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D.I.A.H:
Dive Into Al's Heart
Part 1

Damn...Al, you better be okay...

Kyle sat in the dining car, elbows propped on the table in front of him, hands folded together, brow furrowed in thought and worry. Even with the empathy curse on him, he knew that the majority of the worry was his own, but also knew that everyone else was worried.

Ajora...the ******** did you do?!

He could only watch. Sit there and watch from the sidelines. No, not really the sidelines, but it felt like it.

The replicas had attacked once again. It quickly turned for a free-for-all, with Kyle once again stepping up as leader, telling everyone they needed to fight the replicas off once again.

And they did, for the most part, but Ajora stayed behind, taunting, talking, manipulating, insulting. All with a smile.

Aldrick screamed out of frustration, some of the 'comments' obviously hitting home in him, and he lunged forward, throwing his staff like a javelin with the extra 'push' of his step.

And Ajora smiled, and Kyle called out,

"AL! GET BACK!"

And Ajora was in front of Aldrick, two fingers pointed as he slammed then into Al's chest. No, not slammed, jabbed. And directly into the area over his heart, through the leather plate and fabric of his shirt.

"Guh!!..." That was the only discernable sound out of Aldrick's mouth, the rest of the noise being more like pained gurgles as he crumpled to the ground, facedown.

And Ajora smiled. And Kyle froze, along with everyone else.

"Well, this should be an interesting experiment~ I'll have to see how it goes. Ta ta~"

And with a slurp of his bloodied fingers, the replica walked away and into a dark portal.

Kyle slammed his fist onto the table. "Dammit, Al! The hell possessed you to attack him!"

Kyle sat there in the silence for a moment, before shaking his head. He had felt the anger and possessiveness Al had when he attacked Ajora. "Damn...have to protect everyone from everything, don't you...why do you have to be a damn martyr?"

And that's when Rae walked in.

Kyle stood, noting Rae's attempt at a blank face, a doctor face when they had bad news, but felt more than he saw.

"What's wrong?"

Rae shook her head. "I don't know. Whatever Ajora did, it's keeping the wound open. Bobbi froze it over to stop the bleeding, but...I can't close it, and he's...he's in some kind of coma. That's all I know."

Kyle nodded, and walked past Rae towards the sleeping car, ignoring her protests of letting him rest or not disturbing him.

No, he needed to see what damage his replica had done.

And he had to stop short, halfway between him and Al's prone body on the bed, Bobbi sitting next to him on the bed, holding his hand. A mass of ice crystals had been what looked like 'grown' out of his chest, a dark spot beneath it, which Kyle could barely see, must've been the wound.

Mustering up whatever he could to keep going forward, Kyle strode over and stood over Aldrick, watching his almost nonexistant breathing, and muttered a few curses.

"I know, I said the same thing when I saw him."

Kyle looked to Bobbi, whose eyes held unshed tears behind her glasses as she watched Aldrick.

"He's done a lot for us, if you think about it. Worrying about us, trying to cook, fighting for us..."

Kyle nodded. So much sorrow was weighing on his heart right now, his, and others, he couldn't bring himself to open his mouth lest a sob came out.

"Is...Is Al-Momma okay?"

Kyle and Bobbi both looked back, seeing Rio and everyone else behind her, everyone looking either stoic, worried, or sad.

"...We...We don't know." Kyle said through the sorrow, his voice thick and almost choked.

He's in so much pain

Everyone stared at Bobbi, who raised her hands in an 'I'm innocent' pose. "Wasn't me!"

They all looked at Al, whose breathing, Kyle noticed, had gotten deeper, his hair moving slightly in the breeze...

Breeze?! There wasn't any breeze on the train!

It's his heart. It hurts so much...so much darkness...

"Darkness? ...Ajora!"

Everyone looked at Kyle, who quickly explained. "Ajora did this. He controls darkness just like I can control holy. He must've injected darkness directly into Al's heart...and he wants to see what happens. It's his experiment."

Everyone let out some noise, whether it be a gasp of surprise, a growl of anger, a sob of sorrow, or a sigh of displeasure.

Rae came forward from the crowd, determined looking. "Then I'll go in and fix it."

Kyle frowned, before remembering what Rae could do. She could go into the subconscious and soothe people. Maybe she could soothe out the darkness.

No...it won't be that simple.

Kyle looked back at Aldrick, figuring it must be Sylph speaking to them. "Why not?"

...The darkness is trying to manifest itself here. Coming by yourself, any one of you, would be like suicide.

"THEN WHAT DO WE DO, DAMMIT?!"

Everyone stared at Kyle, who stood there, fists clenched and teeth gritted. No one could say anything, surprised at Kyle's reaction.

It was silent for a minute, and Kyle relaxed his fists. Was it really that hopeless?

If I could link with Rae, it might be possible to let multiple people in--

"Then I'm coming!"
"Me too!"
"And me!"
"Not leaving me behind!"
"We gotta help him out!"

Everyone started shouting their replys to that, saying how they'd go and help, before Sylph broke in.

Wait! Too many people would shatter his heart, his soul!

That quieted everyone down, and Sylph let out a sigh which came out a gust that blew around the sleeping car.

Four people. Four people maximum can come without a risk. Rae must be one of them, cause she's the one with the power to bring everyone. That leaves three. Also, someone must watch his body. If the darkness must be expelled, it must be destroyed before it causes any problems for others.

Everyone looked around at each other, silently contemplating who should go, who will watch the body...

"I'll watch him. I'm better suited for it then the rest of you, anyways."

Everyone turned to the new, familiar voice, and everyone's jaw dropped.

----------------------------------------------

Yeah, decided to start it. Woot!...haha, I'm tired now, lol.

AAAAAAAL! YOU CAN'T MAKE ME WAAAAAAAIT! BUUUUUUUUH, SO GOOD! Write more soon, damnit!

WRITE MORE! WRITE MOREEEEEeee~

What a cliffhanger Al D':

The small group of heroes continued their trek through the maze-like castle that held Aldrick's heart, trying to get their bearings. However, little did they know about the troubles on the outside....

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"The F*** are those Disney freaks doing in there?!"

"How the hell would I know! Just keep him from hurting himself!"

"I'm not stupid, Ice b***h!"

"Urgh! You're so damn annoying! And dammit Timmy, put something in his mouth already!"

"No way! I'm not putting it in there. He'll bite it off, and I don't swing that way!"

"NOT THAT! GRAB FABRIC AND PUT IT IN THERE SO HE DOESN"T BITE HIS TONGUE OFF!!!"

Suddenly, Aldrick's body had started convulsing and spasming, and Bobbi took charge, trying to keep him from flinging himself off the bed or into the wall. She was also trying to get Cory and Timmy to help, but that part wasn't going so well.

"Hey...HEY! Guys! The ice is doing something funky!"

Bobbi and Cory looked at Timmy, then the ice. It was shaking, a seperate vibration from the spasms, and blackness seemed to be swirling around in it.

"Oh--"

"--s**t!"

And the ice shattered, and a blob of darkness shot out of the chest wound and across the train car. It landed against the wall with a splat and slid down before coming to a rest on the floor.

"...Dude, his heart just hocked a loogie."

Bobbi and Timmy just nodded with Cory's statement, as they watched the blob grow and grow, forming a large puddle, before rising up and forming a larger version of the blob that came out of the chest.

"Disgusting!"

"We get that, Frosty. Now hurry up and get out of my way so I can kill it."

Cory drew his Revblade, and with a rev of the engine, he stabbed it through the blob.

Which opened up a hole to let the revblade pass through without touching it.

"Tch!"

Cory drew his blade up, cutting into the top of the slime, then drew back, flinging a few of his shockwaves at it in succession, though those just bounced off, as well as the shield that Timmy had flung like a discus.

"The hell did those Disney freaks send to us!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

All five of the heroes sneezed at once, which got them all curious as to what had caused that anomaly. However, they quickly shrugged it off. They had more important things to worry about. Like the giant door in front of them and how to open it.

"You're sure it's behind here?"

Both Sylph and Jenny nodded, faces set in determination. Kyle had basically no choice but TO believe them. Especially because that door was not planning on opening anytime soon. It was frozen solid, and heavy as hell.

"So...what? Do we go find another way? Find a way to open it elsewhere?"

The rest of the group nodded. It was their only option, cause nothing else was going to open that door.

"Alright...so, where do we go?"

Jenny spoke up, sounded rushed and surprised. "Hey! I hear something else! I mean, all I could hear before was the heartsong, but now I can hear something else. It's singing......." The time mage seemed to zone out as she listened to it. "Its song is trying to weave back together to heartsong, trying to fix it. We follow that. Yes, yes, follow that, and we'll find a way to help." Jenny's eyes glazed over as she wandered towards where ever that 'song' came from, and the group followed her, keeping an eye on her and the path. Nothing that seemed to compel people ever turned out good...

"Here. In here, I'm sure of it!" Jenny's exhuberant response snapped everyone out of their worries for her, but they stared at the plain doors to the room in front of them. They definitely weren't frozen looking, and definitely opened when they pushed. So, the group opened them.

The room was like a shrine, pillars and decorations and the such. All of it was made out a bluish ice, and in the far wall was a statue that was made into the wall. That's where Jenny pointed, indicating that's where the noise came from.

It was a statue of the upper half of a male. Lean, physically fit, depicting that of perhaps a swimmer or track runner. The hair, crystalline, fell to just past his shoulders, the statue being modeled like he had been caught in a breeze, his hair waving around as he was frozen solid.

The only unsettling thing about the statue was the lack of a face.

"It's such a sad song..." Jenny sobbed as she 'listened', and the rest of the group looked at the statue. What were they supposed to do with it?

"The mask! Let's give it a face! Maybe that's what it needs!" Rio all but shouted this, her voice echoing across the 'shrine'. "Sorry, little loud there."

Kyle pulled the (cheap plastic)mask out of his cloak, and set in on the 'face' of the statue.

...

Nothing happened.

"Aw! I was sure that would've worked..."

Thank you.

"Eep! It's going to attack us! I'm too young to be eaten by a statue! I haven't had enough sugar yet!"

Relax, young one. I mean you no harm.

The group looked at the statue, which had fused to mask to itself, and watched the mask reshape fluidly into a face.

Kyle stared hard at it. It looked like a familiar face. Actually...!

"You're Aldrick?! No...no, you aren't. Your features are too sharp and pointed."

It was true. The nose was narrow and pointed, as was the chin and eyes.

Yes. I am Boreas, Guardian of this heart. Now, leave.

-----------------------------

Why's the guardian kicking them out? Can they get him to help them? Can they still save Al? Can Cory and his group stop the giant loogie of darkness?!

Such an awesome story Al!!! >.
I love the setting and detail of the story and you portray everyone so accurately x]

Yes. I am Boreas, Guardian of this heart. Now, leave.

"What what what? Why?" Rae sputtered and stammered at the statue, and flinched slightly as it's frozen eyes turned it's cold stare to her.

You are an anomaly here. You do not belong. I must protect this heart. It is my calling, my nature, and the reason I was made.

"But that's just it! We're here to protect Al's heart, too!" Now Jenny piped up.

No. I am to protect this heart. No one else. And I have taken all precautions to do so.

"Precautions? You mean freezing off this entire place?" Kyle now.

Precisely. I have initiated a... Boreas trailed off for a moment. A lock-down, as you would term it.

"Lock-down...? You mean this castle is completely frozen over because of you? That blizzard was the cause of you?" Sylph eyes were wide as she said this, her voice raising and becoming almost hysterical. "You locked that darkness inside of here?! It's caused too much damage already! IT'S KILLING AL! IT'S KILLING ME!!"

Boreas never moved, never blinked, just looked towards her. I am following my sworn duty, my 'birth-right' as you might say. I will do what I must to protect the heart from the invading darkness.

"WHAT ABOUT THE DARKNESS ALREADY WITHIN IT?!"

The heart must face it on his own, and survive. I can only help by keeping this castle frozen and static.

Sylph stopped. Stopped screaming, stopped breathing, stopped moving, and looked at Boreas. Just looked at him. Then, slowly she started breathing again, calming down and finally speaking. "No. No, that's not the only way to help. You can help fight. Help Al. That's what a guardian would do. That's what...what Al would do. Not just freeze everything and hope for the best."

The rest of the group nodded, and Boreas sighed in their minds.

I see you will not give up, nor leave, and insist on interfering. Fine. So be it.

The wall around the statue cracked, suddenly, and the group moved back and away. More cracks appeared, spidering out from the statue, and suddenly, the wall exploded out, and Boreas' form became apparent.

The upper body that the statue depicted was still there, though now it moved, looking more like crystal then ice, the crystalline hairs billowing around in the power of the guardian. Crystals of ice jutted out form beneath the body, producing a 'leg' effect, and more crystals jutted up and out from his 'hips', these one's producing off-shoots of less 'perfect' crystals.

I will get rid of you myself, and continue aiding the heart in the way I am supposed to.

The group summoned their weapons, with Sylph and Kyle out in front, with the wind fairy shouting "It's not helping if you do nothing!"[

A wall of ice shot up between the group of fighters and Boreas, and another covered the door.

The fight began.

[Cue Music: Holy Spear Knights] (I suggest looping it...plus, side note about the music on the bottom~)

Sylph was the first to rush forward and reach the ice wall and deliver a few strikes to it before leaping back and frowning. She didn't even create a scratch of the sheet of ice! "Rio!"

"On it!" The girl spaced her feet apart and pointed her trident at the wall, concentrating, and sent a beam of soft pink light shooting towards the ice wall, drawing a small, intricate, glyph-like pattern, which then promptly exploded.

Again, no damage. The ice was wall as immaculate as if they were doing nothing to it.

"What the hell?" Kyle asked aloud. "How're we supposed to do damage if--s**t!"

The ice wall was just suddenly gone, like it melted in fast forward, and Boreas was smirking as giant ice crystals shot up from the ground in a line leading from him to Kyle. The swallow user easily jumped out of the way. It's not like it was hard to dodge. Of course, this gave him an idea as the ice wall suddenly shot back up.

"We attack when the wall is down. He's great at defense, but his attack is horrible. That's when we strike...TJT, ladies."

Rio and Sylph nodded, understanding the initials automatically. "Rae, Jenny, if you would hit the wall to make sure he keeps attacking instead of just sitting."

The mages nodded, and Rae chucked her boomerang, and Jenny raised her flute to her lips, playing that oh-so familiar comet song. The weapon and projectiles hit, and the wall came down again, another line of ice heading for the group.

The three melee users were suddenly up in the air, having jumped, and performed the TJT, or rather, the Triple Javelin Throw, and hurled their weapons at Boreas, the air whistling as they soared to their intended target.

URGH! They all hit, and Boreas's floating form hit the ground rather hard, causing the room to shake. As well as loosen parts of the ceiling.

"Look out!" Jenny cried, her flute already to her lips. She played quickly, ferverishly, and soon tiny fairies with ribbons trailing after them appeared, wrapping around the falling ice pieces and stopping them in mid-fall. This gave everyone enough time to avoid them and move out of the way before the fairies disappeared and the ice pieces crashed into the ground.

I see. I must not underestimate you anomalies again.

Boreas shifted, righted himself, then resumed his floating. Only shortly, though, as he rammed himself down into the ground, the bottom half of him disappearing into the floor. Placing his hands on the floor, palms falt and down, he focused.

And ice shot up from the ground all over the shrine, the group getting hit numerous times because of the sheer number of crystals.

Kyle stood, shaking his head. He got sent flying a few feet by the crystals, landing heavily on his shoulder, which twinged in protest when he moved it.

Boreas seemed to be temporarily frozen, from what little bits he could see as the ice crystals were large enough to impede his view(and progress to pretty much anywhere), so Kyle did a quick roll call to check on everyone, seeing as how all the giant crystals blocked his view. "How is everyone?"

Sylph was the first to respond, and from the air, no less. She had taken flight when the crystals started shooting up. "I'm good. Not sure about the others, though..."

"My butt's cold! But otherwise, I'm fine!" That was Rae.

"Um...they missed me completely." Jenny.

"I'm stuck!" Rio. Wait, stuck?

Kyle, with Sylph's aid, made his way to the trident-weilder, flying over the crystals. Of course, Sylph was tired afterwards. She wasn't used to carrying people. But Kyle focused more on Rio, who was struggling as three of those large crystals pinned her in mid air.

"Someone get me down!"

Kyle examined the crystals, before summoning back his swallow and slicing into two of them, cutting them down. And causing Rio to fall with a yelp as she landed on her butt on the ground.

"Owwww~ Gentle! I'm a lady, after all."

Then all the crystals shuddered and sank into the ground, and Rio made another yelp. "Ah! You can apologize later!"

Boreas rose up again, and Kyle couldn't help but notice that the crystals on his bottom half were smaller, with one looking like it was cut off.

I wonder...

That thought got cut short as a barrage of crystals flew through the air at him, and he side-stepped them out of reflex. He had an idea, though, and he put it into action.

Kyle raised his free hand and fired off some banish spells around the flying crystals. They struck the bottom crystals of Boreas, causing some of them to shatter and break apart, and a scream echoed across the shrine.

Great, he's weak on the bottom...at least, that should stop his attacks.

And Boreas raised up, and as he plummeted down into the ground again, Kyle yelled "JENNY!"

Jenny raised her flute to her lips, playing a spell. But at the end, she hit a wrong note, purely by mistake in her hurry. But the spell still came into effect.

The five heroes shot up off the ground, floating in mid-air. Well, around the ceiling, actually. But it helped them avoid the mass crystal attack that Boreas had used.

"Um...oops. Sorry." Jenny blushed from her spot in the air.

"S'okay. We just got to attack mor-AHG!"

Boreas, apparently not taking the break like he did last time, had fired crystals at Kyle, one of which(luckily a small one) embedded itself in his sore shoulder. He immediately pulled it out and let Rae cast her cure spell, which immediately made the pain recede.

"How the hell...damn, less crytals, less power, less recharge time." He gritted his teeth, swimming through the air out of the way of a another crystal barrage, then let out a small grunt as he landed hard on the ground as the float spell ended.

"We need to end this. Now." Sylph, who stood next to Kyle, looked to the 'leader' and then to Boreas. "We have to hurry..."

Kyle and the other girls nodded in agreement, and Jenny raised her flute, ready to blow.

But then the ice wall came back up once more.

"AUGH!!!"
"DAMMIT!"

Kyle had reached his frustration limit, mainly because Sylph had, too. "Play, Jenny!"

Jenny took a second, then nodded. Yes, she would play. Play her song to give them winged feet.

She played her haste song with all her heart, and it encompassed Kyle and Sylph, making small glyphs appear beneath them. Rae and Rio were concentrating, and then fired off spells(Rio, an energy ball/bomb, and Rae, a 'minor' holy spell, similar to Kyle's banish, only more orb-like). They hit the wall, and the wall came down.

And Sylph and Kyle went forward.

Boreas fired off another barrage of crystals, but with haste, the two deftly dodged them and veered away, making a sort of arc with their moments, before Kyle rushed forward.

"Give me an opening!"

Kyle raised his swallow, making an X-pattern on Boreas' chest, and Sylph shot forward, flying and turning with her staff extended, twisting, making a fairy drill(minus the pure power that Titan had added when Aldrick attempted this attack). She hit Boreas square in the chest, right in the middle of the X, and sat there, spinning and digging into the ice, before suddenly coming to a halt and hovering back.

Boreas' voice filled their heads with a scream of pain, then the guardian fell to the floor.

Do you know what you have done?

Sylph shook her head. "No. But we couldn't just do nothing. We'll protect his heart."

Boreas chuckled. You still do not understand. Without me, this castle will thaw, and everything will open. Without me, his heart will be completely vulnerable to everything.

Kyle spoke up this time. "And we won't let that happen. We'll fix his heart. I'll make it happen." Silently, a thought of I know it. creeped into his head.

Boreas frowned, confused, and then broke, his chest and body cracking and snapping, falling to pieces, and the group had to look away, already making it's way back to Aldrick and the thawing door. They didn't have time to dwell.

But a thundering sound came from behind the door they were attempting to leave through, and the group cast worried glances at each other.

"What IS that?" Rio asked, then looked around the room. "Uh, guys?"

The room had started to thaw, the ice melting and dripping away, revealing an almost bronze color to the walls. But it was melting so fast, and the water was pooling around their ankles.

"This-"
"-Isn't-"
"-Going-"
"-To be-"
"-Pretty!"

The doors crashed open, and a surge of water flowed into the room, crashing down on the heroes.

----------------

So the song is actually Kyle worthy(lol holy spear knights) but also, fun fact! It's from the game Persona 2: Innocent Sin, and is actually the theme for Hitler and his army of knights/demons/whatever(Yes, I did say Hitler, and yes, it's THAT Hitler that's in the game. You fight him.)

"Damn, the hell is that thing? And why the hell can't I kill it?"

Cory shook his head at the chunks of ice littering the sleeping car. They finally managed to figure out how to hit it. Freeze it with Bobbi's arrows, then slice it into little pieces. Nothing else had worked. Which sucked.

Big time.

"At least we got it under control."

"Shut it, Witch Tits. I wanna kill it."

"Witch Tits? That's the best you got?"

"What? Never heard the saying 'cold as a witch's tit?'"

"Why you little-!"

"Um...guys?"

"I'm getting tired of listening to you b***h!"

"The feeling is freaking mutual!"

"GUYS!!!!"

"WHAT?!"
"WHAT?!"

And they both turned on Timmy, only to see a jet of flames shoot out from the hole in Aldrick's chest.

"The hell?"

"Killer heart burn?"

"Shut up, Cory."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[Cue Music: Boss Music II(Breath of Fire II)]

Foehn was fast. Very fast. Like, Al fast. And he used it to his advantage, charging forward and raking his claws against the ground, leaving burning gouges in the floor whereever he passed, his body haunched forward as he ran.

Flames shot up and out of the claw marks, and the group danced around the claw gouges and the beast. None of them wanted to be barbecued, afterall. But all they could really do was dodge and dance, before Kyle took the initiative.

He fired off a few banishes, targeting not Foehn, but the direction he was going, and each one hit. Foehn turned, charging at Kyle, claws raised to strike, only to open his mouth and breath flames, which Kyle just barely managed to avoid, his cloak singed and burnt.

Rae tossed her boomerang, then, sending it hurtling to the beast. It knocked him squarely in the back before flying back to her, and she hid behind it's massive size as a blast of flames shot in her direction.

Sylph went next, flying in and getting in a few staff combos. Just as she was about to fly away to let Rio have her turn, she cried out as Foehn bit into her arm, his fangs piercing her skin.

"Sylph!"

The cry of pain from the fairy turned to a scream as Foehn breathed another blast of fire, burning her arm, then he let her go. Well, it wasn't that easy. He opened his jaw as he flicked his head, sending the fairy flying across the platform.

Jenny got to the fairy first, looking at the arm with disgust, but she couldn't help it. It was burned badly, and the fang marks had cauterized and scarred from the flames. Frankly, it also smelled faintly like a pot roast. Jenny also made a mental note to never look at pot roast the same way again.

Placing her flute to her lips, she played a soft, soothing melody, and the burns shrank, the skin recovered, and the fang marks disappeared as the time mage reversed time for the wound.

Foehn was curious at this process. Sure, darkness could regenerate, but actually healing? No, that wasn't possible for him. And doing it through reversing time for the wound. That was something else! But he couldn't let anymore healing take place, otherwise he was more than likely to be exhausted before they ran out of healing. Especially because four out of the five could heal, he noticed from the memories he quickly rifiled through.

"Here, a present!"

Foehn looked towards Rio, something flying towards his head. Instinct made him reach out to catch it, and as soon as it made contact with his hand, the prism ball exploded.

"Yes!" Rio cried out, doing a little dance in celebration, only to raise up her guard as flames shot at her from the smoke cloud created from the explosion.

"SHELL!"

Rae's quickly casted shell spell enveloped Rio, giving her a soft blue veil in front of her, which halfed the amount of flames that reached her. "Thanks Rae! I owe you a cupcake!"

The white mage nodded, and Sylph flew in again, whacking the beast upside it's head, causing it to cry out and reach for her, but she was more careful this time, staying out of reach and floating around the battlefield, whereas Kyle came up from behind and slashed at the creature's back.

And got caught by a backhand in his head from Foehn.

He was laying on the ground, unmoving, clearly unconsious, and Rae shouted "Raise!"

A small beam of light shone down on Kyle, and a tiny angel in white robes came and appeared to cast some magic on him, causing him to stir and get up, albeit a little wobbly.

Foehn let out a yell, then, and shot up into the air, breathing flames like a beam down at the platform, his aim following the heroes as they dodged around.

"Jeez! Isn't there a way to shut his mouth? I mean, I've heard of having hot breath before, but--Yeep!"

The beam-like flame got close to her, and she had to do a sideways jump to avoid it.

Jenny, Rae, and Sylph all nodded, all three casting together to see if what they wanted to do would work. Once again, Jenny played, giving Rae and Sylph background music to their chant.

O mighty wind
Blessed with holy light
We ask of thee
We beg of thee
Silence our enemy
And shut his mouth up tight!

A shining wind shot from the white mage and the fairy, and headed towards Foehn, who clawed at it with no apparent effect as it wrapped round his head and covered his mouth. Much like a gag.

This also stopped the flames from spewing forth from his mouth, though there appeared to be flames licking around his claws as he came down from the air, landing with a large thud that shook the platform everyone stood on.

Foehn glared at the group, and Sylph stepped forward. Speed versus speed. And then they both seemed to stare each down, both moving their lips silently. Though, it seemed to only do something for Sylph, who now had wind circling around her.

Jenny placed her lips to her flute and blew, fingers dancing along the keys as a glyph appeared beneath the fairy, and then she stepped back. Her part was done.

Kyle fired off what appeared to be a banish spell, but it fused with the staff, giving it a soft, white glow. Rio did the same thing, giving the staff the faintest pink glow.

Rae muttered quietly to herself, before calling out "Protect!", and a soft yellow light enveloped Slyph, one that would weaken the effects of Foehn's attacks.

And then the beast moved, followed by the shining fairy(I kinda want to say beauty, lol), and they clashed in the center of the platform, and danced.

Dancing was the only way to describe their fighting, which was so fast that it was hard to tell if a hit was made or not. The only tell-tale sign they had was blood seemed to keep appearing on the floor.

The clang of staff against claw, the sharp, stinging scent of flames and the coppery, metallic smell of blood, the shining light of the fairy and the dim glow of the flame beast. They all made the heroes watch in awe as they fought, before they suddenly stopped fighting, leaping away from each other.

Both were hurt, both were kneeling on the ground, and both were bleeding. Rae immediately went to Sylph's side and healed her wounds, while Jenny, Kyle, and Rio faced Foehn.

"THIS...THIS WON'T END. NOT YET!"

The beast stood, his wounds bleeding, and flames erupted from his entire body, before suddenly freezing, frozen in place.

They all looked at Jenny, who had just finished playing her song that she had apparently started as the battle began. With a sigh of exhaustion, the girl smiled at the group. "Sorry, he's strong so that took a while, but he should be stopped for a bit. Hurry."

Rio and Kyle charged forward, dancing around each other as they struck at Foehn's stopped body repeatedly, before running back and retreating as soon as the flames started shifting and unfreezing.

"AAAAUUUUUGGGGGHHHHHH!"

The flames erupted outwards, blasting furiously, sending the group flying towards the edge of the platform. Thankfully, they halted before falling off, skidding to a stop with a few feet to spare.

"NO! NO! NOT WHEN THIS HEART IS MINE! I WON'T LET THIS HAPPEN!"

Flames started shooting wildly around, and the group stood still, lined up next to each other, charging.

Slyph shot a blast of wind.
Rae shot a holy orb.
Kyle shot a strong Banish.
Rio shot an energy beam.
Jenny summoned and fired a large comet.

All five attacks landed, hitting Foehn with such force that he was forced through the air, landing hard on his back with jerky movements.

[End Music: Boss Battle II(Breath of Fire II)]

Foehn's body shifted, and darkness coagulated and formed on top of him, before sliding off and bubbling, evaporating into nothing, leaving only the Heart, back in the form of Aldrick, which opened it's eyes and stood, cracking his joints like he was stiff from sleeping.

[Cue Music: Melody of Lute(celtic version)]

"Al!"

They all rushed forward, and the Heart of Aldrick smiled warmly.

"Thanks, guys...well, ladies and one guy."

Then he was bombarded with hugs from the humans, and Sylph just smiled at him.

"Whoa, whoa, easy now. We still have work to do."

They all looked at him with confused looks. "Let's just say me being a light sleeper let me know a few things. We need to go."

And Sylph and Rae nodded, and they left the depths of Aldrick's heart.

[End Music: Melody of Lute(celtic version)]

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Please, tell me that isn't what I think it is, guys."

"Yeah, we were bored enough that we started freezing loogies. Sure. Exactly what happened." And Bobbi swiftly swatted Kyle upside the head. "The darkness that popped out of his chest wouldn't die, so we contained it."

Kyle and the rest stared at the frozen bits of goo, Rio poking one of them experimentally. "So how DO we kill it?"

"I know how."

Everyone's jaws dropped. Aldrick was sitting up, staring at the frozen bits with such anger and hatred...

Getting up, he grabbed Kyle's hand and made him point a finger at the nearest bit of frozen darkness. "Focus on not the holy aspect of your element, but the light."

Kyle did so, and a small beam of light shot out of his finger and...well, purified the darkness. It just disappeared with the light.

"How did you...?"

"When something gets inside of you, you tend to learn a thing or two about it."

Aldrick leaned against Kyle, cuddling against him with a deep, tired sigh.

"I don't really blame you for anything...and I don't truly resent you. My anger was the first thing to get through when my defenses were down, and the darkness fed it. That's why I blew up like that...I'm sorry."

Kyle shook his head, chuckling. "Bah, I'm fine. How about you? You went through a lot."

"Tired, as usual. Give me a day off to get everything back to normal, and I'll be back to tip top shape."

Kyle laughed, giving Al a small hug, before forcing him into bed and tucking him in.

"Well, I'm out. Fairy's safe, I'm done here."

Cory and Timmy left without another word, probably cause he didn't get to kill anything like he thought.

Jenny, Rae, and Rio headed off to eat something, and Kyle headed for a different bed to rest. Bobbi headed off to find Evan for some 'alone' time.

Aldrick sighed as he lay there, eyes closed.

"Hey, Sylph?"
Yeah?
"...Thanks."
I know.
"Know what?"
I'm awesome.

And two sets of chuckles sounded on the train.