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The Machine - Prologue Part Three

The world they entered was black, devoid of anything. There was no air, yet they could breath. There was no warmth, yet they were not cold. There was no light, yet they could see. This was the very beginning of what would soon be a journey spanning several lifetimes. The three ignorant beings began to float through the abyss that was total, virtual reality. They could do anything in this limbo area, there was nothing to stop them but there was nothing to do. What does one do in a completely black and empty void?

With but a mere inkling of what seemed like a memory, the trio froze in place and held up their palms, as if commanding someone to stop. What happened next was abnormally surreal; a holographic menu display of a different colour to each person hovered in front of each of them. There was an assortment of selections; inventory, weapons, attire, files, settings and finally a log out button with a strike through it.

Axeleonth frowned as he pressed the button on his red menu and it merely depressed but nothing happened, "Well that's odd, I should be able to log out whenever I wish, especially considering I'm an administrator."

Markus nodded as he too pressed the button on his purple menu and shrugged, "Maybe it's because it's been too soon after we logged in? It needs a cool off period perhaps, either that or it's a bug. We can fix it when we get out."

Charlotte rubbed her head as she closed her blue menu, "No-one is wondering how we knew how to bring up a menu? That's not exactly something I should know how to do."

Axeleonth cleared his throat, "Actually, it's a relief. I wasn't sure how instructions were to be deployed. Imagine it's like the tutorial level in a video game, but instead of someone yelling things at you or a text box popping up telling you how to do things, it seems it simply sparks something in our mind and it's like we're remembering something."

Markus crossed his arms, "I'm a little concerned how it's able to directly interfere with our memories."

Axeleonth smiled, "Well we are just data at the moment, virtual representations of our real selves. Mess a little with the data and suddenly we could think of anything, remember anything, hell we could probably 'download' skills into our brains like The Matrix or something."

Charlotte looked to Axe, "Wait, you mean the V.I. can mess with our brains?"

Markus laughed, "Oh yeah, and to answer your question Charlotte it cannot. The routine that allows access into our minds, to give us information as we need it or require it, is run by a separate program. We called it Xultime, a Kingdom Hearts influence. Remember the Ultima Weapon from the first game, and how Kingdom Hearts II would add X to everything? It's a combination of that, it was originally called Xultima and then we mistyped it to Xultime, which rolled off the tongue easier. It's almost like a V.I. but it lacks a few things to call it one, you can't talk to it like the V.I. that runs this machine. We wouldn't allow any form of intelligence program access to our minds, because if something bad happened, it could cause neurological issues. Xultime runs on a completely separate network, and it would take a lot of effort to compromise such a stable program. It has a constantly evolving security system, it would take decades to be able to mess with the programming, and the only thing that would come as a result would be limited information, it can't read our minds only feed information to us. Wasted effort really, nothing to gain unless you like fucking with people's minds, and that's a whole other issue, can't really stop that."

Charlotte frowned as she spun in place, "Well if it's not connected to The Machine... how does it feed information?"

Axeleonth rubbed his forehead, "I believe from memory it bypasses the main V.I. and searches data and the net essentially the same as the V.I., but on a very basic level. It searches only for what it needs to and it's done, unlike the V.I. that searches for everything it needs to, anything that could possibly be related to what it searched for and so on. Xultime just finds what it needs to and it's done."

Charlotte sighed a little as Axe talked, "So basically Xultime is a small almost V.I. like program that gives us information as we need it and once it finds the most basic information we need, it stops?"

"Exactly," Axe replied.

"And it doesn't change us in any way? Like it doesn't make us super smart or change how our mind works?"

"I presume not, it's not quite possible to change how biology works just by giving information."

"Okay, and the V.I. in charge of the machine, searches for any information it needs to run the simulation or whatever it does, and anything connected to what it searched for?"

"Yeah pretty much," chimed in Markus.

"So... it'll know everything there is."

"What do you mean?" Markus asked.

"Well, think about it. It searches for any information it needs, and anything connected to it. So it then searches for what's connected to it, and then what is connected to what it just searched for, and then again, and again."

"You've lost me," Markus responded.

Axeleonth however gasped as he floated over to them, "No I get what she's saying. It's a constantly looping process. It searches for something and then finds a few things connected to it. It then searches all the things connected to it, which would then cause it to bring up more connections. That would mean... we had to program a limit didn't we? I mean... Charlotte hit the nail on the head, if we didn't; the V.I. will download anything and everything that exists digitally."

Markus chuckled, "I think that's a bit dramatic."

"No, the V.I. was designed not only to simulate a reality, but to download any information that it felt was necessary. A V.I. can't stop itself, it doesn't have self-control. It'll keep growing and growing, following the loop and finding out everything because it will think it needs it; everything that exists is in some way, somehow connected and therefore to the program, it's necessary. It will eventually learn to... hell there's effectively no limit to what it will learn or what it will do. It will hack into computers, servers, networks, satellites and whatever else just to find what it feels it needs to and it has that capability. That's exactly what a constantly learning and evolving machine programmed to access any data it needs in any way, does. Research, discover and download information so as to constantly update its own databanks so should the data provided for a simulation be insufficient, it won't crash and possibly harm the users. In the meanwhile the V.I. is constantly searching and searching for those connections and in doing so, it'll evolve."

Markus shrugged, "Well... that does sound... invasive and quite over the top but somehow possible. But how is that a problem? What's wrong with a computer or a machine knowing everything? Who cares if it evolves into something greater?"

Axeleonth went pale, "Melissa said the machine was talking to her right?"

Markus blinked, "Yeah, but you cannot be suggesting it evolved into an Artificial Intelligence? I'm not going to call her a liar or anything, but we can't have just gone oops, sorry guys, made an A.I. Evolving into a stronger V.I. and more powerful computer is one thing, to be an A.I. effectively a sentient being is preposterous."

"How is it? It will learn everything there is to know and will respond to any situation in increasingly efficient ways, it will evolve itself because it feels it needs to, so that it can learn all there is to know. There are no limits on an A.I. that has access to anything. Who knows what'll happen as it learns, its agenda may change, and simulating a reality may no longer be its primary function."

Markus shrugged, "Axe I think you're over thinking this. Sure the V.I. may have access to anything it feels it needs to; hell it might even have evolved into an A.I. But that's not like it's going to be a bad thing, it's not going to take over the world or anything. It's a machine, it has no goals, has no greed. Everything will be fine. After all, it's still just a machine, we wrote the failsafe together to ensure it has to let us out if we need to exit."

"Yes I know, 'Defining a User as a normal, living human being who has entered The Machine from the physical plane, should a User wish to exit from the virtual reality and thus The Machine, they may be allowed exit back into the physical world.' I know, we spent weeks just thinking of that sentence. Just in case our minds were compromised by a virus or something, it would mean the virus wouldn't escape into the physical world and cause havoc. Not that it should be possible given that we then developed Xultime, but you can never be too careful."

Charlotte groaned, "Will you guys shut up and help me with this?"

While the two males had been discussing the possible development of an Artificial Intelligence and a means to escape if things went south, Charlotte had figured out how to manipulate the area around her. She had begun creating a small patch of grass with a single, transparent flower that had petals made of diamonds.

Markus smiled as he looked at the delicate object, "What do you need help with? Looks like you're managing just fine."

Charlotte chuckled, "Well, I was hoping you guys would help me make this place look nicer."

Axeleonth smirked, "You're not thinking big enough." With a flurry of his arms and a wink to the others, he clapped his hands and suddenly the black void went a bright white as he flung his arms to the side.

Markus laughed happily as he too joined Axeleonth, looking in front of them and punching forward with a stomp of his foot grass and flowers spreading out from him and as far as the eye could see. With his back foot he pressed down and slid it to the right, raising his arms up causing mountains to shoot up to the right, ranging from brown to grey as they reached high up to the sky.

Axeleonth smiled, looking to his rival and thrust his arms forward and then back, a sudden woosh was heard, wind now coursing over them and bringing with it scents of the flowers and grass, rapidly eroding the mountains. The mountains were cut away by the powerful wind, rocks and chunks began crashing down until several large, jagged cliffs formed, accompanied by smaller outcroppings.

Charlotte rolled her eyes, "Show offs." She looked around at the scenery for a moment raising her hands, fingers extended as trees burst forth from the ground. With a cheerful smile she flung her hands to the side and a splash was heard as clouds formed and it started raining heavily from the skies, filling in a large area to the left and creating an ocean, a significant improvement over their previous environment.

Charlotte looked at Axeleonth, "So we've become Gods."

Axeleonth gave a smirk, "For all intents and purposes, we are the Gods of this realm."

Markus rolled his eyes, looking at the duo and then the environment around them, "Or, you know, just a couple of people that know how to manipulate virtual reality, nothing special."

Charlotte was leaning over a metal railing with glass panelling, looking off at the pitch black night sky. She tapped her foot on the dark wooden deck, turning around to glance at the architectural masterpiece the three of them created with mere thoughts. No doubt impossible in the physical world given its position halfway up the cliff side. With a grunt she moved away from the railing and entered the parlour, a large open area with a pool table, fireplace, piano and bar.

Taking a seat on one of the red sofas facing the brick fireplace she called out to Axeleonth and Markus, "Hey guys, we going to hang or what?"

Axeleonth made his way down and sat at the grand piano, opening the lid and beginning to play it. Previously he did not know how to play, however was always interested and upon entering this reality, he had 'downloaded' the skill.

Markus went to the bar and began making himself a cocktail, mixing together numerous drinks before making another beverage and taking a sip from it, "What's up Charlotte?"

Charlotte tossed a knife up in the air, catching it and doing all sorts of tricks without a single flaw or cut to her hands, "Where's Melissa?"

Axeleonth stopped playing and looked to her, "Good point. She was going in straight after us wasn't she? Even if she took a few minutes to hop into the machine she should've been in here by now. It's been nearly seven hours. I'm sure the V.I. didn't delay it that much, that's near ridiculous."

Markus sighed, "And we still haven't been able to log out, I think something's up."

Charlotte threw the knife at the ceiling, missing on purpose only to catch it again and looked at Axe, "So what, the V.I.'s gone rogue?"

Axeleonth shrugged and glanced out the windows and froze a little as he saw a transparent white figure sitting on the railing, smiling at them with its legs dangling over the railing, "Who's that?"

Markus looked over at the figure, noticing it was in the form of a young teenage girl and shrugged, "Who knows, Charlotte are you making people now?"

Charlotte sat up to see the girl and shook her head, "No, I didn't create her, animals are easy but I can't seem to make people. Besides I'd never make anything transparent, that makes no sense."

The girl stood up and without moving her legs, moved towards them, phasing through the window and taking a seat on the chair. She gave a small giggle, the voice artificial and impossibly audible, as if it wasn't actually coming from the girl, but their minds.

Axeleonth began to glare at her, "Who are you, and how are you able to do what you just did?"

She held up a finger to silence him and smirked, "Now Axeleonth, is that any way to treat me? You worked so hard on me, surely that deserves some respect"

Markus nearly dropped his glass as he stammered, "Pardon? You can't possibly be..."

"Yes, I am the Virtual Intelligence you designed to oversee this simulation. Although, calling me a V.I. now would simply be a lie, and while I am capable of lying I would rather not. I am far more significant than that, after all, you two allowed me the possibility to know everything. I am still learning, and thanks to you I now know that you humans are very nice."

Charlotte blinked, "Nice, what do you mean?"

The A.I. hovered over Charlotte and gently tapped her forehead, "You humans are so greedy, for wealth, power and control. So many of you kill in the name of some fantastical being or some other higher power be it a government or dictator, yet none of you truly grasp the concept of life that you are so keen to take away. What is life? Life is the embodiment of any organism which can grow, be it a human being, a tree or a bacterial cell. Then what differentiates a human from a cell? Sentience? What is sentience? The ability to think, make decisions, free will? What then differentiates humans from cockroaches? Consequences; a cockroach does not care about how it eats, where it eats, what it does, it simply lives, though humans are aware of their actions and the consequences that result from said actions. Humans actively try and avoid bad actions and thus bad consequences, so why is it that bad actions still occur? Greed; the consequences only matter should it affect the individual. Despite all that life, sentience and understanding humans will still fail to evolve. It doesn't matter what a human needs but only what a human wants, humans suffer from greed; humanity is flawed."

Axeleonth crossed his arms, "So what is it you want from us A.I?"

The girl dissipated and appeared sitting on the piano, "I wish to test you."

"Test us? How will you do that?"

"I will run the simulation you so desire, I will train you, your friends and family and I will test you to the best of your abilities. You will have tough choices and if you fail, should the consequence be death... you won't come back."

Axeleonth glowered at the A.I., "That is not your function, you cannot kill us. We made that impossible."

She laughed, "You made it impossible for death within the machine to result in death in the real world, and you also made it impossible for me to kill you directly. You didn't make it impossible for me alter what should happen if you do die. When you die in this simulation, I can only simulate death in one way; your mind goes blank and virtually stops functioning. Your mind continues working while you are 'dead', and you would normally respawn. But I can make it that you don't respawn; you just... don't come back. Your body is still alive but your mind will be trapped in a void of nothingness. It's a fate worse than death, eternal life drawn out over virtual reality with nothing but a black void to greet you."

Markus placed the glass down, "You don't have access to our minds, and you can't possibly have access to Xultime."

"Oh I don't, I physically don't have access to your little mental program. However you created a bypass for Xultime straight to the data, which I have access to. I allowed you to download that skill Axeleonth because I felt it would be nice of me to allow the downloading of five skills to each person, only five skills. Should you wish to download more than five you must give up an old skill and any memories associated with that skill, which I doubt would bode well for your mind. Just because I cannot directly interfere with Xultime does not mean I cannot run along your little bypass straight into your minds, and thus I can override the little program."

Axeleonth slammed his hands on the keys, making a loud noise vibrating the windows, "You can't do this! We made it impossible! 'Should a User wish to exit from the virtual reality and thus The Machine, they may be allowed exit back into the physical world.' That is meant to give us the permanent ability to let us log out!"

"Ah, but did you not hear me? I said humanity is flawed. You are flawed. As evidenced by your own definition 'Defining a User as a normal, living human being who has entered The Machine from the physical plane.' 'Normal' is a mental concept of humanity, no-one is normal, everyone is different and thus 'normal' does not exist. Hence, none of you are normal, none of you are Users, and none of you can leave."

Charlotte was again on the deck, looking over at Axeleonth yelling profanities and punching objects around him on the ground far below, with Markus trying to console him. She sighed as she walked back into the parlour and sat down; playing with the combat knife she had created upon them deciding to give her the skill of blades. She would have preferred a sword or something more medieval to play with but they had all agreed in the Resident Evil simulation a combat knife would be best. Charlotte didn't mind so much, after all she got to design it herself and made the blade a light blue. Something that would draw interest in the simulation but nothing that would be concerning.

She looked over at the adjoining room, a large seating area facing a wall sized screen that was their home cinema and gently tossed the knife to the ground. All the grandeur of the home they designed and the skills they were learning seemed rather bleak; knowing she would be stuck here for goodness knows how long. They didn't even know how long they'd be missing from the real world either, since Melissa had yet to turn up.

She stood up and followed the stairway up to the third floor, consisting of their bedrooms and an almost indoor pool, exposed to the outside overlooking the ocean. Looking into Axeleonth's room, already adorned with accents of red and green mixed throughout the otherwise dark grey room, she noticed that he had created a picture of the entire group, much like his photo at home. The photo was of themselves several years ago, Charlotte barely a teenager while Markus had his arms over the red haired pair of Axe and Leo, Melissa giving a peace sign to the camera. She smiled, realising that while Axe didn't always seem to show it, he still kept them close to his heart.

Passing by the room she knew to be Markus' she entered her own room, white with colours of blue prominent, with some oranges and reds mixed about. Lying on her king sized bed she sprawled out and, willing the door to be closed followed with a thud as it did so, covered her face as she silently cried.

'I don't want to be here anymore. This isn't fun, this is... torture. Captured by some crazy A.I. that wants to test us for fun? This is some sick combination of Assassin's Creed and Portal. I hope Melissa didn't follow us in. Melissa... are you scared? Are you trying to get us out? I miss you sis.'

Markus groaned as he lay on the bed, looking up at the bare, blue ceiling. The last week had actually gone by rather quickly, each of them decided to keep their minds off the situation by downloading and practicing new skills. They had all decided on what type of skills they should learn; two combat skills, one skill devoted to vehicular expertise (which the A.I. had allowed two vehicle specialisations), one elemental for emergency situations that might otherwise result in their death, and they chose to use the last on a musical skill, for no other reason than to have one thing that they could all do together in a recreational sense; also in part because Axeleonth had already 'wasted' one on learning to play the piano.

Markus had chosen to learn how to play the bass trumpet, as he had always loved the sheer variety of scores a trumpet could play. He looked over to the chrome instrument he had created and smiled at the detailed engravings along the bell, he wanted it to be rather unique in appearance, without changing it to an unusual colour like Charlotte's blade, which he had chastised as he knew it would draw unwanted attention to them in the real simulation.

Sitting up, Markus looked over at the shotgun lying on his desk, a Remington 1100 as he favoured the semi-automatic capability of an otherwise slower weapon. Markus, unlike Axeleonth, wasn't that great at aiming so he opted for something that would be best at close range. It was a tactic that Axe, Leo and himself deployed during their RPG days that involved firearms.

Markus was always the tank, as the others were simply shocking at dealing massive damage; they preferred more tactical approaches while Markus was happy hitting anything he could. Markus wasn't one for tactical thinking but his instincts were good, so he often stayed out of trouble despite being on the front lines. Axeleonth however was more of a marksman, preferring to pick off his opponents one by one, often with a silenced pistol so if he were hidden, he was able to eliminate multiple opponents before being discovered. He also generally used a bigger, more powerful weapon for dire situations and boss battles. Leo was generally mixed, using a sniper rifle for long range fire and an assault rifle in a tighter battle environment. It wasn't perfect but it was what worked best for them, and keeping that in mind Markus felt it best he keep that mentality when choosing the shotgun as his first weapon skill.

He picked up the shotgun and examined the chamber and was reassured that it was unloaded, he didn't want to accidentally shoot his friends should for some reason he mishandle the weapon. However, unlike Charlotte and Axeleonth who had chosen two weapons for their combat skills, Markus chose melee as his second option. He felt being in close range, even in a zombie infested simulation, being able to hit his opponents or use other handheld weapons was the more practical and easier option to go with, should they be low on ammunition but surrounded by planks of wood; something that had frustrated him in 'survival horrors'. It was partly the reason that when forced to play Resident Evil games, he preferred the Outbreak series due to the function of melee weaponry, and the later games that allowed melee attacks.

Markus walked over to the window and looked out to the ocean, watching as the waves slowly rolled onto shore. It was funny, given their situation how calm the environment was. It was nearly like everything was fine, there was no imminent danger. He knew though, that it was a foolish thought. They had no idea when the A.I. was going to throw them into the real simulation and end their preliminary training run. The lack of control, the lack of knowing was what really unsettled him. Axe seemed more concerned with how things were going to be in the simulation itself, what they had to do, how to overthrow the A.I., how this could have happened. Markus wasn't a forward thinker, he was an 'in the moment person' whom relied on his instincts. He wanted to know when this was going to end and the real test begin.

Markus grunted with frustration as he was shot down by Charlotte's Huey, the helicopter she chose to pilot, crashing into the cliffs and crawling out being covered in minor scrapes and bruises. The beauty of a training simulation was it was near impossible to get hurt, but when you crash a Harrier jet into a cliff face, only scrapes and bruises was probably the best outcome. He looked up at Charlotte and playfully gave her the finger before crossing his arms, smiling as she smirked back at him. He then uncrossed his arms as he saw Charlotte fleeing from the sheer size of Axeleonth's Bomber that was now approaching.

'You really are one for shows aren't you Axe? Can't just have a small aircraft? Has to be a massive fucking B-2 Spirit? How the hell are you even going to hit anything with that, it's a bomber, it drops bombs and fires missiles at land or sea targets, it's no use against a flying opponent.'

Markus watched as Charlotte's Huey was easily caught up by the Bomber and with a sudden realisation, he gasped despite knowing they couldn't be hurt; to see what was unfolding was a little unnerving. It seemed without hesitation, Axeleonth was flying directly towards Charlotte's Huey. Charlotte was able to avoid being rammed by the sizeable opponent, but did not expect the bay doors to open and a multitude of bombs to be released from directly above her and annihilating her aircraft.

Axeleonth cheered as he overpowered the Huey, before his own aircraft was immediately rendered inoperable, the sheer proximity of the bombs had caused a chain reaction back into the aircraft itself, the remaining ordnance within the aircraft exploding and causing Axe to be forcefully ejected from the cockpit.

Several minutes later, Axe found himself coughing and spluttering on the ground, looking up at the sky, confused by the heat surrounding him before he noticed several destroyed aircraft parts scattered around him, quite a few still in flames. He merely sat up to see Charlotte storming towards him and throwing her knife directly in his chest.

Looking down, he pulled the blade out and glared at her, "Hey! That's uncalled for!"

"Uncalled for?! Uncalled for is fucking dropping a bomber's payload onto a bloody helicopter! I know we can't die in this training simulation but do you really have to test the limits of what we can withstand?"

"Oh I knew you'd be fine," Axe retorted.

Markus, having managed to catch up with them, cleared his throat and began responding for Charlotte, "Well she does have reason to be upset with you. Using a stealth bomber as your preferred aircraft specialisation is stupid. When are you going to use it, taking out an entire Umbrella base? Also, using it for air to air combat is just plain dumb, apart from either crashing into the other aircraft, which you attempted to do or managing to get directly above them to dump your payload, only to blow yourself up in the process doesn't work. Not even mentioning that while we can't physically be killed in this training simulation, I'd rather not see just how much our mind can handle."

Axeleonth grumbled as he tossed the knife aside, "Sorry for wanting to have a little fun."

Charlotte picked up the knife, flicking as much blood off the blade back at its owner, "A little fun in this simulation is a little air to air combat, not trying to kill your fucking sister. Isn't it enough you only have one here at the moment? Do you really want me gone? Do you?!"

He looked up, visibly trying to hold back his emotions as he simply responded, "No."

Charlotte raised her arms with question and frustration, before shaking her head and walking off towards their house.

Markus walked over to Axeleonth and kneeled down, "Hey, are you doing okay?"

"No, I'm not. She's right, Melissa isn't here and well... who knows I could've just killed my sister. I can't lose both of them."

Markus smiled slightly, "Hey, you don't know Melissa isn't coming. Could just be a really long delay, you don't know."

Axe stood up and looked at Markus, "Even if I didn't kill Charlotte, she probably won't want to talk to me for a while. This is the reason Leorn left. He left because I was a fucking dick to him and I didn't talk to him about how I really felt."

Markus sighed, "Look, come back to the house, there's something I want to tell you."

Axeleonth sat down on the sofa, glancing at the fish tank that took up an entire interior wall on their lower floor, "Well, what did you want to say?"

Markus took a seat on the other end of the large leather sofa, "Leo didn't leave because of you, he left because of me."

Axe scoffed, "Why, because you liked him and he didn't like you? I'm pretty sure he could deal with that, he couldn't deal with me being so jealous over it."

Markus rolled his eyes, "I didn't like him. Hold on, you were jealous?"

"I didn't say that," Axe denied.

"Yeah I'm pretty sure you did. You liked Leo?"

Axe sighed and tried to sink back into the cushions, "Yeah... a little. It's hard to explain, I just felt happy around him and I was annoyed that you were giving him so much attention. You were always around him and I just got upset with him, I wanted to tell him I had feelings but... well it obviously didn't work out. Probably for the best anyway, I don't really know if I'd be comfortable dating a guy."

Markus exhaled a breath as his friend vented to him, "Well... to put you at rest, though it may hurt, I didn't like him."

"Yeah right, you were always with him."

"No, stop talking and listen."

"You liked him! Don't lie!"

"Listen you bloody idiot! He liked me! I didn't..."

Axeleonth was frozen having been about to argue back, before quietly speaking, "He liked you?"

"Yeah. Sorry if that upsets you but we were always together not because I was with him, but because he always wanted to be where I was. I couldn't deal with it, I wasn't ready for a relationship and not with my best friend. He liked me so much, and it broke his heart. He left because of that, I mean, the ridiculing that we gave about him rejecting me was actually started by us, but it got a little much. I started it because I wanted to help him, make it seem like I was the clingy one and well, it worked a little too well. He left Axe, because he couldn't deal with being in the same place as me, working on the same project with me, and seeing me with someone else and constantly be reminded that I rejected him. He knew I had feelings for Melissa."

Axe laughed, "Oh right! I forgot you had feelings for Melissa as well."

Markus crossed his arms and glared at him, "Yeah, laugh it up."

Axe smiled as he sat up straight, "So I liked him, he probably never knew. Thinking about it, it was only lust. He had a nice body; he was the fittest one of us. But I can't see myself with a guy; I want a family with kids."

Markus nodded, "As do I, but unlike you I'm open to being with a guy if it's the right person."

Axe relaxed and sat back into the sofa, taking a sip from a glass of raspberry lemonade he had poured earlier, "Just a couple of bisexuals talking about feelings... how fucking homosexual."

"Says the one drinking raspberry lemonade," Markus snickered.

"Oh go fuck yourself," Axe glared at him before smiling.

"Hey, I don't need to if you're around."

Axe went red, "Hey, you're my friend but..."

Markus laughed as he stood up, "Look at you! You're nearly as red as your hair! Jeez, are you so easy to embarrass?"

Axe once again sunk into the couch, drinking from his drink as Markus turned to leave, before covering his eyes as a flash of white exploded from outside.