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{Auron : Black Pearl : Deck}

Auron had remained focused on dealing with the Heartless and the members of the EITC while the Earthlings contended with the evil replicas of themselves. His massive katana making short of any of the Heartless that were on board that had the misfortune of getting in his path. When James collapsed upon the deck after his own battle the geists appeared. The guardian had seen enough of these creatures(though not this particular manifestation) to know not to underestimate them and quickly moved to stand near the fallen corsair to defend him.

"Someone get this kid out of here! Now!" he bellowed, hoping to get the attention of someone who would move James out of the path of danger, hopefully below the deck.

The samurai turned in time to see a group of the slow moving geists(shadows) approach the boy and immediately moved in their path, swinging his massive katana to strike down any of them that got too close, not realizing of course that he was primarily smashing clones.

[ Kyle : Atlantica : Battlegrounds ]

As Jenny cast Valor, Kyle felt his strength double--and the twister showed just that as its size grew within seconds to match. All manner of monster was being consumed now by the Blizzard Twister. When they began to realize it was impossible to escape the pull of the vortex, the Heartless and Geists quickly changed tactics, deciding instead that if they were going to go down, they were going to try to drag Kyle with them. They swam toward the twister, even the Grimms desperately trying to get a swing in time--but Kyle's icy spears were spinning too fast, churning too powerfully, and even they died at his touch.

Kyle, however, wasn't focused on the world around him. The discussion inside had captured his attention--and was setting him off rather badly. He made his mental stand against Mateus' avatar and commanded Ultima to destroy the vortex. The b*****d still attempted to play the good guy, but it didn't take a mastermind to figure out that the benevolent don't set up such traps.

Kyle had been prepared for pain. He'd been prepared for his chest to contract, for his body to surge with ache.

He hadn't been prepared for this.

{ Cue : At the Price of Oblivion - Homestuck }

He convulsed immediately, the twister warping to the side and weakening as he contorted with a horrible gasp. He didn't stop turning--because everything was physical, he'd built up more than enough momentum to keep going for awhile. Every nerve ending flared to life--he felt as though someone was peeling his skin off with a fiery blade. His celestial endurance could only help so much, as this was pain on both the physical and metaphysical levels, and as he surged with emotions and memories, he could feel his fingers slipping from the spears, his grip waning--

And then his mind brought him to his brother.

No... no, not yet...

His grip tightened painfully, so much that his knuckles went white, as he was forced to remember his last moments on Earth, the last moments he'd seen his little brother before the Darkness took him. Too late. He'd been too late.

Suddenly, every negative emotion he was forced to feel became rage. Black, furious hatred, a loathing that could only be described as something born of Darkness--his Darkness. He'd failed, he'd been too slow, he'd been too weak, it was his fault that his brother was gone--

I haven't fixed it yet.

Over and over again, he forced that image upon himself. That was his burden, his sin, his ultimate transgression. Over and over again, he forced himself to remember the look of sheer hope on his little brother's face--hope that he'd been saved. Hope that Kyle had come to protect him from the Darkness.

Hope that Kyle wasn't a God-damned failure.

His left arm tingled as the other source of foreign Darkness tempted him with its power--but he ignored it. All the pain that surged through his body merely reminded Kyle of his weakness. This was the cost of his error. This was the consequence of his mistakes. It all amounted to one thing--self-loathing. A pure, negative hatred that culminated in the wish for more pain, for more punishment.

This was his Darkness. Darkness cannot be destroyed--only channeled. And so he channeled it, he pushed it through his veins, he let it consume him. At that moment, Kyle gave in to his Darkness because it was all he knew.

I can fix it, I swear, I can fix it--

He felt another pang of pain in his chest, but he didn't care. He deserved the pain. His brother had put every ounce of faith and hope he had into him, and instead of being the older brother he should have been, he let the boy get consumed. So he pushed through the pain, hoping to find more.

There was magic at his call--so much. All of that power left unused. Another failure. Had he not learned? The Darkness pierced him again. He had to give his all, or otherwise he'd let more get consumed, more would die by his failure. So the giant spears of light vanished, exploding into particles of Light that soared into his being. Now he had the energy to manipulate his magic--and this twister needed more.

Without hesitation, he channeled every ounce of power he had left into his arms. He thought of the way he focused magic into his legs to accomplish the Dragoon's jump ability--the way he could harness super-human strength for a few moments to achieve unbelievable height. If he could channel it into his legs, why not his arms? The energy surged, causing immense pain--he Roared in frustration, in anger, in rage as he pushed through it. His arms were not as strong, in a number of ways, as his legs, but they would do as he willed them.

The twister grew yet again--this time, even those within the city boundaries would feel its pull. It would only feel like a moderate 'breeze', but the fact that they could feel it from so far would easily put them on edge. Likewise, those still on the battlefield were pulled in without hope of escape--there was no out-swimming such force.

There were things going on in his heart--the sharp pain had turned into a dull ache--but he was still so consumed by his pain that he didn't care to notice. He'd done it. He'd given every ounce of strength he had to this tornado, and he had no more. His grip was slipping as his arms began to falter--and finally, the spears slipped away, vanishing into light as Kyle's body began to shut down. He flashed with Light for a moment as the Drive ended; Joe and Noelle would come back into the world in the eye of a massive tornado, safe from its world-rending pull.

But Kyle would not be there. His body, having given in, had gone limp--and he was pulled into the walls of the vortex.

After a full minute or so without someone powering it, the twister died down, revealing to Joe and Noelle a desolate battlefield. There was nothing left but sand and stone--even the plantlife had been pulled from their roots and shredded by the vortex.

Kyle, having been tossed by the final throes of the twister, lay mostly face down in the sand some distance away, toward the castle. From a distance, he looked as though he wasn't moving, but once they drew closer, they would see him budging slightly every few seconds, as if he were trying to squirm back to the castle. The cloth wrappings that had once covered his lower arms had vanished in the previous chaos, meaning the black veins that covered most of his left arm, from the command seal down, were plainly visible. Once they were next to him, they would hear him mumbling, over and over, just barely audible.

"I'm sorry... I'm so sorry... I can fix it... let me fix it... I'm sorry..."

[[ List of Current Boosts: Ice Spirit (Bobbi), Hastega (Jenny), Regen and Valor (Siren), Double Dipping (KyleM), Barbs (Drive [NoePlant]), Harmattan (Joe), Wall and Flight of Blades (Kyla), Dark Boost (First Specter), Adrenaline (Mathy), Elemental Fury (Drive [JoeWind]), Water Skis (Dani), Faithga (Drive), Braveja (Drive), Virgo's Valor

Kyle's current stats:

PS : 282 [ ( 6 + 1 (N) + 2 (J) + 1 (M) + 4 (KyleM+Noe) + 4 (NoePlant) + 4 (JoeArmor) + 15 (VV) + 15 (Basilisk Break) ) x3 (Braveja) x2 (Valor) ]
PR : 27 [ ( 2 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 4 (Kyla Wall) ) x3 (Braveja) ]
MS : 15 [ ( 10 + 2 + 1 + 2 (LS) ) x2 (F) - 15 (VV) ]
MR : 22 [ ( 5 + 1 + 1 + 4 (Kyla Wall) ) x2 (F) ]
AS : 28 [ ( 7 + 1 + 2 + 1 + 1 (Mathy) - 2 (KyleM) + 4 (JoeWind) ) x2 (Hastega) ]
ER : 14 [ 10 + 2 + 1 + 1 ]
OS : 30 [ (5 + 1 + 2 + 1 +2 (Dani) + 4 (JoeWind)) x2 (Hastega) ]
END: 14 [ 10 + 2 + 1 + 1 ]
ENG: 10 [ 8+ 1 + 1 ]

Aaaaand then it's over anyway. xD Let it be known how much I hate writing the 'woe is me' breakdown moments, but now that we're done, I can move on to getting him fixed.]]

[Joe: Atlantica: Battlefield]

Joe couldn't help it. He ended up watching the whirling water that was left, forced to just sit there after what he had seen. At least...at least a part of him managed to pull Kyle together. Somewhat literally.

But when everything settled down, he was too busy looking at EVERYTHING to notice the major ONE thing. So Noelle got to Kyle before Joe, but Joe followed shortly afterwards. And he heard what Kyle was saying. And...didn't like what he felt he had to do.

He gave Noelle a quick hug, whispering into her ear. "Take care of him while I handle things." And then propelled himself away, his charm fully open, blaring his thoughts to everyone under the sea with a charm. Someone tell me what's going on. I want a full on status of what's going on. Who's hurt, who's well, who can help take care of clean up and medic duties for those hurt.

[ Sora ; Yuffie ; Seymour : Atlantica : Throne Room ]

"Most of us are here at the Castle in Atlantica. There are some of those super Heartless that were with Ajora, but since most of us arrived, they've just sort of been on edge, dodging attacks but not attacking. Every time we get close they just flee and come back in a different spot. We're all in generally good health, but we don't know where Kyla is--"

"She's in Atlantis. Went off alone."

"What?! But we can't all head down there, these Heartless are powerful."

"He wants us to split, Joe," came Kyle's mental whisper to Joe and Joe alone. It was all too obvious who 'he' was.

"What's the plan? Did you three clean up the battlefield?"

[ Kyle : Atlantica : Battlegrounds ]

Kyle complied silently, not noticing her tension due to his own numbness. As she let him drink the three different elixirs, he could feel everything start to right itself. What attacks that had gotten through the twister were healed, what pain still made him ache vanished, and his completely-emptied mana pool was refilled. He even felt her try to aid his heart, though for the most part, it wasn't in turmoil so much as it was trying to remain stable. She would sense that Darkness was certainly more present, but it wasn't a controlling dominance. His Light, strengthened by hers and Joe's, still outweighed it. It was just dangerously close.

Still, one thing was off.

"... not my arms," he said with a blunt, somewhat surprised tone. He moved his tail, his neck, his back, his body--he could move everything but his arms.

.:That last stunt you pulled overloaded the mana circuits in your arms. They're not suited for such immediate bursts of pressure--not yet, anyway. The damage isn't permanent, but considering your body is no longer pumping with adrenaline, it'll take a couple minutes.:.

"Ultima says it's temporary, give it a few minutes," he explained, trying to get upright in the water, though if she kept her hands upon his chest he would remain, compliant. "We need to go. Kyla's in danger and she's not answering the charms."

[ Kyle : Atlantica : Battlegrounds ]

"It should only take a few minutes, and even swimming at our fastest it would take us more than that just to get to the entrance of Atlantis," he explained, looking back at her as much as she looked at him. He hadn't realized his eyes had changed. "Besides, if by the time we get there I still can't function, then I won't go with you. The point is, a group has to head down there, and if I'm capable, I'm going."

He slowly got to his feet, metaphorically speaking, but not before giving her a reassuring nod. The dress sphere accommodated for his limp arms, pulling them up in a dual-sling made of the same cloth wrapping that enveloped them. "You did a great job with the potions--honestly, I feel fine. I don't even feel tired anymore after that third one, most ethers just restore mana, not energy."

{Bobbi .:. Atlantis .:. Castle Courtyard}

Bobbi jumped a little when she heard Joe's voice over the charms. She'd been studiously ignoring anything that happened outside of the castle (mostly because she couldn't do anything about it, but also because paying attention would make her worry, and her worrying tended to halt action), and was checking to make sure everyone was alright, so she was startled to hear another voice in her head.

You'd think after hearing voices most of my life I'd be used to it, she thought wryly.

:I'm only good for temporary patches in the healing department, but I've got enough left in me for cleanup duty,: she announced. :But if we're going after that silly pictomancer, I'd like to join. The Atlanticans are intact enough that they should be able to handle things up here. Why'd she run off without us, anyway?:

She hadn't meant that last question to go over the charms, but once it was out there she didn't want to retract it as rhetorical.

Jenny :: Atlantica :: Throne Room

"I'm still okay on mana levels for cleaning up and minor healing," Jenny chimed in after Bobbi. She glanced around the room, finally paying attention to her surroundings. She felt a little drained, but considering how much magic she had cast, she's was doing pretty well. Maybe she'd feel it in her joints later. She was sure it was nothing compared to what the others went through on the actual battlefield.

Of course, she was still worried about Kyla and Kyle, Noelle, and Joe. Joe sounded well enough, but she knew better, he's was pretty good at masking emotions. More than anything, Jenny wanted to get out there and assess the situation for herself, but she was most useful where she was and planned on staying there until they didn't need her anymore. "Someone tell me who needs healing and I'll cast it their way. How are Kyle and Noelle? She asked quietly, too scared to ask them directly though she didn't know why she even felt that way. Then after a second, she added, "Not sure why Kyle went off alone, she only told me she was going. I should have stopped her, but I wasn't sure how.