Descend and Ascend

[nintendonut1]

"Oh, this is...?" John bit his lip, lifting his foot up to reveal some of the gunk on his shoes. Mildly panicking, he scraped it off on the wall, hoping not too disrespectfully. "Wow... I."

He turned to Nepeta, frowning in concern. He remembered there being a strife between them, but he hadn't seen the aftermath... and it didn't look like it was a memory she was keen on revisiting either. He settled a comforting hand on her shoulder, squeezing it gently.

John watched as the flame cuddled close to, and in response to the ignewax's assumption, he nodded firmly. "Makes sense to me! Well? Is that you, Wax?"

[shiftyPotentate]

As the flame moved closer to her, Nepeta felt John's hand on her shoulder. If this really was Wax, then she felt at ease. The two had parted friends. Though she wished it hadn't led to... well, this.

She moved her arms around the flame, though not to burn herself, in a fashion of a hug. The best she could do given the circumstances anyway.

"I missed you," she said, hoping they were right about who this flame was. It fit at least, why it seemed to excited to see them.

[ryocker]

Though he had seemed sad at first, the movement similar to a hug made his flames... almost become cool enough to touch. She was happy. He was happy. It almost made Wax... wish he had his body back.

In an attempt to prove their guess true, he floated out of her little jesture, then nestled on the ground. Soon after he launched up and made like a fire works explosion- just lighter. "Heeey, I guess we're right! Fireworks are a sign of happiness, right?"

If he could, Wax would've smiled. Then he had a thought. He pointed towards them, then made an image of a man walking- a chibi, balloon man, at least. then he made a questioning look at them.

"...I think he's trying to say 'where are you two going?'" the ignewax chimed, trying to be helpful. When Wax nodded, he quickly put his hand and fist together. "Heeeey... Are you guys going to the place sealed by the heart door?!" The ignewax realized. "Aw man, that'd be awesome! ...uh, maybe? I dunno..."

[nintendonut1]

John smiled at their reunion, and made an impressed "ahh!" at the small show of fireworks. "Ahaha, great! Well, that's one piece of the puzzle, now we just gotta find his body!" He glanced at the ground and avoided stepping in more pools of dark wax. "It can't be this stuff, if it was from earlier..."

His gaze shot up at the whip of fire, realizing Wax was trying to speak to them again. This bout of charades was a little tougher, but at least this time they had a translator.

"Heart door?" John's face lit up, and he grinned at Nepeta before replying, "That leads to the Heart Temple, right?? That's where we're headed, yeah!" Eager, he asked, "Do you know where it is? Can you lead us there??"

[shiftyPotentate]

The pretty fireworks show was a sight to behold, and Nepeta oooohed at it. Then Wax was going again. The Ignewax and John seemed on top of it.

"Yeah, we need to go to the Heart Temple, it's supurr important! ... though I don't know why yet!" She clapped at the charades show.

"Wow, John, you're really good at this!" She giggled. "It's like you're used to deciphering the incomprehensible!"

[ryocker]

The Ignewax giggled at the mention of deciphering games. "Heh... he is kinda fun to look at as a ball of fire..."

Once he heard John's question, he put on a serious look. "Hmm... I can't really say. Most of us only found it once- and there are so many trail markers it kills our brains to find it again. Although in theory..."

Wax watched his little minion go on. "I get the feeling that Master Waxevius- being his own heart, i think, right now- knows where his body is, and that's why it led him back here to the caves. He's... most likely trying to get back to it through some weird psychic connection or something."

Wax split himself apart and clapped like a set of hands- minus the clapping noise. That was exactly right! Eager, he morphed back into one form and circled the Moirails again, as if to say "Come on!" before floating off toward another tunnel.

[nintendonut1]

"Ehe, well, it comes from experience, I guess!" John replied to Nepeta, then beamed at the two candle beings. "Ahaha, awesome!!" Well, this was an encouraging turn of events! It seemed they had a common goal; coincidence or not, predetermined by Nepeta's visions or no, it was still an encouraging development. Excited, the moirails and ignewax resumed following Wax down, down, down into the deepest subterranean levels of the island.

As the candle had stated earlier, a chilly air swept through the tunnel, and John gave off a little shiver. Well, after last time, he was certainly prepared for the cold. Fingering through his sylladex, his Windy tee was swapped out for a black Slime Ghost tee, as well as a denim jacket with fleece lining inside, making it extra cosy. Jade had it made for him, and her mark was left on it in the form of a tiny pink Squiddle on the left cuff.

Finally, they were standing before the great Heart Door, easily about five times their height in stature, with a giant imprint of the Heart symbol engraved in dull plum-colored stone.

Welp. Another riddle to solve, it looked like. "Soooooooo... how do we go about opening it?"

[shiftyPotentate]

Following John and the two ignewax down the corridor, Nepeta wondered why exactly she was apparently predestined to come here. She was the Rogue of Heart, yes, but it still seemed odd that a temple of Heart would be on this island they were transported to.

Then they came upon the Heart Door.

Rogue: Open the door. Begin Descent.

You look upon the door. It is deep red with a heart symbol on it. The left half is filled in, and the right half is hollow.

You instinctively feel that you can open this door. You step in front of it, gazing at the symbol. You feel something within you start to awaken, though it is very faint and hard to tell. You approach the door even more closely, laying both hands on it.

You close your eyes and are unaware of a pinkish glow around you. The symbol on the door likewise begins to glow, and it pushes open effortlessly to your touch.

The Rogue of Heart has gained access to her temple. She must now Descend, so that she can Ascend.

>John, Nepeta, Ignewax(p): Enter temple.

[ryocker]

Walking, walking, and more walking later, the Ignewax looked up at the heart door. "...yep. This is definately the pl- wait..."

Something was wrong here- the door wasn't broken or busted- and Waxevius's body wasn't outside, and it was impossible to open, so why...?

"...Meh, it's probably not important." he mused, watching Nepeta place her hands on the door. He oooooed when it began to glow, and Aaaaaahed once she opened it. A little curious, he followed her and John (Wax was by their side the whole time) into the door as it began to close behind them when he felt... something...

"Hello there."

The Ignewax went blank in his expression. He shook, then tried turning around... and screamed in reaction to what he saw. "HOLY SON OF AN UNBORN BABY THAT FEEDS OFF OF NIGHTMARES IT'S THE GUY!"

Wax's heart stopped- radar picking up its target, unusual voice heard, Ignewax managing to become frightened- and when he turned around and saw that strange spiky arm with two gold chains and a more normal looking arm with black chains, he almost self destructed.

"I had a feeling someone would come here searching for the body. I didn't know he would bring friends, though..." Branch sighed, walking closer to them, with Waxevius statue in hand. "But what to do about you..."

[nintendonut1]

Oh. John should have seen that coming. The Rogue of Heart was the key to the Heart Door. He would have been tempted to make another joke involving keys and hearts, but he wasn't into that game all as much.

Past the door, the craggily rock walls became smooth and polished, the stone marble a mix of purple and red. The hallowed halls howled at their entrance, and the chilling breeze blew by again.

Of course, John wouldn’t have a chance to comment on the creepy atmosphere before he went rigid at the new adversary in front of them. He instinctually held Nepeta and the ignewax back first, then sized him up.

Okay… he looked kind of like the standard imps he fought in the game… on crack.

John took a moment to steel his nerves, slowly reaching for his strife specibus and bringing out Villyhoo. Just in case. This guy was capable of speech, and seemed kind of proper, upon closer look. Maybe treating him as a monster right off the bat wasn’t wise.

“Alright,” he spoke up, hoping his tone wasn’t aggressive, but firm enough. It still kind of squeaked though, much to his chagrin. “You seem like a reasonable guy. So just, put Wax down, there, and maybe we can work this out.”

[shiftyPotentate]

Nepeta had begun to enter the temple, when they were stopped by the mysterious stranger. Strangers were always mysterious in places like this. They tended not to be plain and boring.

Though John was holding her back, she accessed her Strife Specibus and drew the Blue Harpoon Claws. She hadn't had a strife in a long time, death notwithstanding. She took a moment to be impressed by John's upgraded hammer. She hadn't had a chance to see it like that. Looks like Vriska had given him quite the gift.

She didn't want to have to fight this guy if it could be avoided, and John already started on the negotiation technique. She busied herself with looking for any extra details they might have missed. A trap that had been set up or another way in, for example. Finding none, she took her place at John's side, ready to strife beside him if it came to that.

[ryocker]

Branch's steely yellow eyes watched John intently. "Put him down?" he repeated, looking the body over. "What would possess you to say something like that?"

Somewhere in his observation he looked back at John and Nepeta. They seemed to mean well... and obviously trusted the candle stick king quite well. "Or was what he said true? Did Waxevius truly join the side of good in an attempt to redeem himself for his actions?"

His eyes went to the chains on his arms, considering whether or not to enter Judgement mode off the bat, while the Ignewax shivered behind John's leg. He wasn't enjoying this, to say the least.

[nintendonut1]

This was obviously a delicate situation, as there was no telling what Branch would do and what his intentions were. In his experiences, John had faced enemies with very clear goals, such as wanting everything dead. But this guy seemed a bit different, and when he spoke again, John became honestly confused.

Side of good? But... wasn't this demon the bad guy here? John considered this, interally shaking his head. There he went with assuming things too quickly again. One would think he'd learn; last time he jumped to conclusions about someone, he repeatedly blocked the troll that was trying to help him all along, as crass as he was.

John lowered his hammer a bit, glanced between Wax's flame and body, and finally he replied, "Well, I don't know much about Wax's history, but from what I know about him, he's a pretty good guy! He was really helpful when we first popped up on the island."

He glanced at his moirail next, and continued, "Nepeta can tell you the same thing! She knows just a little more about him than me."

[shiftyPotentate]

Nepeta nodded and stepped forward. "I appeared here in this cave lost and alone," she said, pointing back to the caves they'd recently exited. "He was one of the first people to find me and he helped me cheer up. When I found my friends John and Tafuros, he helped us find a way out... He's a good purrson, I promise!"

She retracted her claws again, storing them back in her Strife Specibus. "I don't know what you want... or why you want to hurt him... but... if you hurt him you're doing a bad thing! He's my furriend and I won't let that happen without respawnse!"

She hoped that little spiel worked.

[ryocker]

Branch's eyes grew wide in response, but not much wider- he still looked mean, in other words. "A genuinely good person..." He had never thought about it before now- Although he had seen many who claimed they would change, they had always said so just to try a last ditch effort in subdueing him- which goes without saying that it failed every time.

But when he encountered Waxevius the first time, it was almost like he was trying to avoid a fight- not cause anymore pain to someone's heart, or destroy someone's hopes. Wax didn't fight willingly, he fought in an attempt to leave, since Branch chose not to listen to his reason, his "lies", as it were. Branch gave the statue in his right hand another look. "So the king who once caused mischief, the one who would assault any intruder to his domain, he has actually learned how to become a good person at heart..."

Branch smiled whole heartedly, and approached John and Nepeta. He sat Wax's body down, and smiled down at the thirteen year old boy. "Thank you, young one," he smiled, crossing his arms. Strange energy left his arms and entered the keyholes on his chains, more wrapping around his arms, while said arms began to exibit less Dark and Light powers, and started looking like just normal human arms. "You've helped me to see the error of my ways, and to understand not to go by impulse. I've almost become the very thing I've been trying to prevent, had it not been for the two of you proving good, as well as evil, can exist anywhere. I just have to look or the good."

He extended his left arm to John, his light element arm, and awaited him to shake it. "Let it be known that you've made a powerful ally on this day- a private Gaurdian of one of the many alternate Earths."