I could feel someone shake me vigorously as I opened my eyes; I looked to see Alice, Gareth and Lily all giving me worried looks before they sighed in relief, I was glad to see they were okay as well. Standing up I dusted myself off and looked over at Alice who handed me my jacket before I slipped it back on.

"Thanks." I said and she nodded.

"Ditto…everyone." She said and they all nodded, "We only got out because of each other."

"Yeah…I probably would have been stuck in there if not for you guys." Gareth said with a hearty chuckle.

"Same…but I won't give up yet!" Lily said confidently and I nodded.

"Let's do this." They all nodded in reply and I looked at the end of the large room to see two heavy double doors; rushing towards them I put all my weight against them as the rest did the same, eventually it creaked at moved opening into a long dark hallway. We all looked at each other before dashing into the darkness as quickly as we could.

We sprinted through as fast as we could; we had to make it to Owen before he could put his plan into action…but I'm still not sure if what we know is true, something seems missing from this whole equation. As we moved through the darkness I felt something crawl up my spine and lurched back as something swung down just where my head was; when I stopped the other stopped moving and we stood there in the darkness until I heard a scoff and a bright light filled the room. It was a circular room with stone walls and floor; at the other end stood the Gemini Twins who just eyed us with blank stares before rushing at me. I quickly drew my blade and swung parrying the girls' staff strike as Alice jumped forward and blocked the boys' cleaver strike; we both jumped to the side as Gareth and Lily rushed in striking at both of them sending them flying backwards.

"They're stronger." The boy said getting up.

"Indeed." The girl replied doing the same. They stood there as their bodies began to morph until I was staring at myself and Alice just across from us.

"Damn…they don't need each other to take on one form anymore." Alice said brandishing her Enchanter.

"Guess they weren't just playing games while we made our way here." Gareth commented putting Earthbreaker on its chain.

"We're going to have to fight our way through." Lily said changing Reaper to a quarterstaff.

"Let's go!" I said changing to blade staff and rushing forward. I swung at myself as he jumped up and tried kicking at my face as I quickly spun my weapon blocking his foot and spinning into it hitting his side sending him flying against the wall as he got up.

"Speed x2" He zipped around in a blur before appearing next to me and thrusting forward catching me off guard as I took the blow sending me reeling back. Getting my footing back I focused on my other me and watched as it changed into Gareth. (Power x2) Rushing forward I changed back into longsword and swung with both hands as he blocked and watched as a blue aura pulsed off him; when my blow struck he slightly skid back before smiling and pulsing a red aura before punching me sending me flying against the wall. I fell to the ground and looked over to see the other three struggling with Alice's copy as it launched wave after wave of magical slash at each of them. Pushing myself up with my free hand I got on my feet and stayed low to the ground; (Power Break, Speed x2) Taking off with my hand I zipped over in front of my friends and took the blow in progress reeling back from the force.

"Soren!" Alice yelled as I looked over at Lily and she gave a nod.

"Cura!" Feeling some of my energy return I got back on my feet and launched myself at Alice's double getting as close as I could while dodging her attacks; (Speed break, Silence) once I was close enough I made a quick slash at her center making her stagger backwards slightly before knocking me back slightly with her blade blow. When I had my footing back I watched as she tried to send another wave of magic at us but nothing came out making her give a surprised look as I grinned.

"Nice!" Gareth said as I back stepped and regrouped with the others. She took a deep breath before both she and Gareth's double changed back to the twins and gave us their blank stares.

"Just let us through!" I said lowering my guard, "This can't be what you want to happen to your existence. You want to disappear forever and take everyone with you?" Their response was immediate.

"Yes." They replied in unison without skipping a beat; it surprised me how sure of this they were…and yet when I look at their hands I can see a small tremble break out occasionaly.

"…"

"Soren." I turned back to see the others were approaching me.

"We can't all take them on." Lily said.

"What? No, we can take them."

"Yes, we can take them…but we don't have the time for all of us to waste." Damn…Lily was right, we don't even know how much time we have left but we're still wasting it on a distraction set up to stop us, "We're going to have to split up in order to get to Owen fast enough."

"Damn…I hate when you're right Lily."

"Sorry…" I took a deep breath and watched as they stood closely to the door.

"It looks like they're not going to let us through." Gareth said, "One of us is going to have to keep them distracted for the other three to get through."

"…I can do that." Lily replied.

Lily

We separated and I walked forward slightly as they moved into a defensive stance; they're trying to keep us from getting through them, that's why they haven't moved far from the door way forward…but I can do this! Spinning Reaper I swung with all my might as the scythe edge slid out of the top; running my hand along the scythe edge I felt magic dance along my fingers and watched as it was covered in light magic that extended the edge out. Rushing forward I swung at them making them block with their weapons and spun my weapon making another strike making them skid back slightly; on the next spin I repositioned and swung down sticking the scythe edge into the ground and spun myself on the staff end hitting both of them in the face with my heel and making them stagger. Finishing it off I pulled the edge out quickly and make a full spin making both of them go flying to the far ends of the room.

"Go!" I yelled and the three of them rushed through the open doorway as the twins slowly recovered; as soon as Gareth passed through the threshold I moved to follow but looked to see the cleaver flying at me and back stepped as it stuck into the ground in front of me.

"We're not letting all of you through." The girl said jumping forward and stabbing me in the stomach with her staff making me stagger backwards again.

"You will not be able to do that again." The boy said as he pulled his cleaver out of the ground and jumped at me; as he swung I made a quick spin with my scythe blocking his hit and making him fall back slightly before landing on his feet. I took a deep breath before looking back at both of them.

"At least they made it through."

Soren

We rushed through the hallway and as we moved forgather from the previous room the sounds of clanging metal seem to die out until we were left in complete silence that made us all slightly uncomfortable.

"…You think she'll be okay?" Alice asked and I wasn't sure how to answer.

"She's got this." Gareth answered confidently and I nodded in agreement at his confidence in her.

"She won't go down easy- no, she won't go down at all." I said and Alice nodded.

"Yeah, I know…I just needed to hear it from you two." As we rushed I listened to the sounds of our footsteps echo through the dark hall and stopped us as soon as the echoes started to bounce off the walls around us.

"…I think were in the next room…everyone be-"

"Watch out!" I was suddenly pushed to the ground as the sound of something swinging through the air where my head was passed by my ear; I looked to see Gareth was the one who had pushed both me and Alice to the ground.

"Tch! I missed." The lights came on again and standing before us was the shapeshifter with a cocky smile.

"Don't be so disappointed." Gareth said standing up and drawing his axe.

"Disappointed? I'm ecstatic, enthused, jubilant, enthralled! If I had actually hit then my fun would be over." I stood up and felt the hair on the back of my neck stand on end; no matter how many times we run into this guy he always leaves me with an uneasy feeling in my stomach…no, in my entire body, "Now let's see if you got any better since the last time we fought." He beckoned us and we all rushed at him; I watched as Alice gripped her blade tightly and a green aura pulsed off Gareth. (Speed x2) Drawing my blade I made the first strike hitting his left side and making him stagger as Alice caught his right side making him stagger back and Gareth moved for the center quickly slashing him down and making him fly back and skid along the floor. We stood there in surprise for a moment and look at each other before he laughed and stood up with a wild look in his eye making all of us take a step back in shock, "That's more like it! Finally, you can give me the challenge I want! Now let's keep going." Under normal circumstances I'm guessing he'd normally want to fight one of us, but with the role he's been given he's pushing himself and more than willing to take all of us on at once. We all looked at each other, unsure of how to proceed with this as he just stood there arms open waiting for us to attack; he wasn't even holding a weapon in his hand, it was almost like he had something more up his sleeve…more sleeves probably.

"He's got the arms to stop all three of us." I said trying to stay calm under the strange aura this guy gave of; it was almost thirsty in how it felt and from what I could tell Alice was feeling it as well from the sweat on her brow.

"Yeah, this is one of those situations where he is literally the wall." She said. I looked over to see Gareth looking at the shapeshifter inquisitively; what was most surprising though was the fact that he seemed unaffected by the aura he gave off, he was completely calm under it.

"No…he won't do that." Gareth said.

"Why?" I asked.

"He's not looking to stop us; he's just looking for a fight. They just happen to match up right now is all." Gareth was right, all of our encounters with this guy have been much more battle oriented then any of the others; he's been hungry for battle since the begging…no…

"He's thirsty for a fight." I said and Gareth nodded before giving a toothy grin.

"Then I'll give him one."

Gareth

Stepping forward I took a deep breath and focused on speed as the shapeshifter grinned at me cockily. I swung knocking against him but he didn't budge an inch and just took the blow still smiling.

"Come on, is that all you've got?" I felt my fist clench at his taunt and took another blow as it did nothing to him again, "Was that the wind?" I felt my rage build up and I swung wildly at him with everything I had as he stood there laughing; I kept going and watched as the amusement turned to boredom, "Okay, I'm done with you." As he put his arms down I saw my chance and moved my defense and stamina into my strength before taking a horizontal swing and sending him against the far was as he gave a surprised look.

"Get moving guys!" I yelled and they bolted through the door way; as Alice passed by me I watched as a black, oozy hand stretched after her and cut it in half hearing the shapeshifter give a loud shriek. Re-balancing my stats I looked over at the shapeshifter with a toothy grin and leaned my axe against the back of my neck as I put my arms over it, "Sorry but your fight is with me." He chuckled before pulling out his pair short swords.

"That's fine with me." He replied and I chuckled in response.

"Same with me."

Soren

The clashing metal and various grunts were much more frequent from Gareth and the shapeshifter as we moved away from the room; it lasted for a bit longer than the last time as both of them were much more forceful then Lily or the twins but I knew Gareth wouldn't go down.

"…Do you think they're intentionally separating us?" Alice asked and I thought for a moment; she had merit in her suspicion but I don't think this is a group plan.

"I think Owen is intentionally separating us. I'm not sure if the others know what's happening fully." I replied, "They were just told to stop whoever is trying to get by them so that's all they need to worry about."

"…It's weird to think they aren't getting the full plan from Owen though." Alice was really hung up on this.

"I know what you mean…we've kept each other in the loop on everything. It's weird to think Owen is hiding things from his friends, right?"

"Yeah…" To my surprise I could see a light at the end of the tunnel this time and when we crossed the threshold into the room I looked at the far end to see Sukia standing there looking at us sadly.

"Sukia…"

"…You're wrong you know." She said, "He's not hiding anything from us. He just knows we're not worried about that…of course you four are going to sacrifice yourselves to get to Owen quickly, it's only natural…and we even knew the order you would go in."

"So that's why it's lined up as it is." Alice said.

"…Then that means-"

"Yep, you know who's next Soren." So he is after Sukia, "But don't think I'm just going to let you by that easily." She extended her hands out as her nails extended and her wings folded out from behind her back and she hovered in the air, "I'm going to do my job to make sure both of you don't get by." Alice and I drew our weapons and took a deep breath before we both separated our weapons into dual blades. Alice rushed forward and swung at Sukia with her right blade making Sukia slide to the left as I moved in and thrust at her back; before I could hit though she made a quick spin hitting both me and Alice with her tail and making us stagger back. She swung her hands forward and I saw a throwing knife land at my feet before moving quickly and parrying the one that came at my face; I continued to block and looked to see Alice rushing up and making a quick dual strike catching Sukia's back and making her reel for a moment giving me the opportunity to break free as Alice jumped back and regrouped with me.

"We-" Before I could finish Alice pushed me forward as another throwing knife flew through my field of vision and I looked over to see Sukia with her hand outstretched towards us.

"I'm not going to let you two formulate a way around right in front of me." She said coldly before her tail shot forward towards my leg. Jumping forward I thrust towards the ground at the tail as it quickly dodged and tried to coil around my leg; I pulled my leg out hastily and stumbled for a moment as it coiled around my other leg and pulled me into the air and towards Sukia as she reeled her nails back. Before I came to her though she shrieked loudly and dropped me to the ground; I scrambled up and looked to see Alice had stabbed into it before she pulled her blade out, reconnected her blades into one and moved over to me. She gave me a confident look and as I stared into her eyes I got the message, 'I've got this' before nodding in return making her give me a small smile and get back up.

Alice

I took a deep breath and channeled ice before slashing and sending a wave of it at Sukia who blocked it with her tail freezing it over before she immediately shattered the ice and thrust her tail forward. Quickly dodging the attack I sped forward and sent a wave of fire hitting her wings and watched as they dissipated leaving small burn marks behind. I thrust forward and watched as the tail suddenly coiled around my wrist; grabbing it with my free hand I pulled with all my strength and watched as Sukia tried to resist before I welled up my ice powers into my hand and saw the ice begin to encroach over her tail shocking her. In that moment of confusion I pulled and sent her skidding to the ground out of the doorway.

"Get going Soren!" I yelled and he bolted through the doorway giving me a nod that I returned before the tail whipped sending me flying and slamming against the wall.

"So he got past…I knew it…but I won't let you pass." She said getting up as I did the same.

"Too bad…because I'm not staying here."

Soren

The sound of metal clashing was rare; there was more silence as Alice dodged each strike or the occasional sound of wind being cut through, I know Alice can handle Sukia…maybe even do better than that. I ran ahead and felt my heart race from my current full speed run as well as the anxiety of what was beyond the next threshold into the next room; I knew it wasn't going to be Owen, he still had one other person to send against us…or maybe me, more specifically. Crossing the bright light of the threshold I stopped in my tracks to see my other standing on the other side with his usual grimace and dark eyes that seemed to hold every ounce of aggravation and distain that he could against me.

"…"

"…" It was an uncomfortable silence that hung in the air yet it felt appropriate for the current situation we were in; there was nothing to say right now. For him I was an eyesore and he wasn't going to listen…but I have to try.

"…Jarek-"

"Shut up." He said bitterly cutting me off before I could start, "I don't care what you have to say, it's nothing important. I'm going to kill you Soren, you will die here and that will be the end of my connection to your weakness." He reached onto his back and pulled out the large claymore holding it with both hands to his side.

"We don't-"

"SHUT UP!" He rushed at me and swung with all his strength as I blocked with my sword trying to push him back; once I had my footing I swung making him step back as I took a deep breath and readied myself.

"Fine…let's do this."