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[Kyla/Carbuncle: ??? : ???]


She was finally half way through, the internal wounds were finally stitched up, the flesh melded back together like fine threads being rewoven into the correct pattern which constructed the girls being. And just when she thought she could finish up and weave the final top layers of the wound shut, Tyue noticed she began to lose her corporeal form. Kyla’s mana was finally sucked dry and could no longer sustain the summons presence.

“No! no! I’m not done! I’m not done yet! Wait Waiii-“…


As a tiny claw reached for the surface of Kyla’s back, it vanished and passed right though. The little creature faded like a ghost, returning to the bastion dwelling inside her partner once more.

‘I’m sorry, I did everything I could. You’ll just have to rest and let your body naturally heal the rest of the way I guess.’


Seeming to hear her on some level, the corners of Kyla’s mouth twinge, not to smile or frown, just...move a little. Like she was dreaming, or simply caught in a catatonic state and unable to truly respond.

‘Where am I? Tyue? Carbuncle? I want to be there- with everyone. Yet I want to sleep. I’m so tired. I’m sick. Something is not right with me. There was so much I want to protect. Are they safe? Is anyone safe? Did I try my hardest someone tell me- did I fight hard enough? Did I really do my best? Was my best enough? Can I ever do anything right?’

' I just don't know aibou. I'm so sorry. I can't defend you if something goes wrong. He says you're safe- they both do... but I.. I'll stay with you. I'll stay within you as close as I can. Now go to that place. I'll follow.'


So the artist slipped deeper and deeper into her coma and was gone.

[Nick :: Atlantis :: Outside Throne Room]

A hundred different things seemed to happen, and Nick's fragile psyche was flipping more than dolphins at Sea World. Ultima had returned- the real Ultima, not a replica or temporary summon. She had a body, no longer bound to her host. A twinge of fear graced his face, but was swept away by a smirk of satisfaction.

If Ultima has taken over her Avatar, how long will it be until the same happens to me?


Chaos, f*ck you and f*ck the deal. Fate will decide I made a bad decision, but until then, you can kindly shut the f*ck up and be thankful I even gave you a chance at freedom. Nick's reaction was sharp and sudden; he quickly refocused on Ultima and gave a polite smile to the Holy Esper.

"Hello, Madam Seraph! So kind of you to grace us with your presence." Nick bowed quickly, rising to receive an arrow in the shoulder. His face contorted in a mixture of surprise, pain, confusion, and rage before settling into a flat frown. "That wasn't very nice, young lady. Gonna have to retaliate...I do apologize if you die from this." He raised his arm, then brought it down suddenly, releasing a large blade of wind. One would notice as the wind blasted towards the group, the ground beneath the magic attack was being sliced though like butter.

[Matt :-: Atlantis :-: Outside Throne Room]

Matt tucked away the Ether for a last minute emergency. As he turned back to Alice to continue their fight, he watched as Alice had teleported away again. He kept on total guard for the next few moments, but it seemed that she wasn't coming back to assault him. He switched his focus to the aeromancer the group had been fighting in his absence, just as a Neoshadow rose up in front of him. He made a startled noise and immediately swung at it with his scimitar,. With his immense strength, the blade effortlessly cleaved through the Neoshadow's body and it disspipated in mid air. He assumed that the Heartless had been spawned from the dark lily, and turned his gaze over to it.

He felt a pit grow in his stomach as he watched the "flower" bloom. The feeling ever so slowly went away as he saw Kyle free himself from the lily; though he looked far different than when the group had originally descended. The voice that emanated form him certainly wasn't normal for him either. "For the love of everything..." he muttered under his breath.

Many of the Heartless that had been likely spawned by the lily had been eliminated by the blooming as well as no longer came forth, but there were still waves of them heading for the group. He decided to relegate himself to the position of monster slayer, seeing how his efforts with the last individual he fought had gone sour.

Wielding his scimitar two handed, he used Sonic Blade and slashed through groups of heartless in a zig-zag pattern, cutting them down with ease. After his last burst he was smack dab in the middle of the horde. As he came to a stop he leapt up into the air and slammed his sword into the ground as he dropped, causing an Earthquake to emanate from him. This obliterated the nearby Shadows and crippled the Neoshadows. He withdrew his sword from the ground then whipped out the Ether Noelle had given him. He poured the contents through the mouth of his mask and drank it down, feeling his stores of mana return. Once he consumed it he reversed his grip on the bottle's neck and held it like a secondary weapon, ready to eliminate more of the Heartless.

(OOC: Kyle authorized having Alice leave the battlefield)

[ Ajora : Atlantis : Throne Room ]

The Replica couldn't help but shake his head with a grin. The curse seemed to have worked--perfectly, even.

As Kida hovered toward Ajora, possessed by the Heart of Atlantis, he grinned up at her, as well. He couldn't believe his luck--the crown had also worked.

Then he saw the anger in her eyes.

And the sparking, crystallized band of gold that slowly disintegrated from around her head, obliterated by the Heart's magic.

"...@#$%."

[ Black Waltz ; Heartless : Atlantis : Outside Throne Room ]

The Black Waltz watched intently as everything unfolded--and growled like a feral beast as Kyle took off with Chaos, leaving him alone against the rest of the crew.

Almost immediately, a massive wall of ice erupted in front of him, protecting himself and the seal. From the wall, large icicles began to fire upon the group like frozen projectiles.

Meanwhile, there were still Neoshadows and Shadows left. Having only been assaulted by Matthew and once by Bobbi, the creeping Heartless had surrounded the group, and began to rise and leap, attacking and distracting them from the icicle barrage headed their way.

[ Icicle Barrage = MS 14 per Icicle ]

[Joe: Atlantis: Outside Throne Room]

The fighter was darting in front of Noelle, but it was too late. Apparently, she was affected, and before he could even think about curing whatever Chaos had done to her, the icicles started flying.

Joe was now darting around in front of the group. He had the strength, apparently, to destroy the icicles, and the speed to dart around and attack them. He couldn't stop them all on his own, as obvious as it was considering Noelle in her berserker rage got hit, but he wasn't doing too bad. He just needed to be careful, as one of them hitting him would easily knock him out, he was sure.

[Kichi :: Atlantis :: Outside Throne Room]

Kichi was in awe, as Kyle, or Ultima, or whoever, layed the smack down on Nick. Or up, as it may have been. Of course, it was only moments before the group was set upon by the incoming Heartless. Kichi reacted quickly, using his tonfa to grab a Neoshadow and hold it still, putting it between him and the oncoming icicle barrage. Unfortunately, it took only two icicles before vanishing, leaving Kichi unexpectedly open. "Oh cra- OW" He yelped as an icicle embedded itself in his side, and another scraped his other hip. He quickly took himself back into formation, as best he could using his speed in all areas to his advantage, dodging some, smacking others out of the air. Some still slipped through, but he was careful to make sure he caught all of the ones heading for vital points. Still, that was quite a few cuts, and they stung.

'there are still heartless you're barely managing to avoid...' commented Bahamut.

'They may not take much, but it's better than nothing!'

'Wait wha- oh, clever.' Bahamut chuckled slightly, watching as Kichi explicitly used hits and grab-throws to essentially put a stream of Heartless in the way of the icicles, greatly lessening the amount he had to deal with himself.

{Beatrix ; Auron ; James : The Black Pearl : Below Deck}

The King's General had been involved in the fight though she had mainly focused on the Heartless. After the battle had ended Beatrix did what she could to heal the many pirates that had been injured during the battle. After she had done her best for them she scanned the deck for anyone else who might need assistance. That was when she remembered the young man who had fought against his replica using the darkness. She remembered that he had passed out afterwards and that he had been injured, though she wasn't entirely sure how bad his injuries were. However, she figured it would be a good idea to look into it given that no one else had healed him.

"Where is the young man in the black coat?" She asked.

"I believe the man with flaming red hair took the lad below deck after he lost consciousness." Barbossa replied from his position at the wheel.

Beatrix nodded her head at the Pirate Lord's reply and silently made her way down below the deck. It took her some searching to find the room that Axel had laid James down in. She looked at the corsair as he rested, trying to identify the extent of his injuries. By now his injuries had stopped bleeding, but their were many. A lot of cuts and slashes all over his body. From what she had seen of his fight against his replica it had been intense and brutal. With a deep breath she raised her hand to rest above his chest and focused her magic.

"Heal!" She called out, casting a Cura spell to heal his injuries. It had been long enough that the deeper injuries would more than likely scar, such as the slash marks on his cheek. However, there was little she could do about that. She focused again as she cast another Cura spell.

{{Cue: Faded Memories}}

Darkness was all that James knew as he laid in the hammock Axel had placed him in. Even as he slept he could feel it coursing through his mind and body. It made his sleep feel very restless though his body remained eerily still, his breathing unnaturally slow. His dreams, if he had even dreamed were of nothing but the endless dark abyss that filled his heart. The darkness that Ajora had injected into him, but also the darkness that he had willingly taken in to gain power.

Then he felt a warmth, a pleasant sensation as it spread over his chilled body. It was brief, only lasting for a few seconds before it faded away and the cold feeling returned. The warmth soon returned again as Beatrix's second Cura spell took it's effect. Just like the first time though, the warmth didn't last and the cold and darkness seemed to sink in once again.

'I can't stay like this... I have to fight it...,' he thought, trying to force himself back into consciousness as he occasionally did during bad dreams.

Eventually his eyes opened, though he immediately felt like closing them again as the light shined into his unnaturally golden eyes. His limbs felt very heavy due to his pushing his body as hard as he had. Even his eyes didn't want to open again after he had shut them again. He slowly managed to force his eyes open again.

"I see you've awoken at last, your comrades called you James is that correct?" Beatrix asked as soon as she had realized that he had regained consciousness.

"Yeah, and you're Beatrix... Ugh... What happened to me?"

"You passed out after your battle with your replica. The battle up here is done now, we've won." Beatrix replied, her eyes narrowing curiously at James as she saw the golden irises of his eyes.

"I mean before that... The last thing I remember was being in the brig on the Dutchman and Ajora did something to me. The next thing I know I woke up on the deck of the Black Pearl and I started to fight Kuro Oni..., I don't know what happened to me."

"I was with the other group, so unfortunately I could not tell you," Beatrix replied solemnly.

"Ajora placed a seal on your chest and you left the brig with them. That was the last we saw of you until now," came the deep voice of Auron. "He claimed he injected darkness into your heart."

James' head snapped in the direction of Auron, unaware that the unsent samurai had entered the room. At the mention of the seal James immediately sat up and undid the top few buttons of his shirt and looked down to see the dark red seal still glowing upon his chest. His right hand slowly raised to touch the seal and beneath it he could feel the raised lines of the burn scar from where Artemis burned the Ultima seal into his chest.

"What did they do to me!? Is this supposed to be some kind of sick reminder?" James asked, his voice shaking somewhat as fear and anger gripped at him. His right hand shook slightly as his finger traced the raised lines of the burn. "The seal is still here... does that mean that Ajora could take control of me again!?"

The general's hand came up to touch the corsair's shoulder, perhaps trying to console him. Auron's explanation confirmed her suspicions that darkness did indeed have a hold over James' heart. While he was in control, it was indeed questionable how much it would take for him to lose himself to the darkness.

"That remains to be seen, hopefully not though. I am sorry there is nothing we can do. Hopefully when your allies return they will be able to help you," Beatrix replied, her voice still very solemn.

"Return? What do you mean? Where are they right now?"

"In Atlantis, most of the ones who stayed on the ship went down there not too long ago."

"Then I'm going down there. I've got to help them, it's the least that I can do after what has happened." James stated as he swung his legs out of the hammock preparing to rise. As he tried to do so though he felt Beatrix's hand press down on his shoulder, trying to hold him down to the hammock.

"How? Even if you could what good would you be? You're more of a danger right now than you realize. You must be careful." Auron responded sternly, his one good eye glaring into the corsair's golden irises.

"He is right, it would be unwise to battle in your condition. You risk losing yourself to the darkness. Even though I healed your injuries your body is still far too exhausted to be able to fight. It would be best if you stayed here and recovered," Beatrix replied, her hold on his shoulder lightening.

James ran his right hand through his hair with a sigh, clearly frustrated. However, he could tell they were right. As much as his body ached just to do the simple movements that he had done so far he would not be able to fight. He wondered if he could even rise to his feet fully. With another heavy sigh he lowered himself back down onto the hammock, resigned to the fact that the only thing he could do was rest and wait until the others returned.

"I really hate being stuck here waiting like this..," he muttered as he closed his eyes and tried to relax.

He could feel the darkness within him coursing through his veins, the same strange effect that he had felt in battle, but now it more ached than anything else. He raised his left wrist where his Trinity Charm hung from and contemplated sending the group below a mental message. However, he decided against it, figuring that they were engaged in battle and probably didn't need the distraction.