br /><br />That changed soon after she had turned 23 (by which time she had been promoted to be a Major) when a neighboring country invaded in a bid for a new vassal. Rallied together with a few neighboring companies, Grace was sent to the frontlines to fight. Once there, it was obvious that this war was going to be very bloody just a few weeks in, although it seemed at the time to be slightly in favor of her side.<br /><br />Things took a turn for the worse, though, a year into the war, when several of her higher-ups either defected or were assassinated within just a few short days. Suddenly without leadership, her side had to fall back in an extremely disorganized way, losing a significant number of soldiers and land to the rapidly advancing enemy. Forced to take control of a division due to being one of the only higher-ranking officers left, she and a few others managed to finally stall their advance before the capital could be seized and then, slowly but surely, drive them back until they were back to the pre-war borders a year later when the war finally ended in a stalemate. During this time, both her relative inexperience and her intelligence showed off at various points - sometimes one after the other - although she managed to keep as many of her subordinates alive as she could. Afterwards, she was given the permanent promotion to major general - partly because there was very few officers left, partly because she had finally proven her worth to all that were involved.<br /><br />The peace after the war, however, did not last long, for the Heartless found her world but a year later. Every known country was affected by the invasion, and due to how fighting the Heartless in a traditional war is nigh impossible, most could barely avoid collapse after just a few weeks, much less defeat them. Grace was no exception - while she personally could fight them and win, along with many of the stronger soldiers in the army, they were still vastly outnumbered, and there is only so many that you can defeat before getting utterly overwhelmed. Thus Grace’s world fell in but a couple of months after the Heartless had found it, unable to drive them off. <br /><br />However, not all that happened during the invasion was bad. But a few days before the world’s heart was found, Grace and a few others were fighting a small band of Heartless when a Neoshadow (before which had not been seen by Grace) managed to disarm her, and prepared to land a crippling blow. Throwing her arms up to protect herself, she expected the worst when, rather suddenly, there was a blinding flash of light, knocking the Neoshadow back and leaving Grace with a key-like weapon in her hand - a Keyblade. Despite being rightfully confused, she managed to finish the fight using her new weapon without dying. It appeared to have been a one-time thing from her perspective, however, as afterwards she never could summon it back.<br /><br />Afterwards, she was sucked into what can only be described as a dark portal and dumped off at Traverse Town, alone and unsure if anybody else survived, trying to find out just what in the hell happened to her world.