3803/The Last Nightmare

The Last Nightmare
Date of Scene:	21 September 2019
Location:	The Seal of the Eater of Dreams
Synopsis:	The Nightmare Prince destroys the seal holding back the age old Eater of Dreams, forcing our heroes to enter the abyss in desperation. What they find there is not pleasant as the Eater of Dreams stirs in the darkness, wakened from hundreds of years of slumber, and the only thing that can hold it back, for now, is a sacrifice that costs just too much.
Cast of Characters:	Ariel Theodore, Norie Okana, Takara Himura, Kotomi Kobana, Seishi Tamashige, 243
Tinyplot:	Fragments of Something Precious

---

Ariel Theodore has posed:
    It's a disaster, it's a catastrophe.
    With all parts of the Nightmare Prince's heart collected, all that was left to do was find him and reunite him with the heart, right? Well it would seem that tonight he's made that very easy.
    It's a panicked and out of control Ariel who rushes through the dream realm, gathering anyone and everyone she can, pulling them from their respective dreams as she leads the way through the land of slumber. This time it's not to some esoteric or strange dream about taking pancakes hostage. There is no big heist. No grinches, no knights, no airplanes, nothing weird or out of the ordinary. And that what might be what makes this so out of the ordinay as she leads through the dark places of the sleeping subconscious to a large shinto gate, covered in ancient worn seals and talismans.
    It's a sight that might be familiar to some... Even if not directly. The Dream Samurai will recognize the seal holding back the Eater of Dreams.
    And the Prince is already there, lightly tapping his cane on the ground with an amused smirk on his face.

Norie Okana has posed:
Lacrima can't dream like everyone else. The place Ariel finds her tonight is... strange. Ariel's never found her here before. A black void of shimmering weird, abstract. Lacrima takes a moment or so to wake out of what appears to be some sort of deep meditation and this causes the shimmering to become more spastic. "Huh?"

Lacrima comes along with because it's dire if Ariel is breaking into her nonstandard 'dreams' and it takes a few, long moments to get her bearings. Lacrima seems to be her usual, well dressed self as she shakes it off. "Ariel... what's happening?" she sputters, as they're dragged along to what appears to be a large, large shinto gate... and there's the Prince of Nightmares. In his opera mask. And his cane.

Lacrima smooths out her dress. A non-threating maneuver.

"Please don't do this..." she softly says. "I'm positive nothing good comes from trying to break through that..."

Takara Himura has posed:
Takara Himura has been doing her regular patrols of the dream world, fighting the Nightmares as they pop up when a panicked Ariel comes and grabs her to help. Once she gets the gist of the situation, she rushes along with the unicorn helping her gather up the people that she can until they finally arrive at the seal that's keeping the Eater of Dreams at bay.

In the presence of the seal, Takara goes pale. Even though she can't actually see it, she can sense it, and what she senses isn't good. It's weak. "This isn't good," she says to anybody who might hear. "This is very not good." She clutches her canesword tightly. "You can't let him open that."

Kotomi Kobana has posed:
Kotomi was practicing lucid dreaming in her home-dream, a bright and cheerful version of the manor where Yasumi first made herself known; Kotomi's reaction was to drop everything and take off and fly after Ariel. She's still frustrated about her inability to defend herself or anyone else when she isn't in the dream world, but this is in the dream world.

She transforms along the way; almost on impulse, she's changed the colors of the costume slightly so that they now have a sheen in a skyblue-pink-white-pink-skyblue pattern, and the gems are pink and blue as well. Her eyes are now gleaming a brilliant shade of violet, which she forgot to do the last couple of times she used her lucid-dreaming powers like this.

Her breath catches when she looks upon the dark scene before her. Okay, from that conversation back in January, she knows exactly enough about the Nightmare Prince and the Eater of Dreams that her state of emotions is basically: this is the worst-case scenario!

She shushes her anxiety. Obviously it's not the worst-case scenario yet. It's just, y'know, making a beeline for said scenario. This doesn't help her mental state as much as it could.

Seishi Tamashige has posed:
When Ariel calls, Akashimaru answers. And when Ariel is this agitated, Akashimaru doesn't waste time or breath on asking questions. Mounted as usual on her big dark police horse, O-Yasu behind her clinging for dear life to the cantle of her saddle, the samurai girl follows Ariel's lead through the dream realm.

Except--

O-Yasu realizes first. The baku lets out a curse fit to peel paint, leaping from the horse's back without waiting for Akashimaru to slow down. His stubby little body transforms before he hits the ground, growing to the size of a tiger as he races ahead.

"O-Yasu!" Alarmed, Akashimaru squeezes her heels to the horse's side and bolts after him.

By the time the whole group has gathered in front of the gate, Akashimaru has her tessen out and blazing with red light, horse stamping and jigging restlessly beneath her. O-Yasu crouches nearby, ember eyes wide open and lit with phantom flames.

"Listen to me," she says. "Listen. You must not tamper with that gate. You have no idea what will be unleashed if it breaks."

Riley Hunter has posed:
Riley was done. Riley was so done. Interrupted mid Top Gun induced dream for more shenanigans!? Why, this was simply unacceptable! Not to mention that she was about to tell a Mig pilot to "watch the birdie". Still, Ariel seemed urgent and the situation certain sounded important. It better had been though, rushing off here after yanking the ejection handles must have cost the dreamland US Navy tens of millions of dream taxpayer dollars!

Still, needs must.

She arrived alongside the others, hovering down to join everyone in her full Prism Keeper superhero getup and naturally setting down with a good ol' fashioned "superhero landing" before getting a good look at the situation at hand, though it was not like she really knew what was going on. There was just a guy with a cane standing at a gate. Still, the others certainly seemed to care.

"Nice mask. I don't know what the hell's behind that thing, but judging by what my buddies are saying here, you'd better step away from it."

Ariel Theodore has posed:
    It's rare to see Ariel in such an agitated state. Bouncing from one foot to the other, floppy ears pinned back, eyes wide and wild. But she has every reason to be agitated tonight, as the prince stops tapping his cane.
    "Ah hah. You're all just in time." He says, affecting a smarmy little grin. "Well actually, you're all too late, but you're just in time regardless." He says, biting on his lip in a fit of manic glee.
    "While you were all busy collecting the shards of something I no longer have need for, I was quite busy as well. --Oh I know just what lays beyond this seal. I know what will be unleashed and that is why I am here in the first place." The prince explains, resting his hand on the ancient and worn gates. "That is why I have been busy. Weakening this seal. I'm just about done, in fact. Now if you'll all permit me to excuse myself. I'll be destroying everything behind this gate." He says matter of factly before rapping his cane to the seal lightly.
    It cracks as though stricken by a wrecking ball. ... And explodes inwards, revealing the darknes beyond.
    Black mist licks out from around the corners of the gate, but he pays it no mind as he steps right in and vanishes into blackness.
    The seal is destroyed. It is only a matter of time before whatever is inside finds its way out now.
    "--We have to go after him." Ariel says. "He thinks he can handle it but he has no idea what he's done."

Takara Himura has posed:
"No, no, nononono!" shouts Takara as the gate comes crashing apart. The girl unsheathes her sword in a quick, matter of fact motion. This is her worst nightmare. The thing that her and the other Samurai worked so hard to keep at bay is now finally free and what's worse, is that the prince has totally underestimated it's power. She nods along with Ariel in agreement. "Yeah. We have to go after him. We can't let the Eater free at any cost."

Norie Okana has posed:
Lacrima frowns as she points. "What you cast aside doesn't make you weak..." she says bluntly. "Wh---" then Akashimaru arrives and starts insistently yelling about the gate. And that strange blind girl is there stating the same. She frowns a little, as she turns back to finish her statement. Ariel's agitated state isn't helping her any. She's seen Ariel is many states. Some Ariel never experienced herself, but this 'bothered' and 'agitated' has never been one of them.

"Whats beyond there?" she asks to Akashimaru and Takara. Those two might know the best. "Besides... well. The Eater of Dreams.." she frowns.

She looks to Brass. "He thinks he can beat something bigger and terrible than he is." she says softly. She gently steps through. She's not too worried about darkness.. dark energy.

It's the things that might exist inside there she's worried about. "I would um. Be on guard?" she says unsurely as she looks over at Kotomi she leans over. "Are you going to be okay?" she asks.

Then over to Ariel as she leans more over closer to her. In case something tries to blindside her on their way in.

Seishi Tamashige has posed:
"NO!" "You stupid idiot!"

Akashimaru and O-Yasu both cry out at once, but it's too late. The horse rears, the baku lunges - but the seal is already gone.

As the Prince of Nightmares vanishes into the darkness, Akashimaru can only stare in abject, white-faced horror.

I can't. I'm not ready, I'm not ready, I'm not ready I can't

Hunched in the saddle, arm curling around her stomach, she fights down the rising panic. Ariel is right. Takara is right.

There's no choice.

"I..." Answering Lacrima, she hesitates. "I'm not sure. The Eater of Dreams is bad enough. O-Yasu--"

"I know my job," the baku snarls. "You lot go do yours."

Miserably, Akashimaru urges her reluctant, crow-hopping mount forward into the dark.

Kotomi Kobana has posed:
Kotomi whispers to Riley, "This guy is the Prince of Nightmares, I think. And. He's. Poking at the seal to this super-monster called the Eater of Dreams --" She recoils as he makes that little rap. "-- m-make that broken the seal!" They have moved considerably closer to the worst-case scenario.

At Ariel's prompting, she takes off and flies forward. "They're. Uh. Both these ... 'super final boss' type bad-guys!" she continues. "And the Eater of Dreams is worse, I guess?" She shakes her head. "This ... is bad. Really bad!"

She reflexively leans back from Lacrima, and takes a deep breath. "I ... I'm gonna be fine. This is just ... heh, just the biggest threat I've been here for?" She smiles weakly. "I'll ... manage." She gestures vaguely. "Somehow."

...

A catgirl-Nightmare with silvery-white hair flies up to the shadowy area, having followed Kotomi for a bit. Yasumi Yumeji takes one look at the situation (her eyes don't have pupils, only circular ruby-red irises), then smiles a thin-lipped smile that doesn't reach her eyes, turns around, and flies away. "Goodness gracious me," she mutters to herself. "Quite truthfully, I believe we're all doomed ..."

Riley Hunter has posed:
"That guy's the prince of dreams? Looks like some vampire rej- oh shiii-!"

Riley stepped back as the wrecking ball smashed the gate, the girl covering her face as she seemingly expected the party to get slammed by flying debris. When she finally peeked out, she saw the same as everyone else. The gate was broken! The spooky mist was being spooky! Riley still didn't know what the heck was really going on! It seemed bad though!

The girl turned to look at her friends, and with a worldless shrug thrown Ariel's way at the suggestion of "going after him" she drew her sword, the blade igniting in a wreath of fierce flames.

"Ah what the hell. CHUMS UP! LET'S DO THIS!"

LEEEROOOOOOOOOY!...

Ariel Theodore has posed:
    We're all doomed.
    That... Is one apt way to put this situation as Ariel shoots Yasumi a cross look. But it fades as her own stomach butterflies return in force. There's no choice. There's no choice left but to follow the prince in past the seal, and others are already beginning to do that. She spends a beat hesitant at the threshhold, staring into the abyss beyond, turning to look, plaintively, at Akashimaru. She says what the samurai girl is thinking.
    "I... I don't think we're ready for this."
    But there is no choice as she slides her hand into Lacrima's and steps into the breach.
    Past the seal... There is nothing.
    Blackness. Pitch blackness as far as the eye can see in every direction. Standing on blackness. A pitch black empty sky. All the detail that can be seen is a dark mist on the horizon, the gate that everyone just stepped through shining as the only beacon of light in this abyss of pure blackness.
    And Ariel immediately quails.
    Every breath echoes off the darkness, every step is as loud as an anvil, every single twitch is like a blatant signal, beconing to some immense and great looming predator that can't be seen in the black.
    "It's here." Ariel whispers. "It hasn't seen us yet... But it's here... Maybe if we're fast... Stay close together, and no one lose track of the exit."

Takara Himura has posed:
Takara Himura takes a deep breath, and, as people start filtering through what remains of the gate, she follows. "This is not what I wanted to do tonight," she says. "I really wasn't prepared to meet my inevitable doom." After all, her past life met her doom in sealing this thing off in the first place.

Out of everybody here, she's the only one who doesn't seem to be that affected by the inky blackness, being completely blind herself. She pauses as the pace slows down to a snails crawl, and scowls, "What? What's happening? Why is everybody so slow?"

Norie Okana has posed:
Lacrima will take Ariel's hand. Because she needs it too. This black.. dark reminds her of something that kind of causes panic to flare. It's something she doesn't like talking about that. She shakes it out of her head because she really doesn't need to be thinking about that right now.

She slows down in the dark as she takes a short breath. "It's black. We can't see anything." she whispers. She mutters. "I would...spread some dark energy around to mask us.... but. I think this thing has probably been marinating in it's own darkness well enough that it knows it's own from others." she mutters.

"-and as Ariel says. It hasn't noticed us yet. Let's keep it that way." she mutters. She walks along carefully.

Kotomi Kobana has posed:
Kotomi is also somewhat quailing in the darkness. She starts to summon an orb of light ... but then it promptly fades as she realizes that might call attention to herself. Good thing nobody can see her going red-faced!

She does a double-take at Takara, furrowing her brow in confusion. Can't this girl see -- oh. Blind. She's blind. Kotomi sighs softly to herself.

"I ... yeah, I think I'm handling this just as well as school," she murmurs. "Even though, it's, y'know ... potential apocalyptic stuff, if I understand it right. But that's, like, standard magical girl fare."

Or maybe she's just gotten so deep into stark gut-wrenching terror, she's hit peace and calm from the other direction ...

Seishi Tamashige has posed:
Akashimaru is struggling as the little group presses forward into the blackness. Her horse fights her every step of the way, tossing its head with eyes white-rimmed, trying to move in any direction but forward.

Eventually she just kicks her leg over the saddle and drops to the ground. The instant he's free, the gelding wheels and bolts for the faint light of the gateway, hoofbeats vanishing into nothing.

If she has to do battle with herself to keep going, at least this way it's not so visible to everyone else.

"Sorry," she murmurs in Takara's direction. "We're doing our best."

Her scarlet kimono is ragged and dirty, sleeves limp and tattered. Gripping her tessen, lips set in a thin line, she presses onward.

Riley Hunter has posed:
"-OOOOYYYaaahhwhat the...?" Riley looked around, her eyes glancing left and right trying to cut through the thick haze of just sheer blackness. "Jesus Christ, if I'd have known we were entering into Satan's puckered asshole I'd have packed some night vision goggles or something."

She looked to her friends, the girl just barely making them out while she raised her hand. She paused though, nodding. "Right. Undetected. Stealth. That probably means lighting this place up like the fourth of July isn't a good idea. Bravo Six going dark I guess."

Despite everything, Riley didn't even look scared. Of course, looks could be decieving, fear's grip had well and truly clamped down on the little "superhero" yet she was doing a good job of not letting it show, save for perhaps a slight waver in her voice. "What's the plan? Where are we goin' here?"

Ariel Theodore has posed:
    "I have no idea where we're going." Ariel admits honestly.
    The darkness is just... Utterly oppresive. Black as far as the eye can see, there's almost no way to tell which direction the prince could have gone in this. Except after what feels like a time spanning forever in the murk, there's a sound.
    It's a cough.
    Ragged and wet, it does not sound like a very healthy cough as the group eventually comes across the Prince. ... And he does not look like he's doing very well for all his efforts to destroy the Eater of Dreams.
    "T-too strong... I... I didn't think it would be this strong." He wheezes, clutching ragged wounds. Where there should be blood, he seems to be leaking a shimmering dark glistening fluid. Corrupted gossamer-- the very stuff dreams are made of, but twisted by darkness.
    "... You all came after me. Then you are fools. You should have slammed the seal back shut behind me. Like this I am finished."

Takara Himura has posed:
"You obliterated the seal," Takara says to the prince. "Idiot. We tried to warn you this would happen. Some of us has faced this thing before." She makes her way around the wounded prince to act as vanguard for the group but stops in her tracks.

"IT'S HERE! IT'S RIGHIT ON TOP OF US!" she yells out, trying to keep the panic down in her voice. Last time she had dealt with this thing, it had torn her family asunder. Only by the skin of her teeth was she able to fight it off, and even then it was just a shade of Eater that had managed to escape. Not the real thing.

Kotomi Kobana has posed:
Kotomi can't help but shoot a grin at Riley. She can't help it primarily because she knows it's dark enough that it can't be seen, but still.

And then they come across the Prince.

"I mean, we kinda ..." Her voice trails off. She's really not an 'I told you so' sort of girl. "... You really don't get the whole 'caring about each other' thing, huh. It's just the kind of thing we do, really --"

She freezes up at Takara's sudden exclamation. Slowly, she turns in the direction Takara seems to have gone, hairs standing up, currently-violet eyes wide.

Seishi Tamashige has posed:
"As if it would be that easy." For just a moment as she speaks, Akashimaru flickers. For just a moment, there are two voices: the girl's, and the rough, scornful voice of a young man speaking in an antiquated dialect. "You don't know what it cost to create that seal--!"

IT'S HERE

She breaks off with a choked sound, head jerking upward. In her hand, the tessen flashes and spreads into the curved arc of a bow. As the heavy black arrow materializes against the red bowstring, she draws it back, aiming the point upward.

When she lets it loose, the arrowhead flares into a comet's tail of glittering red-gold.

Norie Okana has posed:
Lacrima looks around as she tip toes along. This stuff feels wrong. She can't distinguish energy signatures in here. She tries to peek forward carefully but she can't read dark from dark. She isn't about to activate her Intelligent Device in here either. Paige can sleep for now. She sighs a bit as she bites her lip.

Coughing. She'll races forward and frowns. She leans down to try to get a better look at the Prince's wounds. She could try to patch it up with darkness, but... that looks different. She frowns. "We've been trying to tell you that..." she says quietly. "...You're hurt." she says. "We should get you someplace saf----"

Then Takara says 'it's here' and then Akashimaru fires upwards and she clenches her hands a bit. She isn't about to fire off black, dark energy into this thing to feed it. Others are more suited to that.

Riley Hunter has posed:
"Yeah! It was a big seal! It was fancy too! That's gotta be at least five hundred bucks right there! What, do you think dreamland is made of moneeee-ehhh, actually, probably. That's totally a dream situation right? Inflation's gotta be a bitch though. This is why we need dream communism. All hail the... hahaaa.... Snorviet Union! ahshi-!" Riley snapped around, her little tirade cut off by the sudden shouts and apparent danger. She still couldn't see anything though, instead electing to simply flare up, using the flames almost like a shield as she raised her sword.

"COMRADES!? WHY CAN'T WE GO ANYWHERE NICE!?"

Ariel Theodore has posed:
    The prince scowls. But he has nothing to say in defense of himself. This is clearly a big 'you goofed' moment and he's fully aware of it. Though he is about to say something, it's cut off when Takara makes the sudden and dreaded announcement.
    It's here.
    The Eater of Dreams is here.
    Akashimaru fires into the air, the tessen's arrow cutting a swathe in the darkness for an instant, but then there is silence. A terrible, haunting, utterly resounding silence. As though the very source of sound itself was being sucked from the air as the mist shifts. The mist on the horizon slithers. And then it becomes painfully obvious.
    That's not the horizon.
    A sheer wall of blackness starts to... Approach. A roiling, slowly twisting, tumultuous wall of black mists; The Eater of Dreams slithers around the group like a giant tidal wave of pure endlessly black mist.
    This is when Ariel produces the heart. It's little more than a shimmering, faintly glimmering light among the darkness, but it does cut through the mists briefly.
    "W... We can't fight this. We have to run." She says, voice hollow with terror despite how placid she looks holding the heart. "The prince can't move in his state but if we get this back inside him... Just hold it off long enough to give him back his heart."

Seishi Tamashige has posed:
"...this..."

Akashimaru's voice is scarcely more than a breath. Her eyes are fixed on that seething, creeping, immense wall of darkness, and all the color has left her face.

She's set another arrow to her bow, but it shivers against the bowstring. The entire front of her clothes, from the waist down, has turned dark and wet with something that drips slowly onto the ground at her feet.

It is probably for the best that it's too dark here to see clearly.

"...this is my responsibility," she says, and pulls back the bowstring.

The arrow whistles softly through the murky air, trailing sparks.

It's a bit like firing a bottle rocket at a hurricane.

Kotomi Kobana has posed:
Kotomi's eyes go wide at the sight of the big huge monster. "... Uh. Shit," she blurts out.

She nods to Ariel and rises off the ground. This is not the time to panic. This is the time for doing stuff, which is well-known to her to take an edge off her anxieties, however actually genuinely justified they are this time around.

She floats slightly further away from Lacrima, and glowing butterflies of lavender-colored purifying light start swirling around her left hand. "Butterflies!" she exclaims. White five-pointed stars appear around her right. "Stars!" she calls out. She thrusts both hands forward. "Shining Helix!" she yells as she sends both sets launching into the mist, swirling around each other in a double-helix pattern. It's the first magical girl attack she ever used, only now it has a slightly snappier name.

Her eyes dart to Akashimaru. Something about that remark about responsibility ... there's a very faint 'uh-oh' going through Kotomi's head right now.

Takara Himura has posed:
Takara Himura, at the front, is the first to encounter the Eater. She plants her feet, dropping into a fighting stance, and starts slashing at tendrils of darkness, trying to keep the Eater from getting too close to the group, while Ariel restores the Prince.

"It's our responsibility, Takara correct. "Ichi is here with me." Her swordwork is fast. So fast that it's hard for the human eye to keep track of (if one could actually see in this darkness,) and occasionally her left had flicks out as a red ribbon whips a tendril away.

Norie Okana has posed:
Lacrima shivers. "The... fu----" she holds her language. Unlike Riley, she can do that. This... this is unlike anything she's ever felt. Even in the Dusk Zone. Nothing this... 'strong and powerful and overwhelming'. She can feel it. She looks down at the Prince of Nightmares. "We have to get you out of here...." she says softly. "You're going to die if you don't." she says. She then looks over to Ariel as she offers the heart as she looks back to the prince as she stands up and gently reaches out to take it..... she stops short... she leans in shakily though... they don't have time to worry about it. She... grabs it.

And it's light burns. The pieces together as one---- It starts causing black and dark to melt off her and it's painful but she brings it over. "L..look...." she mutters. "... I.. we don't know. Everything about you. But... we know... you---" god this burns. But it isn't full on purification. It's like she's made of ice cream and this is a warm light bulb. "You lost... someone. Right...?" she says.

"...I.. I can't claim. To have known them. B--but I don't think... that... they'd want you to die here alone. In the dark." she says. "With that thing." she says. "So please?..." she asks softly, trying to offer it.

Riley Hunter has posed:
Riley figured that this was a good time to shut the heck up and start actually concentrating! "Whatever you're doing Lacrima, do it fast damnit!" She took off, fire trailing behind her as she narrowly missed the, whatever the heck it was, swiping at her mere inches away from her feet. She couldn't even find a good target, the damn thing just looked like a big blob of something indescribably horrifying. Still, she raised her hands, steadying herself in the air.

"EAT FREEDOM LASERS!"

With that, she let loose with absolutely everything she could, purifying beams of fire and energy snapping at the thing's various extremeties and just at its main mass. She really had no idea what she was aiming at here, so she elected to aim at *everything!*

Ariel Theodore has posed:
    Lacrima takes the heart, and for a moment Ariel looks shocked. The reaction the vampire's body has to the raw purity of the heart makes her wince, hands setting bracingly on Lacrima's shoulders.
    "This isn't just your responsibility." She says to Akashimaru. "Seishi, it's just as much mine as it was my mother's, too."
    But the Eater of Dreams comes. Though it seems to recoil under the fusillade of attacks thrown at it- having not been cut, shot, nor purified in hundreds of years, it seems to have forgotten what the sensation of pain was. And remembering it makes the mists recede by a fraction for each blow struck against its formless misshapen mass.
    But it keeps coming.
    To be touched by the Eater of Dreams directly is immediately met with a siphoning feeling.
    Hopes.
    Dreams.
    The little unimportant things you always try to remember.
    They all begin to sap away. To be touched by the Eater has the draining effect of slowly wearing down everything you know, love, and care about. So be ware.
    But what of the prince. He watches in fascination as Lacrima clutches his heart, offering it. Hurting herself to do so. "--You are all fools. You should have just left me to my fate." He mutters. "... But... It's been so long." Murmured as he reaches for it.
    The second he touches it, there's a flare of light as it absorbs into his body, his wounds melting away as gossamer repairs itself and he picks himself up.
    There is just a slight issue. Words without words. A clawing scratching presence at the mind as the Eater reaches out, it's intent very clear by the sheer force of presence it exudes as the very blackness itself seems to speak soundlessly.

    Akashimaru... Kill them all... Again...

Takara Himura has posed:
"Akashimari! No!" Ichi is now speaking through Takara, the normally quiet past life pushing her way forward, lending her skill to Takara's assault. "Don't listen to it! Just get everybody out of here!"

Takara grunts when a tendril manages to get past her defense, and a bit of herself is drained, before she quickly cuts it off of her.

Norie Okana has posed:
Lacrima is used to having the dark scratch. Tap at the windows of her soul. Make her do things she didn't want to. Make her forget things. Connections to her family. Try to drain them too. Things she fought heavily against. But that was ambient, insentient elemental darkness. This is something else, but she's doing her best to fight it. "Nr...nrg---" she mutters. "Out." she commands. She keeps repeating that. Out. Out. Out. I don't belong to you. Out.

Her eyes look towards ... The Prince of...Nightmares? Dreams? She isn't sure what the Dreambound Princess identifies as at the moment. "A..are you better?" she asks him. "We need to ... to go-- T..this is oppressive, we n..need to--" she wavers a bit as she hears a voice... hollow sounding. Awful sounding.

She turns towards Akashimaru as she raises a hand to try to get ready to send things to hold the other down.

"Don't listen to that thing. It's the dark. You're stronger than it...!" she tries to insist loudly.

Kotomi Kobana has posed:
Several other uh-ohs are joining the first in Kotomi's mind. One of them, as she glances towards Lacrima and the Prince is: That mosaic of the two of them together in that jungle-gameshow thing. She has no idea what the significance of that is, but suddenly the way Lacrima is holding the heart out to him -- okay. Okay, good. He's recovering. He's recovering!

She lets out a yelp as a stray tendril hits her side! She hits it with a blast of butterflies, but she's starting to sink out of the air! "No ... no ... nonononono!" she exclaims. She struggles to right herself, but ... well ... a monster of despair just hit someone with anxiety. "I ... I ..."

She sinks down to her knees, staring up at the Eater of Dreams. She's starting to hyperventilate.

Riley Hunter has posed:
Riley continued trying to buzz around, sending blast after blast into this endless black eldritch tide, even momentarily pushing it back in a few small sections of the established line yet she was visibly tiring, her attacks and movements slowing until she eventually took a pretty good whap from one of the tendrills! Fortunately, it didn't manage to latch on, instead it was much more akin to a backhand from a giant octopus, sending the kid flying backwards in an uncontrolled voyage to the ground.

She hit hard, landing flat on her back and crying out in pain yet she managed to get back to her feet and look towards the nightmare prince, yelling out a breathless "Kick that blob's ass already!" before lurching back into the air again, zipping overhead past Akashimaru with barely enough time to shout "Ignore the biiiiiiii i t c h !" her voice stretching as she accelerated past.

Seishi Tamashige has posed:
It's not enough. Akashimaru fires off more arrows, one after another flashing through the dark in bright little firework explosions, but with each one her heart sinks lower into her bleeding gut. She might as well be throwing rocks.

Is this the best she can do?

Dark threads circle around her, tendrils of black fog creeping along the ground at her feet. Cold fingers at the back of her neck. That voice, whispering insidiously into her mind.

Kill them.

Kill them all...

Her shoulders quiver. The arrow she was drawing back wavers.

Lowers.

"Nnhh--!"

As her head bows, her outline flickers, indistinct as though through a heat haze. For a heartbeat, two, the samurai girl is overlaid with the image of a young man in a ragged red kimono, his hands and the front of his clothes drenched in blood.

Kill them... again...

A knife in her hand.

The copper scent of blood in her mouth and nose.

"I..."

The bow disintegrates into red sparks, leaving her clutching the tessen in a whiteknuckled grip.

    "Don't listen to it!"

    "It's the dark. You're stronger than it...!"

    "Ignore the biiiiiiii i t c h !"

Kill them all...

"...I... I won't...!"

She raises the tessen.

"San -- kyo -- SEN--!"

Ariel Theodore has posed:
    Ariel... Looks haggard. For all her attempts to be helpful, her efforts are for naught. For every shield she makes to protect someone, the gossamer she weaes it from is devoured. For every time she tries to do something, the Eater of Dreams just eats it. A tendril of that darkness comes in contact with her and the result is very different for her than it is for a denizen of the waking world like all the others.
    The unicorn shrieks.
    Armor partially eaten away, she rolls away clutching a silvery bloody wound where the Eater tried to just eat her, as she rolls onto her knees by Kotomi.
    "It'll be alright." She breathes, "We'll make it through this, we just need to go- now." Said as she throws Kotomi's arm over her shoulder and starts...
    Well honestly if the prince is better... Ariel is going to make sure the others are in a condition to run.
    "--Akashimaru don't let it get to you!" She cries out as the samurai is tested...
    And Akashimaru is found virtuous; dispelling the darkness' grasp upon her with the mighty fan that shatters illusions.
    And it is time to go-- Ariel, with Kotomi in her grasp if she has to- starts heading for the little beacon of light. The Prince has the same idea, though something about him has changed, dark clothes replaced by brighter colors. "I have something of a gift for you if we survive this." He asides to Lacrima.
    There is just a slight problem as everyone reaches the exit.
    The seal is broken.
    "I-... I think I can do something about this." Ariel says. "But..." There's a but.
    "It'll only be temporary-- it just eats anything I make out of gossamer... Someone is going to have to stay behind and... ... And make sure it holds up."

Seishi Tamashige has posed:
"I'll stay."

Akashimaru is shaky and, let's be honest, looks like she's barely managing to stay on her feet right this moment as she brings up the rear of their retreat. Nevertheless, she doesn't hesitate to speak up after Ariel says someone will have to stay behind.

She's holding her arm curled around her bloodied midsection again, but though her face is pale, her dark eyes are clear and steady.

"This is my responsibility," she states. "My duty. I'll stay to hold the seal, the rest of you get out of here."

Takara Himura has posed:
Takara Himura fights her way, back, doing her best to help shield the others while they retreat. "I'll do it," Ichi says in Takara's voice. The girl blinks. "What?!?" "We'll do it," insists Ichi. "We're best suited to the dark, and we can create the ribbon shield to keep it from the barrier."

Takara looks panicked at the suggestion her past life laid in front of her. "Oh god, we're doing this, aren't we?" she asks herself, sword flashing, and sweat beading on her brow. "Akashimaru, you can't stay. You fought it off once already, but if it gets it's hooks into you again..."

Riley Hunter has posed:
Riley set down in front of Ariel and Kotomi, her flames sputtering as she staggered back, barely able to bat away another swipe from the creature with another pair of significantly weaker blasts than before. "Just go! Run! I'll hold the line!"

She said that at pretty much the same time as Akashimaru. "Just go!" She stepped forwards, pouring the last of her energy into strike after strike. "Get the fuck out of here!" She got batted to the ground again, skidding across the floor but she still managed to turn and sit up to blast it back yet again. "Get some! Get sooooooome!"

Kotomi Kobana has posed:
Kotomi staggers along with Ariel. It isn't long, though, before she rights herself, and rises off the ground to fly under her own power.

She stares at Ariel as she makes that pronouncement. Then she turns to the entrance to the void they just left. Then at Ariel. Then at the entrance.

Then she turns to the others, and there's a set to her jaw that wasn't there before. Her violet eyes are gleaming now, and she opens her mouth to speak ...

... and then Akashimaru and Takara and Riley beat her to the punch. "... I can do it," she says. "For the record. Or ... maybe. I ..." She furrows her brow. "Actually I might not be the best choice, but ... I ..." She smiles weakly. "I feel like I've got ... something to prove."

Yasumi, standing further away from the entrance on the outside, lets out an exasperated groan. "Goodness gracious me," she says. A pause. "I do not volunteer, for the record."

Norie Okana has posed:
Lacrima looks at the Prince. He looks different. She probably has questions. He says something about a gift.... Now isn't the time. Now it's time to run and get out. She frowns. "You all have families that'll miss you." she says bluntly. "If you need someone to stay behind. I should." she says softy. She shifts. "I don't think that's a good idea." she says softly. "My powers are more likely to eat it." she says. "But... I have more experience in dealing with these things than most of you..." she says.

She shifts. "If it's down to dream folk. That list is really shorter..." she says quietly. Part of her really, really wants to stare at the Prince of Dreams and go 'hey, how about you, you jerk?' but she doesn't. Now isn't the time to be petty. Or a jerk. Even he's still a jerk dark prince in her head. For the moment.

Kotomi Kobana has posed:
Kotomi mumbles, "I mean ... that thing family is kind of a good point ..."

Ariel Theodore has posed:
    Ariel balks.
    'Someone has to stay behind' she had said.
    Everyone volunteers.
    It is a rare and precious thing, for a unicorn to shed a tear, and that means in moments like this, when emotions are high, she cannot express herself in the way she wants to.
    Ariel cannot cry, regardless of how much she wants to, right now.
    "... No." She says.
    "N-no." She says again. "It was my idea. I'll do it. ... I don't want to. And I'm scared. But I'll stay behind." She says with a shakey tone in her voice.
    "Kotomi you don't have anything to prove. Not to me. It was incredibly brave of you just to come." She says. "Riley-- you'd just be throwing your life away. Lacrima you do have a family." She starts refuting arguments then and there, but it is with the most pained look that she turns her gaze on Akashimaru, a tiny hand setting low on the red-clad samurai's belly.
    "... What... What am I supposed to tell Mister Tamashige when you don't wake up?"
    Ariel... Sweet, gentle Ariel, who could never hurt a fly on purpose... Shoves Akashimaru out of the gate.
    Her horn glows, and in that instant several large gossamer hands appear and forcibly start shoving others out of the gate as well. Lacrima. The Prince. Riley. Kotomi... And as she does, gossamer bricks begin to wall off the entrance, slamming down too fast and cementing into place before anyone can push the way back in.
    "... S-sorry... I'm sorry. I just didn't want to be in here alone." She admits in a tiny voice to Takara once the last brick is in place.

Riley Hunter has posed:
"And you wouldn't be!?" Riley called to Ariel in reply, still blasting away at the creature with everything she had left, smacking the dream eater with blast after blast but sooner or later one of her beams misfired, her fire fizzling into a pall of thick black smoke as a tendril wrapped around her leg, a sickening crunch filling the air as it crushed the bone like a twig.

Riley barely had time to cry out, yanked away by an unseen hand and thrown clear of the nightmare-scape and landing flat on her back. She tried to get up, good god did she try, hobbling and crawling over to the now bricked up wall and punching it with all her strength again and again, managing nothing but to skin her knuckles as she dropped to her knees, which led to her crying out in pain and flopping to her side.

"NO! DAMN IT! ARIEL! FUCKING GOD DAMN IT! NO!"

She simply curled up into a ball onto the floor, burying her head in her bloodied hands. "No... God damn you. No..."

Takara Himura has posed:
"It's okay," Takara says softly, the ribbon tied around her left wrist coming to life and spreading out and weaving itself into a tight mesh, and uses it to shield themselves and the door.

She grunts as the Eater slams into it full force, but the ribbon holds, and for now they're safe. "I wouldn't want to be alone here, too." She braces herself as the monstrosity flails ineffectively against the shield. "With two of us we can support each other. Keep going longer than if we were alone." She winces when the last brick is set into place, sealing their fate. "Now we hold on until they can find a more permanent seal." Not if. It's never if for this crowd. Only until.

Kotomi Kobana has posed:
"Wait --" Kotomi flails as she's thrown back! She flops onto her backside, and quickly jumps back to her feet, charges forward, and collides facefirst into the wall. She staggers back, clutching her head. "Owww ..." She lowers her hands and stares at the wall before her.

Tears are starting to form in her eyes. She sniffles.

Yasumi takes a single step forward, hand raised. And then she immediately lowers her hand. "Confound it," she mutters, ears drooping. She turns and runs away as fast as she can, before anyone can see her tears.

Kotomi wipes her eyes. She takes a deep breath. "We're ... we're gonna find a way to get them out," she announces firmly.

Norie Okana has posed:
Lacrima knows what Ariel says to be true. But her family already knows her to be dead. Jiaying, Unmei, Lamya- the others at the Manor would understand if she went missing for a week! She blinks as Ariel tries pushing her out. "Ariel---n-no!" she says. This is when she actually shoots the Prince the 'look' the look that says 'If she dies. I'm gonna kill you. And people are gonna celebrate your misery for aeons' almost. Almost. It isn't that hate filled. She probably doesn't mean it, it's the moment.

Also, she's dragging him to her dreamscape. He isn't letting him out of her sight.

It'll be comfortable! But she and him are gonna have a talk about things.

Lacrima is shaking by the time it's over. Oh. Oh she's not dealing with this well at all, nope.

Seishi Tamashige has posed:
Ariel might as well have punched Akashimaru in the gut - and that's before the unicorn girl shoves her bodily through the gate. She goes sprawling backwards, landing hard, and for a few very long seconds she just lies there staring upwards, stunned beyond words.

"No..."

Her voice is very small.

Slowly, unsteadily, she picks herself up, looks with stricken eyes at the seal that now separates Ariel, Takara, and their old, old enemy from the rest of them.

"Oh, no..."
She doesn't even quite realize that she's crying.

Ariel Theodore has posed:
    Inside the seal, Ariel slumps herself against the wall she's just formed, separating her and Takara from the others.
    They say that regret is not a feeling that is known to unicorns. They can know sorrow and pain, but not regret.
    And yet the stricken sorrow-filled look in her eyes says much.
    "I'm sorry." She says again to Takara, before picking herself up, hands shaking.
    "... We have to move. We have to keep it away from here. We have to distract it."
    Back ourside though, the others are met with silence. Yawning, oppresive, endless silence. That is broken by a voice.
    "... I see my daughter went and did something daft without telling me."
    The unicorn, Amalthea, is standing there, behind the group in full armor, face set like a stone mask, hair shrouding over her eyes. "I came as soon as the seal broke. But it seems I came too late." She sighs. "That's going to need fixed." She says, displaying what must be a herculean amount of emotional fortitude.
    Then again, unicorns can never cry when they want to. "But until it is, I'll stand watch and guard this place."

Kotomi Kobana has posed:
Kotomi jumps in surprise at the newcomer! Okay, by process of elimination, this must be Ariel's mom, not Takara's.

She sighs softly. "We're gonna get them out," she repeats firmly. "But, um ... thank you, um, Ariel's mom ..."