TITAL 2: Why did It Take Me So Long To Do This?

Rexial scratched his head again. "...Well, I dunno, we could go talk to Blake and Nicole, the two who came here on a date, as I mentioned before. Though, to be honest, they don't seem to be in the mood to do anything other than sit there and mope. I don't feel like explaining this one, really. So! I would be glad to take you to the Realm of Light myself, maybe catch a movie or something to pass the time, but I actually have to stay here to monitor somebody. I could open a corridor and leave you some money, though."

"No, I don't wanna be any more of a bother than I have already. I'll just do whatever here until you're able to work things out, I guess."

"If you're sure." Rexial responded. "Just ask somebody if you need anything. Food, for example."

"Alright. I'll be sure to do that." Alex said, sighing and plopping back down onto the bed.

Rexial and the medic stepped out, closing the door.

"You should probably stay within earshot in case he needs more pain-relief, or discovers some new injury."

Nodding, the man stood aside and let him past. The swordsman stepped briskly past, heading for where he had left Blake and Nicole.

Alex closed his eyes and faced up at the ceiling, breathing heavily and attempting to rest.

What was he running from? Why had it taken him here? Surely, whatever it was, it was something more cheerful-sounding than the "Realm of Darkness".

He just couldn't figure it out. But that seemed familiar somehow. Not being able to figure it out. Maybe that had something to do with it.

Stopping by another room, Rexial checked up on Ienzo. "...Condition's no worse than before. Let's hope he gets better soon."

Blake sighed. "Hmm..."

In no time at all, Rexial had returned. "What's the matter, Blake? Worried about Ienzo? Don't worry, I just checked up on him. He seems to be doing fine. If you're wondering what the other thing was about, somebody was found outside, and we brought him in for medical attention."

Sitting down, he quickly finished off his food. "...So, you two want to continue the tour? Or are you both bored by now? Because Nicole hasn't said anything in a while. Seriously, is something wrong?"

<Because last I checked, Edgar/Zeldaman was in control of Nicole.>

"That, and thank you by the way, but I was just thinking about some philosophical stuff as well..."

"Mind sharing your thoughts with the rest of us?" Rexial sighed. "I'm kinda bored, too."

"I've been thinking about what happens when we die. Do we go to a paradise? Do we get reincarnated? Do we see nothing but black? What do you guys think?"

"Death, huh...?" Rexial leaned back. "...Well, I've seen Hell, so there's probably a Heaven, too. I'm sure it's just much harder to access its dimensional space, given the nature of a lofty paradise that the wicked are excluded from... though, to be honest, I think different worlds have different ways of handling it. In the Pride Lands, the soul of a former king, Mufasa, joined the cosmos and was able to speak to his son later to give him advice. The world of Olympys Coliseum has the Underworld, land of the dead. And in worlds where the Reapers' Game is being played, the dead either enter a game, or are reduced so soul energy that can be redistributed or shaped into different things, including the original person."

"So it's different depending on where you live. But what about travelers? What happens if you die in another world? Maybe there's a Heaven for them. We know that Nobodies, if they die without certain conditions being met, they're just gone. So it must be different for normal people. Only Nobodies just cease to be, so we don't. Maybe Minato knows something, since he had Death sealed within him once, and actually encountered a being called Nyx."

Zexion swats the bolts of ice magic away from him, leaving him largely unaffected at first, but one of his hands begins to become encased in ice. "I care not for your silly little tricks, Namine. You think you have any idea what you're doing, what you're saying, your beliefs... you lack honest conviction, experience, reality. You're so naive, so innocent. You don't know anything of the real world." With a vicious backhand he swipes at Namine's face, stepping forward and leaning into it to add more power, intending to take the strike from her and heal it later.

---

The wall of sand frozen, Zexion darts high into the air and casts Firaga on the giant mass, turning it to glass. Another Graviga and the structure begins to crack and break, large chunks falling downward to the combatants. (Hmmm... If I can manipulate any of them, my odds increase tremendously, and I can further my original goal as well... and perfect, the light boy seems unstable.) Thrusting his right arm forward, tendrils of darkness flow out of his palm and snake downwards toward Aleri.

Aleri brought TELOS up to shield himself from the falling glass, shuddering as a particularly large chunk of it bounced off the massive weapon. "Why aren't we striking back at all!? My GOD we're stupid sometimes!"

Lifting his Keyblade out of the way, he spied another sizable chunk of glass falling towards him. Waiting until it got close enough, he swung, holding back to prevent it from breaking apart, sending it hurtling towards... Riku. Goddammit, Al.

Realizing his mistake, he adjusted his aim the next time, this one behind sent more towards Zexion, but still too high. His next shot got buried in the ground before it reached the schemer.

"This is getting ridiculous!" He yelled, trying once more. This time, it looked more promising...

<Why aren't we attacking? Riku and Xiruk were both attacking...granted it was a brief line at the end of their last section, but it still happened...>

Riku barely noticed the glass in time. He swung around and slashed at it with his Keyblade, sending dust in every direction around him. What is he doing?!

"Have you gone insane, or have you always been a teamkiller?" asked Xiruk coldly. Rather than stop to talk, he emphasized every other word with a slash of Soul Eater.

<You underestimate Al's ability to screw things up. Plus, he's already questioning the reality of the situation. I'M questioning it, too, since there shouldn't have been any sand to make a shield of, nor glass to make from that, unless the basement had an extremely sandy floor. These illusions are real to them, but not Zexion, right?>

In a moment of cleverness that was unusual for (this) Al, he cast Thundaga Shot right after the glass, the heavy projectile masking the electrical one from sight as they hurtled towards Zexion.

<...You just don't want to admit you forgot. Though the sand thing confused me as well...>

<Fine, you got me. As for the sand... my theory is that the glass won't affect Zexion, though it will affect the others. Of course, since the Zexion they're up against is an illusion anyway, the best they can do is dispel the illusion, not actually hurt Zexion.>

<The attacks are illusions, so if they connect, they will respond accordingly, a la placebo effect. However, once they realize that the glass itself is an illusion, the injuries will fade, but some small pain will linger. Gregar, if the characters realize what you did, in a way that is plausible, the illusion subsides. Riku and Xiruk's attacks happened, but Zexion teleported upwards like a bitch.>

Namine snapped away from the attacking, deflecting Zexion's hand with blade as she finished her stroke."You call my powers, tricks when yours are naught but a cheap imitation." She flipped her blade so she held it across her back perpendicularly, "If I lack conviction, show me yours, Zexion!"

Namine leapt to the side and dove in at Zexion aiding her approach with a burst of wind magic, "I won't let you touch a single one of the individuals that live here!" She slashed a fast horizontal line at the nobody as a harsh glare eyed the man.

The wind doing little do deter him, Zexion plants his feet and grabs Namine's blade with one hand, smirking as he does so. "You wish to see my convictions, girl? You wish is my command." Quickly using his other hand, he flexes to break the ice off of his hand before grabbing Namine's throat and pulling her closer to him. Ripping the Keyblade from her hands, he lets it drop to the floor with a clatter while smiling viciously at her, his face extremely close to hers. He unconsciously licks his lips slightly as he curls his open and and aims a solid punch at her stomach. "Can you feel my convictions? My burning passions yet Namine? Because I won't stop now. Not when you've pushed me this far, excited me this much. There are some things you don't instigate without finishing, despite consequences, despite results, despite what it might entail."

One of the tendrils makes it to Aleri and sneaks into his foot, acting as a memory relay between Zexion and Aleri's memories and making Aleri more susceptible to Zexion's magical illusions. Smirking to himself, and using Reflega to take care of the glass shard and several more projectiles headed his way, Zexion conjures an image of Vita based on Aleri's memories, and uses those to create an image of her. Zexion then "summons" this apparition of her, for all to see, but targeting Al specifically. "You there, boy! Kill the others or I'll end this girl's life! And I know how much you'd just HATE for that to happen. Do it and I'll spare the girl. Believe you me, she is NO illusion." Zexion uses his tendril to intensify Al's belief in the illusion, as he makes Vita scream for help, though she is struggling fiercely.

Sinking to one knee, Aleri clutched his head, unaware of the tendril. "Ugh! Grrr... who ARE you!?" D... dammit, I can't remember... just looking at her makes my head hurt! W-why does it matter? Whether she's somebody I remember or not, she's still an innocent person...! So... what do I do? I can't just attack Riku for no good reas...on...

A murderous look appeared in his eyes, fixating on the Xiruk and the illusory Vita. ...It's so obvious. I just kill them. Nobody would miss Xiruk anyway, and my feelings for the girl could just as easily be hatred as anything else. A flicker of sense crossed his face again as he struggled to think straight and not relapse into simple violence. No, that's not going to do any g... gooooood... Why is it so h... hard to focus? GaaaaaAAAAAAAH!

As a number of his mental faculties shut down, he leapt into action, swinging TELOS at whatever he perceived as a target... which, unfortunately, included both Zexion AND Xiruk. Riku and the fake Vita were spared by whatever part of him still understood which people had not been total d*cks so far.

<...So Edgar, tell me, do you know about Vita from checking WBD, Org.XIV, or Recompleted?>

<To be completely honest I saw the WBD bio, saw the words "childhood friend" and was like "Welp, this works". I know that it's a bit shallow and I'll read up on her by next post>

<One of the problems is that their relationship is complicated. For another, she hasn't so much as been mentioned in TITAL's story. And most of their complications haven't even been mentioned in Org.XIV or their Bios, so the information only exists in my head and personal notes.

And was it mentioned that Al's memories are really screwed up? There's a reason he never brings up his past, that being that he doesn't really remember it that well.>