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Name: Halt Home place: Forest of Despair Role: Villain, follower of Lady Dyspear Theme Color: Green Powers: Can create Zetsuborgs; naturally, incredibly strong; Has a Beastial Form, which is his true form Halt was Lady Dyspear’s newest underling. Though unknown to the others, Lady Dyspear had known of Halt’s presence for a long time, before they even met. It happened when Lady Dyspear needed to hide and heal from her defeat at the hands of the previous Cures or PrePrecures (Young ladies with magical powers) who guard the Hope Kingdom. She fled to a place called the Forest of Despair. It was a cold, dark place, perfect for a creature of darkness such as herself. Few creatures lived there, but she chose that place because there was a presence there that caught her attention. It called her. It made her hungry, For you see Lady Dyspear fed on chaos, hopelessness, and despair, hence her name. A lonesome creature lived there, something ugly and brutish, something distinctively not human, something that lived with a lot of loneliness and despair. Lady Dyspear made her new hide out this place and fed on that creature’s misery. It made her stronger little by little. Once she became strong enough, she sent her three commanding generals to go and find the Princess Perfumes before new Precures could be created. In the midst of the chaos that they had caused, Lady Dyspear was able to take control of the Hope Palace, though she could not secure the Princess Perfumes. Her three generals were Shut, Close, and Lock, all created by her and named for their purpose of stopping the happy dreams of innocent people, causing more hopelessness and despair. Together they were known as the Three Dusketeers, but they were more rivals to each other than allies. While Lady Dyspear rested and healed from her last great defeat, her Three Dusketeers were meant to go and create more despair and to stop any new Precures from arising. Close had strength, while Shut had charm and grace, and Lock had cunning, but none of them could stop the new Precures from appearing, Cure Flora, Cure Sparkle, and Cure Mermaid, later to be followed by Cure Scarlet. The more they failed, the more they bickered and fought, and the more Lady Dyspear began to lose her patience. She finally decided to send in reinforcements of a somewhat different calibur. She finally decided to go seek out that lonely, sad presence. It was always hiding and so her Three Dusketeers had never known he was also a resident of that dark place. And so she sought him out. Oh, it was beastly thing, serpentine in nature, the lowest of lifeforms. He was quite a large creature, too. But oh, it longed to have a place to belong and a purpose, it wanted acceptance, it didn’t want to be what it was; it was self loathing for all things hate serpents and the serpentine. Its strange, as much as a beast as it was and there was a certain amount of wild nature to him, there were things in it that were almost human, things like misery and hope and dreams and loneliness. It was possible that he was some sort of hybrid since he was obviously not entirely a beast. She also knew that he was a single entity here in this forest, meaning there were no others like him here. He must have been displace somehow, though from where was a different topic. Whatever sort of creature he was, Lady Dyspear knew serpents and serpentine entities lived for a very, very long time, and she could tell that this one was quite young, though she could not pin point what type of creature he was. A snake demon maybe or maybe a half breed of one, perhaps a gorgon or a basilisk, or cerastes or a maybe an arkaroo, or perhaps a naga? It was so young, it had no developed skills other than incredible strength which made identification nearly impossible. This situation was a bit different than Lady Dyspear’s usual tactics of hypnotic brainwashing certain individuals, or actually creating them, this time she would shape this awful thing to work for her. She did her work, changed his form, made him a new body, a pretty one. One that could fit in with humans. And in return for this “kindness”, he would have to work for her, though in truth, she did not give any choice in the matter. It was frightening to be taken from his lonely home and waking up in a strange body that wasnt his. Moreover the wild parts of his mind had been quieted down and the parts of him that could think and reason like a person were sharper and more focused. Lady Dyspear had essentially tamed him. Lady Dyspear had essentially tamed him, took advantage of this and told him that she could offer him a place in her ranks, a name, and of course, this small and pretty, brand new body. He had always wanted a home with others and to be with people. Now it was possible! The realization was slow to come, but the the hope in his heart started to grow. And grow some more! Oh, it almost made her sick! But she also warned him that he would have to be strong, tough, and callous, this was no mission for someone with a weak heart. And because she had given him all that he wanted, he had to do as she said. And that’s how Halt came to be. However there was a bit of a problem, since this creature had grown up wild and mostly apart from other sentient lifeforms, he had very limited knowledge of how to be a person, and he could not speak. He lived on instincts and so was almost more animal than person. But he had enough consciousness to know he was different from the people who lived outside the dark forest and that they were afraid of him. There were human thoughts there, though jumbled up, clashing with the animal instincts, and impossible for him to express. Lady Dyspear did not have much choice and imparted a very little bit of her innate knowledge into him, for she was a very old creature herself. But she only gave have him enough to speak and to know what to do with these new abilities. He had also retained a fair amount strength from his original from and so had to learn how to handle things carefully. Twilight was Lady Dyspear’s daughter. She was beautiful but very elitist. Lady Dyspear charged Twilight with helping him to learn how to speak properly, which he would pick up very quickly. But she despised this idea, she wanted no part of this lowly beast, but her mother told her not to worry, that he would not be here for much longer, she would soon be sending him out to aid her three “Generals”, as they were called. In a few weeks time, Halt managed to function well enough to pass for a person. He did so well, that you would never guess what he really was. Twilight rarely helped him, so he learned by listening to her speak and imitating words. And the more he tried the more it came to him, thanks mostly to Lady Dyspear giving him a sort of cheat code by sharing knowledge of language with him. Lady Dyspear was more talkative with him than Twilight was, and so he grew to understand what loyalty meant to Lady Dyspear. It meant doing what she wanted, no matter what it was. While he grew accustomed to this new body and learned how to speak properly, he also explored this stolen palace. He had a great curiosity for everything human, but could never explore that curiosity before. He would sometimes find humans lingering just outside the dark forest, and watched them to see what they were like, but these occurances were somewhat rare, and of course, he could not approach them. Because when he did, he scared them and they would call him a monster. He didn’t quite know what that meant, but he knew he was different and that he frightened people. Lady Dyspear did not have the patience to answer every little question, so he was mostly on his own on learning how humans lived and why they did the things they did and what every little thing was. Lady Dyspear was an intimidating presence, and he had always hoped to ask her to share a little more knowledge but was afraid of angering her and her taking away everything she had already given him. The best he could do was learn from watching Twilight interact with the world around her, which she hated for him to be near her. So he often watched from a distance. There were no other people here to learn form. All the palace residence fled when Lady Dyspear took over. But her and Twilight were still something and were the first people he had ever encountered and interacted with. It was a pity that neither was warm or inviting. Halt was eager to join Lady Dyspear’s three generals. These were supposed to be his new group, after all. It would be like having a family. He was also thrilled at the idea of how often they got to go into the town and got to see everything there. They sometime even interacted with people, and he wanted to do that, too. But he knew he had to be patient. Lady Dyspear had already done a lot for him, and the last thing he wanted was to make her angry. Once she felt he was ready, Lady Dyspear sent Halt to join her generals. She even dubbed Halt her new Lieutenant. This made Halt so happy, he was finally among people, finally accepted! (Although naming him a “lieutenant” was really a roundabout way of saying he was never as important as her “generals”, since generals rank higher than a lieutenant would. These were arbitrary titles she gave them all so there was no reason not to also name him as a general.) But for as happy as Halt was to have a place and group to belong to, the reality was more harsh than he expected. Shut, Close, and Lock were not open, warm, and welcoming, they were indignant that Lady Dyspear felt the need to send this, this new brat to come and help them! It was not the warm reception that Halt had hoped for, but Lady Dyspear did warn him of their unfriendly nature. Halt, with his very limited knowledge on people, decided that he had to work hard to win their approval, but it was always a losing a battle, if he lost, he was a failure, if he won, he was a bratty upstart trying to make them all look bad. It was a lot to deal with. At first Halt tried to seem cold and hard against their savage criticisms, but eventually they started to rub off on him, and he sometimes tried to argue back, seeming to become a little bit more combative, just as they were. He also did not share their overtly negative stance on dreams. Maybe because they were all made of parts of Lady Dyspear’s soul and he wasn’t. Dreams were all he ever had. Not a home, not friends nor a family or place to belong, or even a name. And so he dreamed of those things. He did not think Dreams were stupid and pointless, and he did not like sealing people’s dreams away and tuning them into nightmare monsters, which was essentially their job. But he had to do what Lady Dyspear ordered him to do. And so that set him apart from them that much more. Though he did not let them know these things. He was just the incompetent new guy, trying to compete for Lady Dyspear’s favor. In truth, he wanted to fit in, he wanted to be part of them so much, that he was near desperate to get a win, thinking it would earn him some respect and acceptance, which he wanted from all of them, but he most wanted it with Shut. Shut was a very flamboyant male, and when Halt first saw him, he was dazzled! Shut had a beautiful petite body, perfect blonde hair, a beautiful smooth face with a beautifully colored complexion, and colorful eyes. Shut was everything Halt wanted to be! But he wasn’t very welcoming. So Halt’s admirations always happened from afar. And it wasnt long before he started to wonder if Shut was this way because Close was a horrible bully to him. Thats what happened to Halt as well—he became guarded just to get by in this group. But the more Halt admired Shut, the more he wanted to try to talk with him like people are supposed. Halt looked like a person, but he hated that he still hadnt got the hang of actually being a person and he was awkward, his speech was limited, and his knowledge was even more so. His words were small and he paused often to find the right word to say. Aside from the very faint outlines of scales that were only visible under the right lighting (the one thing he did not like about his new body.) he was beautiful, but still, he did not fit. It was frustrating. Even his rapidly improving speech did not help things. (The more he heard people talk, the more he picked up and so he was rapidly developing on his own. Though It seemed better speech was not really helping his situation.) This was not what Halt thought his new life would be like. He still felt very alone, and very rejected. And he felt he owed it to Lady Dyspear to be here and work as hard as he could to succeed, so it was not as though he could just leave and go somewhere else. It was not as simple as that. Halt worked hard at holding his resolve to stick to this new life. But in reality, the thuggish way of this group was also difficult to live under, because, as it turns out, Halt was actually a kind and sweet person. He was gentle. Very innocent of human ways, naive to many things, and curious to learn. Instead, he tried to seem as cold and as capable as the others here. But it was nearly impossible. It was hard to pretend to not care about hurting people. Each member of the group always spent their time alone and only came together to address Lady Dyspear. So all Halt could really do was watch and learn from that watching, just as he had always done before. He did start noticing some things as he paid closer attention. For one, it wasnt that they all bickered endlessly, it was that Close was a hostile and aggressive presence who took things out on Shut, and Lock just laughed and goated on this abusive bullying. If anything Shut was usually more calm and graceful than either of them were. Maybe they treated that way because he was the weakest in the group, which is pretty common in nature. But as a person, Shut was actually somewhat better than either of them were. It was awful to see...and to experience… and to realize these differences between the three. Apparently, Close didn’t mess with Lock in the same way, though Halt didn’t know why. Was it that Lock was stronger, so Close stayed out of his way? It was so strange, these three were supposed to be a unit together, they were supposed to be a united force but the reality was actually quite different. One day, Halt made a bold move. Close was being particularly nasty with Shut, as thats how things always seemed to be between those two. Close was verbally and mentally abusive—that was one way to put it. And Halt hated it. Shut didn’t deserve to be treated so badly, especially that Close was no more successful at stopping the Precures than Shut was. Halt knew all too well what it meant to be rejected by others—it was the reason he had lived alone in that awful dark forest for so long. Halt had never gone up against any of them before, he had only ever argued back in his own defense, and even that he only did so sparingly and was weak at it, but this time, it was different. Halt standing up to Close, on Shut’s behalf, was shocking to all of them, to say the least. It was so unexpected, that it just made Close laugh, as he did not yet know that Halt was actually as strong as he was. The beast inside this new body was still there, and it was enormous and physically powerful, but none of them new that. Halt didn’t even know that. He didn’t know he still had his strength, and so he spent the whole time thinking the three generals all had a special talent and he had nothing of his old self left. His attempt to stand up to Close, made Close laugh so much he actually let this slide, and let them be. Halt then attempted to help Shut, but it wasn’t appreciated. Shut was angry and indignant. But this act of Halt’s did something unusual. It sparked a new friendship, though the beginning was quite rocky, but it was just the start. After that, Halt decided to try again to be friendly with Shut. He didn’t know if it would do any good. But he wanted to try. The truth was that Shut was intimidated more easily than either Close or Lock—he was small and slight and did not have Close’s strength. And when he talked to new people, he could be kind and gentle. Halt knew this about him, both from observation and from secretly following him around sometimes. Halt didn’t have a lot of experience with people except bad ones so far, so he figured to go about it how he would want a friend to treat him, and so he offered encouragement when they were there on the battle field, and offered it when Shut would lose, and offered it when Close was being cruel to Shut. This, of course, made Halt a target, too. But it also made those hard, defensive walls that Shut had melt, down little by little. Shut was confused at first—quite confused and then he started to become rather suspicious. It finally came to a point where Shut demanded to know what was Halt’s plan, what was his deal, what did he really want? Why was he sticking his neck out for him so much? It was quite accusatory--It wasn’t a great start to the conversation. Halt couldn’t help himself, he started to gush about how much he’s always admired Shut for everything about him. That it was his dream to be more like Shut and to do well for all of them and for Lady Dyspear. The more he talked, the more he gushed, and Shut was caught very off guard by this kind of answer. He really thought there was some kind of ulterior motive to Halt’s “sudden” heroism. The last thing he expected was to learn he had a secret admirer this whole time! Once Halt finally realized that he gave himself all away, he awkwardly apologized for being so stupid and out of line. Shut gently told him that it wasn’t stupid at all. At last, Halt had Shut’s attention, and in a positive way. And as much as vanity is not a good trait, and Shut had vanity, the positive encouragement and having an admirer who enjoyed his beauty certainly was very good for his ego, and his mood. Halt had a million questions about Shut’s beauty secrets, not that Shut minded at all, he was glad for the attention. There were even times when Shut discouraged Halt from being so hard on himself, on uselessness, his inability to make any progress, that everything was so hard to understand and get used to. Halt never had a friend before, but he was almost certain this is what it would feel like. There was lots of friction with the other two, but Halt found many little, happy memories in this short time of his life. That would turn out to be one of his best traits; He thought of the good that happened in those bad times. But there was friction in other ways. Shut was infatuated with Twilight, Lady Dyspear’s daughter. So when she would come around to check up on things, She would be particularly spiteful of Halt and the others she just did not seem to really care for, and Shut...Shut was swallowed by his own infatuation, would make attempts to be friendly with her and get her attention, and suddenly Halt had no presence at all. He knew he couldn’t compete with Twilight, for more than one reason. Halt didn’t like the effect Twilight had on Shut, but he could not say or do anything. She didn’t really care about Shut. There was some small comfort in that, because that meant she would finish her check up here and leave and Shut would be normal again, and Halt could breathe a sigh of relief. It was a blessing to see her go. And things would go back to normal, or what passed for normal, but things don’t usually stay the same. Twilight started visiting more, And Shut was getting desperate to impress her and score a win, but he kept losing and it was bringing out the worst in him. Eventually Lady Dyspear punished his failures and “demoted” him and apparently replace him with Lock. That was bad enough, but then Shut took a huge blow when Twilight was rescued by the Precure heroines and was purified and restored to her true form. She was a princess whom Lady Dyspear had kidnapped and brainwashed years ago into believing she was her daughter, a princess of darkness. But she was more than that, she was a Princess Precure—she was one with their enemy. Shut was devastated and nothing Halt could say would change that. This friendship that Halt fought so hard to build up was steadily fizzling to its death by now. Shut’s behaviors were—getting bad. He was desperate to win back some respect from Lady Dyspear and he also wanted to lash out. His spirits started to lift again when he met Miss Shamour and became friends with her, which was kind of hurtful to Halt, as apparently he wasnt enough of a friend, but even so he was glad to see Shut’s spirits lifted up again. He needed someone like that, and Halt wasnt knowledgeable enough to know what to do or what to even say. He recognized that. But Shut’s high hopes didn’t last. After more failures, Shut disappeared, though Halt knew it was to escape Lady Dyspear’s ultimate punishment. Shut was out there lost, but he was not the only one. Halt wanted to go with him and support him, but he was too indebted to Lady Dyspear to leave. Halt thought that if he left, too, it would make her angry enough actually come after them, and then she would destroy them both. Close was getting desperate to get a win, and so was Lock, and most of all Lady Dyspear. Halt realized that Shut had been wondering around lost in the streets during the cold winter and was struggling to find himself. Apparently the Precures gave Shut a lot to think about. Things that made him change. He even decided to aid the Precures now—of all people! Their enemies! Enemies…? They were never Halt’s enemies. There was so much going on. It hurt to be left behind but Halt was glad that Shut seemed like he had been able to pick himself up again, and he was actually glad that Shut had left because of Lady Dyspear’s intentions on punishing him. Shut really couldn’t have stayed even if he wanted to—not if he wanted to continue living. Shut was even able to find sympathy for Lock, the lesser of his two tormentors. Lock had fallen low, was defeated into oblivion, and revived again by Lady Dyspear, but he had lost most of his form and what he really was was rather surprising—he was kind of a monster too, in a way. This shocked Halt because it never occurred to him that other non-human creatures could exist. Why in the world did Lady Dyspear create him like that? (interestingly enough Halt had learned in between these battles that Shut and Close also had alternate beast forms, which earlier in this career would have really delighted him because it would have made him feel more like part of the group—if he had only known about that much earlier on--So Close could transform into something like a bird monster and something that was a lot like a harpy and Shut could turn into something that looked like a large cat beast and something that was like a werecat, but Locke—Locke was a living cloak who could possess people and form a human body under that possession and also turn into something that looked like a huge dragon-toad that was an impressive size—and very aggressive. And breathed fire!) Halt was thrilled to learn that each one was actually part animal in a way because that meant there more alike than they thought! It made him wish he could have alternate forms, too, since Lock and Close had many different forms. Locke was once strong and independent, but now Close was basically using him like a puppet. Shut helped in that battle, and had gotten the Precures to purify Lock, and release whatever hold Close and Lady Dyspear had on him. Halt didn’t know what happened to Lock after that—he did not know that Shut picked him up and they stayed together but by this point Lock had lost even more of his form and there was very little of him left and he now depended on Shut to be the body that he never really had. What Halt did know was that Lady Dyspear was now very angry that she lost Shut, Twilight, and Lock. It wasn’t long after that, Lady Dyspear finally revealed herself and began attacking Nobel Academy where the Precures lived and attended as students. It was a huge battle. The Precures had more help this time, and they needed it! And among those helping was Shut and Lock, who had temporarily teamed up with the young fairy he had possessed so that he could have a body again. It was strange to see him turn like this, but Halt realized why—Shut had something different now—he had hope for a brighter future out from Lady Dyspear’s grip. That was something Halt did understand. Halt had been lying low with things getting intense, but now was when he decided to act. It took a lot of courage and thought and a lot of heart, but he wanted to help fight Lady Dyspear, because he did not want a world covered in darkness. If she had her way, she would destroy his only friend anyway, along with all the beauty and the hopes and dreams that lived on in this world. Halt decided to helped the Precures fight their biggest battle, by distracting Close and his little minions, Stop and Freeze. And it was very much welcomed help! Close was incredibly strong! But even as she was losing ground, Lady Dyspear thought here and now was a great time for punishment and broke apart Halt’s pretty new body, reverting him to the beast he always was underneath! And everyone saw it—the Dusketeers, the Precures, the people down below watching the battle--It was a horrifying moment for Halt, but he had enough presence of mind to stay grounded and keep on fighting despite it all, and despite the grave damage he was receiving. Close didn’t hold back, this was the all or nothing battle that had been building up this whole time. Close got hurt. Halt got hurt. But they kept fighting, each one a more formidable force than the other ever realized. Except Halt was fighting with his own natural power and Close was powered up with Dyspear’s cheat codes. Finally! The battle seemed over and The Princess Precures had defeated Lady Dyspear—she was finally gone! But Close would not quit and tried one last time for an all out assult on Cure Flora, but, somehow, someway Cure Flora got him to realize things. What words she said, Halt didn’t know, but they made Close stop, and quit fighting. And then he flew off. Maybe he finally realized his cause was worthless now because Lady Dyspear was already defeated and gone...maybe its that he was hiding how bad his internal injuries were from battling Halt….maybe it was both. And it was finally all over. It was...all over. Among the celebrating between the Princess Precures and the people and academy students, a gravely injured Halt silently slipped away. He had no place here among people, and so he returned to his former place in the forest of thorns. Everyone had hope for the future, hope that they could work and make their dreams come true, and Lady Dyspear was no longer here to steal those dreams. But she will return someday, because despair can never truly be conquered—it is the other half of hope. One cant exist without the other. So While everyone was preparing to return to their lives, and in Shut and Lock’s case start new ones, Halt fell into despair again, He wanted to help because it was the right thing to do and he never really wanted to hurt anyone. Letting Lady Dyspear plunge the world into an endless, dark, hopeless pit was not a world he wanted to live in. And now that danger was gone, and everyone else was happy, and Shut and Lock were safe and even friends now. It was the only solace Halt had, and the only thing he had left of his life with them were memories. Things had settled back into normalcy, and Shut and Lock had a place to stay and were welcomed, which was a wonderful outcome for them, seeing as they were part of the dark force that kept attacking these wonderful people. But Shut and Lock didn’t stay settled for long. They wanted to go find Halt. But with Lady Dyspear gone, they had lost much of their power and were rather lucky to still be alive as it was, given that they were created from pieces of her soul, but it could have been that being purified by the Precures had severed that tie and allowed them to be free and to live free; and the Precures had to give up their powers now that the evil they fought had been vanquished. And so Shut didn’t know what they could do for Halt, but he was resolved to figure something out—Kanata’s kingdom was full of wonderful magic, so there was still hope that they could restore Halt to his previous form. And if Prince Kanata could do that much for Halt, he might be able to help Lock craft his own body, too. And then after, they would all go chase Close down. It was time to have a little talk with Close—he owed them that much, at least. Though that outcome was...very uncertain. But Shut knew for certain he wanted to go find Halt. It wasn’t fair that everyone got a happy ending, but Halt. He wasn’t sure how, or where Halt even was, but he wanted to fix that, and make it right. It was possible that Shut’s new dream was to build a new family from the ashes of the old one, and that meant Halt just had to be part of it, and Close, too, if he was willing. And so, while everyone else was off dreaming and working and living, Shut and Lock started their new mission. And it was only after would they be content to start their new lives. Together. All together. ~~ Well—what do you think? ^^ I really hope you like him! ❤ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Halt Belongs to me Shut, Close, Lock, Twilight, and Lady Dyspear are all from the Shoujou anime Go! Princess Precure 640_by 413_by ( I used the body but not the face and head of this base) 480_by (I used the face and head of this base) Patterns, backgrounds, and corner borders are all form google images

Description
Name: Halt Home place: Forest of Despair Role: Villain, follower of Lady Dyspear Theme Color: Green Powers: Can create Zetsuborgs; naturally, incredibly strong; Has a Beastial Form, which is his true form Halt was Lady Dyspear’s newest underling. Though unknown to the others, Lady Dyspear had known of Halt’s presence for a long time, before they even met. It happened when Lady Dyspear needed to hide and heal from her defeat at the hands of the previous Cures or PrePrecures (Young ladies with magical powers) who guard the Hope Kingdom. She fled to a place called the Forest of Despair. It was a cold, dark place, perfect for a creature of darkness such as herself. Few creatures lived there, but she chose that place because there was a presence there that caught her attention. It called her. It made her hungry, For you see Lady Dyspear fed on chaos, hopelessness, and despair, hence her name. A lonesome creature lived there, something ugly and brutish, something distinctively not human, something that lived with a lot of loneliness and despair. Lady Dyspear made her new hide out this place and fed on that creature’s misery. It made her stronger little by little. Once she became strong enough, she sent her three commanding generals to go and find the Princess Perfumes before new Precures could be created. In the midst of the chaos that they had caused, Lady Dyspear was able to take control of the Hope Palace, though she could not secure the Princess Perfumes. Her three generals were Shut, Close, and Lock, all created by her and named for their purpose of stopping the happy dreams of innocent people, causing more hopelessness and despair. Together they were known as the Three Dusketeers, but they were more rivals to each other than allies. While Lady Dyspear rested and healed from her last great defeat, her Three Dusketeers were meant to go and create more despair and to stop any new Precures from arising. Close had strength, while Shut had charm and grace, and Lock had cunning, but none of them could stop the new Precures from appearing, Cure Flora, Cure Sparkle, and Cure Mermaid, later to be followed by Cure Scarlet. The more they failed, the more they bickered and fought, and the more Lady Dyspear began to lose her patience. She finally decided to send in reinforcements of a somewhat different calibur. She finally decided to go seek out that lonely, sad presence. It was always hiding and so her Three Dusketeers had never known he was also a resident of that dark place. And so she sought him out. Oh, it was beastly thing, serpentine in nature, the lowest of lifeforms. He was quite a large creature, too. But oh, it longed to have a place to belong and a purpose, it wanted acceptance, it didn’t want to be what it was; it was self loathing for all things hate serpents and the serpentine. Its strange, as much as a beast as it was and there was a certain amount of wild nature to him, there were things in it that were almost human, things like misery and hope and dreams and loneliness. It was possible that he was some sort of hybrid since he was obviously not entirely a beast. She also knew that he was a single entity here in this forest, meaning there were no others like him here. He must have been displace somehow, though from where was a different topic. Whatever sort of creature he was, Lady Dyspear knew serpents and serpentine entities lived for a very, very long time, and she could tell that this one was quite young, though she could not pin point what type of creature he was. A snake demon maybe or maybe a half breed of one, perhaps a gorgon or a basilisk, or cerastes or a maybe an arkaroo, or perhaps a naga? It was so young, it had no developed skills other than incredible strength which made identification nearly impossible. This situation was a bit different than Lady Dyspear’s usual tactics of hypnotic brainwashing certain individuals, or actually creating them, this time she would shape this awful thing to work for her. She did her work, changed his form, made him a new body, a pretty one. One that could fit in with humans. And in return for this “kindness”, he would have to work for her, though in truth, she did not give any choice in the matter. It was frightening to be taken from his lonely home and waking up in a strange body that wasnt his. Moreover the wild parts of his mind had been quieted down and the parts of him that could think and reason like a person were sharper and more focused. Lady Dyspear had essentially tamed him. Lady Dyspear had essentially tamed him, took advantage of this and told him that she could offer him a place in her ranks, a name, and of course, this small and pretty, brand new body. He had always wanted a home with others and to be with people. Now it was possible! The realization was slow to come, but the the hope in his heart started to grow. And grow some more! Oh, it almost made her sick! But she also warned him that he would have to be strong, tough, and callous, this was no mission for someone with a weak heart. And because she had given him all that he wanted, he had to do as she said. And that’s how Halt came to be. However there was a bit of a problem, since this creature had grown up wild and mostly apart from other sentient lifeforms, he had very limited knowledge of how to be a person, and he could not speak. He lived on instincts and so was almost more animal than person. But he had enough consciousness to know he was different from the people who lived outside the dark forest and that they were afraid of him. There were human thoughts there, though jumbled up, clashing with the animal instincts, and impossible for him to express. Lady Dyspear did not have much choice and imparted a very little bit of her innate knowledge into him, for she was a very old creature herself. But she only gave have him enough to speak and to know what to do with these new abilities. He had also retained a fair amount strength from his original from and so had to learn how to handle things carefully. Twilight was Lady Dyspear’s daughter. She was beautiful but very elitist. Lady Dyspear charged Twilight with helping him to learn how to speak properly, which he would pick up very quickly. But she despised this idea, she wanted no part of this lowly beast, but her mother told her not to worry, that he would not be here for much longer, she would soon be sending him out to aid her three “Generals”, as they were called. In a few weeks time, Halt managed to function well enough to pass for a person. He did so well, that you would never guess what he really was. Twilight rarely helped him, so he learned by listening to her speak and imitating words. And the more he tried the more it came to him, thanks mostly to Lady Dyspear giving him a sort of cheat code by sharing knowledge of language with him. Lady Dyspear was more talkative with him than Twilight was, and so he grew to understand what loyalty meant to Lady Dyspear. It meant doing what she wanted, no matter what it was. While he grew accustomed to this new body and learned how to speak properly, he also explored this stolen palace. He had a great curiosity for everything human, but could never explore that curiosity before. He would sometimes find humans lingering just outside the dark forest, and watched them to see what they were like, but these occurances were somewhat rare, and of course, he could not approach them. Because when he did, he scared them and they would call him a monster. He didn’t quite know what that meant, but he knew he was different and that he frightened people. Lady Dyspear did not have the patience to answer every little question, so he was mostly on his own on learning how humans lived and why they did the things they did and what every little thing was. Lady Dyspear was an intimidating presence, and he had always hoped to ask her to share a little more knowledge but was afraid of angering her and her taking away everything she had already given him. The best he could do was learn from watching Twilight interact with the world around her, which she hated for him to be near her. So he often watched from a distance. There were no other people here to learn form. All the palace residence fled when Lady Dyspear took over. But her and Twilight were still something and were the first people he had ever encountered and interacted with. It was a pity that neither was warm or inviting. Halt was eager to join Lady Dyspear’s three generals. These were supposed to be his new group, after all. It would be like having a family. He was also thrilled at the idea of how often they got to go into the town and got to see everything there. They sometime even interacted with people, and he wanted to do that, too. But he knew he had to be patient. Lady Dyspear had already done a lot for him, and the last thing he wanted was to make her angry. Once she felt he was ready, Lady Dyspear sent Halt to join her generals. She even dubbed Halt her new Lieutenant. This made Halt so happy, he was finally among people, finally accepted! (Although naming him a “lieutenant” was really a roundabout way of saying he was never as important as her “generals”, since generals rank higher than a lieutenant would. These were arbitrary titles she gave them all so there was no reason not to also name him as a general.) But for as happy as Halt was to have a place and group to belong to, the reality was more harsh than he expected. Shut, Close, and Lock were not open, warm, and welcoming, they were indignant that Lady Dyspear felt the need to send this, this new brat to come and help them! It was not the warm reception that Halt had hoped for, but Lady Dyspear did warn him of their unfriendly nature. Halt, with his very limited knowledge on people, decided that he had to work hard to win their approval, but it was always a losing a battle, if he lost, he was a failure, if he won, he was a bratty upstart trying to make them all look bad. It was a lot to deal with. At first Halt tried to seem cold and hard against their savage criticisms, but eventually they started to rub off on him, and he sometimes tried to argue back, seeming to become a little bit more combative, just as they were. He also did not share their overtly negative stance on dreams. Maybe because they were all made of parts of Lady Dyspear’s soul and he wasn’t. Dreams were all he ever had. Not a home, not friends nor a family or place to belong, or even a name. And so he dreamed of those things. He did not think Dreams were stupid and pointless, and he did not like sealing people’s dreams away and tuning them into nightmare monsters, which was essentially their job. But he had to do what Lady Dyspear ordered him to do. And so that set him apart from them that much more. Though he did not let them know these things. He was just the incompetent new guy, trying to compete for Lady Dyspear’s favor. In truth, he wanted to fit in, he wanted to be part of them so much, that he was near desperate to get a win, thinking it would earn him some respect and acceptance, which he wanted from all of them, but he most wanted it with Shut. Shut was a very flamboyant male, and when Halt first saw him, he was dazzled! Shut had a beautiful petite body, perfect blonde hair, a beautiful smooth face with a beautifully colored complexion, and colorful eyes. Shut was everything Halt wanted to be! But he wasn’t very welcoming. So Halt’s admirations always happened from afar. And it wasnt long before he started to wonder if Shut was this way because Close was a horrible bully to him. Thats what happened to Halt as well—he became guarded just to get by in this group. But the more Halt admired Shut, the more he wanted to try to talk with him like people are supposed. Halt looked like a person, but he hated that he still hadnt got the hang of actually being a person and he was awkward, his speech was limited, and his knowledge was even more so. His words were small and he paused often to find the right word to say. Aside from the very faint outlines of scales that were only visible under the right lighting (the one thing he did not like about his new body.) he was beautiful, but still, he did not fit. It was frustrating. Even his rapidly improving speech did not help things. (The more he heard people talk, the more he picked up and so he was rapidly developing on his own. Though It seemed better speech was not really helping his situation.) This was not what Halt thought his new life would be like. He still felt very alone, and very rejected. And he felt he owed it to Lady Dyspear to be here and work as hard as he could to succeed, so it was not as though he could just leave and go somewhere else. It was not as simple as that. Halt worked hard at holding his resolve to stick to this new life. But in reality, the thuggish way of this group was also difficult to live under, because, as it turns out, Halt was actually a kind and sweet person. He was gentle. Very innocent of human ways, naive to many things, and curious to learn. Instead, he tried to seem as cold and as capable as the others here. But it was nearly impossible. It was hard to pretend to not care about hurting people. Each member of the group always spent their time alone and only came together to address Lady Dyspear. So all Halt could really do was watch and learn from that watching, just as he had always done before. He did start noticing some things as he paid closer attention. For one, it wasnt that they all bickered endlessly, it was that Close was a hostile and aggressive presence who took things out on Shut, and Lock just laughed and goated on this abusive bullying. If anything Shut was usually more calm and graceful than either of them were. Maybe they treated that way because he was the weakest in the group, which is pretty common in nature. But as a person, Shut was actually somewhat better than either of them were. It was awful to see...and to experience… and to realize these differences between the three. Apparently, Close didn’t mess with Lock in the same way, though Halt didn’t know why. Was it that Lock was stronger, so Close stayed out of his way? It was so strange, these three were supposed to be a unit together, they were supposed to be a united force but the reality was actually quite different. One day, Halt made a bold move. Close was being particularly nasty with Shut, as thats how things always seemed to be between those two. Close was verbally and mentally abusive—that was one way to put it. And Halt hated it. Shut didn’t deserve to be treated so badly, especially that Close was no more successful at stopping the Precures than Shut was. Halt knew all too well what it meant to be rejected by others—it was the reason he had lived alone in that awful dark forest for so long. Halt had never gone up against any of them before, he had only ever argued back in his own defense, and even that he only did so sparingly and was weak at it, but this time, it was different. Halt standing up to Close, on Shut’s behalf, was shocking to all of them, to say the least. It was so unexpected, that it just made Close laugh, as he did not yet know that Halt was actually as strong as he was. The beast inside this new body was still there, and it was enormous and physically powerful, but none of them new that. Halt didn’t even know that. He didn’t know he still had his strength, and so he spent the whole time thinking the three generals all had a special talent and he had nothing of his old self left. His attempt to stand up to Close, made Close laugh so much he actually let this slide, and let them be. Halt then attempted to help Shut, but it wasn’t appreciated. Shut was angry and indignant. But this act of Halt’s did something unusual. It sparked a new friendship, though the beginning was quite rocky, but it was just the start. After that, Halt decided to try again to be friendly with Shut. He didn’t know if it would do any good. But he wanted to try. The truth was that Shut was intimidated more easily than either Close or Lock—he was small and slight and did not have Close’s strength. And when he talked to new people, he could be kind and gentle. Halt knew this about him, both from observation and from secretly following him around sometimes. Halt didn’t have a lot of experience with people except bad ones so far, so he figured to go about it how he would want a friend to treat him, and so he offered encouragement when they were there on the battle field, and offered it when Shut would lose, and offered it when Close was being cruel to Shut. This, of course, made Halt a target, too. But it also made those hard, defensive walls that Shut had melt, down little by little. Shut was confused at first—quite confused and then he started to become rather suspicious. It finally came to a point where Shut demanded to know what was Halt’s plan, what was his deal, what did he really want? Why was he sticking his neck out for him so much? It was quite accusatory--It wasn’t a great start to the conversation. Halt couldn’t help himself, he started to gush about how much he’s always admired Shut for everything about him. That it was his dream to be more like Shut and to do well for all of them and for Lady Dyspear. The more he talked, the more he gushed, and Shut was caught very off guard by this kind of answer. He really thought there was some kind of ulterior motive to Halt’s “sudden” heroism. The last thing he expected was to learn he had a secret admirer this whole time! Once Halt finally realized that he gave himself all away, he awkwardly apologized for being so stupid and out of line. Shut gently told him that it wasn’t stupid at all. At last, Halt had Shut’s attention, and in a positive way. And as much as vanity is not a good trait, and Shut had vanity, the positive encouragement and having an admirer who enjoyed his beauty certainly was very good for his ego, and his mood. Halt had a million questions about Shut’s beauty secrets, not that Shut minded at all, he was glad for the attention. There were even times when Shut discouraged Halt from being so hard on himself, on uselessness, his inability to make any progress, that everything was so hard to understand and get used to. Halt never had a friend before, but he was almost certain this is what it would feel like. There was lots of friction with the other two, but Halt found many little, happy memories in this short time of his life. That would turn out to be one of his best traits; He thought of the good that happened in those bad times. But there was friction in other ways. Shut was infatuated with Twilight, Lady Dyspear’s daughter. So when she would come around to check up on things, She would be particularly spiteful of Halt and the others she just did not seem to really care for, and Shut...Shut was swallowed by his own infatuation, would make attempts to be friendly with her and get her attention, and suddenly Halt had no presence at all. He knew he couldn’t compete with Twilight, for more than one reason. Halt didn’t like the effect Twilight had on Shut, but he could not say or do anything. She didn’t really care about Shut. There was some small comfort in that, because that meant she would finish her check up here and leave and Shut would be normal again, and Halt could breathe a sigh of relief. It was a blessing to see her go. And things would go back to normal, or what passed for normal, but things don’t usually stay the same. Twilight started visiting more, And Shut was getting desperate to impress her and score a win, but he kept losing and it was bringing out the worst in him. Eventually Lady Dyspear punished his failures and “demoted” him and apparently replace him with Lock. That was bad enough, but then Shut took a huge blow when Twilight was rescued by the Precure heroines and was purified and restored to her true form. She was a princess whom Lady Dyspear had kidnapped and brainwashed years ago into believing she was her daughter, a princess of darkness. But she was more than that, she was a Princess Precure—she was one with their enemy. Shut was devastated and nothing Halt could say would change that. This friendship that Halt fought so hard to build up was steadily fizzling to its death by now. Shut’s behaviors were—getting bad. He was desperate to win back some respect from Lady Dyspear and he also wanted to lash out. His spirits started to lift again when he met Miss Shamour and became friends with her, which was kind of hurtful to Halt, as apparently he wasnt enough of a friend, but even so he was glad to see Shut’s spirits lifted up again. He needed someone like that, and Halt wasnt knowledgeable enough to know what to do or what to even say. He recognized that. But Shut’s high hopes didn’t last. After more failures, Shut disappeared, though Halt knew it was to escape Lady Dyspear’s ultimate punishment. Shut was out there lost, but he was not the only one. Halt wanted to go with him and support him, but he was too indebted to Lady Dyspear to leave. Halt thought that if he left, too, it would make her angry enough actually come after them, and then she would destroy them both. Close was getting desperate to get a win, and so was Lock, and most of all Lady Dyspear. Halt realized that Shut had been wondering around lost in the streets during the cold winter and was struggling to find himself. Apparently the Precures gave Shut a lot to think about. Things that made him change. He even decided to aid the Precures now—of all people! Their enemies! Enemies…? They were never Halt’s enemies. There was so much going on. It hurt to be left behind but Halt was glad that Shut seemed like he had been able to pick himself up again, and he was actually glad that Shut had left because of Lady Dyspear’s intentions on punishing him. Shut really couldn’t have stayed even if he wanted to—not if he wanted to continue living. Shut was even able to find sympathy for Lock, the lesser of his two tormentors. Lock had fallen low, was defeated into oblivion, and revived again by Lady Dyspear, but he had lost most of his form and what he really was was rather surprising—he was kind of a monster too, in a way. This shocked Halt because it never occurred to him that other non-human creatures could exist. Why in the world did Lady Dyspear create him like that? (interestingly enough Halt had learned in between these battles that Shut and Close also had alternate beast forms, which earlier in this career would have really delighted him because it would have made him feel more like part of the group—if he had only known about that much earlier on--So Close could transform into something like a bird monster and something that was a lot like a harpy and Shut could turn into something that looked like a large cat beast and something that was like a werecat, but Locke—Locke was a living cloak who could possess people and form a human body under that possession and also turn into something that looked like a huge dragon-toad that was an impressive size—and very aggressive. And breathed fire!) Halt was thrilled to learn that each one was actually part animal in a way because that meant there more alike than they thought! It made him wish he could have alternate forms, too, since Lock and Close had many different forms. Locke was once strong and independent, but now Close was basically using him like a puppet. Shut helped in that battle, and had gotten the Precures to purify Lock, and release whatever hold Close and Lady Dyspear had on him. Halt didn’t know what happened to Lock after that—he did not know that Shut picked him up and they stayed together but by this point Lock had lost even more of his form and there was very little of him left and he now depended on Shut to be the body that he never really had. What Halt did know was that Lady Dyspear was now very angry that she lost Shut, Twilight, and Lock. It wasn’t long after that, Lady Dyspear finally revealed herself and began attacking Nobel Academy where the Precures lived and attended as students. It was a huge battle. The Precures had more help this time, and they needed it! And among those helping was Shut and Lock, who had temporarily teamed up with the young fairy he had possessed so that he could have a body again. It was strange to see him turn like this, but Halt realized why—Shut had something different now—he had hope for a brighter future out from Lady Dyspear’s grip. That was something Halt did understand. Halt had been lying low with things getting intense, but now was when he decided to act. It took a lot of courage and thought and a lot of heart, but he wanted to help fight Lady Dyspear, because he did not want a world covered in darkness. If she had her way, she would destroy his only friend anyway, along with all the beauty and the hopes and dreams that lived on in this world. Halt decided to helped the Precures fight their biggest battle, by distracting Close and his little minions, Stop and Freeze. And it was very much welcomed help! Close was incredibly strong! But even as she was losing ground, Lady Dyspear thought here and now was a great time for punishment and broke apart Halt’s pretty new body, reverting him to the beast he always was underneath! And everyone saw it—the Dusketeers, the Precures, the people down below watching the battle--It was a horrifying moment for Halt, but he had enough presence of mind to stay grounded and keep on fighting despite it all, and despite the grave damage he was receiving. Close didn’t hold back, this was the all or nothing battle that had been building up this whole time. Close got hurt. Halt got hurt. But they kept fighting, each one a more formidable force than the other ever realized. Except Halt was fighting with his own natural power and Close was powered up with Dyspear’s cheat codes. Finally! The battle seemed over and The Princess Precures had defeated Lady Dyspear—she was finally gone! But Close would not quit and tried one last time for an all out assult on Cure Flora, but, somehow, someway Cure Flora got him to realize things. What words she said, Halt didn’t know, but they made Close stop, and quit fighting. And then he flew off. Maybe he finally realized his cause was worthless now because Lady Dyspear was already defeated and gone...maybe its that he was hiding how bad his internal injuries were from battling Halt….maybe it was both. And it was finally all over. It was...all over. Among the celebrating between the Princess Precures and the people and academy students, a gravely injured Halt silently slipped away. He had no place here among people, and so he returned to his former place in the forest of thorns. Everyone had hope for the future, hope that they could work and make their dreams come true, and Lady Dyspear was no longer here to steal those dreams. But she will return someday, because despair can never truly be conquered—it is the other half of hope. One cant exist without the other. So While everyone was preparing to return to their lives, and in Shut and Lock’s case start new ones, Halt fell into despair again, He wanted to help because it was the right thing to do and he never really wanted to hurt anyone. Letting Lady Dyspear plunge the world into an endless, dark, hopeless pit was not a world he wanted to live in. And now that danger was gone, and everyone else was happy, and Shut and Lock were safe and even friends now. It was the only solace Halt had, and the only thing he had left of his life with them were memories. Things had settled back into normalcy, and Shut and Lock had a place to stay and were welcomed, which was a wonderful outcome for them, seeing as they were part of the dark force that kept attacking these wonderful people. But Shut and Lock didn’t stay settled for long. They wanted to go find Halt. But with Lady Dyspear gone, they had lost much of their power and were rather lucky to still be alive as it was, given that they were created from pieces of her soul, but it could have been that being purified by the Precures had severed that tie and allowed them to be free and to live free; and the Precures had to give up their powers now that the evil they fought had been vanquished. And so Shut didn’t know what they could do for Halt, but he was resolved to figure something out—Kanata’s kingdom was full of wonderful magic, so there was still hope that they could restore Halt to his previous form. And if Prince Kanata could do that much for Halt, he might be able to help Lock craft his own body, too. And then after, they would all go chase Close down. It was time to have a little talk with Close—he owed them that much, at least. Though that outcome was...very uncertain. But Shut knew for certain he wanted to go find Halt. It wasn’t fair that everyone got a happy ending, but Halt. He wasn’t sure how, or where Halt even was, but he wanted to fix that, and make it right. It was possible that Shut’s new dream was to build a new family from the ashes of the old one, and that meant Halt just had to be part of it, and Close, too, if he was willing. And so, while everyone else was off dreaming and working and living, Shut and Lock started their new mission. And it was only after would they be content to start their new lives. Together. All together. ~~ Well—what do you think? ^^ I really hope you like him! ❤ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Halt Belongs to me Shut, Close, Lock, Twilight, and Lady Dyspear are all from the Shoujou anime Go! Princess Precure 640_by 413_by ( I used the body but not the face and head of this base) 480_by (I used the face and head of this base) Patterns, backgrounds, and corner borders are all form google images