Abandon

"What an intriguing peace we've managed to broker here... strange, but I hope it lasts."

With that sentiment and a light chuckle Wayland makes his appearance, falling in line beside Zwei and greeting her with a nod.

"Sorry about splitting off from you, a few things caught my eye and speed was of the utmost importance in securing them. With every passing moment this void broadens its horizons but there may yet be an upshot to its spread. The memories it plumbs... where do you think they come from, I wonder."

Charlotte tries to refocus. So much has happened and so much of it she barely knows enough to keep up with it all. Chronos giving "the black bubble" to the girl that stole his heart, and agreeing to care for and protect all of her copies while she's gone? So they can have a home?
She glances over at Lambda.
"I, honestly have no clue."
Something does seem different, but it almost seems more... natural?
"mind my rudeness but...did you change somethin' about yourself?"

"My apologies for giving you a shock, Mistress. Though... I do wonder which one of us went off first, necessitating our reunion in the first place. At, any rate, I'll try not to startle you moving forward. Perhaps it would be to your liking if I wore bells in my hair as an advance warning of my approach?"

Wayland chuckles, glancing into the distance as he brandishes something resembling a shard between two fingers.

"What I found, though... This place, and the dreambubble it built on, took in and tied together the vast array of dreambubbles floating through the void. Not entirely unlike the Dream did at one point, it assimilated them as means of expanding itself. Not only the intact but, the remnants of bubbles long passed... nothing is ever truly destroyed after all, merely, broken down, to eventually find use as a building block in another's design. 

...Apologies for the impromptu lesson, ehehehehe. But, the point! The point... Fragments taken in by this bubble like a sift, filtered by the darkness. And ironically enough, making them easier to track down. Perhaps, Mistress..."

Wayland closes his hand around the shard, opening his palm to reveal innumerable, smaller shards.

"...Our dream is not yet dead."

Niki, the prince of time, hears Thoren's call. however, she's still somewhat wary. this is Thoren the heartless elfslayer, the last shred of a man who had abandoned his humanity in the name of seeking power! but at the same time, he has done some better things since connecting to Seth, and the fact that he's considering this sort of thing... no, it's gotta be a scam. She can't bring herself to trust a cold blooded killer so easily, even if he does claim that his past is behind him.
Niki looks over at Katie.
"...do you think we can trust that guy, of all people?"

Dylan, fully willing to trust Thoren's word, walks up to him.
"I'm not sure about others, but I trust you. you've grown since losing your life. I've seen you fight alongside the others. with that, here's what I can spare for the cause. make sure it goes where it needs to go."
with that, Dylan places his hand upon Thoren, and a temporary connection is made. for a moment, Dylan can sense the other members of the Network.
He transfers 75% of his energy towards Thoren.
Dylan, notably now shorter of breath, removes his hand, disconnecting from Thoren's network.
he turns to face the others.

Jessica and Mimi watch Dylan make his dubious decision. neither of them really know much about Thoren aside from what they had seen of him in battle.
"do you think this is a good idea?" Mimi asks.
Jessica can't help but smile at her brother's idealism. he's always been a bit more trusting of others than he probably should. but, that's always been something she's kinda admired about him, even if it has got him into trouble in the past.
"well, there's not much else we can do to help, but if Dylan trusts him, I guess we can too."
Jessica makes her way up to transfer about half of her energy over to Thoren, following Dylan's lead. She usually isn't like this, but something about the moment seems almost... practical?
Mimi hesitates, but ultimately gives Thoren slightly less than half her energy.

Charlotte gets Lambda's attention. "Lambda, let's go! he needs all the help he can get from us!"
she runs up ahead to go transfer half of her energy to Thoren, barely even waiting for her sessionmate.

"...You're joking. You gotta be. We saw it disappearing with our own eyes. I don't think it's coming back, remnants remaining or not..."

Zwei sort of avoids eye contact from the subject.

"...Besides, it got out of control...and dangerous because of my meddling. What if it's still that way when and if we can get it back?"
"...If it's possible...Then it would be a good thing to have...I would like everyone to have a choice..."

---

Kat willingly gives all the energy she can muster to Thoren.

"I believe in them...If they...need help...Then help they will get..."
She seems to be a little winded...Perhaps giving a bit more than one would usually give.

---

Lambda subconsciously covers her eyes with her journal.

"I...I don't know what you're talking abou-H-huh!? W...wait!!"

She then follows Charlotte's lead and transferred part of her energies for use.

"If...If it will help us get out of this abyss...! Then I'll gladly help!"

Niki looks long and hard at the heir accepting donations of life energy supposedly for his fiance.
Katie trusts him.
should she trust him?

Katie does have a point, Thoren has changed considerably since his initial connection... but, something still bothers her.
she's afraid of what will happen. what if he forces her to give up all of her energy?
knowing who he could have been, and who had ended her previous life, and overall just being afraid of getting close to ghosts known for terrible acts, she just doesn't want to risk anything.
But even with all that on the line, Katie still trusts him.

...she can't hide from her problems anymore. she caused half of the bad stuff that's happened so she should at least have the decency to do something about it.
the others believe it will get them out of this dark place. shouldn't she believe the same?
Even if she is a faithless loser?

Niki takes a deep breath and closes her eyes.
"...I'm doing it." she mostly tells herself.
vocalizing has always made her thoughts strong enough to not disappear almost instantly. hopefully she can make it work.

Niki walks towards Thoren, shaking considerably. this is worse than the time she took a trip to heir island to get slashed open by Chronos. At least then she knew what would happen.
she doesn't know what's going to happen next.

she stands before Thoren.
".........I, wouldn't usually do this.... especially for you... but..... HERE!"
Niki slams her palms against Thoren's chest (not enough to topple, just enough to startle) and almost immediately in her efforts she is also struck.

looking into Thoren's blank eyes she is given privy to the true depths of his pain and remorse. it's shocking, just to think, that such a man would hold regret for his actions, and actually mean it.

Now, armed with this understanding and feeling the conviction behind his now-benign desires, Niki willingly sends 70% of her energy to him, to give to Raine.

use my energy for the good of all us here. I'm trusting you this time...

"Don't underestimate the power of our memories. When we pool them, and use the Furthest Ring as canvas, there are few things we can't accomplish. That's my professional opinion on the matter, my less professional... is that, even if we were to fail. It's worth a shot at least. Don't you think?"

Wayland's gaze, focused on some nondescript point of the horizon, turns to Zwei with those last words, and the corner of his mouth curls upward in a small smile.

"We'll make it right again. Or at least, try."

Are you all done?

The inky darkness masquerading as a ground warps below their feet, ghosts and living alike stumbling as they lose footing in the new bog. And a black hand lined with sickly red trails emerges from that to wrap its hands around Wayland's throat, aborting any noise as more join it to wrap around his arms and legs drag him downward into the depths, eyes widening as he vanishes into the dark.

Did you enjoy your hour of free time, stretch your legs, have a good time singing Kumbaya?

Elsewhere more hands emerge to claw and grasp and clutch Falks, the girl sinking her teeth into the arm looped around her neck as she thrashes and fights with everything she's got left in the tank. But they're tired, weakened, and spent from earlier. The rest of the crowd falls one by one, Falks' eyes widening when she see's Jerome's hand sinking, the only part of him left above the mire. And she kicks, and screams, and fights with everything she can muster, only to watch helplessly as he fades from sight.

A yank downward drags her from view shortly after.

The warden's back. In fact they never left, they only granted you miserable saps a moment of respite for their own whims. What a laugh, what a bunch of jokes you all are!

Sinking into that thick bog, dragged lower by hands binding them tight, they find themselves alone. A familiar loneliness, beyond the voices of their friends, beyond anyone by the cruel, jeering voice of their jailer.

Your champions will fall. And you'll spend the rest of your existences alone, drifting to the depths. Everything you all had won't make a difference... Hehehehehe, maybe you should have picked a better bunch to pin your hopes on? Too bad for you! Such a sad thing... But that's what you get for your hopes. Nothing but solitude and regret and the knowledge of all those you sent to their deaths. Hehehehehe... Hahahahahahaha,hAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA