I'm gonna try and take a quick shower before we get started 'XD

Hello!

Rahab took in a deep breath at Ethan's reply, getting impatient with the bare amount of information, but he was working on calming down. He stayed silent a moment, working over the information he had received and reviewing it with information he already knew.

Eira gave Ethan a quiet nod in response. "Yes, I believe I know him. I don't think I was aware he was Queen Victoria's husband, though..." She gave a sorry dip of her head. "My condolences."
After a second, she tipped her head and spoke again. "Perhaps Queen Victoria would remember something more about it? About the Keys, and what the lock does when opened?"

Ethan gave a small nodded/ bow in return to Eira condolences, he was very nervous and awkward about, it was a topic he wasn't exactly comfortable talking about but he appreciated her for her caring about the Queen.

He made a thing face, remembering what he was told of the days planned " s-he might, lady Victoria has been trying to look i-nto it more, she and the others matriarchs have been using vision to try and un-c-over more and well.... though after what h-appened las-t Night, Osiris informed me she had been f-ocusing on Malice..." he looked down at the floor, knowing that wasn't going to be a good thing if Malice and Victoria were to meet up "... i-f Malice is really here...s-he try to kill him a-gain... " in his mind he didn't think that was a bad thing, it was honestly to him a good thing, Malice was the King of Nightmares and the main reason for a lot of evils, but Victoria had nearly died before and had technically did before when facing Malice and that what he was afraid of

"Yeah..." Dreameater mutters, watching as Catch rests his hand on his bad arm. He stays quiet, crossing his arms again and tapping one foot anxiously on the floor. "I mean, it sounds like that's how it'd be? It can somehow give a command or something and Nightmares are bound to follow it? I get the feeling just plugging up my ears so I can't hear anything wouldn't be enough, it's probably got some kind of magic to it... I don't suppose any of us would be able to figure out how to give commands like that?"

At that moment, Terradream walks into the dining area of the kitchen, already scanning the large room to see who all is here. Noting Catch, Eater, and Crystal right away, he starts making his way over there, while Sparky makes sure they know he's there.
"Hello, friends!" the mouse Fairfin cheers, flying over to the table ahead of his partner.

Eater turns his head and smiles faintly at Sparky, though he still keeps his arms crossed. "Hey buddy," he replies, then looks over at the ghostly Dreamer, "Hey Terra, what's up? ... You've got a tie now, huh? Really trying to look good for Fiona? ... How're you even wearing that, though?"

Terradream mimics the sound of clearing his throat and huffs, turning slightly more invisible. "... I-it's... an ancient bow tie worn by a secret agent, that a-allows me to better interact with the physical world... B-but nevermind that, we've got a situation..."

That made Catch think " I'm not sure...If I had to guess it in the dark language that well only dark creatures speak and understand and even at that, I don't think it be simple even if any of us knew the dark language "

The Dreamer prince looked up when Sparky announced his presence " hay, Sparky! "

He then couldn't help but watch Terra and Eater chat, Dreamcatcher was grinning at the Nightmare tease " you look nice " he complemented his ghost friend and wondered if this was a bit of Weaver coming though again

However Catch sat up right when Terra said something was urgent " what going on? " he asked

Alexandrea kept glancing back at Fiona, snickering as she went, "You can fly if you want to! There's no rules to this race!" she rounded a corner and made a b-line for the exit at the end of the hall.

"No rules?!?" Fiona echoed in exclamation, her eyes suddenly snapping wide open. Naturally she wanted to stay on the ground--for /honor's/ sake, but she was also falling quite a bit behind, and she didn't want to be a rotten egg, and there /were no rules/...

So, up she went, but rather than turning smoothly, she flew sideways into the wall immediately past the turn. On the flipside, she got on her hands and knees on the wall and launched herself off of it, zooming through the hall and shortening the gap between her and Alex.

"What...?" Purity asks under her breath, only more confused, but when he appears to start wrestling with himself, she feels her heart reach out in pity... //Is... Is Crimson actually in there? He's been acting nothing like him up until this point... I don't know... But if he is...// "Y-yeah, I think you're supposed to be Crimson..." she quietly tries to call out to him, even taking some shaky, nervous steps towards him, but what is she supposed to say? "Please, try to calm down, I'll help you as much as I can, if I can...!"

" But /Who/ is Crimson?! " the red prince looked up at Purity with desperate eyes " I wasn't always like this! I wasn't born without a heart! " seen the Dreamer step closer, Crimson shook his head stepping back " s-tay back! I-i'm a monster! "

The wing creature flop on the sand for a moment until it got itself upright, it then started to slither in circles, like it didn't know were to go our how it was even supposed to move properly

(Helloooooo! :>)

( HI Fluffy! :D
How are you doing? )

// hmm, it will not be long before this news reaches the queen if it has not already...// Osiris though worry to himself, he closes and locked the his door when everyone else had left, he then shifted to his Phoenix form, the long feathers on his Crest raised up as he turned his owl like head searching for were Victoria was at. Osiris adjust his body to match the Direction his head was turned // the Infirmary?... master Blue is there to?... in his normal spot I see...hmmm dipping into trouble again? //
The small Phoenix flew up and flashed when he hit one of the light fixtures, Vanishing in the process...

(I'm doing alright! Just finished eating lunch.../breakfast. XD

How about you?)

( that good ^-^ food is good! I hope it was good food that is xD

I'm doing alright to! Just got home ^-^ )

Malice nose wrinkled as he thought about what Waker said, that was very strange for a Nightmare " Eater has always been anomalous...from birth he climb the ranks without effort... that was even before Omen gave him some of my power...hmmm" there was something suspicious about all of this, and now Eater was getting sick? "Hmmm..." this was something the Nightmare king was unsure of, a Nightmare getting sick from eating their food? He himself ate people here and had been fine so what was the reason?
When the ancient Frost brought up how Eater was when talking about the night he turned and how he killed one of his former self friends, Malice's look to her, though he never felt cold, he felt uncomfortable about certain topics that used to not bug him //... curious... has Eater somehow gained a heart as well?...// he Frowned thinking more on it // he didn't take some of mine along with my powers? Is that possible? What would Voids plan be in this? //

And then with what Waker tells him last the Nightmare king can hardly believe it " W-hat? He..." this didn't settle well with Malice at all " how did he Allied himself with the devil? That /thing/ is an enemy to all Nightmares " he looked away very troubled by this... at least one good news was that maybe with Boreas he could learn more or even get help... at least Mal wad hoping, the captain knew who he was now, but he didn't try to kill him the last time they met so many there was hope?

Welcome home and hello!

(Yeah! It was good food. XD

That's good! Welcome home!

And hey Blood! How're you doing?)

(I'm good~
Eating rice right now

How are you?)

(That's good!
Oooh, rice sounds good. -v-

I'm doing alright! Trying to multitask a bit, so I hope I don't get too distracted today. XD)

(I AM CLEANSED!!

Hey everyone! :3 )

(HELLO LILLY, THAT IS GOOD!

How're you doing, other than being cleansed? :>)

(I'm doing good! Eating a grilled cheese sandwhich right ow :3 I see you're doing alright, Blood's eating rice, and Shadow's alright too~ That's always good to hear X3 )

(An hour and a half shower is not a quick shower Lilly, lol)

(HI BLOOD!
HI LILLY!! )

(Well for one I didn't get in the moment I left that message because I was lazy-ish, and I know I always take long showers X'D )

(HI SHADOW!)

( WEEEEEEEEEE I AM EXCITED THOUGH! )

(ME TOOOOOO!)

(HIIIIIIIIIIIII

I am alive.

I need to close my eyes for a minute before I RP, because they do not like screens right now.

But first, how is everyone??)

Alexandrea glanced back to see Fiona coming after her at mach speeds. She squealed and ran as quick as she could, but it was no use, flying was quicker than running.

(Hey Fade! It's good you're alive!
...Though, your eyes not liking screens is no fun. ;w;

I'm doing alright! How've things been going for you?)

(HI FADE!! IT GOOD THAT YOU ARE ALIVE!
But you should rest your eyes first!

I'm doing good, working on spooky post for a spooy blood lady xp )

"The city's under attack..." Terra answers.

"WHAT?! Again!?" Eater exclaims, jumping up out of his seat. He narrows his eyes and blurts out the first thought that comes to his mind. "It's Hiiro, isn't it!? He was so enraged that no one's killed me or Crimson yet that he stormed off and now he's killing innocent people!"

Terra slightly raises a curious eyebrow at Eater as he's making his assumptions, but he quickly explains, "No, it's Malice and Void, I didn't hear anything about H-Hiiro doing anything yet... Malice used some kind of spell to force Void's shades out of hiding, and now they're going wild out there." The ghostly Dreamer takes a moment to get into his bag and pull out the scroll. He points on it with his ribbon as he continues, "It's centered around this area, the Tomahawk Disctrict, not the bigger part of the city, s-so we'll have to travel a ways... Fiona already went to find Alex and get her informed."

Dreameater nods his head as he studies the map, then takes his fist into the palm of his other hand. "Alright! We gotta do something about this! ... Except I can't go OUTSIDE!" He slams the same fist onto the table, then moves his mug a little closer to the center of the table, away from the edge, just in case he does that again. "... And if the city's under attack, that's even worse for me, because that means there's a lot of people who are probably terrified for their lives, which might send me into a frenzy since I haven't eaten today..." Grimacing for a moment, Eater pauses before turning his eyes to Dreamcatcher. "What about you Catch? Your arm's all messed up, would you be able to handle yourself out there if you had some others with you? And what about Catty? You seem like you're doing better, but would all of that fear get to you?"

(Hiya Fade!!! Good to see ya! Of course, take all the time you need for your eyes, it's no good that they're bugging ya :s

I'm doing goood~ I juts had a lotta fun writing that post for Eater and Terra X'D )

Fiona sped through the hallway, aiming for the exit at the end. The race was quite close--Alex had a big lead on foot and Fiona had only started flying near the end, so it took time for her to pick up speed. The Elemental managed to pull ahead by just a bit though, and as she neared the door, flying at full speed...
/SLAM./

...She discovered it was a pull door.

Alexandrea grimaced as Fiona slammed into the door, she slowed to a jog and then stopped by the door smacked elemental, "Are you alright Fiona?" she asks genuinely concerned, "You hit that door pretty hard"

(Hi Fade!)

A muffled groan that that vaguely sounded like an 'ow' was all that came out of Fiona for a moment, until she un-plastered herself from the door.
The Elemental briefly looked to Alex, an obvious mark on the side of her face from the impact, "Yeah, I'm okay! It's just this..."
She turned with a glare to the barricade in their way and proceeded to pull it open, "aaAAAH!! This is a PULL door! I'm not gonna get fooled by this next time!!" She declared angrily.

But then she looked to Alex again, a slight grin on her face--only hampered by her door-frustrations, "Whew, that was awesome, though! You're really fast!"

"I-I'm pretty sure Crimson is a troubled young man, I don't think he's heartless... I think he's got a good heart..." Purity answers the red prince, staying put where she is after he tells her to stay back. "Ok, ok, I'll stay back, I won't come any closer, but you need to calm down, ok? ... You've got voices in your head? If--I don't know if it would, but would focusing on my voice help you focus?" //I don't know what I'm doing...// she anxiously admits to herself.

Coming out from the other end of the black portal Hiiro would have felt shadows pulling at him, as if trying to drag him back into the void...however their grip loosened when a man's voice spoke with an commanding tone and with that the shadow let go...

The Xanos would find himself in a Pitch Black surroundings, the very presence would feel off or wrong to any creature with any kind of morals or goodness in them...this place reeked of evil

"Oh! Do you smell that? Its blood spills from its body like an exotic perfume~" a woman's voice moaned

"Control yourself, Scarlet... Have you already forgotten that this is the Blood Mother's guest? " the man replied bluntly and then the sound of two claps followed.
Red lights flickered on, their ominous illuminations revealed a massive room, the ceiling was so tall that Hiiro could stand on his back legs and would not be able to reach the golden chandeliers that hung over head, the light fixtures all within the room were made of gold, stunning and beautiful of different creatures bent in artistic positions to hold the odd red lights...

Where Hiiro would be standing was on a circular disc with dark runes engraved into it. To his left and right were what looked to be large Engravings in the wall of some faceless monsters, there would be something unsettling about these two creatures even though the artwork was smooth and clean.

Standing in front of Hiiro would be a Gorgoni Duchess in her dragon form, she stood only about 5 feet at her shoulders and standing beside her was a 7'4 Emperor who was in his humanoid form

(Galaxy? Are you around?)

"Thank you" Alexandrea hummed and then danced out the door when Fiona opened, "Rotten egg~" she teases in a very playful tone. Her eyes danced with amusement as she walked further outside.

Hiiro felt his muscles tense when he emerged into pitch blackness, the spines along his back and neck stood on end, he moved carefully and slowly. Each muscle strained and ready to attack or at least, defend himself.

He grimaced, squeezing his eyes shut as the lights came on, his good eye had been trying to adjust to the darkness and now the light burned its efforts. He shook his head and looked around with narrowed eyes.

His gaze swivelled to the two before him, his ears flicked with mild interest, he didn't bother to say anything. He just waited, his long tail slowly sweeping across the floor.

(Am back! Hi Fluffy and Shadow and Lilly and Blood and Galaxy and other onlookers! I'm glad yall are doing alright! x)

My shut eye turned into an hour nap, followed by dinner, so I am later than expected x'D But I am here now)

(There is a spooky going on... e-e)

" wait WHAT?!" Dreamcatcher echoed the Nightmare but he closes his mouth when Eater was accusing Hiiro of the attack, it got him to think about the others times...// should I have ran off to try and stop him?... // but much to his relief it wasn't the Xanos, but Malice and Void

The Dreamer prince rock his jaw at this as he listened and watched was everything was being explain // its not happening in the heart of the city?...that good at least, but what going on? // his attention was turned to his friend when he slammed his fist into the table, he grimaced at that thought of the Abyss or Eater going on a Frenzy" that is a problem " // if Weaver more in control then maybe Eater won't do those things... then again Eater might do them to spite Weaver... its a mess //

His grimaced change to one of confusion when Eater was asking about himself // he jumped all over the place...but I'm sure this is Weaver, you were always focused on others more // a small smile came to the Dreamer prince face at that and nodded " I think I can handle myself, I can still fight with my left hand and Catty never pop in my head if im not in my dark form so as long as nothing makes me I think ill be fine "

(Welcome back Fade! Hahaha, you played a Shadow XD That's quite alright! I hope ya had a good nap X3 Welcome to the party~

There are a couple spooks going on eue )

(Welcome back Fade! Hope that nap and dinner helped you feel better than earlier! :>

//There are most definitely spooks.// e-e)

When Alex went out the door and called Fiona that particular name, the Elemental froze, blinked once, and then her eyes went wide with bewildered realization, "WHAAAA?! Nooo, awwww man!!" She dragged herself outside after Alex, slowly shutting the door behind herself and mumbling, "I don't wanna be a rotten egg..."

"...Well, you did say /outside,/ so fair is fair. And hey, it was a good race! Great to warm up before we go defend the city!" She stated, already starting to perk up.

...It was only then that she realized the headband-tiara she'd gotten from Osiris was dangling off of her forehead a little. The Elemental was startled by this, and immediately inspected it for damage. Then she started trying to re-secure it firmly to her face as quickly as possible.

(Haha, I suppose I did do a Shadow xD (That's a compliment to you, Shadow XD)
Thank you Lilly and Fluffy!

eue)

"Yup, a good warm up indeed" Alex stretched out her arms to the side, "Now we just gotta wait for the others" she frowned, "Or... we could get a head start? I mean, people are dying as we stand around waiting, the proper thing to do, would be to keep going, right?" she gave Fiona a quizzical look, "Your call"

The red prince shook his head as he held it " shut up! JUST SHUT UP! " he shouted looking to Dreamer, Crimson expressions then change to a pleading face " you don't know anything... you can't save him..." with that the red prince turned and ran for the black forest behind him

"Malice? As in, Malice, the King of Nightmares?" Rahab huffed at that. "Your queen wants to go up against the king of Nightmares... I take it she's at least taking an army with her, because he isn't some one-shot to be underestimated."

Eira's eyes grew steadily wider as she looked between Ethan and Rahab. "Ethan, wait... You said Malice killed Faithful? I don't think you ever heard the truth... Malice /is/ Faithful's Nightmare. And if it's anything like Weaver inside of Eater's head, then... Faithful might still be alive, and inside Malice."

While most of him wants to believe the prince, a doubt does creep in the back of Eater's mind... Can he really trust Catch to look after himself after how he's "handled" himself with Hiiro? But, the Nightmare breathes out a sigh and nods his head. "Alright, so you're good," he starts, "Hey did the connection with Eira ever get fixed after she showed up? Can you call her and let her know what's going on? If she's found Rahab by now, she can let him know what's up too."

"... Rahab's here...?" Terra quietly asks, blinking twice.

"Yeah! Rahab's here," Eater casually replies, glancing over at Terradream.

//... Alright... That's new...// the ghost thinks, then takes some more things out of his bag, "A-also, another thing... The spell that Malice used doesn't only affect Void's minions, it affects anything with magic... You guys are going to need these so it doesn't affect you, either."

Scarlet glanced over to the Emperor who stood refine and with his head up with pride but she didn't say anything more even though she wanted to, she was told watch herself and so she was.

"I bid you welcome Hiiro, the Blood Mother foretold your arrival," the Emperor greeted

The Gorgoni Duchess smirked at Hiiro, a sinister gleams in her eyes

"I don't know how he did it!" Waker snaps back, "He's either the dumbest Nightmare alive and that's why the Blood Sapphire allied itself with him, or... he's one of the smartest, and somehow manipulated it into siding with him..." She grimaces at that, but she carefully steps back some to give the Nightmare King some more space in his tub, then moves on to the other things that Eater mentioned. "... Before I left, the freak had two requests for me. One was to try and get as many Ancients as I can to work together towards stopping Soledormir, and the other was to investigate a world with four blood moons..."

Ethan taped his figures together "that was exactly why she die last time n-no one want-s the Queen t-o face Malice alone..." he whispered

The wolf ears shot up and he looked at Eira with wide eyes " w-hat?! T-hat, That can't be possible?! " he step back as him mind was now going with a thousand thoughts " b-but Malice? He? He killed Faithful? He c-an't be Faithful? " his mouth slowly opened as the last part of what Eira said sunken, that what if the Dreamers were not dead "OH MOONS! "

Fiona went silent at Alex's deductions. She looked around the courtyard of the palace, hoping to catch sight of the rest of the group at any moment, but... It didn't seem like they were out yet. Her brow furrowed with concern as she thought about that... Her thoughts on the situation were immediately butting heads in her mind--her gut twisted as she thought about both sides.

The Elemental's internal struggle was quite obvious on the outside, but she eventually looked from the ground to Alex, a mixture of worry and frustration in her expression, "I... I don't want people to die... I REALLY, /REALLY/ don't want that, but... Even Osiris was freaked out about all of this!

Ugh... I wanna go now and stop those monsters too, but... There are a ton of evil things out there--that centipede thing, Void and his minions... We don't even know if Malice'll still try to kill you or not. Things are getting really bad... And we can't help people if /we're/ dead! I think we should make sure other people in our group know what's going on when we go do things--and right now I don't think we should go out anywhere just you and me...

...I know I gave you my word that I'd protect you, and you can bet I'll still give it everything I've got, but... Just...
Just me /isn't enough.../"
That one stung a bit, but she wasn't going to let it show.

Catch nodded to Eater with a determined look, they had to do something, people were in danger and it was their jobs as Shadows hunters to do something to help them // were actually going to help people? // a genuine smile came to his face, he was going to help others, but not only that, he was going to do it with his friends and family //"Hay Anna! Can you reach Eira? We got a problem, the city under attack "// he then explained what Terra told him to his Fairfin.

Rihanna then quickly contacted Eira through telepathy //" Eira quick! We got a big situation! Malice and Void duking it out with magic stuff on the outskirts of the city and whatever Malice did making Voids Goons come out and their going crazy! //

Catch then was waiting for Anna to get back to him but as he was thinking he spotted Crystal // she always so quiet... I almost forgot she was even here // he grimaced at that and how he hadn't been a good leader in the past or just a good friend " Hay Crystal? How about you? You going to come? "

Purity just watches as Crimson runs off into the forest. She doesn't chase after him, she doesn't even try to stop him, she just stands there and bites her lip. //... If that is Crimson, and he is in there... I need to help him...// she thinks, twisting her ribbons around themselves anxiously. //... But he wasn't acting anything at all like him until he suddenly did, out of the blue... I don't know, he said so many weird things, he was so creepy... It could be like what I saw with Weaver and Eater... except Crimson's looks didn't change like Weaver's did... Oh, I just don't know...//

Not to mention the fact that she's still rather tired and hurting after everything, especially her wound.

But the black sand beach is quiet now that the prince is gone. There's just the quiet, tiny little voices of the octopus crabs as the last few run to hide, and the waves washing up on the Nightmare corpses on the shore. Purity breathes out a sigh. //You know what...// she thinks to herself, coming to a decision on what she's going to do; instead of immediately booking it after Crimson--she's going to do her hair. Bringing her tail around in front of her and turning her head a little, she carefully removes her lantern from her tail, uses her ribbons to take the bead out of her tail's cloud fluff, slides it up one ribbon, pulls some of her cloud mane down from the back of her neck, then fixes the bead in that fluff. Finally, she fixes her lantern in its new spot by her chest. It's really not much at all, but it brings Purity just a little comfort, having her lantern light a little closer to her now...

After doing that, she stands there for a moment longer, trying to calm her nerves some, before she slowly heads towards the winged snake creature. Its transformation and tortured shrieks play back in her mind... //... Is it corrupted now...?// she bleakly wonders, looking down at the creature with pity, but not getting too close yet, waiting to see how it'll react to her first...

Eira watched Ethan's reaction to what she told him, as he became more and more shocked as information and possibilities came to his mind. It wasn't something Eira had really thought through either until just now, but the realization left her in awe. //It's actually possible that... Faithful is still alive in Malice.//

The shiftress's spiraling thoughts were interrupted by Anna's voice telepathically echoing in her head. "Anna? There's an attack on the city?" Her eyes grew wide and serious as she looked at Rahab and Ethan. "We need to get outside, now - there are monsters attacking the citizens. Ray-Ray, can you help?"

Rahab squared his shoulders and grabbed his staff, a solemn but determined look on the Shadow Hunter's face. "No one's getting hurt while I'm around."

Eira gave him a nod, then turned to Ethan, taking in a deep breath. "Ethan, I know this situation is getting bad, but... you need to tell Queen Victoria the truth about Malice. We can't risk her running into combat with him and dying again, especially because of who we know he is now.. Can you do that?"

Anna informed Catch on the news, she then grabbed Morning Glory paws and tells her what happened to so that way they both can be on the same page

As the conversations in the kitchen went on, Crystal had remained silent. For a while she just sat and listened and watched, but eventually she started to feel a little awkward for not adding anything and just staring.. After Crystal took the last sip of her drink, she stood and made her way over to the sinks, deciding to keep herself busy by washing her cup, and any of the other dirty dishes nearby while she continued to listen in on what everyone was saying.. Parts of which caused her to falter and glance in their direction from time to time.

She had eventually finished up and dried her hands, casually making her way around to attempt to put said dishes away. She was doing this out of both worry and kindness.. She needed to get up and move around to keep busy, listening to Eater and Dreamcatcher’s conversation then hearing that this city was under attack all caused her stomach to knot up, but she also felt bad at the idea of making dirty dishes and not cleaning them.

While on her tiptoes, trying to put the last dish in a higher cabinet, Crystal turned her head rather quickly when she heard her name. She looked over at Catch, then glanced to Eater and Terra as well, “Oh, um... Yeah, I.. I can come along,” she said, giving a quick little smile to drown her worried expression before managing to put that last dish away. She fully turned and began to make her way back to the others, “I don’t know how much help I can be, but I suppose it doesn’t hurt to have a healer around.”

(There you are~ Welcome back to us, Galaxy X3 )

(Crystal never ceases to amaze me x3 )

( YES HELLO! I got caught up in reading x'D
Hi Galaxy! :D
How are you?)

(Hey Galaxy! Great to see you! ^-^)

(Crystal is amazing indeed. X3)

Ethan mind was still racing with million Theory possible conclusions and so many questions, none of which he had for sure answer but one thing he did know, Weaver was still very much alive and if all Dreamers were, then everything they knew was wrong
"Y-yeah, I-I go do that! " Ethan stutters nervously " I'll tell T-he Silver s-pear V-anguard to! It's are job t-o support the key hunters! "

(Haha, hello guys! x3

I'm doing okay, just finished up a shower and now about to eat cake~)

( you are clean! Being clean is good!
Nice!! Cake is good to xD what kind of cake? )

The winged snake had been going around and around until the Dreamer draw closer, it stop and lift its head towards Purity, it look at her with its red eyes "...yousss...yousss.... lightsssss? "

(Ooooh, cake!!

Unlike my typo fingers, which wanted me to say acke.
I don't think acke is good.)

(Lol, being clean is very good. XD

I guess technically they're actually cupcakes, but it's still cake nonetheless~ Just plain yellow cake with vanilla frosting.

And oh no, not the acke xD)

(Ooooh cake sounds gooood... I wanna bake cake now...)

( that sounds good! X3 nothing wrong with cupcakes because like you said there still cakes! Just bite size :D )

Eira smiled and put a supportive hand on Ethan's shoulder. "Thank you, Ethan. We believe in you." She then straightened up and turned to Rahab. "Let's get going."
Rahab pivoted and started down the hallway, locking his eyes on the nearest window and running to it as Eira followed. He opened the window and stepped out onto the window pane, glancing back at his sister. "You coming or what?"
Eira hesitated, knowing that he expected her to shift with him, but she definitely didn't think this was the most opportune time to explain her corrupted form to her brother. As Rahab turned towards the open air and shifted into his griffin form, Eira lunged after him through the window, managing to land on his back and wrap her arms around his neck before he was out of reach. She didn't want to shift, but she could still ride him to the scene of the action.
Rahab gave a confused chirp and looked back at his sister, but he chose to ignore it as he spread his dark eagle wings and lunged out the window, taking air.

Terra is showing Eater the different things he has for them. "... These are for Catch..." he explains, pulling out a thin plastic sheet with stickers in the shape of magic runes and symbols on it. "Like most everything else, this'll help block the effects of M-Malice's spell, and it should help with keeping other outside influences uh... out..."

"Catch gets magic stickers? That's cool," Eater whispers, taking one of the rune stickers off the sheet and eyeing Catch for a moment while his friend is distracted with Crystal. After a moment of decision-making, he goes and sticks the sticker right on the sling that's holding Catch's bad arm, and he makes a nice *pop* sound effect with his mouth as he does so. "There ya go, you're all set!" the Nightmare declares, snickering once.

"... When the magic expires, it'll lose its stickiness and fall off..." Terra finishes his explanation, carefully sliding the sheet on to the table, right in front of Catch.

"What's Crystal get?" Eater then asks as he turns back to Terra, having overheard her reply to Catch.

"A gun," Terra flatly replies, digging through the bag.

"Hhh--A gun?! Really?!"

"No, she doesn't, I'm trying to find hers..."

"... Oh..." Eater mumbles, watching Terra with a confused, yet curious expression.

//Red eyes are kinda creepy... I don't think that's a good sign...// Purity grimaces, but quietly and sweetly replies, "Yes, I have light... Are you ok, little... little snake...?"

Hiiro pinned his ears back, his gaze hardening, "So when does this imaginable pain start? At least, that's what that woman said, pain I never felt before... Is the torture having to stand in this room and look at the ugly crap you call 'architecture'?" his tail flicks, pointing to various things.

"I've seen hatchlings with more vivid imaginations" He snorts, "at least the flashy ponies had some taste in making buildings. Do me a favor, turn the lights back out, because you're not much better to look at"

Morning Glory nods, looking Rihanna right in the eye. "I... I have to go find Weaver, then...!" she says with a weak nod of her head, "If he's going out there, I can't let him go alone! I need to look after him...! I--I need to do better this time..."

The winged snake didn't look away, it didn't blink as the Dreamer spoke to it, it wasn't until a moment past after Purity asked her question that it finally seem to recognize that it was being talked to " Isss..." the snake looks at itself " okaysss?....Issss.... We'resss legsssss? " the snake wiggle its body oddly for a snake

Alexandrea tilted her head to one side, //Who's Osiris?// she shrugged, //Must be someone important or whatever// she didn't bother to ask.

"I'm ready now!" Alex balled her hands into fists, her fists lighting up slightly, "I know what's out there Fiona, I've faced these things before, I won't be caught of guard again! This time, I know what's coming!"

"I can hide myself from Mal and maybe I can't kill the centipede, but I can hold it off for at least a little while" Alexandrea looked as determined as she sounded. "You stand here and wait for the others, I'm going, I can't wait around knowing people are dying and we can actually do something about it"

She takes her ring off now and puts it in her pocket. She looked set on leaving and leaving now.

~~{Song: Kingdom Hearts: Kairi III (Kairi's Theme 10min Extended HD Perfect Loop) by Javelin434}~~

"You don't have any legs anymore..." Purity answers the snake sadly, "I wish I could give you back your legs and turn you back to normal, but I don't have that power... It doesn't hurt though now, does it...?"

Ethan didn't what he took off to go do what he said he do

Dreamcatcher grin at the human girl as he honestly replied" hay don't sell yourself short, I don't think we even made it this far if it wasn't for your help "

The Dreamer prince flinched not paying attention to what Eater was doing until he got boop he looked down at the at the sticker on his sling and made a 'what face?' But in hearing Terra explanation a look of awa came upon his face " ok that cool " he almost felt like a little fawn thinking about magical stickers // how does this even work or who ever came up with something like this? //

But with what Terra said Crystal was getting got him to look up in surprise and Echo Eater " What? --A gun?! Really? " trying to imagine the girl with a gun was hard unless it was a water gun, he didn't even know if Crystal knew what one was

Catch frowned realizing the ghost was being a bum and was teasing and muttered " ha.ha funny Terra " he leaned to see what his friend had for the human girl

(A water gun, oh my goodness. xD)

"But--" Fiona grimaced, not finishing her words, feeling even more torn with what Alex said. //I don't wanna wait around... I want to make sure people don't die... But if we just go out there with only two of us and without letting anyone know... Who knows what the heck might happen?!? We don't know what that stuff can do...!!//

However, as she stood there, she caught sight of a dark figure leaping out of the palace and taking flight out of the corner of her eye. "Wait... Is that...?" The Elemental looked up and squinted, "Hey!! I think that's Eira and her brother! Maybe we could all go as a group!"

"Works for me!" Alexandrea shifted to her phoenix form, she didn't trust flying in her griffin form yet. She took a running start and with a strong beat of her wings, she was off and airborne, gaining momentum and height as she beat her wings.

"Eira!" The black phoenix called, "Wait for us!" she didn't know the name of her brother.

As Crystal made it over to the others she returned Catch’s grin with yet another small smile of her own after what he told her, “I’ll try not to, but I think you all would have found a way to pull through anyway,” she responded.

The girl couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow curiously when Eater placed one of the stickers on Dreamcatcher, puzzled but also a bit amused by his action.

Crystal also couldn’t help but recoil a bit at both their reactions after what Terra said. She looked at the three of them with a slightly confused look on her face, she didn’t know what was so shocking about it, “is.. is that something bad?” she mumbled, watching them closely but from where she stood.

"He's eager, he wants to get right to the fun~ I like that~" Scarlet hummed. "Oh dear, he's a true barbarian!" The Gorgoni Duchess then bursted into laughter with Hiiro's attempted insult

" I have my doubts," the Emperor replied really plainly, his view on Hiiro was diminishing by the second, the Xanos was nothing more than an animal in his eyes, especially seeing who Hiiro was and why he was there... but the Vampiric Nethersglade Queen had given Hiiro favor for now at least

The Emperor claps his hands and just like that the room goes Pitch Black again " You may entertain this beast if you wish, I have more interesting things that require my time."

"Oh, come now, what will mother say?" the female huffed but the Emperor said no more, not even his footsteps were heard

"Oh~ It looks like it just you and me?~ Well, and the Gate Lords but they won't get involved unless to kill you~" Scarlet's voice was coming from the opposite side from where she was first heard

Hiiro scowled at the room going pitch black, he felt fear tingle along his spine, he shook himself to try and rid himself of the sensation. //I didn't think he'd actually turn out the lights...//

He moved his head to follow the sound of Scarlet's voice. He didn't move the rest of his body, instead, he waited. He might have been doing that, because if he moved, he risked bleeding himself out more. And standing still seemed to slow that process down.

As quick as lightning, he parted his jaws and a quick burst of flame flew from his maw, aimed for Scarlet's voice. It would explode into a burst of flame upon impact with anything. Hiiro felt his throat burn from that, there was a reason he ususally opened his vents first and charged it up a bit.

Fiona flew up after Alex, briefly glancing back and wondering if she should leave a note or something for the rest of the group to find. But she was already a bit behind Alex, Eira, and Rahab. //...I hope this won't make Terra worry too much... They'd better stay safe, too...//

Then she looked up again, adding to Alex's call to the griffin shifter siblings, "HEY! EIRA!! RAHAB!! WE'LL COME WITH YOU!"

( when my cellphone calls Scarlet, garlic... very ironic )

(That's awesome. XD)

A black bird was only seen for but a moment before the fire ball exploded.

On the opposite side from were Hiiro directed his attack, Scarlet came in silently with a magic attack of her own, with dark blades coming at the Xanos

Hiiro couldn't possibly see in the dark, his flame only illuminated the room for a few moments. He didn't hear Scarlet's attack coming and it hit him full on.

He held back any sound of pain, but he did gasp sharply as he collapse onto his belly, his forearms stretched out in front of him, hindlegs splayed out behind him. He could feel his previous wounds open up and new ones bleed him out more.

He didn't have the strength or energy to fight back anymore, his head spun from blood loss and he just laid there on the floor. Bleeding out, feeling woozy and pathetic.

Rahab startled and began to veer to the side when he heard two voices shouting at them, followed by the swift approaching form of Alex's dark wings.
Eira put a hand on his neck. "Ray-Ray, wait! We can group up with Alex and Fiona!" she called to him.

The Shadow Hunter grumbled something under his breath but turned around in the air and flew back towards the two girls, hovering in front of them. "And who are these two?" He looked them over with narrowed eyes, then fixed on Fiona. "Hold up... You're that runt fuzzball of the old man Boreas. How long have you been caught up with all this Keyhunting work?"

( I DON'T LIKE THE VAMPIRIC NETHERSGLADE)

Alexandrea went to answer Rahab when he immediately jumped to Fiona and questioning her. She rolled her eyes and didn't have time or interest in small talk... She also couldn't hover in this form. So she just kept going to the city, although slower now.

Fiona stopped midair in front of Rahab, a very unhappy look coming across her face as she was called a 'runt fuzzball.' She noticed that Alex was flying ahead, then she quickly answered Rahab, "Hey! I'm not a fuzzball OR a runt!! My name's Fiona, remember? We met again yesterday! I've been with these guys for...
Gah, like... A year and a half!"
She didn't try to ask about the fact that Rahab knew her uncle, instead, she started following after Alex, but she looked back to ask her own question, "You guys are headed to the outer part of the city too, right?! Because it's under attack? Do you have something to protect yourselves from the spell?!"

" ooh I guess you are all bark and no bite " Scarlet Mound with disappointment, she would have finished the Xanos right there by sucking the rest of his blood out but she remembered Hiiro was a guess of her mother something that was made clearly
" Scarlet, Your Enthusiasm is Honorable, but he does are master no good deeds if he dies now " the Duchess voice from before spoke smoothly in the darkness.
Though Hiiro would not be able to see her, Scarlet immediately Bow Down.

" Oh Hiiro, what's a mess you are.... you could not even impress my stepchildren, but I see good in you, I give you new life in Soledormir name... "A bell ring and shortly many footsteps came

The Duchess was the Blood mother, her voice called out in a dark chant followed by Scarlet voice and other Sinister the Beautiful voices

Hiiro would have felt the Duchess cold hand be placed on him as the sound of gasps followed by the sound of something hitting the floor.

At the Blood mothers touch Hiiros wounds were starting heal...

Hiiro couldn't focus at all, his mind going dark and empty, his hide twitched as the cold hands touched him. He barely managed to wrinkle his snout in a silent snarl.

He could feel his wounds closing, as they closed, he could also feel some strength returning, enough to at least lift his head up properly. He turned it to the hands touching him, but didn't make a move to attack, not yet.

If anything, he was just confused. He had just expected to come through the portal, be tortured and turned into something better. Point A to point B. Not all this weirdness.

"Huh?" Eater remarks, glancing over at Crystal when she mumbles, then waves a hand dismissively and smiles. "Oh, no, it's not something bad, it's just that guns are kind of a loud and explosive weapon, and it just sounds kinda funny imagining a nice girl like you with something like that...? ... Terra's just employing his sense of humor."

Not making any other comment on what Eater said, Terradream pulls out a fine glove out of his bag, and hands it over to Crystal. "H-here, this is yours," he quietly says, making sure she's got it before he pulls his ribbon back. The glove is very delicate, beautifully decorated with lace and fine embroidery, but looks fragile... "... You'll just have to be careful with it."

Terra then turns back to his bag, pulls out a royal purple scarf, and hands it to Dreameater.

"A scarf? For me?" Eater asks, rather surprised as he takes it and quickly puts it on, then shrugs. "Alright I guess, it works. If it'll help with anything I'll feel out there, I'll wear it."

"Osiris said it should help, at least some," Terra simply replies, turning to look over the small group that is here.

"Alright, so we're all set... Right?" Dreameater asks, though he crosses his arms and taps his fingers rather anxiously. //Well, everyone's ready except for me, I still don't trust that I won't lose myself out there... There's gotta be something more for me to do, though...//