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The last time he had seen London was almost ten years ago back in a world of demons. But it wasn't the London that he had known truly like this one was. Currently he was standing at the docks not too far from the orphanage and just stopping at the river Thames, the grand clocktower of Westminster resoundingly gold against the eternal sunset somewhere to the west of him. He began to walk towards Big Ben's residing place in order to find his bearings, yet as he started walking he found that the little memory he had of the streets did not quite match up to what he was seeing. Walking along the banks of the river Thames, he saw only some specific places and great landmarks that he knew. The Iqra-Monassi Orphanage, the Stockwell Park High School he spent only one year in before leaving the city, the London Eye and Westminster on opposite ends behind him and in front of him respectively, which was strange because he knew from memory they lied on different sides of the river. He saw old backlots that he played games in, streets he went running through recognising certain shops that sticked in his memory for some reason. Slogans catching on to the end of time itself, and even more strange was the people that went through alongside him. They were all faces he recognised from every single piece of his old life, of every species of his home world, humans of various shades, canines, felines, bovines, reptilians, cetaceans. He saw old friends and acquaintances, various TV celebrities that he could never forget, that one strange-looking guy he saw in a coffee house with the thickest glasses he ever saw in his life. All the strangers he never knew, never even spoke to, were now permutations of the crowd filling out his memory from politicians to bartenders, whilst the streets were paved still with orange from the neverending sense of twilight, always at 6pm. The clock of Westminster said it was such, and for that city in his head, Time stood still forevermore. Memories flowed between the people, voices and idolisations, representations and figments blurring into one singular conversation as he reminisced about his home city. All the things he loved, all the things he hated as he stood beside Westminster Parliament, rebuilt in some more modern streamlined fashion, less of the boxy parapets from yesteryear and now resembling more of a golden cake box with smooth edges as he watched the people walk past him. "You ever seen anythin' loik it?!" "Nahhhh fack off mate, oi ain' dealin' wi' dodgy stuff." "You coming to the prom Gary?!" "Nah I gotta be home, it's Eid coming up the fifth and my grandad's gonna be there!" "Hi, you want a free sample? We have cinnamon, raspberry-" "Fuckin' animals." "Hey bite me fuckmonkey, I live here alright?!" "Yeah like in the sewer, like you all should be?!" "Listen I told you to fix that before we left." "I tried but the door keeps sticking!" "Like yer cock does in yer pants Johnny, HAHA!" "Hello, my name is Danny Svensson, and I'm here to tell you about the plight of the Ukrainians." "SAVE JERUSALEM! THE RIFT SHALL NOT BE SATED, WHEN ITS STRIFE AND HATRED SHALL LIVE ONCE AGAIN AND SWALLOW THE CITY WHOLE!" "Bone diseases are common in most canids and doctors recommend that you should commit to check-ups at least once every three months at your nearest branch." "Fucking cops, they're gonna learn one day that we bite back." "They're just doing their job, give them a break." "It wasn't a job when they fucked that Logan kid up! Unless you wanna tell me Walking While Anthro's a real crime now huh?!" "Have you been injured at work or in an accident that wasn't your fault?" "PUP-STERRRRS! PUP-STERRRRS! THEY'RE THE PUPPIEST BOYS IN TOWN!" "Sorry laddie I'm fresh out of Tower Pops, come back early tomorrow alright?" "Mummy, whussa buhnana?" "It's a fruit dear." "James?!" A voice came from the crowd calling out his name as he turned softly amidst the hustling multitude of faces both mean and kindly, from the scowling red-tied human in a suit to the stressed bull in a basketball T-shirt. A boy stood before him, an elephant coming up to his chest in yellow clothing, pale grey with odd knuckley hands that were incredibly stubby as opposed to his origins. His feet had not evolved much, by and large just huge circular stomps with weirdly elongated toes of solid white. James recognised him almost immediately as a widened gasp came from his face. "H-h-holy...Ashwin?! Ashwin, is that you?!" "Hehehe, yeah, you 'member?!" The boy spoke with a cockney accent, no more than 14 years old but cheerisome with wide beaming jaw slack and stretching back into an open-hearted smile, his trunk raising up as something he always did when about to greet somebody. "Still got me name down yet Jim?!" "S-sure I do! It...Ashwin...Venkatanarasimha!" "YEAAAAAH YOU GOT IT MATE, HAHAHAAA!" "HAHAHA HOLY SHIT, CUMMERE MAN!" The two hugged tightly, squeezing each other indefinitely with Ashwin's trunk wrapped round his neck in a much deeper embrace of friendship. He still remembered the strange dusty smell that he always had as they let go, the boy with blue eyed wonder gazing up at FG as he replied: "Holy...shiiiiiit, Ashwin I haven't...seen you in like since-" "Since ya left, roigh'?!" said the pachyderm. "Don' even come an' say goodbye to me you mad twat!" "Hhhehehehe, awww shit I'm sorry man I had no...I just...god I...look, I'm in a weird place right now and-everything's kind of-" "Wot, inside yer 'ead?! Yeah oi bet it's weird inside there ya scaley tit!" "S-shut up hosenose!" "HAHA! 'ey listen, you wanna go loik eat sumthin' fer a bit, moigh' as well catch up 'fore you go anyplace off in yer own." "Uhhh you sure? I mean I really have to go look for somebody-" "Yeaaaaaaaah bu', you got plenny toim on ya, oi mean yer asleep roigh'?!" "...yeah, I-...I guess I really am." "Trust me, you got all thuh toim you need, oi mean look at ol' Ben up there, he ain' movin' nowhere!" Sure enough the clock had never moved once in all of James' time briefly upon this strange city of rememberance and found he couldn't really argue with such logic in this world inside himself. "Alright, sure, why not, I mean I've gone through worse shit and at least I've got a friend out here to talk to." "Pfft, friend?!" said Ashwin. "Oi'm the only one that even talked to ya back then ya shit git!" "Shut up Asswind." "HUHAHAHAHA, awwww you twat. Ohhhh cummere, let's get sum food down ya first then we'll talk loik ol' bogey farts." "Yeah sure, come on." Putting a hand on each other's shoulders they began to walk down the promenade of Westminster, slowly navigating round the side of the city's riverbank to where their usual place was. He wasn't even sure where he was in London but more just letting Ashwin guide him by his own memory of things before reaching the hungriest street he ever walked through. Portobello Road. It was a place he knew was actually much farther away from the riverbank, but for some reason in his mind the whole city was condensed into a microcosm of itself.

The only things he needed were the orphanage, the landmarks, his foster home and his favourite places to be and all of them were in this very place. He saw John and Lisa waving from their house perfectly healthy, the tall zebra anthro and her human husband looking all the world as the most mismatched couple and yet simply smiling like nothing terrible had occurred before them. James felt his heart start to ache once again as Ashwin felt it with a backpatting onto James to keep his spirits up, before slowly guiding him towards the foster house just to give him a little perk up of reunion. The smell of dry paint and plug-in air fresheners always accompanied the house, a very clean and fresh scent James never knew before until coming to their new home as Lisa bent down smiling. She somewhat towered over John whilst wearing a pink sweater and dark slacks by a full foot at 6'8'', with John in a green jumper and grey flares around 5'10''. "Hello James! Hmhmhm, nice to see you finally back." "H-hi...Lisa." "Hmmmmm...still can't call me mum?" "S-sorry...mum." "It's alright, I won't make you." "How's things?" asked John nonchalant. "Uhhh g-good I guess," replied FG. "I'm just...walking around inside my own head feeling really...out of place." "That's understandable, it's not really an experience you can equate to something else. You know there was a psychiatrist many many years ago called Carl Jung who-" "E-e-ehm...thanks John but I really just wanted to come and say hi." "Heh...alright. Sorry, my teaching days tend to come back on me, can't help it." "Oi didn' know yer foster dad wuz a teacher," said Ashwin. "Oh yeah, I tried to teach James a lot of things. Like how sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic, or about Carl Jung...I admit I have my interests a little skewed." "Skewed is right," said Lisa smirking with arms crossed, "are you alright James?" The raptor gently rubbed at his arms sighing heavily all confused. "N-no...not really. I just...I just don't know what any of this is, I'm just walking through my memories and all of it is so vivid it's kind of scary. ...I saw my mum and dad...my real parents. They...th-they really loved me." "I'm sorry." "No...s'not your fault. Just how things happened I mean...dad...something happened to my dad and he just froze, couldn't get away, like s-some big...f-fucking coward." "I'm sure he was just overwhelmed by things." "My mum wasn't! She t-tried to get him away, he wouldn't move, he wouldn't listen, he just curled up and DIED!" "James. It's not worth getting angry at the past. Listen." She bent down fully to his height as she stroked his head, her thick black fingers much firmer than regular skin as tears began streaking down his cheeks. "You should remember the good things, stop focusing on the bad so much. Just accept the bad things happened and let the good encourage you on." "B-b-but...mum...d-d-dad just...he wuz this really nice guy, h-h-he sang to me when I slept an' he cooked an' when I needed him the most he just curled up and died l-like a stupid ass!" "You don't know what your father has been through, do you think you could have been any better? What if your mother ran away taking you, she might never have been happy for the rest of her life, miserable along with you." "A-at least...I'd have a life." "So it's just you that you're concerned about?" "What?! N-n-no!" "That sounds very selfish James," said John, "when you put it that way." "NO! I-i-i just...I dunno...the first time I actually see them an' I never got to know them really...I dunno who to blame, my dad, the riots or-" "Maybe it's time to stop blaming. What are you going to do to avenge them, you barely know what happened or who even took down the chopper, they might have gone into jail anyway for it." "I...I don't...I'm just really...I-i-i-i can't. I just started going through this place an' already I wanna stop." "Don't." Lisa cupped his chin pulling his head up towards her. "Don't ever give up. You know you can't, there were so many times you could have given up, you might have made mistakes in the past but giving up will be the most unredeemable you can make. So you left us to our fate, you abandoned us out of fury. You can't fix that. But this is one thing you CAN fix, if you run away again you will NEVER...be able to redeem yourself when that demon takes you." "You...y-y-you know about...him?" "All of us do James. We're here, inside your heart as memories. Even if you do not tend to remember us too often." "I...I-i-i know. I'm sorry for not remembering you too much." "That's okay. So long as we still exist somewhere inside you, that is all that matters. Now please...go." She hugged him tightly wrapping her arms around his neck, the raptor hugging in turn as he sniffed back his tears. "I'll always be here to remind you...of a better life you can still have one day. A normal life." "You can still have that James," said father John, "one day, you can have a life without any worries with someone you love. You just need to work a bit harder for it but it will come one day. Just believe." "O-o-okay...thanks...mum. Dad." They smiled down at him as he slowly walked away, with Ashwin following alongside him to give him an extra backpat of reassurance as they headed towards the great Portobello Road. It remained a cultural paradise of markets and tradesmen since even before the first apocalypse almost a thousand years ago. The city had been rebuilt almost exactly the way it was with its roads repaired and old buildings refurbished with some new iron and steel placements to give an extra sheen belying their supposed origins. But the market was almost exactly the way it had always been, people with trading stalls full of fruits and vegetables, synthetic meats made entirely out of fungal proteins as well as old books, DVDs, laptops and phones. The sound of the people in such a busy street gave him some peace in recognising all the parts of London he loved, the bustling of the common folk, the social markets and how everyone seemed to know each other in these tight streets. As the raptor and elephant youth headed inbetween the various stalls they went near the restaurants which lined along the street giving food from at least four different countries. They decided on the French place, mainly because James had been feeling rather sweet in the tooth and the memory of brioche came back to him with rosy cheeks on his young face. He saw himself in the shop window seeing he was not his older self still, his eyes shining green and perfectly virile in youth, no longer the cracked bloodshot trauma of the curse, his skin smooth and sleek with brown pebbly skin. He also felt his arm to be slightly warmer, realising it was his own arm once again making him gasp slightly as he felt along it before Ashwin tapped him on the shoulder. "Oi, you can fiddle wi' yerself later ya weird git." "Hahah...s-sorry, having a weird day." "More loik a weird week, bu' wot's new? 'ere, brioche roigh'?" "Totally, thanks brah." The elephant got himself a pack of cheese-filled buttery croissants that were incredibly sweet, whilst James enjoyed some slices of ham within two brioche rolls, which were a thick pastry-like bread baked with a high content of egg, butter, and even chocolate pieces dotted into the lining. Suffice to say it was a taste that James had missed for its thickening moist tenderness as he slavered his lips gladly whilst sitting upon a doorstep. "Mmmmmmph...fuck." "Heheh, that good innit Jim?" "Oh god yeah." "Heh...shame we never did really say g'bye." "I wanted to Ashwin...it's just that, things would keep happening you know." "Least oi got a chance to say it to ye when you got adopted. Shit knows 'ow long oi wuz in there." "Did you ever manage to get adopted too?" "'ow should oi know? You don't know either roigh'?" "...oh...y-yeah." He softly chewed at his brioche gulping with a deep sigh trying to take in this odd sense of where he was now. "So...I really am inside my head." "Yep sure looks it Jim mate." "I wasn't expecting London honestly." "Well s'not the only place you got 'ere, jus' the first part of yer journey down into yerself!" "You know about that?!" "Uhhh mate, oi'm in yer 'ead, you know all this anyway, you know it makes sense!" "Yeah, um...n-nothing really makes sense by this point frankly." "Pfffft jus' roll wif it, besides yer not stayin' in this shagheap forever, didntcha see the other side?!" "The what?" "The river mate, the other side o' the river! Come on, finish yer rolls an' oi'll show ya!" Eventually they ate up their sweet lunch and headed back out towards the riverbank, slowly navigating their way through the crowds as snatches of quick moving memories went past by in a blur. Odd slogans, advertisements, things people said in a particular voice all teeming through from the back alleys beside them. Ashwin stopped him occasionally to point out some of these looking towards one passageway. "'ey, 'member that Jim?" "Huh?" Two boys were standing at the top of a long steep road that was completely empty, with nothing but two helmets and a rickety-looking box on wheels. James gasped with wide eyes as he stepped closer towards the sight. "Ohhhhhh man I remember that! We found a street that got closed off for repairs, wasn't that like the summer?" "Oi fink you were abou' six an' oi wuz twelve. Oi found an ol' box, jammed in a couple wheels, took sum ol' cricket helmets from the sports cupboard an' tagged you alon' wi' me." "We didn't see the ramp at the end though." "YOU didn't. Bu' oi did, oi up an' went fer it!" Two boys went screaming down the long steep road with not a single soul to save them from their own stupidity. Squealing with excitement, Ashwin's trunk went straight up over his helmet whilst James was squealing with a wondrous mixture of both fear and joyful derision. Between the white and grey houses they went on a single street, until they hit the ramp left behind by the work construction and went flying across the pavement. Ashwin punched at a streetlight he just managed to reach before they crashlanded, James panicking as he jumped out in the midst of it turning. "Hahahaha," cackled Ashwin, "you frickin' bailed loik a weasel!" "Yeah," said James, "but at least I didn't break my trunk." "Wot?!" He pointed at the end of the memory when Ashwin collided fierce into a pothole and slammed his head forwards onto the sheer gravel, crushing his trunk between helmet and tarmac as he screamed blistering with tears down his cheek. James was behind him half-upset and half-struggling not to burst out laughing at such a stupid mistake. The James who was watching this memory also started chuckling to himself which made his elephant friend angry. "EY! S'NOT FUNNY!" "Snrrrkhehehe, k-kinda was." "NO IT WOZN'T! Oi 'ad me nose broken in four places you tit!" "Pffhahahaha, awww fuck, shit, I dunno I mean...you-hu-hu were wearing a whole bandage on your nose and you had to get like splints on it, awww jeez, you looked like somebody fucked up at arts and crafts." "SHUDDUP FOSSILFACE!"

Playfully punching the raptor in his shoulder a little too harshly, they walked on through the streets evermore as memories passed on by. Some were less pleasant than others for James as he noticed down one street a demonstration at a square, mostly anthros with signs and placards crying out such phrases as "WE ALL BLEED IN THIS CITY!" and "REMEMBER THE SAVILE SEVEN!" among other things. It was turning pretty ugly too with a small human crowd of defiants jeering whilst the police were unfortunately trapped between the two struggling to maintain peace. It left James feeling rather cold, rubbing his elbows as he crossed his arms whilst the sounds of screaming needs turned him rather shivering with a shameful guilt, whilst Ashwin looked up at him. "You alroigh'?" "Yeah...I know that's in the past." "You sure abou' that?" "...I hope it is." "Mmmm...would never unnerstand yer pain mate, much as oi tried to." "How were you orphaned again?" "House explosion. Me uncle buggered with the cables, got wires crossed up, whole place blew apart in a fire, wuz only safe cuz me room wuz the highest an' oi climbed ou' the window once oi saw the flames comin' up. Wuz on Gudi Padwa too, loik the new year." "Damn...so...you knew your family then." "Yeah, fer abou' seven years." "...how did you cope?" "Huh?" "I mean...you knew your family so, you knew what you lost...how come you never broke down or anything I mean, I couldn't have handled that." "Wot makes you think oi didn't?" The elephant looked up with eyes wide and blue, mournful with a solemn face as his cheeks sagged partially. James hugged him gently as Ashwin hugged back but only for a moment before pushing him away. "Oi-oi enough o' that, don't you get poncy wi' me!" "Heheheh please, like I'd ever wanna date you with that mouth." "Psssh, you dunno wot you missin'!" "Uhh I do, YOU were the one that taught me all those words." "Hahaha, 'ey oi just wanted to teach ya the rules of the streets mate, when sum mucker come up lookin' to grab yer arse you shout FUCK OFF an' lemme tell ya, hohohoho, that surprises a lotta weird people comin' round tryin' to kidnap ya." "Yeah..." James looked over towards an alleyway as he began to reminisce, a scene playing out as Ashwin began coaching him on the steps of an old backlot that no one used in the midst of sunset. The way that Ashwin was, putting a hand on James' shoulder keeping a steady look on his eyes, it was almost like they were brothers with James somewhere around 6 and Ashwin twice his age. _ "Lissen Jim, if you wanna keep yer wits out on these streets, you gotta stand up fer yerself." "Whaddaya mean?" "Well, oi mean fightin' a dude's no' always the best idea but you can give 'em a real scare. Say sum big arse comes wadin' up an' says that 'e's got an offer for ya, some cake in the back of 'is van-" "Ah huh." "You say uh-uh, cuz wot sorta twat has cake in the back of his van, trust me, oi seen, four different vans an' ain' none of 'em 'ad cake in 'em. Those are bad people, they wanna hurt you." "S-so whut do ah do?" "You stand up fer yerself, you look 'em straight in the eye an' say 'nah-uh mister, oi wuz told not to go wif strangers!' an' they'll say shit loik they're a friend of sumbody but ohohoho if you dunno 'em, don' wanna be with them! An' if they get real ratty on ya, loik insistent, you shout 'em wif 'FUCK OOOOFF!'"_ Ashwin shouted this away from the raptor to not frighten him in his memory, screaming out across the backlot where no one would hear them. It startled the young James but it proved his point as the elephant grinned softly winking at him. _ "See, it startled ya! That'll scare off any weirdos that come round, roigh'?" "Y-y-yeah...yeah ah...ah fink so." "Now you do it." "Huh?!" "Come on, lez 'ear it, lemme hear ya really shout at me, tell me to fuck off!" "B-but, ah dun wanna, yer mah friend!" "Oi know oi know bu' because we're mates oi'm not gonna leave, oi jus' wanna see if yer able to look after yerself." "Bu' why?!" "...well, oi mean look at you Jim, yer scrawny, loik a wallcrawler, not exactly gonna foight anyone wif dem puny arms." "A-ahm not puny!" "Well, a grown-up's gonna fuckin' cream ya so you better know 'ow to frighten 'em. Now come on, scream, lez 'ear it, no one'll 'ear us back out 'ere." "I...nnnnngh...f-...f-f-fuh...fuck. Off." "...the fuck wuz that?!"_ The pachyderm kicked dust harshly across the blacktop. _ "AWWW JEEZ FUCKIN' BRAHMAN oi know you got it in ya! COME ON! Lemme 'ear yer anger, lemme see ya SCREAM fer it you cocky twat!" "FUCK OFF!" "YEAAAAH thassit, come at me James, make me deaf! Make me fuckin' DEAF!" " F-FUCK OOOOOOOOFF!"_ Screeching sounds resided off the walls of the back alley as Ashwin simply laughed, cackling with rapturous applause. _ "KHHHAHAHAHAHAHA, AWWWW 'E'S DUNNIT! Fuckin 'ell mate, WOW you got sum real lungs on ya!" "Y-y-yeah?! You think?!" "Oh yeah mate...totally. Lissen you ever in any trouble, or you wanna make grown-ups know you mean business...you scream yer 'eart out 'til you can't scream no more an' eventually....sumbody'll come runnin' to 'elp ya."_ "I don't think that really worked," said FG outwith. "You wot?" asked Ashwin presently. "I mean just...let's be honest, everytime I ever ranted and screamed at shit I always made things worse." "'ey 'ey that's not true an' you know it! You just gotta know WHEN it's roigh'!" "That's the thing I don't...I don't remember a time when my screaming and shouting ever helped frankly." "Well...noise is good innit, that means yer alive, means you got sum foight up in ya, loik that toime we went buskin' cuz we were all cheap, you 'member?!" He pointed down towards another alleyway where both James and him stood on a street corner busking for money, the elephant playing a surprisingly competent listenable club mix entirely using his own trunk, whilst James danced and clapped his hands playing smooth at the age of eight years old. They even managed to integrate bass dropping into the mix by the clever use of trunk-blocking by squeezing Ashwin's nose occasionally, or the additional beatboxing from FG's younger throat. "Hahahaha, holy crap." "Yeaaaaaaaah you 'member that?! Made loik five quid in one day beatin' out that club mix, yanno Suck Soft Big Boy!" "Aw man you're right, wasn't it the extended mix?" "Nah nah mate, it wuz the Gurjwara mix, fuckin' classic." "Dude it came out like two months before we went out with this." "Pfft Jim wake up, it's fuckin' 3501, anything's a classic in a couple months!" "Ehhhh I guess...still, that was the best fucking ice cream I ever jad after we got that much." "Yep, ol' Mister Whippenschirten-" "From the ol' rip-and-schlurpin, HAHAHAHAAA!" Both said this as they laughed walking on as James revelled in his memories, enjoying the brief moments of joyful reflection on the first friend he ever met, the strong-hearted bold and single-minded Ashwin. They were almost at the riverbank as the raptor asked him: "You remember how we met Ashwin?" "Only cuz you do, wuz at the orphanage weren't it?" "Yeah...um...I think you first came up to me and told me how you had an uncle who also had a motorcycle." "Yeaaaah oi did, 'e 'ad a Triumph, noice an' silver, Speed Triple oi said, looked a lot loik yer new toy. Musta been abou' ten oi wuz." "And I was all like 'wooooow you actually seen a real bike, that must be so coooool'." "Heheh, you were easy to impress, course you were, you were loik wot, four, you only just stopped learnin' to crap yerself." "H-hey, I learned that long before I met you!" "Hhehehhhhh...awwww...oi miss you Jim." "...god I miss you too." A small moment between them, simpering eyes of sadness knowing that they would never meet again except within bygone days of happier memories amidst the dreary backdrop of London town. "Alroigh' we're 'ere!" Standing at the dock area to the Thames, James recognised it as the place where he had found a shipment container and left the city through by stowing away on board to a new continent. A sweet pang of regret gently tickered over on inside of him as the elephant pointed out across the river Thames. "There, you see that city over there? 'ere's a hint, s'not the ol' London town you once knew." The more James looked at the skyline of the other city, the more he started to realise that it wasn't quite the place he knew. It was more rugged in its skyscraper landscape, much taller than London's and he started noticing the much more modern design by which the city had become so fluid with. London had always kept its stature of old and stiff, the crumbling husk of a long forgotten empire whereas the other city "Wait, is that......is that the Willis Tower?! That's Chicago!" "Hehehe, glad you haven't forgotten it, fossil twat." "Wait THAT'S Chicago, i-is that my home?!" "Depends on wot you call yer 'ome. But yeah it's both cities roigh' 'ere across the river." "So wait, it's London AND Chicago?" "More loik Londago, see that?!" He pointed up towards a signpost that did indeed say LONDAGO in oddly cursive writing, like something from an old street sign from the Whitechapel district of London. The raptor looked up at the signpost with curiosity brimming from his surprised eyes wide with astonishment as he asked: "How...that doesn't make sense." "Uhhh, it's yer 'ead mate, course it don' make sense, hmhmhah!" "Well...shit. I mean, I dunno what to say." "Maybe you should-...'old up, 'ere comes trouble." Slowly walking towards them with strangely measured pace, the thick heavy footsteps that only the wounded could make came from James' right. He turned to find much to his shock and discontent a familiar face with eyes scarred deep, constantly running red. Brian Velasco, the bear in the black shirt and shorts. Even after his grievous wounds his voice still rang with a fearsome strength for his age that left James rather uncomfortable. "Hey punk." "...u-u-um...hi." "Whut?" "...nothing." "You lookin' at me funny?! Not that I can tell you dweeb." "Piss off," said Ashwin, "don' you got a road to cross somewhere, gonna take you all day." "Shut up. I got sumthin' fer you." The former bully handed James a written note, in a handwriting that was oddly familiar to him and it was not until he read it fully that he knew who it was.

_ We need to talk. Meet me at the bar before it gets dark._

"...no." "Whut?" "This...i-i-is this...is this Sarah's handwriting?! Sarah's here?!" "I dunno, I can't FUCKING READ you asswipe!" "Oh look!" said Ashwin. "Boy does know 'ow to talk shit loik the rest of us." "CAN IT DUMBO!" "WOT YOU CALL ME FUCKFACE?! COME ON, OI'LL MAKE YOU FUCKIN' FLY!" "GUYS STOP IT!" shouted FG. "I've got other things to do than listen to you argue." "Sure ya do," said Brian, "like cry fer your mommy." "I'm not scared of you Brian, fuck off." "Pfft...you might not be scared of me, but I'm still here aren't I?" "What?" The bear walked up towards the young teen raptor, and even though he was still at the age of 10 like he always remembered the bear to be, Brian had quite the intimidation factor with his head reaching up to James' throat. His eyes were scarred even down to the retinas, dangling distended sclera in a most gruesome portrait despite somehow still able to see where James was. "You did this to me. An' yer not even proud of it, arentcha you dweeb?" "I...I-i-i-" "You coulda just remembered me when I didn't have this, or not even remember me at all, but you DO, because you DID. You can talk shit to me all you want but this ain't never going away lizard freak." "......you...I'm...I'm sorry. Okay? Is that what you want to hear? I went too far." "Hahaha, nah-uh you ain't getting off so easily, you know whut wuz the worst part?!" Brian shoved him back with surprising strength. "I wuz gonna get punished that day, I wuz gonna get my just deserved, but YOU couldn't wait, noooo no, you had to prove yourself!" "Me mate wuz defendin' 'imself!" said Ashwin defensively. "Oi taught 'im to stand up fer himself, 'e wuz givin' you wot you deserved you fuckin' circus act." "Well I'M not the one that got put in solitary, wuzn't I? No, I got pitied an' looked after an' maybe you ruined my life but you're never gonna know, you don't even know where I am now and frankly you don't even care. So guess whut...no. Yer not gettin' anythin' from me cuz whut you got in return, wuz more than enough to be punished about." "What are you saying?" asked FG. "You wanted to stop being a bitch to everybody so you became some big asshole from that day on! Oh sure maybe yer foster parents helped you cool off but you ran away cuz you couldn't even trust anyone!" "I WAS JUST A KID!" "SO!? Still makes you responsible, you dumb shit." "...fine. Fine, I...I shouldn't have run away, is that what you wanna hear?" "No. Just wanna make sure you on the same level as everything else, dweeb." "Just piss off, alright? Look I know my childhood was screwed up, and I didn't help, in fact I made it worse, I didn't know the difference between standing up for myself and being a total shit, okay!? I've got bigger problems to deal with than this bullshit, I've got a demon to fight, he's somewhere out there and if I don't stop him soon, then we are FUCKED. Me and everyone I love is gonna be in for the worst time of their lives if that THING takes me over completely and starts knowing how to cross between worlds." "Fine fine...whutever, s'not my business bein' in your stupid past. Try not to get killed being a total dip." Brian walked away staggering slightly with his uncertain gait, with Ashwin standing by FG and putting a hand on his shoulder to comfort him as the raptor looked down at the note. "Don' lissen to 'im, 'e dunno wot yer really loik." "Ashwin...I'm in my own head okay, I think EVERYONE knows what I'm like." "Ehhhhh...y-yeah, okay oi guess it...'ey, now you know where to go roigh'?!" "Yeah, I guess I do. Soooo uh...how do I get across?" "Easy, jus' say the magic words you said when you left 'ere. You remember don't you?" "...yeah. I-i do. But...I don't want to." "Why not?" "...I kinda don't wanna leave you behind." "Didn't stop ya leavin' the first toime." "Y-yeah but...Ashwin. I'm...I'm sorry I never said goodbye." "Same 'ere bruv," said the pachyderm. "Hey." He patted James gladly on the back pulling him into a shoulderhug. "Still 'ere aren't we? Least down in yer memories roigh'?" "Yeah...I guess." "Look, you got important stuff to do, an' the only way is gotta go forward. You ever wanna reminisce, oi'll still be 'ere, don't you worry. Maybe tell Koopin abou' me." "How do you-...oh, right, me." "Yeaaaaaah thassit, come on, you wanna keep me alive, you tell yer friends about me, alroigh'?" "Okay. So you're really not coming?" "Naaaah got stuff to do innit, this is moi town roigh' 'ere, one day oi'm gonna make summat of meself, maybe when you get back to the real Chicago, look me up online, maybe sumthin'll pop up about me." "Yeah, yeah! Okay. I uh...thanks for straightening my head out a bit, I've gotta go onwards." "Catch ya round Jim! Oi'll send ya a postcard from the train station, wi' moi name on it!" "Hahaha, right...later Ashwin." The raptor waved goodbye to him after one more hug, tightly embracing each other with the smell of dust fresh on his nostrils as he turned towards the citybank holding Sarah's note. He braced himself for his great words of betrayal to his home nation as he closed his eyes shut. "...I never want to come back here again. I hope this city burns down." He opened his eyes once again. He now saw the great looming jungle of the urban metropolis right in front of him, the great filth-ridden city of Chicago yet again condensed by his imaginative memory. London's shorter skyline was directly behind him, yet the ever-looming steeple of the great Westminster Parliament remained signalling its defiance to the world of its once-great empire. Chicago on the other hand, still existed as it was. Walking through the streets, he saw a much different collective of creatures both human and anthro, a heftier mix of ethnicities and origins of species than in London due to the expansiveness of the USA. It was only then he felt much more isolated after realising very few reptilians existed in the city, a sense of great paranoia from cultural beginnings began whispering across his ear as he felt the cold winds rattle through. Memories flowed as he passed between skyscrapers and alleyways clogged with fire escapes, black skeletal remains of old passages. Every alleyway he saw, he remembered living in. Cold, hungry, desperate. Shivering in an old blanket somebody had thrown out, eating the freshest fast food he could from the dumpsters applying the two-day rule whereas most applied two-second rules. Chased out of burger bars, then chased out of homes when he got more feisty and reckless, climbing up into windows, scoping the place out, robbing people's wallets or drawers for anything he could pawn. He felt a shame burning in him, until noticing the meticulousness of what he stole. He always stole money or really gaudy jewellery, but never wedding rings. He smiled for at least some sense of standards. Then came one memory, an older wolf named Davidson who had his own place who got the jump on him, grabbing him from behind in the bedroom. Vicious strikes across the face, the raptor never meant to scratch his eye out but it was a lucky shot, a little closer than he wanted but it was all he could do to scramble out with a wad of bills and dive into the alley straight into a dumpster he had set up for his escape. People passed by him back and forth, the faces of mostly anthros that worked with Sarah at her bar, patrons and whatnot. Most of the humans he remembered were in the well-off areas, better standards of living whilst anthros ended up in the slum areas. Graffiti across the walls he remembered in passing, apartment blocks and mini-marts flickering neon white when suddenly he heard a calling out at him from beneath the subterrane. _ "DON'T. Even move."_ He froze solid by instinct. Her voice came through perfectly, scowling tough against his ear as he shuddered by a weakness in his heart. It had been years since he heard her but she was nowhere to be seen as he heard the voice coming through from a basement window next to an apartment block. Crouching next to it by the side wall, he saw the scene unfold as if it was simply yesterday. The darkness of the tavern with tables set straight and one single light showing James frozen with a gun aimed directly at his head, long silver revolver. _ "Put yer hands up. Slowly."_ James did as he was told in the past. _ "I bet yer thinkin'...what was it that tipped me off about you sneaking around down here? Were ya too noisy, or did I set an alarm, or am I just a really light sleeper? Either way...you got some balls comin' into my fuckin' place so you better start thinking about leaving." "Oh...I'm leaving alright."_ The young James said this with a grin as he pretended to fall, stumbling with a violent horse kick to behind slamming into Sarah's gut, the dolphin's silhouette crying out as he made a run for it. _ "Worthless little SHIT!"_ One shot was all it took to take him down, perfectly timed to hit him when his foot faltered on the exit steps. He felt something explode on the floor as he stumbled crying: _ "A-AAAAAAAAARGH! AAAAAAAAAAAAA JESUS FUUUUUUCK!"_ The pain still lingered by his memory tensing in his foot, the raptor falling down across the steps as Sarah showed herself in the light. Grey smooth skin, a white tank top and brown slacks, her long bottle snout having eyes worn with age and crow's feet coming in but plenty of ferociousness still within as she held her smoking revolver in her right hand before grabbing James by the shirt and pointing the gun straight at his face. _ "A-AAAAAAH! FFFUCK, FUHUHUUUCK!" "Awww what's the matter, you gonna cry now kid?! Just cuz you can't rob a bar with an old lady inside it? Maybe you should try robbing older ladies than me out on the street just before you practice-"_ _ "SHUT UP! ...nnnngh...for fuck's sake, I just want some money and you shot me in the FUCKING F-FOOT, JESUS!" "Why, so you can hoard it all up for a nice li'l meth collection?" "Fuck no!" "Then what?!"_ He said nothing, arrogant as always but the warm rub of the muzzle against his forehead convinced him otherwise as she demanded: _ "What. Do you need money for, boy?" "I...I-i just need it to live like, some food or maybe a blanket or something." "Why can't you steal it then?" "Th-the food store's too tight for me, a-a-and I dunno where to find a blanket!" "Steal it from someone's house." "You ever tried to take a blanket out someone's house, that shit gets caught on everything!" "Well...how 'bout you get a job like everybody else?" "FUCK YOU! I TRIED, I FUCKING TRIED BUT NOBODY WANTS ME! They all think I'm some punk who'll steal from the cash register first chance he gets!" "And look how I found ya." "TH-TH-THIS IS NOTHING, IT'S CUZ I'M DESPERATE! I don't wanna do this, this is my tenth place, I cut a guy's face when I raided his apartment, I dunno if he'll even see from it again!" "...wait...was that the Davidson house?" "...y-y-yeah?" She smiled like a predator as she slowly placed the gun into his mouth. "Well well weeeeelllll...so you're the little thief I've been waiting for." "Mm-mwuh?!" "You have no idea what you just brought yourself into...Li'l Rex."_

The James of the present shook his head with disgust and shame and in truth so did Sarah as she pulled back the gun from his throat after watching the thief lay down on the floor crying in panic from his mortal fear. He knew how the rest of this memory went so he walked onwards hoping to find better memories at the bar, or at least just to meet the actual Sarah herself or rather his memory of her. Soon he turned the last corner and found his old street. West 44th and South Wallace Street. It was plenty different from the Chicago in the post-apocalyptic wastes, much to his thankful relief as he watched the old carriage of the train clicketing-clacketing in turning a slow corner a good 500 yards ahead of him past the houses. A dead-end street up ahead, with one further street onwards turning towards the right with an entire row of shops and living places to his left all the way. And yet still it was smaller than he was certain that it was due to the various places that he noticed. The jeweller's down the road in blue and white hues, the pharmacy the other end with neon green, the mini-mart everybody local went to along with the local garage owned by Mahmoud. Or at least was previously owned by Mahmoud before he moved away as he walked towards it. The front door was open as one huge docking bay ten feet high with one single vehicle in the main floor and three offices of backrooms. The red blazing Dodge Stryker with hover-capabilities like all the rich people had, was the baby child of the resident mechanic and all he had left were three parts on it before he could move to someplace else. The raptor walked in as memories flowed through watching himself in younger days working on the underside, with elbow grease and proper labour for once in his life. He was young, he was dirty, there was oil all over his sleeves and tank top but he was happy working. It was humbling to see him work as he heard his former employer's voice from the offices: _ "You tighten that shaft now, crank it 'til it cannot move." "Like this? NNnngh!" "Yeaaaah thassit, nice strong muscle on you, you keep them taut it'll be irie. A car look pretty but if can't even leave the house without falling apart, ain' nobody gonna want it, overstand?" "Um...I think so. Hey...Mahmoud?" "Mmmm?" "...do you...um...d-d-do you like...guys?" "I do...you mean intimate?" "Um...y-y-yeah?"_ The raptor slid out underneath the car panting upwards as he stared towards the office where the horned silhouette of the garage owner was before the shadow moved slowly towards the open door. _ "Why you ask?" "I just...well...I-i-i'm not sure but if...how do you know if...you like guys in that way?" "You know when you know, not something I teach you to feel." "C-could you tell me about it? I mean you know lots of things about machines-" "Body an' mind are not machine boy, they breathe with spirit. Tell I what your heart is saying, you feel an urge? A need?" "M-maybe...I just...I um, k-kinda had these feelings for a little bit and I thought that maybe-" "You want to taste the other side an' see how it feel?" "Yeah. I just...don't really know how to." "Well...you are good on inside, but so bewildered an' lost without a good heart. I teach you more than how to fix machine if you want...perhaps I can manage fix you a little." "Wha-you mean-...fix me?" "Boy like you should never be without love in his heart. Maybe I...can give some of mine to part with fer the future."_ The shadow slowly went to the door, but nothing appeared from the office, not a single soul. It was then that James felt a voice slithering in his ear from behind him. "An' that's just what I did." Turning around with a sudden start, he saw the owner of the place from his memory long back. A brown-bodied goat with thick muscular arms and finely woven beard of black and grey, twinkling gold eyes and dreadlocks woven from both fur and hair down his cheeks. Mahmoud had always reminded James of some dark magician with the strange cross-slatted pupils and tall horns with the constant smell of diesel both acidic yet intoxicating like a drug. Even as he was now the goat was able to bring him to his knees with but one touch to his cheek. "Not see you in such a long time boy." "O-ohhhh...M-m-mahmoud." Something about him always turned James into like a giggling schoolgirl on her first date, whimpering with hot blush as he pressed himself close until their chests began to rub. "Now where you been hiding from I hmm James? Thought you got bored of I pretty quick." "N-n-no...not at all, I mean I...still remember you." "I hope you do, wuz I that taught you PASSION." He lunged for his neck with a gentle bite, tenderly nibbling upon James' shoulder as he squealed, slipping his hands around the raptor's waist to slap both leanly upon the sweet rump. He stopped and pulled away leaving James aquiver with a temptation rising in his loins. "A-AAAH!" "Mmmmmm...hmhmhmhm...still got it." "H-h-hoh jesus...I'm so glad to see you again." "What make you come back to the old neighbourhood? You know I's left many year." "I-i-i'm...I'm looking for Sarah. I need...to find her, she wants to talk to me about something." "No time to fool fer a bit?" "N-no. Normally I'd love to but um, two reasons. One, I have stuff to do and secondly most important, I made a promise to Koopin." "Hahahahaha...boy, you cannot cheat on Koopin wi' I!" "What?!" "I's but a memory remember? What you an' I do is only but reliving a memory, do not worry 'bout infidelity." "Heh...I-i-i guess that makes...sense-are you this horny always?!" "No, only cuz you remember that. What else did I do?" "Other than take me in, Sarah told you about giving me something for spare time because I wasn't doing enough hours at the bar...so you taught me how to fix things, you taught me how to...be more capable I guess." "You come in as a boy...but I leave you as adult." Mahmoud slowly slipped his hands up towards the raptor's face, his lithe smooth fingers always perfectly firm to send rippling desires through James' throat. "You were but a lithe little lizard, crawlin' in the dirt but I an' Sarah sculpt you to be a real BIG boy." "A-AAAH!" He pressed his knee against James' crotch, tightening the space of his sweltering arousal. "I teach you how to love your body...an' how to love other people. You had so much hate in you, I see you an' thought 'there's a boy who need love in his life.'...an' I give you plenty love." "D-did you...r-r-really love me?" "Course I did...you were good worker, when you had focus an' respect fer people, you could be good. Is all you ever needed but nobody give you before. Maybe I seem loose to you, but I don't go foolin' with anyone's heart, overstand? Remember our first night?" "Hohhhh yes. God...you took me into your back office, you'd been teasing me all day and I was blushing and I wasn't sure about stuff-" "But I never push. Never make, never be a decider, never want to change the path anyone take, I let you take it. You came up to I, you ask if I want to...do someting?" "...you licked me in places I never even knew about..." "Hmhmhmhm, but plenty time for that later, you have big journey ahead hmm?" "Y-y-yeah...yeah I-...I do." "Then I leave you to go like I left you before. Full of love. To love yourself, to love others...to fight the hate you kept inside you for so long an' now...a TRUE hate now burning not of you...but of demons." He gave a final kiss, one much more passionate than James could even remember as he felt his legs turn weak. The wondrous tongue slipped deep into his throat, his eyes flickering as Mahmoud grabbed his cheek and the back of his neck simultaneously to slightly dip the raptor backwards. His dreadlocks bristled against his face as he tasted the hot breaths as he always remembered from him, tender suckling of warmth as James' tongue simply submitted to the rapturous advances of his former first dear. Eyes closed to a flickering gasp, the raptor's arms limp completely at his sides as the long-haired goat moaned with ravenous passion that infused something warm inside of James. This wasn't just a kiss. It was THE kiss, the first one he ever truly felt in his life, the first taste of truth and love that he ever felt. And in that moment, he felt a strange combination of love from all he had ever kissed, with varying degrees of passion from deepest friendship, to the intense binding of hearts as one. Daisy's innocence, Kruz's passion, Koopin's kindness and finally Leiah's adventurous spirit. Leaving Mahmoud's garage behind, he finally made his way down the road towards that eponymous bar he had known the greater part of his life in, at least mentally speaking. It always looked rundown, but there was still a touch of life inside it from the well-lit windows and the laminated sign proudly displaying on two sides of the building in one wrap-around font. Two exits to the bar, the side entrance from which deliveries and backalley deals were made from behind everyone's sight leading to an adjacent lot, as well as the main entrance itself. The raptor headed inside, bracing himself for the worst. The last time he had seen anything of Sarah's bar from his mind had not ended good whatsoever. But suffice to say he was instantly surprised pleasantly by the atmosphere as he always remembered it. He was even more surprised however to find out who the patrons now sitting at the place were. The tables were laid out, at least four tonight, with a jukebox in the corner as always and a TV currently off hanging above the bar which covered the length of one wall complete with drinks and a doorway passing through to the back.

What struck him as out of place however was the fact there were currently nine creatures most certainly not of his world. A fox, a rabbit, a frog and a pheasant to his right in the corner,; a green-feathered pigeon wiping glasses behind the bar with small bifocals; a large portly-looking man in a blue mechanic's suit with wide bushy moustache at the bar counter; two copper-toned reptilians to the gentleman's right and lastly some vague human shape wearing thick steel armour from head to toe coloured orange like the sunset outside. He had no idea who to speak first, but luckily someone else decided for him as a brash voice shouted from his right: "HEY, LIZARD BREATH!" "HUH!?" The strange mercenary team from many years ago were all looking at him in a row of heads, the red fox, the old grey hare with a whitish chin, the sleek green frog with wide grin and the cocky blue pheasant with red-feather colouring over each eye. All of them still wore the grey suits of their pilot training, their legs hidden underneath the table. "You gonna stand in the doorway or you wanna let people in cuz, unless they're hirin' fer a bouncer which...HEH, no offence but you couldn't even hold back a monkey!" "I...I-i-i-i-" "HIIII JAMES!" waved the frog happily. "OH-UHM...h-hiiii? Um...dammit I know this, don't tell me, your name it's...um-" "SLIPPY, yanno me right?! Come on you remember!?" "I remember faces yeah...especially this asshole." "HEY!" shouted the pheasant. "Falco can it," said the fox, "you had your turn now he gets his, we're on our break." "What break?!" "Whatever break that keeps you drinking and not working...right?" "...ehhh." Falco went back to his drink, slurping it down with a smack of his beak as the raptor walked over towards them. The oldest of them, the hare, smiled happily with an elder kindness. "Nice to see you round youn'un!" "Um, thanks uh...wh-what are you guys doing in...Sarah's bar?" "What, can't a couple'a old pilots get a drink now and again?" "I'm not old!" cried Slippy. "I meant experienced Slip, keep up." "Like you never do," said Falco. "But this," replied FG, "this all...you never were here. That's impossible." "Really?" said Fox smirking. "You're going to call this impossible? Sitting here with the Starfox team in a bar that you once lived in, along with the guy who was tending a coffee bar back in Crossville?" "Wait what?! SHIT shit, shit...shit, god it's Brewster, oh god, oh god this is weird." "Yeaaaah now you see, nothing's impossible now." "But how-why are you all in here?" "Because I'm off-duty? Look, you've always been kind of confused." "More like stupid," murmured Falco. "But you've got to stop asking questions because frankly it just...wastes time for everybody and you don't really wanna waste that." "Right," said FG, "right...god this is weird." "You call THISSZH weird?!" Hearing that familiar slur of a certain species trickling out he turned with shock at the two copper-skinned reptiles now standing before him, one of whom was holding a drink as expected. Baldwin the ever-ready monk in leather guards and wraps with fists clenched tight around two mugs, and Fayne in his clerical blue outfit holding his staff like always. "WHA-...Wh-wh-what are you-BALDWIN! FAYNE!" "Eyyyyy bosszh!" The monk grabbed at FG with one arm round his neck, still holding a mugful of ale which somehow never seemed to spill as he squeezed him into a slight chokehold of warmth, whilst still managing to drink at his frothy mug. "Howsszhit going?! Woulda been nisszhe to sszhay goodbye before ya left but I mean, portal'sszh closszhing, got no time to wasszhte right?!" "Wh-what are you...guys doing here?!" "Uhhh, we're off-duty, like Foxsszh sszhaid?!" "How do you even KNOW Fox?!" "We don't. Bro, you wanna take thisszh, you're sszhmarter than I am." "Gladly," said Fayne, "sszhimply put, asszh you have been reminded of CONSSZHTANTLY upon arrival-" "But because yer an idiot," said Falco interjecting. "We are but memoriesszh of thosszhe you have encountered. Therefore a lot of meetingsszh are to take plasszhe in rather odd...um...u-um-" "Circumstances?" replied James. "Yesszh, THANK you, within areasszh that your mind hasszh allocated usszh to. You remember you firsszht met me and Baldwin in a bar, therefore, we are here in a bar." "So why are Starfox here?" "I do not know...you have a great capasszhity for making odd acquaintansszhesszh." "Is he calling us freaks?!" said Falco. "Noooo," replied Slippy, "he's just saying that James meets a lotta people! Hi, I'm Slippy!" "Fayne Sszhmithee, and my brother Baldwin." "Wasszhup?!" replied Baldwin. "Sszho, how long were you with Jamesszh fer?!" "Aw jeez," murmured the frog, "I dunno! Kinda difficult to gauge time in a spaceship, I mean I don't think even James remembers." "Ehhh, he took like monthsszh to read the Ivalisszhian calendar properly, that don't sszhurprisszhe me." "Cuz he's a dumb idiot," added Falco, "what else is new?!" "OKAY THAT'S IT!" James suddenly launched over the table and clocked the bird hard in the face, knocking him out on the floor stone-cold. The pilot groaned slightly but was out for the count well and truly as Fox glared at him suddenly pulling out a pistol of traditional black, brimming with its laser charged ready and pointing as the rest of the onlookers turned curious at what would happen next. "Okay. Now HE's my best pilot and also my friend so I should probably shoot you for that." "I'm sorry but he kept insulting me!" "Typical typical junge James," said a voice. "Huh?!" Another person came up towards him, the large human striding forth from his seat to investigate all the kerfuffle as James suddenly recognised who he was. The moustache made everything for him, but not as much as the odd occasion of German peppering into his speech, which in turn also made James feel rather saddened by guilt. "Mein armer junge, always getting into fights in bars, it was a fight that brought you to me and it was a fight that had you leave my world." "...awwwww...you...G-g-gunther. Aww jeez I didn't recognise you from behind." "You should, you have seen me bending down over an F-Zero racer for plenty months to have noticed." "Woah," said Baldwin, "you were in a rasszhe?" "Ohhhh ja, only amateur though, not the high-speed world-class stuff but on the local circuits. Fell bad of a professional who loved scalping the recruits for easy money, ended up in hospital. Then ran away doped up on morphine without even telling me." "I-i-i left you a message!" cried FG. "To a bar assistant at the back door of the Ibis, yes, good job herr responsible." "I...I was scared alright?! D-d-don't make me feel like shit, I was running for my life, that Rex dude was trying to kill me!" "Yeaaah leave 'im alone!" said Slippy. "It's not his fault that he has to keep running away from bad fights, he didn't even start half of them!" "Uhhh Slippy," said the old hare, "he just punched Falco in the face." "Oh he's a jerk Peppy, he was gonna get it eventually!" " Stop. It." A cold voice came from the bar starkly deafening the room's argument to a standstill as they all turned looking with trepidation. The armor-clad human with hulking shoulderpads and pure steel amber didn't even look as she sat at the bar slumped over slightly, her left hand on her red helmet with small green visor covering her eyes, whilst her right arm was coated in a thick pure green cannon-like chamber. They all turned back towards James murmuring lowly, with Fox holstering his pistol calmly and Baldwin putting down his drinks as Fayne asked: "Do you know that hume?" "Yeah," said FG, "I do, l-let's not talk about her." "That'sszh a FEMALE?!" gasped Baldwin. "Jeezzh, sszhe sszhcaresszh me more than Navarro." "Where is Navarro anyway?" "Uhhhh I dunno, where you remember her lasszht I guesszh." "That...doesn't make sense." "Do I have to explain this again?" said Fox McCloud. "Someone do it for me, because I'm not explaining it again." "I already told him," replied Fayne. "Really James," added Gunther van Uber, "you should know this by now, after all I trained your hand-eye coordination to higher competence so you should be quick with your mind on learning new things!" "Regardlesszh, you are looking for Sszharah, correct?" "Yeah?" asked FG bewildered. "Well, sszhe isszh not here unfortunately." "What?! But it's her bar!" "Now now, do not fear, I do remember now on where you sszhould go in order to find her along with a sszhmall gift for your journey. You are sszhtill planning to battle the demon aren't you?" "Of course, that's why I'm here." "Well I can mosszht definitely point you in the direction but only if...you can prove your memory." "My what?" "A little game if you will, to bear with for you musszht ansszhwer five quesszhtionsszh on our adventuresszh together and I sszhall hand you the-" "Are you seriously going to quiz me?" "Correct," replied Fayne. "Do not forget I am a competitive bangaa...hmhmhmhmhmhm." The raptor shrugged sighing as he simply accepted the situation and just stopped trying to confront every odd meeting that would happen, asking: "Alright fine, I got nothing else to do, this can't be hard. I mean I only left you guys like...what, almost a month ago I think?" "Very well, quesszhtion one. What wasszh the name of the play we went to after our misszhion from Mr. Tesszhla?" "...damn. ...hhhhah, ohhhh god it-it was that play that Kruz was actually in but I didn't know until like AGES later, Baldwin and I were cracking up!" "Hah, totally," replied Baldwin. "We were quoting lines from it like crazy until Navarro told us to stop like a few days later like ugh...what...waaaaas i-THE SHADOW KING!" "Correct! Now, my turn to asszhk bosszh. Who wasszh the owner of the orphanage that we infiltrated?" "Uhhhhh...it...it sounded LIKE Berniere but that...that wasn't......aw." James felt somewhat saddened at having said that name, sighing gently as he rubbed his head in rememberance before saying: "It was...Brun...Brunhart." "Not bad! You haven't forgotten yet!" "My turn," said Fayne, "What wasszh the name of-" "Are you just going to ask me names or something, what's the point of this?" "Sszho you can remember usszh. All we have ever been through. To be forgotten isszh a fate worsszhe than death." "I'm not going to forget you guys. Listen." He stood up and placed a hand on each shoulder of the brothers standing next to each other. "I will never forget you, not anyone in Clan Koridai, out of all the people I ever made friends with out there, you are in the top ten, hell maybe top six cuz I have to put Kruz in there somewhere." "And what of Roy and Koopin?" "Koopin's my boyfriend, I've got a special place for him on my list that nobody else can touch. But seriously, you two and the rest of the clan are some of the best people I ever known. And alright we had our differences, a LOT of differences but we managed to pull through and we still fought to the end. Fayne, you kicked ass with me against that giant THING trying to invade Ivalice, and Baldwin, you and me stood side by side when we went into that abbey and rescued Fayne!" "Totally," said Baldwin, "wasszh the firsszht time I really learned to resszhpect you...yanno, even though yer a molly. But then sszho isszh my brother, sszho what differensszhe doesszh it make?" "I am jusszht glad we lived," said Fayne, "it isszh hard to think that, if it wasszh not for your odd influensszhe having brought Kruzzh to my world...and for me to have become a part of him asszh he now hasszh become to me...well...thank you Jamesszh. Even if you never intended, I am...very glad to have known you." "Sszhame here," said Baldwin, "one way or another, you made our livesszh better at leasszht, I mean maybe not everybody you meet got affected by you in any way-" "No," said the armoured human. "Nope," said Peppy. "Not really," said Fox, "if I'm being honest." "Well a little maybe," added Slippy. "If anything I affected YOU more because I gave you that translator!" "No you didn't," said the human. "You altered it, not create it...isn't that right?" James looked rather nervous upon realising what she meant but said nothing as Baldwin simply waved his hands. "Whatever, the point isszh you changed SSZHOME people'sszh livesszh for the better, an' among that are me and Fayne. You know that, sszho I jusszht wanted to sszhay...thanksszh for being a great leader." "...awwww...come here guys."

The raptor pulled both of them into an embrace, the two hugging him back tightly in turn without a single word passed between them until they let go with a wide grin upon each of their faces. Somehow remembering such an embrace from friends warmed his heart, as Fayne brought out something shining beautifully in the darkness of the bar. His holy dagger of light glistening by the grace of Lea Monde before handing it over to FG. "Take thisszh. It hasszh become more important than anything I have imagined." "Your...wait...Kruz had this when we fought that thing that was gonna take his soul, that ghost from his home island." "And you are not the only one to commit to fighting demonsszh with it, now you musszht keep it." "I only have so many pockets, I've got like Roy's horseshoe in one of them." "You'll do fine, now, go to the polisszhe sszhtation." "The...police station?" "That's what he said," replied Gunther, "trust me I've been in plenty bars I've learned precisely how to understand those with such speech impediment." The bangaas slowly turned towards the large German as Gunther in turn looked softly back at them with some confusion. They were not amused greatly as James saw what would happen as he slipped in between them. "Eaaaaaaasy guys, heheh, just a bad joke." "It better be," said Baldwin, "that'sszh worsszhe than mine are." "Listen, Gunther? ...I'm sorry for bailing out on you, and I know that I was kinda irresponsible and not as grateful as I should have been. So...I appreciate you giving me a chance." "Apologies to memories mean nothing," replied van Uber, "but...at least you have learnt remorse so there is that. Take care now mein junge...I may not have much I can say to you now but at least...I am here still as part of your earliest shortcomings." The two hugged carefully, the kindly mechanic patting the raptor firmly on his back before he headed up the stairs towards the exit, stepping over Falco's body. "Be careful out there," said Fox with fingergun point, "place might be a lot different now since you last saw it." "Yeaaaah I'll be careful, you too Fo-...huh? Wh-what the hell?" The door was bolted shut, or rather its hinges refused to give as he tried rattling the door hard as he could but found nothing would give. With awkward sheepishness at not having the perfect by-your-leave, he stepped gently once again over Falco's body and made his way shortly up towards the bar counter where Brewster still stood, polishing glasses to the end of history. He dared not even look at the bounty hunter clad in armour as he asked: "Heeeeey um...Brewster, howsit hanging?" "Good." "Cool. Um...heh, bit different from serving coffee this place huh?" "No." "Hmm?" "Still drink. Serving." "Good, good, listen um...that door's stuck soooo do you mind if I-" "That way." "Thank you, alright then um...I had fun working with you, you know that right? I really liked you." "Good." "Alright well then uh...s-see you around I guess." Taking his leave he slowly made his way around the bar and exited through the back living quarters, finding a cluster of memories all over the place in each and every room. Turning back towards the bar, the scene was transformed as if a projector started playing over the doorway with radiant christmas cheer of red, white and green from everywhere he looked at the front place. That one perfect christmas before he left, with nineteen children of the district happy as ever, parents sighing with relief and the chief of police garbed in thick Santa Claus outfit. It was a strange night, one he remembered summing up the odd way that Sarah described her business. A clean smile to hide dirty hands, the one night everything was free, but no alcohol was served, everything above board as it should be in her place. Song and dance, musical chairs, people thanking each other, people saying goodbye for the night, every child got to go home with an extra little something to enjoy the night with. When all the hall had been emptied of various families amongst humans and anthros, harmony by street spirit until only the tree and decorations would remain still, Sarah's past image stood in the midst of the doorway suddenly, turning towards James with her arms stretched. _ "Mmmmnnnaaagh...hey, let's go watch Die Hard before bed." "Seriously?"_ said past James. "We do that every Christmas." "Hey, if you wanna find the perfect christmas movie than go right ahead cuz frankly that one is. Come on you know you love it." "Could we at LEAST watch the 4-D version someday, I hear it's really good." "Fuck no, these movies gotta be seen the way they were! I don't wanna deal with another dimension making me think I was actually THERE being shot at, sometimes there's such a thing as TOO real yanno." "Hehehehe." "Besides we don't got a 4-D viewer for it." "There's a cinema down over at Harwood's that does that." "Oh sure, Harwood, sounds great." "Pffft...you ever think it's really weird you keep inviting him to your bar every year to be Santa Claus?" "No, and I still think it's not weird even though you asked me that same question two years back, seriously, keep up kid." "Kid, still? I'm twenty-one." "And I'm fifty, trust me yer not winnin' this line of thought here, yer still a kid to me." "Alright alright just...yanno it's kinda weird, you're the one that's keeping this place up running by being so good a criminal he hasn't even heard of you, and he's the freaking head of police! It's like sometimes you're almost taunting him." "I'm not that shallow kid. Lemme tell you something. The people rely on me, you know that, to keep them happy, keep them safe. Now I may not have to do a lot of good things to keep everyone safe...but when I see all of them still here the next time it's Christmas...I know it's worth doing this. He knows that feeling too. We're both like two sides of the same coin but we both work towards the same thing. To keep these people safe, and to keep kids like them free without fear in them. Those kids...one day they'll thank me...you'll thank me too." He understood what she meant. The maintaining of peace and steady ground over a sinking pit of iniquity that ran underneath his second home city. The back areas had all the same rooms he ever knew, living room, basements, kitchen, bathroom and two upstairs bedrooms which he could not help but go look into as he felt another memory coming through. Turning towards his old room, he remembered all the posters and motorbike magazines, the odd DVD collection of action series and movies or his once-favourite band Krunk-22 proudly displayed on albums. He saw Sarah and him hugging each other tightly, her arms wrapped round him dearly with a tender squeeze and a soft sigh from her lips, the raptor staring awkwardly around himself in a rather worried countenance before she said to him: _ "Thank you." "Wh-what?" "Just...thank you." "...S-sarah I jus-what the-what are you thanking me for?" "For...for stopping that demon inside of me. I...I never want to do all this again." "...I don't either."_ He hugged her back, more assuredly with a gentle nuzzle against her shoulder as they continued to speak. _ "Thanks for stopping for me." "No...you did it, not me. You...you saved me from turning into something worse James...you...you made me realise how awful I was. All the excuses I made, all the violence all the...things I did. I...I'm sorry James. I'm sorry for...e-everything."_ Even when watching this scene, he felt wet droplets on his shoulder from hearing her voice break. _ "I...will n-never forget you for standing up to me. You...you knew I was too s-stubborn in my pain an' I jus-...I'm sorry. I'm s-so sorry for all I did, you're the only one I can talk to like this because you were brave enough to stop me. All those things I said to you, I...I'd have made a terrible mother." "H-hey hey no let's not go there, you...you're a good gal, you done all you can to protect people here, everybody loves you, they respect you, you don't be like that for being a terrible person I mean...for all the good things you do around here despite being illegal, you never do it for yourself. You don't build piles or money or extort people or shoot drugs up in kids, you just...did things a different way." "But that doesn't excuse what I did...and I hurt you James, I hurt you so bad an' I never noticed cuz I was too blind in my own hatred...this...this demon that burned inside me that she MADE me carry with her, her memory just seeping inside of me I couldn't let her walk away, I couldn't-...I couldn't stop myself from killing her but...I should have trusted the law with this, everything could have happened better." "But you stopped for me. I know I've done some bad things too but I mean, we're both screwups right?! Just need to make amends for it like yanno, helping people, like you always do, I mean...this place would have gone to shit if it wasn't for you." "I know...but that wasn't fer the people that was all fer me...my own filthy hatred regardless of what she did an' I let her change me. I should not have been so weak, but you made me saw I was...you...y-you're the most wonderful kid I ever knew despite all our screwups and...a-and I love you so much fer bein' here with me makin' me feel like...normal fer once, when I'm not doin' this boss shit...I just can feel normal with you. I've missed this...just being not a mobster fer once...sometimes I wish...I wish things had been different. Th-thank you. I will never forget this." "Y-you...you really...you really mean that?" "Of course I do...I just...have a hard time showin' it, I need to be the big boss around here, I can't look weak...but I guess I really forgot how to be...for someone who needs it."_ She pulled back softly from the hug and smiled upon him, tears streaking from her eyes calmly upon her surrogate son. _ "I will always love you for saving me...that's a promise alright? You saved me from that demon James...you saved me."_ A warmth in his heart filled him once again. The memory that gave him hope, the one that would give him hope still. He had to keep remembering, he had to keep it in his heart for he knew it was a way out from the impending prospect of his soul being devoured completely. What good would he be without memories after all, as he made his way back down the stairs to find the side exit was also locked completely. No matter how much he struggled it would not break down, and even with the code she had always used for it upon the latched lock it would still not secede. Then he heard his voice coming back once again from the bar. _ "I can't lose another mum...don't do this."_ Something struck him cold, threatening to stifle the warmth he still felt as he walked back to see her closely hugging him. Her guns were out, ammo underneath the bar, her sawn-off Lupara shotgun and sleek Colt Kodiak .44 Magnum in each hand firm and waiting. It was the day that he left his world forever. _ "Shhhh...it's okay baby...it's okay. Yer gonna make something of yourself and get rid of those bastards, I know it. And one day you come back and find me. I'll be here, I promise." "How can you even promise that?" "Mothers always do."_ He kissed her cheek out of pure desperation. The sounds of rushing feet came marching upon the steps outside. _ "This is it. Go to the room, remember the code?" "Left, right, half-left, right?" "Good boy. Now go."_ James' past self ran desperately towards the basement as he realised what path he should follow. Sensing the same emotional start from back then, he chased after himself towards the old basement of the bar as his young self twisted his claw into the secret hole in the wall. Left, right, half-left, and the wall slowly opened by a confident click, creaking open the stone on hinges. The raptor's self disappeared into darkness, the Anne Frank room as Sarah once called it. James still to this day never understood that reference but he felt the same fear as he did back then once he heard the voices shout above, with Sarah responding in full force. _ "Citizen, this is a martial sweep of the area. Open up and allow us to commence a search on your property." "What do you want? We're closed!" "We've had reports on the fugitive hiding here, is he in there?" "I don't have any criminals in stock, sorry!" "This is your last warning, ma'am. Stand down or else we will commence our assault." "GO FUCK YOURSELF!"_

The cracking splinter of wood, broken down as shots fired. The raptor ran in to find only darkness awaited him. A long dark tunnel slowly twisting itself outwards, not like the old room he had been in originally. There was a cold emptiness that began slowly consuming him, a howling shriek that tore across his brain carving his eyes open. It was the same feeling he had always felt in every world's departure now a tangible essence, a room of insufferable screaming terror and confusion that first took him long ago the first time he ever left his world's existence. Sarah screamed. James' heart suddenly pulsed in agony as he collapsed into the void. The door opened once again but this time from the other side showing a new light, a grand portent much brighter than that he had seen from within Londago as slowly he walked out. He wiped his tears softly struggling not to remember Sarah's possibly last moments, that haunting shriek of pain and fury that had overcome her and questioned forevermore his any worth on even returning back home. But his long-aged sadness began to seep from his mind upon seeing a whole new place, one that was nothing like Chicago at all. "What...what the hell?" It was everyplace and yet no place he had ever been to. An entire city square, one he did not recognise from either London or Chicago in any respect for the buildings were distinctly mismatched with great cobblestones covering the entire ground between every place, with stores and public buildings lining up completely on almost every side of the square except for the south region. Yet all around the city square were many people enjoying each other's company in the form of every species he had ever known. Bangaa, human, turian, nu-mou, goomba, badnik, kremling, krogan along with every single type of anthro he had ever met both in his world and others. An unsettling sight of alien creatures by a constant familiarity striking deep into him as he remembered every face. Specifically every face from someplace, whether it was a strange commercial, or a face in the crowd, or some acquaintance he had met at an odd engagement of some sort. To the west of him was the arcade he saw from Onett, renamed now as "SHORYUKEN" as homage to the old team of kids he had been with as part of their grand ploy to win a silly gaming tournament. There also was a club next door, which James recognised instantly as the 1.2.8 from the Mushroom Kingdom where he first truly met Koopin. To the east was the police station which was a mixture of white and blue with strong cobalt walls of steel and stone white steps between two lamps to the dual doors themselves. The north directly behind him was now occuped with an enormous museum in striking marble white, yet the design reminded James of someplace intensely so, right down to the great yellow clock hanging above which constantly moved its hands every second. In the very centre of the square however, was a single gallows with a lone swinging noose, almost exactly like that of Rogueport. "Oh god...wh-what is...e-everything's all...clumped together this is just weird!" And yet the world around him was oddly perfect in its simplicity of colour with perfect clouds and rolling greens, yet he felt nervous in its pristine innocence for he knew that dreams had a nasty habit of turning bad when you're not looking. To the far south he saw a grand green field with trees and benches, some sort of park it seemed filling out beyond the brown and grey of the town square amidst the garish-coloured buildings. He kept his guard on him as he walked between the odd faces of the rather mixed species of all he had encountered making his way to the police station. In the past he would have felt incredibly nervous at approaching such a place, but in his mind he had no idea what to expect before simply pushing his way in between the doors catching a glance of his face in the mirror image. He was older now, an adult not yet weighed down by the strifes of his journey but also wearing a pair of green slacks that had subtly replaced his old blue jeans, with pockets full thankfully still of Roy's horseshoe and Fayne's dagger. "Got any threes?" said a hardboiled voice within the police station. "For the last time no," said a somewhat Irish accent. "Dang you are stingy with them cards." "If you knew how to play the game properly you wouldn't have to keep asking." The sound of cards being shuffled could be heard as the raptor walked in further seeing a central desk of soft blue hues with a table laid out in the central waiting room, resplendent windows across the wall beside the table which was nestled between two obscuring pillars. Normally people would be expecting to be seen whilst sitting down on comfy spongy seats reading outdated magazines about women's health, whereas here James saw a large canine with long ears beneath a tall hat in a greyish-blue suit huddled over the table as he finally gave in. "Welp, I'm giving my best, full house." The sound of cards slapped down at a table. A sigh of exasperation came from his opponent as James walked around the pillar to see the most bizarre group of people he ever met. A human in a long brown trenchcoat with short black hair; a stone-grey turian in full sleek blue armour with no markings on his face leaning against one pillar; the brown-furred canine of black eyes and long snout with huge hands sitting opposite the human and last but not least, the small rabbity-looking thing in pure snow white with head shaped like a melon who sat beside the dog. The human patiently rubbed his head with one hand holding his cards in the other. "For the last time, this is not poker. This is Triple Triad." "What?!" said the canine. "You haven't even put down a card, all you've done was hold them to your face mumblin' like a Drowzee with insomnia." "Yeah Sam," said the rabbit, "you got a TERRIBLE poker face! Speaking of which, this game blows, there's not even any chips!" "You don't win chips, you win your opponent's cards you damn Buneary." "WOAH. WOAH, we were just having a nice game and then YOU gotta sink to that level!" "Max cool it," said Sam, "that's a pretty good pokemon, it's only got one real weakness." "YOU KEEP YER DAMN ANIME OUTTA MY HEAD YOU WEEABOO!" "Um, hiiii?" James interrupted this conversation as they all looked up. Sam was first to respond with a cheesy grin with the table of Triple Triad laid out before him with nine card slots in three rows. "Wellll wellll wellllll...look Max, our prehistoric perp finally came to see justice." "FINALLY!" shouted Max. "WE'RE GOING TO GUANTANAMO, I LOVE THE BEACH!" "Oh god," said FG facepalming, "ohhhh god it's you two." "What's he mean by that?! Sam!" "You know, as hard as I try, I can NEVER forget about you two especially." "I sure hope not," replied Sam, "considering you left us to die underneath Meigs Field with a rockslide full of explosives, yanno we might even be dead by now but you'll never know wontcha?!" "Wha-I never-" "Don't lie." The turian finally spoke, not even looking up as he kept his arms crossed. "You tried that once when I was in hospital, I can see right through you. You have at least three officers here, so it's probably best you be honest, Campbell." "I...w-wait, what do you mean three?" "Me, Corck and that guy."

He pointed towards the desk behind James where a new person stood watching with piercing eyes. James almost did not recognise him having only his head showing above the desk but the sight of the spear and somewhat traditional helmet garb made him realise slowly with a grim anticipation. A dog with light copper fur and white snout, eyes sharp and vigilant whilst wearing a faded jade helmet and red guard clothing with a white X emblazoned upon its front. James turned away with a frigid guilt before Max shouted: "HEY, there's five of us here cricket-boy!" "I know," said the turian, "three of whom are officers, well, technically Corck is a detective and that guy over there is a guard but, three members of law enforcement." "We're officers too! Sam, show Dahnus here our badges!" "Gladly." Sam fwapped out his badge with perfect grace from his suit, swishing his leather wallet open to reveal his oval-shaped badge of honour, perfectly studded brass with an eagle upon its top, their names and lastly: "Freelance Police." Dahnus and Corck looked carefully at the badge shown as they looked at each other surreptitiously, before Corck added: "This was bought in a store." "Wha-NO! Why would you think that?!" "Because that's plastic not brass, also I can see the tear of a price tag on the lower left, that thing's faker than a Mew under a truck." "Alright then mister big shot guest star character, let's see YOUR proof then!" Both detective and officer looked at each other once more before they flipped out their own proof of law as Corck pulled out his ID card. "Detective Corck, Olivine City Branch." "OOOOH THE FEDS!" cried Max. The turian flashed out his omni-tool in turn rapidly firing up the holographic screen of solid amber lines revealing his own ID in hard-light imagery. "Officer Drumarien, C-Sec Enforcement." "Are you guys done flashing yet?" asked FG. "You might want to take a more polite tone with us Campbell." "Um, you guys are just memories, you can't do nothing to me." "No...but you should still respect authority, especially when I was quite willing to let you be on your way and commit vigilantism, unofficially." "Really?" replied Corck. "You call yourself an officer when you allow THAT? If this was your world I'd be telling your superior for aiding and abetting." "It's complicated." "There's nothing complicated about the law, you do NOT encourage vigilantism, I most certainly didn't. I told you James, to stay away and let me deal with Swift, and not only do you go breaking into an operation in progress but you assault me in the smokescreen." "ALRIGHT I'M SORRY JEEZ!" the raptor cried. "Fuck man, I get it, you're a cool boy in blue." "Actually he's brown," said Max, "it's okay, Sam is colourblind too." "I was the one that took down Swift anyway so you oughta be thanking me." "For what?" said Corck. "Risking your life AND your pokemon by fighting a terrorist organisation on their home turf, getting them KILLED potentially? Whilst there were innocent Kangaskhan with young in there, if it wasn't for my Lugia, Victor, who knows what would have happened. He's the real hero of the story, he was the one that took down Swift and broke open his office AND disabled the Kangaskhan peacefully." "I-...I had to do something." "No." Corck pointed fiercely with eyes piercing. "You didn't. There is a difference between stopping a crime in the area and actively walking into a terrorist group's base. One is heroic, the other is plain stupid." "Isn't that technically the same?" replied Sam. "I mean if he's IN the area of a crime like a terrorist group's base, then he's stopping the crime right?" "You're not even actual police, I don't even know why you're here." "Wait they're NOT?!" James reacted with utmost surprise looking at the Freelance Police who simply shrugged with disbelief. The canine spoke up in defence adding: "Well, YOU didn't believe we were, I mean it's not like what you think is the truth." "Just like fanfiction!" cried Max. "If you don't like the truth, then make up yer own!" "I mean it's not like the Freelance Police actually MEANS Police, it's more like a title! Like uhhh...Sting & The Police!" "Or the Redskins, they're less Native American than a Christian revival!" "Oh my god please shut up," murmured FG, "I forgot about the references, god DAMMIT you two." "Wait until the Undertale memes! Yer gonna have a BAAAAD-" "MAX NO!" The dog suddenly slapped a hand on the rabbit's face with threatening trepidation. "We've reached maximum meme capacity with that already we can't go any further!" "BUH-MMMMHHH!" "No Max, not today." "Bu-uhh-wuhmmuh-huhhh-a-buhh-tmmmmm!" "You can do it later at home!" "Did you need something?" asked Dahnus. "Because otherwise, this is going to go on for a very...very long time and I know you want to get to the end of this." "YES," said James, "THANK YOU officer, so I had a note saying that Sarah was waiting for me down here, Sarah King?" "Hmmmm...let me go ask at the desk." "Oh no I could ask, I mean-" "No. I'll ask, he...doesn't really want to talk with you." He said this with such severity that James bade himself still and sat beside Corck needing a place to sit, grinning sheepishly at the human detective who simply stared at him with methodical gaze. Sam was still struggling to stop Max from making long-overdue references rocking back and forth desperately whilst Drumarien stood at the desk talking to the guard that James was struggling to remember the name of, but knew precisely where he was from. He had a bad feeling from the piercing stare of the copper-furred guard from Crossville, and he knew exactly the reason for it. He rubbed his arm nervously amidst the great authority figures of his past journey as he tried to strike up a conversation with the police detective from Kanto. "Soooooo um...whyyyyy are you playing Triple Triad?" "I like the elemental rule," said Corck, "that and your subconscious put us all together in one room for some reason even though I am certain those two are not police officially." "Yeah I'm...pretty sure they're not too." "I would be insulted, but as a figment I'm not really in any two minds about it. Heh...minds, see if you were John you'd be laughing now." "Who's John, like my foster dad John?" "No." "Problem solved!" Sam drew their attention back towards them with Max now wearing a rather bizarre mask resembling a giant rooster which greatly unnerved James when the rabbit asked: "Do you like hurting other people?" "...are you...doing this to me right now, seriously?" "Hey," said Sam, "it's this or you getting dunked on, which one will you prefer?" "Do you guys NOT just stop referencing dumb shit I don't even know about?" "Only when in the hands of a bad writer who doesn't understand comedy." "Like the guy who writes Three's A House!" said Max. "PFFFT HAAAAH! Hhhhahahaha!" For the first time in his life, James finally laughed at a reference they made. "Hhhuhuhuyeeees fuck that show I hate it so bad-wait why do you know a show from my world when I-...no, you know what, still in my head, still kind of weird." "Well he finally laughed," said Sam, "our job here is done, bringing you pop cultural lampooning of the highest caliber." "We also do fart jokes!" shouted Max. "No no Max...that's beneath us, we're not on Nickelodeon just yet, don't play to that crowd. We play only to the finest frustrated twenty-somethings who have nothing to look forward to but the constant false adulation of their past expectations." "Like people on GameFAQs!" "NOOO Max, that's too recent YOU'RE MAKING IT WORSE!" The dog vigorously shook the cockerel-headed rabbit as if suddenly convulsing by a seizure afflicting him, leaving Campbell and Corck once again to sigh on their own despondent and confused by this odd encounter. Luckily Dahnus was there to rescue them from a horrible fate of pop culture references that would lose all meaning and humour after four months of existence. "So Copper over there has told me tha-" "THANK you," said FG, "His name was COPPER...dammit I should have known that." "Please...do not interrupt me. Ever." "S-sorry." "Anyways, he said that he met Sarah, and that she said she was off down to the museum where also some other people are expecting you. Some old friends." "Like, friend friends or the "friends" that are actually enemies and are going to give me a bad time?" "HE SAID IT!" shouted Max. "Friend friends," said Dahnus, "now if you don't mind I'm going to help Sam here restrain his...friend, I think." "Yeah good luck with that," said FG, "I'm off, this place got too weird for me." "Same here," said Corck, "I'm off to the backroom to do some proper work. See you later, Campbell." The detective left swiftly in order to not involve himself with the sillier duo whilst Dahnus walked over to involve himself more appropriately in restraining Max. Or rather, by using his biotic strength to pulse a thick blue aura around the rabbity thing to trap him in mid-air almost completely paralysing him harmlessly. James decided to leave the station completely as Sam was bewilderd with eyes wide open asking. "Wow...are you from Star Wars?" "You have...no idea how many humans ask me that. And the answer is no." "Damn, I was REALLY hoping to get back in with Lucasarts, I left my coffee mugs back at their office."

Departing the police station he walked back towards the north region of the square and headed into the museum. The moment he entered it he felt a weird sense of deja vu much moreso than any other place he had been to. With any other place of his memory he had clearly managed to remember it but not this one as much. A clock greeted him upon a pure marble-sculpted floor of eggshell white and pale sea green, with four different doorways to his right, left, a stairway in front of him and another doorway beside it. The clock continued to tick constantly round and round, its hands spinning forevermore as the raptor stood bewildered struggling to remember when he had last visited a museum properly. It wasn't until a voice greeted him with such staunch British affect that it suddenly clicked. "Welcome, WELCOME good sir, may I humbly welcome you to our most magnificent repository of knowledge I-...goodness...is......James. Campbell." Once again he recognised the place and where it was from, but as for its curator the name had long escaped him. An erudite owl with brown feathers and rosy pink cheeks upon his white face with fine yellow beak. A bow tie in green completed his image, with his chest oddly checkered in diamonds with light brown and white squares. James could only blink softly as he spoke amidst the silence of the museum. "H-hello? Um...this...this is the museum from...Crossville, wasn't it?" "Why...yes! Y-yes it is, it is OH! My goodness I am so fortunate you remember it well, wot wot!" "Apparently I do...what...why do I have this museum in my head?" "Well my dear boy, THIS museum at least inside your mental scape, represents the cornucopia of memories in solid pure form over each and every world you have crossed over into!" "Really?" "Oh why yes! Since you have travelled immensely far over a series of at least twenty-four different worlds through a course of perhaps fourteen years-" "Uhhh, I'm pretty sure it's been twelve." "Regardless, this place is but a bountiful treasure trove of all memories complete. If you want to peruse through your old memories once again, great conflicts and tragic encounters, spine-tingling destinations along with the most blissful peace in our time...or rather, YOUR time, eh wot wot!" "Right...r-right...you seem awfully happy to see me." "Why wouldn't I be?! After all James you were one of my most dearest of customers, helping me recover all of those fossils even as it were a gift to your sweet beloved. I was most grateful to you regardless of your reasons for your patronage and truth be told...I was perhaps the only one in Crossville who ever sympathised to your cause." "Yeah...I...I remember that." James rubbed his neck nervously as the clock continued non-stop in its constant ticking, endlessly counting off the many seconds of his infinite existence. "I...I-i-i dunno if you should have though." "What's past is past. Now, would you like to peruse your cognitive corridors today good sir?" "Actually...well, maybe, I wouldn't mind actually, you say my memories are all here?" "Why yes! Of course, where else would they be, I take very good care of them here!" "Well I'm also looking for somebody, a...Sarah King?" "Ahhhhh yes! Sarah Ibenez Maria Francesco Clinton Booth King, am I correct?!" "YES!" He pointed down towards the one hallway on James' left with a soft wing-shaped hand. "She went THAT way, wot wot. May I ask what is the reason for your needful encounter with her?" "She left a message for me...honestly I'm starting to think it's some kind of mental journey bullshit my mind's trying to pick up on to make me visit all these places." "Well whatever the case, please, enjoy yourself! I'll be right here if you need me like old times young James." "Heh...I'm not as young as I used to be...Blathers." The owl smiled gladly at hearing his name remembered finally, wide cheeks almost blistering as the raptor walked into the first exhibit. A wide circular room filled with grand ships and monstrous sculptures in clear bronze or marble slate ranging from the Gangplank Galleon stridant across the central plinth to the Sole Calibrators' sleek silver Centurion Eagle to the great Broken Petal itself hovering with splendorous fashion. Mostly vehicles were on display, the many ships with noted plaques and memoriams entitled onto each. He also saw the cruise ship that he and Koopin had spent their vacation on with his family, a pristine white vessel scuttling like a cloud in still-motion as he saw two creatures standing in front of the Gangplank Galleon. The ragged old vessel with sails tattered showing the kremling skull and crossed bones was being inspected by a strong-voiced green amphibian wearing but a cape and armour, along with a much more familiar crocodile in brown wearing only slacks. "And you sayeth that THIS vessel would house but three-hundred men?" "Only on busy days, we tended to go out with less than that in case we picked anyone else up. Heh, like someone I know." "Yeeees I see...rare is the opportunity that I hath found myself upon a vessel of the sea." "Whut about the sky, like the Broken Petal up there?" "Oh, well, if one could technically call time and space the sky, then verily! Hmm?" The two turned slowly at the sound of James' gasp from behind them. Kruz stood smiling as if it had only been yesterday they had last met each other, his left hook shining gladly in the midst of the museum hall whilst standing beside him was James' old mentor and one of his greatest influences. The truest hero he had ever met in his journeys. "G-...G-g-glenn. Kruz..." "Ahhhhh James! What fortunate encounter this is inside your memory!" "H-how could I...forget you, you're like......I should have listened to you better." "Prithee? You are not deceased, verily you hath proven that you did listen to me well, for thy skill with the blade hath remained sharp enough." "I can vouch fer that," replied Kruz, "this kid managed to get all the way up the top of my captain's home island an' not only take down a superior but NOT get his ass killed by the boss himself!" "Really now? Hmmm...reckless still I see." "I-i-i'm," stammered James, "I'm sorry...I know I wasn't-" "Hey." Kruz walked up to him with a pat on his back and pulled him close into a deep hug to calm him down. The raptor sighed and nodded letting it go as the kremling walked back taking James to Glenn directly as they stood before the great galleon as the frog warrior added: "How hath thou been faring?" "Um...I don't know how to answer that." "Not good," said Kruz, "basically, that demon inside of him's really screwing him up." "Tell me about it. I...Kruz, I wish I could have said goodbye to you properly." "You did enough, look I understand you had to go before that portal closed, it's okay. Just as long as you come back at some point and, yanno, tell me how it's all going." "I will. I hope you and Fayne are happy." "Khheh...I hope so too. I'm glad I met you James. Not because of us but because well...if it wasn't fer you I'd be dead probably." "I know." "Hmhmhmhm," said Glenn chuckling, "only but the first world after your training and already you hath made a friend, defied a mad king and rescued him from a sordid fate. It appears my training went not to waste, even if rather you took your time learning truthfully about the merits of a hero. Rather than one vengeful sailor." "I know...I know Glenn. I'm sorry I wasn't as big a hero as you taught me to." "I cannot teach heroics to thee, I only taught thee the merits of such, THAT relied on you truly. And if what I hear is true from thine memories of exploits I see that in some way or another you hath taken it greatly to heart, whether by the homes of Cyrodiil or the dark underpassage of a world inside a book, or by the long dreaded wastes of a post-apocalypse." "We get it," said Kruz, "it's hard to keep going but...you gotta James. We all put so much effort into you that well...we're all relying on you to fight that demon back, after all the work Kirie put into you." "Right," said FG cautiously, "you know she tricked you too right?" "I wouldn't say tricked, after all I DID wanna help you, I just had no idea how but I did, we managed to beat that anomaly off together right?" "Yeah I...guess, hey I haven't seen anything of that thing around, do you think-" "I wouldn't worry about it, it'll probably pop up again but fer now let's focus on you. Why dontcha go check the art gallery, it's just down that way, there's a real treat fer ya down on the seventeenth painting on yer left." "Uhhhh okay...I'll uh go check it out. Thanks...both of you."

The raptor hugged Kruz once more with a tender kiss between, a brotherly smooch on the lips before he knelt down slightly to hug Glenn tightly in turn. The warrior of ages past patted him on the back nodding firmly as he left towards the art gallery through an arched doorway across the hall. It was full of gorgeous paintings both grand and small as the raptor recognised scenes from his long strange journey. What was stranger still was that the paintings were almost far too realistic to be just paintings but more like photography collections. And yet the moment James walked up to them, he smelt something different upon each and every one sending him back into a vivid recollection. One painting showed him standing over the corpse of a feral raptor inside a grey office corridor, gun in hand still smoking with the neckwound evident in him as all he smelt was blood. Endless thickening blood that turned him sick to his stomach as he forced himself away to a much happier painting of him sitting on sailmast of a grand galleon along with a fine-toned brown-scaled crocodilian with a hook replacing his left arm. Both of them wore nothing but pants as the smell of the salt sea came bristling to his nostrils along with fine wood varnish and the everpresent musk of male bodies thick and cloistering against his snout. He cautiously stepped away with a slight waddling gait in order to not look too indecent as he examined every painting that he could with its own memory and scent. Pizza wafted from a painting of him fiercely combating an arcade cabinet as three young boys watched in excitement at his mad skill, whilst another portrait showed a long dark corridor full of strange creatures alongside him. An owl, an albatross, a mole, and at least a hundred creatures with soft pink faces, green hair and dark purple robes. The smell of ashes, damp stone walls and rotting moss made him feel bitter suddenly. He wasn't the only one visiting the museum for he noticed other creatures too, again from his recollection of old faroff places. Amidst the usual salarian or toad walking without even a glance at each other's bizarre appearance, he noticed out of the mixed patrons a small waddling creature resembling a brown marshmallow with black oval eyes and an adorable little sailor's hat. Even more astoundingly, he saw two familiar-looking females standing right behind the squat creature in the form of a taller well-armed moogle in copper-toned armour along with a nu-mou in white robes flecked with red outlines. "Wooooow," said the shortest creature, "this one is REALLY good." "I agree!" replied the nu-mou, "the composition is outstanding and the use of bright colours is VERY vivid!" "Indeed," added the moogle, "though I must admit the odd imagery is...perplexing, kupo. But I agree that such a displaying use of light and colour creates a rather strong sense of chiaroscuro, which is very unusual to see when not even using black." "Whut's a kee-arrow-skew-roh?" asked the marshmallow. "Zat like sum sorta burrito?!" "No, it's a technical term in art kupo." "Ohhhhh......now I want burritos, darn I shoulda gotten one before coming in." "We can go for some later," replied the nu-mou, "there's a lovely place just down the road tha-" "_ OHHHH MY GOOOOD! " Much to his horror James saw the painting was indeed very perplexing and brightly-coloured, straight down to the glorious long skirt, lush red crinoline petticoat and some black stockings to match with his rather gorgeously toned legs, along with the false kremling mask with long eyelashes, red lipstick and some rouge. The most humiliating memory which was given the biggest spotlight of all resplendent upon a stageful of kremlings all dressing in rather exquisite feminine clothes as rippling leg muscles sweeped upwards in a cancan cabaret as the nu-mou shushed him severely. "SHHHH! James, we're in a museum!" "Fucking....... WHY is this here?" Amidst the silence of the museum, he heard a fiendish cackling from the display models as he burned deep with shame and a ruthless desire to punch something very fiercely. "... Kruz. " "Be quiet kupo," said the moogle, "it is not as bad as you think." "I think you look lovely!" replied the nu-mou. "You dress very well in stockings." "Yeah you look awesome!" said the marshmallow with sailor hat. "I didn't know you could dance!" "I NEVER did," replied James, "they forced me to do the cancan because it was a favour, not like it worked any to help me escape undetected! Also um...hey, Navarro...Dahlia...Sailor Dee?" "Yep yep, you still remember me! Aww jeez, I'm touched, I thought you would easily forget about me!" "How could I forget about your place, it was the nicest...well, yeah, it was the nicest place I ever been to...perhaps TOO nice what with all the candy growing on trees, like literally." "How can it be TOO nice?" asked Dahlia the nu-mou. "Or are you just so pessimistic that you cannot be comfortable?" "Possibly that," said Navarro firmly, "you never regarded such places to be trusted presumably since you never lived in such warm content places kupo." "It's an awful thing to warrant suspicion when only kindness and warmth is there for you." "Alright I get it," replied FG, "I'm sorry, I was in a bad state back then, I mean I just came out of a nervous breakdown or something so I just-...jeez." "But you had fun! You met some very interesting people like Sailor Dee here!" "Remember all that candy we ate?!" cried Sailor Dee. "And then we met Meta Knight, a-a-and then he-...um...let's not think about that!" "Too late." His eye caught easily another portrait of a rather diminutive masked creature shaped like an orb with large thick gloved hands in a backdrop of pure yellow brick walls and cloud-studded windows behind them. Clutching onto a blade of solid gold, the creature ripped through FG powerfully with such a deep cut that he felt his soul wilt from remembering such a force as he sucked through his teeth, rubbing his waist firmly before Navarro stated: "You deserved it, kupo." "What?!" "You attacked him whilst he was unguarded, whichI would say normally was a good tactic but you had engaged with someone who was FAR beyond your skill, and always shall be to this day." "Fine I get it, I'm an asshole no need to remind me." "Was, hopefully." "Leave him alone dearest," said Dahlia softly, "I'm certain he's learned his lessons by the time he met us, he mellowed a LOT more peacefully to become such a nice person." "Hmmmm...you are right my...dearest." The nu-mou kissed Navarro on the head softly with a smile, the moogle slightly creasing her lips into a smile partially as the raptor asked: "Did you two...ever get together really?" "One would hope," said the moogle calmly, "at least that is what you are wishing we had become, kupo." "I hope so too," replied Dahlia, "after all, she promised me!" "I promised I would try to commit to a relationship IF this all worked out...and the only certainty that you have of any knowledge of us being together is by returning to us soon...if you would so kindly." "You really miss me?" asked James. "In the end you are a great leader, you may not be the most tactful or financially-wise but you are very much the spirit of the group, the clan was lost without you in truth and I may be able to affirm myself as being capable...I did not have the warmth or connectivity to others as you, kupo." "Which is weird because I'm pretty certain I wasn't always like that." "You were with me!" cried Sailor Dee. "You took me back home when I was lost and adrift, you got me back home to my mom! I mean alright we didn't face any big dangers but...you still took me home when you had no reason to. I think you're a nice guy." "...awww. Th-thanks." Hearing such a compliment made him blush softly as he squinted his cheeks, turning red slightly before the nu-mou asked: "Have you seen Koopin yet?" "Um...n-n-no, why?" "Well, I actually saw a very wonderful exhibit just down there that's entirely about him!" "R-really?! Honestly?" "You do hold him with such deep regard he has his own entire wing it seems! Perhaps you should go visit, it's just through the door halfway along that corridor." "I wanna...see him. Yeah...yeah I wanna see him...I have to see him. I really miss him." "Then go," said Navarro, "we understand. We'll be here still perusing your gallery of memories as what we are, kupo." "Heheh...alright, I'll um...I promise I'll come back to see you alright?" "Don't promise to us as memories, you do that in the real world as to mean anything...my leader." She smiled nodding solemnly as James shook her hand firmly with business-like acceptance, but knowing she still cared by the way her eyes lit up seeing him again. Dahlia hugged him gladly, the raptor needing to stoop for her height and lastly patting Sailor Dee on the head as he straightened his hat. Moving on past the halls of galleries reminiscing with every sound and smell that every picture brought him, he soon found the door that Dahlia had mentioned to him. A beautiful set of purest blue doors painted on with a shining star and two handles firmly on each side. The star had two sweet beady black eyes whilst the door itself was being guarded by two great statues of two koopas at a modest height of six feet. Klair on his left wielding a flute whimsically playing to her beak, chirruping with a smile whilst Shelldon on his right stood with business card in one hand and calculator in the other, bifocals firmly upon his kind face. Above the doors was a resplendent gold plaque with the name of "KOOPIN KENNIDON", which in turn had above it a stone sculpture of the upper half of Koopin's body, looming over James like a guardian angel with hands clasped tightly to his chest, smiling with eyes closed as if in prayer. He heard voices from the other side of the door, voices he knew that were warm and soft radiantly filling his heart with excitement and sweet happiness as he grasped the handles of the door. But before he could push it open, something rushed past him with a sudden cold breeze that forced his hands away by a dark shuddering against his will. Gasping as he almost fell onto his knees, the icy wind clawed at his heart fiercely as he felt his vision darken slightly. Then it was gone. He stood back up looking confused at the empty hallway on both sides of him. But then something worse would be seen before him. The door was now forced shut by a long wooden spear with bladed tip barred through its handles, and despite James' best efforts it was now impossible to remove. Without even a single budge, he forced his hands against pulling the spear viciously but to no avail, forever locking the doors before him. The voices of love and joy spilled through from beyond the door's boundary with mocking piety, dull enough to not hear the exact words but enough to just hear Koopin's tones of kind warm innocence. The doors would not even allow a glimpse to see within his most wondrous memories. But what frightened James the most as well as brought him to the edge of tears was the smearing of words hanging above Koopin's name and image, glaring down upon him in a fierce bloodied smear. He knelt before the door as he suddenly began to weep with shaking hands, trembling from his lip as he felt an icy rasp scraping across his heart, paralysing him with the deepest guilt. Except it wasn't even of his own will or volition, but had been violently forced upon him by some outside influence like some dreaded curse as he pressed against the door itself, begging it to open while on his knees with his heart breaking softly. To hear his love within happy and content so far away along with his own voice calling within reminiscence, greater days of peace and calm with every word spoken between them like a dagger ripping through his body harshly. He banged on the door, weakly at first before building up the strength to pound as his deep sorrow began to turn into desperation. "Koopin...K-k-k-koopin...l-let me in...I-i-i'm here...I'm h-here for you...p-please...I'm sorry...I-i-i'm sorry f-for what I did...I'm...please...please I've changed, I-i-i can do this, I can BEAT him, j-just let me come back! Let me come _BAAACK!" "James?" Kruz's voice came from his left, his eyes turning gently before his head as he struggled to keep back his tears and failing, sobbing wretchedly as the kremling walked over to pick him up. "Wh-...what's wrong?" "I...I-i-i-i can't...I can't get in." "In there?" "YES IN THERE! Th-th-the door...it's...s-someone locked it, a-a-and that THING, s-someone wrote above, i-i-it's just...oh god..." "What thing?" He looked up at the dreaded message and seemed confused looking back towards FG. "I...don't see anything but the ceiling." "WH-WHAT!? BULLSHIT, IT'S RIGHT THERE, S-SOMEONE WON'T FORGIVE ME, KOOPIN WON'T FORGIVE ME!" "Hey hey hey...come on. Stop this." "I JUST...I JUST WANTED-" "STOP!" He grabbed James fiercely by the shoulders and shook him trying to keep him focused. "Stop, this, This is NOT the time to go breaking down and crying, not here! Look, you still have a demon to fight, I know you've got a lot of things you wanna do and all this is getting to ya maybe but, you can't let any of this stuff get to you, you understand?" "I-...I-i-i-i-i...w-why won't it let me in? I just...I just wanna see Koopin again, j-j-just once." "Nothing's stopping you James." "IT FUCKING IS JUST LOOK AT THE DOOR!" "There's nothing on the door!" "THERE'S A...SPEAR, IT'S BLOCKING ME!" "WHAT SPEAR?!" "...h-huh?" James felt along the length of the spear, but it was there clear as day and perfectly wedged between the handles without any sign of removing. "It...it's right there." "I don't see it." "Wha-...s-s-stop trying to do this to me Kruz I'm serious." "I'm serious too. I don't see anything stopping you, it's all yourself stopping you." "I d-d-didn't wanna put a spear there Kruz, I wanna go IN!" "Then what's stopping you?!" "I DON'T KNOW!" "Alright, alright just-...let's take a breather okay? You're gonna have to wait, and see Koopin fer real when you get back outside of yer head, now...I came because I forgot to give you something." "Wh-what?" "Come on, dry yer eyes, yer not a bitch like that." "Sh-shut up." "Hey. Come here." Kruz gently wiped away the raptor's cheeks, clearing them of his tears best he could before hugging him closely once again trying to reassure him. It helped plenty enough to calm his panicked state, the warmth of his closest friend's body soothing him as he pulled back to receive a kiss on the lips with a brief panting of his breath. "Th-th...thank you." "S'alright...now, here." From his side the kremling pulled up James' old satchel left hanging on his hook, looking just the same as the day he first got it from the kremling on that fateful day of rebellion between them. A leather design was the size of a hardback book, with dull metal buckles for the one large main compartment and two smaller pockets which for now had nothing in them. But the raptor put it on smiling with some relief as he felt more complete, putting in Roy's horseshoe and Fayne's dagger carefully in them. It wasn't until James did this that he saw something else was already inside of it. It was a photograph. Koopin's photograph in perfect condition without any smear or dirt upon it now carefully preserved within the satchel's clutches. James smiled as Kruz nodded in return gladly saying calmly: "Don't worry about it. You can do this. You just have to keep fighting, for whutever reason you want, just keep fighting." "I...th-th-thank you...Kruz. You really are my best friend." "Khheh, well maybe I guess...got stuck with you so I might as well." "Seriously...I love you." "...I love you too James." Wrapping each other's arms around their waists, they sighed heftily on each other's shoulders with one last good squeeze against their bodies firmly as he left gently wiping his tears towards the exit after waving their goodbyes. With the museum fully circulated somehow despite its improbable room geography in its layout, he managed to arrive back into the main foyer where Blathers still waited. The owl woke up with a start upon James' approach: "A-AUUUGH NOT THE BEES! ...oh...h-hello there my good James." "Hiiii um...I-i...I can't find Sarah here." "Oh dear...I must have missed her, perhaps she left." "Did she seriously leave or is this just my mind trying to trick me into something?" "If you cannot know then how could I possibly know, wot wot? But regardless, I DID hear her mention that she actually wanted to go to the train station after visiting this place, which I know is just beyond the park towards the south of the city square. Are you alright?" "...yeah. I am." "I understand, the art can be quite...passionate, one might say, why the very notion of such things has even brought ME to tears." "S-something like that yeah, so you said the train station, are you sure?" "Absolutely, I never forget such things why I would stake my life upon it!" "Alright then. Um...thank you for letting me visit here." "You are always welcome to me James, wot wot! Ta-ta, don't be a stranger eh wot!" "You too Blathers. You too." Feeling drained by his experience, he trudged out of the museum with an odd gait as he staggered his way across the city square towards the park. Sunset was now evident, a very late sunset with the skies a rose pink as if it were the midst of summertime. The clock over the museum showed it to be now 8pm which made him wonder on its purposeful timing as he soon reached the park's boundary. It was a beautiful place, resounding with gentle tall trees reaching only towards a height of eight feet, birds singing softly as various denizens of his mental scape wandered back and forth. But it was the main event that made him gasp with awe as he felt his eyes dry up at last. In the middle of the park was a large crowd of people sitting down on blankets with small picnic baskets or even just by themselves. Asari, human, yoshi, lemming, moogle as well as six different types of anthros from his world all mixing in with each other as they watched in silent awe at the main stage. Humbly displayed by two spotlights upon them were five people on a small raised platform made of wood. Two turians with guitars, a quarian on two keyboards, a krogan with a drumset and lastly a white dog with black eyebrows with the simplest acoustic guitar. James was in disbelief slowly walking through the crowd as they began to play a song that he knew always and forever. That one song he never forgot from his days in Crossville now reborn with a fuller backing. "Oh...g-g-god...dammit I just wiped my eyes." "I know right?" said a cheerful girl's voice. "They always play really well, and that dog is GOOD." "Yeah he...K.K. always was a real genius wi-......no." He turned towards his left seeing a strange-looking creature, a quarian in a tight suit of black and cyan-colouring like the sky in perfect noon, a helmet with a glass slender front masking her face within darkness as she waved with three slender fingers. Even more surprisingly was the girl sitting next to her, a horned reptilian or argonian to be exact, with old maiden clothing of medieval times, white sleeves and brown linen shirt shaped like a bodice with laces woven through the holes. Her eyes were a dark amber with serpentine slits radiant with blissful naivete from her snout of summer green fields of wheat with orange and pale fuchsia tints. "...L-...L-l-...oh...ohhhhh god. Ohhhh god." "Hehehe, surprised to see me?!" asked the quarian. "M-more like...both of you but I-...one...you...aren't you-" "Dead?" James' stomach turned quite sharply in his gut as the song of Crossville played on relentlessly keeping him trapped between guilt and tearful reminiscence before she patted the ground next to them. "Come on, sit, it's a lovely song!" "I...I jus-...okay."

He sat down between them at her insistence as the argonian smiled happily with a gentle hug nuzzling James to the point of him blushing out of confusion before she spoke with a sweet innocent raspy voice. "I'm so happy to see you again." "Um...it...it's really good to see you too, Dar-Ma. Leiah." "Hmhm!" snorted Leiah. "You weren't this awkward when we first met, come on where's the big bosh'tet that fought a krogan bare-handed?!" "D-don't...remind me, please, that was the start of every problem." "What problem, we had a great time!" "But you were...you...Leiah. Leiah I jus-" "Hey." She had him turn towards her with stern look piercing through her helmet. "What did I say before I died? I don't blame you, so why you got to blame yourself for anything?!" "I'm not I jus-...I'm just overwhelmed, it's this song I swear! It's not...I'm not......I never forgot you." "I know. But you don't have to remember me as I was the last time we met, you can still remember me when I was happy and not...dead." "I'm trying Leiah. I'm...I'm sorry, I-i remember that promise, i-i-it's not-" "DON'T." The quarian stuffed a finger against his lips. "You. Never promised anything. And I was completely happy with that, you KNEW I wanted a big adventure and okay, I paid for it with my life, I joined you. But I don't regret it, you know I don't. I...I know that...what my parents said may have hurt you and what...Areh said to you but you have to understand it's all emotions in the end everyone knows it wasn't really your fault." "I was the one that brought Facinus down on our heads." "We ALL got involved in facing those terrorists, the guys up there went on a mission to stop them taking over a mining operation, and then I begged you all for help because my dad's station was being attacked. So...we all got involved, not just you James. Seriously. Don't, just listen to the song, relax and enjoy yourself, okay? Honestly you just push yourself too much trying to figure out...STUFF!" "I think It's a beautiful song," said Dar-Ma gladly, "I have never heard such things back in Tamriel." "They're our friends!" replied Leiah. "Least everyone but the dog, that's Lirem on the guitar, that's Norem on bass, that's Areh on keyboards and Jax on drums." "Goodness, I never knew you were friends with minstrels James." "Minstrels?! Hhhehehehehehe, ohohoh Keelah where did you pick up this girl James she's just CUTE!" "I come from a town called Cyrodiil, my mother and I run a small shop." "Awwwww, that's sweet! How do you know James then?" "I found him in the forest while it was still raining, poor thing might have catched a cold so I took him back and...nursed him." "Hmhmhmhm...you're more of a vagrant than me." The quarian said this as she turned to James as he felt a wink from her eyes making him smile softly, trying to ease himself into the odd encounter between them. Eventually the song began to end and there came a polite applause from everyone, including James who was swept away by the recollection of it as one thing started to puzzle him. Even though a part of him worried immensely for the answer gingerly rubbing his left arm. "Where...um...d-do you know someone called Daisy?" "Oh yeah!" replied Leiah. "I just talked to her!" "You-wait, what?!" "She's lovely," said the argonian, "I can see why you loved her so much." "Y-you...well...I did, but-" "We were talking about you, well, of course we would we're in your head as memories but, she was very sweet. Very unusual clothing, so many colours I thought she was quite extravagant!" "She looked like a little kid," said the quarian giggling, "yapping on about her days in Crossville being pretty all the same but happy until she met you, then it was awesome! Even if you had a little bit of an anger issue." "A little?" said FG. "Eheheh...Leiah, calling my anger issue 'little' is like saying the sun is 'kinda big'." "Hehehee, well, at least you got over it some right?" "I guess...thanks to Koopin really, he helped me more with it than anyone else." "I wish we could meet him...but he doesn't seem to be here so I wonder-" "Let's...not think on him for now, I just need to focus on other things, I have to get to the train station I need to find someone." "OH, you're going to the train station?! You're gonna need a ticket for it." "I can get one." "No no, this is a special one you need, I have one right here!" Without even stopping for a pause, she dug into her pocket and pulled out a beautiful-looking train ticket with cream-coloured edges and a stark black font admitting one person aboard the carriage. The raptor looked nervous at this offer asking: "Are you...sure?" "Course I'm sure, take it! You're gonna need it anyway much more than me, that train's for your next stop." "Wait, what stop I wasn't planning on-" "It's a surpriiiiiise. Come oooon live a little, go, take the chance and live the DREAM, up an' at 'em!" Her eyes visibly widened with excitement but her enthusiasm encouraged him, knowing that she always had a boisterous means to grab life by the goods. Perhaps that was the reason he befriended her so quickly, remembering the first time he ever saw her dancing in the street. He gently took the ticket but as he put it away into his satchel he found something else suddenly appear in his items as Leiah asked: "Hey what's-...is that...one of my diodes?!" "Huh?" "That there! That's one of my magnetic diodes!" "Wait...this thing?" The raptor pulled out a small metallic object sculpted with engineering perfection. Dar-Ma looked at it oddly close-up intrigued by its surface. "What a strange bolt." "It's a diode," said Leiah, "...why did you keep that?" "I don't...know," replied James, "I just...I did keep this didn't I? Wasteland, Ivalice, I kept this on me for some reason...I just never got rid of it because it never seemed to be any use but...I just always kept thinking about you everytime I saw this." "Really? That little thing?" "Yeah...I know it's...kinda stupid." "No. You know what's stupid? Dreaming about being the first Quarian princess in the galaxy and you know what happened? I did it, I became that because of YOU." "What?" "Remember? That asari councillor you met, the one the assassin tried to kill and you stopped? Remember the big Horizon concert we were there because she liked you and we were friends of the Sole Calibrators, yanno, her FAVOURITE band of all time and she...she made me a model. You made me the one thing I always dreamed of being ever since I was a little girl James. That's why...I wasn't sorry about when we came to a bad end like before because you let me live my dream, so...I wanna say again...just...thank you." With sudden emotion overcoming her, she grabbed FG tightly by the shoulders and hugged him happily as he hugged back, gasping with his eyes tearing up a little once again but this time he was more firm about resisting the urge to weep. He stifled himself, took a deep heavy breath and simply pulled Leiah in closely for a warmer hug before releasing as Dar-Ma said: "I have a gift for you too...again, I think." From her clothing she pulled out something James knew instantly the moment he saw the long string bending around in an oval shape as if weighed down by something dull as she hung it before him with both hands on the string. The dull black stone pendant, that one odd worthless pendant that he had never seemed to get rid of in all his long travels and by this point didn't even want to. He hadn't noticed that his neck had been left bare without it ever since he had dived into himself as he took it gladly. "Oh my god...you still have it?" "Or rather, YOU still have it, heehehee! I can't believe you kept that on you." "Yeah it...I just...never wanted to get rid of it I think because it reminded me about you...and everything I'd done to protect you." "I know. The one thing you always had to remember that you were still capable of being a hero somehow, maybe it was some of Glenn's teachings that helped you but I think that pendant, as worthless as it is, may have just become the most important thing to you in this entire long journey. And now you are almost at the end, hopefully." "Oh definitely. I only have to deal with this demon and I'm back home to Koopin, I swear." "Good." He felt a resurgence of his confidence as he slowly slipped the pendant over his snout and fitted it on his neck perfectly. The moment he did, he felt complete, feeling the dull tapping of stone against his sternum giving him some sweet subtle reminder of its existence, that he proved he could be something greater. Feeling it just above his heart still beating even in this world within himself. He hugged Dar-Ma firmly with a kiss on the cheek, making her blush sweetly as she smiled purely with angelic charm in her simplicity, the raptor smiling back. "Thank you. Seriously, you helped me more than you'll ever know." "I think it is a good reward...for saving me. But it was you that made that pendant so important, not me. You never forgot your chivalry somehow, and even if you somehow lose a part of it sometimes when you get more emotional...you've been trying to do better always." "Not as good as I can be...but...thanks Dar-Ma. See ya later then, Leiah." "Later James! Don't you be forgetting me now ya hear?!" "I won't. Trust me." He smiled as he got up waving to the girls as he left past the small concert without even getting a chance to say hi to Slider or the Calibrators who had packed up already as the people mingled still with various off-comments that he briefly heard in his memories. Little discussions, winding tales, odd questions that made no sense out of context, little things that never would fade as he walked on towards the train station. But he wasn't the only one heading that way for there was a shadow following him, eyes piercing from the darkness as a voice sunk bitterly from within. "You never escaped. I never let you."