Last Airbender

He didn't know what was going on. Why it was going on. One moment he was enjoying the pleasure of Alexis and Gales company, the next they were under full fledged attack by none other than Pala. Had she gone mad!? Holding off Gale, Coden tried to understand what was happening until things suddenly escalated. He released Gale, bolting to help the young Moipai when he was thrown back by a force of manipulated nature. By the time he recovered, the tables were turned.

A part of him told him to let Alexis finish Pala off. The White Witch deserved as much, didn't she? A deeper knowledge told him something wasn't right though. Alexis didn't look right. Didn't...feel right. In all the days he'd spent with Alexis, he'd never felt such blood lust radiating from her, of all people. A blood lust that, while attractive in some senses, completely alienated the young woman he'd come to know so well. Tainting the 'purity' he'd fallen for.

"No...no...don't do it...don't do it..." The words slurred as he scrambled to his feet. Bolting across the open road. Open arms clamping around Alexis as he grappled the Moipai, dragging her to the ground and away from Pala. His head buried against her shoulder as he wrestled her into the cold hard dirt. Muffled words pressed against her ears and neck as he tried to convince her to let go of the blood lust. Desperately coxing Alexis back to some piece of sanity she seemed to have lost.

"Oh for the love of the gods..." Angelique chirped unhappily as she watched the fight escalate from bad to worse. She had no idea what was wrong with Alexis NOW, but apparently it wasn't good.

Well Pala had said that if Alexis asked for help she should give it, though the woman hadn't seemed to account for herself being the one in trouble...

She watched Gale fly a few feet away and land rather hard.

...And apparently Gale. Oh and there went Coden. None of this was getting to the root of the problem, though. If only they weren't by water she might be able to actually do something...but then again, maybe this time she could actually get it to bend to her will and stay put?

Probably too much to hope for, but worth a shot, anyway.

Taking off from the cart, she landed on a branch out of sight and concentrated on her powers, focusing on manipulating the energy and waiting for whichever element chose to respond. To both her annoyance and relief, the water from the stream began to shift.

'Alright...start with forming a circle around Alexis...let's see if I can gouge the marks into the ground or something...'

With a pull of energy, focusing it on those specific points and shapes, the water flooded over the, steam rolling off where it left the marks in the ground.

Good. A sealed barrier. Now to find out what the hell was wrong with the girl. Angelique flinched slightly at the strain Alexis was already putting on the barrier. Obviously that name didn't hold quite enough power to make this easy. Taking off the branch, she landed on Gale's shoulder, as he was a safe distance away and less shaken than Pala.

"I need you to do me a favor, kid," she said. "I need you to cover me and if she breaks out, make sure I don't die, alright?"

This wasn't going to be fun, even less so because she was having to rely on some of these idiots to keep her (and incidentally Alexis should she succeed in getting into her head) alive. Jumping to the ground, she began sketching quick marks with her feet before letting her mind go, following the marked path and connecting to the marks inside the circle...and hopefully to Alexis.

Alexis stood with a wicked gleam in her eye as the air around Pala was sucked away, watching her suffocate. Yep… Nice and slow… With the wind churning and cutting and howling around them both, she’d be surprised if the woman could get the concentration to even attempt fighting back. Not as fun when they don’t fight back… But this ending felt rather fitting after what she tried to do to her. She was losing her patience though… She stepped forward, about to send a blade of air at the woman to see her bleed a little when suddenly a hand tore at her throat. She looked rather surprised to see that her assailant was Gale…. Gale!?!?

He was against her too? Was there no one in this universe that wouldn’t betray her? She felt hurt and angry, and raised her hand to attack her new foe, as Pala seemed to be taken care of for the moment. But… She couldn’t do it… She knew she could, just slash down and the air would… But… She cared too much about Gale… Some rational part of her was still clamored down deep in her mind, tugging at her… She didn’t want to deal with this… Her issue wasn’t with Gale… wasn’t allowed to be with him… It was with Pala…. Yes… Blasting the boy back so that he’d be out of her sight and murderous thoughts, she forced herself not to go tear him apart as well… Later… She’d get him later…. She consoled herself as she returned to the other woman.

Before she could go back to that impatient final blow though, another foe came from behind, pinning her to the ground. From the sound of his voice, she knew it was Coden. She cursed at him and struggled to get out, but with her arms pinned, she couldn’t bend the air like before, leaving her to try the old fashioned way. Twisting and turning, trying not to listen to the calming words he spoke. No! He wasn’t allowed to do that! That would end this! She couldn’t go back! She needed to tear that woman apart! For trying to kill her! For betraying and hurting her! She needed to keep a hold of this anger, as it was the only thing keeping them from doing that again! From hurting her even more! And for some other important reasons half forgotten…

As she tried to break free from Coden’s grasp, she realized that the dry earth had changed to muddy water. She hadn’t been that wet from before. She cursed, knowing that there was one last member of their troop that was cowardly waiting for the cheapest moment to betray her as well. Mentally berating the bird for failing yet again at her magic’s. That was, until she noticed the markings in the mud. Before she could do anything, the strangest feeling came over her, like falling into a large pile of feathers. Her eyes dulled as her body stopped thrashing around from trying to break free. In the darkest corner of her mind, what little bit of Alexis was left was half asleep, unable to perceive the world outside except for a comforting murmur of a vaguely remembered voice. She could tell that there was someone else in there, and that the horrid side of herself that seemed to be unleashed was in here as well…



*this may be rather confusing because well... her mentality has been rather screwed with over her life... so if you have questions let me know and I'll do my best to answer*

Pala pulled herself up off the ground, wiping the dirt and spit from her face. She had always known emotions were the key to one's powers, but she had never anticipated somebody has reasonable and level headed as Alexis had something like that buried inside.
She caught the looks from Coden and Gale and knew she'd havre to explain herself.
"i
I...did this for all of us, i never intended to kill her." She felt herself trembling, as adrenaline coursed throughout her body and fear constantly tried to undermine her ability to merely stand up. It...felt good.
"Something had to break that power free from inside her...and only severe emotion would pull it out...the rest is up to her, if we ever want to leave."

The boy's help was not needed as Angelique slowly lulled Alexis to sleep. On shaky arms, he pushed himself up to a sitting position and looked over at Alexis, Coden, Pala, and Angelique. To... awaken her powers again? Gale shook his head. That was pure murderous hate. Not Alexis. "Didn't work." He stated the obvious.

With effort, he stood on his feet, wobbling slightly and taking several deep, painful breaths. Tottering over to the others, he stopped a step away and stared at Alexis. It was still there. That taint. That... not Alexis in Alexis. No... he squinted, but looking wasn't helping. It was as if a moth, dancing away from his fingers whenever he tried to grasp at it.

Couldn't look this way. He took another breath, slowly, air hissing through clenched teeth. But he was able to concentrate more now, breath held deep. Yes. There...

Lost as breathing hurt again. He opened hi eyes slowly, and stared at them again. There was a not Alexis in Alexis making her angry. "There-" He started, but stopped, shaking his head. How did he explain this? This more of a feeling a word? The slimy, slithery taint that wove its way into Alexis, expertly hiding under and in some other thing that acted as a blanket, muffling and suffocating the Alexis underneath. He couldn't think of a way right now - couldn't think of a way to expel it, either.

He hardly moved after Alexis stopped thrashing. He knew she'd gone under, but he didn't want to let her go. So Coden sat in the mud, surrounding himself around the unconscious young woman.
Beyond him he watched the others of his party. Obeserved them. Of them each, he wanted to rip into Pala rather fiercely. His inner General wanting to call her ever name in every book. Deride her tactics and break her spirit as was in his nature as a hardened General. Striving off those words, reminding himself where he was, Coden kept to a simple, hateful glare. He would share his thought with her later, if at all, when Alexis was properly taken care of.
Subconsciously rocking Alexis tightly in his lap, the Gyspus shook a muddy streak of hair from his face. Allowing him a more clear view of the child standing close by. Heavy breathing concerning him. "Are you okay, Trooper?"

Gale took a jumpy step back when Coden addressed him, but nodded once, quickly. eyes wandering to Alexis, he slowly shook his head, ears twitching slightly. He stared at Alexis, the taint - right after so much raw rage - was obvious to him right now. Did Coden feel it?

Taking in a slow, deep breath, he wheezed more than talked, "A...Alexis... She feels..." he waved his hand in the air, making a so-so motion. "Funny." Funny wasn't the right word, but it worked for him right now. It was down right scaring the shit out of him.

Not only the taint that was in her, but the covering a well. It was like... a part... not full... but a part... of her was a fish and that fish was in a net and it had no way of getting out until the net strings were broken. And that was bad.

He opened his mouth again, but instead took another shaky breath as his sides throbbed. Then, "....There's... two..." Wasn't there a way to cut those strings? Or remove the net without removing the fish? Had... had he done something like that before? He couldn't remember.

Angelique 'woke' to find herself floating in an endless sea of black splashed with colors. Despite the seriousness of the situation she couldn't help but reach out to one of the nearest streams that changed and swirling, leaving colored lights on her hand...

Ahead was a building, floating like everything else. A Ziggurat, or at least that was the shape it had with 7 levels reaching up into the dead space around it. The color...that was a different matter. Not entirely sure how to move around, Angelique tested moving her arms in a swimming motion. It didn't work, however, leaving her once again baffled. Half afraid she would fall down into the nothingness below, she tried taking a step. Much to her surprise, it worked.

Running on nothing was an odd experience, but then again...the mind didn't truly have to make sense, and considering Alexis' current state of mind seemed rather out of it, Angelique couldn't bring herself to be too surprised. As she drew closer, a sort of shadow seemed to crawl along the front of the building before disappearing. It set her on edge and she picked up the pace, wanting to find Alexis' mind and get out of there as quickly as possible. It also would be nice to get out of the open. Taking a key representing Alexis' name from her pocket, she unlocked the door and entered the building.

The inside was so...strange, that Angelique had a moment of vertigo as she tried to adjust her thoughts to wrap around what she was seeing. Strange colors mixed together to form indistinct outlines and shapes. Looking down, she could see the floor, or what she assumed was supposed to be the floor, unfortunately she could see beneath it to a degree. Nothing appeared truly solid. Unnerved, she took a step inside and closed the door behind her. There were things littered all over the floor, some glowing, others just sitting there in the weird technicolor that was Alexis' mind.

"No wonder she was acting like a hippie," Angelique muttered, more to try and cut through the uneasiness that gripped her. Something was very very wrong. Noticing movement off to the side, she focused in on it and saw another shadow seeping over various artifacts and dulling whatever it touched. They were all over the place.

Steeling herself, Angelique quickly began to pick her way through the living room, narrowly avoiding tripping several times as her mind worked to process the colors and translate them into objects. Passing near a wall she saw the glowing text of what appeared to be some sort of spell or sacred passage. Passing them, she continued on, using the wall as a guide, trying to find some stairs. Finding them, she began to head down, guessing that would be where Alexis' mind resided given that the path up seemed rather...dark and foreboding.

'What the hell is wrong with this girl?' Angelique had to wonder as the stairs leveled out and she found herself in a hallway where every door was broken, some hanging off their hinges, others completely shattered with the debris littering the hall. As she passed the rooms, she noticed that their states seemed to match the doors. Chaos, destruction...something had come through here, and was probably what had tried to kill Pala in the Real World. As she continued, she could vaguely make out what appeared to be a human shape somewhere below her. Well at least she was headed in the right direction. Making several turns, she came across the next flight of stairs.

It was several levels down before she came to what almost appeared to be a prison of sorts. Or what had been a prison until recently. After that first level she'd noticed the damage getting worse the further she went down, and this level was no different. Bars twisted into odd shapes, embedded in the floor, walls, and ceiling, parts of which were missing from each of them, forcing her to shuffle along the hall slowly to avoid tripping over anything. The rooms that she passed here were full of the shadows, the same sense of foreboding coming from each of them as if they had been permanently tainted so that even when whatever was running around on the upper levels had gotten free they still felt its effects down there.

Of course she was SURE that she was being followed, so that could've had something to do with it.

"Alright Alexis, I know you're on this level somewhere," Angelique said, glaring around. She was there, but no matter where she went, there always seemed to be a wall between them. She pulled out the key and held it up, letting it dangle. "Alexis...get out here right now!" Okay so not a truly 'official' command, but as she didn't know the girl's true name (or even any others) she could only hope that she could get her attention and didn't want to waste the energy on calling her out when it was guaranteed not to work.

Scouring her brain, she tried to recall the various things she'd passed written on the walls, trying to remember if any of them had seemed like a name. Or perhaps if she'd ever heard the girl called something else...anything else...

"Alexis, Alexandria..." Coden called her that sometimes. What else had she seen or heard.... "Um...Lexis, Lexy..." There had been some written on the wall a few levels up...what was it... "Moto Hoshiko...Alena, Swati, mariella, Reshmi, Yi, Aurora, Riona, Blind Elf Girl, Killjoy! Now either get out here or let. me. in!"

There was a horrible grating noise as a door slowly began to open in the wall, revealing a passage beyond. Oh good...that door looked to be broken, too. Pushing her weight against it, Angelique managed to get it to open a few more inches so she could (barely) squeeze through and into the passage.

The end of the passage opened up into a bare room. Against one wall was a plain desk and chair and against another...a bed and Alexis. Taken back by the sight, Angelique ran over to the girl and knelt next to her, avoiding the dark shadows that seemed to cover her, almost like chains. Her skin seemed dulled where they touched her as if they were trying to absorb into her body...

Finding a spot not covered in the taint, she shook the girl slightly.

"Alexis...wake up!"

Alexis opened her eyes, glancing up at Angelique, fingering a small doll,. “…….Knew someone was here……..” She whispered to the doll, which looked remarkably like her, yet none of the shadows could seem to touch it. She held it protectively away from the chains as she played with its hair. Couldn’t let anyone touch it. It had to be kept safe. If anything happened to it… “….Why are you here?”

"I'm here to get you back to reality," Angelique said, still trying to avoid the chains. "Urgh. What are these things, anyway?"

“…I don’t know… They’ve always been here… As long as I can remember… They were never this bad before… I wouldn’t touch them if I were you…” Alexis said in a hallow tone, still playing with the dolls hair. “How do you plan on getting us back anyhow? I tried and tried for the last eternity, and I can’t even leave this room… Better yet… How do YOU plan on getting out? The shadows followed you here you know… My last retreat…” She said, glancing around blankly at the room, vaguely remembering it back from her days in solitary… Where she was forced to dwell when she did something bad…

"I still have things I can use to protect myself if need be," she said, pocketing the key. "Can you move?"

Alexis stared at the floor, then back to her bonds. S he stood up, wearing a long white dress from her homeworld, frayed at the bottom, stained by splatters of blue blood. As she pulled against the shadows, they tugged her back, whispering to her. Telling her she didn’t deserve going back up to the surface, after all of the damage she had done. All the people she killed, she hurt. Wondering about how long it would take for this…. Trespasser… to betray her as well… She broke in here… She wanted to wipe her out her own brain. She stopped pulling forward, looking at Angelique suspiciously, “….How can I trust you? After Pala… After everyone I know turns against me…. How can I believe you?”

Angelique gave her a look. "Because I really don't care enough to perform the rituals I'd need to do in order to addle your brain completely. I'm in this for me, because I NEED you alive and in your right frame of mind so that we can find a way to get off of this planet."

She was taken aback by Angelique’s bluntness, but the answer seemed to satisfy her for now. Still protectively cradling the doll, she took a few shaky steps forward. Nearing the door, she stopped, the chains taut. She forcibly took another step forward, the shadow yanking forward with her. The room grew darker and aged by the second. Crumbling into disrepair. As soon as Alexis left the room she bolted, tearing the shadows away as much as she could. Bands of the shadows tore away from her, but stuck close to her heels, working to catch up with the fleeing Alexis. Some veered away and reached for Angelique, whispering dark questions to her as well… A humanoid shaped figure materialized out of the shadows, attempting to look like Alexis, but everything looked… wrong. A long crystalline glaive appeared in her hands, which she whipped out, pointing it threateningly at Angelique. “Get out of here now or die” She said, as the shadows crept up from behind…

Alexis was lost, not knowing the layout this far down. She was in the prison that she had tried to lock the shadows away in. Locked those negative feelings inside her. Farther down inside the labyrinth she ran, the walls getting darker and darker behind her, waiting for the moment she tripped on the rubble or couldn’t keep those thoughts away, when they’d rise up and consume her. She hadn’t been this far down before, it didn’t look like it was her own mind anymore… Everything was twisted and broken, deep gouges in the walls and floors that lead into patches of nothingness. The shadows shepherded her down a series of twists and turns, eventually opening up to a large open space. The sky opened up, a giant flaming star bearing down with a red light, casting everything into deep shadow. Standing alone in the middle of this nothingness was a large obsidian shard, tearing into the earth, cracking it. Runes were written on it, in a tongue that she couldn’t understand. The shadows clung to the structure, seemed to stem from it, and yet had never seen it before. No idea what this was… But she knew one thing… It wasn’t hers… It wasn’t from her mind… So how did it get here? As she wondered these things, she didn’t realize that the shadows where drawing close to her again, luring her closer and closer to the structure.

Angelique glared at the copy of Alexis.

"I wouldn't try that if I were you...you really wouldn't want a Phoenix dying IN your mind, now would you? And you can't kill me spiritually anyway so you'd be wasting your time and energy." She was tempted to follow after Alexis, but considering this copy seemed to be the problem...She should probably find out what was going on first. "Who are you and what are you doing here?"

The figure smirked, not lowering the glaive. “You’re in my brain… Who do you think I am? I’m simply defending myself and my… interests…” Her eyes never left Angelique as the shadows that stemmed from her slid quietly on the ground, beginning to cling onto the trespasser’s feet. “I agree… Killing you would be stupid… as if you could truly die anyways… I suppose there are… more beneficial means of disposing of threats… Haven’t tried this before…”

"You're not disposing of anyone..." Eyes narrowed, Angelique summoned up her powers, burning marks in the walls all along the room and doorway, locking her in. "Now I'll have you know that I don't take to threats of any sort kindly, so I'm going to put you back where you belong...trapped down here apparently if the prison is anything to judge by." Setting several marks by the second Alexis' feet, she set them off, sending a shockwave through the floor at the girl who crumpled to the floor, apparently caught off guard.

"Well that should be enough to keep you out for a while," Angelique said, forcing herself to move and leave the room. Two active barriers and an offensive attack, plus just moving around in Alexis' mind were starting to take their toll. Fortunately she had several names of Alexis' to use in aid, but when it came to trapping...whatever that was, she trusted using her own names more than ones that it would know. She staggered slightly on her way out of the room and continued down the hall toward the next flight of stairs downward. She could vaguely make out more shapes below.

Coming out in a strange twisted hall, Angelique took off, wanting to find Alexis as quickly as possible and get out of there. That girl had some SERIOUS problems and she wanted to get out of there before said problems actually tried to attack her. Taking various twists and turns, avoiding the shadows that were closing in all around here, she finally came out into a dark open room with a strange pillar in the middle of it, and about halfway to the pillar--

"ALEXIS!" Taking off again, she began to run toward the girl, though her progress seemed to be hampered the further she went, something weighing heavily on her mind (the shadows, she guessed) as she struggled not to collapse there, not before her mission was complete. She was going to have to do some serious spiritual rituals to get rid of this taint on her mind.

Oh and she was going to kill Alexis when they got out of there. Her simple get in, get her back to normal, and get out plan was being wrecked at every turn. It would've been nice to know BEFORE spending any time with the girl that she was either half crazy or possessed.

Gritting her teeth from the strain, Angelique managed to reach the girl, grabbing her arm, and yanking as hard as she could, causing her to stumble backward toward her. "WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING? There's a maniac...you running around up there trying to KILL PEOPLE and you're off here wandering into," she waved her arm around the place, "wherever this is!" Pulling on her arm again, she began to move back toward the entrance. Her head was pounding and she could feel the strain threatening to tear her mental self apart.

The girl stared at the pillar, and the marks on the floor surrounding it as she was yanked away by Angelique. Clutching the small doll she carried around with her close, as if afraid that someone would take it from her. “This place… isn’t mine… It’s not a part of me but it’s here… Is it yours?” She asked the doll, who didn’t answer her. As Angelique dragged her away from the room, the shadows on the ground began twisting around the girl’s ankles, as a long tendril weaved it’s way from the large structure to the staircase going upstairs. Coming down the stairs was another trail of shadows, materializing into the shadowy figure from before. A wide grin grew on her face as she eyed the doll.

“Didn’t think you’d end up all the way down here… That saves a little bit of time I suppose…Now give me the doll and I’ll let you leave this place.”

The girl clutched the doll and shook her head, backing up against Angelique who looked rather incredulous. “"How did you get down here? That shock should've knocked you out and the room was sealed!"

“It’s my brain @$@#%@#%!! I have the power here, you don’t! Breaking in without enough leverage will be what destroys you. Now give me the #$!#% doll!” She yelled, loosing the calm tone she had been using.

The girl continued to cradle the doll as she eyed the room, looking for possible exits. They couldn’t stay here. The shadows seemed to stem from here, it was too powerful here to try and fight it here… They needed out. She had long ago given up hope of being free of the shadows, that short reprieve given to her by Pala only seemed to make things worse when it broke through the barrier. All that she could do now was contain it, and they needed to get out of the prison to do that… Get up and seal it up again… But they needed an escape… A way out… The shadows blocked off their only escape… But… This is her brain…

Behind her a passageway opened up, a staircase leading off to an unknown location. Pressing the doll tightly to herself, she grasped onto Angelique’s arm, yanking her away from the shadows that latched to her feet, trying to run up the stairs as the tendrils still latched around her, clinging to the walls and leading back downwards, where it was only a matter of time that they’d be followed.

"Not enough leverage...I didn't know I was going to need that much leverage! I thought you had gone around the bend, not been possessed by shadows and a clone!" Angelique griped as they made their way up the stairs. Her head felt funny but after all this it wasn't a surprise. "Alexis, how did you have that thing sealed up before? We have to seal it up again (and I only say 'we' because I unwittingly dragged myself into it). "This place is crawling with so much...I don't even know what to call it, but it's everywhere! I don't know how you can live in your own head!"

“Sealed up? I just… I…” She paused, not sure how to respond. It had always been there… As far back as she could remember, there was a negative aspect of herself that she couldn’t ever place. She just thought that she had a bad temper, got fueled by the moment… “I don’t know… I don’t come down here! You normally go into a pictorial representation of your mind? I don’t know what that was!” The girl yelled, getting more and more annoyed. Wanting to lash out at whatever was behind them instead of running, lash out against Angelique for yelling at her, for making it out like this was all her fault. She slipped behind Angelique, slowed down by something. She glanced down, and to her surprise, several of the shadowy things were grasping onto her, chaining her to the floor. No! Trying to get free, before whatever was behind them caught up to them, before these shadows did anything more to her…

In her struggles, she realized that she was still clutching the small doll. What the hell was it? She knew it was important… But she didn’t know why. It was something, or it wouldn’t be here in her mind… “Come on! You’re here for a reason! Do something!” She yelled at the doll, hoping it wasn’t a futile gesture.

The doll didn’t say anything in response to the girls yelling, but for some reason she felt a little bit better. More… calm… Maybe yelling was all she had to do… Glancing down, enough of the shadows had dissipated that she was able to keep going.

"Okay I think it's safe to say that I am officially freaked out here," Angelique said, watching as Alexis' little tirade at the doll caused the shadows to slip away. "But more importantly...you didn't have that thing sealed up..." she pinched the bridge of her nose. "I don't care if you've never been inside your own head, how could you not know about that thing? Unless it really is just your temper in which case this may not be the best solution, but if we can lure...it out somewhere we might be able to seal it. I think I know enough of your names to create a barrier for it, you'll just have to bury it again like before." She took off down the hall at a sprint. "Come on, we need to get up and away from that mess. And decide where you want the perimeter set up...it's your mind after all"

“Is there a way to get rid of it completely?” The girl asked hopefully, following Angelique. This whole thing unsettled her, she felt like something obvious had been sitting right in front of her and she never noticed it until now. How could this have happened? When did this happen? How didn’t she know that it wasn’t just a temper problem? How did she know it wasn’t?

Her questions would have to wait it seemed, as a figure jolted up out of the ground in their path, blocking their way. She leered at the girl condescendingly, “Don’t let that woman trick you, you know you’d have recognized an attack if it had happened… She’s the one that’s giving you ideas, considering where we are, any kind of foreign lie can be dangerous, even if one knows that it’s a lie. That’s the problem with having different aspects of yourself running around… One of them could get… corrupted…”

"Oh shut up," Angelique snarled at the second Alexis. This was really getting tiring. "I'm not turning her against anything. If you hadn't noticed what she was saying she doesn't seem to think too highly of you already. " She glanced at Alexis. "I don't know if there's a way to get rid of her or not, I'm not a spiritualist. I'll do what I can, but as I don't even know what she actually is I won't be able to do any more. Don't want to risk splitting your soul into sections after all."

Summoning up what was left of her powers, she concentrated on the walls and floor, concentrated on Alexis' names, as well as a couple of her own, and then finally, concentrated on the strongest seals she knew, forcing them to appear, slowly gouging themselves into the walls, ceiling, and floor, creating a lightly shimmering barrier. A sealed barrier, with snares appearing up and down the hall, nearly invisible threads winding their way around the other Alexis' arms and legs. After her power was expended, Angelique felt the world start to spin and grow dark, her sense shutting down in this world. She dropped to the floor, the seals that connected her to her own mind tugging on her, pulling her back as consciousness faded.

The girl stood by as Angelique wove a spell into the corridor, causing her to feel light headed. She couldn’t move as strands of light spun around them all, trapping whatever part of her was linked to that… thing down below. As Angelique faded away, she looked up to see her other self give a confident smirk at her before giving her a mock salute as she dissolved away as well. As the spell continued to weave around her, the lights grew and grew around her until suddenly everything went dark.

Alexis woke up to find herself in Coden’s arms, feeling cold and wet as the mud clung to her. She tried to remember what just happened, the events in her mind feeling like a half remembered dream… Something was still down there… Something bad… “…my head hurts…”

As Angelique blacked out, the spells she'd been holding in the real world snapped, showering everyone with a light spray of water. Her bird form slumped over, unconscious. When she woke it was back in her mind, staring out at the desert that surrounded the heart of her consciousness. Lovely. Trapped in mindspace. She leaned against a palm tree and stared off into the distance. She'd just have to wait until she had recovered enough to re-enter her body. As she sat there, a shadow passed over her, causing her to look up. Nothing except a single desert cloud drifting by.

"Strange," she mused, leaning her head back. Oh well as long as she was there recovering, she might as well catch up on some sleep. It would be better than dealing with her own mind at any rate, and it would speed up her reentry into the real world.

Pala watched idly by as whatever battle was going in waged inside alexis and angelique. She could feel something bad inside alexis, but she dared not to intervene.

Eventually, Alexis woke up....Pala decided not to confront her yet, but she noticed angelique was unconscious. She couldn't afford to wait for her...she might even help Pala make a defence against Alexis. Pala found herself jogging over to the bird, and laying her hands upon her. Shamans were meant to give spiritual guidance, and that is what she'd do. Whatever state angelique was in, Pala would try and help her get out of it faster, without directly journeying into her mind. Sometimes, a little influence was enough.

The boy watched on worriedly, mouth slightly agape, shoulders rising and falling slowly. He saw Alexis and Angelique, but also felt them inside the mind. Felt, in the most rudimentary of ways, how they fought the shadows and taint, how they ran and ultimately failed in expelling it from the Moipai.

Gale forced himself away when Alexis woke up, all too happy to be away from the shadows. Wasn't Alexis mad that it was in her? The mind was the last sanctuary and that thing was in there, messing it up. Alexis had no where to hide, with her mind like that.

The boy didn't move from his spot. He was thinking. There was a way to get the taint out. but how? He tried to concentrate on it, but it was so hard with this throbbing in his side. With a soft growl to himself, he touched where it throbbed and instantly regret it. He looked at Alexis again. Was it her or the taint that did this? He didn't know.

Trying to ignore his side as best he could, he thought back, crawling through muddled memories, looking for the right one. But... that happened before something traumatic, so he was having trouble finding it and keeping a grasp on it.

Alexis hung limply in Codens’ arms, trying to sort her thoughts out. Everything felt weird. She really didn’t like the looks she was given, Gale seemed rather terrified of her… What happened? She remembered talking to Coden… and Pala attacked…. And then… Then…. A horrible sickening feeling entered her gut… She didn’t… But… She remembered bits and pieces of it… She tried to kill her… Wanted to kill her… But why? She never knew afterwards what brought that rage out, WHY she was so angry all the time. Why she was like that…. Had been always like that…

Then she remembered her dream… Where she was locked inside of someplace… Her mind… And Angelique was there as well… She got inside her somehow… But more importantly was what she found inside. That place that wasn’t hers… The source of all those shadows inside… But… what was it? Was THAT what made her like this? How long had it been there? Why was it there? She didn’t know, and this frightened her. She feared for her own sanity, afraid that she’d lose control again, become lost in that place and never come out again. Afraid that she’d… Go after the others… It seemed to her that they feared this as well… The accusing stares, the worried looks… They knew that she was a ticking time bomb… They knew…

She thought it was a temper problem. Just stay calm, and bad things wouldn’t happen… she had it under control. Right? But… She didn’t…. She didn’t have it under control… This whole tournament proved that… She was scared. Honestly and truly scared that she’d lose control. She couldn’t lose control around them… What if she… What if she killed someone? She couldn’t deal with that guilt. Couldn’t deal with the pain… Couldn’t deal with the stares…

Without any warning, she shot up, out of Coden’s grip, away from the others. Giving a last futile look back, she raced off, determined to get away from them somehow. She needed to be alone… Needed a chance to think… Figure out what was going on inside of her….

Angelique awoke in her own mind with a slight start, feeling the tug from her body. Was it time already? She couldn't have been out that long...

Not bothering to concern herself with why she had recovered after that so quickly, she let herself drift back into her body, eyes fluttering open to see Pala leaning over her. Well that explained why she had been able to wake up prematurely at least, and oh was her head pounding. With a bit of effort she managed to prop herself back up onto her feet and take off from the ground, perching on the edge of the cart.

"I suppose this means I should thank you, Pala, for your assistance." She felt a slight twinge of annoyance, but ignored it for now. It was only proper after all.

For the first time in what felt like forever, Pala smiled. And it was at angelique, of all people. Things weren't turning out how she'd expected.
"Well..." She murmered, "You did help me in the end afterall..."
After an awkward moment of silence, she supposed she should update the phoenix.
"Well...Alexis has gone off somewhere, alone. Not that i mind, but in the state she's in, and the people who are after us, i think somebody should go keep an eye on her..." She turned round, uncomfortable looknig at Coden.
"I think she'd take more kindly to you."

Angelique shifted slightly, surprised at the smile. She hadn't noticed that she'd never seen the woman smile before.

"I simply did what I had to, namely trying to bring Alexis back to reason..." she trailed off. On that note she should probably be looking into whether the herbs she'd need for a cleansing ritual existed in this world and if not, whether or not they had equivalent counterparts. She'd touched those shadows (there had been no way around that) and she didn't want to risk any lingering effects.

"Something is very wrong with Alexis. There's something down in her mind and I can't tell if it's a part of it or not because either way it's all over the place, infecting everything. I did my best to create a barrier and seal it off, but I don't know how long it will hold." She paused, looking ahead toward where the hidden bay was supposed to be that they were headed for. "We should get moving as quickly as possible, though. The sooner we're off these roads and away from potential fights the better. I'd rather not risk something letting that thing break out."

"I..can help in more then one way when it comes to survival. If we're going to be continuously hunted, you, and everyone else might need to master the abilities you've been given. Whilst i'm not sure if the power on this world is the same as my own, it has it's similarities..i could teach you to control those powers. My own abilities aren't something that was passed down a special bloodline, anybody with the capacity is able to learn it, which means i can teach all of you. I've been weilding the elemants since i was a young girl, i think i can pass some of my knowledge on."

Angelique continued to watch the road ahead for a little bit before turning her head away from Pala slightly to focus in on her easier.

"I'm not sure if you'll be able to help straighten out my problems...every time I call for fire if there's water nearby it moves as well, usually dampening my fires and me as well and when I try to move water specifically nothing happens at all." She paused. "That's how I got the water to move earlier...I was calling for fire."

She didn't bother bringing up the fact that her skills with even fire was rather poor to begin with.

Gale watched Alexis run off. After a slight pause, he gave chase, wincing at his side. "I'll get her." He told Coden, not looking at the man, unconsciously circling around him.

He could hear Alexis' footsteps quite easily. It seemed like she was just trying to gain distance and didn't care about the noise that she made. He, however, was being more careful, avoiding large twigs and fallen leaves, stepping where soft green grass would muffled his footfalls.

The boy's ears twitched and he used the trees for support, not daring to jump from branch to branch in case his side surprised him with a stab of pain. Falling would not be in his best interests and, after wiping sweat from his forehead, he pushed on, stumbling from one tree to the next, feet in a myriad dance with the ground below

Soon, but not as soon as he would have liked, he found Alexis in a sort of clearing. Hesitantly, he left the tree, staring at her feet. After a pause he spoke, "...Lexis?" The only loud thing that remained was his breathing as he stared past her.

She hurt him. That wasn't good - could he trust her again? What if she-

But there was that taint, that slimy, oozy, puss-filled feeling that was not Lexis in her. That. Gale could blame that, get angry at that, want to kill that. But not Alexis. He could blame that part and not her and she could still be trusted.

Because, frankly, she was the only one not from his original world that he felt he could trust.

"You don't weild the elements internally. Elementalism, as we call it back home, is weilded by will. The will is a tool for manipulating the element in question...If you want to call up fire, but direct your focus at water, you'll begin to control the water. Next time you try to use fire, focus your will, however you manifest it, upon the air around you. Just...push everything you have into infusing the air with heat, and then when it ignites, make it flow towards your target. It all depends on the method..."

Angelique sighed. "Look, I appreciate your attempt to help, but...I'm not focusing on water, or at least I wasn't when it first started responding. It's almost...more like a magnet. For me when I want to summon up my fire, I just focus on the energy and the fire responds naturally, but now...water is responding as well, the element being drawn to the energy I'm using to manipulate it." She ruffled her feathers in frustration. "I'm not even sure if that makes any sense."

He was quiet for long while. Simply taking joy in the fact that Alexis had taken consciousness again. The simplicity of that Joy wouldn't last, though. She bolted. without reason or word. Just up and left in such a hurry, that Coden found himself gripping empty air in her wake.

What just happened? He was so lost. First the attack, the bipolar reactions. The magic and--

Alexis seemed just as confused and more. Was she afraid? What was going through her head? Why did it seem everyone else around him knew just what was going on and not him!?

Frustratedly fisting his hair, Coden tried to stave off the growing desire to blow his lid while Pala and Angelique discussed this and that. Making him question just what the hell was wrong with them. one moment their all trying ti kill each other, the next...

Eventually tiring of their civil banter, He pushed himself to his feet. Casually following Gale and Alexis' trail into the woods. He wanted answers; had so many questions and demands building up. Keeping his peace was getting harder and harder, but he staved it. Alexis was more important.
He took his time tracking the child and the Moipai. Hanging back a short distance before intruding.

Alexis raced away from the others, not looking where she was going or thinking anything though, she just had to get away. It wasn’t safe around her… Not until she figured out what was going on. She tried to remember what she saw down there. She knew that there was something in there that wasn’t hers… But how much of it was? If there was a foreign presence in her, how come she didn’t know? How much had it affected her? How much of her was truly her? What if the others found some way to separate it from her only for her to wind up an empty shell? Or be a completely different person?

Not knowing how long she fled, she collapsed to the ground. Curled up against a stone, staring at the moss growing on it. Doubts and fears raging through her, not knowing what was real anymore. Was anything she thought her own? Her feelings? How would she know? Her throat clenched up, making it hard to breathe while her eyes stung. Wrapping her arms around herself, she tried to think of way to console herself, assure herself that she wasn’t a lie. She heard the sounds of someone approaching from behind and she froze, hearing Gale call out her name. She didn’t turn around or make any motion to acknowledge the boy’s presence. She didn’t want something bad to happen again… And she…. It…. She hurt him.

He didn’t leave. She tried to ignore him and he wouldn’t leave. Why wouldn’t they leave her alone! Eventually she turned her head slightly, catching the boy’s aura out of the corner of her eye, along with another aura not far behind. She was drawing a crowd it seemed… What if it happened again? She took a deep breath, trying to calm herself down. Push those feelings down. Feelings she wasn’t even sure were hers… It’d be better to keep them down then…

“………….Hey Gale….. I’ll be going back soon, you didn’t have to come out here…” She lied in a hallow tone, not intending on going back at any time in the near future, “….Sorry about…… hurting you….. I….. I didn’t mean it…..” She said quietly, before curling back up against the wall, afraid to say anything else in fear of breaking down.