"I found her."
Lotus informed Pit of her success in locating Lisa. Pit was practically hopping up and down, ready to go.
"Where?"
"Mortis. Kokichi took her to Mortis."
"What in the world is Kokichi up to? Is he trying to turn Lisa into a Sith Lord?"
"You need to hurry. If she gets corrupted by the Son...then you may not WANT her back."
"Alright. I'm off."
"Just a moment! Take Harrow with you."
"Huh?"
Pit turns around to see a bio mechanical man-shaped being. It was stylized as what he could only describe as a futuristic inquisition priest with elaborate details all over his body.
"If Lisa has been turned to the dark side; you'll need Harrow's rituals to break the chains."
"Thanks. You ready?"
Pit awaited a response from Harrow, but only got a light nod. Good enough. They went off through the portal and arrived on the other side. A world of ambient light and lifeless plants surrounded them. A tall, bald, young man dressed in a black garb floated down to greet them. His skin was pure white except for the red tattoos forming tears under his eyes. Piercing golden eyes inspected the intruders. The man spoke softly, though it felt like a ruse.
"Ah yes. He said you would come. Welcome...my friends."
A voice seemed to come out of Harrow, but Pit wasn't sure if it was his voice because he couldn't see his face to verify it.
"The Son is a friend to NO ONE but the Darkness. We've come for the girl. Cooperate and we will be out of your...hair in no time."
Ignoring Harrow's jab at his appearance, The Son bowed respectfully.
"As you wish. That boy left her with me to mold her into something more...open-minded. But her soul has already experienced enough torment."
Pit spoke up.
"What do you mean?"
"The Mother...The Lotus sent you - at least, one of you - to break the chains that shackle her heart to the past. But the chains...the chains are the EASY part. It's what goes on in HERE that's hard."
He said with a sorrowful look on his face as he pointed to his head. He moved to the side with a sudden flourish to reveal the girl standing behind him. Pit was ecstatic to find her unharmed by The Son or Kokichi.
"Lisa! You're alright! Come on. Let's get you out of here."
She hesitated quite a bit before she looked at Harrow who was waving and swinging a thurible that emanated some green glowing smoke. After taking a deep breath, she decided to go with the two of them. The Son placed a hand on her shoulder as she walked away and whispered in her ear.
"Beware the Barren Mother. Her womb in the sky is a place that should not exist in this world and should that reality be made clear to her...her Sentient heart shall beat it's last."
She didn't react to his warning as she went through the Portal Pit summoned. Pit almost went in too.
"Harrow? Are you coming?"
"No. Kokichi may still be hiding out here. I will make sure that this does NOT happen again."
"...Alright. Good luck."
"I don't believe in luck."
The Son interjected.
"I think what you meant to say was: May the Force be with you."
Back on Moya, Sora was enjoying his freedom as he was dancing to some music. Esdeath was still relatively close by, but she said nothing to Sora and didn't even acknowledge him. Niko returned from his own adventure to be greeted by this strange sight.
"Uh...What'd I miss?"
"Niko! How's it going? Did you find anything?"
"...Not really. But it looks like you found the radio."
"I'm just celebrating a small victory the only way I know how. With the Partridge Family."
He turns up the volume of the song 'Get Happy' as Niko chuckles a bit but tries to hold it in on the account that he didn't want to upset Esdeath. Niko was actually more surprised than anything about how Sora seemed to be rubbing it in. But then he addressed Esdeath, which caught her off guard.
"Esdeath!"
"Huh...What?!"
"Any requests?!"
"W-what are you..."
"Song requests?!"
"Oh...um...Tainted Love by Soft Cell?"
"Why am I not surprised?"
Sora obliged her request and played the song and bobbed his head to the beat and Esdeath subtly tapped her foot. By the end of the song, all three of them are dancing along as Mercy and Kamina enter the room. Kamina can't contain his laughter as Mercy just looks flabbergasted by the sight.
"What have we stumbled into?"
Niko runs over to Mercy with an excited expression.
"We're dancing! Do you have a request?"
Mercy noticed that Esdeath and Niko traded hats and Kamina lended his glasses to Sora. A party? She certainly wasn't going to say no.
"Hmm…'The Hustle' by Van McCoy."
Mercy showed Sora how to dance to the song while Esdeath and Niko freestyled it. Esdeath grabbed onto Niko's oversized sleeves and swung him around in a spin. Kamina preferred to it back and just watch everyone make complete fools of themselves. Besides, he didn't want them to find out that when it came to dancing; he had two left feet. Sora complimented Mercy as they mirrored each other's motions perfectly.
"Very good, Sora. You're a natural."
"I'm a fast learner. I also know another dance too."
"Really? Show me."
"Uh...well...it's slow dance. I learned it from watching my friends."
"Oh...I see. Then, we need proper music. Kamina! Play something slower!"
He kicks the radio and 'I See the Light' by Mandy Moore starts playing. Sora gets a little nervous.
"Are you sure about this? I've only done this dance once."
"Who did you practice with?"
"My...mom."
"Aww...That's so precious. Now I HAVE to see it."
Sora pulls her in close as he puts one hand around her waist and uses his other to hold hers. She's not quite as tall as Esdeath, but Sora still had to be very careful about where his face was since she had at least five inches over him. But since she was not as...well endowed as Esdeath either; he could get a little bit closer without fear of being overwhelmed. Sora leads during the slow dance.
"Am...I doing alright?"
She giggles a bit.
"Yes. You're doing great. You're keeping eye contact; which is essential. But you could stand to loosen up a bit. Or were you this tense and nervous with your mother as well?"
"S-sorry. I'm not usually like this. It's just...I'm pretty sure that woman ruined me."
"She...ruined you?"
"Ah...not like that! I didn't mean like...Ugh! Now she's got ME doing it!"
"Do you want...to talk about it?"
Those were the magic words. Sora just unloads his frustrations and baggage onto Mercy.
"She NEVER stops with the innuendos, she has no respect for personal space, I'm pretty sure she's in a state of perpetual arousal, and I'm afraid to go to sleep tonight for fear of like...TEN different things she could do to me….and NONE of them involve killing me!"
Mercy just takes it all as Sora realizes he's been ranting at her.
"Sorry...I just..."
"It's fine. You clearly feel very strongly about this...about her."
"Yeah...it's just not the feeling SHE wants me to feel."
"But you do recognize that she does feel that way about you? Genuinely."
"...Maybe so. But there is a right and a wrong way to go about EXPRESSING those feelings."
"But she IS expressing herself. The result may not be...ideal. But that doesn't change what she's trying to do. Her true desire is a pure one...even if she can't find a way to convey it in an appropriate way."
"But she's just soooo….horrible."
Sora hated using that word to describe a person; especially one that was trying to be a friend.
"...You're right. Maybe that's it."
"Huh?"
"You two are complete opposites. But she seems willing to change...if it's for YOU."
"Where are you going with this?"
They stop dancing now as the next song comes on.
"I'm saying: What if you were to use this chance she's presented you to perform some...pseudo therapy. In other words..."
"Don't you dare!"
"I give you my full support. It's for the good of EVERYONE. Not just her. If she becomes a better person or at least easier to talk to...that benefits ALL OF US."
Sora groans in defeat. He couldn't come up with a good reason to say no. As he turns to look at the source of his punishment. Esdeath was dancing with Niko to 'Don't Go Breaking My Heart' by Elton John. He chuckles a bit at them nuzzling noses as he gives Mercy a smile mixed with a look of grimace.
"Are we sure I'm not in Hell yet?"
She pats and rubs his shoulder as she laughs.
*I have five spots left for possible characters. I can't tell you who it was. But I can tell you where they're from. Skullgirls. Yes. My version of Sora loves the Partridge Family. Now we've got some Star Wars with The Son and Planet Mortis.*