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[Dawn : Narnia : Jadis' Dungeon --- Stairwell]

Upon coming back to reality, Dawn leaned heavily against the wall of the dungeon with her hand in a fist tightly against her chest as she fought to grasp the evening's events and her own emotions.

'Did that really happen? Is it really over? Is the nightmare really over?' she said to Garuda. Only to be met with silence.

The Dancer shook her head as she tried to get a feel for her surroundings though the air, but nothing was coming to her. It just felt so still.... It unsettled her mind even more.

'It really is over isn't it?' she asked Garuda once more. As she followed the group with Joseph while her hand still on the wall and her other hand against her chest.

Still nothing.

Dawn bit her lip as she tried to focus on moving forward and the conversation between Kyle and Nick. She couldn't help, but shake her head with a slight grin at Nick's usual banter. Somethings never change.

"Think of it as a nice gentle "wind,"" Dawn said lightly over the charms in response to Nick's question. With a little more playfulness in her voice when she said Wind. A moment later she swept her hand that had been against her chest in his direction. as she would if summoning a healing wind.

...but nothing happened. Dawn paused a couple of steps just falling behind Joseph by a couple of steps.

"Uh..Which will be plenty of when we get outside. Catch my drift?" she finished over the charms as she started walking again with her hand at her side in a fist.

{James : Narnia : Jadis’ Dungeon}

James’ first breath was more a short gasp for air when breath became essential again. It was always a very weird sensation, one that the corsair wasn’t sure he would ever fully get used to from coming out of a dive or drop. Whichever the situation had counted as. He was too tired to care. Physical and mental exhaustion consumed the Lunar Gunner as he braced against the dungeon’s wall to steady himself for a moment. His breathing immediately slowed and lengthened as he regained full control of it. His thoughts fell back to all that had just transpired. It was over and there was satisfaction in their victory. However, there was a lingering feeling, a pang of doubt as they had actually lost. The darkness had defeated them, thoroughly crushed them even. Only by their sheer determination and will and the power of the Light had they managed to come back from it all.

He listened as the others spoke, not sure if he had anything useful to add. Not entirely sure if he would be able to articulate the words properly even if he did. When Nich received his dress sphere from Kyle the corsair watched, just like Kyle did. The way that the dress spheres activated was always interesting. He remembered his own went off like a bomb when he held it. However, Nicholas’ effect was little more than smoke. It seemed it was time to go as everyone slowly but surely made their way towards the stairs up and out. James wasn’t sure if his body was truly ready for physical movement yet, but he had to try. His legs felt like jelly with each step, a sensation he had only experienced once before. When he had walked along the Great Wall of China. He had gone as far as he was able to in the time his tour group had and as he walked back to where they would leave his legs felt exactly the same way… and he had to walk up stairs to get out.

At Nicholas’ final question and Dawn’s less than helpful response the corsair gave the best explanation he could, given his fatigued state. ”The form your magic manifests itself as. Like Dawn’s wind, Bobbi’s ice, Dani’s water. It’s typically connected to your summon,” He concluded with a failed attempt at stifling a yawn. The corsair was ready to collapse and sleep that much was certain. However, first he had to drag himself up the stairs and out with the others.

[ Kyle : Narnia : Jadis' Dungeon -> Spiral Stairs ]

Kyle reeled his head back with a narrowed gaze at Noelle as she--what, reprimanded them? She wasn't close to Louis. She got to help her little friend, and as far as he knew, they'd all just saved a bajillion lives. But far be it for him to make sure they don't have someone lose control and murderstab them again.

What's wrong with her?

As Joe spoke up before walking in that general direction and asking her himself, Kyle trudged on. James answered Nich's question for him, kind of, so he allowed himself to just be silent for a second.

"Well, I mean, he was wind elemental with Chaos, so I think he knows that," Kyle replied, letting out a single chuckle. "I meant that the dress spheres typically release a hint as to what the element will be. Joe over there had a bunch of gravity magic swirl around him, for instance. But you just got a bunch of wispy smoke, so there's no telling."

He walked on quietly after that, chewing his lip.

"Hey, Nanaki, private time. You got a sec?"

[ Kyle : Narnia : Jadis' Dungeon -> Spiral Stairs ]

Kyle chewed the corner of his lower lip, his arms unconsciously crossing over his chest even as he ascended the stairs.

"You were there for there for that battle on the platform, right?" he started, priming for the next question. "Do you see Ajora anywhere around you guys? Or the sorceress woman form he apparently took? Neither are with us."

[ Kyle : Narnia : Spiral Stairs -> Top of the Stairs ]

Kyle hummed a sigh as he waited for Nanaki to follow up with him. He must have been checking around the train--Ajora couldn't be allowed into the train because of it's magics.

Of course, then again, the illusion magic managed to affect the train. But was that a flaw in the system to be concerned about, or just because Louis had previously been "allowed" and never switched to "denied"?

Maybe it was a good idea to be checking the train. Still, when Nanaki responded, Kyle pursed his lips.

"Mmm, no, I trust your senses; There was a chance he was just a projection of some old magic anyway," he replied. "The woman first appeared while we were already trapped in the heart-spell, and the actual Ajora wouldn't have had almost any of the powers he displayed here. I'll ask Jenny for confirmation, but... It seems, at least, we don't have to worry about him for the moment. Thanks again."

He reached the top of the stairs and paused for a second, looking around. They were at the ground floor of some side tower now, with the stairs going up higher but the door opening up into a small, connecting hallway that would take them to the main hall.

"Jenny, got a sec?" Kyle started over the charms to her directly, before asking the question eating at him. Her response only muddied things up.

"I... dunno. From the moment we passed through the blizzard, my ability to hear heartsongs was fuzzy, constantly overwhelmed. At first, I thought it was just some oppressive magic, but now that we know the entire thing had been in Louis' shattered heart..." The mage's voice trailed off, a momentary amorphous collection of thoughts unknowingly passing through--indecipherable to anyone but her, but projected all the same as she talked privately to Kyle. "So I can't be sure. His time as the witch definitely didn't sound like him, and by the time he was revealed we were so deep inside Louis' heart that I couldn't hear anything if I wanted. Still, I don't think changing your form would change your heart, too..."

Kyle pressed onward, his arms still crossed, eyes dropping slightly to stare only at the ground a few meters ahead. "Alright, thanks."

[Noelle : Narnia : Jadis' Castle]

Noelle caught Kyle's glare and challenged it with an indifferent stare--she wasn't gonna waste time with this. But before she could continue she was questioned by Joe.

"No--I mean yeah, this place will be coming down probably within the hour but that's not--" She sighed and pulled her hood off so she could rub the tension out of the back of her neck, "Look, something happened, I tried to--I just have to get in contact with the others at Disney Castle, there should be a way to contact them on the train, right? I gotta get to the train, I'm going ahead. I'll leave you guys markers on how to get out of here, just meet me at the train when you can."

The blonde turned down the hall and started walking quickly, touching the stone walls every now and then where a cluster of clear crystals would grow.

[ Kyle : Narnia : Top of the Stairs -> Hallway -> Main Hall -> Courtyard -> Bridge -> Outside the Train ]

Thought conversations happened fast, to be sure--but not that fast. Kyle only heard remembered registering 'something happened', 'disney', and 'train' before he watched her jog ahead.

She was dodging? Noelle didn't dodge.

Kyle was there one second, and gone the next; a flicker of dust later, he'd gone through the rest of the hallway, entered the Main Hall, and reached the double doors before Noelle—from which point he looked at her with a raised brow, concerned, and rather than cutting her off, he pushed open one of the giant double doors for her to walk through first.

He didn't ask anything yet; if she was evading the question, it was serious, and the last thing he wanted was to push her buttons after what was already an extremely stressful evening.

"Wanna get there a little faster?"

She paused momentarily before nodding and taking his hand.

Suddenly the world grew immensely slow—indeed, practically still—and Kyle led her through the empty, rumbling courtyard, across the expansive bridge, and onto the other shore, up to the undamaged train, standing directly in front of Nanaki. Through her eyes, the experience was like soaring forward, her whole body light as air. As he let her hand go, time suddenly returned to normal.

To the red lion, it was like the two simply appeared out of thin air.

[Dawn : Narnia : Jadis' Castle]

Dawn continued the trek out of the Castle with heavy feet and heart. Just when they got to the end of the countless stairs, Noelle took off like the devil was on her heels.

Well close enough, for Kyle took off right after her.

'Well then...?'

Despite the urgency the other two seemed to of had, Dawn continued to go at her own pace.

As she walked, in a brief moment of tired clumsiness, she stumbled into Joseph's shoulder.

"Sorry," she mumbled to him as she slowly walking forward. That was the first time she got a look at his face. Joseph looked as bad a she felt. Maybe even worse.

With the hand that she had been keeping in a fist this whole time, she slowly took Joseph's hand as she continued walking. Dawn was unsure about him, however, she needed both an emotional and physical anchor if she was going to make the rest of the journey to the train.