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[Michelle : Black Pearl : Deck]

She shrugged, "May-hap your right about all that," she gestured towards the group around Kyle, "but I didn't like it." She paused for a moment trying to think how best to explain. "While I have two siblings they are so much older than me, from my mom's first marriage, that I grew up like an only child. No rough housing lovingly with someone when you get annoyed, and when it comes to school I was never targeted by bullies. I never got into any fights. My parents, neither of them believed in physical punishment but for that matter I've never even been grounded. So you see violence and I have no history, and this world we've landed in seems full of it. I freaked out so bad the first time our group lost someone that I ran away to Disney Castle, and while I was away being to cowardly to cope what happens... James get taken. I know it's pathetic that I can't seem to keep it together on my own and I'm trying I promise I really am trying, but so far I seem to be stuck in emotional overdrive. Really loopy happy and optimistic, briefly at times, and edgy depressed and angry the rest."

She stopped dead for a moment the color seeming to literally drain from her face as she felt the overwhelming sadness that his absence brought. Stubbornly, she shook her head quickly and shoved at the memories trying to continue. Anthony was probably getting more than he bargained for, she was dumping all her drama and crap out in the open at him. "He's the best thing in my life. He helps me feel safe and grounded, keeps me from dwelling on depression. Being here on this adventure away from home, family, friends, church, it was okay so long as we were still together, but without him I feel like I'm trying to fight gravity in some kind of free fall."

She took a deep breath and realized what she was doing, feeling chagrin she made herself smile weakly and change the subject. "So another lightning user that's really fun to know. But what do you mean by you can't use it yet? I mean, I can barely get mine to shut up he is always wanting to put in his two bits on how to do things both magically and otherwise."

"Oh that's a nice way to talk about your devoted guardian. It would serve you right if I did stop talking." But he was only teasing her and they both knew it. He was aware of just how much she needed his constant companionship in this place to keep from feeling utterly alone without James. And by now he also knew her emotional diversion tactics well enough to understand that her comments about him were meant to try and break the sappiness and add some levity to the conversation.

[Anthony ~.~ The Black Pearl ~.~ Main Deck]

Anthony's childhood was quite the opposite of Michelle's. There was tons of rough housing--most not so lovingly, but there were times when his older brother would take pity and him and his younger brother. Later on, the young man became conditioned to flinch or tense up when his older brother walked into the room out of fear of being smacked on the side of his head. As much frustration his brothers would cause him, the young man sure missed having them around...

The knight's eyes widened when Michelle mentioned "losing" someone from the group. "So... we've already lost someone...," Anthony thought, his gaze falling to the wooden deck. "I guess this is how this universe differs from the video game... this is real. We could die. Or the, uh... Kingdom Hearts equivalent of death."

Anthony felt his heart sink as Michelle spoke about James. He wanted to tell her that it'll be alright; that they'll save him soon, but he couldn't guarantee it, though that wasn't going to stop him from feeling hopeful. He had plan, and he felt more determined to go through with it now more than ever.

"Yup, I are a lightning user!" the young man said, taking the sudden change in subject as Michelle's way of avoiding the present one. "My summon hasn't fully awaken yet, but I've heard voices here and there... I just haven't determined whether it's my summon or if I'm just starting to go crazy," he joked, laughing a bit at the end.

[ Kyle ; Sora : Caribbean : Black Pearl ~ Deck ]

Sora took it all in, still gently rubbing his side. So he'd been knocked out first... that was pretty embarrassing. Still, everyone seemed in one piece, though from the sounds of it, Louis was blind? That sucked. Hopefully they'd be able to figure that one out.

"Eh, as long as everyone's in one piece," he muttered, looking around and seeming crestfallen. They were now completely inside the cove, and it completely took the Keyblader's mind off the situation. It was much like a giant cavern, and there were buildings and bridges built out of ship rubble.

"Whoa," he muttered, looking up at a particularly tall 'building' as the Pearl was heading toward the 'docks'. "This is amazing!"

So, why do you feel like you need to be the best? Why are you caught up in their struggle.
Because...I have to help them.
But why? Why force yourself into a situation that just going to make you depressed?
I'm not I'm...
You are. This is the third time that it's happened.
I'm just...
You're degrading yourself. I'm inside you. I know what you want. What you feel. You want what everyone wants, it's carnal, primitive. Yet, you feel like you have to have mental faculties and you try to avoid it. You want to be accepted.
Who else is out there? They saved my life, I owe them.
By throwing your body into the fray? Listen to yourself. Cowardice is not being weak. It's being strong enough to back away. Even animals know when they're going to lose.
Flaw in your logic. Not all animals back down. Some get more ferocious and aggressive. These are my friends, and I want to help them. An attack on them is an attack on me, on my pride and my safety. Between the replicas and the nobodies, I feel like I have to help them. It's like WWII. If every country is pacifist and neutral but one, one who invades everyone else, nobody will stand up to stop them. For me to stay safer, it's best to travel in a group. At least I know that I can trust these people...Er...maybe not Louis or Anthony. They've been shifty ever since I met them. I just don't trust them at all
Then don't. But you need to learn to accept some things, that you may not be the most powerful person out there. You have a niche, just like every organism in this world. Fill it.

Jacob held fast against the wall. He counted the veins struggling to provide nourishment to his damaged muscles. He took in a deep breath of air and kicked off the wall, flying up into a handstand. He rolled down, pushed up into a butterfly kick and landed, bowing slightly to his ever present moomba mentor. Thanks. He said, coolly. Jacob smiled a big grin and walked back up to the deck, goggles over his face to cover up in preparation for the bright sun, but also to hide his red, swollen eyes. "Howdy y'all. Sorry about that. Wh--" He gazed up. They were here.

[[Louis : Black Pearl : Main Deck]]

[[Cue: Bloody Vow]]

The arcanist had enough, the conversation had dragged on and now Dawn was only driving a nail into his already sensitive last nerve. There was a moment of shock in his eyes when a bolt of lighting struck out of nowhere. The light didn't bother him, but the noise was enough to startle him a moment, but nothing was going to stop him from completing the task before him, "Kyle... sit still, this might hurt." he said calmly as he reached out with his right hand. Louis felt through the air till his figures ran into Kyle's hair. He paused for a moment then took a step forward straightening himself out in relation to the Holy Dragoon and staring blankly with his ruined eyes right through Kyle.

I'm sorry...

"Joe, Jenny," he said as he uneasily traced his hand down the right side of Kyle's face, the boy likely feeling lightheaded for a moment as the contact traveled down, "I can't just destroy darkness... darkness is as real as the wood we're standing on, it doesn't simply go away it must go somewhere thus the concept of destroying it isn't accurate. However, darkness is also not inherently harmful, it is simply made harmful by certain properties added in by the wielder."



Louis let go of Dawn's shirt and reached forward, placing the tips of his fingers on Kyle's abdomen before dragging up lightly over the scale mail, this to Kyle might feel much like his lunch coming back for a second course as all the muscles in his gut would tighten at once around the impact of Louis fingers and follow their flow upward.

There's no way I could have protected you...

"That said, if I draw this darkness into myself to cure Kyle, it will only infect me in turn... instead, I'm going to hold the darkness in limbo until you can purify it. When it's done, I can put it back where it belongs."



At this, Louis quickened the pace of his hands and drew them to the center of Kyle's chest, an action that could range from uncomfortable to excruciating depending on Kyle's tolerance to pain.

I can't protect you this way...

Finally, Louis drew his hands back one finger at a time, darkness bubbling to the surface out of every crevice in Kyle's armor like ink mixed in water. The liquid flowed through the air in a constant stream forming an orb in the space between Louis' hands, as the arcanist stated with some effort amidst his concentration, "Now..."

I promise.

[Anthony ~.~ The Black Pearl ~.~ Main Deck]

Anthony laughed at the things Michelle said. The atmosphere around them began to feel a bit lighter as her attitude shifted to a more open and comfortable one. "Kyle told me," the knight replied. "He said I could tell which element I control by the element that envelopes me when I first received my dress sphere. Needless to say, but I'll say it anyway, the element was Lightning." The young man lifted one of his hands and gestured at it with the other. "Soon I'll be able to shoot Force Lightning from these hands like in Star Wars!" His inner fan boy squeed at the thought.

Another laugh escaped his lips. Though it was meant to be taken as a joke, Michelle had a point. Anthony never took the time to reach out to his summon, who has already tried to communicate with him. "Actually, that's not a bad idea at all," the young man said, chuckling. "Perhaps I'll do exactly that."

As the ship continued to sail, whatever sunlight that kissed the deck gradually began to pull away as the shade from the cover took over. The knight tilted to one side, looking around Michelle at the giant cavern in the center of Shipwreck Cove. "Woah...," he muttered, suddenly filled with awe as he looked around the cove. "...how cool..."

[Jenny :: Caribbean :: Black Pearl - Deck]

Jenny looked over to Joe and then shifted her gaze back to Louis and Kyle as the Dark Arcanist spoke. She didn't like the idea of Louis holding in limbo, and on top of that, he was blind. If anything, Jenny wanted to heal both Louis and Kyle, but she didn't even trust her magic to properly get rid of Kyle's poison. The time mage kept quiet, waiting as the Ivalician drew the darkness out into a orb in his hands.

"Now..."

Turning to look one last time at Joe, as if he'd give her a supporting nudge or a cue; Jenny raised her flute to her mouth. The melody wove much like her regular healing spell save that it was of a lower octave, as if some empyreal being was expelling a long held breath. A glowing clock whirred to life beneath Kyle, slowly erasing the poison's presence to a point as if it had never existed within the Holy Knight at all or at least she tried. Jenny sighed tiredly as the magic ended, she was sure she missed some loose ends so she turned to Joe, hoping he'd understand her look.