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"I'm afraid not," he said, glancing to Sayrike when she mentioned she mentioned his name. "However, even without knowledge of his history, he arouses... distrust fairly easily. It was made very clear, after all, when he would only bring them back if we fulfilled a bargain."

"They were brought back unharmed, however, and the bargain struck was a paltry price in comparison," he added, stroking his beard as he glanced back at the vision. "So he was a great help, in that regard. Is there something particular we should know about him?"

He nodded slowly as Sayrike spun the story, taking the information in.

"Dress spheres, and a large-scale protective enchantment that would deter outside influence unless allowed by the caster, like the enchantments cast upon the train and airship you've used" he explained. "However, being the origins of such an enchantment, Merlin and I could unravel it, should it be used against us in some fashion."

"And we could do the same for the dressings," Flora said, nodding adamantly.

"So I guess we'll note to look out for'im," Riku said, crossing his arms as he looked the man over. "Dunno what he'd used the protection for, but dress spheres... you can get clothing easily enough. I'd wager he wanted them to help control summons. Maybe other Earthlings?"

"Possible," Yen Sid replied, still pensive.

"We were going to before you had your questions," Yen Sid replied simply, and though he personally showed no reaction, Riku only barely hid the twitch of his lips as he unconsciously smiled.

"The protective enchantment is by no means a unique spell. To be honest, I am surprised it was one of his requests," he explained. "He made it clear it was for an acquaintance to cast, so even if they attempted to twist it back against us, it would be pointless--the scroll had no ties to our own protections and was for an individual barrier."

"The dress spheres, as well, had special conditions. He wanted them usable by those other than earthlings, and he specified that there should be no trinity charms," he continued, stroking his beard some more. "So, again, they were made without connection to our own. Indeed, if these things were acquired to work against us, then it would be quite the chore."

"Further, for collateral while we waited, he gave us a very unique sword--one, I noticed, was forged with light magic," he continued, and the image of Rumplestiltskin was joined with the image of a crimson and gold greatsword. "The blade itself would be a great bane against the darkness, and he implied that it belonged to someone else."

"If he is as crafty as you imply, then it's clear he wanted us to know he had this blade," he said, and he looked into the young woman's eyes, raising a brow. "What would you make of that, young mage?"

She blinked a little at Louis' seemingly random rambling. Then she laughed, blushing a little in embarrassment and rubbing the back of her neck.

"Sorry, sorry, I didn't mean to kind of take over the conversation like that," she said, giving the boy a sheepish grin. "God, if I am as good a person as I am a question-asker, I must suck as a person. I always lose the questions game... But as to you asking me a question, yes, Harry, you just did. You may ask me one other, however." Her grin softened to a playful smile, and her tone deepened and took on a British accent in her best Dumbledore impression. Which kind of sucked, since her voice was way too high, but that never stopped her impressions before. Then she switched back to her normal tone and said, "Or however many until we're even."

Bobbi pursed her lips a little and stopped her pacing, staring off into space above Louis' head. A slight frown creased her forehead as she saw the odd distortion. Like a heat shimmer, only… not. She certainly found it odd, but decided not to say anything about it. But she'd keep an eye on it, that was for sure.

"That's… a good question, actually," she said, slowly, still thinking about the question. Was she a good person? She was chosen to fight when her home world was destroyed, and every piece of evidence she had pointed to the Light being what chose her. And the Light was good, right? Still, there was always a doubt in the back of her mind. Too much light could blind… She wanted to answer with a decisive and enthusiastic "yes," but if she was honest, and she always tried to be, then that wasn't the right answer.

"I do my best to be," she said after a long moment. "But I'm human; I make mistakes, I get angry. I'm just as flawed as the next person, really. But I always try to be the best I can, to be always fair and honest and…" She pulled her bottom lip between her teeth, worrying at it a little as her frown of concentration deepened.

"I guess, the best answer is that I think I'm a good person, and I try to be a good person, and that's really the best I can say. But probably the best judge would be a third party. Probably someone impartial; my friends would probably be biased in my favor."

She stepped back involuntarily when he popped up right in front of her, heart racing in surprise. One hand went to her chest, feeling her heart pound even through the leather armor she still wore. Her brow furrowed, and she opened her mouth, either to reply or to tell him off for nearly scaring the crap out of her, when the memories were pulled from the depths of her mind and heart. Her hand clenched into a fist and the other came up, pressing against the pain in her heart in a vain attempt to ease it. She took another step back, then another as her eyes misted with tears.

And along with the pain came anger.

"Well I certainly couldn't have saved him, now could I?" Bobbi snapped, taking the ache in her heart and turning it outwards. Hot tears born as much from rage as from sorrow spilled down her cheeks. "I'm not a healer, he was dying in front of us anyway, there wasn't anything I could have done! And don't you dare start on me about a mercy shot, either! He was giving us information we sorely needed, and I—"

Her eyes widened a fraction, then narrowed into a scowl, and this time she took a step forward, her fists slowly lowering to her sides.

"You manipulative little s**t," she spat. "You pretended to be an amnesiac just so you could pull this bullshit on me? Trying to guilt me about Ajora's death when my guard was down? I don't regret it, you know. The man was a rabid animal; he needed to be put down before he destroyed more innocent lives! And if you really think I'm stupid enough to cut off an information source for the sake of mercy—"

But that was wrong. She did regret his death, just as she regretted any loss of life. Just as she should have put an arrow through Ajora's head to spare him the lingering pain, and whatever else he might have suffered at the hands of Seymour and Kuja. Bobbi's voice broke on the last word and she choked off, too incoherent from her surging emotions to continue.

He's right, she thought, the tears falling faster now. She backed away again, burying her face in her hands. After a moment she ran her fingers through her unbound hair, gripping tightly at her scalp as she bit her lip hard enough to bleed. She wasn't looking at Louis now, but rather at the glass mosaic at her feet. What kind of monster just leaves a man to suffer like that? I could have ended it cleanly and quickly. And all this talk about getting info off of him is just a justification for actions I know were wrong. I let him suffer because I'm selfish, because I wanted to see him hurt as much as he'd hurt us. That's not justice, it's sick. And now I'm turning my anger at myself out on Louis.

"I'm sorry."

At first she didn't hear the laughter. Her mind was winding in tight little circles, stuck in the rut of self-loathing and anger and regret, and it took a moment to register that Louis was laughing at her! Surprise stopped her tears and Bobbi looked up, hands loosening from the roots of her hair and sliding from her face.

"Wh-what?"

That glow in his eyes was back—or might not have ever left. And it was growing stronger by the moment. His laughter didn't seem mocking or anything. It seemed more… insane or hysterical. And the fact that he never seemed to break eye contact, in fact hardly seemed to blink at all, it felt like he was going insane and pulling her down with him. Or maybe she was going insane and he just beat her to the finish line?

While Louis' muscles had seemed to relax, hers instead tensed to the point where she was trembling all over. Her shoulders hunched and she hugged her arms tight to her body, backing away a step or two again. Part of her wanted to lash out and stop the laughter, but she was too busy trying to keep herself from going off the deep end with him.

"Enough!"

The shout echoed from the void around the station, followed by a blast of ice right at Louis' feet. Bobbi's head snapped up and focused on the figure of a blue-skinned woman walking towards them, anger in every line of her posture.

"Shiva," Bobbi whispered, glad beyond words to see her summon.