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[[Cue: Cold Steel Coffin from NieR]]

"Your minds are finally made up then," Nemesis asked, his tone rhetorical, "Good, then I can get on with the rest."

Nemesis stepped forward, letting his jacket fall down his shoulders before tossing it to the side, consequently right on top of Kyle who had been sitting on the throne. He continued forward, placing himself in the relative middle of the hall. He waved his arms wide, much like a conductor addressing an orchestra, "Ladies and gentlemen, please keep your hands and feet inside the safe area at all times. Please do not touch the walls and for the love of all that is holy do not fall off. The blood stains are hell to get out of the carpet."

Magic gathered around Nemesis, running up his feet and through to the tips of his fingers, magical circuits lighting ablaze in a deep purple shade. Matthew and those with scan active could tell the magic he prepared was not inherently offensive. Those without these special gifts could tell something major was happening... lights matching Nemesis' magical shade ran back and forth between the bricks lining the floor, yet stopped some distance from him drawing a distinct curving semicircular line in front and behind him.

The crystalline generals all leaped into the air, vanishing into wisps of shadow as small gasps of air came from the walls and floor in various places, spitting up dust.

"Gather 'round everyone and watch your step, we're doing a bit of redecorating," Nemesis laughed, as the walls began... falling away. Light, piercing through from the outside peered into cracks and holes left behind by bricks and cement abandoning their posts. It was slow enough that anyone with half a brain would have the sense to move away and stand on the single stable platform that continued to hold as chunks of the floor fell away as well eventually revealing a fall into something rather unexpected.

In what seemed like what may have been minutes, the roof, walls, and floor in every place but a circular platform had collapsed taking with them all the mutilated bodies that had previously been scattered around the edges of the hall.

In their place, a beautiful twilight cloud-scape greeted them in pastel blues, reds, and purples. No sun dotted the horizon, or rather there was no horizon to begin with. Both above and below an endless expansive sky of distant clouds surrounded them.

Standing at 4 intercardinal directions opposite one another were 4 grotesque, organ-covered towers capped with Gothic spires adorned with shattered stain glass windows. These dark looming shadows of macabre horror were certainly a stark contrast to the beautiful and serene backdrop of the sky.

Like the scenery, temperatures while standing between the warm, gentle light, and foreboding shadows cast by the looming towers were the difference between a lukewarm fall afternoon and the bitter cold of a raging blizzard.

Namesis stomped one foot magic pouring from his limbs into the floor now as on queue shimmering diamond or prismatic crystal stairways spread outward from the platform on which the warrior's of light resided crossing the distance to the towers.

"There's your doorway," Nemesis sighed deeply, "The tower to the northeast is Nightmare's domain. To the southeast, you can find Victim. To the southwest, Prisoner. And lastly, you'll find Traitor to the northwest."

At the top of each path, by the door to the 4 towers, stood crooked tombstones and stone crosses. On each was illegible text coated in frost, that couldn't be deciphered at this distance.

"I must remain here to maintain the bridge so you can all return safely when you've managed to put an end to their reign," Nemesis finally said as he closed his eyes, apparently concentrating on the flow of magic pulsing into the circuits around him, "Feel free to leave behind guards if you can't bring yourself to trust me."

Even with his eyes closed Nemesis grinned, it wasn't hard to guess their reaction.

[Dawn : Louis's Heart : Cornerstone of Death]

Dawn remained pretty quiet a everyone discussed the group ups and other things. She would rather of just leaned against something with her eyes closed, she felt so tired after Garuda forced Dawn out of her own hiding. She has taken to wrapping her arms around herself as if holding herself up since she couldn't lean on anything.

Even as Nemesis was transporting them to the other shards, Dawn kept her eyes closed. She didn't open her eyes until he announced that they've arrived. Dawn looked at Nemesis as he explained everything and flinched when he said he was staying behind.

"I should of known there was a reason why you didn't answer me before," Dawn said with a soft voice, "Considering most of us here don't trust you as far as they can throw you."

The dancer glanced at the others, her eyes lingered on Bobbi longer at the rest before she looked at their leader with tired eyes, "I'll watch him. I know none trust him. With good reason. I want to keep an eye on him. Make sure he doesn't try anything funny."

[Dawn : Louis' Heart : Cornerstone of Death]

"I promise to keep the charms communication open at all times." Dawn plead with Joe hoping for his agreement to allow her to stay, especially since Melisandre was there too, "If everyone went we would have no access at all to knowing what he might pull down here."

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

Amy remained silent as various people said who they wanted to team up with. She assumed Joe would choose anyway, being the leader. She perked up when John said he wanted to team up with her. A small smile made its way onto her face, and she felt warm and fuzzy inside. It felt good to be wanted.

Joe's team allocation made sense, too. She was going over it in her head; it wasn't like she could write it down, so she may have missed some information, but she made it a point to pay attention to which healers were in which group. Dawn, Sayrike, and Jenny all had decent healing capabilities. Didn't Kyla have something, too? Amy didn't remember. Lots of people had some form of minor healing abilities.

The possibility of being split up had been discussed on the train, while they were first flying in. At the time, she had brought it up as a strategy, but it was dismissed. Kinda funny that now they "had" to split up. Might have been good to figure out who was good to group with who beforehand, when they had the chance. Amy was super cynical lately. She kept her thoughts to herself.

She went to stand next to John. Might be convenient if the groups all stood together. "I agree with James, Dawn. You'll be the healer of your group. Melissandra is a good choice to stay behind. She's very powerful, from what I've seen. Maybe a few others can volunteer, too?" She inadvertently looked at Demyx. Or maybe she did it on purpose...

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

Amy held back her sigh of relief. She didn't hate Demyx, she just thought he was super annoying. Besides, he only volunteered. Joe could still say no.

"I think she's trustworthy," Amy said in response to Bobbi, "She's given us no reason to think otherwise. She's been very helpful." Amy wondered if it was rude to talk about someone when they were standing right there. What's the etiquette here? The feeling she was being rude weighed down on her temples like an oncoming migraine.

{Bobbi .:. Louis's Heart .:. Cornerstone of Death - Group 1}
{Demyx, Zell .:. Louis's Heart .:. Cornerstone of Death}
{Red XIII, Yuffie .:. Louis's Heart .:. Cornerstone of Death - Group 4}

"You got it, boss-man," Zell said, saluting Joe. He side-eyed Demyx, kind of feeling bad because he was the one who insisted that the Nobody come along in the first place.

"Slack off?" Demyx asked, placing a hand to his chest dramatically, as if greatly insulted. "Me? Why that's... pretty fair, actually. No worries, man, I'll keep these three in line."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever, that's nice," Yuffie said, heading over to the southeast tower. She was definitely feeling a lot better now that the corpses were gone, although she tried really, really hard to ignore the fact that they were suspended on a small platform in the middle of an ocean of clouds and she couldn't see the ground from here. She was really anxious to get going. "I choooooose this one! C'mon, guys, we don't have all day, let's go!"

Bobbi heaved a sigh of relief when Joe ordered Dawn to stay with their group. She walked over to the Dancer and gently grabbed her hand, tugging her in the direction of the northwest tower.

"We'll take Traitor if no one objects," she said. She looked back at her party, and raised an eyebrow. "Except Nick, he can object all he wants." Her heart was pounding, mostly because she wasn't used to asserting herself in any situation at all. Normally, she'd sit back and let Riku take over, except that she was worked up and edgy, and for some reason she felt like she needed to be the one to take charge on this.

[ Melisandre & Co. : Louis' Heart : Core of the Cornerstones ]

So everything was settled.

The sorceress watched as the groups scattered, eyeing each of the members she had come to fight beside over the past few hours. What strange beings. What a strange story. Hers was a simple, if daunting, quest, but while theirs was likely less globally concerning, it seemed to carry such personal importance. They reminded her of the Sylvari, almost, with their Wyld Hunts, quests assigned by the dreams of their birth that determined their future even before the first steps were taken.

As the parties split, she thought back to the illusion, to the placement of the wings, wondering if there was any connection; these were, after all, individual shards of the same being, the same consciousness.

Joseph, the bo wielding leader, hesitant as he was to truly command the massive party, picked first, heading into the northeast Tower of Nightmare--which corresponded with the illusion's Cathedral, where they saw their loved ones lost again. The male masked mage, Matthew, stuck close to the leader, a close ally and closer friend. She couldn't help but muse about how fitting such a placement was: Nightmare, housed where the first nightmares started for them. Was it coincidence, or design? It had been implied that Liar had trapped the survivors away, so she began looking for patterns. What would they face, from a broken soul bound to terrors of slumber?

The young nin enthusiastically pointed them toward the southeast Tower of Victim, itself corresponding with the Royal Atrium, the vast, glass-enclosed gardens. The spear-wielder, Kyle, had been uncharacteristically quiet through the scene, even after Nemesis' clear insult via thrown jacket. All he'd done was smile, patiently fold the jacket as the transition occurred, and when he stood to leave, he placed it neatly upon the throne. The musician, Jenny, seemed somewhat concerned but otherwise left it alone as they departed behind the ninja. Melisandre had only briefly glanced into that hall, but she knew Kyle had stayed in that room alone--or, well, with an illusion--for most of the deceit's peaceful period. Now, he traveled there again; what sort of twist would they find in someone who considered themselves an embodiment known as Victim? Or would they, in turn, become victims of some new game?

The over-mothering ranger claimed the Tower of Traitor, to the Northwest--which she knew fairly clearly had been the quarters of the servants and helpers, the renovated dungeon, where traitors and law-breakers belonged. The taller, silver-haired key-wielder--Riku?--quietly followed the group of friends, though he kept close to the frustrating anomaly that was Nicholas, a wise choice if he was as unstable as he seemed. She had seen the gun-wielding sailor, James, enter that room shortly before the chaos of the cathedral, but doubted its current form was anything like Liar's veil. The question resurfaced: if Liar had been the most powerful, had he then relegated these remaining shards to the towers? Did he then design the illusion as a fit of artful representation? The more pressing and relevant questions, of course, were just who was Traitor, and who--or what--did he betray?

Finally, the cynical sword-wielder Joe was left with the Tower of Prisoner in the southwest, which had previously been the library. The female masked mirror mage, Sayrike, remained silent, though her hidden eyes continued to flicker from Nemesis to others, gauging things with her own analysis. Meanwhile, the spiky-haired key-wielder, Sora, expressed his own enthusiasm in response to the cynical Joe, and they were off. The artist, leader, and dancer had taken to that wing for some time, though little had come of it besides idle chatter and exploration--lest they simply hadn't shared some interesting detail. Still, the Prisoner was locked away there, rather than where the dungeons had been, and that was where her earlier pondering fell silent; prisoners typically belonged in dungeons, not libraries. Was there some amusing irony that could only be seen upon entry? Or was there simply no connection? She would have to hear it from them upon their return.

With a contemplative hum, Melisandre stood near Nemesis, the bard Demyx, and the brawler Zell. Even without magic, she all the same radiated passive heat, her shoulders and headpiece still lit with the frost-resistant flickers of mystic flame.

"Bard," she said, turning to look down at Demyx with a raised brow. Her voice was neither condescending nor humorous; she seemed genuinely curious. "Why are you driven by fear?"


"Eugh, nightmares," Mathy groaned, though he otherwise had no complaint. "Ready when you are, Jojo."

Kyle wordlessly followed Yuffie along, giving Jenny a reassuring smile as the two of them began toward the southeast tower.

Riku turned to move forward, keyblade still in hand, as Bobbi motioned toward the northwest tower. However, if Nicholas didn't match his pace, he'd stop just a few feet away, turning to look back at the rogue earthling with a questioning look.

"Maybe this'll be an easy one," Sora chimed in after Joe's remark. "Maybe he's already in shackles or something."