To say my dreams were pleasant, or nice, or anything like that, would be a lie. I just kept seeing nightmares of Akumu and Umbra, my mind replaying the same images over, and over. Although... they were not my memories, I was seeing Umbra slaughter Ponyville, turning them into... those things from before. My last dream was of me, fighting whoever the point of view it was with a huge sword I saw me lopping off... my? his? her?... screw it, the spectators arms, them regenerating, and so on, before eventually... I killed whoever the spectator was with a slight grin.

I awoke with a scream. My surroundings were identical to those of a hospital, white, uncomfortable beds and all, in the other beds were Luna, Celestia, and there was one that held Noctis. My scream waking them all up, and Noctis fell out of bed. Oh, and Die was standing near the beds.

Where am I?

“FUCK! I’m up, I’m up!” I heard Noctis say from the floor.

“You’re finally awake! Took you long enough.” Luna said with a look screaming boredom, and levitated Noctis back into his bed.

“Sooo, where are we? Oh, and did we win?” He asked as he was put back in bed, but before anyone could answer, Shade burst in with a doctors uniform on.

“I heard a scream, is everyone OK?” She asked in an altered tone.

Die rolled her eyes, “Ven’s just having nightmares.”

“Of course he would, after kissing you.” Noctis replied with a grin.

Oh if only you knew the truth, my fine feathered friend. I thought, recalling my dreams.

“What happened? I remember seeing Die... Dying, I gave her a potion... then...” I trailed off.

“You don’t remember? You went berserk and killed Akumu, sorta. You even sealed his sword in stone, permanently, and him for a couple of centuries at most. So, we don’t have to worry about him for awhile.”

The information took a moment to sink in, “... I did what!?”

“Wait, he beat Akumu? Wait, LUX! Where’s he?”

Shade looked up from the clipboard, “He’s fine, from what I saw, he had only a bruise on his shoulder, he’s in the dark room with Erahaor.”

“Figures. And...Tox...she’s really...” Noctis trailed off.

Not what? What happened to Tox? I thought, getting an answer to my thoughts almost immediately.

Aqua looked down, “Yes, Lux found her body, and gave it a proper burial.”

Noctis grit his teeth, “Dammit...I keep thinking I can save everyone, but I can’t save anyone. DAMMIT!”

… Body... No...

“Wait... Tox... died?” I asked, my eyes widening, and I could feel them trying to release tears, but I held them back.

Noctis got a look on him of sadness, and... regret? “Umbra turned her into a sinner, and I had to fight both him and her at the same time. I kept thinking I could save her, but instead, I’m the one that killed her.”

DAMN IT. IT’S... It’s happened again.

Memories of my past flooded through my brain, and I stood up, before walked out of the room, muttering “It’s just like before.”

I had no clue where I was going, only that I had to get away. The moment I was out of the door, I broke into a run, and felt hot tears running down my cheeks.

Damn it! Why, god, do you keep taking my friends from me? What the fuck have I done to deserve this? I thought to myself.

“Ven?” A voice said from behind me.

“Not now, Die.” I said, slowing a little.

“Don’t, Ven. You need to talk about this, or it’ll destroy you from the inside.” She said concerned.

I walked through a random door, leading into a dark room, “I said I don’t want to talk, lights on.” the room lit up to reveal a room with four doors.

“Ven, don’t make me force a conversation out of you, cause I will.”she threatened.

“Go ahead and try, I’ve already turned to death more than once.” I said as I kept walking, through a different door.

“Ven, please. Do you think Tox would want you to feel this way? I know this much. Friends don’t want others to blame themselves or feel bad when they die. They want us to live our lives, to remember the good times as well as the bad, but not to let them consume us.”

I turned around, “Except my friends HAVE died because of me in the past. No matter where I go, death follows.”

She walked up to me and slapped me. “Don’t you ever say that. Don’t ever blame yourself. It doesn’t matter how they died, they would never want you to blame yourself, nor would they forgive you for doing so.”

I gave her the look of a deadman, “I had to kill one with my own two hands. I’m pretty sure thats my fault.”

“So did Noctis, or did you forget what he just said. He wanted nothing more than to save her, and he couldn’t. He’s probably feeling the same way you are, and seeing anyone like that, it makes me feel useless. That’s why I won’t stand by and let you blame yourself for whatever happened in your past.”

I turned away, and walked through another door, “Too late for that.”

She ran after me and grabbed me in a bear-hug. “Don’t walk away. Please, Ven. I just want to help. Please, just let me help you.” She said with tears in her eyes, holding onto me as if her life depended on it.

“I... I’m sorry.” I said, letting my head hang, as tears began to flow even faster.

“Ven, why do you blame yourself? I don’t understand.”

“First friend that died: I led him to his death. Second friend that died: we were joking around, and he was shot by a guy who was offended. Third friend that died, and first girlfriend that died: I had to strangle her myself. Fourth friend that died: killed by people who were trying to get to me. All of them, my. Fault.”

“Ven...I still don’t understand. You’re being too vague. I need to know the story behind it.”

“That wasn’t even a fifth of the number of friends that have died.”

“Ven, I’ve lost people too. Everyone from my hometown. Both Noctis and I blamed ourselves at first, thinking we would have been able to do something if we’d stayed. We learned the hard way that sometimes things are just out of our control. How did your friends die?”

“Maybe another time, Die. Maybe.” I said, removing myself from her embrace.

“Ven. At least promise me this. Promise you’ll talk about it to someone. Please.”

I turned to look at her, my eyes finally done flowing, “Die... I’m sorry, I can’t promise that. I still don’t know if it’s something I will talk about... Please, just...” I sighed, feeling defeated, “You know what? You want to hear my life story? I’ve got a better idea: I’ll show you, follow me.” I said as I walked back the way we came.

______________________________________________________________________

I walked in, and sat in the center of the dome, before saying “Play memories of Rey Maxwell: deaths of friends and suicide attempts: all. Order: Chronological.” I said, before closing my eyes, and plugging my ears so as not to see it or hear it. I then added, “Show to: one person: Die Proelia.” I turned to Die, “Never tell anyone what you’re about to see.”

“I swear on my honour. But how’d you know my last name? And Rey Maxwell, really?” She asked with a raised eyebrow. “That’s...interesting.”

“Hey, I never said Ventus was my real name, and about yours... I dunno.” I said with a slight shrug. “I just... knew it.”

It’s just like those dreams, they were like memories. How did I know that?

“Guess it just proves you’re a good BF. So, we ready to start?” She asked nervously.

“Just... Don’t be too surprised by what you see. Run simulation for: Die Proelia.”

_____________________________________________________________________

“So, now do you understand why I don’t like talking about my past?” I asked, right after the memories ended, I could tell because the room powered down, and by her reaction, which told me it was on my last suicide attempt.

“Yes. But I still say their deaths are not your fault. You couldn’t have known what would happen.”

I sighed, “You still don’t get it... I’ve come up with a theory: I am an agent of death. If someone gets to know me, they die, that’s how it’s worked in the past. Interesting though, how even if that is the case, death won’t take me in. It’s also the reason I was happy when I met you, if I am an what I think I am... then at least someone I know won’t die before me.” I smiled, remembering thinking exactly that when I first found out she was immortal.

“Ven, I honestly have to say, I don’t believe in things like agents of death or things like that. Bad things happen, yes, but I don’t believe they happen because of things like that. I believe that you were unlucky in the past, but I’m gonna make you a promise, right here and now. Even if the world itself were to end, I will never abandon you. I’d follow you to hell and back.”

“Something else about that, that wasn’t just every friend of mine that have died, that’s every friend I’ve had. Period. And I’ve seen more death than most could take without going crazy... I often wonder if I already am, and just can’t tell.”

“Oh, I know you’re crazy. But in a good way.” she said, wrapping her arms around me. “You saved my life, remember. And Noctis’ too.”

I rolled my eyes, and kissed her lightly, “I remember... By the way... how did I stop Akumu, anyway?”

“To be honest, I don’t really know how to explain it. The last thing I really felt aware of was you getting really angry, your eyes turning almost completely black, just a little bit of orange for the colored bits, and your teeth all became as sharp as knives. You got a really, demonic-looking, sword, and that’s when you went berserk on him.”

I thought for a moment, before my eyes widened. “That...” I pulled out of the embrace, sat down, and said “Create drawing board,” I began to draw the sword from my dreams, “Did it look like this?”

Die looked at it for a moment. “Yeah, that’s it.”

I thought for a moment, “So... let’s see... thats the third odd thing I guess... Hmm...” I put my hand on my chin.

Die shot me a questioning look. “What? What’s up?”

“First thing: The dreams from earlier being like memories of a battle where I was wielding this from the enemy’s point of view. Second thing: Knowing your full name without ever hearing or reading it. Third thing: the blade from my dream being what I killed Akumu with.”

“You didn’t kill him. You sealed him in stone.” She said in a matter-of-fact tone.

“You know what I mean, but seriously, those three things have to be connected, right?”

“They could be. For one, your ‘dreams’ probably are memories. What did you see?” Die asked.

“Myself, attacking... well, me, with that blade, my eyes were black with orange irises, and a strange black wind was flowing around ‘me.’”

Die’s eyes widened slightly. “Ven, you were seeing through Akumu’s eyes! Was there anything else, anything before, or after that part?”

“I saw from two point’s of view a single scene that played over and over: Umbra slaughtering a whole town, turning some into Sinners.” I chose not to mention the town being in Equestria.

“Sinners?” She asked, confused.

“Those things that were made with the blade of sin. Anyway, there were three types of them: the humanoid winged ones he called ‘Neowings,’ while others were just color coated heartless, so he just called them by their heartless name and their sin, like ‘Living Bone of Greed’.”

“I see. So...he turned the inhabitants of an entire world into these, ‘sinners’? And before you ask, when Noctis gave me his powers before passing out, he shared ‘some’ of his memories. It never gave me the names of the creatures, just the part about a world being destroyed by them. It’s weird like that.”

“... Huh... Change odd thing number two to: I know things I couldn’t possibly know” I said, “Oh, and before I forget to try this, Create drawn weapon, enforce weight.” The blade appeared in my hands, and it was freaking heavy. I nearly dropped it just trying to hold it up. “What the hell is this thing made of?” I asked nobody in particular as it fell from my hands with a loud clang.

“Maybe it was made using your sense of humour?” Die replied sarcastically.

I rolled my eyes, “Very funny. Remove weapon.” The sword disappeared, leaving a small crater in the ground a few inches deep. I stared for a moment, “Uh... Oops.”

“Discord’s gonna kill us if he finds out.” Die said quietly, trying to stifle a chuckle. “Oh well, what he doesn’t know won’t hurt him.”

“Um... what was it... Create manual for VR.” I said, summoning the book, “Lets see... commands... commands... AHA! Turn on system, auto repair.” I said, and several mechanical arms popped out of the ground, tearing out the damaged tiles, and putting in new ones. In a matter of seconds, it looked like nothing had happened, and I let out a sigh of relief. “Turn off system, auto repair.”

“Woah.” Die said with a dropped jaw. “I am SO gonna abuse the hell out of that!”

“Be careful, the tiles the mechanical arms are under are irreplaceable according to the manual. Though technically they are around the edges of the room, still.” An idea came to mind, “Hey, Die, if you could change me in any one way, what would it be?”

“Hmmm, you really wanna know?” She asked seriously.

“Go ahead,” I said, a grin on my face.

“Fine. Ven,” She said, stepping closer, “I wouldn’t change you at all.” She wrapped her arms around me.

“Really? I always thought I would look better with brown hair...” I said looking up at my blond hair.

“That’s what you would change about yourself. I wouldn’t change you, even if I could. If I did, it would be the same as saying I didn’t love you.”

I smiled, and kissed her, “And that’s what I love about you.”

“My brutal honesty?” She asked with a smile.

“What can I say? I prefer the bitter truth to a sweet lie.” I said, grinning a bit.

“Well that’s good, cause with me, that’s all you’ll hear.” She replied, kissing me again.

“Be prepared to get it right back.” I said, not entirely sure if I was talking about the kiss or the brutal honesty.

“Ok then loverboy. So, your room, or mine?” She said in a seductive voice.

I thought for a moment, “How soft is your bed?” I asked.

“Softer than the beds in the castle.” She replied.

“Definitely your room.” I said with a grin, and began to carry us both off with the wind.

“So, how far do you wanna go tonight?” She asked.

“I could ask you the same.” I said, putting her next to me in the air.

“Hmmm, I say, let’s see where the night takes us.” She said, pecking me on the cheek.

It took only a minute or two to get to Die’s room, and when we got inside, and closed the door, Die grabbed me and threw me over her shoulder, straight onto the bed. She then walked over, smiling, and jumped on top of me, peppering me with several small kisses. “So, you gonna sit there slack-jawed, or you gonna kiss me back?” She asked with a smirk.

In response, I kissed her, opening my mouth, and letting my tongue run free, only to slam into Die’s teeth, and pulled back to see her grinning. “Ah ah ah, not so fast. Gotta work for the french this time.”

I grinned, “All righty then.” I said, before slowly kissing her, on the mouth at first, before I moved down a bit, kissing her neck. I then flipped us over, so that I was over her.

“Ok, that was impressive.” She said, unhooking her shoulder guards and pulling her shirt over her head, revealing an orange sports bra covering a pair of surprisingly modest additions.

“I aim to please.” I said with a cocky grin, “As do you, apparently.”

“Nah, it’s just those shoulder-guards are murder on the joints. And I can’t take them off without taking off the top too. But that doesn’t mean I’m not happy you like it.”

I chuckled, “What isn’t there to like?” I asked before continuing with my assault of kisses, getting her shoulders, arms, and ending up with my mouth over her navel.

“Um, Ven, I’m starting to feel a little nervous here, and coming from me, that’s saying something.” She said sheepishly.

“It’s ok, if you’re nervous, we don’t have to go all the way.” I said, smiling softly at her.

“No....I-I want to, it’s just...it’s...” She mumbled the last part.

“What? I... didn’t quite hear that.” I said, straining my ear a little.

“It’s...my first time...” She said, her face turning red.

I chuckled, “So that’s what it is. Well, for your information, you aren’t the only virgin here.”

“Ok...” She took a deep breath, “Ok, not nervous anymore. Thanks for that. I feel better knowing I’m not the only first-timer in the room.”

I smiled at her, “Ok then.” and with that, I began to slowly take off my own armor, revealing the outfit Lumos made me, “Ah, it feels so good to be out of that.” I stretched a little bit.

“Yeah, and it didn’t do those justice.” She said, pointing to my arms.

“You like what you see?”

“If I didn’t, would I do this?” She said, before planting a kiss right on my lips and trying to push her tongue between my teeth, to which I responded with opening my mouth up, and letting our tongues play their little game, as I slowly let my hands explore Die’s body. I pulled out of the kiss, and moved down, about to remove her pants, when suddenly the door opened, and I heard a familiar voice say, “Die, I came to ask you...where Ven...was...what the fuck!?”

“Um... Uh...” I tried to come up with the words to explain, as I felt myself blush with embarrassment.

Noctis had covered his eyes, but he was smiling. “It’s cool, Ven. We’re all adults here, and it would be stupid of me to try and tell my sister who she can and can’t be with. It’s her choice, after all. Anyway, glad you’re here Ven. Discord, Celestia and Luna wanted to see you. They wanted to make sure you were ok after...well, everything. I’ll tell them you’re fine, but you’re busy.”

“No, I’ll go see them,” I sighed, “You already ruined the mood.”

“Ok. Oh, and one more thing,” He said, turning towards the door, “Name the first one after me!” He said, running out the door and laughing as he quoted Die’s words from when we walked in on him and Luna.

I turned to her, to see her blushing, “Don’t worry about it, the chances of that are honestly pretty slim, assuming I do know anything about the biological structure of immortals.”

“It’s not that, Ven. Actually, technically, I can get pregnant, but only if I want to.”

“Ok, that is probably the coolest power I’ve ever heard of.” I said with a blank look on my face.

“Yeah, it’s also a good way of finding out if you’re really the one. See, if I want to get pregnant, but I don’t, it means that the one I’m with isn’t ‘the one’.”

I smiled, “I thought it was your first time, so how would you know this?” I said with a slight chuckle as she blushed even more.

“Let’s just say the Orbs don’t beat around the bush when it comes to ‘the birds and the bees - Immortal Edition’. That’s the only time I’ve ever actually heard a voice come from them before though. At least, the only time I actually remember.” She said.

“Eh,” I said with a shrug, “I should probably go talk with the princesses and the spirit of chaos.” I floated up, and said “Watch over my armor, will ya?”

“Can do, Ven.” She said with a warm smile and a quick kiss. “Just make sure you come back in one piece.” she said jokingly.

“That depends on their mood, not mine. On another note, one last thing,” I thought of how to word it, “Maybe we should wait until we’re back on Equis again, before... you know.”

“Sure...it’s like they say, the sweetest things are always worth waiting for.” She said.

“Reading the quotes on Discord’s wine bottles, are we?” I asked with a slight smile.

“Wait....DISCORD HAS WINE!?” She yelled.

“And beer, and mead, ale, the works. Though I haven’t had any... yet.”

“Don’t even think about it Die. We don’t need a repeat of the Bahamut incident!” Noctis said, reappearing for a brief second before slipping away again.

“... How did he do that?” I asked.

“Shadow walking. Basic darkness ability. The user enters what is known as the Shadow Zone, and from there, they can see the world through shadows, as if they were windows, which they can exit from to almost any point. The more practice they have, the further they can go.” She explained with a huff. “And how was I supposed to know Bahamut could get drunk? Or that he’d destroy an entire mountain while he was.”

“I... What?! You got Bahamut drunk?”

“I....kinda might have given him some Vodka. And some Whiskey. And maybe a barrel of Hard Lemonade.” she said, rubbing the back of her head and giving a sheepish smile.

I smiled, “Sounds like someone here knows how to party.” I said, stifling a chuckle at the mental image of the huge dragon, drunk off his ass.

“Not really. I’ve never actually drunk alcohol, to be honest. I’m technically too young.” She admitted.

“Same, though I want to try it... Maybe I’ll buy a few bottles of Discord’s wine, and let it age a bit more... Eh, I’ll ask him about it at the talk I’m about to have with him. Later!” I said, as I floated out the door. I then angled myself as aerodynamically as I could, and went to the bridge, thinking over the events of the last several minutes.

________________________________________________________________________

I opened the door to the bridge to see the princesses and Discord sitting around a long table. Upon noticing me come in, Discord hid a bottle of some sort, (probably his wine) and coughed loudly.

“Well it’s about time you got here.” Discord said, in a voice of minor annoyance “We’ve been waiting for at least three hours.”

“Can I help it if the messenger is slow to find me?” I said with a grin.

“That would be my fault,” Luna admitted, lowering her head, “I may have...”

“I don’t want to know.” I said, holding up my hands.

“It’s nothing like that, I swear!” She said quickly. “I just sort of left him stuck in the shadow zone for a while.”

I gave her a look that said ‘really?’ and said, “You couldn’t think of a worse way to torture him?”

“HE MADE A SEXUAL JOKE AT MY EXPENSE! And being trapped in the shadow zone can be very torturous if you’re not used to spending prolonged periods inside it.” She said with a small frown.

“I would have personally done the ‘water mill’ torture style.” I said with a shrug.

“Can we please stop talking about your bizarre fetishes and get on with why we’re here.” Celestia said in irritation.

I chuckled, taking the attack head on, “Oh fine, why did you ask me here again? I forgot if Noctis did tell me.”

“First, we wanted to know if you are feeling alright after what happened. I know that Tox was a--”

“Don’t finish that sentence.” I said through grit teeth.

“Well, we need you to talk to Noctis. I’ve tried, and we can’t dissuade him from what he is going to attempt.” Luna said worriedly.

“Damn it, what in the seven circles of hell has he done now?”

“He is going to break the one universal law that must never be broken. He is going to try and bring Tox’s soul back from the dead.” Celestia said seriously.

I facepalmed, “That... That guy is such an idiot. Even those ‘gifted’ by death himself can’t do that.”

“Well he’s taken it upon himself to find a way. We need you to convince him that it can’t be done. We’ve lost several friends in the past who’ve tried to do what he is going to attempt, and we cannot lose another. Please.”

“Say no more, princess, I’ll talk to him.” I said, “I know what happens when one tries to revive the dead. I know the price of it well, as well as the fact that it doesn't even fully work.” I turned to the exit, “If I fail at dissuading him... just stop him by any means necessary.” and with that, I flew out of the room.

Let’s see... I think Lux could help me find him. I thought as I turned a corner, headed to the dark room.

“Ventus, wait.” a voice called behind me. I stopped, and turned around to see Luna standing there.

“Yes, princess?”

“I need to tell you, it’s...it’s my fault Noctis has started trying to bring Tox back.” She said. “It’s because of the shadow Zone.”

“What do you mean?”

“Ventus, the Shadow Zone can affect your mind if you spend too long inside it. They can hide it well for a time, but eventually, those affected by its pull will stop at nothing to achieve whatever it is has been shown to them.”

“I know that already. Which is why I know the seriousness of the situation.”

“Did you know that it was the Shadow Zone that created Nightmare and bonded her to me? That it is most likely what created Akumu?”

“Yes and no, I knew it created Akumu, but I didn’t know about the Nightmare part. But it takes about... 24 total hours to obtain a darkside from it, if memory serves.” I said, calling on my newfound information. Seriously, how the fuck do I know all this? I asked myself silently.

“Noctis did not obtain a second darkside. The zone simply amplified the strength of one of his desires.”

“I know that it can do that, as well. It’s most likely guilt, more than anything, now, if you don’t mind, I’m gonna go stop him.” And with that, I took off at about mach 1, taking corners instantly, and heading for the dark room to find Lux.

The dark room was... accurately named, in the sense that it was very, VERY dark inside. when I opened the door, the light that went inside was actually EATEN by the darkness.

“Lux! You in there?”

I heard something move near the back of the room, so, swallowing hard, I stepped into the darkness. “Lux?” I tried not to let my voice shake.

“Yeah?” I heard his voice say from every direction at once.

“Where are you? I can’t see a thing.”

“Well the room is devoid of light, stupid human.” Erahaor’s voice said.

“Oh right, forgot you were here too. Anyway, Lux, Noctis is about to do something... Really stupid.”

“What?” He asked.

“He’s going to try to revive Tox.”

I heard the sound of what probably was a facepalm, “Damnit, the fool’s gonna kill himself.”

“Yeah, yeah, lets just go stop him before he does.”

“Right,” A hand fell on my shoulder, and suddenly i felt myself drop downwards, into a coldness I recognized as the dark passages, “Ok, found him,” Lux said. before pulling me into a bright room.

Once my eyes adjusted, I saw several piles of ingredients in what looked like a summoning circle surrounded by candles, and Noctis measuring out what looked like salt.

“Get. Out.” he said, without turning around.

“Noctis, you have to stop this, you have no idea what will happen to you if you mess with death. I do know, but that’s beside the point.”

“Luna already told you about the Shadow Zone, I’m guessing. Then you know I can’t stop. DAMMIT!” He yelled as he spilled some of the salt.

“Only the part about locking you in, the rest I already knew about. And it’s only salt.”

“Yeah, how do you know about the Shadow Zone anyway? Are you a Shadow Walker?”

“A what?”

“A Shadow Walker. It’s what we call those who can willingly enter the Shadow Zone.” He explained.

“Oh... No. As for how I know... I have no clue, I just have the information, with none of the pretext as to how.” I said, shrugging.

“Enough. I’m done talking. It’s my fault Tox is gone, now I’m gonna fix it.” He said, reaching for the last jar.

Thinking in the most reckless way I could, I used my wind to spread the ingredients over the entire room. and some out the window. “I said, don’t. Do it.”

“You, just made a big mistake.” Noctis said, in a voice that wasn’t his own. It was completely flat, and it sounded like a woman, sort of.

“And you are?” I asked it, giving it a ‘really?’ look.

“I don’t have a name. All I know is I’ve been living in that damned Zone for the past two centuries. Then this idiot’s girlfriend locks him here, and while he’s looking for a way out, I came in. Even managed to cast some illusions making him and everyone around him think the zone just amplified his guilt.”

“... That... wow... he’s stupider than I thought he was.” I said, shaking my head.

“Aww, don’t talk about my host that way. That’s my job.” The nameless one said in a playful voice. “Besides, it’s his bitch-of-a-girlfriend’s fault for trapping him there in his condition anyway. Now, where was I?” She started to gather the ingredients again. “Oh, and this time, no interruptions.” Noctis’ body glowed black, and a dark barrier surrounded us.

“Well, at least you have a better sense of humor that Akumu did. Also, nice barrier. But you don’t seem to have Akumu’s... talent for dark material either.” Lux said, examining the barrier.

“Oh, that’s not normal darkness honey. This darkness amplifies your negative emotions, and turns all of you into targets for each other. In just a few minutes, you’ll be ripping each other to pieces while I perform the ritual, get this kid’s soul ripped out of his body for eternity, and take said body for myself.”

“Wow... You know next to nothing about this ritual, don’t you? It doesn’t just destroy the soul, but the body as well.” I said, “Trust me, I have a good knowledge of death and how he works. As for the darkness... Lux, would you like to handle it?”

He grinned “Aye, captain,” he said, and the darkness began to slowly move, flowing into a dark passage, as it was going in, a small, jagged knife fell out.

“Hey, isn’t that... that unnamed knife you made?”

“Damn it, not again, it just keeps coming back.” Lux complained as he picked it up, and threw it back in with all his might, closing it as the last of the darkness went in.

“Now then,” I cracked my neck, and scattered the ingredients again, “How would you like to spend another few millennia in the darkness?”

“Excuse me? Your question makes no sense.” ‘She’ said.

“Oh?” I asked, as I bent the air around me to make myself appear invisible, “It doesn’t? My friend here just got rid of your darkness, and I sealed a darkside like yourself in stone for the next 200 years, and you think we can’t banish you to the dark zones?”

“One. I am not a darkside. I used to be a Shadow Walker, until my so called ‘best-friend’ stabbed me in the back when I showed him the Zone. Idiot never knew that if a non-walker enters the Zone and ever lets go of the one that brought them there, the Zone rips them apart, and the remains just fade into the shadows. But it didn’t matter to me. I should have died. Instead, I was cursed to survive as nothing more than a GODDAMN GHOST!” she yelled. “I AM NOT GOING BACK TO THAT AGAIN! EVEN IF I DIE, I AM NOT GOING BACK!”

“Wait wait wait,” Lux said, “Just one question: once you have a body, what will you do? That’s all I want to know.”

“Why do you care?” She said with a sneer.

“It’s my job as a guardian of darkness and light.”

“If you must know, I have a grave to visit. After that, I don’t know. I’ll probably just wander around the worlds or something.”

“If that’s all, then I have a separate solution.” Lux said, with his arms up.

“Oh, and just what would that be?”

Suddenly, gear by gear, a bipedal mechanical body began to form next to him, “I happen to be able to control this metal quite well.”

“The fuck!?”

Lux rolled his eyes, “Oh come on! I’m telling you I can give you a body made of a metal stronger than diamonds with a simple soul injection, what the hell is wrong with you people?!”

“Wait, what? You want to help her?” I asked, staring at him.

“I’m a gentleman, I have to.” He said with a shrug.

“Yeah right. I know how this’ll end. I trust you, then I end up back in the Zone.” she said glaring at us.

“No, no dirty tricks, as the self proclaimed god of Neutrality, I vow I will not do that.” Lux said with a single hand up.

“God? You? That’s a laugh. You look like one of those kids the bastard used to pretend he wasn't beating up. God, I can’t believe I was ever friends with him now.”

“Don’t believe me? I’ve been to many worlds, seen things that almost prove it. Also I can do this.” And as he said that, a pair of wings burst from his back, one white and feathered, the other black and leathery. Also half his hair turned white.

“That’s...you realise the black one looks like Sephiroth’s, right?”

“Wait... how do you know of Sephiroth?” I said, looking at her with a bit more interest than before.

“Well, it was 2010 when I ‘died’, FF7 had been out for years. Why, what year is it now?”

“You say you were in there for 2 centuries?”

“Yeah...where are you going with this?”

“My god I’ve been gone longer than I thought.” I said, facepalming, “But still, its nice to see someone from my planet again.”

“Wait, you’re from Earth. Please tell me the government didn’t do that to you!” She said, pointing to Lux, horrified.

“No, I was given this power by a being only calling itself ‘whisp.’”

“Seriously, Wisp? What’s next, a guide called Navi?” She said sarcastically.

I grinned, and said, in my best impression of the blue fairy “Hey! Listen!” I then ended my impression, and spoke normally “Anyway, the year when I left was 2013, Lux left in late 2012. But on a more serious note, Lux, why the fuck are you trying to help her?! She fucking possessed him!”

He gave me a cross between a glare and a look of boredom“What part of ‘Neutral’ Do you not understand? I belong to neither your side or hers, I just want my friend free through a peaceful solution, and from what I can tell, she isn’t a threat. Therefore, I will help her.”

“Fine! If it blows up in our faces, it’s your damn fault if she kills us or something!” I shouted, before walking to one of the corners, and eating a roll of bread that was sitting there.

“Oooookaay. Your friend is kinda temperamental.” She said. “And by the way, about your earlier comment, Noctis isn’t an idiot. I just had an IQ of over 200, last time I checked. So in a battle of brains, I can beat most opponents.”

Lux turned to her, giving a slight smile, “For the first part, he’s angry because you took over his friend, and soon to be brother in law. Second, and unrelated, Sephiroth had a white feathered wing, Cloud was the one who was drawn with the black leathery one.”

“Not in Advent Children.” She replied smugly. “Sephiroth had a black wing.”

Lux shrugged “Fair enough. Also, what did you mean I looked like one of the people your ‘friend’ beat up.” He said, air quoting the word ‘friend.’

“Just that when I looked at you, your face sorta seemed familiar. I remember my ‘friend’ beat up a kid years ago that had a similar face. Hell, for all we know, it could have been you. That was the first time I ever questioned him.”

“What did he look like?” He said, pulling out a drawing pad from nowhere in particular, with a pencil.

“He was caucasian, 6ft 2, had short, spiky black hair, sharp nose, really small ears, dark blue eyes, and a scar right between them in an S shape from when his old man took a branding iron to him.” She said, shuddering at the last part.

Lux just looked up, saying, “So that’s what happened to him... So he was eaten by darkness, huh?” He said, folding his hands behind his head.

“Not eaten in the traditional sense, he was ripped to pieces and absorbed.”

“Actually, that sounds pretty accurate to the term eaten.” Lux said matter-of-factly

“Trust me, if you saw it, you wouldn’t call it eating. You’d call it puke-city.”

“There actually is a way to show him,” I said from the corner, “The VR room on this ship allows you to show memories to others.”

“Seriously? We’re gonna go through this ship where noone knows anything about me, to a room made to fool your senses? This has prank/ambush written all over it.” She said in a flat tone.

“Think what you want, I was just saying that the VR could be useful. Speaking of which, I’m gonna need to do a bit of training once this is done, being in a two month coma kinda isn’t that good on the body.”

“Yeah, it definitely didn’t help your friend’s mental state. Now, just a minute. Gotta get out of this.” ‘She’ said as a small light appeared in front of ‘her’ and started to grow at an alarming rate. Suddenly, the light exploded, and when our eyes stopped burning, we saw that Noctis was unconscious.

“The fuck just happened?” I said, looking down at Noctis, and trying to get the salt out of my eyes.

“I left his body, genius.” A voice said from behind me. I turned to see a floating ball of light. I instinctively covered my eyes, but then I heard a laugh, and it was coming from the light itself.

“Ah, so that’s what you did.” Lux said.

“Yeah. Oh, he’s gonna be unconscious for a few hours, and when he does wake up, he’s not gonna remember anything.”

“So, does this mean you accept my offer for the mechanical body?” Lux asked.

“I guess so.” she said.

“Well, three things about it, One: the machine itself will change once you are in it, probably to form the look of your old body. Second, You have to stay near a power user, otherwise it will become immobile, and third, you will have a nervous system, so you will feel pain. The last one was a ‘be careful’ thing though.”

“Greeeeaaaaat.” She said sarcastically. “One warning. If I catch either of you staring at me for more than a millisecond, you’re gonna lose your chances of ever having kids. GOT IT?” She said in a low growl.

“Oh, also, before I inject your soul into it...” Lux spawned a rather badass looking outfit, like a ninja costume, but made from a similar material to my outfit. He then put it onto the robotic body. “Just in case clothes don’t spawn on it.” He cracked his knuckles, “Now then, shall we begin?”

“Sure. Just lemme know when you’re about t-AGH!” she flinched as a sharp pain reverberated through her mind.

“Sorry, It’s my first time working with an actual soul, rather than pure energy.” Lux said, a look of worry on his face. “It’s nearly done.” He was making motions with his hands that reminded me sort of of sewing, or stitching.

“By Odin’s beard this is horrifying.” I said, watching the soul wither slightly as Lux sewed it into the cybernetic body, before being fully absorbed into it. Suddenly, the sounds had stopped, and the gears in the body started to move. Muscles burst from the gears, followed by a skin growing out of that, and long, straight black hair coming out of her head, she had a pointed chin, and a generally small bone structure, though muscular. Her eyes opened, to reveal that they were grey.

“Wow, Lux, You’ve gotten better with your metal, to be able to create a body.” I commented.

“This feels...kinda weird. But at least I’m able to feel something other than pain now.”

“That wierd feeling is because you’ve been without a body for so long, as well as the gears inside you.” Lux looked over his work for a few seconds, “Ok, it seems I didn’t forget anything this time.” He said with a sigh of relief.

“Doesn’t feel like you did.” She said, rotating her neck and smiling as she heard the joints pop every now and then. “Ahhh, can’t believe I went 200 years without being able to stretch my body. Plus I had this itch I just couldn’t scratch, it was so annoying.”

Lux held out a mirror, “Is there anything I got wrong?”

“Nah, I look just like I did back then. Actually, I seem more physically fit. Not an ounce of excess fat anywhere.”

“That’s because you run on chaos energy rather than carbohydrates.” Lux said with an air of general happiness over succeeding, “Which is the reason you have to stay near a power user for the body to work. Also, you don’t have the need to eat, drink, excrete waste, or... really anything, you don’t even have to breath with that body, if you don’t want to.”

“Chaos? Cool. Hey, can I break any of the laws of reality or something like that?” She said, switching from her serious face to the kind you’d see in a child at their first carnival.

“Sadly, that would need more excess chaos energy than we can give off, so no.” Lux scratched the back of his head.

“Crap. So, is there a way to make it so that when I go I won’t have to stay near a power user, as you call yourselves? Cause when I do go home, I plan to spend a lot of time at that grave. What date is it here anyway?”

“I don’t know, and I don’t know. Although, what town is the grave in?” Lux said, looking a little sheepish.

“Cork. You know, in Ireland.”

“I see, then we have to touch down at two separate graveyards, I guess.”

“I haven’t seen my family in almost a year.” Lux said, with a look that said ‘you don’t want to know.’

“I...see. At least tell me the bastard responsible suffered for it.” She said in a cold voice.

“I don’t know if he did, I saw a spike of darkness go through him, but then again, when I was starting out, my dark spear wouldn’t even make a wound in anything. It could only hold things in place.”

“That’s explainable. Let me ask you, how did you feel when that spike went through him? What was going through your mind?” she asked.

“Mostly rage, from seeing him stab my kid brother in the throat with a fucking GAS INJECTION KNIFE!” He shouted the last part, darkness beginning to seep out of his skin.

“There you go. You wanted him to suffer for what he did. That’s how you make the darkness kill. You have to want the person dead, or it won’t do the job.” She explained. “So, next time you’re in a fight, remember that bastard, and remember how badly you wanted him dead, and focus that desire onto your opponent.”

“Oh, I didn’t want him dead,” Lux said with a sadistic grin “I wanted him to suffer as his victims did, torn to shreds by hand. Then gut, and the organs removed.”

“Well, that works too.” She said with a shrug. “Who knows, maybe that’s exactly what happened. Or maybe the darkness permanently trapped him in his own personal hell, where exactly what you wanted happens to him over and over for eternity within his mind.”

“I recommend you stop there, before I begin to lose my source of rage.” Lux looked upwards, “Now then, lets get you introduced to the group!” He said walking out the room.

I slung Noctis’ unconscious body over my shoulder. “Ugh, this guys heavier than he looks.”

“You know, now that I’m not inhabiting his body, he looks kinda adorable, like I just wanna--”

“I would recommend you stop before his mare-friend hears you.”

“Oh come on, I didn’t mean that. I’m not into him that way. I meant I’d just act as if he was a lost puppy or something. Is that a result of this new body or something?”

“Probably not.” I held my watch up to my mouth “Hey Discord, we have a newbie on board the ship, could you show her around, oh, and bring Jolt with you.”

“FUCK NO KEEP SPARKY AWAY FROM ME!” She shouted.

I looked at her, “What?”

“Sorry, residual memories from being in Noctis’ body. Apparently he and Sparky don’t play well together. Oh, and he’s waking up.” She said, pointing to Noctis’ stirring form.

“uhhhhhh, the fuck just happened? Did I get hit by a train or something?” He asked, opening his eyes and wincing.

“Bout time you woke up.” I said, putting him down. “And no, you were just trapped in the shadow zone for a few hours before she got you out.” I said, pointing to... Damn, I never got her name.

“Where am I and what the fuck happened?” He deadpanned. “AND WHAT THE FUCK AM I!?” He yelled suddenly as he failed to get up.

“Oh....crap.”

“Noctis? What’s wrong?” I asked, kneeling down next to him.

“This is bad. I think when I left his body, I may have taken some of his memories away. They should come back in a few days, but for the meantime, he won’t remember anyone.” She said.

“Any idea which memories you took?” I said, giving her a look of ‘really?’

“Long story short, judging by his reaction, I took any memories from his arrival in Equis onwards. Possibly earlier ones too.”

“Well then, this sucks.” I helped Noctis up “Noctis, listen to me, my name is Ventus, and you have lost a few of your memories.”

“Your name is wind? And what are you on about? What memories? Did I forget the part where Shin-Ra turned me into a FUCKING HORSE!?”

“That was the Lunar orb, not Shinra, you haven’t-”

“FUCK! How do you know about the Orb? Die and I never told anyone. ARE YOU A SPY!?”

I held up my watch “Die, your brothers gone crazy again. Could you come here and get him?”

“SHUT UP, I’M NOT CRAZY! YOU’RE CRAZY!” He yelled.

“You know that’s the craziest thing you could say, right?”

“No, the craziest thing I could say is I’m a talking blue horse with wings and I’m proud of it.” He deadpanned, before realizing what he said. “Wait...WINGS!? FUCK!”

“... Anyway, back to my explination to what’s happening. The Solar and Lunar orbs are not from your world, they come from the world of Equis, roughly.... four months ago, you were brought there by the orbs. You have lost all memories since. Oh, and Akumu is now sealed away in a seperate body that i turned to stone..”

“Who’s Akumu? And four months!? What the fuck did I miss!?”

“The last two you didn’t miss much, as you were in a coma. The first two it would be better if Die explains it when she gets here.”

“No thanks, I’d rather keep my sanity thank you very much.” Noctis said. “I don’t know if you know this, but when Die gets really into an explanation, sometimes you get sucked into it as if you were in the training room at Shin-Ra HQ.”

“Oh, also, on a separate note, I’m dating your sister.” I said, and prepared for his reaction.

“Wait, what? My sister’s dating a lunatic? That’s weird, she said she had a crush on...you know what, never mind.” He said.

“Hey, everyone is insane, those who say otherwise are idiots. Plus you also have a girlfriend now.”

“Wait....WHAT!? That’s impossible, I can’t talk to girls to save my life!” He shouted.

“Thats news to me. By the way, what’s the last thing you remember?”

“Being put to sleep so they could begin the SOLDIER Procedures. Why? Wait...I get it. This is a dream!” He said with a small grin.

I hit him in the side of the head, “This isn’t a dream, if it was, you wouldn’t be able to feel pain in it.”

“Ow, fuck. Dammit. Not a dream, got it. Wait, that means I actually have a girlfriend? Since when? And who?”

“I’m not sure about the since when part, but to sum it up, with a literal goddess of the night.”

“Wait, a Goddess? As in, Immortal, All-Powerful? How did that happen? And seriously, what would a Goddess see in me?”

“Well, lets just say the Lunar orb gave her her power too, as well as some... similarities in personality.”

“What kind of similarities?” He asked cautiously, one eyebrow raised.

“It would be better if you just met her.” I held up my watch, “Discord, Could you teleport Luna and Die to my location?”

“On it.” I heard Discord’s voice say.

“And three... two... one..” I counted down.

“Wait, who’s--” and then, in a bright flash, Luna and Die were right in front of us.

I saw Luna about to say something, but I held up my hand, “Before either of you say anything, he’s lost all his memories from him going under for the SOLDIER procedure onwards.”

“Hi Die, who’s your friend? She’s....cute.” he said, lowering his head and trying to hide his blush.

“Hey, Noctis. So...you seriously lost your memories? That...sucks.” Die said awkwardly.

“Actually she accidentally took them,” I said, pointing to the now mechanical girl.

“Hey, it’s not my fault I made a small error the first time I ever entered someone else’s body!” She retorted. “Besides, he’ll get them back in a few days. But for the love of all things holy, DO NOT try to jump-start them. You do that, and he’ll lose all his memories. For good.”

“Ok, so don’t try to remind him of anything... Fine by me.” I said with a shrug.

“No, not that. I’m assuming that magic exists here too, judging by all the crazy shit I saw in his memories?”

I floated up, and stood on the ceiling. “No shit Sherlock.”

“Yeah, well what I was referring to is that you can’t try to restart them with magic. I learned enough on the subject. Subtle hints can speed up the recovery slightly, but if you ever use magic to do it, you’ll erase everything, and be left with nothing but an adult with a child’s mind. He’ll have to learn how to do everything all over again.”

“Oh... what about electroshock therapy?” I asked with a slight grin.

“FUCK NO! That’s even worse. It’ll make him remember, but it’ll make the memories seem like living nightmares for the rest of his life.”

“Damn... I think I remember a few methods for memory retrieval from our world, such as a certain acupuncture point.”

“Acupuncture, with the needles?” she asked. “Oh, and I finally decided on a name for myself. At least until I eventually remember my old one.”

“What is it? And acupuncture doesn’t have to use needles.”

“Dana. Short and sweet. And really? Then what can be substituted for needles?”

“Watch.” I walked up to Lux, who was just watching, and poked a sleep point on his body with a single finger, and a lot of strength, knocking him out. “It’s not that hard to learn, all you need are steady hands.”

“Um, isn’t he gonna be pissed when he wakes up?”

“That’s why I’m going to go hide.” I said, before flying away at full speed. My wind powers allowing me to hear the rest of the conversation from my hiding spot in the ventilation ducts.

“Oooookaaaaay. That guy is just weird. I don’t know what you see in him Die.” Dana said with a raised eyebrow.

“You may not, but I do. He’s sweet, kind, caring, and he’s willing to put his life on the line for any of us. And he’s pretty funny too.” Die replied.

I vibrated the air around them to say, in my voice “Thanks, Die, but I’m really not that funny.”

“Oh come off it Ven. And also, this is the new girl? She looks kinda...mechanical.”

“Technically, she’s a machine with a soul.” I said with the wind..

“So, bio-mechanical? The merging of man and machine kind of thing?”

“No, just Lux putting a ghost into a robot that then grew flesh to show her original appearance... I didn’t see anything I swear!”

“Ah. And I know. You wouldn’t do something like that. It’s not who you are.” She said.

“Yeah, I know,” I ‘said’, as I grinned, not that they could see it. “By the way, could we talk... you know... in private?” I asked Die. “It’s about our earlier conversation.”

“Sure. No problem. I’ll leave you guys alone.” She said, running off to find me.

I then added one last thing “Oh, and Dana, stay with Lux so your body doesn’t freeze up.” I then began speaking only directly to Die “Ventilation shaft on the left.” I said as I stuck out a small white flag. She almost missed it, but she managed to stop just short of running past.

“Ok, gonna help me up?” She asked with a grin.

I rolled my eyes, and lifted her with my wind, angling her so that she would fit into the vent easily. Once she was in, we were almost face to face, and I said, “Welcome to the ratman’s den.” I said with a grin, before slowly backing away “Follow me,” i turned a corner, and came out facing the opposite direction, “But be warned, I have no clue where I’m going.”

“So, that’s how I do everything. By rushing in with no clue.” She said with a playful punch to the back of my shoulder. I had no idea how she did it when we’re on our hands and knees in a ventilation shaft, but I chose not to question it.

“Ok, so, left or right?” I asked as we came to a turning point.

“Hmmm, right!” She said.

“Right it is.” I said as I turned the corner and saw it open up into a room, “Well thats wierd.”

“Cool. Hey, is that...” She pushed me out of the vent and I would’ve fallen flat on my face if not for my wind. She, on the other hand, jumped out and immediately ran towards whatever it was that had her attention.

“What the hell is this?” I said, standing up and looking around. The room was filled to the brim with various items. Weapons of every kind lined the walls, there was a fridge in the corner, bedrolls on the floor, five in count, and a bowl of some purple liquid held up by a demonic looking hand made of marble. Hell, there were even what looked like materia in some places. “This place... It looks like a bomb shelter... What the hell is this kind of place doing in the Swagwagon?!”

“Who cares, check out the materia!” Die said, rummaging around a shelf filled with various colored orbs. “Ven, these are all extremely rare, I think some of them are even one-of-a-kind.”

I walked to the bowl in the middle of the room, “What... is this?” As I looked in, I saw shapes begin to form, the liquid began to swirl, and it began to play a scene I knew too well.
___________________________________________________________________________

It was two years before I ended up on Equis. It was an average day, to say the least, sun was shining, and getting reflected off the buildings right into my damn eyes.

“Hey, Rey.” I heard a voice say behind me.

“Yeah?” I asked, turning to face a man, he was about half a foot taller than me, and was wearing a cloak. “Oh, it’s just you, what is it this time? Here to make my life worse?”

“No, I simply want a job done that your... expertise, might be best for.” The cloaked man, who I remember called himself ‘Anon’ as a joke, said.

“I told you, Anon, I’m not a fucking hitman. Stealing is one thing, killing is another.” I turned away, and kept walking.

“It’s not an assassination job.” I stopped when he said this, and turned to face him.

“Do tell.” I said, giving him a look of boredom.

“Simple, I want you to steal a jeweled, golden bowl from the McCleary family. It’s a high risk job, but I think you’ll find it worth the reward.” He tossed a small wad of bills to me, each labeled 100.

“Seriously? Thats all?” I said, weighing the pile of money in my hand. “Seems a bit light if you ask me.”

“Thats only one tenth of the payment, you get the rest upon completion of the job.” He said, “When you’ve finished, meet me at the Empire State Building with the bowl in a simple backpack tomorrow at noon, a second later, and you forfeit the contract.”

I thought it over for a few moments, “You know, this is the first time we’ve seen eye to eye on something like this.” He just smiled, and turned away, as did I.

The image shifted to the area outside a large mansion in the middle of the night. I walked beneath a balcony for the third floor, and threw a muffled grappling hook. Yeah, I could be using the awesome stealthier ways of infiltration, but the classics just have that dramatic effect, you know?

Anyway, I got into the house no problem, the room I got into seemed to be a sitting room, I used a can of aerosol deodorant to make sure there were no tripwire type laser alarms in the room, I slowly moved across, and opened the door just a crack, to see nobody in the hallway, I opened the door a few more inches, and scooted out. Wearing muffled shoes can be quite helpful in this kind of situation. I would have, before breaking in, examined the patterns of the residents, and waited for a time they were all out of the house, so that I could be a bit louder.

I went down the flight of stairs to the second floor, being careful not to touch anything, even with my gloves. Anything could be a trap for people like me, trying to steal their shit. When I got to the bottom of the stairs, I decided to turn left, only for that to lead to a dead end. I backtracked to the stairs, and took the right path, which lead to a room filled with tons of golden artifacts, and near one corner of the room, was my target. I used my aerosol deodorant again on this room, to find that the room was filled with tripwire lasers, and a surprising number of guns, all aimed all throughout the room.

Using the skills that I had honed over the years, I managed to re-angle the base laser into the only real acceptance point, making the room passable. From there I slipped past the security cameras using the surrounding area’s shadows. The security here is shit, I mean, seriously, have these people ever watched ‘it takes a thief?’ I mean I like a fucking challenge in my jobs.

I took out a glass cutter, and sliced the case around the bowl into four pieces, and carefully removed two. I picked up the bowl, being careful not to drop it. “Ok,” I said, feeling a bit too confident, “Now to just get out.” I made a dash through the shadows for the third floor, only for me to trip over the top stair.

“Ow!” I said quietly, I heard some movement in one of the nearby rooms, and I hid in the shadows.

The door opened, and I heard a man’s voice say “Who’s there? Come out now, and I might not call the police.”

Good one, if I step out, you’ll probably just shoot me. I thought, trying to draw a knife with no sound. Unfortunately, it did make a little, and the man heard it, “Shit, there really is someone here!” I saw a figure begin to run for the stairs. No! I won’t let you report me! I thought as I lept out of the shadows, shoving him away from the stairs, unfortunately, he hit the railing, and fell down all three floors, onto his head.

“Shit!” I swore out loud, and turned to the window I came in, only to see it coated with steel, I turned around, and saw a woman holding a remote. “Take the house out of lockdown, NOW!” I shouted the last part, the woman began trembling with fear, but I didn’t care. “I. SAID. TAKE. THE FUCKING HOUSE. OUT. OF. LOCKDOWN!”

“N-no. You killed him, I w-won’t let you leave.”

I sighed, “Damn it. There goes my reputation of no casualties on a job.” I said, and held up my knife. “Unlock the house or you’ll soon be joining him.” Her eyes widened, “NOW!” Her hands began to tremble even worse, and the remote fell out, bouncing a single time, before falling off the ledge, and with it, fell the last bit of sanity in my mind. I walked forward, “You know what the worst part of me is?” I asked, my voice distorting. “I always keep my promises.” I said as I stabbed her while she turned to run away.

“YOU BASTARD!” A guy jumped out from behind me, and grappled my neck. Instinctually, I flipped around the knife in my hand, and stabbed the guy in the head. He fell off with a thump, and I looked up to see the windows were no longer bound in steel. Guess the remote fell on whatever button it was that unlocked the windows. Better get going before the police get here! I said, as I walked to the window, only to catch a glimpse of myself in the mirror. Only three things stood out to me:

1) My face was covered in blood.

2) The whites of my eyes were black, and my irises orange.

3) I looked good.

________________________________________________________________________

I tried to pull myself away from the bowl of purple liquid, but my eyes were glued to it, as the memories continued, while all I could think was Please.... Make it stop... Someone... Please...

________________________________________________________________________

The scenery changed again. It was the next day, and I was standing outside the Empire State Building, with the jeweled bowl in a simple tech backpack. It was 10:40. Sure, I was early, but he never specified where he would be in the building, so I figure it would be best to be early, and let him find me.

“Hello Rey,” I heard Anon say behind me.

I turned to face him, “Show me the money, then we talk.”

“Ah, but you did so well! All three dead, and I couldn’t have planned it better myself.”

My eyes widened, before narrowing into a glare, “You planned this?!” I shouted, before my voice died down, “You sneaky, underhanded bastard. I will kill you for this.” I said, stepping toward him.

“Please, hundreds of people wanted them all dead, for personal, and public reasons. All I did was have an anonymous assassin do it for me.”

“I told you, I’m not a fucking hitman.” I said through grit teeth.

“But you must admit, it was more challenging than just the theft. Anyway, Here is your pay,” He held out a briefcase. “Now give me the bowl.”

I tossed Anon the bag, and grabbed the briefcase. He checked inside, and said “I also put in a little bonus, for doing so much... extra credit.”

“Shut up,” I said, before walking away. Hmph, bastard, never taking a job for you again. Although... Maybe being a hitman could be fun... I thought as I walked from the scene and the memory faded.

_______________________________________________________________________

I fell to my knees. I remember now... The black eyes... Those eyes! I thought as I rolled up into a little ball on the floor, and began to rock back and forth, muttering “The black eyes destroy all. The black eyes destory all. The black eyes destory all. The--”

I felt something hit me in the face, and I looked up to see Die standing there, her hand raised. She opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out. So she just dropped to her own knees and put her arms around me.

“Die... I...” I tried to find the right words.

“Ven...don’t...I won’t pretend to understand why you did it...but it still doesn’t change how I feel...”

“Thats... not what it was... I just remembered something sort of important.”

“What is it?”

“You said my eyes turned black when I fought Akumu, right?” I asked in a serious tone.

“Yeah, why?” She asked, confused.

“Did... you see what I saw in that... scrying thing?”

“I did...wait, the incidents both had one thing in common...your eyes...”

“They were black, and it wasn’t the second time that it showed up when I fought Akumu, those eyes... They represent my darkness.” I said, looking down.

“Your...darkness...”

“I don’t know how it happened, but... I got something similar to a dark side, only me and it... we’re one and the same. Incapable of separation. One personality.” I explained, looking away.

“I see...so your darkness is there, but you only use it if certain conditions are met?”

“Well, its more along the lines of it only coming out when I’m about to kill... Or, in Akumu’s case, seal away in stone from what I’ve seen.”

“So...you can control it?”

“Not at all, thats just the only time it wants to come out, it doesn’t want a full life.”

“Huh. that’s interesting...Great, now I sound like Noctis.”

Black eyes... orange irises... that sort of sounds like the hollow ichigo in bleach...

“... Now that I think about it... Nah, nevermind.” I said, shaking away the idea.

“What? What were you thinking about?” She pestered, keeping one arm around me and bringing the other up to a noogie position.

“It wasn’t important.” I said, prepared for the worst.

“Come on Ven. Tell me. Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeaaseee?” She said, putting on her own puppy dog expression.

I stared for a moment, before saying “By the gods that’s cute.”

“That’s only cause we’re dating. The puppy-dog eyes are even cuter then, my mom told me so......” She trailed off, shaking her head.

I thought for a moment, before deciding, “I’ll tell you, but only half of my theory. The half being that it isn’t a dark side.”

“Ok... now I’m even more curious. Is this one of those other universe kinda things, like how my world is a game in yours?”

“Yup. Only the one I’m thinking of was an animated show this time, and before you try to press for more information, I won’t be giving any more... This is something I should deal with myself.”

“Ok. I won’t. But just remember, you don’t have to do everything by yourself. Noctis tried, and look what happened. He almost died twice.”

I smiled, “Trust me, the less dimensions one goes to, the better.” I said, “There... I need to go look up a few things.” I turned to leave, when something caught my eye. “What the fuck? Is that... holy crap it is!” I shouted as I ran toward a zanpaktou on the wall. I stopped my hand an inch away, “No... No, I shouldn’t take it.” I pulled my hand away from the blade, and just admired it in all it’s glory..

“What? Ven, what’s with the look you were giving that sword? You looked like a kid in a candy store with no adult supervision for a while there.”

“Well it’s not everyday you see the sword of a god of death.” I said gleefully, “Oh fuck it all, I’m taking this shit!” I shouted as I grabbed the sword, sheathed it, and put it on my belt.

“A god of death? Wait, is this from one of those tv shows Shade tried to get me to watch in the past 2 months while you and Noctis were napping. What was it called....Bleach?”

“That’s the one!” I said in the same tone as I looked around for anything else.

“Well, if you’re taking that, I’m gonna take a look through these materia.” she said, smiling as she returned to the shelves.

“Ooh! Molatovs!” I shouted as I found the bottles of flammable liquid, and started shoving them into a bag I found on the floor with a manic grin.

“NO WAY!” Die suddenly yelled. I turned to face her, and she was staring wide-eyed at two particular materia

“What?” I asked as I put the last molotov into my bag, rather weird how it doesn't feel that heavy though.

“Ven, you see these two materia?” She said, pointing to a white materia and a black one.

“What...”

“Ven, these are the two most powerful materia in existence. The white one represents Holy, the ultimate white magic, while the black one represents Meteor, the ultimate black magic.” She explained. “How did Discord even get these?”

I looked at the bedrolls on the floor “It might not have been Discord, from the looks of it, someone either is living in here, or was.” I said as I approached the fridge, and opened it. “Oh, cool, pizza!”

“Pizza? Lemme at it.” She said, pushing past me and reaching for one of them.

“I thought you didn’t miss eating, Die.” I said with a chuckle.

“Hey, when it comes to pizza, I can’t get enough.” She retorted with a smile.

“Just let me have some, will you?” I asked, trying to get to it.

“Ok. You get half.” She said, slicing it into 16 pieces with her sword and handing me 8.

“Thats efficient... Hey, should we tell anyone else about this room?” I said, before shoving half a piece into my mouth in a single bite.

“Well, I think we should. Something as dangerous as meteor right here? We can’t let that stay secret. What if whoever was using this place comes back for it or something? That thing can destroy entire worlds.” She said, shivering.

“It looks like nobodies been in here for a while, considering that the only break in the dust is our footprints.” I said, gesturing to the dusty ground. “Though how the pizza is still good is beyond me.”

“Preservation spell, I’m guessing.” Die said, finishing her fourth slice.

I swallowed the last of my fifth piece, “Makes sense, but still, I say we keep this place secret for now. If the person does comeback, then preperation won’t do any good.” I began to wolf down my sixth piece as I finished.

“Man, you eat faster than Noctis. How neither of you gets indigestion is a mystery.” She said, chuckling as she started on her fifth.

“I’ve always been quick when it comes to food,” I said as I swallowed the last of the same piece as before “Something about a fast metabolism.”

“That’s what Noctis said too. Guess you two are gonna be having speed competitions now that he has to eat again, huh?”

“Probably not, I’ve never really liked eating contests.” I said as I swallowed half the seventh.

“Good. I don’t wanna have to bring you to the hospital for blowing your stomach out.” She joked. “And back to what we were talking about. If you’re right and Discord doesn’t even know about this place, he needs to. It’s his ship, and for there to be a room that he doesn’t know about, that’s never a good thing.”

“It could be a room of the previous owner.” I commented, looking at the dust again, now that I’ve finished my pizza.

“Discord built this thing himself. He’s the only one that ever owned it.” Die replied.

“How could he not know about the room if he built it?” I asked.

“The only explanation I can think of...someone got their hands on it while Discord was sealed in stone.”

“It would explain all this... and the skeleton I found in my closet on day one.” I said, shuddering. “Don’t worry about it, if someone did get there hands on it, it looks like they probably died before discord was released.”

“You’re probably right...I don’t like it though.”

“Think about it this way, if we tell anyone, the others might find the pizza.” I said.

“Ven, not the time for jokes. Pizza isn’t important compared to potentially universe-shattering weapons.” She replied with a serious face.

“It could be that whoever was here last was trying to keep them from being used. Which would explain that.” I said, pointing to a pile of nuclear bombs. “I already checked, they were diffused.”

“You mean defused. Diffusion is..something I can’t remember the meaning of. Defusion is the art of making bombs not blow up.” She chuckled.

“Don’t correct my spelling pronunciation on this, Die. It’s only one letter.” I wrote said.

“Technically, it’s two. See, Diffusion has two fs, Defusion only has one.”

“Whatever, anyway, I think I wanna clean this place, make it... I don’t know, a secret base or something. Besides,” I gave her a look “Nobody would walk in on us here.”

“Ok, now I’m in.” She said with a grin.

“I wonder if they have any secret rooms in canterlot palace...”

“Oh, they do. We just have to find them.” She replied.

“Sounds like a decent way to waste time when we get back.” I said, before looking to the side “Oh, hey, a book.” I walked over to a shelf with two books on it, one with a rigid spine, the title on it being ‘Monster book of monsters.’ I chuckled, “Never thought I would see one of these. Lets see...” Completely forgetting the rules, I opened the book, only for it to begin to attack me. It took me five seconds to manage to close it, and relock it. “I forgot to rub it’s spine.” I said, blood from a cut it gave me going into my eye.

“A killer book? Now I’ve seen everything.” Die said.

“It’s called the monster book of monsters. Oddly enough, it’s a school book in one universe.” I said. “In order for it not to attack you, you have to rub the spine before opening it... I forgot to do that.”

“I see....so, what kind of creatures does it detail?”

“That’s what I was trying to find out.” I said, putting the book into the bag. “Seriously, why doesn’t this bag have any weight to it, I put all sorts of crap in!” I looked inside, to see what looked like a room with everything I threw into the bag in it. “Oh, thats cool. It has a pocket dimension in it.” I looked around the room again, searching for a revolver. Not only did I find one, but it was the of the coolest guns ever “Holy shit.” I said, feeling myself begin to drool over the gun I found.

“Dude, this place is awesome.” Die said, looking into the bag.

“This gun... I think I understand now.” I said. “Whoever was last using this ship, watched a lot of anime.” I began to notice more and more object from various shows I watched, like the staff from Negima.

“Hey, what’s this?” Die asked, walking towards a small disc on a pedestal.

I looked at it for a moment, “I have no clue.” I picked it up casually, and examined it closer.

“Hey, there’s a button on the bottom.” Die said, reaching out to grab it.

I flipped it over to see a red button, “MINE!” I shouted as I slammed my hand down onto it. Immediately, the disc Floated up, and shot a light out, to reveal a fat guy with glasses. I assumed that this was a hologram, because someone that large couldn’t exactly sneak in very easily.

“Oh good, it works.” The fat guy said.

“The hell?” Die said.

“Shh.” I said, and listened to the hologram.

“My name is Bill, and if you are watching this, I am dead. My time on this ship so far has been nice, though being the only one because the owner is trapped in stone isn’t exactly the most fun. Anyway, the items in this room are from various dimensions, galaxies, and even different kinds of reality. I collected them for the bragging rights of saying ‘I have the actual gun of Train Heartnet,’ and such. Of course, if I’m not dead, stay out of my stuff.”

I looked at the backpack i found in here.... that was filled with things from this room, “Yeah... too late for that.”

“Anyway, most of the items I grabbed were not on my original list, but I decided it would be better if they were hidden away, especially that Zanpakuto,” he pointed to where I took the Zanpaktou from. “I was with its previous owner when he died, and told me to ‘hold onto it,’ for him. I could never get it to even go into shikai, but... who knows, maybe he thought that me taking it would get it to it to it’s next owner.” The hologram shimmered a little, “Feel free to take whatever you want. There isn’t anything I can do to stop you anyway. Oh, and before I forget, the bowl in the center is a dream pool. It allows one to delve into the world of dreams, and their memories... If I find anything else that needs saying, I’ll make another recording on a different disk.” And with that, the hologram disappeared.

“Well that was weird.” I said.

“He was a collector?” Die mused. “Ok, whoever he was, taking objects that could destroy the world just so he could have bragging rights? That’s idiotic.”

I put the disc into my bag, “He said that was how it started. He also said that he decided others would be best hidden away... But why this” I said, examining the Zanpaktou in my hand.

“I’m more curious as to how that thing survived when it’s owner died. From what I saw, when a soul reaper dies, their Zanpaktou dies with them.”

“Not entirely true, the spirits in the Zanpaktou don’t die, there have even been cases of two people with the same one. So its possible that the sword stayed because there was a seperate user.”

“So you’re saying that it’s spirit resides in someone else, and that’s why it’s technically still alive? Like with Toshiro Hitsugaya and Sojiro Kusaka?”

“Wow, you’ve seen even the movies. That’s a surprise.” I mused.

“Yeah, Shade was pretty adamant about me seeing as much of it as possible. My head still hurts from the blow I got as punishment for when I fell asleep in the middle of the third movie.”

“... Wait... She forced you to watch anime?” I asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Yeah....she’s scary when she’s mad...don’t tell her I said that...” She said quietly, her eyes darting around as if she thought Shade could hear her and was coming for her.

I shuddered, “I guess that’s another reason to keep this room a secret from the rest.” I said as I attached Tai Fuu No Me to the vacuum I found, and began to clean the room. What? You thought that it couldn’t be used that way? Well think again!

“Ven, how are you doing that?”

“Using the electric power Sparky put in the sword and letting it out at a specific wattage.” I quickly explained, taking out the hose attachment, and going over the shelves with it.

“Well, I honestly...I have nothing to say.”

“Oh, hey, another disc.” I said, finding another one of those hologram disc thingies.

“MINE!” She said, swiping it and pushing the button on the bottom.

“Aww...” I said, a little disappointed I couldn’t press the button.

“Hey, you got to do it last time! It’s only fair.” She said with a grin.

“... Fine.” I said, rolling my eyes. Followed by smiling. Then another hologram of the same guy as before appeared.

“Today I didn’t find any items, instead, I spent the last month making one. In the center of the room, is a pool of dream scrying. For some reason, it doesn’t show you any memories dreams you want to see. But memories or dreams that are important to your situation. I discovered this when in one it hinted toward something about breaking, and the next day the ship crashed into a smaller one.” The chubby guy chuckled upon saying this..

“Ok, remind me never to let that guy take the wheel, ever.” Die said.

“The things you view gives either subtle hints, or beats you around the head and neck with the truth. Anyway, a few kinds of items I forgot to mention, one: the Lightsaber on the right hand wall,” He gestured to the wall, and I immediately began going through everything on it, until I found the small metal cylinder, as he said “May the force be with you, Skywalker.”

“HA! I found it!” I shouted, holding up the weapon in victory.

“Um... I forgot what the second was, so I’ll move onto the third, the materia that are there.” He pointed to the shelf Die got the materia from, “Please do not use them, if you can help it. I don’t want any more planets being destroyed because I was foolish enough to grab them too.”

“Ok, at least he has some remorse for grabbing them. Maybe he’s not a total idiot.”

“Also, on an unrelated note, all these were gathered through legal means, in a sense of the word. Well... Except for the occasional few of them, which I had to have stolen from museums and replaced with replicas.”

“I retract my earlier statement.”

“Anyway, that’s all I can fit on this projector. One last note if I can fit it: the fridge and the bag both have pocket dimen-” and then it cut out, and the message ended.

“Hmmm, pocket dimensions? Sounds too much like science fiction to me.”

“Wait... If the FRIDGE has a pocket dimension...” I ran over, and looked in, and sure enough, it was big enough to fit a house in... or maybe seven, but the amount of food... It was glorious.

“Thats a lot of food...” I turned to Die, “One moment.” I then ran into the fridge room, and grabbed some ‘spare’ ribs from the section labeled ‘raw meat’, walked out, pulled a grill out of my new bag, and began to cook it with some barbecue sauce on it.

“A grill, seriously?”

“Why not?” I asked as I set up a timer, and stepped away, “I need to be prepared for all situations.”

“Well alright then.”

“Though I can’t bring myself to eat beef anymore. Then again, its understandable, having an intellectual conversation with a cow will do that to you.”

“Well, I never ate meat anyway. Neither did Noctis. We were seen as weird back home for that, actually.”

“Vegetarianism isn’t weird. Trust me.”

“It is back home.”

“If you’ve been to my world, you wouldn’t say that, on my planet there are even people who take it a step further, and don’t eat anything that comes from an animal. Called ‘Vegans.’”

“Now that must be a difficult lifestyle.” She said, stifling a chuckle.

“Yeah, most of them suffer from a lack of protein. Due to most of them also not liking most nuts, which are one of the only other real ways to get protein without meat or milk. Also I may have dabbled in it for about a month. My muscles actually started to degrade from it.”

“Yikes. Be glad you’ll never have to go through the SOLDIER program. Some of the experiments resulted in severe weight loss. It was actually the cause of most of the deaths.”

I shuddered “Thats a creepy thought.” The timer began to beep, “Oh cool, my ribs are done.” I walked back to the grill, pulled out a plate, and plopped my meat onto it. I also walked back to the fridge and grabbed a soda from the area close to the door.

Still... What did the memory I saw have to do with my situation? I thought as I ate, quickly devouring the ribs in a matter of minutes, and downing the soda in a few seconds. “That... Was pretty disappointing actually.” I said, “Note to self, practice cooking.”

“Add another note to that. Practice cooking while kissing girlfriend.” Die replied, moving towards me with a small grin plastered on her face.

I smiled, “I’m not that good at multitasking, I can only do one at a time.” I said, getting up, and walking toward her with a really stupid grin.

“Well then, kissing first, cooking after.”

“I’m ok with this,” I said, dropping my new bag as we embraced.

________________________________________________________________________

“That...that was....”

I just sat there, breathless. It was, for lack of a better term, fucking amazing.

“Well, are you gonna say something, or am I gonna have to perform CPR?” She said, smirking.

I finally caught my breath, “Could I say something, and have the mouth to mouth?” I said with a grin.

“Why not?” She shrugged, wrapping an arm around me and bringing me in for a kiss.

Suddenly, the entire ship lurched, and I could hear a siren somewhere in the background. “... Well, at least that hadn’t happened earlier. Let’s go see what happened.” I said, pulling out, grabbing my new bag, with everything in it, and diving through the ventilation duct, flying through it with Die behind me. (wind powers are best powers.)

“So, what do you think? Do you want to be a father someday?” Die asked.

“Honestly, I don’t know, if I didn’t I would have definitely stayed out of a relationship at all costs... So... I guess I kind of would.” I said with a small smile and blush, thankfully, she couldn’t see either.

“Well, honestly, I really want to be a mom someday. I don’t have a clue if I would be a good mom, what with spending over six years of my life being a trained killer, but I’d still want to give it my best shot.”

We exited the ventilation into the main ship “... You know, I wonder what our child would look like. Oh, and about the trained killer thing, you forget I am too.”

“With the two of us as the parents, he, or she, would definitely be a heartbreaker. Everyone would be after their heart.”

“Maybe if we were in a human society, or if they had your ability to transform into a pony.” I said, as we flew down the hall. We burst through the door to the bridge, “What’s happening?”

“I’ve found some of the things Umbra made.” Discord said, typing rapidly.

I smiled, “Send me down, I got this. After all,” I grinned, “I’m an American.”

“And I’m a SOLDIER, as well as your girlfriend. I’m going too.” Die said, giving me a concerned look.

“Got it.” Discord said, and with a snap of his fingers, we were in front of hundreds of sinners.

A small frown appeared on my face, “Aww, I was hoping for more, I wanted to give my new blade a through test.” I said, brandishing the Zanpaktou.

“No need. It’ll be over quick.” Die said calmly. “Oh, and Ven, keep your eyes open, you’re not gonna wanna miss this.” She smirked, before turning to face the opposition, as armor of pure flames wrapped itself around her. “ALRIGHT SHIT-STAINS! I HOPE YOU’RE READY TO DIE!”

I grinned, “Lets do this. LEROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOY, JEEENKINS!” I shouted as I charged the hoard, cleanly slashing through several of them as I ran through their midst.

“VEN GET BACK AND WATCH!” She said angrily, the flames burning brighter with each passing moment.

I floated up, and bent the air around me, to launch me there, “On it!” I said as I got back to her.

“Ok, here it comes. FLARE RUSH!” Suddenly, she was gone.

“What?” I asked nobody, looking around.

Then, several sinners just burst into flames and turned to ash in the space of three seconds, The rest followed suit.

I just stared at the large pile of ashes that was where the army was for several seconds, before saying, “What?”

“Damn...I think my hormones may have made me a little cranky.” Die said sheepishly as the flames died down around her.

“... I repeat my question: What?”

“Uhh, Ven, long story short, you know how some creatures go through heat, aka estrus, every once in awhile?”

“Are you saying...” I trailed off.

“Yeah, since I’m able to turn into a pony, and ponies go into estrus...” She let me make the connection.

“You’re in heat?” I asked.

“Yeah. Turns out, I can go through it even if I’m not in my pony form.” She started rubbing the back of her head nervously.

“Well, that’s certainly interesting... Wait, if you’re in heat, it’s possible that you subconsciously decided to become pregnant during... well, you know.” I started to feel a bit of panic, but I tried not to show it.

“Ven, it’s ok. I’m not pregnant. Trust me, I’d know instinctively if I was.

I felt myself calm down, I let out a deep breath, “Ok, just... If you do become pregnant, just... please, let me know. I don’t want to be the ignorant boyfriend who doesn’t know what’s going on. I want to be helpful throughout it.”

“Don’t worry Ven. The second I suspect anything, I’ll tell you. Besides, you’re not ignorant, just occasionally unobservant.” She joked.

I rolled my eyes, “Gee, thanks.” I said, and kissed her lightly, before holding up my watch to my mouth. “Discord, we’re done here. Beam us up.” A few more seconds and we were back on the ship. Die leaned in close and whispered in my ear, “Hey Ven, do you think we should lord it over Noctis that we had sex before him, especially since he’s older than us? Once he’s got his memory back, that is.”

I grinned, “Fuck yeah.” I whispered back.

“Good. Now, what do we do next? Are we going to Disneyland?” She joked.

“We actually could, if Discord brought us... Wait, how do you know of Disneyland?”

“How do you think. The same way I learned about manga, anime, memes...” she replied.

“Which memes?” I asked. I swear if Shade told her about the bad ones...

“Hmm, well so far, only a few. Like the ‘arrow to the knee’ one, uh...” she brought a hand to her chin in thought. “Crap, I can’t remember any others right now.”

“What about Leroy Jenkins?”

“You mean that WoW guy who, like an idiot, rushed into a fight and got his entire raiding party killed?”

“Yup, that’s the guy.” I said.

“That one was kinda funny. It’s not really something I’d do though.”

“Most people I’ve met wouldn’t.” I said simply, “Anyway, I think I should work out, I need to work off the two months of being a vegetable.”

“I know how we can work out.” She said in a seductive tone.

“Maybe later, I’m still... empty, in that respect.”

“I can fix that.” she whispered in my ear.

I grinned, “... Well why are we still here?” I said as I began to float up.

“You go to our room, I’ll catch up.” she said, suddenly clutching her stomach.

“Are you Ok?” I asked.

“I’m not sure. It’s probably just a side-effect of the Burning Soul. I just need to rest a little, and I’ll be fine.” She said with a weak smile.

“Are you sure?” I looked her in the eye, and could see something.

“Of course. Unless you want me to start using your nickname publicly, Venny.” she whispered evilly.

I felt my face grow hot, “... Ok, going,” I said, floating away slowly. What was that about? I thought as I exited the door.

I thought for a moment as I turned down the hall, and stopped when I heard someone talking.

“Die, is something wrong?” I heard Discords voice ask.

“I...I think I might be wrong about not being pregnant.” she said.

I felt my eyes widen at this, but managed to keep my panic under control as I continued listening.

“I thought I would know when it happened, and I was sure that it hadn’t, but now, I feel a small pain in my stomach, and I’ve never felt that before. What if I am pregnant.”

“That’s wonderful!” I heard Discord shout.

I thought for a moment, as I listened Die... why would you lie about this?

“I want to tell Ven, but what if I’m wrong about this. If I tell him, but then it turns out I’m not...What if he hates me?”

“Die,” I heard Celestia’s voice cut in “Would you rather it turns out to be the case, and not have told him? Besides, he wouldn’t hate you for it.”

“I know, but there’s still this little nagging feeling at the back of my mind telling me that that might happen, and I’m scared. I’m scared that feeling may turn out to be right, and I’m ashamed to even have that feeling.” she said, and I could almost imagine the tears streaking down her face.

“Die... Did you two ever talk about this kind of thing?”

“We talked briefly after we...y’know...and he said he’d like to be a father someday, but I could tell that he felt it was a little too soon right now. I understand, after all, if we brought a child into the middle of everything that’s going on, I’d never forgive myself if anything were to happen to them.”

“Die...” I said softly, not wanting to be overheard.

“Well, now I’m sure of one thing,” I heard Discord say.

“Oh, and what’s that?” Die asked.

The door opened, and a lion’s paw grabbed me, and pulled me in, “He isn’t mad.”

“Ven...” Die said quietly.

“Die... Why would you think I would be angry about something like this,” I said, feeling tears of joy go down my face, and smiled.

“Because I was scared that I would get your hopes up, and that they’d be torn down if we were wrong. I was scared I’d hurt you.”

“To quote Celestia, would you rather it was true, but not have told me?” I said with a small grin.

“Oh, shut up.” She said, wrapping her arms around me and sobbing a little.

“Oh, and also, before I forget,” I looked at Celestia, “I remember you have a spell that could tell me if I were immortal, right?”

“Yes, but why do you ask Ventus?” she asked.

“I know that my powers changed my life force, but I kind of want to know how close I am to actually being immortal.” I looked down at Die for a moment.

“Very well then. May I ask how you were changed originally when you arrived in your Equis?” She asked.

“The way I arrived changed me, not the actual fact that I arrived.”

“I know that, but how did it change you?” She said as she rolled her eyes.

“I... I don’t know, one moment, I was an ordinary human, jumping off the second highest building in my city, then I’m on Equis, have powers, and apparently a better life ‘spark’ for some reason.”

“I see. What was the last thing you remember seeing before you arrived in your Equis, other than the ground rushing up to meet you. Do not leave anything out.”

“I saw a multicolored rip in the air, similar in shape to an eye.”

“A chaos rift...” Discord said, his eyes widening a little. “But that shouldn’t be possible, chaos rifts are a lost technique, only I’ve ever created one, well, me and my alternate selves.”

“From what Lumos told me, his arrival caused ‘waves’ of chaos, which woke something up, which then created more waves, which caused them to start opening on their own.”

“Ah, that explains it. Natural Chaos Rifts. Much more powerful than the ones I create. Not only do they allow travel between universes, they also allow Chaos magic to be absorbed by those who travel through them. Your body must have adapted the magic to suit your personality, as well as making you semi-immortal.”

“What do you mean ‘Semi-immortal’?”

“I mean that you cannot die of old age or illness, same with everyone else from your Equis, but you can still be killed through physical means. Huh, sometimes I miss not making sense. Oh well, if I never made sense at all, that wouldn’t be very chaotic. Chaos is simply change after all.”

“You could always go back to it eventually.”

“True, but it wouldn’t feel the same. Wait, that’s exactly what I want. Anyway, Celestia, if you would.” Discord said, gesturing to me. She simply nodded, and her horn glowed a brilliant gold, as did my body. She kept it up for a few moments, before cutting it off and turning to Die with a wide-eyed expression.

“Die, Ven has ‘absorbed’ some of your magical energy.”

“Wait, what?” We both said simultaneously.

“Ven, Die, when you two... did what you did...” she blushed, and shook her head, “My apologies. Anyway, when you two were together last, Die, in her heightened hormonal state, gave off a large amount of her Orb’s magic, which you subconsciously absorbed. As such, your powers have been altered slightly, as has your ‘spark’, as you call it.”

“Meaning... What?” I asked.

“She’s saying that your powers have mutated, and you’re not semi-immortal anymore. You’re a full-blown immortal.” Discord said bluntly.

“Oh... I... So, I can’t be killed now, because I had sex? Thats... Just wow.” I said, my mind not being able to come up with any response.

“Only you would say it like that Ven. It wasn’t the fact that we had sex, it was that I was...in heat...” She said, burying her face in her hands, blushing furiously.

“It’s nothing to be embarrassed about, Die.” I said, putting my hand on her back.

“I know, but I still feel a little embarrassed talking about it so openly. Now I’m not even sure I can lord it over Noctis.”

“Lord what over Noctis? Having had sex before him?” Discord asked with a grin. “Hate to break it to you, but while you two were having your ‘roll in the hay’, Noctis and Luna were having their own little adventure. So technically, you and them did it at the exact same time.” He laughed.

“Am I the only one who finds that a little creepy?” I asked.

“Oh, it’s just coincidence.” Discord said.

“Yes. Anyway, Ven, about your powers, you will have partial control over light now, but not at the same level as Die or myself would have. And if you two do have a child, they would likely inherit a combination of your powers and Die’s.”

“So... The child would have light powers, as well as a chaos power?” I said, wanting to be sure, “Oh, also, just thought I should say, does this affect my wind powers at all?”

“First, quite likely,” Discord said, suddenly in a yellow polka dot suit. “The chaos powers are created by the amount of chaos, as well as the soul and body of the user. Second... I don’t know, I haven’t worked with the powers of the orbs before. Also, you have even higher levels of chaos than you did before anyway. That’s been there since the battle though.”

“Wait, how long before the battle has his excess chaos been there?” Die asked.

“I never said before.” Discord said, “I said since.”

“Oh. Stupid mishearing of words.” Die mumbled. “Anyway, is the excess gonna be dangerous, cause I don’t want the father of my child getting blown up or turned into a hotdog or something like that.”

“It’s not dangerous to him, but it could be dangerous to others, if he doesn’t use it to it’s full extent often enough.”

“Discord, just how dangerous are we talking?”

“Well...” He thought for a moment, “The very air around him will begin to harden and become solid, until he basically becomes a golem of solidified air.”

“Golem? As in, the living statues kind of golem? Why do I get the feeling it gets worse from there?”

“It does, the solidified air will continue to grow, until the world has no air left to be used.”

“Ok, that’s bad. So how does he offload the excess?”

“Easiest way I can think of is creating a world-wide hurricane once a week.” Discord said with a shrug, “but a way with less death would just be for him to be controlling a world’s wind at all times.”

“So basically, he has to be constantly using his powers, or we all die?”

“Yup.” Discord said with a nod.

I gave him a stare, “Well that sucks... Is there another way?”

Discord went into thought for a few moments, “Well, there is one other method, but it’s only theory.”

“Discord, you do realise the risks of ‘that’, even if it is possible, do you not?” Celestia said seriously.

“Yeah yeah, possibility of removing his soul with the extra chaos.” Discord said with a wave of his claw.

“And the souls of any who happen to be in close proximity to him.” She continued.

“Um... what is this ‘theory’ that you’re talking about?” I asked.

“A being who can control pure chaos can, theoretically pull chaos out of a being, though there is a risk of tearing out the soul it's attached to, as well as pulling out the chaos from others nearby, which could lead to them losing their souls.” Discord explained.

“So, wait, you could pull the excess chaos out of Ven?”

“Possibly though it will come back in about 50 years.” Discord said, “And that’s if everything goes perfect in it.”

I felt my mouth hang open, “... Just one question: does it hurt?”

Discord shrugged “I just said, it’s only theory.”

“Knowing our luck, it’ll probably hurt like hell when he does it to ya Ven. But don’t worry, I’ll be there to kiss it better.” Die said with a wink.

I smiled, “I look forward to that part...” I then realized something kind of important, “Wait... How did you get pregnant in only a few hours, anyway?”

“It’s the chaos again.” Discord said “It doesn’t follow any rules.”

“Soooo, any idea how long till the little one will be ready to come out?” Die asked.

“Chaos is a bit unpredictable, it might be ready by the end of the week, or it could take years for it to reach being ready.” Discord explained, in a tone that said ‘this question again’.

I felt my eye twitch at this, “Just... what the fuck?”

“Wait...I could be pregnant for...years?” Die almost whispered, her eye twitching. “Please tell me there’s at least some chance I won’t go through all that morning sickness and weird food craving stuff.”

“Pickle?” Discord asked, holding out a pickled cucumber.

“No thanks.” She said, “I’m not there quite yet. If anything, I still don’t feel hungry or anything.”

“Well, that answers that question.” Discord said, “Because it looks like your a third of the way through the first trimester, but it seems to be slowing down rapidly. ”

“Wait, what? Damn that’s fast.” Die said with a whistle.

“If it continues slowing down, the pregnancy will last at least 10 months, if it stops slowing now, you have 6 to prepare.”

“So basically, I have six to ten months to prepare for motherhood. Unless it suddenly speeds up or something.” Die deadpanned.

“I said ‘at least 10,’ but you’re catching on quickly enough.” Discord said.

I facepalmed, “Just stop trying to understand, Die. It won’t help at all.”

“Fine.” She grumbled.

“Ok, now,” I turned to Discord “How long do I have until I begin to absorb the atmosphere?”

Discord tapped his chin in thought “I say about 4 days left, then we have a few hours before the ship would run out of oxygen.”

I swallowed, “Discord, are we near any empty planets? I want to get this done as soon as possible.”

“We’re half an hour from a moon that has a decent amount of wildlife on it, but not much else.” Discord said, glancing at a monitor to confirm what he said.

“Lets go, now. I want to get this over and done with.” I said.

“I’m going too.” Die said. “Aren’t I, Ven?”

“Die... No. I need to do this myself.” I said, “We have to think about more than our selves this time. We are having a child, after all.”

“Fine, but if you die, I’m gonna kill you.” she said.

I gave Discord a motion to start, and said to Die, “I don’t think those chosen by death will die so easily.”
________________________________________________________________________

When my eyes adjusted to the light in the area, I was shocked to find myself in the middle of an ordinary field, the only difference being the fact that there was a group of eight legged mooses running around.

So the legendary spider-moose is real. I thought as I looked around, and as I said, the eight legged moose really was the only difference between this moon, and an ordinary forest on earth so far.

I heard a loud cough, and turned to see Discord. “So, shall we begin?” He asked, cracking his knuckles.

“Lets.” I said, bracing myself for whatever lies ahead.

Discord held up his claw, and dashed forward, stabbing it into my chest. I immediately felt immense pain, and my power fading, but that wasn’t all. I could feel myself splitting in a sense, not my personality, I was all there, just... It felt like each part of me was split into pieces. I looked up into Discords eyes to see his brow furrowed in concentration, until he relaxed, and pulled out a huge, flashing mass of energy, which then fell from his claw, and begin to take a form. Before it could finish shaping, however, I blacked out.
_________________________________________________________________________

I woke to see I was still on the moon from before, only now it wasn’t just Discord with me. I looked closely at the figure next to the draconequus, only for my eyes to widen in shock when I finally recognized him.

“... Anon, how the hell are you here?” I asked, my eyes burning into him. Tai Fuu No Me flew to my hand, and I held it downwards.

Anon grinned, “I placed a... seed in you a long time ago, it basically worked like a second soul for me, giving me a place to reside if I die.”

“Huh, so there is a way to cheat death.” I mused “Always wondered about that. Anyway, why me?”

“You were... shall we say, unique. None of the other freelance workers I found would actually mourn the deaths of those that died, and none could actually hold a second soul without physically bursting from the pressure.” Anon explained with a shrug.

“Well, that’s all I needed to know.” I threw Tai Fuu No Me at him. “Now die, and may you go through the seven circles of hell, you bastard.”

The blade stopped an inch from his throat. “Now now, lets not be too hasty.” it twirled in the air, before he grabbed it, and began walking forward, “I want to try out the powers I got from you before I kill you.”

I drew my Zanpaktou, “Says the man who was killed by a flight of stairs.” I said as I ran toward him, blade raised.

It was over in an instant. That’s actually what it took, a single moment, and he had gut me.

“Mother fu-” I coughed up blood, cutting myself off. Anon just grinned even wider,and stabbed me in the throat.

I felt my vision began to fade, and a general cold feeling throughout my whole body. Huh, this is the closest I’ve ever actually been to death... The irony itself could kill. I thought to myself.

OH NO YOU DON’T! I heard Die screaming in my head.

Wait... What the fuck? Die? I asked.

DAMN RIGHT! NOW GET THE FUCK UP! ARE YOU SERIOUSLY GONNA LET SOME SHITHEAD WHO SMASHED HIS SKULL FALLING DOWN STAIRS BEAT YOU?! Her voice screamed

I kind of have a lack of organs at the moment... oh and a hole in my neck.

You think that matters. Are you really gonna just lie there and die? What about our children? Are you really gonna leave them without a father?

I’m an immortal any-... Wait… Them? I asked

I think it may be twins. Though Discord did say that we wouldn’t actually know till they were born...

… Ok, getting up. I thought as I stood shakily. Fuck, this hurts... and I can’t talk now... the fucker destroyed my vocal cords! I felt my rage begin to bubble, and my vision darken.

Ven...don’t push yourself too far...oh, and one more thing... Suddenly, she was right there. This is technically just a projection, so I can’t heal you, but I can still do this. She said as she hugged me.

Die... I see no point in this. I thought, utterly confused.

There doesn’t need to be a point. Can’t a girl mentally hug her boyfriend without a reason?

I... damn I wish I could talk right now... This better not be permanent. I thought as I moved out of the embrace to get back in the fight.

It’s not....I th-AGH!

Die? What’s wrong? What happened? I thought, and my vision grew a little darker.

He’s...fucking with my head....bastard’s trying to kill me here...cause if he does...I won’t wake up outside...UGH! She clamped her hands over her head as she fell to her knees.

I turned to face Anon, and the blade from my dreams appeared in my hands. I directed all my thoughts at him, and screamed in my head. YOU. ARE. DEAD! The sword began .I then used the wind, which had somehow turned black, to get behind him, before I cut off his arm.

“AAGH!” He shouted, before my own arm exploded, and his regrew, “You’ve gone soft, the Rey I knew would have decapitated me there and then.”

<MY NAME IS VENTUS, NOT REY, DAMNIT!> I shouted in his head as I charged, <AND I HAVEN’T GONE SOFT!> I added as I chopped off both his arms, and his legs, <I just want you to suffer before I kill you!> As I finished, I jammed my blade through his head, and swung down, cleaving him in half.

The blade disappeared, and my vision grew lighter, oh, and the pain of my exploded arm, the hole in my neck, and the one in my stomach got to me. I collapsed on the ground, and thought one thing.

Wait... I just used thought-speech... cool. My vision began to darken again, but this time it was just me losing concousness. <Hey, Discord, could I use light in the same way Lumos does?> I asked the spirit of chaos floating next to me.

“I think you can, you have enough chaos left over.”

<Good.> I said, and began to try to focus light into my wounds, like Lumos did, and I felt it’s stoning effects. Slowly, the hole in my neck began to close, and my arm began to reform, though my gut remained torn open. ...Eh, good enough for a first try. I thought as I passed out again.
______________________________________________________________________

I opened my eyes to see Die sitting next to my bed. I smiled, “Hey, how are you?”

She raised an eyebrow, then her hand, and I thought she was going to slap me, so I closed my eyes out of instinct. But instead of the sharp stinging pain one normally associates with a slap, I felt a different kind of disturbance on my head. Taking a risk and opening my eyes, I saw Die... patting my head?

“You are so crazy...you know that?” She whispered as she suddenly caught me in an embrace.

I felt myself grin, “Who isn’t crazy?” I said with a chuckle.

“I mean you’re crazier than most people. But in a good way.”

“Oh, that.” I said with a roll of my eyes, “I know... also... about what you said before... Do you really think it’s... twins?”

“Would I have said it if I didn’t mean it?” She replied sternly.

“I... What?” I asked, utterly confused.

She sighed. “Yes...I think I may have twins. And I swear, when they come out, I am gonna crush your arm.”

“I suppose I’ve earned it.” I said with a shrug, “... How long have I been unconscious, anyway?”

“Eight days.” I heard another voice say from the door. I looked over to see Lux in the doorway. “We’re already back on our Equis.” He smiled, “We’re home.”

I looked at Die, “Did you never tell anyone?”

“I wanted to wait until you woke up so we could tell them together.” She said sheepishly.

“Oh... Sorry for making you wait so long then.” I said, slowly getting out of the bed.

“Yeah, it was even harder when Lux and the others tried to bring you back while you were unconscious. It took Celestia, Luna, and Discord to convince them to wait until you woke up before they even thought about moving you.”

I thought for a moment, before turning to Lux “Could you gather everyone on the bridge?”

“On it,” Lux said, and disappeared in a puff of darkness.

“I feel a bit bad,” I said, “Just leaving what I already had... Eh, it’s a trade stacked in my favor.” I shrugged, and began to walk around the room. “Damn, I need to use a gym or something.”

“No, what you need is to stop getting yourself almost killed.” Die replied jokingly.

“... That’s a maybe.” I said with a grin.

“Oh no, you promise me. Promise you’ll stop with the almost dying.”

“Oh come on, I’m immortal, not invincible!”

“Yeah, so am I. That Anon bastard still managed to almost leave me in a permanent coma.” She deadpanned.

“... A fair point.” I said. “Anyway, lets go, I think we should get this over with.” I began to float us up, and I fell down, “Damn it, where is my sword?” I asked, looking around.

“Uh...Anon kinda...destroyed it in the fight, and when he did, it shattered for real...all that’s left is the zanpaktou...”

I felt my eye twitch. “... I guess we’re walking then.” I said. “With that chaos drain, and the blade being destroyed, I don’t have a way of carrying us there.”

“Don’t worry about it. I can carry you easy.” She said, placing me on her back and taking off towards the bridge at a sprint.

“Wait, what are you doing?!” I asked, turning roughly the shade of beetroot.

“What do you think I’m doing? I’m carrying you to the bridge. And stop thinking those thoughts I know are floating in your head. It’s not like that...unless you want it to be.” She whispered, emphasising it with a wink.

I felt myself blush even deeper, as well as... a certain aching in my loins. “After the meeting, Die, please.” I said, my voice barely audible.

“Fine. But seriously, stop thinking those thoughts for now, or I’ll kick your ass.”

“... Yes ma’am.” I said, erasing all dirty thoughts from my mind as quickly as I could.

“Good. Aaaaaaaaaand we’re here. In record time, I might add.” Die exclaimed with a slight cockiness in her tone.

“Congratulations.” I said, “Anyway, I think I’ll get down now.” I began to move to get off of her back.

I breathed deeply as I stood in front of the door. “Well, this is it. The moment I throw away my second life, and take a third.”

“Having second thoughts?” Die asked.

I smiled at her, “Never have, never will. Let’s do this.” I said as I opened the door.

Inside the room, Lux, Aqua, Shade, Clare, and Jolt were talking amongst themselves, and didn’t even notice me until I had cleared my throat.

“There you are!” Lux said, walking toward me, “So, ready to go?”

“Actually... I’m not going.” I said.

“WHAT?!” Lux and Jolt shouted in unison, while Clare just gave me a knowing smile, and Shade handed a small pouch to Aqua.

“I’m not going,” I said again, “I’m staying with Die, after all, I got her pregnant, I should stay with her.”

“I... You mean we waited a week for no reason?” Lux said.

“No, this way I get to say goodbye.” I said with a small smile.

“I see... Well,” Lux extended an arm, “May we meet again, in this life, or the next.”

“I would prefer this one, myself.” I said as I took his hand.

“No worries. I’ll make sure Ven comes to visit you every once in awhile.” Die said with a smile. “And if he tries to get out of it, well, I could always start using his little pet name in public.”

“Pet name?” Jolt said, his ears poking up a bit. I held my breath, sending a silent prayer to any and all gods listening not to let her say it.

“Yeah. It’s none of your business though Spaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarkyyyyyyy.” She said with a smirk.

“My name is-... You know what, screw it, call me what you want, I don’t care anymore.”

“Awww, that takes all the fun out of it.” She mock-pouted. “So, here’s to Ven, and the hope that he turns out to be a great dad!”

“You know, be sure to send a few pics, I kind of want to see the first of the second generation power users.” Lux said.

“Don’t worry, I’ll be sure to bring both of them by sometime to see their Godfather.” She said, smiling at Jolt, much to my (and his) surprise.

“Wait... you made me the godfather for the child?” He said.

“Eeyup.” She said. “And you’re the Godfather for both of them.”

“... Wait, you’re having twins?” Clare asked, “How do you already know, anyway?”

“I don’t. It’s just a gut feeling.” Die replied. “And we still need someone to be their Godmother...any suggestions who we should pick?”

“I could recommend a few ponies.” Lux said.

“Well then, recommend away.”

“Ok, first one, and probably the last in terms of skill in this kind of field: Vinyl Scratch the musician, location is Ponyville. Second, is an pony I don’t quite know where to find, named Moonlight Soul the tricorn. Third... I suppose Pinkie Pie, the element of laughter, not good godmother material, but babysitter is fine.”

“Oh yeah. Celestia said that Pinkie would be a great babysitter. Anyone else?”

“Just one more, her name is Princess Candace. From what I know, you’ve met her before, right?”

“Yeah, only briefly though, after I saved her flank at her own wedding, nearly killing Chrysalis in the process.”

“Wish I could have seen that.” Aqua said.

“Trust me, you don’t.” Die said sternly.

“Anyway,” Lux said, “Candace was actually the ‘foalsitter’ for the element of magic when she was little.”

“Who’s the element of Magic?”

“Twilight Sparkle, the purple unicorn.” Lux said, with a slight smile.

“Oh, her.” Die said calmly. “The one that electrocuted me...”

“Wait what?” I asked, baffled.

“Yeah, when Noctis and I first arrived in Equestria, we got separated. I ended up in Canterlot, and I have no idea where he ended up. I spent my first few days there hiding in alleyways. Then one night, before this whole thing started, she comes into the alleyway, and spots me. I moved back, and she electrocuted me, knocking me unconscious. When I wake up, I’m staring down Celestia and Luna and trying to figure out whether or not to draw my sword on them.”

“Wow, quite the introduction to the world.” Shade mused.

“Yeah...I don’t hold it against her since she was just trying to protect her home, but damnit, it hurt more than when I first met Bahamut. And he almost tore me in half!” She exclaimed.

“From what you said, she didn’t go all out.” Lux said.

“Wait, you’re saying she held back?” Die asked. “Well that makes me feel a little better, knowing she wasn’t trying to kill me.”

“Yeah, she could make her mane and tail become pure flames, and her coat white. Though I think she can only do it for a few seconds.”

“So, she basically becomes a Ponyta?” Die asked.

“... What do you know of Ponyta?” Lux said, his face turning to one of shock.

“Once again, blame Shade. She made me learn all sorts of things from your world, like anime, manga, memes, though I can’t remember most of those, really only the Leroy Jenkins and arrow to the knee ones.”

“Damn.” Shade said, snapping her fingers, “I was hoping you would remember them.”

“Which ones?”

“I hammered all my knowledge of the world of memes into her head.” Shade said proudly.

Thank god she doesn’t remember most of them then. I thought to myself.

“Ven, what’s with the relieved look?” Die asked suspiciously.

“Um... Nothing!” I said, looking away quickly.

“Alright then. And Shade, I’ll probably come over for a recap on memes sometime, if it’s possible.”

“I look forward to it.” Shade said, holding out one of her smoke-secreting arms.

It’s a trap! I thought Don’t fall for it!

“Same here.” Die said, extending her own hand and grasping Shade’s with a mischievous smile on her face. “Oh, and Shade...”

“Yes?” She said,

“Two words. Joy Burner.” And with that Shade suddenly jumped away from Die shaking her arm like crazy.

I blinked, “Damn you're brutal.”

“Nah, I knew she was gonna try a prank. Noctis and I used to do it all the time to each other. He would try to freeze my arm, I’d try to burn his. It’ll only last for a few minutes. Mine basically just adds a massive amount of heat energy to the arm, raising its temperature by several degrees for a few minutes. It’s great for pranks, and for battle. At least it would be if I could make it more powerful.”

“... I... Thats actually really impressive..” I said, unable to say anything more.

“Thanks. Now, last thing on the agenda regarding kids...I have absolutely no idea what they’re gonna come out as, species-wise...”

“Don’t forget that we don’t even know if they will get our powers, or if they’ll even be immortal...” I said, starting to think.

“I don’t care if they have powers or not, I just hope we can raise them right. Wow, that sounded really cheesy.”

“Fair enough, but about the species thing, how do we know they won’t be like you? Able to shift between states of being.”

“We don’t. For all we know, they could be able to, or they could be ponies, or humans. Heck, they could be half and half, like Centaurs.”

“If they turn out like that, I am definitely naming one Chiron.”

“Chiron?” Die asked.

“A centaur from greek mythology.” I explained.

“Ah. Well, is Chiron a boy’s or a girl’s name?”

“Well, the Chiron in the legends was male, so I’m assuming a boy’s name.” I said with a slight grin.

“Ok then. So, do you think Cadance would make a good Godmother?”

“Hard to say, really, but she would be a more responsible babysitter than Pinkie Pie.” I said.

“Well, ok then.”

“Eh, we can figure out the godmother another time.” I said, turning to everyone who was there, which suddenly included Erahaor for some reason, “Anyway, Erahaor, I recommend you return the Choco-Mog materia Noctis lent you before you guys go.”

“Wait, Noctis still had that?”

“Yeah, he does.” I said, with a chuckle. “Heh, I just remembered the first time I saw that summon in FF7.”

“Which one did you see? Moogle on chocobo or Obese Chocobo?”

“Chocobo kamikaze.” I said, remembering the surprisingly comical explosion.

“Ah, that one. First time Noctis used that materia, the Chocobo started chasing him. Then he tried using it again, thinking it would just disappear, but instead, he nearly got crushed by the Fat Chocobo.”

I couldn’t hold it anymore, and began to laugh, “Now THAT I would have payed to see.” I said once I finished.

“Hey, how did you know he gave it to me?” Erahaor asked, looking at me with a look of curiosity.

“... I don’t know.” I said, “Lately I’ve just known things I shouldn’t. It isn’t the first time.”

“Really?” Lux asked, “Like what?”

“Lets see... I saw my battle with Akumu from his point of view in a dream. I knew Die’s full name without ever hearing it, as well as the knowledge of which materia he lent Era. Oh, and I knew what Akumu and Umbra called the things we fought in the world between was ‘Sinners’” I said, counting them on my hand.

“I... See. That’s weird.” Lux said, a look with no form of understanding i it.

“Well, no point worrying about it just yet. But you wanna say bye to Noctis before you go?”

“Yeah, it’s probably nothing.” Erahaor said, “Also, Noctis doesn’t really seem like the kind for goodbyes, and he did say I could keep the materia.”

“Fair enough,” I said, “I’ll be sure to visit once I have a chance guys. Oh, and also,” I threw a letter to Lux, “Could you give that to our superiors in the WR? It’s my letter of resignation.”

“Aye, sir!” Lux said, and gave a snappy salute.

“Wait!” Jolt shouted, and everyone looked at him, “I... I’m not going either.”

“... I’ll press for details later,” I said “Anyway,” I turned to everyone else, as Jolt walked off the warping area. I held up my hand, separating my middle and ring fingers, but kept my middle with my index, and my ring finger with my little finger. “Live long and prosper.” And with that, they were gone in a bright flash.

(If you wish to read more of Ven’s POV on the Equis from SoNaD, I will be making a side story, called The Immortal Wind, and I will be calling it TiW normally so I don’t have to type so much.)

_______________________________________________________________________

“We’re home,” I said, looking out from the bank of my cloud home, “... Screw it, I’m writing to Celestia about this. Twilight shouldn't be the only one!” I shouted and ran to my desk, to write.

Dear Princess Celestia,

It’s been a decent amount of time since we've last met, hasn't it? Anyway, over the last couple months, I’ve learned of the other worlds out there, and that in every heart, no matter how bright, or dark it is, there is always a bit of it that goes against the rest. Darkness contains light, and vice versa. I also learned that apparently true immortality is possible. Ven is one now, but he lives in another dimension as of today, as does Jolt. Another thing that’s as of recently is that I am no longer Lumos the neutral god. I am Lux the balance keeper. Also, I have a question. With your long life comes large amounts of knowledge, does it not? So I ask you this: How should I ask out Clare? Yes, I just wrote that. Also, here is a riddle, since this letter feels a bit too serious.

There are two doors, one always tells the truth, the other always lies. You wish to go through the door of truth. What must you ask both doors to find the correct one?

-Lux
________________________________________________________________

AN: And so ends the Crossover, and by connection this story. Will I make a third book? Eventually, once I've figured out what I'll do for it. Also, please ask any questions you have about this story.

~Cloud Nova/Madman12435 falling out.