Welcome to Gaia! ::

[Dawn : Narnia/Louis's Heart : Castle]

Dawn didn't respond to Justice. What could she say? Though she hated the idea of killing anyone. If it was the only way to save them. She would do it. There was no other truth. If she was in the same position that Louis was in now. Where she was not able to control herself. She'd want the same thing. It would be better than living at that point...

When everyone gathered and started take route, the Dancer followed behind closer to the end of the line. Her eyes remained on the ground as she walked forward. Her heart heavy, expecting anything ahead. Then he spoke. Dawn froze and looked up at the one called Liar. He was surrounded by their guides in the previous illusions. Her eyes locked onto the wounded shard. Her eyes a mix of fustration and sadness.

'How much more can he take? How long until he can be saved?' Dawn thought as she looked at him.

She nearly jumped when she heard the others. She didn't say anything only stared with her hands against her chest, Ready to dance or something at a moment's notice.

{James ; Auron ; Leon: Narnia/Louis’ Heart : Castle}

Discussions apparently done the group began to make their way across the bridge. James was undeniably tense, the last time they had crossed this bridge was under a barrage of arrows and he anticipated something else along the same lines to happen. However, that was not the case. They crossed the bridge without issue, than entered the desolate courtyard, James’ pace was quick, as it usually was, so he was more than less immediately behind Kyle and Joe. The corsair called his hexagun to his hand as soon as they entered into the foyer, unsure of what to expect this time around.

As the doors were pulled open, the corsair’s grip tightened around the stock of his hexagun. His muscles tense, ready to act within a moment. What he saw though was exactly what he had not wanted to see. The illusory ballroom from their first run only this there were no guests. No party, anything of the like and with each step further the illusion dispelled revealing the true decrepit state of the hall. The only people present were a small group of figures from the illusion and a bloody and beaten fragment that must have been what remained of Liar. At the sight of the bandaged young man James let out a deep frustrated sigh that turned into a growl. He wanted nothing more to do with this illusory pain in the a**, that much would be obvious to anyone who looked at the scowl on his face.

Words failed him at that moment, he was so frustrated and angry that he didn’t know what to say. Thankfully, it seemed that didn’t matter as several of the group expressed themselves quite clearly. Joe had clearly reached the end of his patience, and Kyle was displaying a fair bit more animosity and frustration than normal as well, not that the corsair could blame either of them. He held his gun, trained at Liar ready for whatever might come.

Auron followed the group in silence across the bridge, through the courtyard and the foyer to stand with them before the throne. The stoic, unsent samurai’s katana remained supported by his shoulder, his left though was freed from the sling like position that he kept it in normally, a sure sign that the man was ready for combat. He listened and waited gauging the different reactions of the others. Rarely had he seen the earthlings so riled up.

Leon followed the group into the castle and stood before the throne with the group, He listened to the Earthling’s reactions and noted the emotions of the group. Most of them were extremely tense, if not outright angry, ready to strike. The gunblader was somewhat surprised that they were even talking and hadn’t just gone in and attacked. It was a bit concerning to see them as angry as they were. Their leader even to the point of being done with the whole ordeal. From what little he had heard of it though he definitely didn’t blame them. He briefly smirked at Axel’s remark, not sure if it was really the right word. However, he wouldn’t react anymore than that, his focus on the group of people that stood before them by the throne.

If there was one sensation Joe hated above all others, it was inertia. He couldn't stomach the idea of putting his effort into something only for it to remain unchanged.

Fundamentally, the Louis situation had not changed. Oh sure, they had taken out whatever small shard of him had caused this whole illusion, but they were no closer to solving this mess then they had been an hour ago. In some ways, the situation might be even more complex then that. They had thought that they were simply trying to stop or save Louis, but the situation was so much more complex then that. Here they were inside a giant, corrupted heartscape with no real indication if there was even a 'Louis' left to save.

What were they at this point, therapists? Mercy Angels? Troubleshooters? Joe had no idea. All he did know was that the lack of any definitive answer was making him restless, and that was not a good place for his mind to be.

As he walked into the the throne room alongside the others, he couldn't help but roll his eyes in utter exasperation. The illusion was back, with all it's luster and silver. But this time Joe saw it for what it was: a gilded fantasy of a pitiable, broken man.

In any case, the people at the front were far more interesting. Or rather, the person on the throne. Joe avoided looking at the denizens of the illusion, wanting to keep those memories good and buried.

The broken remnant of Liar on the other hand interested him a great deal, especially since he still had his head attached.

Joe's eye twitched. Bad enough that the last hour was nothing but phantasms, now the phantasms were openly mocking them.

His blade snapped to attention and pointed at the shard as he walked up behind Kyle, eyes focused on the thin line across the creature's neck.

"It's a pity, I was hoping that I'd managed to end this clean." he began, pointing his blade at the line across Liar's neck "Even scum like you deserve that much."

He sighed "Am I correct in assuming that this little pantomime is all you have left in you? If I am, please tell us everything you know so we can get this over with."

[Dawn : Louis's Heart : Throne Room]

Dawn flinched slightly as the Liar glanced her way and spoke. She was unsure what he wanted them to say, but knew despite his name, he spoke truth. That everyone saw him as someone different. He was still the same person, was he not?

Dawn stepped closer to the edge of her group as everything started change. Her eyes landed on the distorted and captured imagery of 'Louis'. She felt as if she had a dagger to her heart seeing his state. Dawn held back a couple of tears in the corners of her eyes that she refused to let fall. She couldn't cry. Not now.

Dawn snapped back to reality at his question, and stared confused and in even more distress.

"How are we to answer that? You are you," Dawn said in a soft voice before saying in a softer whisper that only those that were close enough and with good hearing could pick up, "You are my friend."

[ Kyle : Louis' Heart : Throne Room ]

As Liar laughed at their reactions, Kyle let loose the Haste spell he'd prepared moments earlier, taking advantage of the fragment's distraction such that the slight aura appeared and vanished hopefully before he noticed. His chest was tight with frustration, particularly as the shard began to talk, his pompous facade--so many facades--reminding him too much of himself, his other self. But that, he could manage; he was familiar with such a personality, so he could deal with it. No, what he could not deal with was the apparent intention of continuing with the game.

He held no weapon, but his hands tensed all the same, even as Justice advised caution.

'I have dealt with cornered, raging dogs before,' he replied, his gaze still locked upon the grandiose deceiver. 'In the end, they have always heeled.'

His anger continued to carefully boil just along the brim of his container as Liar posed his own rhetorical question. More games, more diversions, more evasions. Either he knew, and was refusing to heel, or he didn't and he was too ignorant to do so.

But all dogs eventually heeled.

At their final approach, he noticed briefly how the other people began to back away from the Earthlings, wishing to remain in their facades. There was his answer--they, too, were absolutely fake. The question, of course, became one of depth: was the mask skin-deep, hiding a true entity, or were they illusory constructs to the core? He didn't particularly care. He was, however, half-tempted to time-step around the lot of them, dispelling the illusions before they had a chance to react. Luckily for them, he became too distracted by Liar's unveiled appearance to care. Seven masks?

His brows furrowed in thought, but his eyes were only calm for that moment--for Liar's next words brought his anger once more to the brim, once more threatening to boil over. Who was this fragment, to think he still held control? Who was this shard, to think he could still enforce his games? His chest tightened. His circuits hummed, though only to his ears. Instinctively aware, he knew Ultima was preparing for the previous idea, because she knew it might be coming to that much sooner than expected.

And then Dawn replied. Unseen by any but Liar, as Kyle was still at the fore, his stony expression faltered then, his mouth just barely curling into a snarl as his teeth ground together. Dawn, ever the sentimental, compassionate blind, ignorant, foolish--

He was still holding onto his emotions. His mask may have been broken, but his act had not. Dawn was playing into his games, but he would not let loose on her; she was undeserving of such an outburst. Her heart simply had hope far outweighing rationality, like an imaginative child. That was Light, too, just as much as genuine justice. Liar's response, however...

Seven masks. Seven identities. Seven different perceptions, just as he'd called out to them. But as he donned one before their very eyes, he pulled a trigger. As he curled up, he fueled the furnace. And as he spoke, as he read from his script, he shattered the container.

"Why am I alone?"

There was a sudden flash of light, accompanied by a rushing wave of heat, as Kyle's control broke. In a blur of Hasted motion, he stood in front of Liar, so much closer than before, so much more radiant as white-gold flames billowed around him. The symbol on the back of his coat was burning like a starlit brand, and the skin on his bare arms and neck was visibly iridescent with the appearance of his circuits. Liar would be able to see his eyes still brown, though circuits flared outward not simply from his lids, but from his pupils, and briefly, he appeared worse than human.

Without further warning, he shoved his left palm against Liar's forehead, holding his head up and back as he immediately thrust his right hand around the boy's throat. On contact, the fire that consumed Kyle's body spread, enveloping the shard in brilliant, untamed Light.

"Who you are is nobody. You are a shard, less than a shard of a whole man, a corrupted piece of a whole," he spat, coming out like a growl. Forced to look at Kyle, Liar--and Liar alone--would see the brief specter of Ultima behind him with a more contained frustration; behind her, a strange, shapeless silhouette with galaxies for eyes. They were gone as soon as they appeared. "What you've become is deception, betrayal, lies and lies and lies. I am through with your charades."

Kyle lifted Liar up from the seat by his throat, and his left hand moved from his head to his chest, pinning him to the back of the throne; he was not suffocating, so much as he was simply holding the shard in place and pumping him with as much Light magic as he could release. The fires around him raged, and it became clear to anyone with magic skill that Kyle wasn't not entirely in control of the blaze. He was exuding magic as potently as he could in his attempts, but his anger was fueling it beyond even that.

"No more games, Liar, if even that is real. I have purged before, and I will do so again," he said, eyes locked with Liar's, or his mask, whichever was the case. Even as he spoke, his words were unnaturally clear, thought out--an anger driven by conscious upset rather than an animalistic berserk. "My only hope is there's enough left of you beneath the darkness to survive the process. If not, well--you know how the saying goes."

The flames increased in size, in heat, to divine bonfires, attempting to burn their way through whatever unnatural darkness was present in and around the fragmented boy. The magic radiation seemed almost to make the world around them vibrate with intensity.

[[ Paradigm Shift, significant weakness to Dark elemental damage, increase to mana drain.

And of course, if something happens because Kyle approached or grabs him but before Kyle can even speak, I am fully prepared for a hilarious strike-through edit. ]]

{Bobbi .:. Louis’s Heart .:. Throne Room}

Throughout all of the talking, Bobbi kept her arrow trained on Liar, on his heart. She’d shot him before, she’d shoot him again. She supposed she should be aiming between his eyes, but the heart was a much bigger target. At least, the physical heart was. Liar was nothing more than a fragment of a heart, so there was no chance she could hit that. But the organ? Yeah, she could pierce it. And she wanted to so, very badly.

She didn’t flinch, nor so much as blink, when more of Liar’s illusion was ripped away, and all that was revealed was a faceless nothing. The masks didn’t surprise her—one for every deadly sin, how cliche—the "demons" didn’t phase her. She heard the words he spoke, but she was so done with listening that she just let them wash over her, not letting any meaning sink in. Lies, lies, and more lies, that was all he was capable of. The only thing that registered was his question.


"Nothing more than a fragment, a shard, a speck, a nothing," Bobbi growled, but her answer was drowned out by Dawn’s. And for a brief moment, the Archer took her eyes from Liar to stare incredulously at her best friend, lips parting briefly in shock.

b***h said what?

Bobbi opened her mouth to rebuke Dawn, but as usually happened when she had something to say, someone else beat her to it. Leader!Joe gave the Dancer a curt dressing-down, and Bobbi couldn’t disagree with any of it. Well, not any of it aimed at Louis. About halfway through Joe’s rant, Bobbi turned her attention back to Liar, realizing that as she had taken her eyes away, he could have done something—except Kyle had beaten him to the punch. Seeing the Dragoon pinning Liar to the throne, flooding the shard with Light, Bobbi pulled back her arrow, ready to fire at a moment’s notice. However, she had enough attention to spare to answer Joe.

"We didn’t end you in Narnia because nothing you did was your fault or your decision," she said, her voice surprisingly calm and reassuring, though forceful, as if by her will alone she could get Joe to believe her words. "Our memories are a large part of what make us who we are. When Ursula was manipulating you using the Geists, she stole your memories—your very identity—and planted what she wanted in there. The person we fought in Narnia was not the Joe that we’re following now. Louis? Louis knew what he was doing. These were his decisions, his memories and identity weren’t ******** with by an outside force. Everything he did, all of his betrayals, he is fully accountable for and he will answer for them."

As she spoke, the Archer’s voice shifted from that of a consoling friend, to the harbinger of righteous wrath. She finished her draw on her arrow, the fletching of the enchanted bolt brushing her ear, but even when Joe ordered Kyle to "end it," she held her shot. She would not interfere with Kyle’s purge, not unless absolutely necessary.

Pinned to the back of the broken throne, Liar could do little with his frail frame to wrench himself away from Kyle's furious grip. He gasped at first, kicking and putting on a pathetic face. The others and their rebukes of Dawn denying everything their "friend" had said with a righteous vehemence.

And then, he coughed. No... it wasn't a cough but rather a single jubilant chuckle. The boy's eyes opened, crimson irises gleaming brightly, "That's riiight~"

"I was never, ever, your friend! Everything I did, everything you thought was benevolent and kind, was actually a cold, calculated maneuver to get closer to all of you. Fighting along-side you, putting myself in danger, being hurt, they were all an act and you're PATHETIC for believing them," a crack ran across a corner of his face as Liar began to be covered in black tendrils that fought back against Kyle's holy flames, "AHahahaha! You honestly thought I cared about you? You were a convenient tool. A gullible little girl easily manipulated, and how better to gain the group's trust and gratitude than by saving you from the dangers of the horrible and powerful Ajora!" The walls flickered and showed images like projector screens. Dawn writhing on the ground in pain as the seal on her hand burned like wildfire.

"But it was all a ploy, just a means to form a connection with Ajora that none of you would notice or think to suspect," the walls showed Louis shaking hands with Ajora on the metaphysical surface of Dawn's seal. Liar's voice dropped to a low, gleeful and mocking tone, "And you were soooo grateful."

Liar's face splintered in multiple ways, "From that point it was so EASY to play all of you for fools as I danced around you sabotaging your efforts and poisoning you from within. I lost my eyesight in battle, because I knew appearing vulnerable would make people concerned about me, and it worked so well. I absorbed heartless because I knew someone would come rushing to save me and it would be soooo heroic. But was it really?"

A fracture ran directly down the center of his face as she himself snapped and shouted in anger at them, "I have the power of a demigod at my fingertips and you think I'd actually be in DANGER from those things?! I could have wiped them all out on a whim! It was so much FUN watching you worry about me when I took on the Avatar of Chaos all by myself." The walls flickered again, the projector switching to a new scene of the two avatars conspiring to fool everyone else into thinking they had fought viciously rather than making dark pacts in the shadows of this very castle.

"At least one of you was smart enough though, Joseph... so vigilant, so careful, so distrustful. The only one to openly object to my presence and be a royal pain in my a**... yet it was so easy to turn people against your woman's intuition."

"And then there was you," his eyes locked on Kyla, "You, didn't even need to be manipulated. You were so EASY to trick. You let my specter in like it was a free buffet. What a mindless, stupid little puppet! How any given one of our weakest enemies during our travels didn't off a witless b***h like you I'll never understand."

"But, I suppose the person I should thank most of all, was you," his eyes dropped to Kyle, who had the best view of his shattering persona as gold and black flames dances about them in a raging supernatural inferno where neither side refused to give way, "You had all the clues. You knew something was wrong, yet you did nothing. Letting me get away with it all. You let me continue manipulating all of them like the simple-minded, pathetic, idiots they are... and you knew in your heart they DESERVED it. Isn't that right-" his voice dropped to a whisper that only Kyle could hear, "A-jo-ra~"

At that moment, there was a flicker, a shimmering glint of black and silver that shot diagonally across Liar. His face, shattered into glittering shards of darkness. At that moment, the black and purple flames that fought back against Kyle receded and Liar was engulfed in holy flames and burnt to ash in the blink of an eye.

In his place, a small shard of light clattered to the floor along with a cloud of dust that was once the body of Liar and a long black swallow-spear lined with shimmering silver runes that stood jutting from the floor at an odd angle.

In that same moment, the remaining illusions dissipated. The party guests who had cowered from the encroaching corruption writhed and screamed for a single second before their true forms were revealed. Amanda, burnt away into the dark ice sniper known as Atir... a face Bobbi would know well from her battle in Holloween Town. Benjamin clung to Fredric, as they too became a pair of generals, Fredric a slender figure wielding what looked to be a combination of a long sword and staff known as Freed, while Benjamin appeared almost as a feral demon of corrupted ice known as Bael. Fiona, did not flinch but rather instantly became the ice general known as Fahna, the ice witch who had fought Kyla and Maggie in Halloween Town. The other 2 burnt away all the same, one becoming the massive clawed beast Kyle only might recognize through Ajora's memories known as Rera, while the other was one only Noelle would have recognized as Nashir, the great sword wielding berserker of a general.

The woman on the piano, unlike the rest had vanished long ago. Whether she was simply a construct of the illusion, or merely left while they were preoccupied, it wasn't clear, but what was clear was the lack of anyone sitting at the piano.

Aside from these things, the illusion on the hall itself was dispelled, suddenly things unseen were visible. All across the hall lay countless bodies of Louis tossed about, horribly maimed, skewered, decapitated, and crucified. This wasn't a royal throne room at all, it was a mass grave.