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((Disregard the events when James and Michelle left for the forest for the time being, he will simply have returned to the castle and Michelle went to enjoy the festival.))



{James : Disney Castle : Hallways}

The corsair had left Michelle to go enjoy the festival, since they were going to be at Disney for awhile, they would have their chance to catch up soon enough. She had been involved with the planning and arranging for the festival, so it was her chance to enjoy the fruits of her labor. For the time being, James had too much on his mind to really be able to enjoy it, in fact, it was the last thing on his mind. So he was doing what he often did to help gather his thoughts, take a walk in the castle. He could often lose himself for hours just wandering though some place, in this case the massively over-sized halls of the castle.

He paused briefly though as he looked down one of the nearby corridors and spotted Kyla, heading towards the library and without really thinking about it he picked up his pace to catch up to her. Maybe just talking to someone else would help him wrap his mind around everything that had happened below, she could possibly even show him like she had before back on the train in Narnia. He and pictomancer hadn't really had much of a chance to talk or get to know each other either, the one time he had tried had ended... confusingly.

'Unity is what this festival is supposed to be about anyway, what have I got to lose,' he thought as he caught up to the pictomancer shortly before she reached the library.

"Hey Kyla," he greeted with a small smile, trying not to feel too uncomfortable. This was only the second time he had talked to her at all outside of combat situations. "You alright? You look like you've got a lot on your mind. Care to talk about it?" He asked, motioning that if she wanted to that he could walk beside him. "I like to wander while I think, it helps... sometimes." he stated completely disregarding the fact there was a broom leading her.

{James : Disney Castle : Hallway}

James couldn't help but note the slight apprehension in her reaction to his intentions, but didn't pay it much mind as she accepted anyway. He didn't really blame her for it considering they hadn't really talked much before. He smiled as she excused the broom that had apparently been leading her. He nodded his head in understanding as she mused to herself as they continued down the hallway. Her apprehension was then explained as she said she had been going to the library since she couldn't sleep. She did indeed look tired.

"Yeah I know the feeling, it's still hard to wrap my head around everything that has happened, being Ajora's pawn for a day really messed things up for me," he stated with a sigh, clearly still very unhappy about that whole ordeal and what happened afterwards. "Everyone seems different since after Atlantis, so much harder, or at least that's the way that it feels. I've been told what happened down there, but it's nothing like being there for myself. I wish I could have been. I wish I could have helped."

{James : Disney Castle : Hallway}

“ I’m glad you weren't there.”

That seemed to be the unspoken reaction of everyone who he had spoken to in regards to the events of this morning. Was it truly so terrifying? The corsair couldn't know unless he had seen it with his own eyes. Part of him really wanted to actually, he had faced the darkness in his nightmares, his own darkness, his own demon, whom his replica was now making him face in reality.

"If you don't want to relive it, I understand, but I'd like to see it with my own eyes if you can. I find it is better to face these things head on, I know what this evil is, the darkness, but I want to see it for myself," he stated.

He hadn't taken his eyes off of Kyla this entire time, looking at her as they walked side by side. He could see it all to clearly in the way that she hugged her shoulders, she was afraid and then with a slight chuckle tried to change the topic, a diversion which the corsair wasn't going to fall for.

"Kyla please tell me, what are you so afraid of? It's better to talk about these things instead of just letting them lie dormant," he stated.

After he had asked his question, they had continued on for a bit in silence, clearly he had given her something to think about, such a simple question had a very deep answer it seemed, deeper than the corsair had expected. Eventually she stopped and summoned her sketchbook, making him believe that she was going to show him a picture, much as she had done the last time to recap. Then she made her way out onto a nearby balcony and sat down on a bench that overlooked the courtyard. He was tempted to sit next to her, but decided not to for the time being.

He nodded his head in silent understanding at her words regarding the monster she was going to draw, he had often felt similar in regards to simply saying the name, Kuro Oni. She was reluctant to do this, and based upon what she had said thus far, he couldn't blame her. He had already stated though that if she didn't want to, she didn't have to. Still though she persisted, something that the corsair was glad for. With a heavy sigh she began seemingly lost in her memories and thoughts as she simply allowed the ink to flow from her pen in a fury or strokes the likes of which the corsair had never seen as black ink filled the page, strokes that were so hard and intent if the book was not magical, surely the page would have been torn into as well as probably the pages after it too.

James stared intently at the picture as lines of color filled in the void starting to create the image of the creature, the destruction it wrought, their comrades, everything in so vivid of detail that it felt like he was there, and then much to utter shock and awe, he was!

Cue: Birth of Cubia

His vision was filled with the void of darkness as he stood on the cross-shaped platform that his allies had fought this abomination on. He stood in awe and horror, his eyes locked on the massive creature. It's seven eyes, carapace covered tendrils. There was too much detail to fully take in, but were becoming more and more clear as Kyla continued her horrific drawing, her pen scratching on the paper the only thing the corsair could still hear until he heard the echo of her thoughts.

' I'm glad you weren't there...'

'I didn't want you to see this.'

He understood all too well why now, he was having a hard enough time looking at in this way, he could not imagine having to fight it, to feel it's fury firsthand. The corsair hadn't blinked, his eyes staring into the seven crimson slits that made up the monster's eyes. This vision would be burned into his memory, even though he wasn't there. He now wasn't likely to forget it. The face of evil, the face of their true enemy. He hadn't taken a breath either, his lungs seemingly paralyzed by the sheer sight of it.

"Stop! That is enough," the corsair called out and just like that the illusionary pictomancy would end and the corsair would find himself back at the castle. When he had regained his sense of direction he basically collapsed on the bench next to Kyla, hyperventilating.

He turned his focus to the pictomancer and noted that she was still drawing furiously, her eyes staring distantly at her picture. The page at this point was more than completely full of ink, so much so that the ink was now running freely off of the page and covering her hands. He quickly grabbed at her wrist to stop her from drawing. After a moment she finally stopped and turned to the corsair, blinking slightly as she came to her senses. She apparently hadn't realized that she had continued drawing.


The corsair let out a sigh and looked up at the sky, graciously filling his vision with bright blue instead of the black abyss, as his left hand removed his tricorne and his right hand ran through his hair. He was glad to see colors other than the black that still permeated his memories and covered her hands.

"Su'um arhk morah, Su'um arhk morah...," The corsair began, reciting the same mantra Kyla might have heard back in the hangar. Saying it each time he slowly let his breath out to steady himself.

It took him a few moments to steady his breathing and compose himself before suddenly he started laughing, possibly in hysterics he wasn't sure, but it only lasted for a moment.

"Wow, that was intense," he stated with a slight shake of his head, he then turned his focus back to Kyla. "Your powers never cease to amaze. I really don't know what to think about that, except if that is what the darkness has up it's sleeve, I am curious to see what powers the light must hold. I am sorry for asking you to show me that, but I prefer to know my enemy. It would be so much worse to encounter something like that in the future and not be aware of the darkness' potential. I'm aware you guys didn't have that luxury, I'm sorry for that."

{James : Disney Castle : Balcony}

James watched the pictomancer in silence as she examined her book, now completely clean from the ink that had overflowed and the image now finished, everything a few pages beneath the image was now completely clean. He looked at her hands, stained with the black ink, for some reason though she didn't seem to mind it, simply stating that it was alright before looking up at the sky, letting her own breathing settle, either from the sheer exertion of her furious drawing, or possibly from reliving the fear of the battle. The corsair wasn't sure which. With a sigh, he too looked back up at the sky, unchanged, unaffected by what had just transpired, just a bright peaceful blue, the sun's rays, warm on his face. He turned his head to look at Kyla as she asked the random question he hadn't been expecting and he couldn't help but chuckle.

"It's dragon tongue for breath and focus," he stated with a light laugh. "I learned it from a game called Skyrim. Kind of silly I know, but oddly enough it helps."

He let out another sigh, trying to think what to say next. "We all have to face our fears sometime, or at least learn to live with them. I've always feared losing control of myself, be it my emotions, my anger... A few years ago I feared losing myself to my own darkness. No doubt that's why Kuro Oni put Ajora up to controlling me, to make that fear a reality, just like in my old night terrors."

He shuddered slightly as he recalled all too well those nights, the recurring terror of himself battling the manifestation of his darkness, the being he once thought of as a demon. The more often than not inevitable outcome of the black blade in his chest and the slaughter he would go on as he lost all control of himself. It would be clear that he was still having to come to grips with what had happened, he had now truly lived his fear. He wasn't entirely sure if he ever truly would get over it, forgive himself for what had happened even though there was really nothing to forgive.

{James : Disney Castle : Balcony}

"I'm pretty sure that it was more used as a reminder to the Dragon Born, the character you play, more than anything. It definitely wasn't a mantra in the game, but I've sort of adopted it as such. I used to sing the Hymn of the Fayth while in meditation to control myself too. It's weird sometimes the things that will help" he stated with another chuckle in reply, fully aware that his inner nerd was showing, but not really caring.

He looked back up at the sky as well as he considered her question carefully, he could tell that his answer actually meant a lot to her for this one.

"I'm not entirely sure really," he stated still deep in thought. "To experience it is to actually come to know it, and I strongly believe that coming to know the fear, what there is to it to actually be afraid of, is a big part of being able to face it." He turned his gaze back to her as he thought about her second question, slightly confused. Unsure of how a fear could end up making things difficult for others. "I don't understand... Facing a fear could only make you stronger, which in turn would only help everyone else. What are you afraid of that facing it would screw others over?" He asked, now truly curious as to what she was afraid of.

{James : Disney : Balcony}

James remained silent as he listened to her rant, as she began to explain about her sin and having to face it. Which meant it was something real in this world, he would try and touch on that, but before he could have gotten the chance she exploded, explaining everything. The reasons she had done everything she had done, the things he didn't know about, like her going off to face Ajora alone, to prove her point, to prove her purpose. He didn't know what to think as she continued to beat herself up over what she had done, what she had tried to do. This was a side of the pictomancer that he was fairly certain none of the group had seen. She was showing her true self, her true introspective self, and it seemed as though she hated what she thought of herself at this time. That she was a despicable, horrible person. Which wasn't what the corsair saw at all.

She began to touch upon the things that he assumed she had been talking to Riku about and then about Yen Sid regarding her thoughts about Kai and then about Louis and her strong desire to help him, the same desire that James had shared with her, be it an emotional over-reaction or not, he did indeed still feel that way. There was so much running through the girls mind about herself and everything else, and she looked so so tired... so stressed. She was seemingly falling apart, borderline unstable. There was so much for him to take in, that he wasn't sure if he would be able to understand what all Kyla was thinking but he understood enough.

Cue: Recollection

Slowly, hesitantly, he did the one thing that he knew worked best. He stood up and made his way over to the pictomancer and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her close to him in a comforting embrace.

"Kyla, it's alright," he said simply, "If you have a hard time believing in how you feel about yourself, then believe in this... You are not a bad person, the fact that you feel this strongly about all of this is proof of that. A bad person wouldn't care about it at all. You DO care, possibly even a little too much, about everything. You are trying to control things that just cannot be controlled, that are unknowable to even Yen Sid, or anyone else," he paused between each of the things he was saying, trying to think how best to word it. "Ultimately Kyla, all you can do is your best. Do not doubt that you are here for a reason, we all are, even though we do not fully know what it is yet, All things will come to light when the time is right, have faith in that. Whatever you do, do not think you are useless, because you are not. You are one great part, of the even greater whole that is our group, we all have our place and our talents, we all have our uses, we are all needed. Don't ever forget that. As for what you do now, you live on and you fight with us by your side and with the light. That is the right path that Riku is talking about," He concluded, his now gripping her shoulders lightly as if to further drive his point and his support home.