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{Bobbi, Demyx, Zell, Red XIII, Yuffie .:. Louis's Heart .:. Frozen Coliseum}

Bobbi was getting really sick of these reality and scene shifts. Couldn’t they just pick a location and stick with it? Ugh.

Her entire body tingled with the surge of magic that had gone through it, and she was unsurprised to find herself breathing heavily. Her muscles quivered, especially in her arms, but her legs weren’t far behind in their unsteadiness. The only thing that was keeping her standing at this point was sheer, stubborn force of will. She allowed Taulmaril to dissipate, and shakily reached into one of the many pockets well-concealed in her attire, pulled out an ether, and downed it in one gulp.

"If anyone needs a cure, now would probably be the time to ask for it while we have some breathing room," Bobbi said. She felt around in her pockets for a moment, and held up a second cube of blue jelly. "Also I have a spare ether if anyone needs it."

Zell heaved a gusty sigh and flopped down onto the ground right where he stood, sitting cross-legged on the hall floor.

"Whoo, I’m beat," he said with a laugh. "I must be outta shape! Don’t know how you guys have been doing this, day in and day out."

Nanaki walked slowly and carefully towards Kyle, his leonine gaze fixed directly on the heart and shards that the dragoon held so protectively.

"Are they safe?" he asked softly, head cocked to one side.

"Soooo, what just happened?" Demyx asked. He stared around at the Earthlings with wide eyes, his face a perfect reflection of shock and awe. "Since when could you guys do all of that?"

"Ow ow ow," Yuffie whined, rubbing at the bruises she had picked up after being tossed away from the Heartless like a rag-doll. "I don’t need a cure, but I’m definitely one really big bruise! Ow. So, what’s the plan, Fearless Leader?" The last was asked directly of Joseph as the ninja leaned against the wall next to him. She was still massaging a bruise, but she still looked at him with confidence that he’d have some sort of idea or battle plan or something.

[ Group : Louis' Heart : ??? ]

Kyle heaved a shaky sigh as Nanaki approached, slowly lifting himself up into a sitting position. When the lion asked about the shards and heart, he slowly opened his arms to reveal them; in his left hand, the dim blue and yellow shards of Nemesis and Justice, respectively, and in his right, hovering just over the flesh of his palm, was the glimmering... untainted heart of Rachel.

"I think so," he said, trying to catch his breath. He noticed Sora was also making his way over with a jog, and slowly stood to his feet as the boy approached.

"So if that's her heart, what are those?"

"Justice and Nemesis, I guess," he said, pocketing them--and realizing once again Liar's shard was gone. He narrowed his eyes briefly, wondering if these would vanish as well. With the heart, he focused on its essence, and willed it into his hammerspace, as he remembered doing in his other life.

"Oh. Good. So you know how to deal with those," Sora said, looking significantly more confused than before.

"Uh, long story. Let's just regroup."

"Don't forget your potions, either," Riku said from the main body of the group, uncapping one and downing the green substance. "May as well; by all accounts this seems to be the last step."

"Hopefully," Sayrike added, casting Cura on Dani to heal her hands.

Matthew wandered up to Joseph and cautiously put a hand on the older, significantly shorter man's shoulder. He was still concerned for obvious reasons. "Jojo, you okay? Your weapon..."

"Yeah, seriously, what the hell! They can break?!" John called out in exasperation, looking between the group and his maul.

Jenny remained silent, taking a spare ether from Riku and downing it before looking between Kyle and Joseph. There was a hesitance in her expression, but a knowing in her gaze.

"Soulbound weaponry is only as strong as the soul itself," the sorceress explained, though she seemed neither concerned nor curious. Her tone was plain in its explanation. "Heartbound weaponry follows the same principle. If the heart is broken, the weapon becomes as fragile as its owner's stability or identity."

"What? My boy Joe ain't weak. He took on that beast by himself! Guy's probably just tired," John rebuffed, defending his friend's honor against the ridiculous statement. "Or maybe it's more illusion crap. You don't know who you're talkin' about, Joe's as determined as all of us."

Melisandre simply shrugged, beginning to make her way toward the massive doors, though she would stop some distance away to analyze them.

[Dawn : Louis' Heart : Frozen Coliseum]

Dawn let out a loud sigh after everything was over. Though it all seemed to blur together. The dancer was unsure of just what happened. Though paying attention to everything was known not to be one of her strong points. At the order to recover and regroup, Dawn took out one of the Ethers from her own pocket and drank it in one gulp. Though she did what she could to drain Heartless Rae's energy, she hardly noticed a difference. The dancer felt her legs shaking from the strain of this whole ordeal.

She let out another sigh then looked over at Joseph as Mel put in her input at the man's condition. Dawn looked at him with a concern. She could agree that there was something off about him. She couldn't shake what his Wind felt like previously. It was not how Joe's wind normally felt to her. Not the strong and certain wind she came to know, but something more wet. Almost like a wind bringing in a rain storm.

Dawn slowly walked over to Joseph placed a comforting hand on his shoulder before walking on ahead. She wanted to get this finished. Before anything else happened to those she cared for.

[Nicholas <> Louis' Heart <> Frozen Coliseum]

The attack succeeded. Of course it did. I'm a badass.

Nicholas smirked, adjusting his goggles as everyone began to relax. The battle had ended, Earthlings were the victors, everything was awesome. However, the swordsman knew there would be at least one more battle yet to come. Mateus awaits, and Nicholas had to wrap this up soon.

As the archer held out the blue jelly cube of magical goodness, the swordsman walked by, casually swung his hand up under hers to pop the cube into the air, then snagged it quickly and crushed it in his hand. "Thanks for the pick-me-up, hun. Ready for round two?" He continued his stride without looking back, dragging Garland's sword along the ground as the ether did its work and mana flowed through his veins. A small grin formed as he moved, only one thought on his mind.

Holy s**t, I can't believe that worked. That'll never happen again.

Also, please don't shoot me in the back.

[Bobbi gave me permission to take it! SO I DID. HAHAHAHA.]

[[Narration : What Lies Beyond the Door]]

At Kyle's back, the door, normally sized and made of a forgiving soft wood, glowed, a spell circle that expanded outward to engulf the entire wall. There was a flash and the wall shattered from its illusion to reveal a giant gate several stories tall, steel, covered in stone chains, ice, and glowing runes.

As the group stood at the face of the massive chained gate, its bindings frozen to the steel surface, rock solid, unyielding and standing several stories high and likely several meters thick, there seemed to be no way past the impenetrable barrier that blocked their way. Then, like small candles, the chests of several earthlings sparked to life. Small rays drifted forward and caressed the center of the door. As they combined, the door started to thaw. Splitting into two, the lights moved vertically.

The doors chains were cut through like glass, falling to the earth with a loud crash as links were freed one by one. When the beams finally met their respective extremes they sputtered out, leaving but a small hissing noise in their place.

The shards from the towers, the keys, stepped forth. Their bodies shattered into multi-colored glass, leaving in their place 4 shards of crystal. They floated forward, taking opposite points on the rune-clad circle adorning the door. There was a click, the rune flickered and faded, and the doors began to move, crumbling the remaining ice around the edges.

As the doors opened, light flooded through to greet them. The light lasted only a moment before the blinding illumination fell away revealing everything beyond the door. There, beyond the portal, stood a featureless snowy field surrounded by a vague shadowy treeline. A gentle powder floated through the air, though noticeably in the wrong direction towards the sky.

It was quiet. The same sleepy, perhaps even uncomfortable mute found after a heavy blizzard. Only the crunch of their feet across the ground and breathing could be heard.

A short distance away, stood a figure clothed entire in white easily identifiable as Louis who heard them coming and turned around slowly. He looked around and mumbled quietly in confusion. As he looked up at the group of light bearers, eyes of a gentle brown greeted them before having to say a word. There was a joy in his expression but it quickly faded as his face froze in a smile that twitched looking past them.

"Wait- if you're here," there was a deep boom followed by a heavy baleful gust, like heavy doors pulled open in the middle of a storm, "The box is open."

"Quickly, you need to get out," the boy shouted... the sound of rattling chains echoed, "This place, it isn't safe! It's a trap! The darkness is coming and there's nothing stopping them from swallowing all of you whole as long as you're here! You-"

The boy gagged and coughed, holes appeared in his throat... swiftly filled in as a massive, inversely-spiked, metal collar formed from multicolored mist taking shape into black chains that arced outward.

"At laaaast," came a deep, rumbling voice, menacing... like a whispered threat. Attached to the chains formed the index fingers of two massive gauntlets that lifted the boy off the ground by neck. From shadow and mist the body of Mateus the Corrupt formed hovering over the boy before them.

Louis reached his hands up to his throat as red flowed down over his body, staining the entirety of his white attire crimson while dripping down to the snow where it spread like wildfire across the field. All the while, his eyes remained locked on the earthlings, teeth gritted, every fiber of his being screaming- not crying for help, but concern for their safety.

[Dawn : 'The Box']

Dawn seemed to remain emotionless as the scenery changed when they went through the door. Her eyes did, however, narrow as the light dimmed at seeing him. Dawn was unsure of what to make of him this time around. He seemed to be happy, then he shouted a warning before he was cut off.

Dawn froze in terror and shock as Mateus appeared. Her eyes that were once void of emotion, now held tears in the corners of her eyes. Louis, someone she had called friend, despite his lies and betrayal, did not deserve this. Though the dancer's brain told her to run. Her heart was crying to do something. All the while her knees refused to do anything only quiver.

Only thing she could do was swallow the lump that had built in her throat.

[Kyla, Axel: Louis’s Heart> the Box?]

Staring at the large doors- neck craning to observe them, she felt hollowed out. Her eyes were distant, faded if possible, the glimmer of light still there in her eyes but it was all that look that way. Her face was ashen, cheeks flushed and pink. The world burned on the edge of her vision- her limbs heavy, joints aching. She blinked the stinging bleariness away and wiped her glasses clean as the shards unlocked the door.

As the light spilt through she shut her tired eyed, hand resting on her chest a moment- trying to envision the fragment she carried there as safely tucked away as a bird in a nest. This still wasn’t over. They still had more to go on- frankly they could be here forever perhaps…

The heart was a complex, complicated thing: Layers upon layers of introspective worlds to cycle through various truths and philosophical paradoxes. Peeling them away could take ages if a person had enough experience to construct them- how much had Louis seen?
Yes.

They could be here a long time… and Kyla wasn’t sure she could take much more of this.

As they stepped onto the snow landscape, Kyla held her books flush against her chest which… was heaving a little, she felt short of breath. There was even an actual sway to her steps. It was slight, but there.

~ Hang in there...~


‘I’ll try. I’m so… I don’t even think tired fits it really...’

When Louis turned to look at them Kyla’s felt guarded- even as he smiled at them. Even as she felt the corner of her own mouth smile a little bit- but it was of course followed by more nightmarish torture. As he was hoisted into the air Kyla felt ready to smash some things apart…

So this was the creature seeking? Was this the final boss? How were they going to do this? Was there a way to separate Louis from this creature?

“Mateus.” Now there’s a face only a mother would love.

Axel swung his chakram back and forth, just about ready to lauch one right in between it's eyes.
"Ugh- just...ugh.." yeup, no more witty commentary. even he was fed up- or should be. there wer eno more words now, it was time to put this little s**t in it's place.

[Dani:~: Louis' Heart:~: ‘The Box’]

“Thank you,” was all Dani said when her hand was healed. She looked down to the floor seeing her own blood and sighed. ‘This is not going to be the last amount of blood you are going to see,’ Dani thought to herself as she moved to the doors with the rest of the group. ‘It might not be your own.’ With that, she took out of her pocket one of the ethers she has been stashing since the train and drank it down as quickly as she could.

When she stepped through the door and saw Louis, she only narrowed her eyes. ‘And… Another one,’ Dani thought before she saw the figure behind this Louis. Before she could get a good look she saw the “display of power” that monster she now knew as Mateus was doing to Louis. She tried her best for the moment to shut her eyes as her breathing became short and her hands went up to her ears.

“Dani you need to breathe!” Leviathan yelled, trying to cut through the panic she was having. “You have seen worse than this. Think of Ashley, think of what led us up to here. Pull yourself together! If you really are going to be the assassin do not lose your target.”

Dani, feeling the figurative kick from Leviathan breathed in has deep as she could to regain her breathing before opening her eyes back at Mateus. She was doing all she could at the moment to ignore the gore and just focus on the enemy. She listened to Kyle and at the mention of “numbers” she smirked before summoning her chakrams and spinning them. Just as she was about to open her mouth to add to Kyle’s statement she heard Leviathan sigh and waited.

“Maybe it would be better that you let the others do the talking. Just wait and look for an opening to strike,” Leviathan commented to the assassin.

‘Alright,’ Dani said to Leviathan and kept looking at Mateus. Looking for signs of weakness in the case of a fight.