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[ Kyle : Narnia : Negator Hall ]
Kyle watched and listened from his spot on the ground as everything continued going to hell. His eyes darted around, from the breaking walls and abysses beyond to the ghastly figment demanding answers and laughing at them. The images flashed past them of Jon, unconscious--or, more likely, heartless--and Noelle with her similarly foregone father.

And then Kyle's head tilted as he narrowed his gaze at the shadow, jaw going slack in thought.

The corpses in the living quarters...

The corpses in the cathedral...

Even now, Daniel's corpse beside them. This entity's power...

... to end lives and remove hearts quickly, painlessly...

... leaving them with expressions of peaceful slumber, as if he'd approached them in trust...

... and for all but one, left no serious wounds.

"I don't know you're name," Kyle said, standing up behind Joe. The double-bladed spear appeared in his grip, but he seemed calm. His eyes seemed to gleam in the darkness. "But I know... you're the only one whose identifying features were destroyed. The only one who would have been around this castle long enough to know its layout, its secrets. You're Daniel's relative."

Sayrike recoiled somewhat, but something seemed to click. "Not Steven...," she said, mirrors ready beside and in front of her. "But Sven."

"If that's... the name he's going by in here," Kyle said, tone distant, posture tensing. The name seemed to cause some sort of reaction, and his eyes briefly had issues staying fully open.


The statue of justice.

Of an armor set and a woman.

That blindfold.

The difference between what he could see as normal and what he could see as vivid and glimmering.

The obsession with perspective.

"Lu..." Kyle said, struggling. Reality wavered around him, some parts tearing at his mind, other parts thrashing his heart. His eyes seemed... red. Damp.

He could no longer feel his brother's warmth.

"... Louis."

It was never there.

The truth seemed to reverberate like a pulse in the cavernous farce of reality.

[[Narration]]

And just like that, as Kyle spoke... they were gone. Their loved ones. Vanished. As though they were never there. Empty space. No blink, flash, or fade... just... gone. Their warmth, their comforting presence, the tiny reminder that everything was okay and might get better... was simply gone as though it'd never been their in the first place.

"Blinded by thine light, judgement follows a march through hell."

The mask upon the shadows face fell... slowing as though in a thick muck. There was a sound, creaking and pained like a door on rusty hinges opening under tremendous pressure. The mask and time almost stopped before tapping against the floor with a dull tone like a bell in the distance.

"Pray blind thyself to false hope and claim thy own oblivion!"

Sven, was revealed. The boy stared at them with blank, empty eyes. his expression was blank. His entire countenance, even as his body took form and was visible to the group, tangible as his feet rested on the floor. He wore plain clothes, jeans, a red t-shirt... he was normal and vulnerable as any of they had been before the negator was destroyed.

His mouth moved, but no voice as he stared at them, unrelenting, unblinking, his eyes filling from the edges with black blood, spreading through the veins to the rich brown irises where they became tainted with yellow and gold hues in the same fashion.



A single tear ran down his cheek... and he like the rest... was gone. All of it was. In that moment... they were no longer in that place where the negator rested upon the floor. Their headache was gone and they remembered.

They stood at the entryway of the grand hall, though it looked vastly different to the one they'd grown used to over the past couple hours. Spanning countless stories up, a chasm of a hall was covered in black and blue shades of ice all the way to the highest visible point where it was eventually engulfed in the unlit shade of the rafters that just as the rest had been covered in large icicles that glittered like starlight making the ceiling... or lack of one like an observatory shimmering with the images of distant celestial bodies.

No statues stood honoring the figures of Narnian history. No grand tapestries, dancing guests, or festive music. Only the unwelcome gusts of wind at their backs from the blizzard outside remained constant from their previous arrival.

Across the ice-covered, bleak, and abysmally cold and dark hall... sat an armored figure upon a broken and splintered stone throne. Any who had encountered him before in Halloween Town or Land of Dragons would recognize him immediately. Avatar of Mateus, Lich of Corruption, The Devil's Vangaurd... Louis Luciano.

At his side, stood Sven... sharing Louis' face, but covered in armor reminiscent of the chitin exoskeleton of a spider, detailed with 4 legs wrapped over the shoulders, and two more pairs under and along the rib cage. He stared at them with the same blank expression... like they'd seen him with right before they'd been released from their imaginary hell.

There was a twitch in Sven as Louis' grip tightened on the throne sending cracks along the ice that quickly regenerated. In a flash he vanished, reappearing above them, suspended in the air as though standing on nothing. The decorative legs on the armor separated from its surface, revealing themselves to be autonomous limbs that spread out radially to reach two times that of a normal arm.

He spoke at last, Sven... or rather Dumael, "Who..."

There was a tremble in the air, vibrations like the strings of a violin plucked and stretched to their limit. Shimmering lines crossed their vision of the simulated night sky like shooting stars from one side to the other.

[[End of Chapter 2: Forgotten Sorrow]]

[ Mathy ; Jenny ; Sayrike ; Anthony ; John ; Melisandre : Narnia : Forsaken Hall ]

As the truth rushed over them, and their memories broke free, many of the others were jarred, their confusion clear from their expressions, though the sorceress seemed to keep her frustrated cool about her.

The shock, like Joe, was quickly replaced with a cloudy mixture all around. From torment to temper, from sorrow to stoicism, they each coped in their own ways with the reminder, and repeat, of their loss. John roared, eyes red with tears, maul held to his side; Anthony grew deathly still, his eyes narrowed forward, gauntlets tightly gripped; Matthew's expression was hidden behind his mask completely, though his knuckles went white around his scimitar, which seemed to shake with some barely-bridled emotion; Jenny stumbled, her song of Haste stopping as her mouth remained agape, one hand clutching the fabric of her shirt to help her recompose; and Sayrike's expression seemed darker than ever, the white of her mask's eyes narrowing.

The earthy smell around Melisandre quickly shifted as heat and flame took its place surrounding her. Jenny managed, quickly enough, to get back to playing her Haste song, though it remained soft enough not to echo; her eyes, however, seemed to look over the party, trying to find someone. The others seemed more than ready to budge on a second's notice.

[Amy : Narnia : Negator Room -> Forsaken Hall]

Daniel fell without any fight. It just looked at him, and that was it. How could they fight and defend against such a creature? The illusion cracked, distortions grew. This wasn't right. None of this was right.

When Kyle said Louis's name, the illusion stopped. The room, the creature, the sounds of the party – everything just vanished. Zee was gone. Zee was never there. The group stood in the hall of the White Witch's castle. Amy's gaze traveled up the walls, to the stars above; it would have been cold without their dresspheres. The atmosphere was fitting to the situation. She felt cold inside and out. Zee was never there.

A spark. Hope. He was never there. None of their loved ones were gone, no more than usual, and she had always believed they would restore Earth and see their families again. But her heart felt heavy, and her eyes felt hot.

She looked to Louis, "Why would you do that?" Why would anyone ever do that?

The Sven-creature disappeared from Louis's side, and appeared in the air above them. She felt the effects of Jenny's Haste spell. A fight was imminent. Amy cast Wall on the group, giving them the combined benefits of Protect and Shell. It was the weakest version, for the time being, because she had to cast it four times to cover the entire group.

Joe mentioned Noelle, and she began counting heads as well. He was right. Noelle was gone. She was here when they had entered the illusion, and now she was gone. Amy shook her head, and charged her guns for an attack.

Joe : Narnia : Forsaken Hall

As the room fell away and the grand hall revealed itself, Joe was seething. He prided himself on being in control, on making sure that all emotions were neatly compartmentalized and he was as professional as possible.

Louis had violated that sense of control. His sense of privacy, his memories, everything about him had been dancing around on puppet strings for this freak.

'Interesting. I've never felt you this angry before'

'Get used to it.' Joe responded 'I'm done playing around'

Seeing that Amy had brought up a small spell to defend them, Joe decided to add his own. Thanks to the haste spell, he was able to lay down a series of buffs through his mist spells.

"So..." he began, speaking over the now operational charms "What's the plan?"

Anyone listening would easily be able to tel that the normally strategically minded man was lest interested in a plan then he was looking for the excuse to end the man in front of them. He was making no attempt to hide his anger.

[Mod Note: The Mist of Mana, Fog of War, and Astra spells has been cast. Astra casts Veil on Joe only. Mist of Mana cast faith on both Joes, Kyle and Kyla. Fog of War casts bravery on All of the above plus John. Yay for unit placement.]

{Bobbi .:. Narnia .:. Negator Hall}

Bobbi winced, her ears ringing unpleasantly with the creature’s laughter. She wanted badly to just clap both hands over her ears to block the sound, but she wanted even less to drop her weapon. Not that she’d be defenseless, not now that her magic was back and she had Shiva with her again, but she felt a lot more safe with Taulmaril in her hands. She vaguely heard people talking, and focused on the voices she knew—just in time to hear Kyle say the name that broke the spell.

"Louis."

"Son of a b***h," the Archer swore, vehemently, her voice a snarl through clenched teeth. The illusion shattered, and Bobbi’s fury towards Louis skyrocketed to heretofore unprecedented levels.

Of all the things they had already been through, of all the things Louis had done to them in general and her personally, she could deal with all of it. She didn’t like it, but she could deal with it. But to give them the illusion of their loved ones being safe and sound and happy, and then to rip it all away?! It didn’t matter that it was an illusion, now that she knew it was done deliberately—to break all of them, she assumed. It didn’t matter that she knew how broken Louis was, having shared a fragment of his heart, and that this was likely a cry for help.

Bobbi was a forgiving person. Often a stupidly forgiving person, but she was proud of that. Proud that no matter what someone did to her, she could always see the good, always understand where they were coming from, their motives, their desires, and in so doing reduce or even prevent being harmed by their words, thoughts, or actions. But this?

This was going too God-damned far.

Not even being back in reality, in the ice palace, in her element—though a part of her rejoiced to be here, because it meant more power for her, more magic—could soothe her rage. Dimly, she sensed Shiva’s alarm. Never in all of her life had Bobbi been this furious. Everything over the past week, the illusion, the pain, it all compounded into one enormous, seething ball of hate.

~:I didn’t know she was that easy to break… Bobbi! Calm down!:~

Instant rebellion. Why should she be calm? A million other thoughts along the same lines, a million more justifying the anger, and of course the words "calm down" having the exact opposite effect. But she was listening, because the anger burned, it hurt, she could feel it tearing her apart inside and knew that if she didn’t do anything to contain it, it would consume her.

~:You crave justice, not vengeance, and vengeance is all this anger will lead you to. You’ll burn yourself out, and then who will you be able to help? No one, that’s who, not even yourself. You made a promise to protect and save everyone you could, and that promise included Louis. Don’t break your promise now!:~

Shiva’s words seemed to echo in her head, but one phrase that wasn’t said, but was certainly implied, rose clearly from the rest.

Oath-breaker.

One thing she would not become. Promises were not made to be broken. She wouldn’t go back on her word. She wouldn’t break her oath. That combined with the plead to her sense of justice snapped Bobbi out of the horrible cycle she’d been in.

One gasping breath— two— a third—

And she felt her rage drain from her, though it still simmered in the back of her mind. She felt Shiva breathe a sigh of relief, and heaved one of her own. The pain in her chest eased, and she could think clearly… just in time for Joe to ask where Noelle was.

Bobbi’s eyes snapped open—she didn’t even remember closing them—and she looked around at the group, looking for the petite blonde she thought of as a sister. Her worry compounded when she couldn’t spot the tiny agromancer. She was reminded of the Underworld, though she couldn’t say why. It’s not like Noelle was going to run off and ask Louis for favors like she did Hades. She wouldn’t make that mistake twice.

Now that she wasn’t fighting against herself—and also now that her eyes were open—and she had determined that Noelle was indeed nowhere to be found, Bobbi turned her attention to the rest of the room. She wasn’t particularly taken with the décor, but once she noticed the two figures that weren’t part of their group, she went on the defensive, though she noticed several buffs were already in play. She readied her Mirror Wall spell, prepared to raise a wall of ice between her friends—or herself—and either one of the antagonistic figures.

[ Kyle : Narnia : Forsaken Hall ]

Kyle seemed unfazed by the initial silence, instead waiting for Louis to respond as he surely would. Well, he hoped anyway.

The commotion behind him did earn a bit of a grimace. Noelle gone didn't surprise him; for some reason, he knew back in the illusion something had been up with her. She had glimmered. He had understood, but had not known. James, however, was as hot headed as ever. Emotions, emotions, emotions, the lot of them, but to act on them--again--was foolhardy at best.

Especially considering "heroes" were never supposed to attack first.

"What? Louis, you wound me!" Kyle said, looking absolutely taken aback, one hand coming to his chest as he recoiled in emotional upset. In fact, since his first remark, his entire presence seemed... comfortable. As if he enjoyed commanding the stage. Even his words carried more flair than usual for Kyle. However, after a moment, the expression faded to one of more sheepish guilt.

"Well, I suppose I am intruding again. And 'imposter', well, technically correct, the best kind of correct," he said, shrugging as he remained at the front of the group. Let the others deal with the puppet; he would deal with the master. "But a pawn? An enemy pawn? Louis, you know me better than that! Why, wasn't it just last night we shook hands and called each other friend?"

He paused, as if waiting for a response, but even that was farce.

"I suppose it's the old skin," Kyle said, lifting his arms and looking up and down each length. "I mean, I'd at least wanted to pay some proper respects, but if that's the issue, I can shed it."

Even his chest felt tingly now.