In the Pursuit of Madness

[General Beatrix]

"My allies?" She smiled, and shook her head. "You foolish young lady. Too deep in the darkness to realize that friendship is stronger than limitless physical power. Miss Ego...I trust my companions to watch my back, as I will watch their's. As for Agrias, she and I have faced off both your mistress and the wicked clown. She has fought bravely and justly, and I do not see her falling to your kind any day soon. And Abigail survived the attack brought on by Kefka in her home world. Though I know less of her than I do of Lady Agrias, I can rely on her. I am afraid that children of the dark are no match for Sisters of Light."

"Abigail, hurry now."

She kept the sword aimed at the womans stomach and, when she stopped flailing, moved it up towards her heart.

"I sense a close connection between you and one of the shadows here, miss. You have embraced the darkness by a simple shadow. You have allowed the Heartless to overpower your common sense, and all in the name of greed and selfishness, no doubt." She quickly glanced around to see where Shego's heartless might be, knowing with the connection it would be close.

"Shall I dispatch of your close connection, now? Break your spirit and send you painlessly into the abyss where your kind belong?"

[Agrias Oaks]

Agrias stood between Abigail, and the swarm of Heartless on their way to attack. She held her sword up, eyes glowing a bright amber as she began to chant, "Absorb power in the sky and strike!"

The knight pointed her sword toward the swarm. Her Save the Queen glowed a bright yellow light as it absorbed energy particles around them. With a swift strike forward, her voice echoed in a booming voice, "Lightning Stab!" and from the blade, a bright light shot out, transmitting itself into fast lightning and critically wounding, and dissipating many of the enemies that came after!

"Lady Abigail! Haste!" She continued to fend off the Heartless, "Another spell to thwart them back!!"

[Shego]

"I sense a close connection between you and one of the shadows here, miss. You have embraced the darkness by a simple shadow. You have allowed the Heartless to overpower your common sense, and all in the name of greed and selfishness, no doubt."

[glow=green,2,800]"Hah, you wish I'd lost my common sense..." Shego had a wicked grin plastered all over her face. While the woman was talking, she had already been forming a new plan. Her true mission, was to take the woman to her Boss, but she had played around to see what she had replaced. She reached up to curl her fingertips along the tip of the blade with both hands, and from a single tug, pulled the sword so it was aiming at her stomach once more. This action caused her fingers to bleed around where the sharp blade was touching.[/glow]

"I sense a close connection between you and one of the shadows here, miss. You have embraced the darkness by a simple shadow. You have allowed the Heartless to overpower your common sense, and all in the name of greed and selfishness, no doubt."

[glow=green,2,800]"Boy, you are a talker, aren't you.." she grimaced, shaking her head in disapproval. The foot the woman had placed between her legs, in order to pin her down, she held tightly between her thighs, rendering THAT leg useless, "Who says I don't have friends of my own!?" and like a wind, her expression grew from that of a flirtatious one, to a serious one. If the woman was to stab her, so be it, but her sword was not over her heart, just her stomach, and she was holding it there, "All the ones YOU left behind... and you left me no choice, Cheater."

Just then, two Large Body Heartless would appear on the battlefield, RIGHT behind Beatrix! If one of them failed at getting the General, the other would do so for him. Shego had her pinned down, sword and leg, so she could not swing the blade, nor move out of the way! A cunning move on the thief's part. Only one of the Heartless might feel the pain of dissipating from the Holy attack the general had (To painfully return again, she had to apologize to it), but the other's job was to grab Beatrix, and keep her in a bear hug. She needed to prove she was better in every single way, to be sufficed! Even if she needed to taste the tip of the ex-apprentice's blade to convince herself.

While the Large Body distracted her as well, through the leg and sword- Shego wrapped herself around a corridor, and using what she had pinned, she began to pull the General in.
[/glow]

[Abigail Crescentlight]

Darned stubborn knights... Didn't they know that retreat was a good strategy sometimes as well? They were clearly outnumbered, and they didn't know anything about what Shego or Acteur were capable of, yet they both stood there and attempted to fight even when she desperately pleaded with them to run. Oh well... it looked like she had no choice either...

They were surrounded... but Agrias had things under control for now. She blasted a clearing for her, which Abigail made use of and started running. She was asked to get the staff, so get the staff she would! As she ran though, more of the shadow creatures would appear, and she'd have to dispatch them herself. Now was the time to show why you should never underestimate a woman of her stature.

Holding her staff out, Abby began to chant as she ran. "Light guide me as I go, with staff of heavenly... GLOW!" The staff erupted into vibrant light, a simple spell intended to be used in dark rooms so she could see, but in this case, it would be incredibly useful. She began to swirl the staff around, with skill that even a seasoned martial artist would envy.

POOF! POOF! One after another, Heartless would dissipate into the darkness once more as she rushed past them, using her glowing staff expertly to fend them off as she made her way to Shego's weapon. When she got there, she shoved her own staff into her bag and made a reach for it.

"AAHHH!" she screamed, pulling her hands back. Darkness... It was powerful in this weapon, so powerful it was hard for Abby to even wrap her fingers around it, but she had no choice. Fixing her eyes in a determined look, she pulled her cape off and wrapped it around her hands, gripping the dark staff and LIFTING it out of the ground. It made her feel cold and scared, but she needed to press onward...

That's when she noticed the two Large Bodies and Shego's attempt to create a corridor. She didn't have time to really think this plan out too well... but... "Please forgive me, Miss Beatrix!" she called, then pointed the staff at HER! "Uhm... THUNDER!" she called, using one of the staff's charges to BLAST Beatrix.

The idea was to send her flying out of Shego's grip and out of the way of the two heartless just in time to avoid the corridor. With Beatrix's resistance, it shouldn't hurt TOO bad... However, for Abigail, it was a horrifying experience. One that made her fall to her knees, gripping her heart as she shivered all over and gasped for air.

So much darkness was painful to her... because of her purity.

[General Beatrix]

"What is this!?" cried Beatrix, sincerely surprised at her opponent's cunning, and struggled against the strength of the Large Body garbbing hold of her.

The other tried grabbing her, but Beatrix simply pressed the Holy sphere into its chest, sending it to an explosive demise.

"I say, unhand me at once!" she growled at Shego, pulling with her leg, but to no avail. The Large Body tightened its grip, and she cried out as she felt her bones cracking.

When she saw a Corridor, her eye widened, and her expression changed from frustration and pain to horror. "Unhand me, unhand me--gah!"

When Abigail fired that bold of electricity her way, she absorbed most of the damage, but some of it crackled and danced over her body, dealing minor shock. She seethed, turning her attention back to Shego.

"I will not go back to that woman, now let me go!" She tried forcing the blade downward into Shego's stomach, but the Large Body held her tight, and it was all she could do not to show her weakness and break.

"Ghkk! I have...no...choice!"

While in the grip of both Cabbage and Heartless, she used some of her power to call on three Soldier Heartless, Beatrix' being much more similar in attire to Alexandrian Soldiers and three times as powerful than normal ones.

After they appeared, surrounding Shego and Large Body, Beatrix could feel her heart tearing even more. Her extended use of the darkness from the past was going to be her ultimate doom, she realized. Attempting even so much as two more summons or even thrree Corridors could lead her to lose her heart for good, and enter the ranks of Heartless completely.

"I cannot...Soldiers, help Agrias and Abiga--AH!!!"

Her strength failed with one more tightening grip from Large Body, and she was pulled into the Corridor, disappearing into the black void.

***Off to the Silent Ballroom, in The World that Never Was***

[Agrias Oaks]

"Life is short…Bury!" Echoed the voice of the Holy Knight as she charged up an attack, from a distance aiding Abigail as she recovered the staff. The sword would glow a frosty blue, and a fog would emit from the bellow zero temperatures it was switching to, "STEADY SWORD!" she shouted, and swung her blade, releasing deadly icicle shards toward the heartless.

Some of the creatures would vanish from the hits, while other stronger ones would stop in place, proving useless until the status effect wore off.

She glanced momentarily to see how Beatrix was doing and gasped at the sudden predicament, "GENERAL!" she cried, rushing over to aid. Her heart was beating quickly, was this the frightening sensation she was feeling earlier?! "GENERAL NO!"

Her eyes began to glow a bright amber, and her sword shined brightly a gold color, something was different of this attack, it seemed to pack a powerful punch! "Heaven’s wish to destroy all minds!!" She called upon her ultimate attack, but to no avail, she was too late...and the General was taken!

She yelled in desperation, facing the enemy that surrounded them, her eyes filled with sorrow, and tears, she shouted at the top of her lungs, "DIIIIIIVIIIIIIINEE RUUUUIIIINAAATIOOOOOOON!!!" The sword also began to cry in hand, out of sadness, and it emitted loud vibrations that would send fear upon the enemy that remained. Just then, the sky above them bust into light-- and all the creatures that were there, even in the shadows awaiting their turn, would die by painful illumination from the heavens!

Once the enemy was defeated, the holy knight, distraught ran to where Beatrix had vanished, and knelt there, punching the ground where The Green One took advantage of the situation, "DAMN!!" she cried, "DAMN!.... damn!" she continued, pounding the grass bellow her fist. ".... no...."

Agrias sat there, silent, gripping a the grass through her gloves, wondering what in the world to do... and how to do it. Save the Queen would cry next to her, feeling her sister sword so far away...

[Shego]

[glow=green,2,800]**Used Corridor to move to The World that Never Was**[/glow]

[Secondary Characters]

"At great speeds so does this magic work...Teleport!" cried Merlin, who had just appeared at the doorway when all this happened; Abigail and Agrias would both disappear should they give in to his powers and harmlessly reappear inside of his cottage.

He then turned his attention to Acteur.

"You foul beast, Banishment!" A large, white barrier surrounded his cottage now, and sensor-like orbs began hovering around Acteur, attempting to work their arcane magic to send him away.

Merlin didn't even watch to see this go down. He simply turned and walked back inside, slamming his door.

[Acteur de la Noir]

As the fight came to its conclusion, the combined efforts of these "heroes of Light" had all but eradicated the Heartless forces. All of them, save one--the eccentric puppetmaster who had aided Shego by directing his lesser brethern against Beatrix's allies. The attack had not been successful...but, from the way the features of Acteur de la Noir's mask had once more assumed that theatrical grin, perhaps it had never meant to be in the first place. And, as the venerable wizard known as Merlin accessed the advanced countermeasures of Radiant Garden, Acteur offered merely a laugh; exhibiting a spry set of heels, the lanky Heartless dodged and danced about to confound the sensor orbs.

"Much too late, elderly one!" the Heartless puppeteer crowed as he continued to avoid the arcane spheres. "An honorable she-knights' mastery of spellswords, a budding mage's bag of tomes and tricks, and even the defense measures that you lot have built to protect this Hollow Bastion..." A pause, and the timber of his voice suggested a chilling smile behind that mask. "...they may have driven back my kin, but in the end, we still reclaim our own! Just as we shall reclaim this world, one day...and all others."

At this point, all of the security orbs converged on Acteur from all sides, humming with their anti-Heartless energies. At the last second, displaying not an ounce of dismay, the Heartless performer raised one velvet-sleeved hand skyward and gave a brisk snap of his fingers. There was an explosion of smoke, obscuring the lanky figure in hues of dusky primaries...and when it cleared, the security orbs closed in on empty space. Acteur de la Noir had vanished. All that was left was a ghostly echo of his voice, carrying his final message to those who resided in Merlin's cabin.

"Until next time, stalwart defenders of a fading light..."

Thus did Acteur depart--while he was nowhere to be seen, there was no doubt he had taken a Corridor of Darkness back to wherever he came from.

*Back to the World that Never Was*

[Abigail Crescentlight]

Abigail gasped loudly. She had prayed that her attack against her ally would have done some good! She had timed it so it would hit before the heartless grabbed her, but apparently she had misjudged the distance and instead only harmed the woman further, making her capture all too possible. She covered her lips and shivered, feeling the darkness harming her and now her heart was sinking as a result of her poorly planned rescue attempt.

Then... light. She gasped as the world around her began to glow... and BAM! The Heartless were mostly gone. Her heart felt a little less heavy and she could breathe properly once more. Then, everything started to glow again. What could be happening now? Suddenly, she was inside the cottage again! Looking around, she felt confused and scared... and she saw how Agrias was so upset... and she knew why. She had failed them... she had all but given Beatrix to the heartless.

"Agrias..." she whispered, tears forming at the corners of her eyes as she buried her face in her hands. "I'm... I'm so sorry... it's all my fault!" she whispered, the air around her growing a little darker, as a result of the darkness attempting to take her heart while she was weakened. "All my fault..." she repeated... her hands falling from her face... her eyes dull and unseeing. "All my..." she whispered...

[Agrias Oaks]

Agrias stood up from her weakened position, having wasted a bit too much energy on her attack, "No..." the knight whispered, turning in place and walking to where Abigail was, staggering slightly. Her eyes couldn't be seen, her expression hidden by her golden locks. She wrapped her arms around the woman, and held her close, "No, Abby, blame naught yourself..."

The hold on the white mage would tighten, as her own tears began to trickle down her cheeks, "... for I allowed it to happen, rather than meddle in the first place. Tis' my fault to have left battle an unknown foe.... now Beatrix is... no!"

Agrias shook her head violently, and rested her hands upon the other's shoulders, holding her at arms length and looking at the girl deep in the eyes, "No, we shalt not give up on her! Surely, she shall not give up upon us!" her eyes, though tears streaming down from them, looked determined in reuniting the three, "We WILL get her back, Abigail!" she turned to the pointy-hatted mage, her expression serious, " Haste, tell us a way for this to happen, surely, a wise-man such as yourself must know a way to reach her!"

[Abigail Crescentlight]

Abigail blinked lightly. A moment after her near descent... she was being pulled upward. Looking up, she found herself in Agrias' hold, and blushed darkly. "Ah... ah..." she whispered before suddenly being held at arm's length. She looked to her, then nodded, slowly beginning to smile. She found strength in her... and knew that when she said they would find her, that they would not fail!

"You're right..." she returned, then stood up with her and looked to Merlin. They couldn't just leave as the defenses were up, but she could add this to their knowledge. "They're gone!" she stated, looking up. "All of them. I think the last strong one left!" She looked to Agrias, holding up her signature thumbs up. She smiled and looked again to Merlin.

"Any information you have would be wonderful!"

[Secondary Characters]

Merlin sidled over from the door to the book shelf once more and began pulling out tomes here and there, tossing them carelessly aside until he found the correct one. When he did, he pulled it away with gusto, as it was stuck and needed an extra bit of magic to remove it.

He shuffled to the center table and plopped the book down, opening it and flipping through pages. When the correct one came about, he slammed his wrinkled finger down and frowned.

"She has been taken...nowhere," he said matter-of-factly, and looked up. "This is the Book of Answers, and it gives you one answer a day. The reason for so many pages is because the book is very exact when you say, for instance, 'where is so-and-so?'. It speaks of where they are physically, mentally, etc."

He scratched his forehead and sat down. "If anyone knows there nowhere is, then you might be able to find her. The book says to seek out someone called Vivi. And then all it says about this person is 'rift of twilight'."

[Agrias Oaks]

The knight stayed quiet, her amber eyes struck with fear. Nowhere-- she couldn't be dead, no-- It was probably a riddle, about the worlds. She looked around the room, to seek a map, if any of the worlds, around them.

"If anyone knows there nowhere is, then you might be able to find her. The book says to seek out someone called Vivi. And then all it says about this person is 'rift of twilight'."

"I know not where such nowhere is, alas, to get there, I'm sure, requires transportation such as Red Rose... I do not know how to contact it, for it is Beatrix' ship... We might need another way to transport around, and with haste." sighed the knight, reaching up to rub a little at her head, "Vivi, we must seek then, but where could that be... 'rift of twilight,' and how could we get there? "

She scrolled through the several parchments of maps, until she found one that would be most adequate, "... Twilight Town..." she muttered, starring at the map with curiosity.

[Secondary Characters]

"Twilight Town...that is at the exact center between the realms of Light and Darkness. Thr rift...yes, I believe it might be so, Twilight Town. But what of the first cryptic answer? This nowhere?"

Merlin snapped a donut into existance (no kidding), and took a huge bite. "As for transportation, think of the destination you'd like to go to, within this world, and I will teleport you there. This Red Rose of yours...I could send you there."