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((Note: White text is only perceived by Cory))

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

The rogue got up from the ground, his face void of any signs of marring. While the beast had knocked him down and attempt to scratch and bite him beyond recognition, he lived with a violent kitten for 2 years. The practice of avoiding scratches was hilariously enough the same with Carbuncle. However, the holy attack did serve to hurt the ronin a lot, his magical defense laughable even in the face of such a tiny summon. He stared at Kyla, his blood pumping. Not with excitement or anger. Not with battle lust or humor. He wasn't quite sure what it was. Cory could only hide his maniacal grin in his palm, stifling his laughter as he summoned the Revblade to his hand.

"This... This is fantastic... This ecstasy... It's like I could die right now with no remorse..." He slowly lifted the Revblade, his hand shaking with excitement. "What is this amazing feeling?... That cat?... Was it really so funny?.... Could it be that Hook's ship is in danger of training damage again?..." He lifted the blade higher, no Indomitable Will in sight and the engine on the sword remaining eerily quiet.

"You know what it is. You're slipping because your last chance said no."

"... That's right. Without that, I'm not really going to be able to accomplish much. I'll hurt this world more than I will save it..."

"You could always let them bring back Earth... You'd at least have her again."

"Nah... The dead don't want to come back to life. She'd probably just beat me up again... Throw more muffins at me and junk..." Cory's eyes started darting all about the room, trying to find the source of the voice. "Where are you anyway, Fred? Come out and introduce yourself, we have a guest!"

"You don't have Projection anymore, Cory."

"Oh yeah."

"So what will you do?"

"What will I do... What will I do? I don't really feel like killing her. It'd be too easy, and it'd leave a bad aftertaste... but... I'm not afraid right now. It could end. I could help bring back Earth by removing myself from this story during this fit of insanity..."

The Revblade now rested on Cory's neck, his attention turning back to Kyla as he gave a big toothy grin. "I would be a hero, right? I wouldn't be a villain anymore! Wouldn't that be nice?" He pressed down, blood trickling from his throat as he nicked himself.

"Wouldn't it just be epic to cut your own head off, Kyla?"

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

The Revblade fell from his hand as the birn strike struck his arm, his eyes widening for a moment as the ghostly figure attempted to embrace him.

Coherent thought flooded his mind as he bated away the image, turning and racing up to the deck after Kyla. He was faster than her by a noticeable amount, catching up to her in no time.

"Wait, Kyla. I've no intention letting you leave just yet." The rogue fell to one knee, the magic attacks starting to get to him. "You're really not all that hard to restrain, y'know. You're physically weak, and as long as you can't draw anything, it doesn't matter if you can't summon your 'weapon'." Cory gripped the spit where the birn strike hit him, feeling as though he was on fire as he said, "I'm not asking you to be my friend. No one wants to do that, and it would be like torture for someone like you who lets what other people do get to her so easily. And I don't want to keep you tied for for whenever I might have use of you. That'd be creepy. Nothing shouts rapist like keeping a pretty girl bound and tied in your room for whenever you might need her."

The rogue summoned the Revblade and used it as a crutch to get back to his feet before saying, "I saved you once. Call me monster, call me madman, call of a dog of war, I don't care. I gave my life to keep you safe. I lost a day of my life because of it. In a twisted, messed up way... You owe me a day... So how about a bet?"

A ring of blue and black fire surrounded the two, preventing outside interference as Cory said, "If I win... One day of staying at my side and staving off the madness that would consume me. You don't need to fight or defend yourself- I am more than enough to play bodyguard. When the day is over, I will allow you to go back to the rest of the group."

"And if you win, I'll stop with my crusade to stop Earth's return. One better, I'll agree to help so long as I am kept sane by your power. That's the bet... 'Maximum Bet'. You can accept it and attempt to win my allegiance, or deny it and know that rather than fulfill your debt to me, you let me drift into insanity and self-destruction."

[Cloud : Red Rose : Cabin Room]

He would have made a joke at this, too.

Cloud stood up, shaking his head to clear it. Everything Axel did was just like Zack, that's why he had wanted to leave. No antagonist to fuel his link with Sephiroth. It was just like fate to test him like this; nothing was ever easy.

"It's fine, let's just go." He said, his eagerness to be done and gone reminding him a lot of Leon. It was time to see what had caused the ship to crash. Cloud passed by Axel and on through the Red Rose, up onto the deck. There had been a fight. . . obviously it was over. He stood where he was, just observing for the time being.

[Dawn : Port Royal : Clearing]

Dawn paused the run into the trees once more as Kyle told Cory's story from his perspective(Probably giving Auron the chance to pass her(. She could only feel a twinge of sorrow and a little fear as the story went on.

"I guess we can't expect all the survivors of Earth to be like us, huh?" Dawn asked through the charms when Kyle completed the telling.

Dawn's mind was soon pulled out of the telling by a gun shot into a tree, making her go back into a run. As she caught up she noticed that Zexion had already arrived on the scene and took care of three guards, one of which was still armed. Dawn's attention was off of them however, but into the tree where that gun had fired, there she saw on a weakened branch, looking like she was about to fall.

"Hey watch out!" Dawn yelled out to her as she swept her fan summoning a wind under Sayrike that was strong enough to cushion her fall regardless if the branch broke or she was unable to hold on.

{James : Port Royal : Clearing -> Dining Car}

James' attention snapped to where the errant gunshot went off, but that was the only sound that signaled anything was out of the ordinary. His attention yet again turned to Noelle as she slowly made her way up the stairs into the Lounge Car. She looked like she needed some help, having a hard time keeping her balance. The corsair turned to Kyle.

"Let me know when you find out what's going on... I'm going to go make sure she's alright." He said to the swallow wielder, as he turned his attention back towards the train.

He let go of his hexagun, dispelling it in a flash of light as it fell out of his hand and he walked up the steps into the train. He looked around in the Lounge Car and saw that she wasn't there, so he continued into the Dining Car. There he found her, and caught the tail end of her conversation with Prote. He walked over to one of the cabinets and pulled out an ether and walked over, handing it to her.

"Here, drink this. It'll help..." The corsair said as he made his way over to a booth and motioned for her to sit across from him, if she wanted to.

"How long did you have to deal with Ultimecia?" He asked of her.

He had a strong feeling that she thought she had been gone far longer than she really had. As much as he wanted to preserve her peace of mind, she needed to get back on the right track.

{James : Train : Dining Car}

Though she hadn't jumped, he had a strong feeling he had startled her at least. It always seemed to be something he did when he didn't intend to, his footsteps too soft for his own good. He had lost track of how many times he had caused his dad to jump in his chair, while he was playing a game on his computer at home. Or how many times he had accidentally startled a co-worker on the job. He smiled lightly as she sat down across from him. He sighed as she finished explaining what all had happened.

"No wonder you're so exhausted... Time compression is seriously powerful magic. In your mind, you've been through four days of what could only be hell, in the time span of half a day... We just left Halloween Town and Beast's Castle this morning."

{Kyle : Angel Grove : Outside Red Rose}

Kyle glanced over at Riku as he heard him sigh, guessing why he might have been angry. Well, he didn't seem angry. But he could probably hold it in well. Then he spoke. And was Kyle ever grateful. He hadn't been thinking of the possibility of the airship becoming an attraction. They would most definitely need someplace to talk, without having to worry about Heartless.

"Yeah, I'm an Earthling Dani. I'm from Ohio. You? Well, you don't have to tell me if you don't want to." He said, responding to her question. Then she asked another. How to respond to that? "Well Dani, there's a conversation going on right now. A friend of ours got kidnapped and she's having a conversation with her kidnapper. And everybody is furious." He said, vaguely holding up his hand so that she could see the charm on his wrist. "And these are what allows us to talk telepathically. I have no idea how they work, so asking me wouldn't get you anywhere. Merlin made them for us." He finished as he turned back to the other conversation.

Listening to it all, he came to a single conclusion. Even after the Earth had been destroyed, even after five days in the KH universe, fighting and surviving, there was still goddamn drama. It was like f****** High School Musical with weapons.

"Thank you Billy. It's been a hell of a morning. A little respite would be nice."

Wow, these guys ARE dunderheads she thought as she looked down to see them with their swords drawn. But the third man who came did not look so comical. "What are you two doing, just shoot her!"

She knew a thing or two about guns, and that there would be a few more seconds before Tweedledee and Tweedledum would get their firearms out and aimed. Even then, these were times of rounded bullets and probably no grooves inside the barrel, meaning their accuracy would be pretty bad even with the close range. Her life probably wasn't in too much danger. Better put some more distance between them, though. Sayrike started swaying dangerously as she climbed higher and the branches got thinner, but she found a good place from which she could jump off and into the next tree, planning on jumping down and running deeper into the forest. The resounding crack! echoed loudly in the forest, sending numerous birds into the sky. Ah, yes, that was expected; and, as expected, she felt no wound.

Crack. Snap

However, she hadn't counted on that.

The branch split under her weight, and the next thing she felt was the empty air rushing past her. She wasn't one to yell at surprises, so luckily her dignity wasn't further damaged by some kind of disgraceful scream, but that didn't stop her from looking like a fool as she fell through the tree. Twigs and branches smacked her face, arms, and legs, sure to leave cuts and bruises, and even once her butt landed hard on a sturdy and unrelenting limb whose impact left her rear numb and her tailbone stinging. Finally, Sayrike managed to catch herself and halt her descent (which left her palms red, raw, and numb as well), giving her a chance to look where she had come to rest.

Of course, it happened to be the last branch before the empty 6 feet of air above the ground. I should have gone all the way and just made it to the bottom, she said to herself, mentally rolling her eyes.

This new life never seemed to exhaust the potential for surprise, it seemed. Tweedledee was knocked out, it seemed, by the staff--a bo staff, she thought it was called--and it lay on the ground next to him. Tweedledum and the mean-looking one were held captive by both blade and gun...by triplets. Triplets who looked like someone familiar, someone Sayrike couldn't quite place her finger on. Oh, well, she sucked at remembering names and faces anyway. It'd come to her eventually. The gears in Sayrike's head turned, coming to a different problem. How did he get here so fast? I hadn't seen a figure looking like that running over here before from the clearing. And, sure enough, the man in red sprinted into the vicinity, not followed too far behind by the girl. By this point, Sayrike's hands began to slip as the numbing sensation took over, and just as she was about to fall, the girl waved a fan at her and a gust blew underneath Sayrike's hanging body, stirring up the dry leaves and dirt from the floor. Holy crap was the last thing Sayrike thought in surprise before her hands gave up. She braced herself...for the impact that never came. Instead, she felt...air. A cushion of air. Sayrike imagined that was what riding an updraft must feel like. Slowly she sank through it, gathering a healthy amount of grit and leaves in the process, and her sore butt landed gently on the ground. Sayrike just stared at the first bit of magic she had ever seen.

"What--that--I mean..." She stood up and brushed herself off (although rubbed in some of the dirt in the process), proceeding to gesture excitedly. "That was SO COOL! How did you do that? You mean there's magic here? Magic?!" These people in the clearing were now decidedly in the "Good" category, if not "Very Good." Now that she had a moment to breathe, she looked over her dirty clothes, and her body certainly looked worse for the wear. Or was it the other way around? Sayrike jumped up and down a little while shaking her hands, trying to get the prickling sensation to stop, all the while dividing her stare between the triplets, the man in red, and the girl. She would skip asking her saviors the question about the cosplay for now. "Oww..." Sayrike murmured as the pain came in full force throughout her body, most prominently in her tailbone and derriere. She rubbed the areas and then winced as her hand gave a zing, which also sparked her brain to recall decent manners. "I'm sorry, I meant to say thank you. To all five of you, I mean. I don't know who did what, but you really helped me out," she smiled.