Light: Here we are with another addition to The Fractured Faction. Freya, any thoughts?

Freya: Other than how amazed I am that you considered including us in our own collection of stories?

Light: Uh, no? Frey, you guys are interesting too. Besides, who doesn't love rooting for the underdogs?

Freya: Fair enough, I suppose.

Quiet was the Castle That Never Was. A daunting, heavy silence had fallen over it like a heavy cloak. The lack of noise was deafening. In some ways, one could compare it to that of a graveyard. For the most part, it typically was. Such a large place as this, in a world as empty as this one, it was to be expected. There wasn't nearly enough people to fill it with noise.

Sure, there were monsters aplenty. Heartless. Nobodies. Naturally, there were loads of those buggers. One wouldn't be surprised to see the odd Nightmare prowling around, thanks to the perpetual night sky hanging overhead. With the absence of a sun, they really loved to flock around the massive, eerie castle. Oh, and there was the Unversed as well. One could hardly forget the beings that thrived quite well on all of the negativity hanging thick in this world's air. That being said, these were creatures rarely seen hanging around, thanks in part to their mistress. The woman could never stand these creatures and loathed their presence, ironically.

Indeed, with such a high population of monsters roaming the streets, one had to be strong if they hoped to survive. Survival of the fittest was the name of the game in The World That Never Was. If you aren't willing to fight your way to the top of the food chain, you'll just end up as somebody else's lunch.

Which explained those living in the strange, twisted castle that floated over a bottomless abyss at the end of a crumbling city. They were a frightfully strong bunch, with equally frightening personalities. Monstrous, almost. In certain cases, beyond the scope of human compassion and decency. Headstrong in almost every case, those within their ranks possessed a truly bizarre level of bull-headedness. Stubborn to an extreme degree, these were people who refused to back down from each other's challenges without getting a punch in, turning their home into a literal war zone. Many who thrived on a sort of devil may care attitude the served them well in surviving this dog-eat-dog world, but made them next to impossible to deal with otherwise. Be it with their enemies or each other.

Truly, that kind of personality was a double-edged sword on most days. Incredibly dangerous on their worst. If anything, the willful nature of the castle's inhabitants more often than not lead to trouble when their strong personalities were constantly clashing, resulting in a dangerous powder keg that needed very little to light up in a fiery explosion.

"ISAAAAA!"

Speaking of which…

Deep within the bowels of The Castle That Never Was laid a peculiar little room known to a select few as the "Latitude of Treachery". It was a tiny little thing with no windows, hidden away in a twisting labyrinth of hallways.

The room's single door burst open, hitting the wall with a resounding smash. Everything within the room rattled, from the very foundations it was built upon to its meager, threadbare furnishings and slapdash decorations. Even the Latitude's few inhabitants felt those vibrations bouncing through their bodies. One of them, reclining in a chair with a book in hand, glanced sideways as a young boy with unruly red hair stormed in, leaving a trail of destruction in his wake. Literally. The strong, acrid smell clinging to the air—so much like sulfur and burnt hair—followed behind, carried by clouds of roiling gray smoke.

Dante was angry, Isa observed as he pushed a lock of blue hair away from his eyes, taking a moment to curse faintly as his fingers brushed up against the hastily applied bandage covering his cheek. His latest injury would no doubt leave yet another scar on his face. Perhaps if he was lucky, he would contract an infection that would kill him and finally put him out of his misery.

No, he amended. "Angry" wasn't the right word, perhaps.

More appropriately, he supposed that the boy was downright furious. The way he came storming in to their secret room was proof enough of this. Of course, there were other indicators towards his foul mood. His cheeks carried a bright red flush, something that often occurred whenever Dante got himself worked up. His eyes reflected the change in his emotional state as well; the one blood-red iris now carried a thick ring of gold around the outermost edge. As the boy stood there, his eyes glowed a harsh, unnatural light, much like the fluorescence of the neon lights littering the city below them.

And most pressing of all, the seething, downright murderous aura surrounding Dante. It took the form of a cloud of thick smoke that moved with a strange viscosity that wasn't too far from tar-like. It swirled around his small frame as if it had a life of its own, feeding off of the boy's rage like a parasite. Small bursts of red energy exploded within it, bouncing out and hitting the walls with reckless abandon.

Any normal person would have run screaming for cover at the mere sight of Dante. But Isa was far from normal. And such occurrences were becoming commonplace these days, so he couldn't even be bothered.

Now, when a person lives in the same building (or in this case, castle) with a young, moody and mercurial boy, one typically sees more than their fair share of temper tantrums. However, when the child in question was Dante Versailles, those tantrums could swing from simple to chaotic and catastrophic within seconds. These were the times when his Dream Eater nature, particularly his Nightmare alignment, reared its ugly head. With the vast reserves of power running loose inside his body, calamity tended to follow the child around when his temper bubbled up to the surface, breaking free in spectacular fashion. Isa had thought he'd seen it all when The Castle That Never Was lost an entire wing and the majority of the dungeons to one of Dante's rages. The Dusks had spent months repairing the extensive damage and even so, there was this linger scent of scorched metal and soot that had refused to dissipate. And all because he'd lost a sparring match with one of the other Organization members.

Truly childish.

If the damage done to their communal room's wall was anything to go off of, they could be looking at another one of those episodes.

"What's got you so riled up, kid?" Terra sat up from his slump on the couch, a single silver brow lifted quizzically. Glazed, hazy eyes turned towards where he believed the noise to be coming from.

Thanks to a bit of misadventure on his part, Terra's eyesight had been in rapid decline over the past few years. Although he'd never actually seen the boy's antics firsthand, he'd heard plenty about them. Very rarely did Terra ever come under Dante's direct line of fire. But the stories were infamous among the Organization. And as much as he hated to admit it, they usually served as this awful hellhole's only source of entertainment.

The tantrums were nothing new. However, this felt a little too explosive, even for Dante. What in the worlds happened?

The youngest Organization member turned a scathing glare towards the Keyblade wielder. Instead of answering vocally—which both Terra and Isa were inwardly glad for, as the boy had picked up some remarkably foul curse words from Lexsam—Dante marched up to them, stomping his feet loudly against the stone floor. A hulking shaped filled the doorway in his place, the shuffling mass of fur and feathers easily recognizable as Leo, Dante's most trusted Dream Eater. The brightly colored gryphon trotted in after his master, swinging his tail and offering up his usual, creepy cackling laugh.

Terra frowned as he heard Leo shuffled into the room. The Dream Eater's steps were slower than normal. Slower, and dragging against the floor. He heard the scrape of talons against stone as Leo dragged his weighty paws along. But once his ears caught a low groan, muffled by feathers and fur, he cursed. "Talis?!"

Dante scowled as he rounded on Isa. "Are you a complete moron?! Talis went berserk!"

Isa blanched at the boy's words, feeling his throat constrict tightly. "What?!"

It was true. Sprawled limply across Leo's back, their gunner looked about as heavy and lifeless as a sack of concrete. His fingertips brushed along the ground. A painful wheezing sound issued from Talis' throat that sounded like someone with sandpaper stuck in their esophagus. His coat was ripped and shredded, with large gaping holes of missing leather exposing his sallow skin underneath. A black, ashen substance fell out from the tears in his jacket, as well as drops of this thick, viscous black ooze that seeped from the numerous wounds littered over his body.

If I didn't know better, Isa puzzled. If I didn't know better, I'd think he were a Nobody on the brink of fading…

It was such a strange affliction, one that he had never seen happen to Talis before. This sort of thing wouldn't be unheard of with creatures like the Heartless or Nobodies, but a human?

"What happened?"

"You left Talis alone, moron!" Dante screamed, his voice rising to a shrill, fever pitch. "He got left alone and got into a fight and…Ugh, now his stupid seal is broken and I can't even…What were you thinking, you stupid idiot?! You were supposed to stay with him! Where the hell is Freya?!"

Terra ran past them and stumbled his way over to Leo. A stomach churning blast of dark smoke hit him in the face as he reached for his friend.

Talis seemed like he was in bad shape. His skin was cold and clammy under Terra's fingers. The hoarse rattling in the gunner's chest couldn't be good, but what alarmed Terra the most was the wealth of information within Dante's constant shouting.

The seal—more of a slapped together spell than an actual seal—placed on Talis was the product of both Dante and Freya's combined magical efforts, meant to suppress the effects of the Anima's Bonds of Despair. It was supposed to keep him healthy. Well, as healthy as he could be while shouldering the burden of everyone's Darkness. Without it, Talis wouldn't have a snowball's chance in hell of being able to survive the strain he was putting on himself.

Terra swallowed, finding his throat dry all of a sudden. Talis' current predicament wasn't unknown to the other members of their little group. Nor were the consequences. In fact, Isa had theorized that without the magic seal keeping it all at bay, Talis would most likely succumb to the Darkness and perish. And if that happened…

"We're gonna be screwed!" Dante shrieked hysterically.

"I couldn't agree more, Young master~!" Leo chirped, irksomely cheery in the face of this current nightmare of a catastrophe. The Dream Eater's strange disposition had never ceased to irritate Terra with his creepy smiles, mocking tone, and constant need to make light of every bad thing that happened to them. Not only was it unnerving beyond belief, but the gryphon had the tendency to come off as a little sinister on more than one occasion. How Dante managed to deal with him all the time was beyond any of them.

The sudden shriek made Terra jump, and he almost dropped Talis right on his head. Leo cackled like a maniacal lunatic the entire time, gleefully explaining to him that their young, redheaded terror had somehow managed to get himself on top of Isa's shoulders and was raining all manners of Hell on the Berserker. Dante had his legs wrapped tightly around his victim's neck, with a boa constrictor-like vice grip around his windpipe. The boy continued to berate and scream at Isa while grinding his knuckles into the man's temples.

Isa was interestingly patient with the kid this time around. Normally, he wouldn't tolerate this kind of behavior, especially if directed towards him. Instead of giving into that berserker nature of his and slinging Dante against the wall, he just stood there, trying to make sure that the boy didn't steer them both into the furniture. Even while Dante tried to bruise his skull and make him go deaf…

"I had to knock Talis out," the boy yelled, his voice breaking with a hint of desperation. "He went totally ballistic because you weren't there to watch him! He almost killed his sister! And if Talis can't be fixed, so help me, I'm gonna kill you! I mean it, Isa…I will kill you!"

Dante illustrated his fury quite brutally. Constricting himself tighter around the Berserker's neck, the Dream Eater lashed out and struck him in the face. Four red lines appeared across Isa's left cheek. Dante's nails—elongated into long, painfully sharp claws—dripped crimson blood onto the floor.

Isa snarled, cracks forming in his calm facade. Snatching the boy by the collar, he ripped him from his shoulders with ease. Dante went flying across the room, slamming into their couch with enough force to splinter the frame. As the piece of furniture went skidding across the room, Isa watched in stunned silence.

The couch hit the opposing wall with a crash, and Dante rolled from it and landed in a small heap on the floor. No one moved, not even Leo, who by all rights should have either gone to his master, or went straight for Isa's throat.

Terra shifted uneasily, fumbling around on the floor in an attempt to discern where the young Vessel had landed in the skirmish. "Dante…?"

"You are DEAD, Moon man!"

Dante sprang to his feet, his small body riddled with tension and rage as his form continued to mutate into something less human and more…beastly. It drained the color from his skin, turning a natural, healthy tan into a stark, dead white. Thick stripes of red and black slashed across his cheeks, echoing similar marks that appeared on the backs of his hands. Row after row of pointed fangs filled his mouth. And black tears spilled like pools of ink from glowing red eyes.

Confronted with this menacing transformation, Isa took a lurching step back as a chill ran down his spine. "Dante, wait—"

The boy refused to listen. Instead, a low, guttural growl came from deep in his throat, like that of a prowling wildcat. "Die!"

"What's going on…?"

The sudden interruption had saved Isa from what could've easily become a massacre. Dante froze in middle of hurling himself at the Berserker. Even his monstrous transformation seemed to stop dead in its tracks. He just stood there, body rigid, and staring towards the doorway with those soulless read eyes.

Freya's room was the closest to the Latitude. From the looks of it, their commotion had reached her bedroom and disturbed her slumber. Instead of wearing her usual Organization coat or the set of casual clothes she'd gotten from Dante, the woman wore a pair of yellow sleeping shorts and an oversized black T-shirt printed with runes and lightning bolts. Her ringed blue and gold eyes blinked sleepily as she ran a hand through messy locks of orange hair.

Well, her eyes were dim until they landed on Talis' slumped body. It was kind of hard to miss. He was, after all, sprawled across Terra's legs, taking up as space on the floor as humanly possible. The rasping cough hacking away at his lungs didn't do him any favors either.

One blink. Two blinks, and then another as the scene before her began to register in her mind. There was Isa, his face poorly bandaged and somehow still bleeding, appearing visibly winded and uncharacteristically startled. Rarely did the man let his expression show anything other than indifference, and yet here he was, mouth agape and golden eyes wide as dinner plates. Dante appeared more Nightmare than child as he crouched on his hands and feet like some feral animal. And then Talis, her partner, a weak and wounded mess on the floor.

"What happened?" The other Vessels stiffened considerably as an overwhelming smell of ozone filled the room. A black aura of anger simmered around their comrade. Freya's voice washed over them like a tub of ice as she narrowed her eyes dangerously on them.

Oh, if looks could kill…

Almost immediately, Dante flinched and scurried backwards like cornered prey. He pressed his belly low to the ground, trying to make himself look smaller than he already was. When he tried to speak, words poured through the crowded mouthful of jagged teeth in a confusing jumble on incoherent noise.

"IsaleftTalisbehindandhewentcrazysoIhadtostophimandhissealstartedcomingundoneand—!"

A small blur shot out from behind Freya's leg, slamming into Dante. The force of the blow knocked the boy up against the wall. Not enough to cause injury, but certainly hard enough to stun.

The Unversed responsible for the unforeseen tackle quickly removed itself from Dante's face. Hissing low in its throat (if Unversed even had throats, that is), the creature slunk back to Freya's side as she stalked over towards Terra, who had the good sense to get the hell out of there while he could. Unlike his comrades, he seemed to be the only one who knew not to get in the Valkyrie's way when she was like this.

It was a simple bit of advice to follow, really. If the Unversed were out to play, be sure to get the hell out of Freya's way. Shame that the others couldn't really get it through their thick skulls.

"I'm going to say this again," she growled, eyes glowing brightly. Static popped wildly around her form. Freya didn't even have to put much effort into calling up her lightning. With her mood this foul, all she had to do was will it.

"What happened?"

Dante had to gulp down the thick lump in his throat, but the boy eventually managed to explain what had happened to their gunman. Freya listened patiently, never interrupting. She never moved from her spot on the ground, either. The orange-haired woman simply sat there, holding Talis' head in her lap as she lightly stroked her fingers down the side of his face in a calming manner. Her actions were contrary to the air of tension that surrounded her.

Eventually, and with much struggling along the way, Dante managed to recount events well enough to her satisfaction. Those peculiarly ringed eyes flickered from the young boy's genuinely distressed face down to Talis'. Whether or not he was conscious was anyone's guess, but it didn't take a genius to tell that he was in deep pain.

Not really one for sleep these days, Talis always had dark circles under his eyes. Occasionally, they would fade to a barely noticeable discoloration in his skin on days when his health was better. But they were deep, black bruises right now, emphasizing the hollowness of his eye sockets and making his face look haggard and gaunt. The rest of his skin was an ugly shade of muddy green, covered in a thin layer of sweat. He was sticky under her fingertips. Feverish. Thick, heavy brows drew together into a tight line as Talis' head moved restlessly, rolling listlessly from one side to the other. Every so often, he would press his scalding cheek up against her palm, as if seeking relief in the difference between their body temperatures.

Freya bit her lip as she felt a sharp pain settle into her bones. This dull, aching throb resonating throughout her entire being. So much pain…I can feel so much pain…

It was an unfortunate side effect of hers, this grand sense of empathy. Brought on by having the Unversed forcibly bonded to her, and then amplified by her connection to Talis via his Bonds of Despair, she was intimately in tune with the emotions of her comrades.

Fear. Anger. Sadness. Loathing and hatred. All of those feelings and emotions resonated inside her body as if they were her own to experience. But pain…Pain was always the worst.

Pain cut like a knife to the heart. It burned hellishly, leaving a trail of scorched devastation in its wake. The pain she felt through her connection to the others could be as insignificant as a stubbed toe, or as debilitating as a stab of brutal betrayal. The kind that left her unable to breathe as it coursed through her, paralyzing her lungs and blinding her with hot, stinging tears. That was the worst of all, being able to feel their pain and be so consumed by it that she had no way of helping them.

And what Talis—her friend, her partner, her family—was feeling…Oh, this was utter agony.

It left her chest aching as if her own heart had been carved from it. She felt raw. Angry and disgusted. A rage burned inside of her so fiercely that Freya couldn't tell who it belonged to. But it was a frightening feeling.

"So…" She swallowed thickly. Her mouth felt dry like sandpaper. "Talis' seal weakened as a result of being near his sister?"

That didn't make sense. How could this be?

Observations had shown that while Tegan McAllister shared similar abilities as her brother, including the ability to turn emotional ties into actual power through the manifestation of their chains, she couldn't have had such an adverse effect on Talis. The child showed no sign of any abilities or powers that would have a negative effect on anyone, for that matter. Xehanort's interference with Talis' abilities was the reason for his powers mutating into the Bonds of Despair. And Talis' own manipulation of his chains had brought on his own sickness long before his younger sister had joined the fray.

How could she have interfered with his seal? Surely this had to be some coincidence…

None of this makes sense. She couldn't be responsible for the spell we placed on Talis deteriorating like this.

Dante bit down on the pad of his thumb and started to pace franticly. "I don't think that's it. It can't be it. Not possible. He's been around the loudmouth before and this's never happened…Arg! I hate not knowing what's going on!"

His clawed feet dragged against the ground, producing an ear-grating shriek. And although his words were comprehendible, they were still muffled by the great many teeth crowding his mouth. It made him hard to follow as he rambled frantically.

"Dante!" Terra snapped. "Calm down!"

The boy flinched and for a second, the others could see the black tears starting to well up in his eyes. It made for a strange sight, this monstrous child trying so desperately to not cry. "D-Don't yell at me!" he sniffed, voice wavering slightly. His lip trembled as he bit down on it.

Terra checked himself at the boy's tone, rife with genuine fear. Lifting his arm, he motioned for him to come closer. Dante hesitated at first, but soon found himself taking a seat on the floor. Terra waited patiently as he slowly inched his way closer, shuffling up against the older Vessel's side. He ran his hand through the boy's hair, mindful of the little horn-like protrusions poking out of his scalp. It was a brotherly gesture, one he used to comfort Ventus many a time before.

Dante took to it very well, eventually calming down the longer he leaned against Terra.

"Getting yourself wound up isn't going to do you any good. Right now, we need to focus on helping Talis. If that magic of yours comes completely undone…"

The others all turned their eyes to their fallen comrade. They couldn't afford to let Talis lose control of himself. He was their one shot at stopping Xehanort and that psychotic plan his from the inside out. He was the one thing keeping them all from turning into the empty puppets their Master was trying to turn them into. In a weird sort of way—and Talis hated when they used this comparison—he was the Queen on their side of the board. He had to be protected at all costs. To lose Talis would be to accept a checkmate that would doom them all.

"So…What do we do now…?" The boy sniffed, rubbing his nose as his transformation melted away. Just as quickly as it began, he reverted back to his proper form and drew his knees up to his chest. Like this, Dante appeared even smaller than he already was. Hard to believe that he was supposed to be one of the Seekers of Darkness destined to become a part of the X-blade.

Terra shifted uneasily. Dante was just a little kid after all. And one of the main reasons why they couldn't let Xehanort get away with this. He couldn't be allowed to ruin yet another helpless kid who didn't deserve to have his life torn apart.

What are we supposed to do?

The Keyblade wielder had more cause than any to make sure that Talis stayed in control. He hadn't gotten any closer to finding Aqua in the Realm of Darkness. Ven was safe as long as his body was still hidden. (Talis once assured him of that fact and although he wouldn't tell Terra where exactly his friend was, the Keyblade wielder trusted his promise that Ven was safe.) But there was still the matter of returning Ven's heart back where it belonged. As far as he knew, a fragment of that heart remained inside Vanitas. The rest of it still needed to be found too.

And that's not even the worst it, he reflected dismally. We still have the issue of Vanitas running around.

Ven and Vanitas were two halves of the same heart. It didn't take much the first time for the two to merge back together. So if a fragment of Ven's was inside Vanitas, would it eventually just fuse with the dark-haired Keyblade wielder? In all likelihood, the possibility for the smaller piece to get overpowered was very high. Terra didn't want that. If something like that happened, and Ven's heart remained broken up, he wouldn't be able to wake up…

Without Talis, he'd have no way to continue his search. Terra couldn't afford something like that. God, he'd rather die.

"Until we understand the cause, there can only be one solution to the problem at hand." Isa's sudden interjection captured everyone's attention and held fast. The blue-haired Berserker had moved back to his spot on the couch and sat there, fingers laced together as he leaned forward and stared off contemplatively.

"Well, what is it then?!" Dante shouted angrily. "Enlighten us, you smug, superior son of a—!"

Terra clapped a hand over the boy's mouth, sparing them all from further obscenities. With Dante's outburst taken care of, Isa continued on promptly and without missing a beat.

"I would think the answer obvious." Cold, golden eyes slid like liquid metal towards Talis' limp form. "Keep him away from his sister, at least until we can figure out what triggered the attack."

"G-Gonna be kinda hard," Dante mumbled, tearing the hand away from his mouth. And improvement over the last time a similar thing occurred. Braig still bore the scar: a perfect dental impression right between his thumb and forefinger. "Now that she knows it's been her brother under that hood, taking potshots at her friends, she's not going to leave any of us alone…"

He knew that his own sister didn't. Angelique was persistent in her pestering of him, constantly hounding Dante every chance she got. So he thought it was a safe bet to say that Tegan McAllister wouldn't back off either. Especially given how she'd reacted back in Earthland. Since she and Talis had spent so much time apart from each other, knowing that her older brother was actually alive and within arms' reach was bound to get a reaction of some sort.

Odds were that girl was going to become a burr up their collective butts.

"We don't have much of a choice, now, do we?" Isa countered. "Given his current state, Talis can't be trusted to operate rationally; he's been compromised. Dante, if one of us isn't sent on a mission with him, make sure that you have a Dream Eater tailing him. When Talis is off-world, someone needs to be watching him. Understood?"

One by one, the others agreed. Some more begrudgingly than others. It wasn't a great compromise, and it was going to be one helluva time for everyone involved. But this was probably for the best anyway, for Talis and for Tegan.

…

…

Wasn't until much later that it was finally safe to leave Talis alone. It took Freya and Dante a few hours to accomplish it, but eventually they were able to pull his seal back in something akin to a proper functioning condition. At least they knew it wasn't going to unravel any time soon. And after a short waiting period to make sure it set correctly, she and Terra were able to get him back to his room and settled for some much needed rest. Goodness knows, the poor man desperately needed it.

But to be perfectly honest, Freya didn't want to leave him alone. Talis was a mess, physically and most definitely mentally. She dreaded the state he was going to be in when he woke up. The idea of leaving him alone when that time came left a gnawing pit in the bottom of her stomach.

The Valkyrie had placed herself on one corner of Talis' old mattress. She'd been trying to get him to replace the old ratty thing for months now. It was lumpy and bumpy and worn out beyond belief, sloppily patched up with bits of scavenged fabric that Talis had accumulated from old clothing.

Freya remembered walking past his room once and jumping out of her skin when Talis belted out a fierce, bellow of a curse. Fear the worst, she had rushed in, slamming open the door, only to find that her fool of a partner had managed to stab himself in the palm with a needle while attempting to patch a hole in his bed sheets.

Her dear, foolish friend. Always trying to take on everything by himself. Everything from the simplest tasks to throwing his own life away for the sake of others.

"You silly imbecile." Freya ran her thumb across Talis' cheek, brushing strands of dark hair back from his forehead. "So self-destructive for the sake of your family."

A bitter smile twisted Freya's features. Well, it's not like she couldn't understand his reasoning.

Seeing that phantasmal version of Ventus back in that cathedral had just about killed her. She could only imagine what all of this was going to do to her partner. The fact that his beloved younger sister now knew where he'd been all this time. The knowledge that, in his mania, he'd come so close to fatally wounding her. Everything was going to hurt him so, so much.

She pulled Talis' threadbare blanket up over his chest and tucked it around him.

"I know that you came into this with the best of intentions…" Freya leaned up against the doorframe, casting a glance back at Talis' body laid out across his bed. "But every day, I am reminded that you should have never joined us, my darling…"

Once his bedroom door eased shut, Talis counted to ten before opening his eyes. Dull, blue eyes stared blankly up at the ceiling as he just lay there, limp and spent.

Well, he'd certainly had better days, hadn't he? There wasn't a single part of him that didn't ache. From the broken, aching sensation in his leg to the way his spine felt like it had been curb stomped. Thanks to that little blue-haired wizard girl, Talis thought he might be looking at a permanent limp in his leg. Aw hell, this might've been what it felt like to get run over by an eighteen-wheeler for all he knew. Oh, and why not throw in getting squashed flat by a bloody steamroller while he was at it? it seemed pretty damn appropriate. Might explain away that throbbing pain in the back of his head that felt like his brain was on the brink of combusting. His chest felt tight, making Talis suspect that he probably had a bruised rib or two, and his eyes stung like hell.

Reminds me of when my glasses stopped workin' for me. Fan-fuckin'-tastic…

God, even his teeth hurt. Why, in the name of all things holy, did his teeth hurt?! That didn't even make sense!

And now I'm goin' tae have to have Frey patch me up later. Dammit all, why in all the years I've been stuck in this hellhole, did I never once pick up a book on healing magic? For crissakes, Zexion's library is still here in the castle!

Yeah, right. Talis trying to teach himself magic was the biggest recipe for disaster. Knowing his crap luck, he'd probably turn himself into a toad or something equally stupid. Blowing up the castle? Nah, too good for the likes of him. But slimy green skin and warts sounded more his speed. Might be fun, even. If anything, it could be worth it just to get a scream out of Braig. Stupid blither really didn't like frogs for whatever reason.

Jesus H. Christ, was he really contemplating the benefits of changing himself into a goddamn amphibian? What the hell was wrong with him?!

Oh, that's right. His brain's trying to stay in denial over what happened in Earthland. Of course…

Talis stared up towards his ceiling, blearily tracing the cracks in the plaster above his head. "Ah, ya stupid dickheed," he quietly sighed. "Ye mucked t'is up right, you did…"

Aw, who was he kidding? "Mucking it up" was putting things too damn nicely. Far from what an effing moron like he deserved. This was a screw-up of truly epic proportions.

Talis still couldn't believe it. After all those years of being so careful, one attack—one goddamn brick to his fucking head—made him lose every ounce of control he had. Something as stupid and inconsequential as a blow to his incredibly thick skull put an end to years of so much hard fucking work. He couldn't believe his own stupidity…

No. maybe that wasn't entirely correct. This sounded exactly his kind of luck. Of course, the higher powers that be wanted him to suffer as much as bloody possible before he finally bit the dust. For god's sake, he was a bloody Seeker of Darkness! Why wouldn't something like this happen?

"Tegan!"

"TALIS, STOP IT!"

BANG!

But he still couldn't believe it. He'd fought with Tegan. Holy mother of God, he had actually tried to kill Tegan.

Tegan. Little Bird. His precious hellbrand of a younger sister. The only flesh-and-blood family he had left—the one and only person he'd promised to protect no matter what—and he tried to kill her. After everything Talis put himself through. All the shite he'd dealt with to keep that daft girl safe. All of those years of torture and hardship, and he'd come so close to ending her life with his own two hands.

If it hadn't been for Dante's shout distracting him, making his aim shift slightly off course, he…

I damn near put a bullet right through my baby sister's head…

He felt sick as that thought seared into his brain. Bile crawled a scorching path up his throat, threatening to eject the contents of his stomach. Everything cramped, wracking his body with a swift, acute sense of agony so powerful it was disorienting. Talis rolled onto his side with a groan, finding that his bedroom was now spinning violently.

Tears burned his eyes, blinding Talis in a watery haze. Sliding off the edge of his bed, he fell to the floor in a boneless, miserable heap. And there Talis lay, curled up around himself. Shaking. Muffled sobs echoed inside his empty, cavernous room.

All he could see was Tegan's broken, bleeding body as she reached out towards him. Her thin arms slashed through to the muscle. Burned an angry, horrible red from the power of his Horsemen. Trails of crimson running into her eyes as she struggled to stay conscious.

Tegan, so weak and helpless. A far cry from the high spirited, loveably spastic girl he knew her to be. And it was all because of him. Talis could feel his heart breaking all over again.

"I'm sorry, Tegan," he whispered hoarsely, pounding the floor with his fist. "I'm so…so…sorry…!"

Isa was right.

He needed to stay away from Tegan. He couldn't…He wouldn't do that to her again. It didn't matter to him if this meant losing his heart; Talis was ready to die if it meant keeping his sister safe. Taliswas the older brother. It was his job to protect his sibling. He had promised on the day of their parents' funeral to keep her safe. No matter what. Even if that meant he would never be able to return to his old life, he wouldkeep Tegan safe.

She had all of her new friends, after all. She had a life again. Before all of this, he'd been forced to watch his sister destroy herself from afar. She'd withdrawn from the rest of the world, even from her friends back on Earth. Tegan had gotten into trouble constantly, dropped out of school, and alienated herself from everyone else in town.

His sister wasn't the kind of person to just cut herself off from everything. Tegan needed human interaction in order to function. After losing their mother and father at such a young age, she'd come to depend on her relationship with others, hanging onto them like a lifeline. But by shutting herself away from the world, Tegan put a wall up around herself. She had wallowed in a depression so deep that Talis feared for her.

Her solitude had been killing her.

She'd come so far. The walls she had built up around her heart were coming down and she was starting to get her cheer back. Tegan had developed strong bonds with Braig's son and Dante's sister. Sora, Riku, Kairi, and Lea. And there was that other girl from Earth, the Twilight Compass Xehanort was keeping tabs on.

Hell, she'd even managed to tame Vanitas, of all things.

Talis couldn't help but feel proud of his sister. Overcoming such hardship. Finding her happiness again. Smiling. It made his heart soar to see her so happy.

No matter what, he was going to preserve that smile. After all, what did she need a pathetic bastard like him for…?

Light: Thank you for not electrocuting anyone, Freya.

Freya: Yes, well I can't exactly afford to give my comrades debilitating heart ailments, can I? I'll just have to treat their wounds and file paperwork with the Xehanorts. Too much trouble. That, and I can't really fault the boys for being worked up. *glares at Light sternly*

Light: Eheheh...