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[ Kyle & Co. : Louis' Heart : Throne Room ]

Kyle's expression was stuck in angered concentration, even as Joe and Bobbi spoke to Dawn behind him; the leader's command seemed hollow to Kyle, who was already trying to do just that--end this. So when Liar commended him, his frustrated expression turned into a full-blown snarl, still channeling what power he could hold into the shard as he spoke.

'Liar,' he accused as the fragment claimed to have used Dawn to get the seal on purpose.

'Liar,' he accused as the boy insisted he'd become blind on purpose.

But his mind fell silent as the Liar turned his gaze back on him. Kyle did not falter or look away; he was not shaken. He would not be distracted by his purpose. Yet...



Kyle's grip tightened considerably as his mind suddenly reeled, thrust back into memories, his memories, infinities, bodies made from blades, division and division and division, blood made whole and veins made reversed, countless shades of noise and thirteen consuming atoms of obliviessence--

--and the shard fell to the floor, but his magic only diminished slightly, his hands still grasping at air.

Sora had held his Keyblade defensively from the moment Liar had pulled on a mask--from the moment he'd seen the two black specters holding him in place. As everything began to unravel around him, he found that to be a very, very good idea.

"Ugh, these guys again," he grimaced, scanning the room. He remembered their battle in Halloween Town, remembered how they'd all been split up. "Stick together, we don't want to get divided like last time."

"Last time?" Sayrike asked, still Scanning behind her mirrors--she had been looking at Liar and Kyle, and had grown somewhat concerned, but the sudden appearance of genuine enemies put her in a tight spot--who to Scan first?

"Long story short, Halloween Town, when we first fought... Louis," Riku chimed in, his blade also pulled back and ready; he'd had to mentally correct himself from saying 'Mateus' with that memory in mind, even if the esper had been the one in control.

Jenny didn't speak--simply began to play her Haste song, bringing everyone up in speed just in case.

Melisandre simply stood by, staring at the scene with her staff in hand; the head of the staff seemed to be alight with an inner flame, slowly growing in luminescence.

Kyle finally knelt down to pick up the shard, holding it in his burning hands, though the fire continued to slowly shrink back into his form. He stared at it, looking through its facets, and he felt... drained.

Did we do it, Justice...?

As James' thoughts came through, he stood up, apparently in a daze, and looked around at his surroundings. The soldiers were only briefly present at the front of his mind before falling to the wayside as he looked through the hall. Bodies among bodies in terrible, bloodied positions.

"False. This is real," he said, his tone... empty. Spent. "Look at this, and remember what floated out in the abyss. These are all facets of Louis suppressed, abused, destroyed by his more dominant aspects. Broken shards."

His fist squeezed around the fragment he held in his hand, but not in a way to crush it. Without a word, his circuits flared back to life, the embers of his aura suddenly exploding outward once more in a rush of power, and in that brief moment, he also seemed to flicker, if only briefly. He turned toward the knights surrounding him on all sides, since he was still at the throne.

"Are you here to die," he asked, his voice as hard as his gaze was distant; still, he summoned no weapon. He wondered, briefly, if their modicum of intellect was born from Liar alone, or from Louis in general. "Or are you here to lead us to the next step? Because there are no other options."

[[ Dragon Force and Blink ]]

[Kyla: Louis Heart: Throne room]

Cue:Facing the Truth
To ask which of him they wanted to save- Kyla didn’t even get a chance to answer- because it wasn’t so simple. As far as she was concerned you don’t get to choose what ‘part’ of a friend you get to have. Either you take the whole thing... or nothing at all. Even the ugliest parts.

Which was exactly what this fragment was- Liar was everything you’d expect and more from him.

Dawn dropped the F bomb- and Liar reacted just how she figured he would. Nothing in his reaction though spoke genuine articles of truth- that was who he was after all and Kyle freaked. He had enough of it all.
He cast something- a spell-

Joe and others obviously not pleased with Dawns answer- Kyla said nothing. Bobbi responded. Dawn protested- she both understood her reasoning, and that of those around her. Bottom line though they were not here to rescue Liar, they were here to end Louis’ torment. One way or another.
Then Liar when on another tirade.

And he spoke again of the deepest insecurities; he had something to dish out for everyone, except Joe of course. When he locked eyed with her and said what she feared, cutting deep with the one word she hated the most she didn’t know if her heart sank or not. “-makes two of us.”

She replied in a emotionless monotone- very reminiscent of her back when this all started. It was eerily more hollow- it would give Kai a run for her money.

Kyla just didn’t want to care anymore- This was Liar after all -and nothing he said was new. Everyone had their shot poking her with the cattle prod- especially Ajora who took it out on her physically.

She was just numb now, recoiling back inside where nothing outside mattered. The artist blinked at Liar like he wasn’t even really there.
Nothing he said was something she hadn't already asked herself. Why the ******** was she still alive? Kyla’s obsessive hope was her greatest weakness and everyone knew it now. But they figured it out back before they started so…whatever. Mental shrug. Move on, tune it out and keep going. She’d have what she came for- or die trying. Kyla was so tired now.A familair ache settled inside her- old- back before this all started.

She vaugely wondered what would she do after this-
odd thing to consider right at that moment.
How would the dynamics play after this? This whole event was such a strain on everything and everyone, could some even speak or look at eachother after this.
She wondered if she could even speak to anyone afterwards.
At this point probably not.
She pictured herself leaving.
Pictured herself fading into darkness- how easy it would be to just close her eyes and sleep. She could put her book down and stop, that was an option after all.
One she knew she could never accept.
No.
As much as it looked easy- Kyla could never stop,
she'd keep going util her body couldn't anymore.
Thats just how she was.
She'd fight and struggle till something gave-
only then could she let herself rest.
It would mean she couldn't give anything else.
She looked forward to breaking again. She could rest without any guilt or complaint.

The illusion of Axel's death came to resist her. What did he say again? Something about not letting herself get hurt so easily- it makes those who care about her sad? But that was all an illusion right? An ilusion made by Liar. So then logically that was false-
no one cared.
Or maybe that was the truth beneath the lie- the best kind.
A twisted truth.
She didn't want to think about it anymore and put the thought away.
No one is ever truly alone. Even if they wished it.
She had Carbuncle ot think about, and Esteem.
Those peices were not lies. Esteem may have been tainted but he was still there. She had to take care of him.
She could break- but not die. Yes. that was no longer an option right now.

When the fight began to spark, the first moves being made Kyla flipped through her pages soundlessly, focusing on just going along with the flow and listening to any suggestions her ‘superiors’ had ready for her. Who cares what Liar said- he was- after all Liar she repeated to herself. “- the best Lies were twisted truths.” She muttered, and her book lit up, and she began to cast buffs- Warding Lotus on the front runners and moving her way back through the group.

[Cast Wall: +4 to PR and MR]


[[ Note: You should really start clarifying who you're casting on sweatdrop Since you can hit 4 per cast and you seem to be at 2 casts, I'm going to assume the following, as they're the closest things to front-runners:

Kyle, Leader!Joe, Joetomos, Leon((yeah I figured start from the cloest to Louis and work your way back))
Auron, Nanaki, Sora, Riku

If you had something else in mind, go ahead and edit it in! ]]

{Bobbi, Demyx, Zell, Nanaki, Yuffie .:. Louis’s Heart .:. Throne Room}

Liar was talking. Again. Bobbi would have rolled her eyes if she wasn’t aiming. She snarled, and almost loosed her arrow halfway through the first word out of his mouth. But something held her back, some instinct that maybe some of the party needed to hear what he had to say. Needed to hear all of his lies and deceit laid bare. She listened, matching his words with events she had been present for, and seeing a new angle to events she had missed. With each word, her rage and hatred of Louis grew, until she was nearly at the breaking point.

Then a memory intruded. The ghostly image of a young boy dancing, teasing, laughing. Innocence personified, joy and merriment and goodness capering through a crowd that had no idea he was there.

~:It isn’t Louis you hate,:~ Shiva said, softly, quietly, as if to a calm wild animal. ~:It’s his lies. You’ve always hated lies, child, this is no different. And look, Kyle is burning them away. …Rather violently, I might add, but it is effective.:~

Bowstring still taut, Bobbi took a deep breath, listening to her summon now instead of the words of a pathological liar. She let Shiva’s icy presence calm her, cool her emotions, dampen the raging inferno that was her emotions. As she calmed, she felt a tension drain out of Shiva; had the esper been worried? If so, Bobbi couldn’t blame her. Even in the heat of her anger, Bobbi had to admit that she was letting her emotions get out of control.

Not soon enough for the Archer, Liar finally burned away, With him, his illusion was dispelled, and the first thing Bobbi saw was that monster she had fought in Halloween Town. She cried out in surprise, wordlessly, her voice holding more anger than anything, and turned her arrow on Atir just as Joe ordered the party to hold their fire. Once again, the Archer obeyed, though she shook with the need to loose her arrow, to shoot something. And, not for the first time, Bobbi was afraid. Terrified. She remembered the battle with this one in Halloween Town. She remembered her first encounter with her Replica soon after. They were not good memories.

.:If it comes to a fight, I call dibs on that one,:. Bobbi said over the charms, sending a picture of Atir along with the thought. She didn’t remember the creature’s name; didn’t want to remember.

With the dispelling of the illusion, and seeing the creatures from Halloween Town, Nanaki’s hackles raised and he let out a low, threatening growl, fully prepared to attack. However, as some of the children were still talking, and the creatures weren’t seeming to do much of anything, he held back, waiting to see what would happen.

"Oh, nooooo," Yuffie whined, seeing the bodies scattered around the room. She had her shuriken out just in case of a fight, but she was in no way ready for a battle. One hand covered her mouth as she felt like she was about to hurl—again. "I don’t like this place. Not at all." Demyx reached out to pat her on the head, but he was pretty unfazed by the bodies and the Ice Soldiers. Arpeggio wasn’t even out, he simply looked around at the corpses and the tense, angry Earthlings. Uncharacteristically, he didn’t say a word. Then again, he had no idea what to say.

Zell was on guard, but as he had no experience with the Ice Soldiers, wasn’t as wary as some of the Earthlings were. Ready to fight if necessary? Yes, he expected a few more battles before this mission was over. But some of the kids’ reactions gave him some concern. Fortunately, Kyle and Joseph seemed to be at least somewhat level-headed despite their obvious anger and exasperation, acting like they were ready to negotiate or talk instead of attack immediately. As hot-headed as Zell could be, he’d learned better a long time ago than to attack first and ask questions later. There was a time and a place for battle, and he hoped the rest of the Earthlings learned what that looked like before they got into trouble too deep to get out of.

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

Liar countered Amy's question with another. She didn't answer, as she thought it rhetorical. Which Louis was she referring to? Louis as a whole. That's why she was asking how to fix this shattered mess. Liar wasn't the appropriate person to expect an honest response from, so she kept looking at the lady in blue, waiting.

From her seat by the piano, the lady in blue nodded at her. Then she just vanished. Surprised, Amy looked around at her group. Did anybody else see that? But no surprised expressions matched hers, no acknowledging gaze that says, 'yeah, I just saw that, too.' Nobody else saw that. They were preoccupied with Liar, who was talking some serious B.S. He was being extremely insulting, and she hoped they realize his name was Liar for a reason.

Upon the conclusion of his speech, Liar reverted back to shard form, and the illusions around them faded to reveal a room of Louis bodies, and the true forms of his generals, or whoever they were to him. Amy had personally never encountered a single one of them before this mission, but she thought she caught the light of recognition in some of her allies eyes.

Trying her best to not be shaken by the state of the bodies, Amy turned briefly to address Dawn and Kyla. "Remember, his name was Liar. I wouldn't take anything he said to heart."

Maybe she was misreading it, but it seemed like the Earthling group was eager for a fight. Joe told them to be prepared, but not strike, and she hoped they would follow those orders. Kyle addressed the 'enemy' group appropriately, she thought, so she seconded it, "What Kyle said." And, also like Kyle, she didn't summon her weapon. She didn't even buff.

She didn't say anything about seeing the lady in blue disappear before the illusion disappeared. Not yet, anyway. Curious, Amy began walking toward the piano.

[[Narration - Poetic Injustice]]

As Kyle looked at the spear, finally reconciling with whatever inner demons plagues his reeling mind and the others came to terms with what happened in their own ways, some focusing anger, others bottling it up and storing it away for later, there was no movement from the ice generals who stood silently, unable to speak.

Kyle's question to Justice was answered with a solemn, mental nod, "Mmm, he's gone."

Clarity took its effect of Matthew as he stared at the spear. The effect drew clear lines of trajectory, to the left, up slightly, to the coliseum seating surrounding the hall like a large auditorium or amphitheater. Kyle and Matthew saw him at the same moment.

There, sitting on at the lowest rung of seating with his legs dangling over the wall sat a thinly built male in a black sports jacket with a soft purple-pink trimming by the neck that slowly changed color to an icy blue as it traveled down the suit around the ends of the sleeves and pockets. A silver chain hung from a clip on one pocket to the other across his torso, likely attached to a pocket-watch or trinket of some sort. His undershirt was a muted purple that popped against the black, a black tie with details stitched in the same aurora gradient to match the trimming hung neatly around his neck ending tucked beneath a black vest with a matching, floral ivy pattern of a satin-like material.



His face was hidden from view as he read from a deep crimson grimoire. Almost on cue upon their and everyone else's eventual recognition of this figure he spoke while the piano began playing on its own,

"Per me si va ne la citta' dolente.
Per me si va ne l'etterno dolore.
Per me si va tra la perduta gente.
Giustizia mosse il mio alto fattore;
fecemi la divina podestate,
la somma sapienza e'l primo amore.
Dinanzi a me non fuor cose create
se non etterne, e io etterno duro.
Lasciate ogne speranza, vioi ch'intrate.*"

He spoke slowly with a flowery tone, placing heavy emphasis on the depth and severity of his voice towards the end. Despite it's seemingly ominous and potentially magical origins, Matthew saw very little magic resonating off the figure, at least not offensive.

From were they stood, it was impossible to see his face, but the voice was unmistakable. That voice, that inflection, that theatrical flair in the way he carried the sentence from one dramatic word to the next... a shiver would run through those that knew the Crimson Dragoon.

Yet, as the book closed with a loud snap of the pages slapping together, perhaps a sigh of relief or annoyance might escape their lips as his face was revealed to be no more than Louis'. He dropped the book, letting it slip lazily forward and roll off his fingers into a waiting black pit that shrank and vanished within space into nothingness.

Justice and Innocence stood frozen, eyes locked, dread transferred to Kyle and Bobbi as a chill running through their hearts instinctively telling him something was very wrong with their ally, or at least his emotional state. One line reached them through the maelstrom of cold, long buried emotions, "No... you're dead."

"You have no idea how long I've wanted to do that," said the Louis up above, "You have my deepest appreciation."

He looked at the generals who stood at the back of the throne, waiting for direction, and waved them off, "Relax, we won't be fighting right now."

With a shiver, they responded wordlessly and stepped backwards, retreating to the rear most wall of the hall behind the throne. With them out of the way, Louis smiled, "Now then, I believe introductions are in order, no? I'll go first, while I'm sure of you recognize my form, I am better known in this place as Nemesis. It's an absolute pleasure to finally meet you all face to face without Liar's interference."

The boy dropped from his perch above and landed softly on his feet with a deep elegant bow with one hand out to his side and one leg tucked behind the other. Standing straight again and strolling forward, he motioned to Kyle half standing on the throne, "Would you mind? I'm sure you all have many questions and unlike Liar, I am actually equipped to answer them. It would be nice to have somewhere at eye level with you all that I could sit and talk."

((DM Note: * - This text is taken from Lines 1-9, Canto 3 of Dante's Inferno. Translated it means:



It's one of my favorite quotable portions from the Divine Comedy.

Mod Note: For Zeiq, and others in case it's not clear, 'Crimson Dragoon' here means Ajora/a voice identical to Kyle's and with the obvious flair of when Kyle was acting possessed during the spider fight.))

[Joseph: Louis' Heart: Throne Room]

Joe's face held a look of disgust. He didn't even think Ajora, even witht he voice and attitude. The quote was too pretentious for Ajora for this moment, and the clothes didn't fit the man, either.. He assumed it was Liar still, but apparently it wasn't.

Didn't make him lose the face of disgust, though.

Honestly? I have no idea. No point in attacking unless he attacks, though. As awful as he is, he might be useful, no matter how much I want to punch him in the face. His thoughts held a venom in them, hiding nothing from the group. It was pretty obvious that he was still done with everything, foot tapping in irritation as he kept focusing his strength. Shard upon shard, layer upon layer, what was he trying to stall for? Cause that had to be the reason, in Joe's mind, anyway, as to why they kept coming across so much. And if it wasn't to stall, well...what was the point besides to piss them off?

[Dawn/Garuda : Louis's Heart : Throne Room]

Dawn, rather Garuda at this point, looked up instinctively at the new voice. A low growl growing in her throat. The voice of Ajora paired with the face of the one she wanted to tear to pieces, was not a good pairing in her eyes. She used all the will she could muster to keep from leaping at him the moment he appeared.

"Why don't you just crawl into a hole and disappear?" Garuda said her voice dripping with rage, "We are not some pawns on your stupid chess board. We owe you nothing at this point."