Crisis Of The Worlds: Eye Of The Storm!

Breakdowns

They appeared on the stairs. X jumped for joy. "Four!" He ran over and hugged Four, who briefly calmed down. He then turned to Orb and Obliv. "Before we work together, there's one more thing." Four stretched his arm over Pill Bottle, hovering his hand over them, drawing some green goop out of them. He dropped it on the floor before it reassembled into the shape of Two. Two stood up, looking around in shock. "How'd I get here?! The last thing I remember is getting hit by a pane and knocked off the tower!" Four groaned. "We're switching sides. Liy has humiliated us for the last time, and we're going to do something about it!"

"All right, but why should I join in on this?" Two asked. Four strained to think of a reasonable response. Pill Bottle chimed in. "You've been defeated by me and my friends and I used your power to melt the insides of that structure. The Empress isn't going to have any mercy on you even if you turn us in. If you join us, you have a chance of surviving."

Two nodded. "I get your point. Let's head upstairs, then. King Rupert will be the only one we can really convince to join us." He hurried up the stairs, followed closely by the other two. Eileen heard them coming, and opened the door.

"All right. I guess you convinced them to join us?" Eileen asked. Pill Bottle nodded.

Rook smiled. "I haven't felt this alive in decades." He stood up, more confident than before. He opened a very well hidden door that led up to the base of one of the spires atop the palace. He explained his idea more fully as they walked up the stairs.
"Four, Two, all of you, I have a plan. I need Four to quickly go destroy the tower on Yoyle Mountain, and Two to announce to Empress Liy that he's turned on her, and her attempt to destroy your universes have failed, and that she needs to give up and let you all return.
Otherwise, you will all push me off the base of the spire."

"That's ludicrous! Why would you volunteer to play that part?!" Obliv asked. Rook's response was chilling. "I'm the best piece on the board for such a deadly move."

Fifteen minutes later, they made it to their destination. Four had briefly vanished and returned in that time. Rook raised his hands, acting as if he was being coerced. Two contacted Empress Liy.

"Empress, Four and I have had it. We have broken your machines for killing universes, and I'm protecting X. We're going to kill your most valued ruler if you don't quit while you're ahead, and if that isn't enough, we will kill you next." Everyone could hear the shakiness in his voice. How could Two make this convincing with such uncertainty?

It sounded as if he didn't have to. Empress Liy screamed, overwhelmed by an all consuming rage. A fury so cloudy that it blocked out her reasoning. What could possess her so? "YOU WOULD DARE?! YOU DARE?!" she screamed.

"C-come and see for yourself." Two said. He cut her off. She then appeared on a spire across from them. Rook looked over at her. While everyone else was terrified, he was just calm. They all knew they were in the midst of danger. Orb saw a darkness growing and growing in his already black purple aura, and she was afraid.

"Hello, Empress. I'm here! Save me again if you wish. I'm going to heaven either way!" He looked down, smiling. He put his hands down and jumped off the edge. Scissors shrieked in horror at what she had just seen. Everyone else who he fooled into playing a part yelled out.

For Empress Liy, the moment where he jumped off was where things froze.

In her mind, sending the humans back to her universe's Old Earth, saving his life, giving him a kingdom, and letting him rule how he pleased was more than he asked from her.
This ultimate demonstration of not only discontentment, but rejection was traumatizing. Infuriating. Saddening? Most certainly unacceptable.
She had to choose as to whether or not to let him die and fast.
Book would say she couldn't let the old rook go to waste, but why not let him die if he had the gall to do this?

As her mind mused on this, everyone saw the look on her face. It was initially frozen in pure shock, only for her to shrug and turn her eyes directly towards them. However, it was The Cape who moved first. He flew down to grab Rook, and slowed his descent safely, and then flew him back up to the others, setting him down gently. Rook angrily punched him in the face.

"DAMN YOU! Why?!" He yelled. Empress Liy was now baffled. It was at this point her mind began to break. She looked at all of them and started screaming without even thinking.

"YOU WIN! GO BACK TO WHERE YOU CAME FROM AND STAY OUT OF MY AFFAIRS AND TAKE YOUR TRAITORS WITH YOU! I HATE YOU! I HATE EVERY SINGLE SMALL PART OF EACH OF YOU!!!" Empress Liy screamed, ripping off the spire despite its awesome size and mass, and throwing it at them. It didn't make it far enough to hit them, but it was still terrifying as it landed on a lower part of the castle, and crashed through with a deafening thunderous noise. She then screamed. This statement of defiance and despair, she hadn't seen anything like it face to face in decades.

She snapped her fingers, teleporting Rook over to her.
"Why would you do that?! I have given you the greatest life possible, I have given you all the tools you asked for to make your citizens just as well off! What could you possibly lack?!" She asked, screaming at him. She wasn't much taller than him, but one could barely imagine the terror they would feel in this situation.
Rook looked her in the eyes. "In my younger years I would have not done this. But I understand the hopelessness of it all. My children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, my subjects, they probably wouldn't care if I died. I wouldn't have been sad myself. You're the only one besides my wife who cares. But you care only because I'm useful. You look down at me with intrigue, but contempt all the same! Why should I continue to live at all?!" Rook yelled the last question at her at the top of his lungs as if she couldn't snap him out of existence. Empress Liy was confused. This refusal to respect her authority and god-like power was just baffling, and she struggled to process it. Orb could not help but be intrigued.

Reglissina looked at Orb. "What do you see?"

"I see the same dark black glowing in the king that I saw in Soshi. It's despair but the bright red glow tells me there's also anger and some purple hint of love for his wife, I should assume."

"What about the Empress?" Reglissina asked. "It's just black emanating from her. All black. I don't understand. She's angry, and there should be red." Reglissina shuddered. "I know why. I should have known, too. There is no Liy in there. Just the corrupted Empress."

"I think we should leave. She will recover from the shock of this moment, and Rook has to accept whatever path his decision led him down." Sage replied. The others nodded. The Cape pressed his earpiece. "Notecard, take us home." Just like that, they vanished from Empress Liy's Earth instantly. All except for Four, X, Two, and Pill Bottle, who vanished a few seconds later. Empress Liy looked at the only one left. Scissors.

Empress Liy felt she was on the verge of a mental breakdown, so she clenched her fist. "I'm not going to punish you or anyone in your domain for this. This situation is beyond my ability to deal with right now, so be grateful." She dropped Rook next to Scissors and vanished off elsewhere.