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[ Sora ; Kyla ; Kuja : Port Royal : Clearing ]

"You mean she tried-" Kyle began, only to be interrupted by the shouting. Guards had already spotted them? No, they shouted something about a 'third for the hangman'- then they spotted someone else?

"Who are they attacking?" Kyle asked them, suddenly his swallow spear in one hand and a Starlight in the other, quickly getting between Noelle and the guards. Before they could even get an answer-

Well, let's chat then.

"What-?"

That... that was Kyla- why is she talking-

"Wait, Kyla?"

Suddenly, Kyle growled. What was going on, there was too much chaos-

Sora could hear it. Multiple people? Why was she projecting to multiple people? The charm on his wrist seemed to gleam in the sunlight for a moment as he linked it with Kyla.

"What do you mean, let's chat? What's going on?"

[Cory .:. Hook's Ship .:. Cory's Quarters]

"Yeah, sorry about that."

The rogue leaned forward in his chair, staring at the ground for a moment as he tried to collect his thoughts. After some time in silence, Cory looked up at Kyla and said, "I'm starting to slip, Kyla. My hallucinations are getting worse, and I've still not found a way to completely keep them under control... Well, not any other way."

The ronin conjured a small ball of blue fire in his hands, playing with it absentmindedly as he continued, "The time we fought side-by-side against the Geists, you used your Pictomancy to bring my hallucinations to a screeching halt. Stopping my hallucinations was an ability exclusive to someone I cared about back on Earth, but I've accepted that she's no longer here..." The rogue stopped, dismissing the ball of fire. His last words seemed to crack a bit as he mentioned someone capable of stopping his hallucinations.

"As a side note, we all lost special people in the destruction of Earth. I'm not exception." Cory looked up at Kyle, no sign of a smile on his face as he said, "Since that person is no longer here, your Pictomancy is the only thing that can maintain my hallucinations. Without it, I'll likely slip into madness and fall into darkness rather than harnessing it as my tool. You don't have to fight your friends, but I'm asking you as a person who is fearful for his sanity... Help me."

[ Kyle : Port Royal : Clearing ]

And then he heard his voice.

Suddenly, Kyle, for lack of a better word, raged. The Starlight faltered in his hands before being sucked back into his form, his hand forming a fist. In his anger, he lost focus of everything else around him- including the bo-staff that went flying by. He was completely focused, and no longer just on Kyla- but on his charm as a whole, which suddenly connected to... well, everyone who had one.

"DOES SHE NOT KNOW?!" he mentally shouted- everyone with a Dress Sphere (or, in Riku and Sora's case, just a charm) could hear the anger in his voice. "RIKU, YOU HAVEN'T- THISISRIDICULOUS- KYLA, HE IS AN ENEMY! HE SAID SO HIMSELF TO ME YESTERDAY AFTER THE REPLICAS TOOK RAE'S HEART! IN HIS OWN WORDS, HE HATES US! HE WILL DO EVERYTHING IN HIS POWER TO STOP OUR LOVED ONES FROM COMING BACK. YOU CAN NOT TRUST HIM!"

[Kichi :: Angel Grove :: Outside Red Rose]

Kichi winced as he heard Kyle's yell in his mind, and as soon as it was over...he turned to Riku, a glare of near hatred. "You knew this....and neglected to tell us this immediately...WHY?! I don't know when you found out, but if it was while we were tired and cranky, I understand waiting till we rested. But that was NOT exactly something that would be hard to explain WHEN HE SHOWED UP!! You couldn't have informed us of his decision any sooner?!"

He turned away before getting any response. 'Kyla, you heard him. He's tried to kill members of our group multiple times before, including myself, however halfhearted that attempt was. But now, he's officially declared it. Helping him now is inherently linked with fighting us.' His mental voice was no longer angry....but both sad and hopeful. His hope, with all his heart, that she wouldn't do that, was painfully obvious through his voice, as was his slight doubt, since he realized he didn't know her...or their relationship very well still.

[Port Royal ~ Clearing]

Noelle's eyes darted to the trees when she heard the voices. There were others close by and they sounded none to friendly. Everyone around her immediately jumped to fight mode. She was very slow in getting to her own. There was no way she had the strength to take on a fight--she was drained physically and magically. Some relief came to her as Kyle placed himself between the enemy in the woods and herself. She really didn't want to have to be protected, but it couldn't be helped.

The agromancer pushed to get to her feet, swaying a little as she finally stood. Her spear flickered to her hand, but seconds later was gone again. She frowned and looked down.

'Don't, human. You are much too weak. After what you've just been through I would have thought you had no fight left in you.'
Aw, c'mon. I'm just getting started. She told him jovially, though she really knew there was no way she could be in this.

"Sorry, guys." She said softly, "I'm out on this one."

What Noelle didn't know about was the other side of the story--what was happening between Kyla and Cory. She didn't have her trinity charm on.

{James : Port Royal : Clearing}

James was about to open fire as he heard the voices speak of "Her" and the "hangman". The corsair quickly reached the conclusion that they were going to execute people... but "her" it couldn't be Noelle. She hadn't been here until she fell out the sky. At least it didn't seem like it.

'Jenny mentioned she sensed three.'

His eyes darted around the trees, trying to spot the third person as Joe launched his staff at them and Dawn ran in. He wanted to stop her but that was when the mental chaos broke down.. He couldn't help but raise his left hand to his ear, as if that did any good to shut out a mental shout as Kyle's thoughts went irate at Riku... He could hear the conversation between Kyla and Cory as she repeated his words to them through their charm...

'This is too much.' He thought, though making sure it didn't go through to Kyla, though the next thought was to her.

His thoughts as calm as he could make them. 'Don't trust him... He cannot be trusted, no matter what. He will only bring us pain... You cannot keep your promise to protect the others by helping him...'

His attention turned back to the situation at hand as he raised his gun, in case those who went ahead weren't enough to stop them. He too moved to stand in front of Noelle as well, as she said that she couldn't fight in this one. Though he made sure to stay out of Kyle's path.

"Whoever is out there, please come here! We can protect you from them!" He yelled out, trying to get the attention of the one they were pursuing.

{Auron : Port Royal : Clearing}

Without a trinity charm, Auron had no idea as to the inner chaos going on with the earthlings. All he was aware of was that one of them was running off into the forest to try and find those who were coming.

"Don't go alone! There could be more." He yelled at them, as he ran into the forest after them.

{Leon : Angel Grove : Outside the Red Rose}

Leon had continued fighting the heartless, unable to do anything as Kyla was kidnapped and Jon crashed to the ground. He had already been cured though and he seemed alright. Then came the grand summoning of the firebird that finished off the rest of the Heartless... leaving the group alone to deal with the kidnapping...

Without a trinity charm, Leon too was at a loss as to the mental conversation going on. Until suddenly Kichi turned on Riku, demanding an explanation and then yelling at him.

"Easy... What's going on here? What's gotten into you guy!?"

Sayrike: razz ort Royale::Forest Clearing

What the...? Gorrammit! Sayrike mentally cursed. She should have heard the guards coming! She had a pretty good sense of hearing AND for sneaking around. Heck, that's why she earned nicknames like "Breeze" and "The Tickle Ninja." Damn, maybe she had been paying too much attention to the group in the clearing? It was unusual of her to miss something like this. Ah, well, luckily her unflappable nature kept her composure in check. Knowing the jig was up, she stood on top of the branch (rather shakily, she might add; how did those anime characters do it without wobbling to keep their balance? And then strike a cool-looking stance on top?), placed a hand on her hip to attempt that cool pose, and declared--

"Sorry, but you'll have to reach higher than that."

And with that, she turned and scrambled up farther into the tree, looking as graceful as a giraffe on ice skates. Wow, I really come up with some weird similes when I'm in a pinch. She had already been a little out of reach, but despite her failure at pretty tree climbing, she quickly worked her way up and out of the reach of their swords. Besides, she had the advantage; it was hard to get good leverage when the opponent was at such a high angle, and if they decided to pursue her they'd have to fight while balancing on a tree. Not an easy feat. Plus, it would take a moment for them to get up, giving her a good head start.

Before starting her ascent, Sayrike took a quick second to glance out at the clearing and see what the group was doing. It looked like there were a couple of people headed her way, which still didn't answer her question of whether they were good or bad since they might be coming to help the guards...

Speaking of which, how did they come to find her? She had only been in town for two days, a day and a half if you take out the time she spent gathering the bits of her damaged transportation and her scattered wits. There hadn't been an explosion or anything, and she was sure no one had followed her into the forest. Hmm, maybe she had made a bit more noise than she originally intended during the landing.

Branches and twigs snagged at her t-shirt and cloak as she hoisted herself up a couple more branches and into the more leafy parts of the tree. Ah, here they are! she thought, seeing the cache of her maid's outfit. "Here's some laundry for you!" she shouted, aiming and dropping them upon her pursuers. Women's garments could be rather lengthy, and she hoped that it would obscure their vision, cause some obstacle, or at least provide a momentary distraction if they hadn't started climbing by that point. One hand reached for the next branch, the other stripping off the cloak and hanging it on a nearby limb. Hopping upward, the tree started swaying a little with the sudden activity among its foliage caused by Sayrike. A hole in the density of the leaves showed her a good view of the clearing. Sure enough, there were two people running over that she could see, and...a flying staff??! Things just kept getting increasingly weirder. Luckily, the staff was heading right into the tree line and toward the guards. Hopefully it would avoid the numerous trees between her and the edge of the clearing and hit one of them, but it was a small hope. At least it didn't seem to be headed towards her position in the tree, so that was one tally mark under the "Good Guys" category. Not far behind the staff was a girl and another man behind her. Really? Only two, out of that entire group? Okay, that made it kind of seem like they were minions of a boss coming to dispatch a lousy rogue. One tally under the "Bad Guys" category. Well, she'd find out in a minute, if they were able to pick through the trees to get to her. In the meantime, she climbed higher, and got ready to make her next move. She vaguely heard someone yelling something, but the distance was too great and the shaking tree was too loud to make out any of it. Besides, she had more pressing issues on her mind.