『 ℬυℜηt 』

[Salem Wolf]

Daxter returned to the hotel to drop off his acquired clothing, finding that Ember hadn't come back yet, which brought him to sigh softly and sit on the bed. He wondered where she was, if she was okay, what was going on with her. He was glad to have asked her along, no doubt about that, but she was even more mysterious than him, and he had only opened up so the whole explanation on going to see his mother made sense, besides he figured she should know depending on what would happen in Juneau. Daxter knew he was a psychopath, but a psychopath with a strange heart of gold, nonetheless. He wondered about the girl, and wondered if she had gotten lost in her thoughts like he often did.

It had been a few hours since he returned to the hotel, and though he knew she could handle herself and didn't worry that he'd been attacked, he wondered now if maybe her attack didn't go the way she'd want it to. In other words, he was now worried that she was in a gutter bleeding to death or already bled out. He grumbled to himself for caring about her, then left the hotel in a run.

"EMBER!!" He yelled loudly, leaping from rooftop to rooftop, using fire to propel himself far distances. "EMBER!!" He continued out yelling her name, leaping across streets and alleyways from above to see if he could spot her. He skidded to a stop when he saw a shadowed figured on the rooftop, approaching the figure and illuminating it with fire in his hand. The figure, the shadow, did not clarify, it remained a shadow. "Who the hell are you?" Daxter asked as he illuminated the entire rooftop with powerful flames rising off his body. "Answer me, or I'll cut you down and ******** your corpse." He produced a solidified construct shaped like swords he held in his hand, produced solely with intricate fire ability.

"You make fire, but you fail to produce warmth." The figure said whimsically, "you can smile but you cannot be happy. You life a life of despair, imprisoned by your own evil, using others for your own gain." Daxter's flames became brighter, hotter, and more intense. "You have 5 seconds to tell me who the ******** you are before I rip out your throat." "It's coming." Daxter rushed forward and let the swords slice through the shadow's body, only for it to dissipate. The flames vanished and Daxter kept going after Ember. He didn't dwell on who or what that was, only that he had to keep moving.

"EMBER!! WHERE ARE YOU?!" He leaped over an alleyway then pushed himself down into it, landing with a hard thud where he found Ember. "Jeez, I've been looking for you for like 20 minutes, are you okay? And sorry for what? Who were you talking to?" He looked around for the shadowy figure, then turned to Ember, seeing she was letting tears fall. This surprised him, causing him to look at her with a slight twist of his head, "w-why are you crying? What happened? Talk to me." He put his hands on her shoulders and looked at her, trying to understand her emotions and feelings, empathy being very hard for him. He wasn't going to be imprisoned by his own evil, not the way the figure described, he wasn't going to be like that.

"You can tell me anything."

[Escaflowdra]

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Ember sat up against the cold bricks on her back. She could see some of the snow falling. More and more lights in the city were going out, and soon there was nothing left but a golden glowing light above the alley where she sat. She kept holding in the tears, but it wasn't long before something dropped onto the ground. She crunched the snow under her foot in response, but she heard a familiar breathing pattern. His voice barely emitting in between his breath. She calmed herself and listened as he looked around, "Jeez, I've been looking for you for like 20 minutes, are you okay? And sorry for what? Who were you talking to?" So many questions. She noted them all in her head but dismissed them when she noticed Daxter widening his eyes to her. He never did that. So in response, she stared calmly at him while trying to suppress her earlier surge of emotions.

Then a pair of hands rested on her shoulders as he spoke, "w-why are you crying?" Ember's scarf stayed above her lips, slipping off her nose as she raised her chin slightly. "What happened?" A few tears freed themselves and fell into the fabric of the scarf. Soaking it slightly more than it already had from the snow. "Talk to me." The scarf fell from the lower half of her face, revealing her neck. Daxter seemed to be studying her, very close in fact. Too close for actual comfort. Her breathing space, her space to contemplate, think, act, and he was there. Closer than anybody had been for the longest time, holding her shoulders and looking at her eyes with a stutter stuck in his throat.

However, Ember made eye contact somehow. She was not only shocked by Daxter's empathy, but that she was actually crying. She wasn't hiccuping or having a rough breathing pattern. She just shook twice and thought it was a twitch... a sting in her cheeks and a jolt of the shoulders. "You can tell me anything," he said to her as they stayed crouched low in the snow of a dark alleyway... In Juneau, Alaska. The black clouds shifted in the sky and covered the moon as the light of the alley still allowed them to see... And all she could see in his eyes was her reflection, and her own puzzled expression. How am I... supposed to talk? She felt like she actually forgot how to form words, and how to convey thoughts. How long has it been?

She couldn't ignore his response... His search or his actions. She lowered her eyes and looked down to her pocket before finally speaking. "Daxter..." she called out in a soft whipser with a small hint of exhaustion in her tone. "Do you like the cold weather?" She lifted her gaze up to his eyes again, this time clenching the item in her hand and a silver chain falling from the side of her closed palm. "The winter reminds me of a great tragedy and suffering. I always felt that in the cold, I was unable to move. I felt, time did not move." She leaned a bit closer and closed her eyes, making sure she was not paying attention to her closeness. Am I asleep? Dreaming maybe. He hasn't pushed me away. Her forehead touched his right shoulder as she kept her head down and continued talking, "I don't know how you feel about the snow. Time. Pain. Anything like that. I actually... can't tell you anything and everything. There is one thing I do want to tell you."

She moved back, resting her back against the brick wall again and opening her palm, revealing her gift for Daxter. She watched him take it from her palm into his own as she rested her hand against her lap, her silver eyes dimming down as she closed her eyes. "This reminds me that time keeps moving in the cold. In the dark. In my pain. I want you to know that you are not as alone as you may think." She started breathing slower as she started drifting off in and out of her daze. She was so tired. "Time will heal your wounds as much as they can. What it cannot do... I will try and do the rest." She breathed heavy, moving a right hand up to his shoulder and gripping him slightly as she gave a whisper, "...Give... me a chance."

[Salem Wolf]

She wasn't saying anything, Daxter gave a sigh and figured he would be wasting his time with human emotions, or sympathy, or even empathy. Why bother? Meaningless wastes of time, trying to connect with people only got in the way, he could see her face, see her tears, realize she was sad and couldn't understand why. He'd hit low points before, sadness, depression, but that was because he had been tainted, impure by other demons running around his mind. Now that he was pure, he realized how stupid it had been to care about people, people he was going to hurt in the end anyway. Sapphire, Ember, he would only hurt these people, he would do it with glee, but that nagging, incessant little ant in the back of his mind telling him what he learned from all his time not being himself would crop up, just being there whispering about how wrong it was. He would ignore it, forget it, but somehow along his journey he'd found emotion he didn't know he had. One he loathed. Sure, he hated himself at one time, he'd done terrible things and that whispering was louder, stronger, telling him how bad he was. But now? Well...maybe it didn't matter. He was who he was, he was changing but not for the better. Murder, blood, rape, death, they were all a part of life and he was just providing the experience. But maybe...maybe it didn't have to be that way. 'Of course it does.'

"Daxter..." She said softly, trying to find her voice. "Do you like the cold weather?" He looked at her closely, watching the silver chain fall from her palm, "yeah, I do. It's cold, it's bitter, the snow melts where I walk...it's weakness...I can exploit." Perhaps not the answer she was expecting, but one he gave nonetheless. "The winter reminds me of a great tragedy and suffering. I always felt that in the cold, I was unable to move. I felt, time did not move." He didn't know how to reply to that, just staring as she leaned in closer, looking down at her with his mouth slightly open, stunned by what she was saying, what she was doing. He didn't know what to do.

"I don't know how you feel about the snow. Time. Pain. Anything like that. I actually... can't tell you anything and everything. There is one thing I do want to tell you." She backed away, leaned against the brick of the alleyway, then held out her palm and showed him a pocket watch, something meant for him. A gift. He got gifts a lot, Sapphire gave them to him, a replacement for Taco that he loved and yet brought back more pain than he cared to let on. Other things as well, small gifts, gifts he forgot about or ignored, feigned interest in. He didn't mean to be cruel, but he couldn't avoid it, it was how he was.

Daxter carefully picked up the pocket watch from her palm, examining the careful detail, the intricate design. He fingered over the etching into the back around the center showing the gears moving in sync, perfectly designed to work as one. He watched the gears in amazement, watching perfect harmony without a missed beat. His eyes, those brilliant red eyes staring down at the watch he held carefully in his hand like a small animal too fragile to touch. It worked so well together, it was like a physical manifestation of what he wanted. A perfectly in sync mind, that meshed together and worked like it was intended. He could see his reflection in the window, opening the watch to see the roman numerals and the hands telling the time. "Time will heal your wounds as much as they can. What it cannot do... I will try and do the rest."

He was stuck on that watch, watching the gears, watching it work. It was like everything was coming into place, clicking, meshing, working, understanding. He felt a hand on his shoulder and could only barely pull his gaze from the watch to look at Ember, examining the details of her face, looking at the intricate design given to her; lips, chin, nose, eyes, hair. He took it all in and looked back down to the watch. His mind was blank, nothing, not even silence. A complete lack of everything. It was like everything was on mute, not even a darkness. It was an absence of all. Then he could hear it, penetrating, echoing, the daze of which he'd been put into by watching the gears turning, it permeated into the deepest recesses of his mind, Ember's voice. "...Give... me a chance."

Everything flooded into his mind, every word and noise, color and emotion. He could smell the happiness, and taste the sadness. Everything crisscrossed every which way, something snapped inside of him, made sense, made no sense, confused and clarified. Daxter stared at Ember with nothing, no tell, no emotion, pure neutrality. He stared at her for what felt, or seemed, like hours. He swallowed hard, the gears of the watch still turning in intricate detail. "I..." He paused, stopped himself, "I thank you...for the gift." It wasn't cold, but it wasn't emotional. He had struck a balance between cold and warm, but inside he felt things building up, but what were they?

In an instant he had put his fist through the brick wall opposite Ember, the one hand not holding the watch, "but I can't accept it." Anger. Hate. "It doesn't work. It doesn't work the way I do. This. Thing. Is rich, detailed, it works, it's beautiful." He kept his back to her, head down, fist slowly removing from the wall, "I see this...I see perfection. Everything works in harmony. I don't have harmony. I see good. I don't have good. I have manipulation, deception, suffering, hate. I would kill you if it benefited me. If I gained from your death I would." He turned to her and closed the distance before she could blink, his hand against the brick wall looking down at her, their bodies close together. He held the watch in his still free hand, the ticking getting louder in his ear.

"I would destroy you, cut you, hurt you, abuse you, rape you, I would take my time in killing you until I was satisfied. I'd feel nothing for you, I'd feel nothing for you BECAUSE I HAVE NOTHING TO FEEL." His voice echoed, his yelling penetrating the silence around them. "When I reduced you to tears and made you wish for a day in which we'd never met or you'd slit my throat instead of offering your help is when I would end your pitiful whining and let you slowly drift away into an eternal dreamless sleep. You'd fight me, and you'd lose. Look into my eyes, it's where my demons hide. I don't let people get too close because it's too dark inside. I told you what I did to Dexter I'd do it to you too. I call myself Daxter because it's a reminder of what kind of cruelty humankind of truly capable of. I am humankind."

He pulled away from her, his back hitting the brick wall on the other side of her, he stared down to the pocket watch, the gears they were turning and clicking, "I don't hate you, Ember. But I don't feel anything for you either. I pretend. Some people play tennis...I erode the human soul. Faking happiness, caring about people, pretending I wouldn't just ******** them twice and leave them on the street. I'm the monster under the bed, I'm the demon sent from hell. People don't get rid of me I decide when I'm tired of them."

So much emotion, hate and anger in his words. He panted heavily as his heart raced terribly, staring down at the pocket watch he couldn't accept, then pocketed it, looking at Ember without emotion. "O-One chance. Y-You have one chance. If you fail, i-if you can't heal me then it's over. It's...it's all over. Everything. It's one way or the other. You can save me, you can help me, but if you don't or you can't then I'm the very monster Sapphire was afraid of. That I was afraid of."

He slumped onto the ground, looking up at Ember as his emotions and feelings were swirling uncontrolled in his mind, everything he wasn't equipped to handle wreaking havoc on him. "Help me." He pulled out the pocket watch and stared at it, gripping it tightly in his hand as the gears kept turning.

[Escaflowdra]

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Eyes closing, and she was sure that Daxter would have plenty to say back. For a while though, he was silent. There was a thick layer of tension in the air that surrounded and clouded Ember's mind. What was he going to say? Would he complain that he already had a watch? Would he get angry at her? Maybe break it? She knew as unpredictable as Daxter was, there was a limited amount of what he could do to surprise her. With a vast experience of pain as well as dealing it... there was no telling what new scar would be born, or old scar would be reopened. Then finally, after opening her spring green eyes to look at Daxter, she noticed him struggling. She stared, only waiting for his words to start spilling out. "I thank you...for the gift." That sounded awfully formal. It was a simple statement of gratitude, filled with nothing else but just the context of the words. She wasn't sure whether or not to feel good about it, since she hadn't planned on giving it to him for sometime... But he came to find me. I don't know... why I couldn't just wait.

She was going to invest into trivial questions, asking herself why and everything... Until the bricks on the opposite wall crumbled. "but I can't accept it." Ember looked for traces of the actual watch itself while keeping her calm expression. He was equipped with a rage he probably knew all too well. She could see the silver chain hanging from his other hand, and moved her eyes to look up at his back. "It doesn't work. It doesn't work the way I do. This. Thing. Is rich, detailed, it works, it's beautiful. I see this...I see perfection. Everything works in harmony. I don't have harmony. I see good. I don't have good. I have manipulation, deception, suffering, hate. I would kill you if it benefited me. If I gained from your death I would."

With her back against the wall, she looked straight up into the blood red eyes that looked down on her. Even with his shadow casted over him, she could still see his frustrations built up in his face. She never spilled a word as he continued, "I would destroy you, cut you, hurt you, abuse you, rape you, I would take my time in killing you until I was satisfied. I'd feel nothing for you, I'd feel nothing for you BECAUSE I HAVE NOTHING TO FEEL." He shouted loud, paused and continued to pour out his feelings to the woman in his shadows. "When I reduced you to tears and made you wish for a day in which we'd never met or you'd slit my throat instead of offering your help is when I would end your pitiful whining and let you slowly drift away into an eternal dreamless sleep. You'd fight me, and you'd lose. Look into my eyes, it's where my demons hide. I don't let people get too close because it's too dark inside. I told you what I did to Dexter I'd do it to you too. I call myself Daxter because it's a reminder of what kind of cruelty humankind of truly capable of. I am humankind."

He pulled away from her, his back hitting the brick wall on the other side of her, he stared down to the pocket watch, the gears they were turning and clicking, "I don't hate you, Ember. But I don't feel anything for you either. I pretend. Some people play tennis...I erode the human soul. Faking happiness, caring about people, pretending I wouldn't just ******** them twice and leave them on the street. I'm the monster under the bed, I'm the demon sent from hell. People don't get rid of me I decide when I'm tired of them." He pocketed the watch and panted heavily. He looked at her while standing against the wall and told her, "O-One chance. Y-You have one chance. If you fail, i-if you can't heal me then it's over. It's...it's all over. Everything. It's one way or the other. You can save me, you can help me, but if you don't or you can't then I'm the very monster Sapphire was afraid of. That I was afraid of."

"Help me," and soon Daxter would feel Ember taking him by the collar of his shirt and pinning him on his back to the snow while her free hand covered and pushed Daxter's fingers on the pocket watch to close the lid.

Still pinning him she hovered directly above his face and looked down at him. "Why did you come find me."

She took a moment of silence and the spoke again, "I'm a dragon. I can survive these conditions. I'm too stubborn to die and whither away now. So..." she inched closer and looked at his blood red hues with her silver ones, "...if what you say is true, to kill me and feel nothing, what did you feel when you came for me?" She sat up, holding his hand shut around the watch still, and hearing the tick for herself. "Are you thinking you could gain from me being here when it comes to seeing your mother again... Or are you thinking that you don't know what to think at all?" She moved her eyes and opened his palm, holding his hand with her right closed as she opened the watch in her left, facing it towards him.

"I wonder if a monster can call something like this beautiful, when all a monster truly knows what to do is break, destroy, kill and starve." She glanced down at Daxter, putting it closed back into his hand, "And so what if you kill me? I would rather die by your hands anyway. I know what you're capable of in means of making me suffer. But I think you've forgotten already... that I am a manifestation of pain. You are humankind Daxter? You are not humankind. You are supernatural. Twisted. Dark. Lost. We are supernatural. Twisted. Dark.... Lost." She lowered her gaze, the shadows hiding her expression as she finally let go of his hands and instead lifted him to stand with her.

"But... that just means neither of us are alone."

She turned her back to him, and they both walked down the alley. She knew he would lead them back to the hotel, but she still managed to walk on. "I'll take my chance with you," she said as she walked, feeling her energy drain by the step. The seal had definitely taken a toll on her. Besides... I...

[Salem Wolf]

He was broken down into the most basic pieces of his psyche, torn down from such a high level of egotism that he was feeling the emotions he suppressed for so long, and only recently learned he had. Dax had always been an unfeeling, cold psychopath, but he was still human and that meant that, despite being as cruel and cold as he was, he still felt things. For the longest time he misconstrued what those things were, what he felt, or even if they were real. Dax was a rare person, Gifted aside, in that he had memories formed and recalled from when he was a baby, days old from the womb. He could recall the image of the doctor, a face he could not recognize but clothes that seemed unmistakable now, images of his mother as he was lifted to her to hold, and images of his father with a scowl on his face that could not be ignored. Unwanted, uncared for, Dax was a child of happenstance, a product of failed abortion or too strong to die, a child of rape and hatred. They say genetics has a huge part to play in the way a person grows up, for Dax his genetics were nothing that needed repeating or mention. They were all terrible.

He remembered, being such a small child in a crib bought for him by his grandmother, the loud noises that startled him, the screaming that scared him, and the eventual sound of the gunshots that deafened him. He couldn't remember details of the traumatic night, but he could recall his mother and father arguing over something important. Two gunshots, then a third, then one final gunshot. Two into the chest of his mother, when she stopped moving one into the crib, and then the old man took his own life. Dax felt pain and blood, but the unsteady hand of a man enraged had missed the child and merely grazed him. He could remember his mother, bleeding profusely, with phone in hand, checking on the child to ensure his safety. She lived only long enough for the police to show.

Dax recalled the adoption process, living with his adoptive parents before they could finalize it, the months until he was accepted as a McLain. Dax McLain had remembered and lived through such trauma at a young age it would go on to override whatever he would become and turn him into what he was now. He knew that, he knew why, but what he was - innocent - could not be erased completely. It intertwined with his psychopathic tendencies shaped by his parents' twisted lives, and drove him insane. Emotions he suppressed, never known to have, emerging and taking center stage. That, in itself, drove him insane.

He went through the motions, he told Ember what he would do to her and why he wouldn't care, he threatened her and promised to use her. When he was done, he kept the pocket watch and admitted in one last pathetic attempt at humanity...that he needed help. He looked up at her as she pinned him down into the snow, sitting on his stomach and looking up at her. He had no tears in his eyes, or emotion that could be seen, he only felt curious. "Why did you come find me. I'm a dragon. I can survive these conditions. I'm too stubborn to die and whither away now. So...if what you say is true, to kill me and feel nothing, what did you feel when you came for me?" He looked up into her silver eyes, his own blood red eyes seeing his reflection. He felt odd, something different stirring up inside of him. "I..." He stopped, unable to form the sentence he wanted. "Are you thinking you could gain from me being here when it comes to seeing your mother again... Or are you thinking that you don't know what to think at all?" He felt her hand touch his, opening the pocket watch so he could look at it tick.

"I wonder if a monster can call something like this beautiful, when all a monster truly knows what to do is break, destroy, kill and starve." She closed up the pocket watch and replaced it in his hand, "And so what if you kill me? I would rather die by your hands anyway. I know what you're capable of in means of making me suffer. But I think you've forgotten already... that I am a manifestation of pain. You are humankind Daxter? You are not humankind. You are supernatural. Twisted. Dark. Lost. We are supernatural. Twisted. Dark.... Lost."

She let him stand, and he did so as she told him neither of them had to be alone, and she'd take her chances with him...and then he laughed. He laughed because of the absurdity of it all, them not being alone, helping him out, the way she was willing to take the pain from him. Maybe...just maybe...everything would turn out okay. "I'm beat, let's get back to the hotel, huh?" He grabbed her hand, intertwining his fingers with hers but making no mention, no note of it, just doing it. Human contact felt so nice, and her hands were surprisingly soft to the touch. He took lead as they walked towards the hotel, his hand holding hers the entire way, still making no mention of it, ignoring any comments sent in his direction. They returned to the hotel and entered, Daxter letting go of her hand finally, then undressing himself down to his underwear and climbing into bed. "Don't...don't do that stupid thing you did last night, under the covers, under the sheets. Don't be afraid I'm not going to bite, I have some respect for you. A little, not much, just the way I am." He turned his back to her to let her get comfortable, then fell into a slumber.

--- The Next Day ---

They had a few days left before he would be meeting with his mother, and though he grew more nervous each second that passed, he hit it very well. He was good at hiding things. After a morning of breakfast from the hotel, a very expensive and delicious breakfast, Daxter suggested checking out the city and seeing what it offered. He led her around (again, holding her hand which got a few glances in their direction at the "cute couple" they were), and went around to the various shops. With his suit purchased, food taken care of by way of the hotel and complimentary snack bar, and room service charges he would apply to his mother's account which he felt was owed to him for backdated birthday gifts, the rest of their money was to be spent on fun.

He was surprised to find a metalworker's shop set up in the city, heading down into the hot basement with various metal weapons of intricate detail, design, and usability. Some were for show, some were to be used. None of the weapons seemed to compare to the vibroblade he held back home, one he wished he'd taken with him, but there were various swords he had become interested in. Then he saw it, it was called the Prototype Blade, a simple black handle with silver wrapped around the handle heading to a small guard that only barely protruded around the grip. It wasn't the vibroblade, but it was very much a collapsible sword that would work kindly for what he wanted. Grinning from ear-to-ear, he got the attention of the blacksmith and began bartering for the sword small enough to hide on his person.

"There is no way I'm paying $1200 for it. You're damn stupid if you think any other person in the world will pay that, especially considering it'll be put on a shelf or hung on the wall. No no, this little beauty, it needs to be used. To cut, to stab, it needs to be properly cared for in a way only a real swordsman can." The blacksmith laughed, shaking his head, "and you think you can do that? I don't build these to sell, I build them to create the best pieces of equipment out there." Daxter smirked, "I feel the blade, it speaks to me. It needs me, I need it. A collapsible sword that'll fit under my shirt? The potential is limitless, the carefully sharpened blade, the fine pointed ridge, the handle in its intricate detail and design. Though the average idiot can't see it, the small notches in the blade as an insignia. Oh, this blade took at least four months of work. Detailing, designing, building, testing. I need this sword."

The blacksmith pulled it out of the case and extended the blade to full-length, "a beautiful piece of work, my finest. There's no one in all of Alaska, hell the entire country, that can appreciate a sword the way I do. But you? You understand. I can't just give it to you, but I'll let you work for it. Come by at 6 when we close for the night, show me what you got and maybe, maybe, I can part with it. But I promise nothing." Daxter grinned, looking to Ember, "I like this man. Sorry baby, my evening is all full up, try not to be heartbroken." He turned to look at the blacksmith, "6pm it is."

Leaving the building, Daxter as giddy as he's ever been at the prospect of working in a real blacksmith's shop to earn a brand new sword, he grabbed Ember's hand and led her around the city some more. It didn't take long for them to find something he wanted to do, in fact what could only be described as an actual arcade, and a popular one at that, could be found in the mall. Huge open space, packed with people enjoying a day of fun and leisure, he led them inside of it. "Dance Dance Revolution? Oh hell nah! Ember you keep busy, find things to do...I'm going to do karaoke."

It could have been a codeword for something, but instead the arcade had an actual karaoke system set up to entertain the gamers with. He got up on stage, picked out a song, and began belting out a pop song. "♪ And girls, they wanna have fu-uun. Ooooh girls just wanna have...fuuuun. ♪"

[Escaflowdra]

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She was unable to finish her thought as it was interrupted by his laughter. She stopped in her tracks and turned to look at him while he seemed to be laughing whole-heartily. It was weird... seeing him laughing like that... but it was better than a tormented, unhappy scowl on his face. He finally spoke with a sigh to her, "I'm beat, let's get back to the hotel, huh?" Ember turned her face away and closed her eyes for a second, "Where else would w--" but something happened. Ember widened her eyes and stared forward at the snow, and the man at her side that soon stepped in front of her vision and pulled her with him... by holding her hand. She glanced down to look at their hands, having felt his fingers completely intertwine with hers. W-What is he doing? In an instant reaction, Ember was actually pulled forward to following him as she was tempted to take back her hand. This uncontrolled sense of heat coming from somebody else felt like fire.

However, he didn't have to pull hard to get her to follow. She was also low on energy from all that had happened with the demons. All these small justifications... but she couldn't ignore that untempered heat that she felt. Ember's silver eyes ceased as she finally settled back to her original hues, seeing how she had no worries to be keeping herself warm. In fact, she had used her free hand to move her scarf upward to cover the lower half of her face. There's no way, she thought to herself as she decided to not invest in imaginary ideas. Daxter's hand had gripped her in a way she knew struggling was pointless, and that as mysterious as it was as to why he was doing it... she wouldn't complain.

They made it back, Ember going to the restroom to change into her attire for the night. A gray tank top and black shorts. She brushed her red hair and looked in the mirror, placing a hand on it after washing her face and brushing her teeth. She gazed at her expression, and gritted her teeth behind her closed lips as she moved her eyes back down to watch the water run down the sink. The real question is what's following you and what they plan to do with you. A few drops of water fell off her chin and splashed into the sink as she tried to figure out for herself if she had ever seen those kinds of demons before. That seal. I shouldn't have removed it so quickly so I could have memorized the damn pattern. She felt a hint of regret for her haste earlier, but accepted her actions and would deal with the consequences. word of caution though, if I know what hotel you're staying at, I wouldn't be surprised if your attacker does too.

She exited the bathroom and stepped into the bedroom, where she met the dimmed golden glow of a light on her side and sat on the mattress. "Don't...don't do that stupid thing you did last night, under the covers, under the sheets. Don't be afraid I'm not going to bite, I have some respect for you. A little, not much, just the way I am." Ember blinked her eyes and looked over her shoulder to find Daxter already under the sheets and turned to the other side. She moved her eyes away from him and looked at the light, turning it lower enough where it was still lit but barely visible. She was tossed with her back turned to Daxter as well, and looked at her right hand that was open and laying next her to pillow. She clenched her hand, still feeling a lingering heat. Her eyes watched the shadows of the room. Sleep was out of the question.

- - - The Next Day - - -

Ember was up first, dressed first, and sitting in the living room waiting for Daxter to wake up as she hadn't slept at all. Although she laid beside him until the morning sun broke out. She knew with as many things as there was going on in Daxter's mind, she had just as many thoughts occurring every given moment. She ate breakfast, more than last time considering she would have to fuel herself for energy lost throughout her sleepless night, and joined Daxter to go and explore Juneau. When they exited, he led her by grabbing her hand again. She stuck close to his side and put her free hand in her pocket, seeing how the farther away from him she was, the more awkward and evident it would be that they were holding hands. She couldn't help but shut up in silence when he did. Going out and exploring? Holding hands? Anybody would immediately classify that as a date, but she would reject the idea.

There was no way. And soon the pair went into a metalworker's shop. Ember got a glance at many nice weapons, but most of them she could forge with her dragon steel power. She didn't care much for the extendable blades like Daxter did, since her blades weren't extended by anything else but her hands. She would look at whatever Daxter was looking at, and when coming across another blade she was a little surprised to see Daxter's excitement. He started talking to the blacksmith, passion and want entangled in his voice as he was getting into the blade. She cracked her fingers and rolled her neck, looking at other blades and observing the blacksmith. If he knew her powers, her name, and her worth, his shop could be overflowing with cash one way or another. There was a lot Ember could do, but he was successful. She couldn't change anything about her name in his eyes or anybody else's.

After indulging in her thoughts, Daxter made a deal to come back at 6 pm, turning to Ember and speaking, "I like this man. Sorry baby, my evening is all full up, try not to be heartbroken." Ember gave a sly smile and looked over her shoulder, "Oh he's spending time with another man. I'm beyond words." After leaving, she could see he was in a good mood. He grabbed her hand again, shutting her up entirely and then leading her around to an arcade. The loud noises and flashing lights caught her attention as she walked in. It wasn't cold, and actually a little warm considering the sweat, commotion and running was going on. This place was packed and filled to the brim with the sound of loose change, teens shouting in competition and music. Daxter let go of her hand and turned to her as he spoke, "Dance Dance Revolution? Oh hell nah! Ember you keep busy, find things to do...I'm going to do karaoke."

Ember blinked in surprise and reached a hand out to him, "W-Wait a minute--" but he got up on the karaoke stage and put her arm back down. "♪ And girls, they wanna have fu-uun. Ooooh girls just wanna have...fuuuun. ♪" Ember blushed immensely as a few teenagers looked at her from the side and snickered. She lowered her expression and walked away, seeing that Daxter was going to do his thing and sing that song. She walked into a wall and rested her forehead on it and sighed, I guess I better find something to do... So she looked around and found a station that sold player cards. After purchasing one, she stuffed it in her pocket and looked around. She finally decided to take off her hoodie and ditch it behind the service desk, and to better blend in she decided to tie her long red hair into a ponytail.

She got a few glances, and was soon approached by a crew of guys. There were some girls in the mix, but the men were dominant in number. She was going to ignore them until she bumped into one on the stray end. He glanced at her from the side while enjoying an orange sucker, and when she bumped into multiple others because of their collision, he pulled her arm and got her out of the traffic. His group stopped with him shortly after he asked, "You alright?" Ember looked at him and nodded her head, read for him to let go of her arm. Wearing tank tops is a bad idea in general. I should have thought about this ahead of time, she thought when noticing his finger-less gloves allowed his fingers to touch her skin.

A blue hair male stepped forward and called out to Ember, "Hey hey! You look like you could use some fun!" Ember was puzzled. "I was doing just f--" but then felt a blonde girl pull at her arm to join them. She was really giggly for a girl in such a sausage-fest. Maybe she knew that. Ember rolled her eyes and sighed, being dragged with them to the dance dance revolution machine. While she peeked at Daxter singing upstage, they waited for his song to end before putting a few coins in the DDR machine. Ember didn't know she had been dragged into a DDR crew. The red hair male stepped one the right side while the girl was being encouraged to give it a try. "Guys~" she hummed and blushed as she tried to back out of it. "Hey I have an idea! How about her?" she pointed to Ember. In response, Ember widened her eyes and looked both ways before being pushed up the stage. "W-What? No I never--" The red hair male spoke, "Marc."

Ember tilted her head and moved some bangs from her face and leaned closer, "What?" "Marc. That's my name," a calm smile appeared on his face as he then nodded and asked, "Yours?" She straightened her posture and rested a hand on her side, "Ember..." After flashing a grin, "Well Ember. Dance Dance Revolution is easy. You just have to match the rhythm and step on these foot panels in sequence to those on the screen. See?" he pointed to the machine and it showed an example as a trailer of what to expect from the game. She nodded, and then heard him say, "Sorry about my friends. They don't know what introductions are. Now, you ready to play?" Ember took out her player card and slid it on her end, clicking her character selection and looked over to Marc. "Ready," she said, a genuine grin on her face. A crowd gathered around and soon the lyrics started. "The City is at War--" and the slow beats started with easy steps. Ember had picked expert difficulty to match him, failing the first few steps with Marc.

He was precise, faster, and more equipped for the game. So... to make things even, Ember stared directly at the screen and blinked her silver hues. Nobody could tell they were silver. They would think it was the screen's reflection on her eyes. She soon matched Marc and then surpassed him in rhythm and moves. I think I like this game, she thought as she swung her hips, turned and used the panels. Her expression that was usually neutral transformed to a little brighter smile. Nobody here other than Daxter knew that she was always thinking, and never looked this happy... but even Marc and the others were caught off guard. She was reserved, quiet, but right now, she was a little happy.

The song ended, and soon the two relaxed on the bars behind them. "That was awesome," he said and gave her a thumbs up. Her spring green eyes looked at him and gave a half smile. It was impressive. However, he had more experience in doing this without using anything like she did. "That was amazing! So cool!" The blonde girl said when getting up on the stage. Ember looked away, unsure of why this girl was getting on her nerves. Then she felt a pat on the shoulder by Marc as he led her with a hand off her back off the machine. "Let's see what Jace is going to do," he motioned the blue hair guy up the stage who shouted to the crew, "Who wants to join me?" Ember didn't realize the hand was still on her shoulder as she was a little exhausted. For a game, that was quite a bit of energy.

[Salem Wolf]

There was something about Ember he liked, she was someone fun even if she wasn't being fun. It was nice to have another fire-starter around him, maybe he didn't feel like she was fragile as Sapphire had been, Ember had that flame, that bullheadedness that Sapphire didn't. He still cared for Sapphire, but he could never be with her in his current state. With Ember though, she seemed alright and could handle herself. He liked that fact, and though he missed Sapphire he swore she wouldn't see him again, not until one of two things happened, and one of them would not end well. But regardless of the past, now he was hanging with her and enjoying it. He brought her to the blacksmith while holding her hand for no reason she would ever know, perhaps his own brand of torture to her, then left the blacksmith promising to return. He wanted that sword, and respected the blacksmith enough not to kill him and take it, preferring to earn it and perhaps learn a little something along the way. Then they found the arcade that Daxter knew he had to try, he had to have fun with it. With only a few days until everything changed for him, he wanted to enjoy whatever was left. He left Ember to her own devices and got up on stage and started singing.

He finished his fun little song, something that would get most people to scoff and look away, and it embarrassed Ember as he could see from where she was. He watched her start to make friends of her own, "♪ Everyday I get a little closer, and everything I'm made off starts to melt away. I see the signs but I can't quite make the words out, all I want is to be near you but I push you away. ♪"

The song started out on a high tempo, continuing through the song with its alternative rock sound. "♪ I just wanna get away but I hurt you everyday. ♫ The part that hurts the most - is me. The most - is you. It's everything I do without you. The part that hurts the most - is me, the most - is you. It's everything I do without you. ♫"

He watched Ember as her 'new friends' approached her and began to talk to her, mentioning she looked like she could use some fun. He hadn't seen her with so little clothes on before, not unless they were about to sleep, and he didn't look for long. But there was something beautiful about her appearance, the striking red hair, her great figure. Daxter mentally laughed as he remarked on how good-looking she really was, something he didn't notice until now.

The group seemed to be talking for the moment, trying to get Ember closer to the DDR machine, while the song started going full strength into the crescendo. "♪ Every chance I get I'm moving closer, I know I'm not supposed to but I can't break away. I see the signs but I can't quite make the words out, all I want is to be near you but I push you away. ♪" 'Look at her, she looks so much more different than she has in our last few days together. I've been so -nice- to her lately, kind. Sapphire was the only one I've ever been so kind for before. She didn't deserve me. No, no, -I- didn't deserve her. I didn't.'

He went into the chorus again, "♪ I just wanna get away but I hurt you everyday. ♫ The part that hurts the most - is me. The most - is you. It's everything I do without you. The part that hurts the most - is me, the most - is you. It's everything I do without you. ♫" 'What are you doing here with her, you idiot? Are you so afraid of your mother and her reaction that you need a friend? I don't need a friend, I don't need anyone. I didn't need Sapphire, I don't need Ember. I'm the best I am at what I do.'

"♪ I hate talking about it, try to lose it but instead I found it I want you to know I couldn't love any one more. No! Stay away from me! No! Stay away from me! I turn and walk away, I just won't let her. ♪" The part repeated a few times as Daxter watched Ember climb onto the DDR machine, smiling brightly as her hips moved hypnotically to the rhythm of the song she played.

He watched in amazement, amusement, he couldn't believe the Ember he was staring at was the same one he had been traveling with for days now. He felt his temperature rising as he watched her, examining her up and down as her body moved to the song. He sang without missing a beat, both parties acquiring a decent audience as his singing talents had acquired admirers, and the pair playing DDR got a crowd of their own. Daxter gripped the microphone tighter than he had before, staring to Ember in such an odd way. He didn't know what he was feeling, but his temperature was rising and he was feeling heated. He clenched his teeth for a split moment in between the lyrics, then finished the song off without hesitation. "♫ The part that hurts the most - is me. The most - is you. It's everything I do without you. The part that hurts the most - is me, the most - is you. It's everything I do without you. ♫" He repeated the ending one more time as the song finished itself up, putting it on repeat with full lyrics on, allowing the song to play in full without anyone to sing the parts, turning karaoke time into jukebox time.

He climbed down off the stage as the song continued to play, a song he seemed to be connecting with enough to allow it to repeat. The people seemed to have enjoyed Daxter's singing, but parted as he walked through them getting closer to Ember. 'What are you going to do, Dax? You can't seriously be thinking about doing that to her? That's insane, you're going to start a fight, you're going to start a war. She's so vulnerable right now she'll never see it coming though. One good hit in, walk away, she'll be breathless. Why am I going to do this to her? What has she done? Why? I can't...' He got closer, his approach caught the attention of the crew that she was hanging out with. Despite the audience, despite the reaction that would occur, he had to. He didn't understand why he was going to do this, but he felt such strong emotions at the moment that if he ignored them then something worse would happen. The way she was moving, dancing on the machine, so happy and carefree, her hips moving so seductively he couldn't help himself. He stepped ever closer to her, "Ember!" He called out to her, but the way he did it seemed to be more of a snap at her, clutching a hand behind his back in a fist. With one step away from her his hands shot out from behind his back and grabbed her shoulders, pushing her back against the wall.

"You made me do this." He leaned his head in close to her and put a hand on her cheek, then touched their lips together. He had been so enamored by Ember's movements that it caused his temperature to rise, so focused on the way she moved he had become flustered and embarrassed while performing. He couldn't stop thinking about her, not since the night he woke up snuggling to her, the touch of another human, the warmth of someone with such beautiful soft skin. He wanted her to sleep next to him because of that contact, because he could smell her and she had such a distinct gorgeous smell to her it caused him to lose focus. He wasn't sure if he was acting on impulse or some legitimate emotion of lust/love, but for whatever reason he had kissed her with a hand on her cheek and one on her shoulder. Her lips felt so soft, tasted so delicious, he couldn't stop himself from letting out a tiny satisfied moan.

He pushed off her shoulders to back away with the tender lingering tingle on his lips, staring to the new crew that had forced Ember to play DDR with her, made her so [********] happy, and became the reason he'd seen a different side to her that had somehow made him need to taste her. Clenching his fist tightly, he swung and hit Marc in the chin with his fist, knocking him to the ground, pointing at him, [******** you." No reason, no rhyme, just unadulterated violence at a guy that for some reason he was jealous of. Perhaps it was because that Marc guy had made her so happy, and seeing her like that made him realize that was not something he could do. Maybe it made him think of Sapphire and how they had fun together and reminded him that he was never going to achieve a level of happiness that took him out of his bitterness. The blonde haired woman was pushed aside as Daxter walked past her, leaving the arcade and distancing himself from Ember and her new friends. Before he could let her catch up to him he left the mall and ducked into a nearby alleyway.

"What the hell did I just do...?" He slid onto the ground much like he did last night when admitting to Ember he wanted her to help him, then pulled out the pocket watch he carried, staring to it. "What the ********] He gripped tightly to that pocket watch, letting a finger trail over his lips as he still felt Ember's lips against his.

[Escaflowdra]

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Ember stared at the Jace who got up on the DDR machine and invited somebody to dance with him. One of the other males in their group took him up on his offer, and they started belting out to yet another song. However, while staring at the two who were playing their song, Ember's eyes traveled down. While she had been completely in the zone with the song, she heard Daxter's voice on different occasions. She didn't know he could sing so well. It was actually amusing when she closed her eyes, recalling a flashback to her immense amount of embarrassment when he started singing 'Girls Just Wanna Have Fun'. She rolled her eyes, giving a small smile and crossed her arms. Marc took his hand off her shoulder and saw her smile, about to ask her what she was smiling for.

"Ember!" she heard her name by that familiar voice. She turned around with a puzzled expression on her face, her eyes searching for that familiar face. "Daxt--" she was able to say when finally seeing his face, but shuddered slightly when his hands shot out towards her and grabbed her shoulders. She closed her eyes when she felt her back hit the wall, and while standing up, pinned to the wall by his hands, she opened her mouth and opened her eyes. Her lips parted to say something but, "You made me do this." Do -- but her thoughts were cut off. He was coming a lot closer, and his fingers grazed the skin of her cheek. His hand laid on her shoulder. His lips were firmly pressed against hers.

In a single instance, Ember's demeanor dissolved and her eyes shined a silver spark. A gasp was stuck in her throat, and her heart was hammering against her chest painfully. She craned her neck upward, closing her eyes as she fell victim to untempered heat. Two pairs of untrained lips clashed furiously, but Ember was at a standstill, in between breathing as time halted in her mind. The seconds she felt this contact, she felt like she was touching fire. Ember's heart only jumped when she heard a soft moan escape his lips, where she released the small unfiltered response of a gasp. Her face was immediately flushed and she felt like she was being constricted. The man who stood over her, pinned her, and kissed her had her in the palm of his hand, and she didn't even know it.

As soon as he pushed off her shoulders, Ember was left breathless to experience a wave of utter and complete agony that ultimately ripped her away from the fantasy and threw her roughly back to earth again. He turned to Marc quickly and hit him in the chin, Ember standing there and using the wall as her only support. "******** you," Daxter spit at the guy and pushed the blonde out of the way. Daxter tore himself away from her, running faster than she'd ever seen him move. And even though she knew could catch him if she tried, she thought that maybe she couldn't. She realized in the seconds of standing there, gathering whatever thoughts she could, that she had misread him again. Misunderstood him again.

Ember stood against the wall as Jace jumped from the machine to pick Marc up off the ground. He looked up to Ember with a scowl an panic on his face, yelling at her, "What the hell was that about?" Ember looked down with her spring green irises as Marc brushed the bottom of his chin and the blonde girl was whimpering for more attention. Ember snapped into the reality of the situation and looked down at Jace, without so much as a look of sympathy on her face. She rose a hand to hover over the lower part of her face and decided that she would think about it later. "You wouldn't understand it," she said as Jace finished helping his buddy up and came closer to her. "He just punched my friend in the face! What is he? A jeal--" "Back off!" she said, raising a foot and kicking Jace in his stomach to fall back. She turned away and headed to the service desk, avoiding the commotion and grabbing her jacket.

She quickly untied her hair and ran out of the arcade. Only I can understand him! she believed when referring to everyone else who only saw him as an uncontrollable acting force.

She looked around, and felt her temperature rise. She had to find him.. and she had his scent on her... so when taking in the fact, she used her powers to track him better. She walked patiently, since he wasn't going to run to a different side of the planet to avoid her. However, while walking around to his location and taking her time, she moved her fingers to her lips and noticed something odd. She was trembling slightly. She could recall every detail, every feeling, and every single occurrence of... what emotion was that? She shook her head. That's ridiculous... she thought quietly as she kept walking. But something was happening to her legs. The more she was headed towards his location, the harder she found it to continue walking towards him. I'm not supposed to do this, she thought as she finally saw his footsteps. She was trapped in the torment of her own past, flashing back to what she could remember as pools of blood. His blood.

I... I don't know what I should do. Ember, who was organized, responsible, clever, determined.. was now standing at the entrance of an alleyway with an actual blankness in all those categories. She was a clean slate, unsure of what move was the right move, and what the definition of the right move was. But she took the steps forward. Even if she was unsure of his feelings and hers, she knew two things. She had to be careful of their relationship... because the damage of his past ones had indeed taken a toll on him. The second thing she knew was clear in her mind as she finally approached him. I want to see him. She looked down at Daxter, whose head had been hanging. He was in a slumped position, not paying a bit of attention to his surroundings. She bent down, reaching a hand out but her hand was taken. She widened her eyes, not expecting him to do that.

Soon, she realized that something else was happening. Daxter hovered above her, his face completely pitch black. The darkness dripped onto the snow that was by her hair as she was laying underneath this creature which she had realized in passing moments was not Daxter. She felt a rage in her building up as she tried to set herself free, but there was something wrong with this demon. "The past repeats itself." The figure said as it became distorted and transformed into a faceless Zack. Ember widened her eyes as it also transformed into Mars, in which she breathed an immense amount of fire to get the vision away from her. "Stop" she said as she finally set herself free. She tackled the figure into the shadows corner of this alley. Why it had Daxter's scent was beyond her, but she tore it to pieces, the blood staining her hands. She took her dragon claws and pierced the middle of its throat, splitting the figure in to. The bones fabricated by the demon itself shattered and cracked as Ember' silver eyes observed the corpse falling into pieces.

She stood up, looking at the number she'd done and heard the voices of Mars and Zack saying her name. Ember. Ember. Ember. Why. She walked away from the figure and decided to go and find the real Daxter. There was no telling if he would run into a demon as well, and she just wouldn't allow him to suffer. She took off running.

[Salem Wolf]

Daxter's mind was completely blank. For the guy who had just forced a kiss on a woman he didn't know how he felt, and was confused by even his own actions in which he felt on autopilot, he didn't think or feel anything at the moment. In some regards he should be scared of what happened, scared because of past experiences with other personalities controlling his body against his will, in other regards he was whole, a complete entity in his own mind that had no threats to his own actions. On the other, he just kissed Ember without warning, or previous hints to desiring to do so. Daxter had gone completely against the grain, his own self, and done something he didn't know he was capable of doing. Yet, for not feeling anything his heart was beating faster than it had in a long time, and his lips tingled with the flavor of Ember on them. For a change, a shocking change, he didn't think of Ember as just a pleasurable being, someone to get his primal urges out on, but of someone completely different, worth so much more than that. Only Sapphire had ever gotten that treatment before, but of course it had ended poorly. Still, perhaps there was something brewing, tingling, lingering. Whatever it was that was demanding him to do what he'd done, to hide himself in an alley and stare to the gift she'd given him, he didn't have the ability to say he wasn't where he wanted to be. He'd gotten a kiss, let out some raw emotion, and started to feel good about himself. Yes, he was concerned with Ember's reaction, but he didn't regret what he'd done. Though confused, perhaps it was his first step towards becoming something different, something better. Because for a change, he decided to hide away instead of face the music...and he was never afraid of music.

He closed the pocket watch and stood up from the alleyway's ground, pocketing the watch and walking back onto the street, hearing a voice behind him: "hey a*****e!" Daxter stopped, turning to face the voice, a blue-haired man, the blue-haired man from the DDR machine, yelling at him. Daxter couldn't help but scoff as the guy called out to him, "that was my friend back there." Daxter began approaching Jace, grinning in amusement as he closed the distance. "Boy, you better back off of me real fast, or I'm going to turn your insides...out." Jace clenched his fist, "jealous little p***k, thinking my boy is gonna steal that girl? b***h got moves but -- " It was as if something turned inside of Daxter, in the tick of a clock he'd closed the gap and had his hand around Jace's neck, squeezing without restraint. "Never insult her. Not in front of me."

Daxter was always a scary fellow, unpredictable, weird, even when he was happy or joyful, making jokes or puns or sarcastic comments there was always something scary behind it. Most people didn't notice until it was too late, how he could switch so easily between happy and terrifying, most people didn't know he could. But there was nothing normal behind Daxter right now, none of his misdirection techniques, feigning of normalcy, nothing but a psychopath. Jace grabbed at Daxter's arm, unable to breathe, unable to think, only able to slowly die. Daxter watched the color drain out of Jace's face, slowly turning him blue from lack of oxygen, and waited for the life to fade from his eyes. "Learn some respect." Thankfully, Daxter released his grip from Jace, but not before slamming his skull against the alley walls. Turning from a limp Jace, Daxter continued to make his way back out onto the street.

"Weak!" The harsh scowl of Jace, only a foot behind Daxter as he turned to face the voice, could be heard. Jace backhanded Daxter's torso, slamming him into the wall with enough force to leave a large impact on it. Daxter bounced off the wall and found his footing, ducking the next superhuman punch from Jace and taking a few steps back. "You'll never survive at this rate." Jace's voice changed, revealing the shadowed form of the man from last night. Daxter growled. "Are you going to use Ember as you did Sapphire? For pleasure, to artificially create feeling? Will you toss her aside, disregarding her feelings, when you grow tired of her too? You are evil layered by falsities and deception."

Daxter grabbed the figure's throat, the shadow reforming across Daxter's body and then reshaping behind him as the humanoid figure. He turned quickly to face the figure, realizing quickly that the figure couldn't be harmed in this state. "What do you want with me? Are you trying to lead me on some righteous path like some guardian angel for a guy with a disturbing psychosis?" Daxter calmed himself down, knowing that this wasn't going anywhere with violence. "Impurities can be purified, illogicities can become logical. It's by the will of those who desire change that achieve change. You are limited only by your limitations, self-imposed."

Daxter shook his head, "I should've hired you as my therapist. Maybe I'd have less urge to punch a baby and more urge to get a stable job. Tell you what, Dr. Phil, you figure out what the ******** is wrong with me and get back to me."

"You desire change but do not desire the effort to output the necessary steps into becoming a being which your happiness can be wrought from. Your confusion in your own actions suggest you yet to understand your own motivations, and your need to invite friendlies along on a journey meant for yourself tells you are suffocated by emotions of fear. Your evil is not brought forth from your demonic but from the human, self-imposed. You wear the fragments of past lives on your sleeve and are guided by which you are no longer, but still imprisoned by. I tell you this because you tread a line in which will shape your future in permanence. To one hand you could become your envisionment of perfection, a pocket watch with gears that work as one. On another you fall into the trap of your past self, hurting friendlies and enemies alike without regard or concern for safety of others. Using, abusing, only engaging in primal needs to benefit yourself and no one else."

"Thanks Freud." Daxter replied in a mutter, unsure how to really respond to this thing that was analyzing him on such a deep level. However, Daxter already knew all of this, which suggested to him that this thing wasn't as omnipotent as he originally thought. "When I say 'what the ******** is wrong with me', I mean why I kissed Ember, and yet feel absolutely nothing. That's what I don't get, I feel nothing, yet I couldn't stop myself from kissing her because I wanted her. You know what's ********' crazy? I still do, I don't feel anything for her, but I want her."

"You suppress or block feelings of emotional duress in fear of being unable to control or handle it. You feel, but do not feel it. Your mental state does not allow to become distracted, but the body does desire what it does, and eventually a dam will leak no matter how watertight it was originally designed."

Daxter laughed, "goddamn doc, that...that makes sense."

"There comes a flooding in the future which will shape you, one does not know the path that will be chosen, but one will be taken. Should it come to pass to be chosen for evil, then you shall need to be destroyed. Power such as yours, unchecked and uncontrolled, cannot forever be left to its own devices." The shadowed figure seemed to form eye-shaped silver slits on its head, staring at Daxter with them. "You're friendly then, aren't you? What...are you?" The shadowed figure vanished from the alleyway, leaving Daxter's question unanswered. Turning quickly, he left to go find Ember, where he hoped he could bullshit his way into an explanation to not make him seem so...out of control.

[Escaflowdra]

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Ember turned the corner out of another alleyway, panting with lack of oxygen as she was breaking a sweat to find him. The images of Zack and Mars flashed in her mind, faceless. She closed her eyes, recalling Daxter being the next one. She shook her head and kept going. I'm not a monster. She knew she was lying to herself. Her footsteps shifted the snow below her, blasting the opposite direction as she sprinted. She kept pushing herself, then catching the attention of a few officers on the street. She glanced at them from the corner of her eye, and noticed that they were looking at her with concern. One step, and they moved to follow her. Dogs...

She quickly took the upper hand of the situation and her eyes changed to their silver color. She pounced off the ground, unknowingly zooming past dozens of strangers on the street. However, none of these Dogs Officers were Elites, so they wouldn't have the technology to catch up to her. If I find him, they'll chase after the both of us, she thought, but if I don't find him.. they might get to him first. A vision flashed in Ember's mind, when she stood in a ring of fire with Defiance and watched Mars take a bullet of poison. His blood spilled on the concrete floor of the base while Kalika picked him up, the green haired, snake-like devil sweeping him away. She gritted her teeth and clenched her fists, rushing forward. Not this time.

Finally, she saw him in her vision. She rushed towards Daxter, her silver hues locking in on him and then taking his arm. She moved him around the corner and entrance to a nearby alleyway, grabbing him by the front of his shirt and pulling him to stand close in front of her. "Cover me," she said to him as she leaned in towards his chest, pressing only her forehead against him and using his jacket to hide herself. When the officers ran past, if they spotted the pair, they would see a couple having a moment to themselves. They scoffed, continuing to run the other direction, and given Ember's highly trained senses, she waited until they seemed to be in the clear to pull back and look up to Daxter.

He seemed like he had something to say, but Ember was in a moment of relief. She gazed up at Daxter, smiling with her eyes and lips while speaking, "Thank you." This was probably the first time that she had fully smiled in a long time, and while a million things were circling in her head, she was happy to avoided the Dogs. The nostalgia of running away from the Dogs Corps reminded her of their time getting to know each other in Gradia. How he'd saved her a** a few times and her respectively doing the same. A lot of adventures... huh... she thought as she finally released Daxter's jacket and stepped back, thinking about the memories. Her smile faded as she bought a hand up to her lips and looked down. Suddenly, being close to him reminded her of that moment. What was she going to say about it... What was he going to do? He might blow it off, neglect to talk about it, maybe confront her about it and justify it.

She didn't know what to do, and in the standstill between them she closed her eyes and went to his side. She kept looking down and pulled her left hand out of her pocket. She neglected to actually face him for this moment in time as she slid her hand into his, intertwining their fingers and then looking forward. "It will be six soon... so what do you want to do?" She released a breath of hot air. She had a lot of things she wanted to say, and a lot to sit by herself and think about. For now, she would hold it all off for a better time to sort it all out. Finally, she turned her neck and looked up at him, waiting for his response.

[Salem Wolf]

He left the alleyway confused by the figure's appearance, who he was, who he could be, it didn't make any sense to him how this thing knew so much about him, but he tried not to dwell on it. Deciding to find Ember since there were things that likely needed to be said, he was surprised that she found him almost instantly. She grabbed his arm, the front of his shirt, and then pulled him into the alley he just tried to leave, pressing herself up against him. Even though he didn't feel anything, he understood everything. The little leaks of the dam gave him enough information on what was happening that he understood that, right now, he was crushing on her, lusting after Ember. She used his jacket to hide herself, her forehead against his chest as officers ran past. Dogs? Local police? Military? He didn't really focus on them, he didn't even care, he was more concerned by Ember being so close to him. He felt tingly, his body felt hotter, heart skipped a beat.

She looked up at him, smiled, and thanked him for it. He smiled lightly, genuinely happy though not sure why. The silence between them was deafening, neither of them knew what to say or how to say it, instead she stood next to him and they both relaxed in the alleyway. He looked out to the street as people walked by unknowingly, unaware of the lives that existed around them. When he stopped paying attention to Ember, that was when her hand intertwined with him, holding it. His head turned quickly, looking down to see her hand holding his. He felt a twinge of emotion go through his chest, his heart skipping a beat. He was surprised by her reaction, and for once that was all that needed to happen between them. No words, just hand holding. He smiled.

"It will be six soon... so what do you want to do?" He looked down to her as she looked up to him. "I'm starving, how about a bite to eat, hm?" She seemed alright with the idea, pulling her out of the alleyway onto the sidewalk towards the nearest fast food restaurant, "our first official date, how cute!" Outwardly he snickered softly, teasing her, but inwardly he was somewhat giddy, excited. The thought was interesting. Ember and Daxter? Not in a million years, but maybe today began a million and one.

He led her into the restaurant, waited in line patiently, and then they ordered their food. It didn't take long, hence the fast food, and didn't take too much time to eat. He glanced to his pocket watch and grinned, "looks like it's 10 to 6. I gotta run, you stay out of trouble got it?" He stood up and left his food on the tray, figuring one of the employees or Ember would take care of it. He walked past her, but stopped as he stood next to her, quickly turning to leave her a kiss on the cheek. "Don't go pining for other boys, baby, I'm the only one who can be right for you." He was clearly teasing her this time, but perhaps a bit of truth could be attributed to his actions, "cause I'm the only one who can please you." He ruffled her hair playfully, and walked away.

10 minutes later he arrived at the blacksmith's shop, the blacksmith shocked to see Daxter had actually arrived, but pleasantly pleased by the outcome. Entering the shop, the two of them got to work on him earning the right to use the sword he desperately sought.

[Escaflowdra]

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Why am I doing this? she thought to herself as she held his hand. There was so much more anxiety and tension built up in her frame, she was just seconds away from pulling her hand back and taking a walk by herself. She wanted to be here, protect him like she promised.. but all these events back to back weren't helping her protect him and keep him from pain. In fact, she was slowly beginning to realize that something else was happening between the two of them. It was evident that there was something odd stirring up in her systems too as she had actually stepped to his side to hold his hand. In her mind, she just wanted to show him that she was still here for him... But he was acting differently. She'd expected - expecting being a big mistake for somebody like Daxter - to pull his hand away and tell her she was clingy. It would really be like the old days... when he acted like that.

Now was different. He took her hand already in his and took her to a place to eat. He even snickered softly about it being their first date, where she stayed quiet and lowered her eyes. It hurts, she commented and looked down at their hands. It burns. However, she followed him. They stood in line, got their food, and ate with little to no conversation. In fact, Ember started acting totally normal... and by normal she was being as relaxed and calm about everything as possible on the outside. Inside her heard, heart and mind... was a volcano erupting. He opened his pocket watch, which she glanced at him actually using it and then spoke, "looks like it's 10 to 6. I gotta run, you stay out of trouble got it?" Ember glared at him, but not in a rude way. More like, do you think I'm a child?

He left his food on his tray, and Ember stood up grabbing his tray and hers. She was busy looking down and fixing to throw away the trash, thinking he was already gone until she felt something. On her cheek with her hair already tucked behind her left ear, she felt a kiss planted on her cheek. Ember froze, gripping the trays tightly in her hand as she showed a tempered expression. "Don't go pining for other boys, baby, I'm the only one who can be right for you." He was clearly teasing her this time, but perhaps a bit of truth could be attributed to his actions, "cause I'm the only one who can please you." Ember widened her eyes, and after he was done ruffling her hair and walked out the door, she felt the tray snap in half in her hands. With so much commotion in the restaurant, she looked down and saw the tray broken directly in the middle. Ah...

She took the broken tray and pieced it together on top of the other, ditching them in their proper place and leaving quickly. She walked out of the building and quickly started making her way back to the hotel. She actually memorized it this time, and knowing that Daxter was going to be out for a while meant two things. She would be alone at the room, and she could have some time to think. About everything. She made haste, quickly started running up the stairs instead of taking the elevator, and made it to their room. She quickly slid her key and walked inside, slamming the door behind her and then pressing her back against the door. Seconds turned to minutes as Ember stood there, and her bangs covered her face. While she stood in that same spot, and the millions of feelings began to unfold, she felt a great wave of complete agony and pain overwhelm her.

I'm so sorry... she thought as a couple tears landed from her eyes onto the carpet. Ember spoke, "I'm so sor--" and then she paused, moving a hand up to her eyes and feeling the tears swell up. She pressed her palm firmly against her left eye, closed, and started to cry, releasing a growl and sliding against the door as she cringed in agony. She recalled being treated by Daxter, him opening up to her about his past, hearing him sing, finding her in an alleyway, and the burning kiss that tortured her lips. She bit her lower lip, making it start to bleed as she gripped the carpet floor with her right hand and started crying. What was causing her to cry was a simple guess...

A voice spoke, "You don't want to hurt him, don't you?" Ember stopped her crying, where she thought she felt some peace, and looked up. She stood up and walked out to the center of the living room to look for the figure and its source, "You're a monster. You killed Zack with your bare hands, knowing that he was an innocent soul tormented by mechanical devices. You know you didn't set him free. You took his still beating heart out of his chest and crushed it with your bare hands." Ember's silver eyes lit up as a surge of flames spread out in a quick ring around her. The intensity of the heat broke the light bulbs as her silver irises looked in the dark setting. "Where are you?" She asked with a cold hearted tone and the upward tilt of her head. "I'm your conscious" "******** liar" "It's true."

She stood and clenched her fists as she looked down. "Did you like it when he pinned you to the wall and kissed you like that? You haven't felt excitement like that in years. There's something about him you can't get out of your head. But you want him out of your head. You don't want to cross the lines with him. You want to be the neutral party to him because you know the closer to you he gets, the worse the outcome.... An outcome which you yourself is bound to cause." Ember was powerless as she started slashing at a dim gray figure that could be seen traveling the room. Her eyes locked onto it, but each swing was a hit and miss. "You want to get closer, but you're fated to be alone. You've been alone from the beginning." "I don't need him" "That's right, he needs you" "No, he doesn't." "You wish he did." "Wrong again."

She stopped trying to attack it and looked around, seeing a mirror and a light enter the room from the setting sun outside. She could see her reflection in the mirror, and Daxter coming behind her. She watched the reflection of herself smile brightly when Daxter wrapped his arms around her neck and pulled him against his torso. Ember glared at the image as she could see what the demon was trying to do. Her reflection smiled, then digging her claws into Daxter's skin when he winced in pain. They then both went up in flames. There was no real winner, but in that fire in the mirror, Ember saw flashing images of herself becoming a beast. A dragon shredding it's enemy to pieces. "You realize that you are a real beast, correct? Daxter may have his psychotic mannerisms and mindset, but you are a beast built for nothing else except carnage and destruction." She was crying again from her silver eyes as she tried walking up the mirror,but her steps were small. "I want to change," she spoke softly as she finally reached the mirror, placing a hand on it and pressing her forehead against it.

"You can't. You're missing something. You're god power is locked away inside you... but he has the key." She closed her eyes and sobbed, just for a moment longer before confessing her curiosity in asking the question, "Who?"

--- Three Hours Later ---

Ember closed the door behind her as she held a note in her hand, spattered in blood. She flicked the card on the nightstand by her side of the bed as she decided to take a shower. She looked down as the water poured on her figure, and the light crimson water ran down the drain. I'll find you, she thought to herself as she finished up her shower.

She exited the shower, seeing how Daxter was still gone and took her place on the mattress above the sheets once again. Her wet hair soaked her pillow, but she didn't care to fix it. She was dressed in her tank top and shorts again, laying on her back and then picking up the card from her nightstand. She dimmed the light to a golden glow so she could at least read the words, Vance D. She memorized the name, then tossing the card to the trash can by the nightstand and looking up at the ceiling. Being covered in scratches and burns was one thing, but the cool air from the ceiling fan was nice for a change. She closed her eyes, faking sleep as she thought about the events that unfolded... and what events were yet to come. I will achieve my god power at its fullest... and change what's inside of me.

[Salem Wolf]

Three long hours in the blacksmith's shop building, repairing; the echoing clanging of metal on metal ringing throughout the shop. The anvil sparking as the sword blades were struck with the hammer. Daxter worked up a sweat, removing his shirt and tossing it into the corner as he slammed the hammer down, bending the metal into the desired shape. Gripping the sword with the tongs he dipped it into the cylinder of water to cool it down, grinding the edges to sharpen them. He was working hard to prove himself worthy to the blacksmith, even going so far as to use none of his abilities to cheapen the process. As much of a god he thought he was with his abilities, there were few times that Daxter became so passionate about something that he would work to his fullest without cheapening the experience. Daxter had hunched over the work table as he began etching designs into the blade per the instructions of his master, standing up to wipe the sweat off his brow. He was working hard, the light glistening off his sweat covered torso. 'Ember. You've invaded my mind like a parasite I can't remove. What makes you so special? Why do I look at you like I do? All those meaningless flirtatious comments from all those months ago, have I always thought like this but just not known it? You and me, fighting the Dogs, turning them to ash. Sapphire and I have always been opposites but you and I? I don't know. What...is...this...?'

"Show me your stuff." The blacksmith handed the prototype blade over to Daxter, leading his topless self into a practice room where cardboard cutouts were attached to moving bases. "You've earned the right to wield it, now earn the right to call it yours." Daxter held the blade in his hands, he felt the heat coming from the blade, months of memories embedded into the energy readable in his mind. His secondary ability, psychomentry, gave him the power to read energy from objects, in most cases it could turn him into a master of whatever he held in little to no time at all, in others it gave him a deeper understanding of something. The pocket watch held many memories and emotions off of it, perhaps it was why he couldn't accept it as a gift yet took it anyway. The sword spoke to him in a non-literal sense, he felt the passion and soul that went into making the intricate weapon. When the time was right the blade extended from the hilt and he began slicing his way through the cardboard cutouts.

Precise, expending no unnecessary energy to show off, Daxter did what the blacksmith never imagined he could do, he displayed controlled restraint in his movements, tight maneuvers to keep himself guarded. Watching Daxter display swordsmanship skills was like watching a talented ballerina perform a mesmerizing dance. The sword moved only when it was necessary, it did not loosen in his grip, or shake unnecessarily as he swung it. For a time, Daxter was lost only in the thought of his ability, mind empty and in a place of peace. When all the cardboard cutouts were downed, Daxter turned to the man he called his master and retracted the blade, holding it out with both of his hands to show the man he was now vulnerable, giving his master control.

"I poured my heart and soul into a blade I created that you poured your heart and soul into using. My sword would be used by amateurs or hung on a mantle, disrespected in its existence. You would bring justice to my art. Daxter, I want you to have my sword. Have you ever seen a pure black flame? Stuff of legends, they tell of a flame so powerful it is devoid of color, as black as darkness itself. Kuroi honō is a sword based on that legend, a flame seen by only to the worthy. It is said to be a gift from the goddess. I hope one day to see such a flame. Enjoy it, McLain, you've earned my life's best work."

Daxter gripped the hilt tightly, looking at the blacksmith with a sincere smile on his face, "it will be in good hands. I hope you do see your mythical black flame, if anyone is worthy of it, it's you." The two clasped hands an unspoken bond between sword maker and swordsman, then Daxter departed back for the hotel.

He slipped the key into the slot of the door, entering and closing it behind him, tossing his shirt near the dresser and placing the sword onto the desk. He saw Ember laying in bed in only a tank top and shorts, how appealing she looked to him right now. He tossed his shoes off underneath the desk, wearing nothing from the waist up, staring at her enamored by her appearance, her wet hair, the curves of her body. Traveling with her was a bad idea, he couldn't get her out of his head, the way she looked and looked at him, he didn't understand how he could need her so badly, yet feel nothing that indicated why. He didn't know what to say, what to even think, instead he stripped himself of his jeans and socks, approaching his side of the bed and crawling under the covers. "Hope you stayed out of trouble. I got my sword, I had a good day." He turned his back to her, to stop staring at her, to try and shake his thoughts of her. He couldn't let himself act on temptation, he couldn't let himself succumb to such emotions like he did earlier today. His lips tingled slightly as he thought about that kiss. He then let himself drift off to sleep.

The next few days passed relatively quickly, uneventful with little to be noteworthy. Daxter hit the arcade a few more times, returned a couple of times to visit with his master that had relinquished the sword to him, and spent most of his time with Ember. There were no demons or shadowy entities to speak of, not on his end anyway, and the only thing Daxter could focus on was the impending day he would meet with his mother. Ember remained in his mind too often, he kept staring at her when she wasn't looking, though she caught him a few times. He still didn't know what it all meant, how exactly he felt about her, but it was strong enough to slip through the cracks of the emotional dam built up in his head, and he came close to kissing her again, even stopping himself from holding her through the night. Perhaps, Daxter thought trying to rationalize it, he was just lonely from lack of human contact.

The day of his meeting with his mother arrived, at 8am a sharply dressed man knocked on the hotel door and informed the duo that there was a limousine waiting to take him to an appointment to meet with Melony McLain at precisely 10am. Daxter showed and prepared for the day, dressing in the suit he'd bought himself as per the instructions, hiding his sword underneath his jacket in a makeshift holster he'd bought to attach it to the small of his back. When they were ready to leave, told that breakfast would be provided for and it was unnecessary to eat the hotel breakfast bar, the duo were led to the limousine. Once inside, Daxter felt emotions slipping through the cracks, more powerful than what he felt for Ember. Anxious, fear, anger, excitement, amusement, happiness. A swirl of emotions he didn't exactly know how to handle were inside of him, until finally they arrived at the office building they showed up to on their fight night in Juneau. Unlike that night it was bustling with people, well-dressed for any occasion, and then they were led inside.

He saw her, flashes of memory passed through his mind, ten years ago he could still picture her clearly with long vivid red hair, bright blue eyes. When she turned around it was like he was 15-years-old again, staring at the image of his beautiful if not terrifying mother telling him he was a monster, and hated. She stared at him, he stared back, he felt genuine feelings for her that he could never express before, but his eyes and expression deceived and showed nothing. If it wasn't known Daxter had been adopted, it could be that Melony McLain was his biological mother, their expressionless, emotionless faces staring at one another could be a genderswapped mirror image of one another. It was hard to tell what the other was thinking. Melony approached Daxter and Ember, looking to the redhead Daxter had brought in, then to Daxter. It seemed ten years of emotions were let out in one powerful action: Melony slapped Daxter across the face with a loud echo of her palm against his skin. He said nothing, he felt nothing, the hit was hard enough to turn his face to the side, then he looked back at her.

"Dax." She finally spoke, a voice that did not seem to stutter or strain, but powerful and purposeful. "That was from me. This is from Melody." Melony embraced Daxter tightly, holding the stunned son she helped raise for nearly 15 full years. Daxter's arms seemed limp and lifeless, until the realization of the embrace hit him and he wrapped his arms around her, holding his mother tightly. "Mom, she's alive?" Melony pulled away from her son and put her hands on his cheeks, nodding, "Ever since you made headlines in Solica she's been tracking you, keeping tabs on you. You saved all of those people, Dax, I don't think I'd ever seen her so happy to hear your name. You never kept still, we couldn't contact you. But with everything you've done we had to reunite with you, what happened was never something I'd been able to forgive myself for. Oh Dax, I'm so sorry."

Daxter didn't know how to react, was his mother really apologizing? For as strong as that dam was he erected, it had now burst. Dax embraced his mother with tears in his eyes, holding her as tightly as he could without breaking her from his Gifted strength. He felt things he didn't know he could, a rush and confusion of emotions he didn't know how to process. "I'm not the same person I once was, I'm not the same monster. I'm still troubled but I'm working on it. But knowing you...you forgive me? That we're all okay, my family is alive. It's something else, I feel happier than I ever have I don't know how to describe it."

"You've done terrible things, Dax, you were a terrible person but after all these years seeing what heroic acts you've done your mom wants nothing more than to see you again, but I'm so sorry Dax, I wish this could go a different way. I love you, even with everything that has happened and will happen, I still love you. Your mom still loves you, but no matter how much you end up hating me, this was not something Melody wanted me to do."

Daxter was confused, he looked to Ember for a moment before going back to look at his mother, who had pulled out a gun and aimed for his chest, tears in her eyes as he struggled to hold in the sobs. "If I didn't give you to them they promised she would suffer, I know what you are and I know you can survive. But I can't let them kill her. If you hate me then hate me as much as you can, but it would break me if they killed her."

"What are you talking about? Who has mom? Mother, talk to me!" Daxter could have reacted faster than she could pull the trigger, to lob off an arm or blast her out of the window of the 6th story window of the office they were in, but if someone was manipulating this situation to capture him then he wouldn't kill her, he wouldn't even harm her. If someone had his mom, then he told himself he would go along with this. "Tell me what's going on! Now!" Melony shook her head, looking to Ember with a defeated expression on her face, "they're listening to everything. I've said more than I was allowed, they'll be here any minute. Your friend isn't part of their plan, she can still get out and I'm sure she won't be hunted. Dax I love you, I've always loved you I always tried to make you into the best person you possibly could be. When I called you a monster it was because I was ashamed of what you were, of how badly I've failed you as your mother."

Daxter looked to Ember, realizing whatever was going to happen would be worse with her involved, but he also knew that no matter what he said, whatever lie or truth he came up with she would stay there. For some reason they were in this together, but whatever happened they would be separated, distanced from one another. He didn't know what was going to happen, if they'd even be in the same city anymore. He looked back to his mother, knowing what to say to her, how to ease her guilt.

"You didn't do anything wrong, I was born to be a dark and twisted individual. Sadism is the only game I know how to play, but when I burned down the house and thought I'd taken you two with it I snapped. I became riddled with guilt and emotions I didn't know I could feel. I'm working to become a pocket watch, a-a perfectly in sync working person. Healthy. If anything it's me who failed you, letting you adopt such a twisted psycho. But I swear on my life, on whatever fleeting feelings of goodness I have in me I will kill everyone who has hurt you two. It's the only thing I know how to do and I'll do it damn well."

The windows of the office blasted inward, heavily geared soldiers entered the office from a zipline, rappelling down the side of the building, and the door in which Ember and Daxter had entered in. He could have taken them all down, killed them all without breaking a sweat, but he wasn't going to make a complicated situation worse. "And for the record, Melony, I love you too. Heh...I love you too, mother. I feel. Amazing." Melony was led away from Dax as the soldiers trained their guns on him and Ember. They brought out their electrical sticks, using them as a taser on Daxter to keep him compliant, to stop him from fighting. They had no logos on them, but they were trained and organized, were they Dogs or something else? The same group as before Ember pressed against him to hide herself from? Melony screamed out as Daxter stayed in his resolve to not fight back against them, he wasn't going to risk his mom's life just to kill a few nameless mooks that would get theirs in due time. "Ember!! Aaaaugh! I just...wanted you to know, kissing you is the only time I've felt anything legitimate since Sapphire, and I'd do it again! And mother, I don't hate you, I'll be back I swear it!! I'll kill all of you do you hear me?! MY NAME IS DAXTER MCLAIN, AND I WILL KILL ALL YOU ********. No one...hurts...my family!!!"

The soldiers piled in to strike him in unison with their tasers, surging millions of volts through his Gifted body until finally he passed out. Melony was crying as she saw what they were doing to her son, the guilt and hatred she felt for herself identical to how Daxter felt the night he thought he killed the only people in the world that might have cared for him at one point. She couldn't believe what she'd done, the urge to put the gun to her head was too strong for her to ignore, but she couldn't do it for fear of what would happen afterwards, how Melody would react. Daxter felt emotions, as he remained unconscious his subconscious mind was busy sorting out everything he'd suppressed and neglected for many long years. Was he a healed person, could he openly like and love? It would be impossible to say if Daxter would be able to handle the rush of new emotion he often ignored, only in rare times feeling for other people since his powers emerged 10 years ago, but with the dam finally down and no reason to fake being a human being with real emotions, he was going to try finally being able to stop hurting the people he cared for.

"It's time to wake up, Killzone." He didn't know how long he'd been out, but he knew he was awoken with a steel pipe into his bloodied and cut torso, slamming hard against him. He coughed, spit up, and swallowed hard. His vision returned, unable to make out anything beyond shapes in the darkness, chained to a wall and feeling tired and weak. "That's a good boy. Did you have a nice nap?"

"I'm going to break my foot off in your a**." He felt the steel pipe against his torso again, gritting his teeth, "then I'm going to ******** your mom." Another hit to his torso, a little lower near his waist. "Don't be so gentle with me, I don't break easy." The pipe struck against his thigh, causing Daxter to shout out in pain. "Are you done? Because if you have more to say we'll just turn this into a game of how long your mommy will last." Daxter's eyes shot open, staring to the shadow-faced figure in the darkness. "That's right, your other mom's entire reason for giving you up was nothing more than a goddamn lie. Now if you play nicely, we'll let you see her before she dies."

"Tell me what you want with me." The games had only just begun, and despite worrying for his parents, he couldn't help but hope Ember was in a better situation than he was, feeling concerned for what she was going through.

[Escaflowdra]

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The sensation on her lips started to drive her wild as she tried to keep her eyes closed. She couldn't help but want to get up, jump in the shower, and stay there. She felt like a cold shower could rush the heat off of her, but the more she thought about it, the more unbearable it became. She envisioned that happy picture in the mirror before hell broke loose.. Being pulled towards him like that. Pursing her lips, Ember sighed and stayed still above the sheets as she thought quietly to herself. Daxter. Why did you do this to me? I can't keep myself together by such a simple act of contact. Why were you rushing to me? Reaching for me? Running from me? I'm in shambles when all I can think about is that damned kiss. In moments to herself throughout the night, she would turn to face his back. She wanted to sleep as peacefully as he did, but couldn't. Whatever these shadows were, and Defiance's words had spun her in the direction of preparation. She wasn't about to give an entrance to the enemy. Now she knew her nights would be more restless than before, since Daxter had kissed her.

She flinched slightly as Daxter slipped his key in the slot, so she kept her eyes closed. A light red hue covered her cheeks as she had an arm to cover her eyes. She suddenly felt overly exposed to him, and to know he was in the same room where they would be alone... she wondered what kind of things were going through his head. She held her breath, bracing for anything... but she was a little surprised to hear him undress to his boxers and climb on his side of the bed. "Hope you stayed out of trouble. I got my sword, I had a good day." She opened her eyes. Did he know she wasn't sleeping? Ember only swallowed her breath and took her moments to calm down. With her heart finally slowing down, she turned her back to Daxter and opened her eyes, clenching a fist by her chest with a puzzled expression on her face. What did I think was going to happen? The image flashed in her mind, and she covered her lips as she closed her eyes.

She was too tired to stay up throughout all hours of the night, so this time she finally slept. The next few days passed relatively quickly for the pair, as they both went to the arcade a few more times. Ember tried getting more information on Vance from the little to no sources she could, and came across a few more shadows, but then they left her alone the following two days. She was confused by the irregular appearances they made in the time frame given.. but she didn't care to see them at all. Whatever these things were, she would find the source eventually.

In the mean time, most of her time was spent being around Daxter. They hadn't run into another Dogs problem since the last time they chased her... but it aroused her suspicions. Where were they going? And were they just making a pass in Juneau? She could only ask herself as she decided not to go chasing after the enemy. She figured she needed to be here for Daxter since in just a few bundles of hours.. he would be reunited with his mother. She noticed some signs of an inner struggle when she was around him, but she couldn't help but feel like putting these feelings off to the side was better for the both of them at the moment. Ember wasn't one to strongly encourage others and blind them into thinking everything would be okay... But on the night before they would go meet her... while he slept soundly, Ember faced his back and rested her forehead against him, as if she was somehow in a small, unnoticeable way, trying to make him more comfortable.

Ember didn't have the attire like he did to dress nicely, so in her usual get up, she was in the background for most of it. She sat beside him, at least having fixed her hair and tried to look more prepared than usual. Although, she had to admit that he was very dashing in a suit. It almost felt awkward to stare when she wasn't even in anything nearly formal. Especially when they sat in the limo... she noticed that he had not taken her hand. Having gone a few days with and suddenly without it... was a little eye opener. She noticed her hand was colder, and he seemed to be thinking. She went through the motions of that morning with him. He was a sea building up behind a dam, and she was at a standstill, waiting for something to set in motion.

Then finally she stopped steps behind him as they saw the woman that looked at Daxter with an expressionless, emotionless look. Ember watched her walk up to Daxter and smack him, making Ember cringe and grit her teeth from behind her closed lips. What the hell-- she thought at first until she spoke and then grabbed him into a tight embrace. Ember widened her eyes, having misread the situation and relaxed herself. She looked at Daxter's back as he first went limp and then hugged her. She stayed quiet in the corners... Watching.

Suddenly, as the conversation went forward and she apologized, Ember let out an audible gasp when she watched Daxter grab hold of the woman and pull her close, hugging her with tears in his eyes. Her heart dropped to her stomach as she took a glimpse at the pure, unfiltered emotions that slipped out from Daxter in a wave. She could see the strikes of pain in his shaking hands that held her so tightly against him.... in the tears still continuing to form in his eyes. "I'm not the same person I once was, I'm not the same monster. I'm still troubled but I'm working on it. But knowing you...you forgive me? That we're all okay, my family is alive. It's something else, I feel happier than I ever have I don't know how to describe it." Ember widened her eyes, clenching her fists. She admired Daxter.

He was opening up to his mom, telling her the unfiltered, clean truth about how he was trying to change. She couldn't even spill those words out to anybody else other than a ghost. It took a lot for somebody to admit they needed help, but Ember believed... there was no hope for her by depending on others. Each person she had reached to... her hand ended up going through them somehow. Destroying them in some way. In some time. His mother continued to pour her feelings out as well, talking about how she loved them... Then something was off beat. "Your mom still loves you, but no matter how much you end up hating me, this was not something Melody wanted me to do."

Daxter looked to her, the both of them making a puzzled expression as Ember widened her eyes, seeing the gun aimed for his chest. Ember's silver eyes glowed as she was about to charge she couldn't. Not yet. Daxter was holding in the tears, and Ember was not about to let that be the last expression on his face. "If I didn't give you to them they promised she would suffer, I know what you are and I know you can survive. But I can't let them kill her. If you hate me then hate me as much as you can, but it would break me if they killed her." Ember was on her toes, waiting. Watching. Anxious. And something... something else?

"What are you talking about? Who has mom? Mother, talk to me! Tell me what's going on! Now!" Melony shook her head, looking to Ember with a defeated expression on her face, "they're listening to everything. I've said more than I was allowed, they'll be here any minute. Your friend isn't part of their plan, she can still get out and I'm sure she won't be hunted. Dax I love you, I've always loved you I always tried to make you into the best person you possibly could be. When I called you a monster it was because I was ashamed of what you were, of how badly I've failed you as your mother." Ember looked at Daxter, her silver piercing eyes showing her determination to stay. He must have known that in her eyes was him, and she was not letting him out of it. She didn't know what would happen to the both of them, but she was in this with him.

He looked to his mom again, speaking to ease her, "You didn't do anything wrong, I was born to be a dark and twisted individual. Sadism is the only game I know how to play, but when I burned down the house and thought I'd taken you two with it I snapped. I became riddled with guilt and emotions I didn't know I could feel. I'm working to become a pocket watch," Ember widened her eyes, feeling something stirring, "a-a perfectly in sync working person. Healthy. If anything it's me who failed you, letting you adopt such a twisted psycho. But I swear on my life, on whatever fleeting feelings of goodness I have in me I will kill everyone who has hurt you two. It's the only thing I know how to do and I'll do it damn well."

Suddenly, the windows blasted inward and heavily geared soldiers ziplined and entered the room. Ember felt a soldier run up to her, where she dodged the attempts at grabbing her but saw something out of the corner of her eye. Daxter was just... standing there. Ember was puzzled, and realized that he was giving into the capture. She felt a boot kick her back, making her land of the ground with a hard thud. She could have swept the floor, but she realized that Daxter was staying in his own resolve. His mother screamed in the background. This was for her. So Ember, respecting him and his treasured family he still held love for in his heart, stayed on the ground. Feet pressed her arms and legs down to the ground as her cheek was pressed against the ground. She wanted to kill every enemy in the room. Her raw instincts as a dragon were slowly kicking in-- "Ember!!"

She snapped out of it, looking at him as he was being tazed by these soldiers. She stared at him with what she could see of his profile. Seeing him in pain. "Aaaaugh! I just...wanted you to know, kissing you is the only time I've felt anything legitimate since Sapphire, and I'd do it again!" Ember gritted her teeth as she thought quietly, this isn't the time to say something like that! You damn idiot! She could feel her hands being pulled back and binded by a strong material. Over and over, these stronger than leather straps held her arms painfully behind her back as she steamed smoke from her mouth, tempted to burn it all away. But Daxter shouted out that he would save her. He would kill these people. "MY NAME IS DAXTER MCLAIN, AND I WILL KILL ALL YOU ********. No one...hurts...my family!!!"

Daxter was knocked out, Ember squeezing a few tears out of her closed eyes as she felt a kick to the back of her head. The kick caused her to knock out against the hard floor, and the dead weight was picked up.

---

Ember slept in a deep sleep as she was hoisted up with cuffs on her hands against a concrete wall. She was in nearly standing position, but lowered to where she was bending her legs. The skin around her wrists were red from being held up for a long period of time, but not too long where she had suffocated her hands. A splash of water hit Ember, drenching her from head to toe as a hand grabbed a handful of the hair above her forehead and rose her head. "Wake up." Ember's silver eyes peeked through as the water dropped over her ivory cheeks down to her chin. He whistled slightly and stood back from her, releasing her head as he examined her. "Not a bad catch," he motioned to a fellow man in the room. Ember could feel that she was not fully awake. Had she been drugged maybe? What were they doing?

She watched from the hazed corners of her silver eyes that flickered with their spring green color as one of the men stepped in front of her. They were recording her for an analysis. She watched as he started naming off things about her appearance. When it was time to take her height, he took her by the shoulders and slammed her against the wall, hard. She felt him too close, his breath was like poison to her system. She repelled every inch of this man. Get... away from me... she thought as she turned her head, giving him a good look at her bare neck while she tried to escape in small gestures. They took her height of 5'7'' and then started a body examination. Ember was turned around as they started to rip the top of her shirt apart. They cut through her fabrics down and stopped inches above her waist as they paused... Taking a good look at the large tattoo on her back. "Do it."

"Is that--" he commented as Ember propelled her right foot off the ground and turned around on her cuffs, roundhouse kicking him in the face. She saw him fall backwards, and sent another kick to have him impact the man. Ember quickly acted on the chains that bonded her, pulling on them and elevating herself to standing against the wall. She pounced off, breaking the chains as she used herself as a projectile to crash into the other man holding the clipboard. With both men down, she realized she was barefoot. She forged the a steel blade out of the back of her right heel and swept her foot back, impaling the man on the ground and cutting his head clean off his shoulders. "Show them what they're dealing with." Ember looked down at the other terrified man who was shouting, calling her a c**t and a b***h. "Sticks, stones, and steel" she grinned as she kicked him down, cutting his gut and then twisting it as she was churning his stomach. "Do you have butterflies in your stomach?" she asked when her torn shirt revealed her bare shoulders. The lower the shirt, the harder the pain.

"You are a dragon," the voice insisted. Ember released a roar of fire and engulfed the man into flames. Once the fire ceased by the quick use of her powers, Ember finally undid the cuffs by finding the keys on one of the men. She took the clipboard, burning the written details on her appearance and then looking around. She tore off her shirt and fixed it to tie around her chest and act like a sports bra, and let her hair down. She rolled wrists, cracking them and looking down at the dead bodies and growled. She could feel their fingers all over her back, and that made her kick a head on her way out. The door slid open, and Ember quickly looked around the corner, seeking the entrance to a ventilation system. She recalled Helena's teachings about a specific spell of invisibility. I love my mom too, she thought as she was so beyond grateful that she knew magic as well as she did.

She muted herself, erased her appearance, and began searching for Daxter in this base... or wherever she was.

[Salem Wolf]

The wealth of emotion he felt when he met with his mother was something he couldn't describe, even before the metaphorical dam burst in his head, he knew that he was feeling something overwhelming. To see her standing before him made him realize that this moment was real, that all his hard work to get to this point had been worth it. But he was terrified, what would she do? Would she hit him, hug him, denounce their relationship? Daxter was scared for the first time in his life, because this would be a defining moment that shaped his future. More important than his shattered psyche, his healing, his unity, and now would stand to be the perfection. Whatever happened to him would be the final moment that defined how he would be for the rest of his life. Psychotic or endearing? Seeing his beautiful mother made him realize something he never had before: he didn't want to be a monster. She had called him one, made him believe that he was one, and he was. But he didn't want to be anymore.

She slapped him, then hugged him, as he stood there with his cheek burning from the palm that hit it, he didn't know how to react. Was she going to unload years of hate on him, or was she going to try and kill him? Daxter had every opportunity to get back at her, it would be easy for him, but the moment he realized he no longer wanted to be a monster that people feared, not the people that mattered anyhow, was the moment he told himself he was restraining himself from retaliating. He was glad he did, because she embraced him, and suddenly the walls came crumbling down, the dam burst, the balloon popped. Everything he could ever feel had come to him in one gushing moment. He held her with tears in his eyes, and it was that moment he realized, too, that he finally had his mother back. Then to hear his mom was also alive? That she was proud of him? It felt like everything he'd ever done in his life, all the bad things, could be erased and he could be the good person he always strove to be. For one powerful, fleeting moment with tears streaming down his face, Daxter realized that he always had the potential to be the person he wanted to be. With that in his mind, the image of his stuffed animal Taco, once a personality that told him he could be the good he wanted to be despite not believing it, was right. When Taco disappeared, only leaving the Monster and the Demon in his head, Daxter and Dax, it was the stuffed animal that acted as a reminder that he wasn't all bad. And now, finally, Daxter could believe in that idea.

His mother pulled a gun on him, almost in tears as she said in desperation how much she wanted this to go differently, how this wasn't what his mom wanted. She wanted Daxter to hate her, only her, instead of both of his parents. Daxter wasn't sure how to react, he'd always had guns pulled on him and always his reaction was swift, there was nothing to think about only to go for it. But not with his mother, and not with every fiber of her being regretting what she was doing, and not when his mom's life was on the line. He begged her to tell him everything, he could save her and he knew he could, but she was terrified they would kill her wife, and when he saw how that desperation forced a gun on him by his own mother, was when he realized that this was how he needed it to go.

He couldn't process all the emotions going through him, or even know how to react to them, but he knew one thing when his mother said she was angry because she failed him, he knew it was really him that failed her. His speech to her indicating he was the monster, the twisted person he was wasn't because of her, it was the first time Daxter had truly taken responsibility for anything. He'd always avoided the blame, or only accept responsibility when it was something he was proud of. But to admit he was flawed to someone else, especially his mother, and accept that he was a failure. It was bigger than Ember or Melony could ever imagine.

The windows were blasted inwards and the soldiers swarmed in, before they could approach him he called his mother by her real name, to hear that name come from his lips felt so wrong that he realized he loved that woman, he could love someone other than himself completely and wholeheartedly. It would take a long time to process and learn how to understand to act on these emotions properly, but he realized if he could love his mother flaws and all, then he could learn to love others. Daxter could grow into a spectacular person, someone he was proud of. His first act of becoming this person was to not retaliate to the soldiers, let them punish him, whatever it took to prevent harm coming to either of his parents. He spoke to Ember, it was the closest he could come to admitting he had some kind of burning desire in his soul for her, he couldn't admit actual feelings towards her, especially since it was still too early to say what he felt towards anything but his parents, but it was a step forward. He took their tasing without hitting back, for once in his life he was doing something for someone else in a way that brought him in harm's way. He saw Ember being attacked by the soldiers and wanted to, desperately, save her from them. Before he passed out though, before he could let himself succumb to their attacks, he looked at his mother with a smile on his face. 'I'll come back for you, mother."

---

When Daxter woke up he felt nothing but pain, his sarcastic and angry quips the only way he could properly deal with the mind-numbingly terror that washed over him, unsure of where he was or how he would escape. To hear that voice, the dark and twisted voice that threatened his mother, he wasn't sure how else to explain how compliant he'd become. He wasn't risking her life for the sake of keeping his pride, and it was another step in the right direction. He stopped his quips and asked only a single question: "tell me what you want with me."

"Turn on the lights." The voice commanded, the lights of the large room immediately lighting up the corners. Daxter saw the familiar face standing in front of him with a bloodied pipe in his hand, and in a plastic lawn chair tied to it was the beautiful face of his "mom!" Daxter struggled against the numerous chains that kept him against the wall. Seeing his redhead mother 15 years older was a trip, yet to look at his mom with the most amazing genes of anyone he'd seen, not look a day over her early-30s and look as though he pictured her in his mind, it was surreal. He stared to the black-haired male that put the bloodied pipe underneath the chin of his mom, "don't struggle too much, I wouldn't want to take it out on this sweet thing." He laughed.

"Salem you piece of s**t." Seeing the former Wolfpack member being the tormenter, a guy he let live because he had no actual powers after they crumbled the group, it made him wish he'd made him suffer a little. "You remember me! I'm touched." He slammed the pipe into Melody's shoulder, not enough to break anything but enough she cried out in pain. Daxter's eyes lit up in flame. "I'll ******** kill you! Don't you dare touch my mom!" Salem approached Daxter and slammed the pipe into his stomach - twice. "Mommy will be fine, you just focus on me, huh? I own your a** right now, you do what I say or she won't be so fine. Got it?" Daxter spit in Salem's face, unable to do much else at the moment. Wiping off the spit, Salem approached Melody and held the pipe up to her face, "she's not gonna be looking so pretty in a minute." "No! No!! Okay okay I give! Don't hurt her, please."

Salem turned with a grin, looking at Daxter, "the infamous and cruel Killzone is actually giving himself up for another person? My God, what happened to you in the last 6 months?" Daxter looked defeated, Salem tossing the pipe at one of the mooks that stood around doing nothing but watch. "Just tell me what you want." Salem laughed, shaking his head, "it's not that easy. I mean, what I want is to get you back for putting us Wolfpack members out of a job, break your kneecaps and cause you to suffer before I kill you, slowly, painfully. I mean, you and your friends were our greatest failure. Did you know one of my friends killed themselves because of it? s**t, you don't recover from something like that. But hey, no hard feelings, I just gotta keep you alive because I'm working with a guy who wants you alive. For now. Though he said nothing about your mommy."

"If you hurt her...I promise you the things I did in the past will look like a child's cartoon in comparison." Salem approached Daxter with a smile, nodding knowingly, "I believe you. And since I don't have powers I can't really do anything against you. But trust me, I'll make you suffer. By the way, we have Melony. Escape with your mommy, and we still have the other one. Soooo, you probably don't want to go far, alright? You two stay here, get reacquainted, I'll be back." Salem left the room, slamming the thick metal door behind him while the two mooks remained behind. Daxter watched one of the guards approaching, "try anything and the order to kill your mom is as good as done. We own you, don't forget it." Daxter fell off the wall when the guard unlocked his cuffs. This was a test, Daxter knew full well they expected him to try something, kill the guards, but if they really did have his mother, which they likely did, then they torture her at best, kill her at worst. He wouldn't do anything to jeopardize that.

Rushing up to his mom and unbinding her from the chair, he embraced her tightly. "Mom, are you okay?" She looked up at him with a smile on her face, nodding, "oh Dax! I'm so happy you're alive." She embraced her son tightly, "I'm so proud of you for all the good things you've done. Solica, Gradia, just to see you here." "Mom I'm sorry, I'm so sorry for what's happened before." She shushed him, putting a finger to his lips, "no hard feelings, honey. I forgive you, your mother forgives you. D-Did you talk to Melony?" Daxter nodded, going on to explain what happened. "I told her not to, I'm sorry your meeting didn't go so well." Melody sighed softly, looking around, "Dax...we can't stay here. You know this." He shook his head, "but they have mother." "She can take care of herself, but they'll kill you if you cooperate." Daxter nodded, he knew they would, it was only a matter of time, "mom I have powers, I'll be fine. It's you two I'm worried about." "Uh, honey, I don't think you know what we've been doing for ten years. I...I'll explain later, just trust me, okay?"

Melody approached one of the guards and punched him in the throat, grabbing his gun and shooting the other guy, "WHAT THE ********] Daxter approached her, "explain later?! Explain now! What happened to the meek and timid mom who always gave me cookies 'n s**t for behaving?!" "Be honest with me, how many of those cookies did you actually earn? That's what I thought, we all have our secrets, dear. After we lost you we kind of...well we did a lot of crazy stuff." "So what, you took lessons from some former military badass?!" "Hmmm, 6 month survival course, we learned how to fight, shoot, survive. It was really fun! We knew you were Gifted and we knew you survived, we wanted to prepare ourselves to find you, if you'd gone...off the deep end we needed to be able to better handle it. Strengthen the body strengthen the mind." Daxter scoffed, shaking his head, "that's ******** crazy, but goddamn it if I'm not proud to call you guys my parents." "And your mother might or might not have joined the Dogs for a couple of years. Just letting you know." She smiled, Daxter's jaw dropped, apparently there was a lot of things to discuss when this was over. "How else do you think I found you? I joined up with her!"

"Mom you're 47-years-old! You don't join the Dogs for a short time to find your batshit crazy son!" "Hey! I was late-30s at the time thank you very much! And you owe me 10 years of birthday gifts and mother's day gifts." "T-That's my line! W-What the hell is going on here? I've died and gone to ******** up land." "Hon, we should probably go before that Salem guy comes back." Daxter stood there in shock, this entire thing had become so weird even for him, and then waved her out of the room. Melody opened the steel door with gun still in hand, checking her corners. Daxter was surprised to see this side of his mom, but he had to admit...this was extremely awesome.

"So uh...you guys really did a lot of crazy s**t huh?" Melody nodded, "I can't wait to hear all those stories of things you did! I'm really excited, honey. It's so good to have you back! When this is all over I'm going to cook us up one big feast, a huge cake, mhm! Gonna celebrate." "My mom, the badass who bakes." "Woman love a man...or woman...who can cook. Speaking of, is there anyone special in your life? A girlfriend perhaps? Or a boy, just someone who makes you happy." "IT'S A GIRL. I MEAN SHUT UP. Argh! This was a bad idea, my head is swirling with emotions and I can't seem to sort this s**t out. You know what? No...no I don't have anyone mom, but uh...well there is this girl -- wait a minute why am I telling you anything?! You joined the Dogs! YOU need to start spilling first." "Okay dear, but first we kind of need to get out of here."

Melody shot two guards as they rounded the corner, Daxter was very impressed by this entire situation. He started to reinvigorate his flame ability, something he'd kept suppressed so that he could use it more towards healing while unconscious, just in case, then began tossing fireballs out to those his mom missed. Fighting alongside his mom was insane, nothing at all what he expected to happen. Then he sensed a heat signature that didn't seem to be visible to the naked eye. "Don't move or I'll fry you to a crisp." Flames coated his arms, his topless torso licked by the flames he controlled. "You have one second to show yourself starting three seconds ago."