FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Beyond the park's boundary was a train station of solid urban grey with a grand track sleekly behind it running to the ends of the earth both east and west of FG, the raptor still in his green slacks from his days on the Gangplank Galleon but without his weapon. The station was surprisingly small but quaint like an old English village like James saw in ancient jigsaw puzzles that he saw once at a museum, odd relics of an even more long-forgotten past. The main building had only two rooms involving a ticket office with empty waiting room, and a cargo storage shed both of which had brown floors and firm grey walls. It was oddly cold and municipal like a public bathroom, a slight chill in the air greeting him as he walked up to the small ticket window finding nobody around to occupy it. The seats were made of rather cheap-looking metal, but curved smoothly into upside-down V shapes allowing a surprising sense of comfort as he sat down and waited for somebody to come. There came a great silence, not even the sound of birds chirruping like in the park he had just been through, not even the sounds of the central square managed to reach this odd forsaken place. He walked out to the main platform on the other side of the building through a doorway opposite of the entrance hoping to find at least one poor soul besides himself. There was nothing. Nothing but the great open sea yawning before him of perfect blue shimmering against a clear pink sky of sunset calling by the infinity of twilight itself. The two colours met upon the horizon as not even a breeze managed to greet him, sighing as he walked back into the station. Empty. He sat back down wanting to go back to the park and talk with Leiah and Dar-Ma again but now he feared for missing the train should he ever leave at this point. He lied back against the ergonomic seat raising his head up towards the ceiling. No cracks to count, not even a tile space. Boredom sunk in, trying to stifle away all his other emotions as he tried to think on what he could do whilst tapping his clawed feet upon the floor. Five minutes passed as he tried to zone out into his thoughts before slowly moving down onto the floor to get more comfortable. He decided to try something a little more meta, mentally separating himself from his body as he blanked out. It was strange to do such a thing in his own head but the moment he did, he felt the ceiling come away from him. He dared not question it, as if he were watching fairies that were easily startled by the first sound he could make, the world undoing around him quietly. Walls fell slowly, the floor faded away as stars began exploding all around him. He painted the universe above his head, swirling with a paintbrush as the ink ran down dripping across the sky in smearing thick goo of blackish-blue with white and orange flecks, dotting the little planets and imagining that each and everyone of them had been a place he had gone to. A hand reached out, slowly grabbing at the canvas before twisting it softly, scrunching it like paper as he began to fold the universe into shapes. Twisting, compacting, showing the other side of existence unpainted as he chose different colours for it. He could feel the metaphysical ink drop onto his body blackening him in soft pieces as he drew another universe, one more purple, with stars of blue and whistling green. His eyes stung from the paint dripping on them, but then he saw everything. He was the universe in that moment. And then he had an idea, slowly painting himself, dotting stars upon scales, flecks of galaxies, darkening his brown scale colour to be a wondrous pastiche of the cosmos. He began to breathe finally, and as he did, the birth of stars grew from his throat as the sun kissed upon his cheeks, warm and radiant despite the enveloping cold infinite of space swallowing his skin. It was a gentle cold, a peaceful one, claws slathering more paint across his body as the ink ran down smoothly towards places he could not reach. A strange peace had formed in him. One he relished as he sighed relaxing at this lucid experience until he felt a darkness. A colder evil wind flowed through the existence of the universe that he did not create, one that took his breath away from him as he gasped shuddering fiercely. In his most sensitive reach, when he could feel the very basic essence of the entire universe in his deepest recesses of imagining the concept of existence, there was a voice that came from beyond the veil. A voice that spoke only three words that which even the demon had feared from hearing it twice before, as he felt Scisso's fear trembling throughout his world.

"Hey!" His eyes reopened once more. He could still see the train station's smooth ceiling. "Keep doin' that you'll go blind FG." "WHU-JUH-...um...hello?!" "Yes?" From the ticket office he saw a newspaper being held up behind the screen as he hopped up towards the male voice, trying to recognise it from somewhere by the sudden hearing of a thick accent. "Um, hello I uh...want to get on a train." "You gonna have to wait with everybody else." "Well...um...that's the thing there really ISN'T anybody else." "Whut ah mean is, that you have to wait for thuh train. You never were real patient with stuff weren't you FG?" The paper flipped downwards showing a broad smile upon a black handsome snout, thicker than the raptor's own with blue odd ringmarks around each of his eyesockets shining brown pupils. James felt a suddenness of joy with the shadow of guilt and shame creeping up behind him. "R-...R-r-r-...R-" "It's only got one syllable FG, come on yer British you can say it." "Oh...g-god ROY! I'm...I'm all just...you...c-can you come out of there so I can talk to you?" "We can talk through this perfectly fine." "No I wanna...just...awww fuck man, lemme at least hug you I-i-i mean come on." "Heh...alrigh', ah guess that's sumthin' at least." He got up from his seat and put down the paper before opening the door beside the office window which had been cleverly disguised as part of the wall, gently unhinging outwards as the utahraptor stood with bare chest and a pair of bottoms. James hugged him tightly before he had anything to say wrapping his arms around the 6'6'' raptor who softly chuckled and placed his hand on FG's head petting him kindly. "Heheheh, heeey ah know you lahk sum beefcake bu' this is a li'l much." "Sh-shut up god dammit I just wanna...god...I'm...I'm so sorry." "Sorry?! Yeah, yeah you should be." "Huh?!" "Puttin' me up this damn train station, thuh fuck were you thinkin', you know ah hate trains!" "What are you-wait...no, wait, no I'm not talking about that, I'm talking about you not...being-" "Alive no more?" James gently pulled himself away turning with deep cringing as he answered whilst clutching himself. "I heard about all that you did, while I was away...Kruz told me about...you...you didn't deserve this." "Ah did mah best. That's all ah ever had to do." "Bullshit." The raptor could not even look at him as his eyes went downwards, bitter tears dripping down his snout. "We finally made up, I wanted to help you, I wanted to SHOW you the truth about what happened to your parents and make the Armee fucking pay, and now I can't because you're not even around to see it with me! I wanted to help you...f-fuck's sake, I wanted to try." "Why? Ah mean okay maybe ah blamed you an' ah wuz wrong bu-" "But I am responsible for it! I was the one who got experimented on, I was the original model, I was the prototype! YOU were the second one they sent, you were the next step they fucking wanted to make OBEDIENT by telling you that I was the one that ruined your life! And that's BULLSHIT, because I know they somehow were involved and I just wanna prove it to you. Not because I wanna clear my name, but because I wanted to give you some fucking PEACE, Roy! I know you were suffering, I know you were hurting inside about it and you would never let it go, I WANTED TO HELP YOU!" "Ah know...a-ah know." Roy's voice started shaking as James felt a thick hand upon his shoulder. "We got off to a rocky start bu' in the end...ahm glad ah managed to solve things a li'l an' finally see that you isn't thuh one ahm searchin' for. In at least one way ah guess." "I just...I just wanted to clear your mind so you could live, I wanted to. And then you die because of this f-fucking demon. It's not...i-i-it's not fair." "It wuzn't your fault." "NO ROY!" James turned back towards him screeching with a fierce glint from his tear-stained eyes. "IT FUCKING WAS MY FAULT! If I had just-" "Just WHUT?! Been more careful about that anomaly, manage to resist it better, lahk you could have done any better than you already did. Ah knew thuh risks about your demon, ah wuz confident ah could take him, an' to be fair ah did...at least, long enough to not get our friends killed." "Our friends?" "Well yeah...ah mean, come on man, ah fuckin' solved a court case with Fayne an' Navarro, that don' make us friends?!" The black raptor simply grinned rubbing his neck a little awkwardly. "Hell ah taught Kruz fuckin' Disney songs, he sings good, ah had to! Ah had fun with your friends FG. Ah really liked bein' in Ivalice...kinda hoped that...maybe ah would have gone an' settled there sumplace." "Don't." The raptor in brown stifled his hatred of himself briefly. "D-don't...make this worse." "Sorry. You got nuthin' to be ashamed of, we all never held you responsible, you know that. Deep down insahd you do, if you just stop feelin' shitty about it." "Oh yeah, good one, did you study fucking psychiatry at high school too?!" "If you gonna be hostile at me ah won't bother, fuck man." "S-sorry...u-um so...why...are you here at this train station?" "Beats me, your asshole subconscious keeps rememberin' how much I'm afrad of trains so LOOK where ya dropped me into!" "I'm sorry, I jus-I dunno why I thought that!" "Cuz you an asshole FG. You always were." "Oh fuck you!" "Nah-uh, that's Kruz's job already." "SH-SHUT UP SHITSCALE!" "HHHHAH! Awwwwwww shit!" He grabbed FG suddenly in an armlock and noogied him intensely with a thick rapping of three knuckles across the top of FG's head teasing him immensely like an older brother, much to the smaller raptor's protests. "G-GET OFF, GOD DAMMIT!" "Nah-uh, not until you stop actin' lahk shit wuz your fault." "S-STOP IT, GOD YOU ARE SUCH A DICK!" "Hmhmhmhm, ah am, maybe that's why you love me so much, cuz you lahk dicks don't you FG? Kruz tol' me plenny about all them sausage parties you had on thuh galleon-" "TH-THAT WAS A SECRET BETWEEN US YOU WERE NOT MEANT TO KNOW!" "Well ahm in your head now FG, ah know eeeeeeeeeverythin' about you!" "A-AAAAAGH GOD DAMMIT YOU ASS!" Suddenly there came the scream of the train whistle from outside as Roy staggered back against the wall cringing fiercely. "AAAUUUGH!" "WHA-shit!" "G-GOD! FUCK THAT NOISE MAN! JUS' FUCK IT!" "Hhhahah...um...s-s-sorry, I swear I never meant to-" "Could you at LEAST have put me somewhere else?! Ah mean, jus' sayin'!" "I-i-i dunno what my subconscious does, please!" "Just go man. Heh...train's out there now, you gotta git on." "Where is it going exactly?" "Ah dunno, ah never git on trains man. Ahll see you later alrigh'?" "Yeah. Hey." James gently pulled Roy back from the wall and hugged him tightly. The black raptor chuckled and pulled him into a tighter hug with gentle backpat. "Take care Roy." "You too James...an' remember, that horseshoe ah gave you? Long as you have it someplace, ahll always be watchin' over you someway even if you can't see me...ahll always be at your side, just lahk with every other personal item you have from your friends." "I know. Thank you." With one last smile between them James headed off towards the train, a long slender-looking beast with silver front engine and a long row of strangely old-looking classic carriages stretching towards the back of the caboose. It almost looked like it was made of wood, but FG noted from the cold firmness it was actually a varnish cover on steel as he saw a cold face in the door window. It was a koopa without a shell, ragged clothes barring the way with a blank stare on his face, his skin oddly pale almost bleaching towards white. "T-t-ticket...p-please."

He did not look like a conductor, but James realised not to question such when he knew perfectly who this koopa was. His hands shook, his eyes widened as his breath caught in his throat as he struggled to find the right words. The koopa looked helpless, shuddering from the cold of a nonexistent wind that tore through his body whimpering as he clutched his waist before the raptor asked: "Are you...can I h-help with anything?" "T-ticket. Please." "Oh...alright." He slowly brought out his ticket towards him. The koopa took it quietly and slowly slipped it inside his clothes, scraping fiercely against something inside his chest before handing it back to him. A large tearing gash with what looked like dry bone residue marked the ticket before he handed it back and slowly moved out of the way to allow James onto the carriage. The raptor tried to turn towards him and offer his words of comfort. "I'm...I'm sorry-" The doors suddenly shut, the koopa disappearing once again from his visions as the train began rumbling itself into awakening once more with the sound of hydraulics and grinding wheels from underneath. The world around him began to move slowly as he grabbed onto a steel support beam feeling a slight inertia throw him forwards, the sunset ever constant from outside the windows all along both sides of the cabin with various seats of either double or single next to them. He saw his torn ticket was marked for Seat 137 as a fearful portent began to well up within him. But he had to find his seat nevertheless. "This better not be what I think it is." But his mind would be distracted from trepidation as he walked forwards into the next cabin. The one he had stepped onto was empty, but he saw life in the carriages ahead in an ironic sense of state. Various creatures sat in the train seats, noticing a turian, two krogans, a large mole, a koopa, various human beings one of whom was wearing rather large full-bodied armour, a young viera girl, two kremlings, a moogle with another older nu-mou and a human around opposite sides of a table and lastly an anteater. He recognised every single one of them, but that wasn't the part that scared him. They spoke with each other calmly, they were either wistful or in doubts, or perhaps even bitter about recollections of memories and past encounters but James tried not to bring attention to himself as he walked between the seats, heading towards the very back of the train itself. Koopmar glanced briefly at him but said nothing, slowly turning away with disconsolate expression. The turian assassin with pale face devoid of markings remained bitter with clenched fist burning her stare into the window of her seat. "Hey." A deep voice trembled from his left, turning towards two krogans sitting next to each other. Both with dark green natural plating upon his forehead that ridged down his back, red thick steel armour and pale dirt-brown faces. He would never forget such faces but he said nothing as one of them responded: "You fight dirty." "Yeah...REAL dirty." "...whut? Not gonna say anythin'? Where's yer sterile bitch now huh? Hhheheheh." He turned away ignoring them trying not to let his anger flow when he had given them plenty enough in their encounters. He heard them snigger behind his back as his eye twitched, clenching his fists until he heard a kinder bold voice come from his right. "Don' lissen to them twats." A sombre-looking mole wearing a monocle smiled up at him, wearing the clothes of a miner still ragged with coal dust. "Ah know you done good, mate. You done a lot more than most people should. ...'ey, come on say sumthin' lad." "I...th-this...this place is just-" "S'alrigh' James. Look...sumbody's waitin' fer ya in thuh back so ahll let you get on but...you know ah wuz gonna go all thuh way to give mah own life if it meant savin' them lemmings. Sorry bu', that's thuh way it is." "It shouldn't have been. I could have saved you." "Heh, ah bet you say that to everybody in this carriage. Don't, seriously, just...try not to linger on these feelings, they're not gonna mean anythin' to us here." "He's right." A woman with pale face and ragged dirt-streaked clothes with short blonde hair responded from the next row. "Some of us deserved what happened to us. You know that." "S-stop it," said James. "Don't...I didn't even know you, you wanted to live." "No I didn't. You don't know what went through my side of the story James, just...forget about me. You have no idea what I went through, who are you right to judge? I became a pawn of your demon willingly, don't make me a martyr." "See wot ah mean?" replied the mole. "You can respect our memories all you wan' bu'...if you keep gettin' yerself trapped inside memories fer too long yer never gonna go any forwards. An' right now, you gotta keep movin' or else...we're all fucked." "I see," replied the raptor sullenly, "if you...say so. That doesn't mean I wanna forget about you." "Ah know. Thanks fer that." The two shook hands firmly before he moved on, seeing the anteater simply smile up at him with a gentle lick of his snout with long tongue as if eager to eat, placing his clawed hands on his thighs. But nothing was said as he stepped forwards to see the viera child too engaged in a small game of entwining strings between her fingers to notice him. He didn't want to interrupt her but he did however overhear the voice of a much more noble familiar from behind him. "Nice evening, kupo." James turned seeing Berniere seated at a table, the green-clothed moogle of glossy white fur sitting opposite of the blue-cloaked hume known as Margaret with Enoch the fine-clothed nu-mou right beside him staring out of the window. She said nothing whilst Enoch remained forlornly looking outside billowing with regrets as the raptor said: "Yeah it...it's really nice." "Sunsets are especially wonderful in Lea Monde, you remember?" "Yeah." "...you know, normally when people have a conversation, the other person responds with more than one syllable, kupo." "I'm...I'm sorry just...this whole train ride's starting to make me feel really bad." "For what? Are you still in remorse over me?" "You didn't have to turn out like this. You were a good friend, Navarro was your best friend, why did you do this?" "I made my choice. That is something I cannot take back, and to be fair, you did not kill me, kupo. That was because of your friend Kruz." "I...I'm still sorry." "You said that before we fought. I know. Please. If you are going to feel remorse, give some to those that do deserve it...like those children." He said this as he slowly turned his head towards Margaret with an evil piercing look, clenching his left fist on the table that shook with bitterness. "Some of us...do not deserve your pity. Do not pretend to be some saint, trying to show mercy to every body you have slain, kupo." "I didn't kill her. Nor did I kill Enoch." "No. I do not regret what I did...but I do understand how you feel facing against a former friend. Is that not right Enoch?" The nu-mou said nothing. The sound of soft weeping could be heard in response to this as Berniere's eyes hardened towards FG. "I disgraced myself. Don't feel remorse for me. If you wish to honour me, let Navarro do it for she knew me...that is not something you have to do. Remember what you said to me. You cannot change the past and you cannot erase mistakes because well...you tried, and it doesn't work." "Alright. Um...I'm...sorry I just...I just can't feel angry towards you." "I know, kupo. Thank you, for trying at least. I won't make you feel anger towards me if you cannot bring yourself to for whatever reason. Farewell, my friend." The lone former knight turned away once again with eyes turning gentle in memoriam, sighing deeply as James walked away. He passed the two kremlings who talked between themselves, one slender and long-legged of orange tinted scales, the other a much taller 7-foot beast with scarred chest and crooked teeth who simply sneered with disgust towards FG. He returned the expression in turn before he finally reached the back of the carriage itself. He felt a lump suddenly choke up in his throat, stifling his words and movement with one single word calling from the last seat. "Hiiiiii!" She waved at him. He waved back without a voice. It had been years since he had seen her, But the sight of her in the golden rays of sunset, smiling as she turned her head with long ears swishing slightly to see him, made him gasp as warm tears trickled down his cheeks. He stuttered his breath like a high school sweetheart as he stopped at the seat next to her. Pure soft eyes of black, a patchwork multicolour dress like something a child would make and soft white fur glistening in the sunlight. She pat-patted the seat beside her as he sat down awkwardly looking at the floor deeply. He said nothing as she smiled. "Heehee, frog in yer throat, bow-wow?" "U-u-um...um...u-um-" "Awwww look at you, it's only been like thirteen years an' yer still blushing when you talk to me!" "I-...I-i-i-i just...um-" "Hmhm, it has been a while huh? Here, I'll help, you say hi to me and then you ask how I am, okay?" He slowly turned his head towards her with a sheepish grin, gasping to push his words out. "Hhhh......h-hiiii. Um...how...how are you, Daisy?" "I'm good thanks! Still inside your memories, just the way you like to remember me bow-WOW!" "That's...g-good I um...you're looking well!" "Thanks! You seem good too." "Well I...yeah, I guess I'm doing okay." Daisy softly giggled, her voice still just as sweet and angelic as he remembered. "You can be honest with me. Come on James." "I...I don't wanna pester you with my problems." "I want to hear. It's okay, I can't judge you anymore, we made up remember?" "Y-...yeah I...guess we did, um...you're still okay about that?" "You admitted your mistake to me and that's fine. I wanted you to live happy, and you did for a while. But...something happened, didn't it bow-wow?" The raptor looked back down at his feet once again clasping his hands together like a schoolboy being punished. "I...I got caught up in some business. Something bad, I'm trying to stop it." "The demon?" "......yeah. I didn't have him when I was in Crossville, so don't you think that gives me a free pass!" "I wasn't gonna say anything, I know James, I know." "Yeah...just...g-god." The scent she gave of soft vanilla made him whimper slightly which she giggled at. "You always make such real cute noises when you're nervous James." "I-i-i do? Heh...y-yeah that's...that's um, y-you're much cuter than me." "Ohohohhhhh you." She batted him softly on the shoulder as he smiled gingerly at her. "I hear you got a boyfriend now, I didn't think you were into guys." "Ehhh...it's...kind of a preference, but I do like both." "That's sweet. What's he like?" "Really...kind of innocent...not so much naive but rather just...very tender about things. I love him." "You alright James? You seem kinda nervous." "I-i'm sorry I just thought...I never thought I would...get to see you ever again." He rubbed the back of his head nervously all fearful of saying the wrong thing as he turned his head back to her, but she never looked away from him for a moment. "I-i-i'm just trying to get past all of this and I just thought-I thought I was over you." "Aren't you?" "Well...yeah!" "But that's no reason to forget about me James, you shouldn't force yourself to forget just to be polite, I mean Koopin understands doesn't he bow-wow?" "Yeah...I mean he's always been very underst-...how do you know his name?" "I'm just a memory silly. I'm here James. See?" She put one of his hands to her face as he felt the purest fur. In a flash of fearfulness he saw darkness and blood twisting in a wretched hospital background behind her, a black dress with red tips. "I'm not real...remember?" She returned to her perfect self, the train still rumbling onwards with her perfect innocence. Almost too perfect but that was as his mind had preserved her to be as he looked down once again. "Yeah...I remember. I remember all of it...I'm sorry about...being in Silent Hill-" "You weren't in control of that, it's okay bow-wow. Really James, do you think I'm going to hold a grudge after so many years? We've been through all this." "I-i-i know...I just...I just don't want to ruin anything, or even desecrate your memory some way." "You're not and you never will, I know you James. At least, I knew one side of you, but now we're in your head, I know you won't because what you know I know too." "Oh god this is so confusing." He put his head forwards rubbing at his temples with both hands groaning in frustration before Daisy gently brushed across his cheek to soothe him. Her touch was just as she remembered it, like a warm pillow against his head. "Shhhh...I'm very glad you met someone. He sounds nice, do you have a picture of him?" "...I do." The raptor smiled softly as he pulled out from his satchel the photograph of Koopin's family. Showing it to Daisy, she leaned against his shoulder to look closely at the scene of smiling koopas and James above them in the middle. "Heehee, he's adorable!" "Heheh, yeah he is." "Is that his dad? He kinda looks the mayor did back when he was a few years younger." "Heeeey yeah he kinda does, hahah! Less of an old fart though." "Jaaames!" "I'm kidding, I'm kidding! Koopin's dad's a real nice guy, really calm and keeps a straight head on things." "That's good. Nice to know somebody can keep you straight, bow-wow." "I think that's not working considering I have a boyfriend." "OH-pffffft, you...silly bow-wow!"

She patted him softly with a playful slap on the shoulder as he chuckled softly, slowly easing himself into her company as she slipped her hands along her dress of patchwork smoothing out any creases from moving. James felt a sense of calm as he watched outside the window, the train rattling on as the endless sunset kept going without any change in the lone seascape. Occasionally he saw what appeared to be a boat, perhaps a gull flying past. He thought it odd that he couldn't see the land until he cautiously peeked over to look straight down beneath the windowsill. The train itself was now on the sea, a hidden set of tracks rumbling onwards to another place, a destination unknown as the water sluiced thinly beneath the wheels. Sometimes he saw the fish, sometimes he saw corral, sometimes he saw stones of pure white and black as the train never stopped. Eventually he had to ask: "Soooo where is this train going exactly?" "You don't know?" replied Daisy. "I never been inside my own head before, heh." "Well...it's a place I'm not really planning on going to, bow-wow." "Huh? Why not?" "Ohhh, not my sort of place. Yours though, definitely your kind of place." "Do you wanna tell me what it is?" "Heehee! Naaaah it's a surprise silly!" "That's what Leiah called it too, is this a bad surprise?" "Noooo no no, this is a happy place, you'll love it! I've just got more important things to do right now so sadly I won't be joining you, much as I would love to bow-wow." "Alright then." "Theeeeere is a problem though. You can't get in without the right ticket." "Why not?" asked FG. "Weeeeeellll...you need a very specific thing to get in, and I had it for ya actually, see, I was planning to meet you eventually out here and I wanted to give it to you, but...there's this other person who wants to talk to you." "Really, who?" "Well...um, he said, he said that..." Daisy suddenly turned quiet, gently twisting her fingers cautiously in her grip against each other fidgeting slightly. Her eyes became saddened all of a sudden then there came a thud from the roof, like a heavy body landing above them. Then came seven more thudding steps across the ceiling as if somebody were running across the top of the train with James asking in wrought suspicion: "Who was that?" "Someone you have to meet," said Daisy oddly. "You mean...up THERE? On the top of the train?" "Mmhmm. It's hard to really talk the way he does inside a train carriage, it'll be much better for both of you out there whilst we're on our way to the next stop, okay bow-wow?" "I guess...um...but it's the top of the train I'm not allowed to-" "It's your mind James. There's really nothing you're not allowed to do, is there? The ladder's right over." She pointed to behind her at the very end of the train carriages to the last door exiting to the rear. "He's someone you know. From our village James. Someone you never apologised to but you really should have." "What are you talking about?" "What you wrote...after you dealt with Bob...wasn't enough to fix things after what you did." Her voice became sorrowful, sweet and apologetic but still mournful after he got up and slowly walked towards the exit of the train. The door slid open without a quarrel as he watched the fading of the ocean behind the train's journey onwards as the sea-skimming wheels splashed heavily on both sides of the raptor. A constant rumbling rush nearly deafening him as he stood on the small balcony-like exit of the rear before seeing the ladder on his left, climbing up cautious for anything. There was nothing upon the roof of the train, smooth steel grey as the sky continued to remain at sunset above him. He walked forwards wishing he had a weapon on him feeling very exposed against the elements of the wind racing across his cheeks as he watched for anything ahead of the train. Endless ocean for miles with the sun nonexistent as if already sleeping beneath the horizon of the sea. "You never escaped." The voice came drifting from behind him as it cut through the sound of the train beneath. "I never let you." Slowly he turned, uncertain of who it would be knowing it was familiar to him like every other voice. Stern and confident with authority long forgotten, an anthro dog wearing a metal jade helmet with brown fur and white snout, wearing the uniform of red city guards with a white cross emblazoned upon his front as he wielded a long spear with sturdy wooden length. James recognised it as the very spear that blocked him from reaching Koopin's warmth as he felt anxiety crawling up his back. "...Copper." "You never escaped. I never let you." "What...why are you here on top of a train?" "Because you begged me to come. In your deepest sin." "Wh-what?" "I heard you scream that night, knowing the winter cold would not drown you out, knowing a great pain had been committed that night. Our world slowly ruined. But I did not know...that you were the one who would completely destroy it." "...what?" Without warning the spear suddenly flew towards James like a screeching harpy as he dodged stumbling onto the roof before he felt a vicious kick to the face as Copper ran forwards, slamming him hard as he toppled backwards. The guard rushed past him to regain his spear at a closer range to FG, twirling perfectly in his stubbed fingers framed within the sunset. "I will make you _ suffer _ for what you did." "C-c-copper...wh-what the fuck-A-AAAHH!" The spear lunged for his throat as he dodgerolled swiftly but not enough to reach the edge of the roof as he pushed himself back up. The train rattled on ceaselessly as James staggered slightly, but the guard of Crossville stood unmoving with perfect balance as his uniform briefly fluttered against the breeze before moving in at close range, swiping his spear across James' face before another thrusting jab. The moment the raptor dodged the stabbing lance he felt a double kick to his stomach from Copper who shot his body forwards with aggressive furore. Buckling hard from the dual kick, he grabbed himself harshly but not before he suddenly shoved his head forwards and butted the guard fiercely into his stomach in return trying to stop him from attacking. It forced him back slightly enough to catch his breath as he cried: "COPPER, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! WH-WHY ARE YOU FIGHTING ME?!" "You KNOW why I'm here you worthless FILTH!" Swinging hard by a sudden strike, he tore his speartip across the raptor's face scraping viciously down his snout as James stumbled with a shriek. Blood trickling down his purple marks, he dodged best he could against the long spear which thrust towards his neck before Copper spun into the air like a monk, which surprised the raptor almost forgetting to dodge the cracking slam of the lance fiercely plunging into the metal roof. Burying the tip completely into steel, the guard wrenched it free without any struggle before advancing onto FG, slowly. "I warned you to stay out of trouble...I WARNED you. I wanted to do this nicely, but you ran away, you made people suffer for your own selfish need and you have NOWHERE to run James Campbell!" "I'M NOT RUNNING! WH-WHAT ARE YOU HERE FOR, I LEFT A NOTE, I APOLOGISED I'M SORRY!" "...sorry? SORRY? You think this is like school, you think you can just write a note and fix everything that you _ DESTROYED?! " With sudden rush, he spun just before reaching FG tricking him into thinking he was going to thrust again but instead made a spinning sweep for the raptor's legs knocking him down violently. He stomped his foot viciously upon his bare chest before slamming his spear straight down towards his head as James desperately turned away feeling the shunking crack of steel brutally scraping against his ear as the roof was punched through. He saw the spear raise up once more for his head and he turned the other way crying out as it missed once more. "_STOP IT! C-COPPER STOP IT, PLEASE! I DON'T WANNA FIGHT YOU!" "I'm sure there were plenty people you killed that didn't wanna fight either. Now it's your turn." "NO!" Turning harshly from the spear shattering through the roof, the sound shrieked against his ear powerfully hurting as he quickly turned his head back towards and crunched down onto the spear lance. Struggling to pull free from his mouth, Copper tried to wrench it free but the raptor refused to let go until both hands were on the staff, forcefully pulling both spear and raptor up close enough for FG to slampunch him in the crotch. Gasping by a harsh wince, Copper staggered with a weakening of his leg but it was enough for James to force him off with a powerful shove throwing him back away from him. The dog still holding his spear wasted no time in fighting back as James braced himself for another attack whilst making one last plea. "I don't wanna do this Copper. Just stop, stop doing this because if you keep trying to fight me I'm gonna have to do something." "Do WHAT?! Threaten me, murder me, RAPE me?! Like you did with Bob, you sick degenerate little PUNK!?" "A-a-alright, alright I deserve that, what I did was horrible fine but he was a killer!" "That is NOT how you do justice, that is not how I do justice." "You're trying to kill a guy who's not armed and YOU talk about justice?!" "THIS ISN'T JUSTICE ANYMORE CAMPBELL, YOU MADE THIS ABOUT REVENGE!" "FOR WHAT?! BOB!?" "_ FOR MY HOME YOU WORTHLESS SCUM! " The spear thrust forwards once again aiming for the raptor's waist as he dodged suddenly, but not before the dog clocked him powerfully with a fist across his face countering against his dodge. With James stunned briefly it was the perfect time to strike, and despite his best next dodge the spear swung with bilious cold wind viciously scarring across his chest as he shrieked and clutched himself. Gasping as he felt red drops pitiful against his flesh, he felt the deep burning scrape across his sternum that made his eyes water as he shuddered from such raw pain. He gave his chance, and so began to fight standing firm as he could before the guard who ran for him once again. But the raptor stood his ground defiant mustering the energy from his nanos to spark freely as they had always done from his memory, even within his own mindscape. "_FUS-RO-DAH!"

Furiously blasting a gale of wind, it felt much more powerful than before as Copper was slammed backwards by the vicious typhoon strike, pulling his helmet down over his eyes as the train rattled on endlessly. Soon the sound of the ocean waves faded from his hearing as the carriages finally hit onto dry land rumbling throughout the countryside as they passed through the open plains of long green hills. The guard of Crossville ran towards FG waiting for a second attack as there came another blast of wind streaking across the metal roof by a whistling howl. But Copper had waited for this moment, and with an unnatural grace he almost certainly would not possess in reality, he planted his staff fiercely onto the roof and vaulted himself upwards powerfully over the striking maelstrom. The raptor swiftly jumped back before the whirling spear of death came upon his head, but Copper was instant in his advance suddenly bumrushing FG hard the moment he landed. James blasted a fiery length from his hands to keep the guard away and prevent himself from being pinned once again as slowly he got back up readying himself for the ruthless assailant. He charged his hands up for a fireblasting volley, watching Copper dodge with disturbing agility around each and every ball of flames the raptor shot from his fingertips before a lunging thrust came straight for his stomach. James swerved harshly to the left almost falling off the train before grabbing on tight to the spear for support and suddenly elbowing Copper in the face, cracking his chin but he refused to let go. A brief tug of war ensued as Copper tried twisting the speartip towards James whilst he in turn fought back to try and push it away. Desperation forced his hand, the guard having a surprising amount of strength as he started to overwhelm James slowly with the deadly lance pointing ever closer towards him. Their hands started trembling against each other's force until James finally had enough and suddenly slashed at Copper's eyes, blinding one of them as he cried out in fury, dropping his spear and staggering away. "A-AAAAAAAAARGH! AAAAAAAAAARGH!" "I DIDN'T WANT TO! YOU FUCKING FORCED ME TO!" "YOU! WILL NOT GET AWAY FROM MEEEEEEE! _" The raptor grabbed for the spear just in time as Copper ran for him, charging with the strength of a bull as his one eye bled profusely onto the train's roof. But the guard had misjudged his charge and found himself ruthlessly stopped by impalement, the spear plunging deep into his stomach as James struggled not to fall back with shock at what he had done. The guard coughed blood harshly from his throat, grasping at his staff with blood-streaked hands slippery across the wood as the tip pulsated from his back. " G-GHRRKHH! AGHHK! You...y-y-you..." "I'm sorry. I'm...I-i-i-i'm sorry, I never meant...I didn't want to...I just...I-i-i don't wanna die." His sorrow burned within him as a harsh sense of guilt struggled to burst through from the surface of his heart. Gasping with a hot fear at what he had done he slowly walked away wanting to be rid of this terrible state of affairs. But before he could, he heard something strange from the guard that slowly bled upon the roof. A mirthless laughter. "_Hhhhmhmhmhmhmhmhm...hhhhhmmmmhmhmhahahahaha-" "Huh?" "You...NEVER escaped." The raptor turned to find Copper still struggling to stand, red bitter fluid coursing from his throat. "I...never LET you." He pulled at the spear from his chest, a sucking wound heftily pouring blood out until the lance itself came free with something else violently expunged from Copper's chest. Clattering thickly onto the train roof close to the raptor, was a large hefty-looking paper cutter, a chopping blade that he did not realise the significance of as he gave a blank stare of confusion. "Wh-wh-...WHAT!?" "That's...it...n-now I see...your true nature, you worthless monster." "How are you...not...no, of course not, you wanna fight still? Fine, you wanna kill me, I'll give you a real fight." He grabbed at the paper cutter still festooned with blood staring into Copper's blood-drenched eye. "Let's end this, Copper." "_You will never end this. You will never ESCAAAAAPE! _" The dog lunged with spear back in his hand as the raptor clashed against him now feeling equal in his standing against the rampant vengeful guard whose hard wooden lance remained impervious against the slicing metal cutter. Crossing blades the raptor guarded, striking as Copper pulled back and ducked from the vile swing of James' weapon as he spun in a circle to swipe completely across the head. James ducked the turning swing and drove his cutter down hard into Copper's shoulder, the guard crying out with frenzied pain as he staggered back fully. Blood seeped ever thick from his body but did nothing to deter him as his shoulder was carved clean open rendering his left arm useless. But he simply wielded his spear in his right and thrust-stabbed with all of his might tearing viciously across the raptor's left arm. Screeching from the pain of a dragging blade, he realised from the sudden red blistering harshly from his new wound that he no longer had his bionic arm of the present, but his own original arm from the past. Not that it mattered, blood was blood either way to him as he swung in retaliation for the guard's neck. Copper ducked beneath the blade and rushed forwards with a shouldercharge using his weakened arm pounding with the full force of his body behind it, the raptor stumbling backwards as he rolled across the roof. They hadn't noticed that the green hills had gone and were now being slowly replaced by a dead blackened forest of long thick-branched naked trees, silent forevermore. The raptor stood waiting for the next attack, pushing himself back up with bloodied arm and even more bloodied cutter as the guard threw his spear violently fast, his speed and strength far beyond what he possessed in reality as James violently countered back. Smacking the spear with one fully upwards strike like a batter's swing, the force of its velocity pushed him back almost forcing him to fall on his rear as the spear went flying high into the twilight sun as Copper rushed him once again. Without a weapon he went barefist, even against a blade which James was surprised at but did not forgive as he striked out viciously to cut him down, the guard ducking fast beneath the diagonal swing with a dodge to his right and a solid punch. Slamming his fist crunching against the raptor's jaw, James swung out blindly and caught Copper on the ear, slicing half of it off along with almost smacking off his helmet. But the Crossville former guard grabbed with both fists at James' throat to strangle him violently, threatening to snap his neck with vicious strength. Screeching a gasping cry, he spat furiously into Copper's face forcing him backwards as he struggled to wipe his eyes clean but it was the perfect chance. The raptor thrust his blade deep into the dog's waist severing him almost completely through. Crying almost silent with furious suffering, his blood poured flowing even further as it spread across the roof of the train causing it to drip off the sides onto the dead leafless forest beyond them. It was that moment the spear came back down almost as if returning to its master's cry of help, stumbling his way towards it until James grabbed him. The raptor stumbled slipping on the blood and shanked his claws into the guard's gut as he felt something solid like a handle, yet bony also in turn by its texture as Copper struggled to get away. Groaning with furore in his voice, he soon pulled himself away completely as James tugged him back harder as something came completely out of him once again falling back onto the blood puddle. Streaked in red, James found himself holding in his other hand a large thick piece of bone shaped exactly like a club tail. His eyes slowly widened in horror upon finally realising, and in turn too he realised the purpose of the paper cutter.

Copper stumbled towards his spear and picked it back up once again, shuddering hotly with his entire abdomen now eviscerated, but he still would not relent as he made his staggering walk towards FG. He shuddered with unholy strength, feet struggling to stand on his own blood as his boots clumped thickly across the steel roof. "You...never escaped. I...n-never let you." "OKAY STOP, JUST STOP OKAY!? I GET IT ALREADY, I GET THE POINT WITH THESE FUCKING WEAPONS I'M OVER THIS NOW, WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS?!" "Because it's guilt." A voice came strong from behind him, oddly Irish-sounding and unmistakeable in its quiet force as he turned and saw the brown cloak silhouetting Detective Corck against the sunset. "C-Corck?! The fuck are you doing here?!" "To see justice brought. You never escape after all." "What?! What do you mean I never escape?!" "Because you never let yourself." From his left there came another voice, tremulent with an odd vibrato in his speech that was the signature of a translator. Dahnus Drumarien stood with bare turian face in his resplendent blue crossing his arms firmly. "Do you understand now?" "WH-WHAT...NO! I don't understand, why are you both here, why is this guy fighting me?!" "We're not fighting. You're the one who keeps trying to run back into prison but you never let yourself. Run or be free." "Your metaphors need work." A final voice, fourth from his right of a grey suit, tie of black and blue with an oddly thin hat upon his long canine head. An even stranger proportion of authority stood Sam with the sunset on his cheeks looking surprisingly serious. Dead serious. "But your attitude stinks." "Sam?! What...I don't...what...don't make me fight any of you." "We won't make you. If you stop fighting." "I DON'T WANT TO FIGHT YOU!" "Then why is he here?" The dog pointed towards the other dog, blood wreathed upon his reddened coat marking his whitish cross as he dragged himself closer along the train carriage whilst wheezing heavily. The raptor panicked stammering:. "I-i-i dunno, he just came out of nowhere trying to fight me!" "Nothing comes out of nowhere," replied Corck, "not inside your head, every thought has an origin." "What does that even MEAN?!" "It means you brought him here," said Dahnus, "all of us here are memories but also representations. Do you know why we haven't tried to kill you yet, unlike Copper?" "...n-no...I don't-" "Because you learned with us," ended Sam, "you learnt about your problems when you remember us. Then again I'm just kind of a comedic sentiment from old unhappy far-off years, like a comedian from the Seventies without the racism but yanno, you still can't let go concerning him." "I GOT OVER IT OKAY!? I finished with this fucking years ago I SPOKE TO DAISY HERSELF!" "Who said anything about Daisy?" replied Corck. "Are you still feeling guilty about her? Seriously it's been that long nobody even cares anymore James." "WHAT ELSE IS IT SUPPOSED TO BE!?" "Wandering," continued Dahnus, "always finding someone to hurt, some piece of you that you want to make feel suffering. You can't banish the pains in your heart no matter how much you think you have. He has always been inside you, ever since that day...but his heart has always existed ever since the first victim you ever took." "Wh-...wh-wh-what?" "He never had a body," ended Sam, "until you gave him one. He's always been a part of you like that one gross medical problem you only ever tell people on forums about. You never escaped, because he never let you. You never let yourself escape because of all you brought." "Here is a riddle," said Corck. "What is the one thing that knows everything you have ever done, that you can never outrun, and the one who always punishes you even whilst you sleep?" The raptor turned back towards Copper once again desperately trying to contemplate what this all meaned until he started going a metaphorical route. It all soon came to him within two mintues, his eyes slowly widened as he felt something within himself, looking down upon his two weapons far bloodier than they should be from this fight. He dropped them upon the train roof clattering as he walked slowly towards the guard's wretched state. He certainly would not have lived in reality, half his stomach gone, kidneys twisted, blood pulsing from beneath his ribs near-exposed by the tearing of his lower waist as he stared grimly with one eye left towards FG. His other bled thickly, gouged horrendously to the point of a red smear as he breathed horribly with dead lungfuls of foetid air. "You...have stained your hands with blood of every existence." "I know. I know I have." "You sicken me...do you know...what you have done to my world?" "I...I do. I know nothing I say or do will ever bring it back." "You know nothing James Campbell. You will never know how much I suffered, how much I weeped for our gardens watered with the blood from your hands. All my village is, is nothing but a cemetery full of vines red and thick like the veins you SEVERED BETWEEN US! You can barely save other people." "I...I-i-i do my best." "It's not ENOUGH!" James did not resist as the spear suddenly plunged deep into his stomach, screaming as the twisting tip ran through completely until impaling out of his back, tearing across his spine which shunted upwards. "GHHHHHK! A-AAAAAH!" "You are a DEFILER of worlds, a wretched existence who was never meant to LIVE!" "_ A-AAAAAARGH! " "_Every single world you have crossed into has turned that much darker by your passing, you have given nothing back, you have always been a child unwanted, NOT EVEN KOOPIN'S FAMILY WOULD ADOPT YOU AFTER THE DARKNESS YOU HAVE BROUGHT!" "I KNOW, I KNOW GOD DAMMIT I KNOW WHAT I DID! I GIVE UP, I ADMIT, I'M A MONSTER I DESTROYED YOUR VILLAGE, I SHOULDN'T HAVE KILLED BOB! I SHOULDN'T HAVE BLINDED THAT KID WHEN I WAS LITTLE, I GIVE UP! I GIVE UP I SUBMIT! PLEA-HEASE STOOOOOP! _" "_Tell me the names of those you regret. Every. Last. ONE!" The wretched spear twisted ever deeply, grinding harder until it lodged thickly into his ribs, crackling upwards as the raptor screamed with pitiful agony. He wanted to fall onto his knees but the lance forced him upright, suffering as blood dripped from his mouth and poured through from his raw wound. "D-Daisy...B-bob...B-Brian Velasco...D-delaney...M-m-monty...Berniere L-Lavant, L-Leiah'Dahlael n-nar GUUHA!" " LOUDER! LET ME HEAR YOU!" "THE CHILDREN, IN THE WASTELAND! I DON'T EVEN REMEMBER THEIR NAMES G-GOD DAMMIT, THAT WOMAN TOO! ISAAC! NAVARRO, I KNOW SHE'S NOT DEAD BUT I REGRET, I REGRET WHAT I DID! _" "_WHO ELSE?" "TH-the...that...that koopa I...oh god...the koopa in the...b-b-back alley in Rogueport I...I...I still s-see his face in my dreams s-sometimes...I...I can't forgive myself." "Good." He realised his own truth, or at least one of them as he was dragged itself towards the edge of the train roof whilst the scenery began to change. A great widening chasm appeared beyond the dead forest as the train started approaching the bridge spanning across it towards a darkening tunnel. Copper swung his spear with the raptor still impaled upon it fully, waiting for the right moment as James saw the depths beneath to be completely coated in white fog permeating the entire length of the ravine. "You will NEVER escape me. James Campbell." The guard slammed his boot into the back of James as he fell crumpling into the abyss, his ragged gasping breaths crying out in bleak screams before he faded from eternity. "_I exist inside you always. I will always be there...to make you know what true mistakes you ever make beneath the world around you. I will stop you from ever moving forwards, if you dare try to face me ever again. _"

"H-huh?!" He woke up inside the train carriage, cozily seated within the summer rays of sunset. He now wore his usual blue jeans, he felt the snugness of the pair of boxers from the Makai Realm against his sensitive parts and even more surprisingly, he felt the scissors against his back once again. Daisy was not seen anywhere around him, in fact no one in the carriage was. Empty in silence, the train had ceased its motion as he saw something outside along a great beach. Large shapes and powerful lights coalescing across the glass tint of the windowsill as he got up stumbling from his sleep, with not a single wound or pain upon him. "What...what happened? The fuck did I jus-......god I feel like shit." The raptor slowly walked out of the train seeing it had been parked at a smaller station than the previous one, with nothing but a single shack for a ticket office that reminded him greatly of the Dry Dry Desert train station. But whereas only the mountains and a long desert would have greeted him, this one showed a much more promising destination. A carnival on the pier of a long beach, the sounds of the ocean still reminiscent upon him as he heard the grand music of the circus, or at least what reminded him of it. The carnival itself had been built upon grand wooden platforms above the sweet sand which formed the edges of a small green peninsula off the coast turning almost pinkish in the edge of twilight. There came voices and screaming, joy and excitement, grand jubilee of hundreds upon the stately park as James watched along the horizon to see if any other places could be seen. Nothing for miles, not even the continent the fair seemed to be connected to seemed to exist beyond being just a whole trail of flat lands and soft green plains with a multitude of great beaches. "Perfect place for golf, isn't it?" A voice came from the entrance of the park, the raptor now seeing the lights more clearly as he walked closer to find everything that he ever wanted. Grand ferris wheel shining above all, dozens of shops and parlour games catering to his interests ranging from shooting games to quiz tests to small venue attractions involving houses of horror or wild water rides across the bay. But always he would ever see that one great ferris wheel rotating above all like a shining eye of hope, framed by a glorious rollercoaster silhouetted as a thin undulating line all across the skyline. It almost reminded him of the London Eye except much more fun, or perhaps Kremland without the safety issues. But what stopped him from enjoying the scenery, beside his current feelings of guilt and rampant self-hatred burning up inside of him with a deep and heavy sigh was the ticket courier in front of him. Two large gates, one on either side of a small booth where stood someone disturbingly familiar that he wished was the last thing he would ever see in this place. A purple cat smiling with wide yellow eyes and red clothes loosely wrapped around him. "Well weeeeeeelllll...heh, long time no see pthhhpth." "......what." "Been a long time I gotta say. What's the matter, did I get yer tongue, hmhmhaha!" "I...no. Fuck this. Just...fuck this." "Hey HEY, where ya going?! HEY! COME OOOOON I AIN'T STANDING AROUN' HERE ALL DAY COME ON BACK! HEY!" He walked back towards the train but soon found the train had gone just as soon as it had been, leaving him with but a vacant station and no turning back. He sighed contemplating a long walk along the beach, nothing out there for miles on end to lose himself in as he walked across the tracks ignoring the shouts of the hatred purple cat. It wasn't until he reached the waters of the shore that he soon realised he was just doing it again. Running away from everything like he had in his first steps of the journey as he groaned rubbing his face. With stiflement of his guilt and increasing desire to punch something bitterly until his hands broke, he walked slowly back towards the ticket booth where the cat was waiting with an odd curious grin. James was not in the mood as he sneered coldly towards the booth while a good few feet away still. "Alright. What...are YOU doing here?" "Uhhh, it's called a job, maybe you should try it sometime. Hmhaaaaa I'm kidding, cummere, come on. Come on, come oooooon." The raptor walked up fully with his neck muscles tightening in sheer spite, except the fact that exhaustion was slowly beating him on the race of emotions inside of him. The cat grinned whilst leaning on the counter cool as a cucumber behind the plastic glass. "Soooooooo how ya beeeeen, pthhhpth?" "Why should you care?" "Because I DID mess up yer life an' cause you to show yer true colours, right? Hah, that was fun." "Yeah. Thrilling." "Heeeeey now, don't get so down, you've got a whole carnival here to enjoy and I'm gonna let you have fun. Honest, heartfelt fun." "Sure." "No no, seriously, I'm a whole new cat now, well, not even, I'm still dead even in your memories but, not the point, you wanna get into the carnival right?" "Not really." "Iiiiiiii think you do, cuz I saw a lovely lady come past here, somebody you might know, a gal named uhhhhh...S-sarah?" "What?!" He sparked up with interest as he pounded his hands on the ticket booth. "You better not be fucking with me, Bob." "No lie, honest, she's right in there somewhere inside this carnival an' I only got one price of admission for ya." "Oh god, what is it?" "Your Regret. One per each customer." "My regret?" "Mmhmm, One Regret pthhhpth. I uhhh think that whussisname, Copper, gave you one." "I don't have anything on me like that, I don't even...is that a coin or something?" "No, well sorta, you have to show me it first." "Show you what?" "Your Regret, One each." "I don't HAVE regrets." "You sure seemed to have plenty when Copper wuz tearing your hide out on the train." "Oh, funny, who told you that?" "Nobody did," said Bob. "You know it so I know it." "Okay stop, if YOU know what I know, how the fuck do I not know what you know?" "Because...I dunno, you always were a bit slow on things." "Shut the fuck up Bob." "Look, buddy, it's just-" "DON'T!" His finger stabbed straight onto the plastic glass making it jutter slightly. "Call me buddy ever again, you are DEAD to me literally." "Now now," said the feline grinning, "boys like you don't get to have fun at the carnival actin' like spoiled brats." "I don't give a fuck about this carnival, I just want to get in because that's apparently where I have to go." "Well...hand over your Regret." "I don't know HOW to do that, it is literally not a PHYSICAL THING!" "So?" Bob shrugged nonchalant. "How do ya normally give people your Regret?" "What?" "Think about it. You got some Regret, and you need to share it. Soooo?" The feline slowly spun his hands as if encouraging the wheels in James' head to turn a little faster before the raptor realised what he meant and sighed deeply as he placed both his hands firmly upon the ticket booth. The battle with Copper made him reassert what was the truth as he prepared himself. "I...I was wrong to murder you. What I did...in Crossville, was wrong. You may be a monster to me, but I should have listened to the law, I should have stayed out of trouble and it was wrong of me to act as judge, jury and executioner. You should have been tried for your crimes. I was wrong. I'm sorry.......ghlk....gh-ghllllrrrr_RRRGHK!_" Something vomited out from his throat without warning as he almost banged his head against the glass shuddering hard from choking on the strange object, shining with saliva in front of Bob. It was an odd-looking coin, larger than most, silver and glistening the size of a suppository which said literally 1 Regret on it as Bob smiled heartily. "Heeeeeeey there ya are, One Regret an' it's allllll mine now!" He quickly snatched it as he stuffed it into his pocket before pushing on a button underneath his counter. "Here ya go, enjoy the Carnival of Dreams James! And uh, you best watch out fer anythin' that lies ahead now, pthhhpth!" "Uuuugh...thanks. I guess." The gates swung open gladly as he walked into the carnival which seemed to overwhelm by the sudden noise that broke free into his senses. Whimsical songs amidst rippling dances of entertainers across the street of the boardwalk as he watched various odd species playing upon new games and attractions whilst talking to each other aimlessly. The sound of the attractions made the voices barely audible amidst the toads and turians, quarians and moogles along with every other oddity that he saw in his adventures.

Shooting games stood alongside balls being hurled into cup pyramids, targets dotted on the range to be hit by darts, candy floss machines sitting next to cola vending stalls for double tooth-rotting fun as the smell of sweet saccharine foods made his mouth water slightly. Much as he felt the fearful regrets still permeate from his mind the atmosphere of the carnival was slowly infecting him with abundant joy and wonder as he saw grand tricks being displayed such as a thousand cards shuddering out of a koopa's shell, or a bangaa pulling a moogle out of a hat. Admittedly that was a very weird and possibly racist concept but it made him laugh nevertheless with some shame at even the thought of such as he moved past various exhibitions. Glorious colours of pink, red and yellow radiated across the place, excitement bustling from every stall around him as shots fired, balloons popped, boards creaked, children laughed and adults screamed with fearful excitement. Mainly from the rollercoaster but nevertheless he walked onwards until reaching the centre of the park. Eventually the bolsterous cheer and enthusiasm of the place had him wanting to look around at the attractions along with trying to find Sarah. Besides the ferris wheel and rollercoaster off in the distance, he saw a glorious pizza parlour to his left which instantly intrigued him owing to the arcade within where he saw of course, Street Fighter. He also saw Galaxian which had him even more excited as he rushed in but not before seeing the layout fill him with a sudden dread. He should have known it was going to be a reference to such a place, and despite the rather friendly atmosphere this time around, he still could not help but reminisce with some horror about the old haunted pizzeria from the wasteland. Four long tables full of children and adults eating happily amongst themselves, the smell of hot pizza fresh from the oven constantly assaulting his nostrils as balloons and party hats decorated the place in every colour known to man with a central stage up ahead. There was some difference to the layout, noticing the expanded arcade on his left which he admitted he was excited about, but then he saw someone deserving much more attention amidst the various seats. Strangely enough, most of the people seated were actually the filth-bedraggled wastelanders of the Beech colony. Jerry Delgado the ghoul knight, Darryl Jeffries the paladin, and of course there was Diana happily sitting beside her mother. The young black-skinned human still in her yellow dress, munching away on hot pepperoni as James easily moved his way towards her slowly welling up with happiness and relief at the sight. "JAAAAMES!" She waved with sticky hands of cheese as he chuckled sitting down with a plate of pizza offered to him. "Ya made it!" "You expecting me?" "I sent out a letter!" "I never got no letter, I got a note but it sure as hell wasn't your handwriting." "Wussat s'posed to mean?!" "I'm just saying it looked like it was written by an adult!" "AHMA WOMAN YOU STUPID LIZARD!" "PFFFT with that mouth?! H-HEY-AUGHLKH!" "Why dontchoo put yer mouth to better use huh?!" The girl stuffed a slice of pizza fat into his mouth, gagging him slightly as she giggled whilst FG gave her the ol knuckleduster on the head with a noogie as her mother laughed beside them. She was busy talking to another adult whilst the raptor gulped down his pizza slice and panted with a smile down at the young woman asking: "Isn't this place that old haunted pizza parlour I found?" "Yep, but you got it all back up inside yer memory as a nice place! Look we's all here, havin' fun!" "I have to admit, it did look a nice place to be when not...dark and full of creepy robots trying to kill me." "Oh naw, there still robots here too, look!" She pointed over towards the stage which was empty, making James freak out slightly as she smirked shrugging her shoulders. "Huh, guess they ain' around yet." "Please tell me you are joking." "Why would I be?! Anyway, you out here on yer own?" "More or less, I'm looking for somebody called Sarah, dolphin lady but I might as well check out the place a little and have some fun before yanno, getting to my mission." "Hehehe, cool. ...hey uh, you know that girl over there?" "Who?" asked James. "That one with the feather in her hair." She didn't point, politely so as she tipped her head towards a lonely-looking creature sitting by herself. A young moogle with amber armour and a purple feather in her hair. James felt his heart sink with some pity as he replied to Diana's question. "Yeah...her name is Lu. She...well, one of her friends died so." "Aw. Maybe we should go over an' say sumthin'." "I dunno what I could say. I just wish she had her friends with her." "Cantcha wish 'em to her?" asked Diana. "Huh?" "Well, yanno, yer in yer head, mebbe you can do sumthin'." "Like what?" "I dunno! Wish 'em! You ain' got no limits inside yer dreams dontchoo?!" "Hmmmmmm...maybe...I might as well, let's see if I can do something." James began to focus as he pressed his slightly sticky fingers to his temples and began to rub fervently as if predicting the future. He stared intensely at the moogle wishing with everything he could as he reminisced about the young trio of budding fighters ready for action always side by side to the bitter end. Regrets came through wishing he had been around to help them, and almost as if they had heard his call, there came a voice shouting from the doorway. "LUUUUU!" She looked up. Standing in the parlour entrance was the young viera of red and yellow from the carriage along with a pale nu-mou in purple clothes accented with lilac as Lu waved to them excitably. All three of them sat down smiling and hugging, sharing pizza between each other as their babbling became near-incomprehensible to the raptor who smiled until his face would break up with tears. "See?" said Diana. "I told you you got no limits here." "D-did I do that?" "S'thuh Carnival of Dreams, dontcha know whut it is here?! S'all the dreams you ever wan'!" "I guess...I do miss pizza. But I think I have to go on and find Sarah if that's okay." "Alrigh', but! You forgot sumthin'!" "What's that?" She pulled from her dress a small woven circle of blue and green, and it wasn't until she slipped it along James' wrist that he realised what it was. His eyes softly glinted as he slowly pulled the bracelet up towards his left bicep. "I always keep forgetting I wore this." "Heehee, you better not!" "Sorry it's just so snug on me you know, but it's like you're right there next to me and I just never notice. Thank you." "Nah-uh, I oughta thank YOU fer whut you did. Yer the best friend I ever had." The young lady Diana hugged him tightly round the waist, her fingers smearing slightly upon his back as he chuckled and embraced her dearly back in return with a firm tightness, sighing at the smell of dust upon her always before he took his leave. Waving goodbye as she went back to her pizza, he watched the young three children Belle, Lu and Blum regaling each other with wild stories and using forks like swinging swords of champions before he bumped into something rather hard and thick. He almost apologised as he turned his head but then his blood ran cold. Staring down upon him at a good height of 7'4'', was a wide-eyed hulking brown bear in a top hat and bowtie holding a microphone with a death grip in one hand. James started to cringe slowly backing off with a panicked look in his eyes, knees trembling as he tried not to fall as he felt himself being pushed into a corner. But then he felt a second bump behind him as he dared not look. Whimpering with fright he looked straight upwards to find a large yellow beak with a disturbing amount of teeth inside of it trying to look away. On his left was the enormous purple rabbit with blank eyes and a thick blockish snout. On his right was a wiry-looking fox somewhat crippled in its mechanical aberrations with one gleaming hook and an eyepatch as James cried out: "OH GOD, OH GOD NO! WH-WHY ARE YOU HERE?!" "Huh?!" said a voice. "J-JUST LEAVE ME ALONE FOR FUCK'S SAKE I DEALT WITH YOU ALREADY!" "Woah woah jeez, chill out James!" "....huh?!" "You could have asked." The voice came from inside the bear as slowly his hands came up to his head, popping right off its neck to reveal someone else underneath. Much to his studded shock, it was a turian with classic stone-textured face and two red vertical lines on each cheek. The cocky swagger in his voice was what made FG suddenly recognise him as the leader of the Sole Calibrators, rock group and mercenary specialists. "WHA-...wh-wh-what the-...Lirem?! YOU?!" "Heh, yeah I know, the suit's kinda bulky isn't it. Come on, let's head to the back room." Slowly pushing him away from the children they made their way into a back hall which James recognised well from the pizzeria abandoned in the wasteland with scuffled floors of thick linoleum. Lirem seemed to have no issues in such a large suit as the other three animals took their heads off. The bunny was Norem looking similar to his brother Lirem, the yellow toothy chicken was Jax the wily krogan with smooth unridged head and lastly Areh the quarian was the fox still wearing his own suit of brown and green inside another suit which made James ask first: "How...the fuck are you even IN those suits?" "I have no idea," said Norem, "frankly your imagination is kind of getting stupid." "Why am I the chick?!" replied Jax. "Seriously, I mean it gives me a great figure but..." The sight of a krogan inside a large chicken suit that clearly did not match his own proportions given a hunky slender-legged portrayal was disturbing to say the least as he started posing with turn of the heel. "It's not exactly sumthin' I wanna show off." "Better you than me," said Areh, "I kinda like this one, very uh...retro." "Why are you even here?!" replied FG. "Uh it's your brain, you tell me." "I-i-i never...imagined you like this, this is just weird." "Maybe it's subconscious association. We're entertainers, these animatronics are entertainers, technically...so you put the two together!" "Who you think you are," quipped Jax, "Newton Geiszler?" "PFFFT...hhhehehehehahahaha, aww good one Jax." Both fox and chicken fistbumped as the two turians in bear and rabbit looked at each other with eyes rolling as Norem asked: "Let's just call it a side job and make this easier, I mean entertainers have to do several roles, we just had the park thing that you might have saw." "Oh yeah I saw it!" said FG. "You guys were playing with K.K. Slider!" "That dude is AWESOME," cried Lirem, "the way he plays that guitar is like jeez, he can pull seventeen different kinda sounds out of one acoustic! Not even using electric, that's insane!" "He always was a pretty amazing guy...I still remember his songs." "Totally...wish I was as good as him." "Don't say that," said Areh, "you're amazing, we broke through Horizon and got all that money raised!" "After YOU put us in without us being told." "I just wanted to do a good thing, everybody felt that when Eden Prime fell." "I know I know...heh, we're all a bunch of screwups." "No you're not." James smiled as he patted Lirem and Norem on the back. "You guys were so much more capable than I was on everything, I mean yeah you kinda lived a renegade life but in the end you all knew what to do. Whether it was getting ready to rock or shooting down some terrorists, I'm...really sorry you got caught up in-" "No no," said Norem, "no apologies. We had those when you left, we understand, no hard feelings. You'll get nothing back from us, we all got involved in some way, it's just how the dice rolls. Only thing we've got to regret is Leiah, and frankly her parents...understood eventually." "That doesn't quite help," said FG. "But I did get to see her at least and well, she's not upset with me or blames me so I'm okay. I hope you all are okay too." "Oh we're great," said Jax, "we got out of the merc game an' all about the music. Heh, that K.K. guy, wish we had him in our group." "Three guitars is too much," said Areh firmly, "besides he's all acoustic, I don't think our sound could match up with his." "Wuz just bein' polite Areh." "I-i know...so, hey, you're um...you gonna go someplace orrrrr check out any of the sights round here James?" "Yeaaaah I think I will," replied FG, "you uh...you guys have fun in your um...bear party pizza place." "No need to fear at ol' Red Fearza!" "I'm PRETTY sure that's not the name," said Lirem. "It's the one he remembers, so not my problem." "Haha alright then. Take care FG. We'll always be here if ya need us. Later dude." "See ya round guys!"

With hearty wave and pleasant parting, the raptor left the four group members to return to their strange off-duty entertaining the children in large robustly unorthodox outfits. He had to smirk at how dumb they looked with tiny heads against huge bodies as he walked out of the pizza place, looking along further past the promenade to find another new area of interest. There was a grand-looking tent proudly displaying itself as The Hall of Villains, painted red and green as James approached the large glittering sign of back-lit twisting cursive as he heard a squawking voice. "STEP right up, STEP RIIIIIGHT UP fer the grandest most TERRIFYING event of the year!" "Maybe even TWO years!" cried a dumb voice. "Come one come all to the Hall of Villains, where EVERY monster here is but the most foul and demonic, the most spine-tingling and wicked of all beasts you ever did encounter!" "They're REALLY mean!" "STEP right up everybody come on don't be a wimp! HEY, HEY FG, OVER HERE! O-OVER HERE!" He already guessed who it was with much surprise as the raptor managed to clear through the crowds finding two vendors at the front of the tent standing on either side of the dark looming entrance point. A tall lanky-looking robotic rooster with subtle screws in his joints, along with an odd short green automaton with eyes shaped like meter gauges, wheeltreads for feet and drills for hands. The raptor chuckled with delight as the rooster swept his arms open to hug him. "SCRATCH! Grounder! Awww man so good to see you!" "YEAH me too!" said Grounder suddenly clutching his leg. "Where you been, we got a show going on here!" "Really, what kind?" "It's about MEAN people, an' all the beatdowns you really gave 'em!" "The MEANEST of the mean!" cried Scratch. "We're talkin' about the WORST people you ever met, BUHA, HAHAAAAAA!" "Really?" asked FG. "Why here, in a carnival?" "So you can throw tomatoes at 'em! Well, we wanted to use like mirrors an' stuff too, but the mirrors are a real pain to clean!" "Yeah," said Grounder, "seriously! I keep trying to rub this green off everytime I see a mirror, but it never comes out! But anytime someone else goes to a mirror, there's no green on it! I mean, whut's that about?!" The raptor and rooster looked at each other with amazement at his stupidity before simply rolling their eyes as FG asked: "Soooooo you guys are just here minding a tent?" "Yep!" said Scratch proudly. "We're on official duty as roustabouts! We dunno what that means, but it sounds important!" "Iiiiiii'm sure it is um, should I go in? Nothing's gonna hurt me in there right, I mean it's all villains inside that place." "COURSE YA SHOULD!" cried Scratch. "They're all dead now so don't worry! You can totally go in an' reminisce about how ya TOTALLY CREAMED THEM!" "Really?" "Yeaaaaaaah well, the ones ya really hated ya got no remorse for 'em, and ya never will cuz you know they don't deserve it!" "I'll be the judge of that. I just had a lot of regrets to deal with back on the train so I'm not too feeling up to it right now-" "OHHHH COME ON, don't be such a baby, you'll love it! Totally!" "Why?" "Cuz...um...c-c-cuz it...it's really cool an' stuff-Grounder help me out." "They're really MEAN!" repeated the robot. "DOH yer not helping!" "Yes I am, I'm tellin' him whut's inside!" "You are USELESS at this sales pitch business!" "No more than you." A voice came from above them as the two robots suddenly cowered in fear backing away before the raptor stepped back. Something landed before him with a sudden gust, a rippling force that trembled and shook the tent curtains as there stood a blood-red beast, piercing yellow eyes on a reptilian face, long pointed ears and a head taller than James with blue wings. Lean but muscular arms made James shiver slightly as the beast flexed slightly whilst Scratch and Grounder panicked trembling at the knees and treads with the rooster squawking: "AH, m-m-m-mister Firebrand, s-sir, w-w-we were just-" "Failing," said the demon, "you are not exactly well-oiled at the tongue, are you two?" "I don't have a tongue!" said Grounder. "I weigh ninety pounds!" "Ah...hahaha...such pitiful friends you make James, a far cry from two night warriors." "Hey hey," said FG, "they're my friends don't you sass them, they do their best." "As best as they can do, but I suppose you are right. Now I ask you, what is the point of coming to a carnival without enjoying every part of it?" "Because I don't really wanna be reminded of all the shit I did with the hall of villains?" "Really? So you...DON'T want to be reminded of all your great and glorious conquests?" "Huh?" He swept his arm round James' shoulders in a flash with long smirk on his beak-like nose. "My...current underlings at least within your mindscape have had it all wrong, do not regard their words. THIS fine little collection of portraits is but a testament to your bravery, to your strength and determination which some might call foolhardiness or simply rabid stupidity. Now." A tender pat on the back as he walked James towards the tent opening. "You are searching for your demon, aren't you?" "Yeah," replied James, "you know where he is?" "I know ONE person that does know. Why not make a deal? You enjoy a nice long walk through the great battles and many victories of your historically bizarre journey...and when you come out I shall tell you where to go. Is that fair?" "I...well, when you put it that way I guess it wouldn't hurt to-H-HEY, WAIT!" Without warning he was shoved deep into the darkness by the Red Arremer as he stumbled into a long surprisingly well-built structured hallway for being within a tent. With one single corridor ahead of him in fine imperial green and wood panelling on the floor, he turned round to try and leave but the door had suddenly disappeared. In fact the entire front tent had disappeared rendering the firm cloth tarp to a solid thick veneer as he pounded against the wall. "S-SCRATCH! GROUNDERRRR! LEMME OUT, THIS ISN'T FUNNY! H-HEY, COME ON YOU STUPID RED FUCK LEMME OUT! ...fuck. Why did I let him do that?" He turned back towards the hallway and slowly made his way forwards into the darkness. The sounds of the carnival became muted the further he went in as he saw nothing appear to him for the first few hundred yards. Darkness grew evermore the further he walked in, as if the light were slowly dying out from a candle lit above him despite no clear sense of any illumination appearing anywhere within the hallway. After five minutes of walking, the hall had become pitch black and he could barely see even his hand across his face. The carnival had long faded until there was not a single sound of joy within this place. The raptor had an idea, slowly flexing his claws as he sparked a flame to light from his hands showing still the hallway's walls of dark green. But he at least saw the world ahead of him as he finally found himself facing a door. Turning the handle he pushed in to find a whole new hallway well-lit with seven doors now before him. It wasn't even a long hallway with three doors on his left and three on his right with one last door straight ahead of him. The first door on his left he took by a gentle opening as he disregarded his flame bristling from his hand with a simple swish of his fingers to stifle the crackling fire as he walked in. The sound of the ocean came flooding to him with one blast, the salt and fire burning constantly from around him as he saw a grand opening sky of dark bloodthirsty orange somewhat oddly stilted by its corners of the room. The walls and ceiling had been painted to give the impression that he was on a wrecked ship, sinking upon the waves of some small inland sea with the jungle behind him and a large cliff up ahead. But what truly made him unnerved were the two sculptures in the centre of the room. One was himself wearing green slacks with scabbard and scissors clashing raw against a vicious sword being gripped by a kremling. Bloated by his gut, thick-bellied with strong arms wearing a ragged brown cloak and black pirate's hat with one eye pulsating to a twisted bloodshot streak of furious insanity. He was smiling upon the sea amidst the sounds of flames and roaring seas as James walked towards the sculptures. They were not quite exact, for as good an impersonation as they were, he gently touched his own model's face and found it to be made of papier-mache with words inscribed minutely across his body. A slight polygonal texture crossed over both of their entire forms as he read the words carefully. "James began to realise the true madness of his former captain. The hatred in K. Rool's eyes was phenomenal, unnatural, vile. He may not have liked humans, sure, but not THIS much, wh-what IS this? What the hell is all this...he began to have second thoughts about wanting to fight him, and he considered running away. But he also worried that the "good" captain would succeed in his ambition, as well as the fact that his presence was intimidatingly spellbinding. The kremling leader raised a scaled brow." "And I did."

A voice came lusciously from his left stepping back hastily as he brought his own weapon out with scissors come clean. The face of K. Rool's model slowly twisted his head around to face him as his eye began to scrunch slightly with pulsating madness as the sound of constant crinkling paper was heard from the living sculpture. "You cannot forget about me...can you boy?" "...wha...wh-what the...fuck is this, is this some kind of joke?!" "No joke my boy. Do not worry, I do not want to fight you for you have bested me as it was. Even if...you have not succeeded in destroying me completely...khhhhmhmhmhmhahahahaha." "But...you're...just-" "A sculpture? Well yes, I am but a memory, but you cannot bear to have me fully realised or else...well...that is all I am now to you isn't it? A paper king on display to mock and ridicule despite your dear Kruz's misconceptions." "What do you mean? What misconceptions?! He looked up to you! I never understood why but he looked up to you dammit!" "And?" "...well. You got what you deserved, I don't need to think about you anymore." "Then why am I here? I thought you promised Kruz not to remember me as this." "I promised not to TALK about it, but I always remember you as this insane bastard whilst he sees you as like a dad. And that's fine by me, I'm not going to convince him, we both met you at different parts of your life." "Khhhahahaha...alright then. I am not the one you most fear after all, aren't I young James?" "Huh?" "I taught you one thing, which is why I still exist. To be wary of the lure of madness, perhaps you and I are more similar than we thought. You have a madness inside you too, dark and portent and you simply allow it to breathe only once before it can swallow you whole. Let me give you some advice. Do not let prophecy bewitch you. You are the creator of your own destiny. Decide with your own heart, not your weak diseased little head. Khha ha ha." "Whatever. You got what you deserved, lost your whole kingdom to a bunch of monkeys. Ha ha ha." The former king said nothing as he returned with fierce scowl of smiling manic as the raptor soon leaved, opening another door straight across the hall. Within this was a much more different technologically-advanced room that displayed a magnificent view of what he realised was the Citadel. A galaxy far away on a perfect piece of paradise with lone vista of a sculpted egg-white, circular in design standing high above a glorious lake with a sculpture looming beyond the safety railings as water rushed down pure and pristine in every direction from beneath him. In the centre of the room were three figures standing firm against each other, holographic renderings that occasionally flickered showing the discrepancy of such technology. The raptor stood in his lean red and grey armour along with two turians one of whom he stood next by. The one beside his model was clearly Dahnus Drumarien, the turian from the police station as both him and James held thick pistols defiantly before the enemy on the other side. A near-exact face to Dahnus' own with beige pale cheeks, forehead, and chalk-white down from her nostrils to the mouth and chin. "Damn...I remember this bitch...still can't believe it was Dahnus' mom. I never knew what her first name was." "You never will." The hologram of the assassin suddenly shimmered out of existence to reappear beside James himself, flickering still constantly as her aged voice came bitterly through. "Perhaps you heard my name in some small context but you will never need to know who I was. I never existed officially." "Then I guess nobody's gonna miss you...right?" "At least I will be remembered. My brothers and sisters in Facinus, who may I add you managed to delay but never STOP truly in our great mission of peace against the Hierarchy." "Don't give me that shit, I'm not fooled, you're a terrorist and you're dead. That's it." "Call me what you will, the media uses any name to justify its deeds. If I were a krogan they'd call me a thug, as a human they would call me mentally ill, which one sounds more sympathetic?" "Hahahaha, no no no no, don't you pull that shit on me." He punched his finger into her nonexistent image until it jabbed through her eye. "I came from a world where every non-human was seen as something to despise and blame for their existence, you do NOT tell me about fucking labels, also, you are STILL a fucking mass murderer and that's something that's DEFINITELY true." "Hmph. You seem so certain about your conviction of me. You are not even from my universe so that makes you more easy to manipulate." "Bullshit, I didn't listen to one damn thing about all the krogans and turians and quarians, I never made any assumptions. When my best friend a quarian was talking shit about the geth I wasn't on her side immediately, hell when it all came down to it, I pretty much disagreed with her! Took her a while to stop being angry at me but don't try to make me out to be some sort of patsy, I fought you, I SAW you kill people who did not deserve it and there is no excuse for what you did. I'm glad your son got to finish you and I'm more glad I was able to help." "But that's not everything," said the assassin unknown, "I feel something else from you when I am part of your memory also. I am the one part of Facinus that you focused on despite my great leader Kihilix Tanus whom you destroyed his secret weapon of, that loathsome idiot stunt driver Vamire Squaron that almost killed one of your friends or even moreso my most worthy of colleagues and close sympathiser Thrassil Sanerix whom you respected for his bloodless tactics." "Exactly," said FG, "because everyone he killed was people who fought against him with a weapon, he never killed a civilian or anyone that was unarmed. Oh sure he's a terrorist like you, the guy totally deserves jail, but at least he TRIED to avoid actually killing anyone that wasn't able to fight back. But you...are a fucking bitch." "So why am I here, and not Sanerix? Is there perhaps...something I relate from you, little beast? When that anomaly took you, wrapped you into its cold tender embrace you remembered me amidst the chaos of darkness that you had fought across plenty other worlds. You remembered me. Why?" James pondered this question as he calmly conferred upon himself. Delusions of the mind regardless he had to think wondering why the assassin was marked in his memory as opposed to any others he fought from the dreaded terrorist organisation. He had to come clean with the truth after having admitted plenty other sordid uncomfortable layers from the past few places he had been to. "Because...I pitied you. Because in the end you were just a wife grieving for her husband who got killed in action, and then your government refused to honour his existence because the mission he was on was basically illegal. I hated you for what you did, and what you represent...but I understood WHY you became that way and frankly...had my life gone in another direction I think...I could have become that person too. You reminded me why I could not give into my anger so much as you did. That's why I remember you." "Hm. So in the end I am reduced to a pitiful fable and excuse for someone without any balls to prove themselves. Heh."

She crossed her arms as she flickered back to her original station returning to the fight within media res, the raptor slowly leaving the room with nothing else left to say to her. He smiled confidently feeling more just about himself as he approached the next room. Through one door, he saw one single tapestry upon a wall showing a grand library atrium with a whole collective of characters finely stitched to the smallest detail. On the right there stood a wild man with a face like a crescent moon wearing long purple cloak and shocking grey hair resembling a wizard. On the far left was James amongst a poorly misbegotten group involving an owl, an albatross, a mole and just short of a hundred other creatures with soft pink faces, green hair and dark blue smocks. He smiled with little else to say, for it had all been said and done before as he closed the door and progressed to the next one showing yet another gorgeously intricate scene of battle. This one however was styled in that of Japanese woodcut, showing the villain on its left of the grand illustration as a sinister-looking human of sneering personage whilst wearing a labcoat and flatcap. But on the right of the woodblock print embedded within the wall was the raptor screeching defiant, with a team of mighty beasts behind him in the shape of a dragon the colour of flames; a reptilian-looking mantis with scythe-like hands green as the grass; a long-necked aquatic saurian of shining blue with hardened back; a wasp with lethal piercing lances and lastly a screeching spirit of dark pulchritudinous essence with ghostly hands. Another door further down showed a bizarre-looking room that resembled an elaborate pop-out book. A tall cardboard bridge above a roaring fire pit, represented by two lines moving back and forth with three figures standing upon the bridge. James, Koopin and another robed koopa brandishing a tall grim fireball, all of them as thin as paper in very simplified-looking detail, the raptor standing with scissors defiant against the mysterious figure whilst Koopin cowered behind him. James smiled only to finally see his love again in some form, somehow looking even more preciously adorable than ever before. "Oh god...heh...aww jeez. Koopmar. I never understood what the hell you were up to." "Really?" The robed koopa suddenly turned from his spot showing the other side of his paper image, which had him with his robes taken off completely showing an ordinary sad-looking koopa, with three streaked marks across the back of his shell. "I thought I made it perfectly clear to you when we faced off, that I wanted power to defy life and death." "But why? You manipulated a lot of people around you, caused people to go missing or get hurt, you threatened a barful of people when I thought it was gaybashing." "Hahahaha...is there an opposite for naive but just as stupid? Perhaps that's why you and Koopin get along so well." "Shut up, you just wanted power, you're a vain and selfish idiot who used his past problems to justify excuses." "You mean like you? Hahahaha, is that why you still remember me?" "No, it's because you made me realise how much I loved Koopin...even though I wish we'd found out another way." "Hm. Is that really the reason? Every little thing tangentially connected to your dearest has to be here? Why am I not in that special room of memories you so create for him?" "Because I don't WANT to remember you. I don't want people, especially not Koopin, to keep thinking of me as some hero just because I ran in and stopped you. I don't want to be some kind of jackass coasting on heroic acts forever, I just wanna live a normal life...which I did after I stopped you, and then the king made you pay." "Hmmm. Well, I can see you're sincere at least about that. After all I'm not the one that still haunts you forevermore, am I James?" He smiled saying nothing more as he flipped himself around once again, his two-dimensional image returning to its cloaked other side to stand defiant with flames above his head as the raptor left sneering. Two final doors now awaited him, one that was the last door to his right, along with the final door up ahead. Curiosity emboldened him to go further as he cautiously stepped through into the next door. A wasteland scene styled like a movie set, with howling breaths of wind across a foetid barren landscape of infinite pale yellow dunes and rocky black ruins of a past former civilisation. Old truck stops and mouldy tankers, two people stood in the midst of a long and broken road torn throughout the length of the set, the raptor once again looking more ragged and torn up than any previous incarnation, facing down against a hulking human being in a huge set of pure steel armour, a dark knight of the wastes with flaming sword cobbled together from gasoline and bike parts. The raptor smiled on this scene even more, remembering with a tingle of satisfaction as he walked over towards the two models, finding them to be made of actual clay. Yet surprisingly the human did not speak, no lecture was given as James simply patted him on the head patronisingly. "Good. Looks like YOU know your place now fucker...hmhmhaha." He had no more to say as he left the room with a sense of exhilaration flowing through him. But that would become threatened by the sight of the last door remaining at the very end of the hallway. Claws had raked through the entire wall rendering them with deep penetrating grooves tearing fiercely into the actual wood, leaving James rather nervous for what still laid ahead of him. The door opened without him even touching it almost beckoning him in as he saw a mirror within a dark room. The raptor stepped inside as warmth came to him, flooding his senses with a sweltering hot sensation of something cooking as if he walked into a giant oven, though it wasn't uncomfortably warm just yet as he approached the lone mirror on the opposite wall. It wasn't too dark to see as he gazed into it, seeing only but himself peering with one hand softly raising itself towards his scissors just in case for any fights. There would be no fight here when he saw two piercing yellow eyes slowly rear up from behind him. Turning fast he struck with ruthless swing, but there was nothing there to battle against him. The room suddenly became lit the moment he turned showing some sort of strange technological storage area with grey walls rusting everywhere around him. Nothing inside the place except for one small broken canister at his feet, two metal bases amidst a small cluster of broken glass. The moment he bent down to touch it, something shattered with a great trembling shriek from behind him, piercing the air itself as a dozen pieces of the mirror fell through to shower on his body whilst digging small tears and rips with bloodied gashes. He panicked stumbling forwards as he did his best to shield himself, finding several streaking scars thin and red across his body as he saw the mirror broken completely to reveal nothing but darkness from beyond it. The raptor staggered onto his feet as he saw something move, something long and sinuous. Heavy claws scraped across the floor but nowhere to be seen, he had felt this before not too long ago as he carefully backed away from the mirror frame. He felt a sudden motion in the air as if something whiplike had swished neatly past his head as he cautiously gripped at the door handle. He wished in that moment he had something much more powerful to protect himself with to keep whatever fiendish presence well away from him as he twisted the handle and ran. Something screamed. A scream he had known for many years that made his heart tremble with sudden fear deep and beyond any reasoning that he knew. As he ran down the hall he saw something tearing invisible at the walls around him with sudden gashes and ripping shrieks appear on both sides of him like phantoms in rage as he opened the next door and back into the darkness. He never stopped running, desperately trying to control his fear as something breathed thick upon his shoulder, slithering coiled tongue rasping across the front of his neck threatening to pull him back. A voice ran thick through his mind like the smoke of cremation. "Heeeeeere lies dear sweet James...under...ME." James saw the light the moment he started screaming, piling himself out of the door that suddenly now appeared before him without a single moment of hesitation. He fell from the tentflaps onto the ground shivering with a sudden fearful attack now upon him as he started trembling with his knees clacking together on the long wooden boardwalk. Nobody paid attention to him as he looked around seeing the tent flaps open behind him, crying out as he froze by a panic of his instinct. "What a gyp!" shouted a wily American voice. "I can't believe they call those freaks even VILLAINS!"

He softly looked up seeing three people calmly leave the Hall of Villains tent, vague memories of his darker times as he tried desperately to remember their names amidst his violent thoughts of fearful trepidation. An oddly feline humanoid with white fur and puffy blue hair like a mane along with an anthropomorphic wolf with grey-furred muscle like a martial artist complete with kung fu pants and sash, and finally a rather sultry-looking human of stylish glasses, long slender black outfit and hair to match perfectly. "I suppose for SOME," said the dark-haired lady, "they could be considered quite ruthless. Not that we haven't dealt with anything worse." "I know, right?!" said the feline. "I betcha I could take at least half o' those rubes down just like THAT, I mean sure they're all total jerks but-" "Only half?!" said the dark-haired witch. "Ohhh kitty, no need to be so humble. I mean none of them are even gods let alone lesser deities, you know what I call THOSE beasties dear?" "What?" "Cardio warmups." "Ooooooh suh-NAP!" and so her fingers clicked. "Is this going to take any longer?" said the werewolf. "I do not do well in such places and I agree, that hall was...disappointing concerning what we have faced." "Awwww come on Johnnyyyyyy, we're just foolin', let's go I wanna share some candy floss with you!" "Fur and floss do not mix." "Neither do cats an' dogs but look at us!" "I'm not-...nnngh, hm, I suppose it would not hurt to indulge in a sweet tooth." James was slightly too out of it to respond to any of them as they faded into the crowd, the raptor staggering back onto his feet also seeing that Scratch, Grounder and Firebrand were now gone completely from the tent's entrance which now remained unguarded. A note had been taped to it saying to go to the Creatures' Park towards the west which was just as good a place as any for him wanting to be as far away from it as possible as he slowly made his way round to the outskirts of the fair towards the west end of the peninsula. It was a huge fairground he wandered through giving him that same lack of comprehension that a child gets when lost in a crowd as he waded through the people, scissors glinting in the soft sunset light before seeing a grand field of soft sweet grass dotted full with monsters and feral beings. There was no fence to keep them in, not that they needed to for the open field was wonderful and refreshingly perfect. Large enough to house an entire herd of bison, the field dipped downwards onto the beach where the creatures could enjoy the calm cold sea to wash themselves in as the various carnival goers walked amongst them. They were curious and excitable, fascinated by the strange monsters that James recognised every single one of as he approached. His old team of pokemon all milling about and greeting the various guests that came and went, a stridant charizard at six feet, a swift and flighty beedrill, a lapras on the beach and a scyther old and calmly meditating to himself. Even more astounding, he saw Gruthar amongst them as clearly the most intimidating, the brown hulking deathclaw strangely smiling down at the humans, toads and bangaas gathering around him asking him many questions. The raptor smiled with amazement seeing them all in one place, but then he also noticed the ranger at the front entrance to the field, a human in brown short hair and brown eyes with fair skin who was currently talking to a young boy with ginger hair in school clothing. "Are you serious?" asked the boy. "Totally," said the ranger, "you wanna deal with psychics, you grab yourself a dark type." "That's totally not real!" "What, yes it is! Come on, what, you've got one of those Gen One deals, you should upgrade your dex!" "Upgrade it to what?!" "Um, I dunno, anything past ONE like sheesh come on, I know Psychic was pretty OP as hell but we've advanced since then and got some new types, you don't have to keep bashing your head against the wall with ghosts anymore!" "Are there at least any ghosts that DON'T have Poison types on 'em?" "Yes," said the ranger. "FINALLY. I mean, UGH, what's the point of having a cool ghost if it can't even fight a psychic properly?!" "Well I mean ghosts are still pretty good if you are working on a defensive strategy, see what you wanna do with a ghost is you firstly, have it fight up against Fighting types because they can't do ANYTHING to ghosts. Second of all, ghosts are pretty much for inflicting statuses like burn or confusion, so you wanna bring out a ghost to just screw with somebody's team." "Soooooo not really for FIGHTING but more for just-" "No no you DO have them fight Fighting types, cuz they work." "No I mean," replied the boy, not fight really but more like just...screw around?" "Yeah basically! OH hey James!" The boy turned round as the ranger waved to someone behind him, seeing the raptor approach as he waved in turn with excitement. "HIYA!" "Heeeey Michael! Um...aaaand youuuuu, how ya doing?" "You forgot my name didn't you?" said the ranger. "Look, I didn't have my usual clothes on today sooooo my name badge is not here!" "Nooooo why would I forget?! I just...can't believe everybody's here though! Like, all of my team right in there man I really needed to see them again cuz...I-i-i just had a really rough time over at the hall of villains so...but why is Gruthar here?!" "Oh him?!" replied the ranger looking back behind. "He had to go someplace in your head and well, he understood these guys a lot better than me, yanno it's all animals and stuff." "I...see, c-can I go in?" "SURE! Yanno I never knew you weren't a human. Then again, your head, so uh not surprising. I'm just here talking to Michael so uh, you can go on in." "Thanks. How you doing Michael?" "I'm great!" said the boy. "This place is really cool, I always wanted to see pokemon, you even got your own TEAM why didntcha tell me?!" "I...don't know I...heh, I don't think you ever asked me about where I really came from when we first met." "Maybe...um...they look really cool though, I kinda wish I had my own team." "Well yanno my friends in there would sure love to meet you if you want, I mean after all you're my friend too." "REALLY!? Can I go in with you?!" "Sure come on!" The ranger allowed them in as they mingled with all the strange beasts, but it would rather soon be the beasts mingling with them as the moment he stepped into the wide open field he heard a roar of feverish excitement from up ahead. Michael almost freaked at the sight of a large flaming dragon rushing up towards them with arms and wings spread open wide, burning tailtip swishing pure embers out into the air. "WOAH, L-LOOK OUT!" "REEEED!" James ran without thinking straight up towards the Charizard who reached right up to around 6 feet, not amazingly tall but still large in his muscular belly as he grabbed FG tight and suddenly squeezed him tight like a plushie. The raptor gasped wincing as the creature growled happily with snouts nuzzling thickly against each other. "R-Red...Red, yer a bit-yer squeezing me hard Red-c-come on lemme go you doof!" With one last slurp across the cheek, the charizard dropped him onto the floor as he smiled gladly, patting him with a small playful jab to the stomach as Michael gasped in sensational awe. "Wooooooaaaaah...he looks awesome!" "Heheh, Red this is Michael, Michael, Red. This dude here's the first...well, second pokemon I ever had and he's been my number one pal through all of Kanto right buddy!?" The sound of Red crowing a soft roar to the heavens was his response, gleefully pulling FG in for another hug against his chest but not as tightly as before as he simply kept him close. In response he called out towards the other pokemon in the place, turning his head with a much more excitable roaring noise as they responded in turn. The giant wasp Beedrill, the sea creature Lapras, and the mantis-like Scyther all came flying, trudging and walking forth with growing excitement at the reunion of their friend and former master. "Awww man...just...look at you! God, all of you guys I jus-woah h-hey Spike calm down!" "BZZZZT!" "Okay okay I know you excited but just cool your wings a bit okay?! Howsit going Shin?!" "Sssscy. Scyyyther, scy." "Ahhh...huh, well um, good to see you're doing well I-WOAH!" He felt the tender nuzzling of the lapras from behind him, a gentle moan trembling from the aged long-necked sea creature as James pulled his arms up to hug her chin. "Hehehe, awwww I missed you too Sarah. Soooo uh...where, it's not all of you bu-" "Cuuu!" A tugging at his leg made him suddenly realise as he turned to look down. His heart at first sank with a sorrow of rememberance but he braved a smile upon seeing the tiniest of his old group. A young reptilian creature somewhat resembling a brown baby dinosaur, wearing a skull with long snout upon his head from which soft kindly young eyes stared up at him from within. Cautiously he knelt before the little creature, one who had long faded almost certainly from existence but forever remained as innocent in his memory always. "Hey...Isaac, heh...I could never forget you." "CuuBO!" "Hahahahaha...awww dammit come here." He hugged him tightly, wrapping him in close with his arms as the little Cubone wrapped his arms back in turn, the creature holding a small bone constantly like a club in one fist and never letting go. The rest of the creatures pulled in mostly for a closer hug, Red especially who picked up Isaac and happily hoisted him onto his shoulders with his tiny feet wiggling on both sides of the dragon-like neck. Michael simply watched in amazement before gently coming forwards to patpat at Red's thigh curiously until the charizard grinned a fiendish smirk and pulled the boy upwards in turn. "WHA-H-H-HEY!" Suddenly Michael was placed onto Red's back, sitting straight behind Isaac who waved his bone in gleeful excitement, the raptor simply watching with a renewed sense of joy in their childish enthusiasm. The charizard soon began to run about with stomping feet making both children on his back bounce and squeal with glorious cheer as he heard somebody else come running straight towards him. A boisterous ball of black feathers suddenly barged into him by a fierce headbutt. "WH-AUGH, HEY WHO THE HELL ARE YA-" "KWEEEEEEEEEH!"

Flying onto his back, he stared up towards the vicious-looking beak of a black chocobo, shining with a spiked choker resplendently punkish on his neck as the raptor grabbed him by the neck to swiftly tussle him down into the grass. "CADBURY! HOLY SHIT CUMMERE YOU LITTLE BITCH!" "KWE-KWEHHHHH!" "OHHH NO, YOU AIN'T THROWING ME DOWN, IT'S ON NOW!" Throwing himself into a small playful fight with his cocky Ivalician steed James managed to twist his head enough to force him downwards and soon grapple him with his beak straight underneath. The bird fwapped his wings powerfully creating a small gust, but not desperately enough to hurt anyone as even James could recognise the sound of a chocobo enjoying himself before releasing him, the two slowly getting up before he hugged him firmly against his shoulder. "Awwww...man I didn't even think you'd be here, but I guess heh...you would have to need somebody around this place to liven it up hmm?" "Not as much as you would think." A voice came haughtily from behind him, stern and British as he felt something sweep overhead to land upon Cadbury's back. A ghostly barn owl with silver wings soon accompanied by a much larger bird that stood alongside the black chocobo with pure white feathers, soft feminine eyes and a fine golden beak glistening like jewellery. The raptor chuckled with his breath nearly taken away with surprise at the five-foot tall albatross standing next to the taller chocobo. "Sophelie! Alestes! Wow...um...I-i guess I DO remember your names somehow." "I would hope so James," said Sophelie the albatross, "even if we only spent but a day in slavery, at least that's what it felt like." "I guess so...wow...heh, this is kinda weird, I didn't think you would be hanging with all the other animals considering you were-" "Not originally?" said Alestes the owl. "True, but...feral is feral, intelligence can be measured in many ways, for example your steed here. He does exhibit some rather...human qualities." James wondered what he meant until he caught Cadbury's eye roving towards Sophelie with interest as he swaggered up towards her, ignoring the owl on his back as he seemed to raise his eyebrows and murmur sweet nothings into her ear. But her response was a look of shock and derision as she slapped him across the face with a white wing making him yelp and shake his head as James asked: "Woah woah, what'd he say?!" "I would not dare repeat it!" said Sophelie. "Your friend here has one VERY foul vocabulary." "Then again," replied Alestes, "perhaps that must be rather suiting to you." "Hey what are you saying?!" cried FG. "I'm a perfect gentleman thank you." "Hhhha ha ha ha ha...ohhh you incriminate yourself so easily." "Oh fuck you Hedwig!" "HAH! Well, I must say you make some rather interesting company across the board." "Indeed you have," said the kindly albatross, "your team of friends over there are most fascinating...especially the spirit one." "Spirit one-...oh." There was a slight contempt in his voice as James remembered who. "Yeah um just where...is she at the moment?" "I believe she was over by sir Gruthar over yonder, he desires to speak to you greatly." "Why didn't he come forward then?" "He is shy. Such a sweet creature once you get to know him." "I can empathise with him," said Alestes, "loneliness makes a cruel distortion of one's heart." "Kwehhh kwehh kwehhhh." Cadbury seemed to disagree, derisively rolling his eyes with a huff at the owl who simply responded: "Oh I'm sorry, are YOU learned in philosophy or at least ANY academic?" "KWEH! KWEH-EHH!" "Be as inventive as you want with your five words, you're still but a child rearranging blocks into crude slurs." "KWEHHHHH!?" "Oooookay that's it," said FG, "let's not get all your feathers out of joint okay guys, you're all my friends." "K-KWEH!" "Please, you always had my back in a fight. Alestes has got the magic but he has nothing on you in knowing how to kick ass like a real street brawler." "KWEEEEH! KWEH, KWEH!" The chocobo seemed pleased with this as he nodded with such arrogance towards the owl who simply tutted at the steed before replying: "Well regardless, I know you have business to do, so we will let you get on with it." "Are those lemming guys still here too?" "They are somewhere around, do not fear. Do not fret if you cannot reminisce on every single personage, you are after all rather busy trying to exorcise yourself. We understand." "Alright then...I'll just say hello to Gruthar and then go to where I need so, you all take care." "Farewell James." "Au revoir!" said Sophelie. "KWEH-EHHHHH!" Smirking at his Cadbury, the raptor waved goodbye and headed to the last part of the Creatures' Park, the hulking lone beast that stood trembling above every other animal in the place. Despite most people keeping well away from him by his own volition, James was not afraid in the slightest as he smiled at the huge deathclaw, who in turn smiled rather toothily. "You still gonna not join the party?" " I am not particularly social. But I admit some of the braver children have come to me and rather amazed themselves." "You met my friends at least?" " A most inordinate collection of creatures. Red especially I find most interesting as a very bold beast and yet rather vulnerable in his childish enthusiasm. Reminds me of you in better days." "I'll uh...take that as a compliment. It's good to see you again, I just wanna say thank-" " Do not waste your breath. Memories cannot return the gratitude, but I most certainly returned that when we parted. I know you are grateful." He brought his huge claws forwards as James shook them tenderly, before asking: "Uhhh, somebody said that Kirie was around here, is she-" Why yes. The voice of that one familiar spirit came whispering across his cheek from behind him as he turned to see something burn itself out from the very air itself. Smouldering dark purple flames coiled around itself, a pair of hands came wispily before him until the dark smoke turned bigger revealing a pair of eyes widely blinking along with a fiendish cackling smile. At a height of five feet altogether, the creature ethereal smiled gladly at FG as he added: "You know people round here got to stop doing that shit, just introducing themselves behind my back, it's getting kind of annoying." But it's so fun James...adds a little tension towards our meet. "Yyyyeaaaah. I don't need more tension than I already feel." I understand...are you...still upset with me? "You mean after all you've done and basically manipulating me across all these different worlds? Yeah, I still kind of am, but I'll at least get over it someday because I have more important stuff to do." " The demon is near," said Gruthar, " he has been waiting for you always, I can tell." "Do you know where he is?" " I recall that someone was waiting for you to explain such a thing, next to where the ferris wheel is. There is a carousel, she is waiting for you there." "She? ...heh, well alright then, awesome. See you at least understand what I want." " Even though I admittedly too did manipulate you on Kirie's orders." "Yeah but you were trying to teach me a lesson not to be such a suicidal little bitch, instead of, you know...tricking me to go to other worlds specifically." He said this with a stern look at Kirie who rather mawkishly rubbed her hands together as she floated forwards. I know you are angry with me, but I did everything for you. You are here now and bracing yourself to meet the demon because of me. Consider this. If I truly cared about only for myself, I would not have sent you to Meen's prison in order to free Twinsen. He has no relevance whatsoever to my own plans of freeing the Mother. "And Isaac?" ...I had no idea that would hap- "Do you expect me to believe that?" James said this as he turned fully towards the ghostly creature. "After everything else you've done shaping my whole journey out to fit your needs, do you honestly expect me to believe you had no intention of sending Isaac to his death?" Yes. Because I was not acting on my own orders, I was acting on behalf of the Watcher. "Well when I get out of here I better go fucking find this guy so I can punch him in the goddamn face." You'll have your chance James. But for now you must cleanse yourself of this evil. You may not be able to become fully rid of him, at least for some time but you can most certainly destroy his influence over you by weakening his strength. That is why I sent you here. I wanted to help you James. I wanted you to help me but I wanted to help you too. I never needed Twinsen for anything, I could have let those prisoners rot if I was so self-absorbed in my own personal quest for vengeance and vindication. But I didn't. I did this all for you. "Never mind the fact that I'm the one that has to jump all these hoops, you set them up, you're not exactly being a martyr here." I can only do so much, I am not a powerful spirit, Haunters in general are not particularly strong adversaries especially against those with magic strength. " Do not be so harsh on her James," said the beast, " you know in your heart that she had only good intentions for you to succeed regardless of her ways to complete such a task. You do not truly hate her, do you?" "No," said FG, "I...I never said I did. I just...I feel so betrayed and yeah I know we had a lot of fun and big adventures and in all honesty you are a pretty cool friend and...you did save me twice from being driven insane. But...I'll talk more with you when I get out and talk to the REAL you, then we can sort all this out that I'm feeling but, for what it's worth...I don't hate you. And I thank you for going through so much just to help me. Maybe I don't understand how you do all this but, I appreciate the fact you've gone through this much planning just to help me. Is that okay?" I think that is good, yes. Thank you. She bowed politely before she slithered her hands coldly around FG's shoulders, hugging him by a ghostly embrace as James grinned softly before a gentle smirk came across her features. You know, if you are still willing for time, there IS a bordello in this place. "Wait what?" Oh, you know...where you put your most sordid fantasies and dreams you ever wanted, certain personages that you've wanted to spend the night with, or commit a small meeting of bodies. "Are you...th-that's a place here?" Only if you were in the mood for it. I am certain that your many friends have all had a place in your bed. "N-not ALL of them jeez!" Not even Gruthar? "I...f-f-for fuck's sake Kirie he's RIGHT THERE!" " You have seen my penis," said Gruthar bluntly, " do not be so modest, I understand if you find me desirable to mate with." "WHA-NO, JUS-IT'S NOT, DAMMIT YOU FUCKING WITCH YOU'RE PUTTING ME OUT OF SORTS! HEEHEEHEEHEE HAHAHAHA, ohhhh James, you are so easy to fluster! "I-i-i don't need this! I don't need you doing this to me making me all awkward in my head! I DO THAT ON MY OWN!" But I did not even get to the good parts involving Kruz and Koopin together- "STOP IT!" Or the odd misgiving concerning your close friend Roy- "SHUT UP!" Or even your most shameful fantasies involving Koopin's mother- "OH MY GOD WOULD YOU SHUT UP FUCK'S SAKE!" He clamped his hands on her mouth in a desperate attempt to keep her quiet but she cackled excitably at her teasing, causing even Gruthar to chuckle a deep slight noise from his throat as he smirked with huge teeth. James looked up in a bristling defensive state with voice shaking through his awkwardness. "JUST for the record I totally do not fantasise of Koopin's mum, absolutely not like that, I respect her god dammit! She's just...she's just a really sweet mum and really nice to me and really...w-wonderful and adorable and perfect in every way j-just like her son and I kinda want a mum like that too someday S-S-SO JUST DON'T okay?!" " I say nothing in relation to your complex." "IT'S NOT A COMPLEX!" I would say it is James. "AAAAAAAAARGH YOU BITCH! THAT'S IT, I'M LEAVING!" He stormed off in frustration and panic as a sudden motivation to complete his mental journey had overcome him, the voice of Kirie transcending through the air to his mind still. Farewell James! Remember, fight the good fight and show no mercy to that demon! "I AM GOING TO KICK YOUR FUCKING ASS WHEN I GET OUT OF THIS PLACE!" I'll be waitiiiiiiing...hmhmhmhm...I cannot help it. She turned towards Gruthar as James fully departed their company. He is such fun to tease when he has such spirit. " I would expect him to be more confident about his fantasies in this place." If only we had time to see more of the sights. Oh well, the bell tolls not for thee it seems, hmhmhmhm...

Making his way towards the ferris wheel, he finally stood before the merry-go-round at the end of the park pier as the crowds began to fade from behind him. A grand turning wheel of gorgeous red currently stopped and waiting for customers, he saw six horses proudly smiling with joy in a variety of colours in purple, white, blue, yellow, orange and pink. But the lone grey figure that stood between him and the carousel was what he focused on purely as she smiled with hands in her pockets, brown button shirt and dark slacks with a long relaxed grin on her bottlenosed snout, the sun shining off her smooth bald scalp. "You made it." James had so many ways to greet her that he couldn't think of a single thing to say as he walked forwards gently, his eyes stulted as his lips strained to try and form words to the one person he had been wishing to see again for so many years. Nobody dared cross between them as the crowd remained in a large circle, the carnival's music continuing to play softly behind him. It wasn't until he was within three feet of her that he spoke finally. "You know normally I'm the one that's running you ragged." "Hmhmhah, makes a change doesn't it?" "I guess...it...it's so...I'm so...glad to see you again." "Heh...here I expected you to bitchslap me." "No. I'm just...I just want to see you again and know that...you're okay at least." "You'll find out one day. Come on, let's go on the ride fer a bit." "On this?" "Yeaaah come on, let's have some fun, you an' me. You always wanted to go to a fair with me didn't you?" She walked up onto the steps of the carousel as the gate opened gladly whilst James followed on. She hoisted her leg over the orange horse who wore a cowboy hat with her mane styled like a ponytail, whilst James after mulling things over slightly went for the yellow horse with soft tender pink mane and tail. The horses began to ride, slowly turning with the merry-go-round as it started playing its own song with a delightful calliope within the central column. Toot toot it sang, the horses riding up and down as both James and Sarah sat by next to each other. A smile spread across their faces, as the gentle rickety undulations of the carousel began to soothe them whilst the world kept on spinning slowly around them. Sarah turned towards James as he let the music take him away someplace else briefly. "You'll get through this." "Hmm?" His eyes opened from his small trance to look back at her. "You can beat him. I know you can." "How...why?" "Because you beat my demon. Remember? Maybe mine wasn't as fully formed as yours, but it's still the same thing. You stood up to me in my darkest hour, now you stand up to him." "But...I don't...this guy is way worse. He...he's a living monster, a REAL one." "So was I, once. So were a lot of people you fought, and didn't die because of. What makes him any different, and let's face it, inside your head, you've got everything you want at yer disposal, I haven't seen you get tired shootin' off yer nanos haven't you?" "That...no...I guess not." "So what are you afraid of? Losing? That's not the James I ever knew, you never thought of losing to anything." "That was my asshole self. I can't let it go to my head." "Too late." She nudged him across the way with a playful chuckle as James rolled his eyes but smiled back in turn as the carousel continued its merry tune, rippling throughout his mind with a softening glow as the sunset hues cast off the glint of the horses' porcelain bodies. The old bartender continued with: "How are you?" "Um...I'm fine, I guess, how's...you?" "Better since when you last remembered me, thanks to your revelations out on the wasteland." "Yeaaaah um...that, wasn't really-" "What? Fair? Come on I know what you think of me, you can stop trying to be humble." "Alright, alright...yeah, I jus-...hhhhh god this, this speech was something I was planning to do with you for real." "Well practice it on me right here, it's all good." "Nnnngh fine. I...wanted to be with you back home when I first started out on this journey, like the only thing that kept it going for me was to hope that some place out there had its own way back home for me and then I started remembering all the things I DIDN'T want to remember about you, you know all the shit you've done." "Ah huh," said Sarah nodding. "You were the one who raised me the longest, more than anyone else, at least a couple years more than my foster parents could, but that doesn't mean you were the best person to ever raise me, in fact I wanna say you were actually the worst person to raise me." "Seriously? What makes you say that?" "You're a mobster, a fucking criminal, you can dress it up all you want but in the end you're a ruthless bitch. You didn't wanna make me part of your business and for the longest time I thought it was because you thought I was too young and stupid to be part of your group. Then I realised with Gillian Delacroix it wasn't anything to do with how capable I was...but more because you couldn't trust yourself to be able to protect me from her unless I was at home with you, you did it to avoid your own guilt." "Hey hey now, that's completely unfair." "Oh yeah? Prove it." Sarah said nothing with her hand on the horse's hat calmly trying to compose a fair balance against his portrayal of her as the carousel continued its spinning charade of dancing races around the maypole all day. "I taught you to be brave against a world that didn't want you. I taught you how people worked, how to judge the ruthless apart from the open-hearted, I taught you to respect people of a greater authority than you regardless of your intentions." "You also taught me to be a killer," said FG, "even if it was through your example." "That is true. And that is my fauly entirely, but you were brave enough to stand up to me. That's important. That's why in the end I couldn't be mad at you, because in the end you were the one standing up to injustice, when I was being nothing more than a petty sadistic vigilante. Something I should have seen myself not to do." "Right. But that doesn't mean I completely hate you." "No?" replied Ms. King. "Of course not. You raised me, like it or not, you're the one who's always been the biggest influence on me and in the end, you did take me in and give me someplace to be. You weren't perfect, you weren't the mother I needed, but you were the one who was THERE for me and in turn I was there for you when you needed it because you never had anyone to really open up to. All those people who work for you, they have to see you as this cold bitch so you can give respect, and all the people outside of your group have to see you as this old girl serving out drinks and nothing else. You're important to me. I don't plan on ever coming back to live with you again...but I want to come back to see if you're still okay and if you need anything..." He placed a hand upon her shoulder leaning across the carousel's turn of the floor. "I'll always be there for you, somehow...boss."

A tender smile came to her lips as she nodded before putting a hand on his shoulder in turn as slowly the ride started coming to a halt. Grinding its gears until the gate finally opened, James and Sarah hopped off before the dolphin bartender stopped just behind of her young charge asking: "By the way, why did you pick her anyway?" "Huh?" "The pegasus...back on the ride, you picked her instead of anyone else, whysat?" "...I...I dunno? That's kind of an odd question to ask me." "Come on...you can tell me, what are ya so embarrassed about?" "I-i said I don't know! I just picked her that's all!" "James, I know you well enough to know that you had no reason to pick that one. The purple one is your favourite colour. The one with the hat, strong-looking cowgirl, kinda reminds you of me, the blue one's got freaking rainbow hair come on that HAS to stand out in some way for ya, those woulda made better choices for ya. So why didya pick the sweet yellow pegasus?" "They're all just plastic, why would you care so much about it?!" "I should say the same thing when you protected her specifically in Silent Hill then you chose her again exactly." "WHA-H-HOW DID YOU-...nnnnngh...g-god dammit I can't have any privacy in this place can't I?" "Nope. So come on, spill, what's important about this yellow one that you chose it twice, you surely recognised this merry-go-round like yer not stupid. I'm curious." He kicked softly across the wooden boardwalk feeling nervous all of a sudden with hands in his pockets. He carefully tried to compose the correct answer wondering why exactly it had been so important even though he did clearly remember that long-ago fight of a strange counterengagement within the lonesome silent town. "...I...I was worried for her. I...I thought the town would do something horrible and...if anything happened I...i-i-i-it's stupid I know, she's just a model, but...I was worried for her. ...she seemed so kind...I mean they all look nice but...she looked...like she couldn't be able to defend herself. I wanted to...keep her safe." "Hehehe...you never did have much compassion did ya James?" "Not like the world I grew up in gave me a lot of reason to have it." "But you did here...you cared for something that wasn't real, just because you felt something for it. And now, she's something even more." "Wha?" "She's your Kindness." From within the eyes of the pegasus there came a light shining from the depths of its plastic ceramic. A warm radiant beauty that shimmered in purest form that forced James to step back with hand over his face, blinded by its form, the carousel soon becoming swallowed within its wholesome embrace. Sarah was unfazed simply watching with her face become brilliant golden hues unblinking as the raptor staggered from the soul-piercing shimmering incandescence. Something began to walk out of it, trotting cautiously towards his feet. The light began to recede as James slowly refocused his eyes upon the stately-looking creature, frail and tender as a leaf in winter yet also of such majesty. The pegasus he had ridden on was now flesh and blood, or at least made of his hopes and dreams from the way it sparkled in the light. Flowing hair of soft lotus pink with pale yellow body, eyes of a slight teal quality that gazed upon him curiously without any sense of fear inside him. "Wh-what the...hell?" "Consider it a hidden test," said Sarah, "from the town itself to give you this, but the fact that you protected the one who was the weakest and most frightened of all, shows you actually care about defending those who cannot. Heh...either Glenn taught you a lot better than you think, or maybe you had it inside you all along and just needed the right person to coax it out from ya. God knows I wasn't the person to do it." He walked up a little closer towards the kindly pegasus, a strange creature that almost as if it did not belong here in his imaginings. And yet here it was with gentle nose sniffing and nuzzling against his cheek almost pitying him in its eternal piety. But James felt rather unnerved by this as he turned slowly towards Sarah with one hand he placed on the horse's cheek. "But...I don't need kindness for this." "Huh?" "I get what this is but, if I'm gonna face that demon, I need something much more than kindness in my heart. I need to be strong, or brave or something." "So you'd rather want Strength? Heheh...shoulda picked that when you were diving into yer heart." "Wait, what...oh......ohhhhh shit." "Hmhmhmhm...listen." She put a hand on his head, smiling cocky like always when in a good mood. "You'll do fine. You can do this James. I believe in you, if I saw you fer real an' heard all the things you ever done I would be very proud of you. You're a better person than I ever could have been, an' I know you wanna say it's because of friends like Koopin, you got yer friends an' I got mine an' they're the ones that influence us always so either way...I'm still proud of you for what you've become here and now. Go." He gave her a hug swiftly pulling her against his body as she gasped with surprise before returning the favour with a humble embrace, slowly squeezing James against her bosom as she gave his instructions pointing out towards the east. "Head out across the Sea of Sorrows and don't stop until you see the ruins of a lighthouse. Within its structure you will find a large cavern opening that goes deep beneath the sea but there's no water so don't worry about anything. There you'll find where the demon sleeps." "Why is he living in some caves beneath the ocean?" "Because it's weird and mystical and I dunno, some kinda bullshit for your metaphysical journey just stop questioning shit please, alright? Now get going, you ain't got all eternity to do this." "Right. I'll...see you soon, hopefully." "You will James. I know you will." He slowly hitched himself onto the pegasus who stood upright and ready to fly with obedience from James' heart pulsing against her mane as he took hold of her neck. "Alright girl...you ready to fly? Are you sure you wanna do this?" A snorting sound of firm preparation confirmed she was. "Okay...let's do this, HYAH!" Her wings swung out with the grace of an angel, flapping her feathers with incredible strength rippling along her thick membranous limbs as the snapping force of wind buffeted across the pier before she fluttered upwards. Her hooves left the ground and soon she was alight in the air with a powerful neigh of exhilaration across the rosy dusk, trailing clouds fluttering underneath as the horse rose straight upwards high. It was incredible, a sensation of pure freedom overwhelmed FG as he breathed with a great sense of relief. The carnival slowly began to disappear behind him as the sounds of cheers resonated up from above him. He almost swore that he could hear his name being chanted amongst the people, or at least by those of his actual friends. It only became even more wonderful once he heard a roar of familiar spirit from his left, seeing a charizard flap his wings gracefully high above the soft sweet sea. "R-RED?! You...heh, you finally learned how to fly properly." A strange noise almost reminiscent of laughter came bubbling up from his throat, breathless and ragged with joy as he heard other wings joining him. Sophelie the albatross alongside Alestes the owl, and even the black chocobo Cadbury was somehow managing to use his own wings to become finally free of the earth's boundaries as he cried out towards his master. "KWEEEEEH! KWEH!" "Hahahah, you all wanna come with?!" "Only for a bit!" said Alestes. "Just so you remember that you are not alone, no matter where you might travel across the worlds of infinite existence!" "Do not despair anywhere!" cried Sophelie. "We may not always be seen or heard, but you will always feel us within your heart, deep in your soul. Remember us, for your great encounter up ahead." Suddenly there came a sound from below, a rumbling noise that somehow reminded him of a powerful engine from his very right. Fluttering and shuddering from beneath the clouds there came a grandiose shape, mightily piercing the heavens with a tall sturdy mast of wrought wood and hardened steel. The sight of a grand sail fluttering in the breeze resplendent with the skull of a crocodilian beast upon two crossed bones. The Broken Petal had risen itself again. Higher and higher until it fully breached the clouds, James' winged friends slowly moved themselves into formation like a flock migrating, V-shaped as the raptor saw Kruz upon the helm, waving his single hand high upon the breeze. Even more wondrous was the sight of his whole clan along the port side of the ship, waving in unison as the kremling shouted: "HEEEEEEEEEY! YER NOT GOING ALONE ARE YA?!" "K-KRUZ?! HAHAH, A-ARE YOU ALL COMING TOO?!" "ONLY AS FAR AS THE BOUNDARY, ONCE WE REACH THE DEMON'S LAIR IT'S ALL ABOUT YOU JAMES! BUT WE MIGHT AS WELL HAVE ONE LAST VOYAGE HUH?!" "Sounds good to me!" A voice squawked out from his left arm which was slightly paler than before as it almost startled him by glowing a tremendous amber light flickering into a screen. The face of a young krogan smiled at him from the omni-tool's light. "J-Jax?!" "Look to yer left, we're comin' in hot!" As he did, he saw the glance of silver from across the shimmering horizon as the clouds began to form into something new. As if concocted from the aether of his imagination, there came a sleek smooth spacefaring ship almost smaller than the Broken Petal. James smiled with a gasp of light from within his heart at the sight of the Centurion Eagle as his omni-tool called out once more: "Maybe we can't fight in this thing but we can at least lend you a hand!" "Not too much though," said Areh, "but let's call it moral support huh? After everything you've done for us." "It's the least we can do," added Lirem. "Guys...yeah. Thanks, all of you, I know you're all just memories but...thank you." "DO NOT FEAR!" cried Fayne from the airship. "YOU MUSSZHT NEVER FEAR WHAT LIESSZH AHEAD!" "YOU CAN TAKE THISSZH MOLLY!" shouted Baldwin. "I MEAN COME ON, HE COULDN'T EVEN KILL USSZH!" "YOU ARE STILL MY LEADER," replied Navarro, "REGARDLESS OF OUR SHORTCOMINGS I STILL HONOUR THAT FACT! I KNOW THAT YOU WILL REMAIN SUCH AFTER THIS!" "I KNOW HOW THIS FEELS!" ended Dahlia. "BUT IF YOU COULD SAVE ME FROM MY OWN DEMON, YOU CAN MOST CERTAINLY DEFEAT YOURS! I BELIEVE IN YOU JAMES!"

The raptor smiled with tearfelt chuckling on his breath which turned hiccuping with excitement and enthusiasm to reach the final end. He pushed himself forwards in a slight motion to boost the pegasus' path as slowly his friends began disappearing from behind back into the clouds. They could not follow him into the path of darkness, he understood that innately. It was something he never wanted them to do but knowing he had their hopes and friendship, filled him with determination. As he crossed the sea further on, the sky soon closed towards a darkened red colour on the very cusp of twilight's end. The ocean turned into a tumultuous colour of blood as he kept an eye out for anything resembling a lighthouse structure. The sea seemed to stretch on eternally as the sun appeared finally from beyond the horizon. Light began fading sooner from this world the further on he flew upon the wings of Kindness, the unwavering gaze of her teal-glinted pupils remaining bright and spirited despite James feeling some trepidation in her movements. The further onwards they flew, the slower she started to flap her wings, a quivering tightness in her body underneath as her neck started to breathe with ragged hot gusts of breath from her nostrils now starting to flare themselves open. "What is it?" She said nothing but gave a look of fearful malcontent towards him. "Is...do you feel something?" The air started turning thick, unnerving both of them as if something was about to detonate, a tense heat flickering across the sky before there came a deep sudden cold ripping ice into their hearts. She started to panic, her hooves kicking frantically as her innate senses began picking up something devious within the vicinity of the ocean's length as James grabbed her calmly. "H-hey, hey! It's alright...you're high above, nothing can hurt you here, it's okay...it's all...good, w-wait what is that...hmm?" Something rippled across the ocean depths with odd motions of the waves as the raptor swore he saw something. Peering closely over the edge, he saw a great shadow for but a few seconds with huge wings swooping from beneath the sea, long and sinister with the grace of a shark hunting for its prey. But it was gone before he could fully adjust his eyes to the reddish colour of the sea before he looked up and saw mountains up ahead, brimming beneath the sun in black undulating motions frozen stiff by ages. There, he saw upon the sea a lighthouse standing tall of pure golden stone, in the last bleak rays of sunset. There was no light from the building, but it stood upon a rock and James knew it was his place to be as he pointed out towards it slowly coming in to land. Then the raptor noticed something about the way the mountains moved as he came close. They began to stretch, thickening out further across the horizon on both sides of his line of vision. They weren't mountains. They were wings. The sun suddenly blinked. "No...no, NO NO GET AWAY!" He pulled hard on the pegasus trying to force her to stop. "GET BACK, IT'S A TRAP DON'T GO NEAR THE LIGHTHOUSE!" She panicked staggering to flap her wings backwards as she stopped in mid-air before turning fast, running away almost as James saw from beyond the horizon a huge shadowed hand with thick claws of three tear across the sea. Violently striking the sea with an upwards sweep, a shattering tsunami began rippling across the waters before its hand struck against the lighthouse itself snapping it in half like a twig. The sun slowly moved towards the raptor and revealed a long fearsome beak almost shaped like that of a dagger. It was immense. The wings swooped high above him the size of thunderous storms that could flood a city as the shriek the beast gave was precisely the very same sound he remembered from many years ago, but amplified by a thousand more. His heart shuddered in panic, and as he did the pegasus felt it starting to shriek and turn fleet with fear back towards the way they came. But the beast gave chase after them and everytime its wings flapped downards it sent tremulent pulses throughout the entire sea with the sound of screams tearing across the very ocean. The sound of James' own screams piercing from every single direction around him as a storm began building throughout the air until he realised it was but the wings creating them. The wings WERE the storms as he looked back to see a monstrous shape, reminiscent of a pterodactyl of pure black with piercing yellow eyes and long crooked neck, bony visage down to its lethal coiling tail which cracked lightning shockwaves across the ocean breeze from it. Scorching bolts chased after FG, who desperately grabbed onto Kindness and forced her to dodge swiftly to the left and right but even close proximity sent trembling shudders of deep intrinsic pain throughout his whole being. "A-A-A-AAAAAARGH!" The beast only roared, its familiar appearance almost too terrifying for James to even look at but when he did it was enormous. The wings covered the entire horizon and the shattered lighthouse remained but a blip underneath the behemoth's body who simply hovered above it like a dragon guarding its most sacred treasure. It never moved far from that lone single island but James knew he had to reach it. He felt he was close to the demon's lair and it was too late to turn back. Trembling with his hands as he recalled every victory he ever could, he gripped the horse's neck and commanded: "Go back." She cried out in protest. "GO. BACK, we can't run from this! I'm not running away, not anymore because I'm scared, I know you are too. But I've been running away for too long to let this happen to me and I was scared even worse when I started this whole inner journey so you HAVE to turn back. Alright?" Still did Kindness refuse, her whimpering whinny of despair causing tears to fleck from her eyes as the raptor softly rubbed her head. "I know. I know...I'm scared too, but...we can't let it win. My friends just told me how much they believed in me, I'm not letting them down. Are you?" With a deep breath as he strengthened his resolution, the pegasus turned herself round by a slow looping turn as she pitched her wings leftwards, facing the great beast of the dreaded skies. It hovered above the sea waiting for him to strike first, eyes glinting with a cruel grin as he saw the fear in James' eyes and hot breaths as the raptor felt his steed remain in one spot, too scared to push forwards but not wanting to disobey the master of this world now seated upon her back. "Is that you?" asked James. "Is that you Scissoraptor? Are you trying to stop me with some trick because you think I'm still scared of HIM?" NO. "What?!" I AM BUT THE FIRST SCREAM YOU EVER MADE WHEN YOU WERE A CHILD. "Wh-who...it...it's not...really you, is it? I know it's not you, I don't CARE about you anymore!" I AM THE FIRST AND LAST NIGHTMARE OF YOUR BLISSFUL IGNORANCE. "I KNOW IT'S NOT YOU, FOR FUCK'S SAKE!" THEN WHY DID YOU RUN? "HUH?!" EVEN BUT A SHADOW OF ME, YOU STILL RUN FROM ME. EVEN WITHIN YOUR DREAMS, YOU RUN FROM ME. RUN JAMES. RUN...BEFORE I EAT YOU, AND VIOLATE YOU ONCE AGAIN JUST AS YOU ALWAYS HAVE FEARED. "S-STOP IT! NO, I AM NOT RUNNING AWAY THIS TIME, YOU'RE FUCKING DEAD FOR STARTERS! I DON'T EVEN KNOW WHY I WAS AFRAID OF YOU, YOU ARE NOT STOPPING ME!" BUT YOU ARE STILL AFRAID, PITIFUL JAMES. YOU CANNOT EVEN SPEAK MY NAME WITHOUT FEAR TREMBLING THROUGH YOU LIKE A WORTHLESS VICTIM. "_SO WHAT IF I'M STILL AFRAID, SO'S EVERYBODY! THAT DIDN'T STOP ME FROM SAVING PEOPLE AND IT WON'T STOP ME HERE! _"

With sudden fury overcompensating for his own fear the raptor flew hastily forwards against the great winged beast, the tremendous mighty wings flapping with monsoons across the ocean that buffeted across the pegasus' wings. Screaming back ferociously with anger, the raptor felt a surging pulse of frenetic energy from within as he watched for the next attack. He whispered something towards Kindness' ear as she nodded firm before the next lightning strike. Coursing thunderously from his tail a cracking boom shot forth across the voided sky as James pulled her hard towards the right to dodge the first of many strikes. Her wings fluttered left and right, strafing between the shocking strikes of electric force that sometimes sweeped overhead or even under, like deadly barriers trapping them against the bloodied sunset. James focused intently on the island beneath whilst keeping his senses aware about him for more lightning. But then came a violent typhoon from the wings that eclipsed the sky above them. Pounding them downwards hard towards the ocean, James plummeted by the tremendous strength of atmospheric pressure as the wings of Kindness bent deep beneath, her shrieking panic silenced as she plunged into the sea itself. Wings shuddering as she struggled to push through the water, flapping like a baby duck struggling to breathe as she dived ever deep into the murky waters. But not even within the infinite sea they were safe, the raptor soon seeing the eyes of his monstrous fearbeast glinting from the dark depths. The creature breached forth from beneath with a vicious set of claws the size of houses as he pulled the horse fiercely away by a blast of his own wind bursting from his nanos, hands sparking alight in the red waters as the pegasus forced herself free. Pushing harshly out from the water's surface, she flailed panicking and shrieking without any purchase into the air until James slammed his own forceful gale upon the waves to bolster them up into the skies above once again. He felt somewhat more powerful than he did in reality, the power of his nanos amplified by his urge to succeed as they broke free from the water's grasp to soon see the monstrous shadow chasing after them. Spreading its wings free from the salty depths, the embodiment of James' fear flapped with the sound of earthquakes in every trembling of its membranous reach, the pegasus struggling to fly faster and farther than the creature ever could. The more afraid he became of it catching him the closer it got, as he struggled to push fear away from his mind despite its calling voice breaching into his very thoughts. I HAVE BECOME WORSE THAN YOUR CHILDHOOD FEARS. The raptor turned violently fast once it came too close, just briefly snatching the tail of the pegasus from the beast's smiling jaws. I HAVE BECOME THE DEATH OF YOUR JOY. Spiralling fast to pick up speed they swooped down towards the sea before sprinting briefly across the ocean waves to where the island stood. WHEN YOU SLEEP BESIDE YOUR LOVE LONG AGO, HOW MANY NIGHTS DID YOU LIE AWAKE IN COLD FEAR OF MY VIOLENCE UPON YOU? Rising tidal waves began to chase after them with every stroke from the wings of fear, roaring demons of the deep as the raptor turned his head to fire cold piercing shots of ice, rendering each of the waves suddenly frozen solid. YOU CAN NEVER DEFEAT ME. YOU NEVER DID. I STILL LIVE WITHIN YOU, NO MATTER HOW OLD YOU GET. Screaming infinites passed by them in but a single flash as claws came swinging down upon their heads, the black shadow above their heads turning everything to darkness, not even able to see James' hand in front of his face. The hand of Fear cracked upon their bodies with one almighty force, knocking them powerfully across the waves like small skipping stones. Kindness screamed, suddenly finding herself beneath the sea as James grabbed on tightly even more than ever before. He shot forth with his hands across the waters of the ocean an icy smoke that robbed his breath from his body forcefully creating a small icy platform to stand upon as the pegasus struggled to stand up. Her body was bruised and welted all down one side, blackening thickly from her right along with James who stood firm and reseated himself upon the steed's back watching Fear slowly return to his place hovering above the island. YOU SHALL ALWAYS BE BENEATH ME...IN BODY, MIND AND DEATH. James said nothing, gently stroking the neck of his steed as she flapped back up into the air by his will and volition, hovering with wings striking upon the ice floe as it pushed away to disappear within the sea. He pulled forth his scissors from his back scabbard and pointed defiantly towards the great beast. "I'm not the little bitch I was when you met me. I took down worse assholes than you, I have NOTHING to be afraid from you, you know why? Cuz the one you're guarding is much MUCH worse than you and I'm gonna fucking burn him out of me so help me God." His confidence caused an eternal shriek, vengeful like a god's roar across the sea as the monster flew suddenly towards FG who began focusing everything he could into his blades. Remembering what he was told, he forced his power to build within the scissors as a mighty flame scorching across the raw steel with much greater strength than in reality. First it became a deep crimson amber, then a white-hot licking across the air itself before the flame grew stronger, and farther, lighting the way across the ocean as he raised it high above his head. Piercing upwards with ferocious flame, the raptor now wielded a torch-like length of over twelve feet, yet managed to hold it steady and away from his steed without harm out beside him as he waited. Fear had come upon him and the moment it struck with its claws, he swiped hard with his newly-infused weapon carving through the very fingers themselves as they were sliced and cauterised like chunks of the earth itself from a cliff. Crying out with agony it soon swiped with its other pair of claws but James soon struck them down too as his free hand began charging up with even greater strength. "YOU KNOW WHAT'S FUN ABOUT DREAMS?! I DON'T GET TIRED OUT LIKE I WOULD WHEN I'M AWAKE, LIKE THIS!" His open hand was now a thick green armoured cannon, blasting a violent explosion far more strong than the simple plasma blast he would normally emit from it. With crackling fireblast across the fearsome chest, the beast flapped backwards staggering with tremendous wings swooping above James' head as Kindness dodged beneath. With almost telepathic comprehension, she let James handle the battle whilst she evaded the coming strikes of lightning that threatened to pierce and deafen their very existence with the thunderous booms that echoed across the seascape. With fire-burned weapon and arm-braced cannon James waited for the next attack as Fear swung itself in towards the raptor's position threatening to open its jaws wide and crunch both steed and rider within its black-jawed beak. But he had another idea instead as he whispered something more to the pegasus. She did not object. She was a part of him in this world and so now became his resolution personified. She charged towards the beast's open maw as it came shrieking with the speed of volcanic ash. The raptor prepared himself with burning scissors alongside Kindness' cheek, lancing forwards like a mighty spear upon the knight versus the dragon upon the sea. He waited until he felt the sudden foetid breath blasting from the mouth of Fear itself, swiftly breaking down the nanos from his arm-cannon and forming something else. "WUUUULD!" Kindness tucked her winds in suddenly becoming a yellow bullet streaking across the sky as she spun viciously, the raptor boosting her speed with a sudden shot from behind of a pure incandescent maelstrom. A howling gust of wind that burst from his hand pummelling them straight through the inside of the monster's throat, his torrid lancing flame burning far beyond his scissors' reach becoming nothing but death heated from within the Fear itself. "_FUCK! YOU, RIDLEY! _" His final words before exiting the body of the beast, he forced the flames from his scissors to violently expel itself within every part of the monstrous interior, bursting with a dozen explosions charring and ripping through the darkness itself. Shattering lights that burned deeper with every strike, the FinalGamer with still-burning blades pushed through the back of his Fear like a parasite bursting free as he tore through the rendered flesh, seeing the shadow begin screeching unholy as its eyes wildly pulsed with ever-reaching suffering. With one final gasping shriek, darkness fell before FG as the monstrous thought-beast began falling towards the sea. Despite looking slightly charred, the pegasus and her rider smiled upon the burning creature that began to fall apart before it even hit the watery depths, crumbling like decaying wood to soon dissipate into a thick murky oil spill that would not even remain floating upon the ocean surface. Breaking up with the waves stirring its ashes, there was soon no remains of darkness as James made a target towards the single island rock with the lighthouse's base still standing upon it. There only stood the first 20 feet of the lighthouse standing after the monster's assault but soon he landed with Kindness planting her hooves upon a safe place. Next to the lighthouse's door remaining solely as a very simple wooden build with rusted handle, the sounds of the ocean soothed him by their tender caress against the rock shore as he walked towards the door. Large enough for him but not the pegasus who noticed the top of the lighthouse had been crumbled inwards to prevent any access from the air as she snorted with a look of confusion. "I guess I'm going alone," said FG, "I know it wasn't our plan but...actually I don't have a plan, not ever since I got here." She pressed her nose against his shoulder with a fearful look in her eyes as James turned back towards her. "Um...listen, I...don't exactly know what you are other than...Kindness according to Sarah but...thanks for helping me get here. I'll be alright. Don't worry about me, you just...get back on to the carnival and wait there, alright?" Kindness nuzzled more against him as she put her hooves firmly on the floor with diligence in her gleaming eyes. "You...want to stay here? ...I mean, I dunno if I'm gonna be able to come back a-after all...well...it's up to you, I won't make you hang around if you don't want to but after we took down that thing I...I trust you. I mean, I HAVE to since you are a part of me I guess?" She nodded understanding, snorting slightly to affirm her decision as he hugged her close around the neck, giving her a solid pat before he opened the door and walked in. There lied darkness forevermore and one deep spiralling staircase downwards within the rock-borne depths circling around the pit beneath FG. The door disappeared behind him the moment he stepped in seeing nothing but the wall as he gave a firm sigh and nodded to himself. He took his first steps into the demon's darkness waiting for the end of all this pain he had wrought. Once and for all.