『 ℬυℜηt 』

[Escaflowdra]

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As Ember walked peacefully through the halls, she noticed somebody coming from the other end of the hall. While in complete silence and invisibility, she thought there would be no trouble. Maybe she could walk by them. After walking several feet longer down the hall, Ember was completely shocked. It was Salem, she growled. One of the strongest ex-members of the Wolfpack that Ember and her former friends had disbanded years ago. Dissolving the name of the group simply meant killing most of it's members. He was one survivor of that tragic fate. She believed this to be her chance. He appeared oblivious to anything concerning her being in the same hallway.. But she didn't want to cause more trouble for Daxter and his family.

Seeing him, trying to hold in the tears and then taking the capture in resolve.. she didn't want to risk that. She had already taken care of the two men that tried to analyze her and locked that door... so there was no real need for any death until she met back up with him. What if he's not here? she imagined as she zoned out into her own thoughts. Upon passing Salem, Ember walked calmly. There's no nee-- until his arm flung out, hitting her critically in the spine and sending her spiraling down the hall. Ember's nails left marks on the floor as she caught herself and skidded further. The noise of her breathing and everything was silent, but her nails screeched. The two men were surprised, but Salem took out his gun and pointed it directly at her.

"You forgot my suit can still detect heat signatures, Dusk." Ember was shocked. That suit is still-- but she watched as Salem and his men started raining bullets her direction. She took action to use her barrier spell, deflecting all of them to the ground as she hopped from wall to wall towards Salem. Once close enough, she kicked the head of one man into his arm. With his arm pushed, she took the head of his gun and dented it in the direction of his other gunman, shooting him in the head. Salem caught on quickly with Ember's movements and reached upward to grab her in midair, then slamming her down to the ground. A steel blade shot out from his foot as he started kicked at her. A close call with her face, Ember watched his blade cut off a few strands of her hair. "I've been wondering when I would run into you. I'll have the personal pleasure of making sure you suffer."

The red hair fell completely visible to the floor as she decided to take off the other direction. She needed to disappear. As she scattered down the hallways at top speed, she could hear Salem running at a fast pace to catch up behind her. She then turned a corner, running down a long hall but coming to a quick halt when she saw Daxter! She noticed a woman standing beside him with blonde hair and blue eyes. She didn't overlook any details. Clearly she was on his side at the moment since she wasn't dressed in the uniforms like the other troops walking about. She looked at Daxter who spoke "Don't move or I'll fry you to a crisp." Ember came to a halt, with worry on her expression. She knew something was coming, but she had to stay put. "You have one second to show yourself starting three seconds ago."

Ember's spell dissolved rather quickly as she gave Daxter a look of anticipation. She parted her lips, but her voice failed to come out. Instead, following the sound of a bang, Ember's eyes went back to spring green as she then fell limp forward. It was clear that she was still conscious, but her eyes flickered from silver to green as she struggled to get back to a stand. Had she been more aware of shielding her back and not so focused on finding Daxter, she may have avoided the trouble. Yet, Ember looked back from the corner of her eye when she heard Salem speak, walking calmly towards them. "I didn't forget about your weak points. And, judged on your heat signature and thermal waves, I could tell where the steel device was." Ember growled. He knew that Flowrite had left at least one weakness in her back after his gruesome surgery to remove the wing plates. The device that if tampered or triggered, could ultimately paralyze her use of powers and cause her great deals of pain.

She focused what healing power she could do fix the device and the flesh the bullet had hurt, but she knew that she needed to get the bullet out first. There was no time as Salem began to get closer, "What did I tell you would happen if you tried anything?" Salem spoke out to Daxter, referring to his mom.

[Salem Wolf]

His mom and mother had both become Dogs? How weird was that to hear, that his parents became certified badasses? His mom had been a baker, kind and sweet and -- shot two guys dead without batting an eye. He'd never felt proud of someone before, but there was pride he was feeling for his mom right about now. He didn't say anything about it, but he had to know that she knew he was proud of her. After all, killing was Daxter's profession, and he was damned good at it. As much as he wanted to sit her down and get all the appealing details right here and now, he had to find Ember, escape, and find his mother before anything happened. Before that, he had to focus on the person with the invisibility going on near him, worried it might be another Gifted being used to kill them. He was relieved when he noticed it was Ember, then surprised and slightly scared when her eyes lost their bright green coloring and she fell forward limp. He caught her, then she struggled to stand on her own, looking for the sound of the voice that had shot her. "I didn't forget about your weak points. And, judged on your heat signature and thermal waves, I could tell where the steel device was." Salem had always been a pain in the a**, but no one they couldn't handle. It was surprising, though, to know he still had the suit that gave him his powers. That would be problematic. "What did I tell you would happen if you tried anything?" He approached, Daxter had to care for Ember to remove the bullet, but he couldn't help her with Salem approaching. Cursing, for the first time, feelings of admiration for Ember that made him choose her over their enemy, he was surprised when his mom spoke out.

"Dax you take care of your girlfriend, I've got this guy!" She sounded so badass and yet so cheery, happy, her personality hadn't changed in the slightest, and when Salem laughed was when Melody took a shot at Salem which he barely avoided. Surprised by her movements approaching him, he was even more shocked to find Dax's mom engaging him in hand-to-hand combat. "We can talk about how awesome my mom is later," Daxter said, turning Ember's back to him so he could get a better look at the bullet wound. He noticed though, that his mom didn't last long against Salem's super powered suit. She was tossed aside quickly, but Dax had never been more proud that she lasted as long as she had. Enraged by seeing what Salem had done to Ember and now his mom, he made sure Ember had the strength to stand then approached his mom. "Mom! You okay?" He asked, helping her up, she nodded, "fine, fine. He packs a punch." "Go help my friend, she's got a bullet embedded in her skin she needs removed, can you do that?" "H-Hey now, I stitched up your wounds just fine when you were a little boy. You got him?" Daxter smirked, facing Salem. "Definitely." Melody approached Ember and began helping her out.

"Do you always let mommy handle your problems for you? Or is this new? Gotta say though, she's pretty badass for a milf." He chuckled, Daxter becoming angrier. "I'm going to enjoy this, more than you know." "Bring it."

Daxter's flames flickered across his body, Salem's energy mimicking Daxter's flames, then the two rushed at one another, punching and kicking, dodging and twisting one another. Flames shot out from Daxter's hands as he tried to hit the b*****d he faced off against, Salem putting up instant shields to counter and retaliate with energy. Daxter grabbed Salem's arm and twisted it behind his back, grabbing his gun and shooting at him a few times. Salem lifted Daxter up using his hand and tossed him aside, the shots missing their target. Daxter rolled, standing up and teleporting behind Salem, who turned to grab Daxter's arm and sweep kick his feet out from under him, then giving him a kick in the stomach in midair into the wall. "You've got spunk, but that's about all you got. I was in the Wolfpack for YEARS, I've been put through training you can't even imagine. You can't beat me on skill, you've only won by luck in the past."

Daxter stood up and let his flames coat his body from head to toe, "I'm more powerful than you are, when I'm done you'll be begging me for mercy." Salem laughed at Daxter's threat, rushing at him and pulling out a metallic hilt that he used to form an energy blade, slicing at his head and then stomach, Dax avoiding both attacks then forming his own fire blade, the two different types of energy: chroma and thermal, clashing together. "You'll regret ever messing with a McLain." "Face it, you're out of your league." The two energy swords clashed repeatedly, sparking bits of energy with each hit. Salem ducked under a swipe and put his palm on Dax's chest, releasing a strong blast of energy that pushed him backwards. Dax caught himself and let out a stream of fire, pushing forward and forming a long trail of thin fire that formed into a whip, dancing with it trying to burn Salem. Putting up a barrier, the fire whip struck multiple times with a bright burst of light, Dax teleporting behind him as Salem dropped the barrier and kicking him into the wall. He rushed forward and slammed his fist into Salem's stomach, which broke him through the wall and into another room.

Salem stood up and cracked his neck, "not bad. Not good either." Daxter grinned as he rushed into the room and met Salem with a barrage of strikes, jumping and slamming his fist down on his face, "tell me how that tastes!" Landing, Daxter spun in place and swept Salem's legs out from under him, forming another fire sword and slamming it into the ground, Salem rolling twice to avoid each subsequent stab. Kicking Daxter in the knee to knock him down, Salem put his knees to his chest and then catapulted Daxter into a wall. Standing back up, Salem began approaching Daxter with energy pulsating in his hands. Daxter stood up and released a torrent of fire, enveloping around Salem and pushing him backwards. "C'mon cocksucker, I'm giving you all I got! Can't you take it?!" He laughed, the fire dissipating and Salem standing there with a weakened shield propped up in front of him. Salem looked at Daxter with a slight smirk on his face, "if that's all you got then the foreplay was a bust." Salem moved so quickly towards Daxter it appeared as though he teleported, Daxter bringing up his hands to block Salem's strikes. He ducked to the side and slammed his hand into the back of Salem's neck, twisting as Salem turned to hit him, facing Salem's back and grabbing the back of his hair, pulling him backwards and putting a knee into the small of his back. "How's this do it for you?" Salem turned and forced Daxter to release his grip, pulling out a combat knife and stabbing it into his wrist. Dax yelled out in surprise as Salem pulled the knife out of the fresh wound, "I prefer sadism over masochism, much better to give than to receive."

Daxter held his shaking arm, the pain and blood dripping telling him this was a fairly bad wound he'd received. He couldn't do much to operate his hand, his fingers weren't responding and there was likely a lot of nerve damage. Healing would take care of it in a few days at worst, but he was out of operations for a while. One good hand against a guy already a challenge? This wasn't good, Daxter wasn't sure he cared much for emotions, they were getting in his way and prevented him from being his normal brutal self. Maybe he just needed to better handle this whole situation he was in, focus more on himself than anyone else, after all he'd done just fine doing that before. 'Ah god this hurts. Hnng, is it possible to be a monster and a human? My mom, my mother, Ember...is it possible to feel things for them and still be Killzone? How do normal people handle this...? Hnng! s**t, my hand. I-I just have to...give in to myself.'

Salem grabbed Daxter's wounded wrist and squeezed tightly, Daxter screaming out as he fell onto his knees. "Scale of 1 to 10, how much does that hurt? 11? Mmm." Blood gushed from the wound as Daxter attempted something potentially stupid for him. "I should check on your mommy, and Ember. Mm, well Ember wasn't part of this but you know something? I'm gonna make myself part of her." Salem leaned down to Daxter's ear and whispered: "In case you couldn't tell, I'm going to ******** her."

Daxter snatched the front of Salem's uniform and rose to headbutt him as hard as he could without either losing consciousness. Daxter pushed Salem back and held his bleeding wrist in his good hand. Daxter growled, "I finally figured it out, turn pain to pleasure, ignore all warnings, and go all out. I can't be distracted by people, not when my life is on the line. And you know something? I'm okay with that. Because this pain shooting through my body, my brain screaming at me that I could die if this continues? It feels good." Daxter's wounded hand clenched up the pain from using damaged nerves would be enough to make anyone else pass out, but Daxter embraced the kind of pain that would make others shy away.

"You're one sick individual, Dax." Salem laughed. "Dax. You know something? I really am Dax." Daxter rushed forward and avoided Salem's bullets, leaping to kick him in the chest and then grab at him with his good hand, stopping him from skidding backwards. Landing on the ground, Daxter pulled him to the ground, and once Dax's back struck the hard concrete floor he tossed Salem over his head, Salem only stopping his flight path once he struck a wall and landed on the floor. Crossing out of the room they were destroying with charred walls, broken pieces of equipment, and small holes from their battle, he entered the hallway that Ember and Melody were. Daxter's wound bled heavily, blood dripping to the floor, once Salem stood up Daxter flicked the excess blood into his eyes, blinding him temporarily. Salem gritted his teeth and hissed, removing the blood from his face and avoiding Daxter's punch to the stomach, the flame that came from his hand, and grabbed his damaged wrist with all his strength, intending to crush the already damaged ligaments. "Oh YES. Like that, mm, just like that." As much as it hurt, Daxter was letting himself feel the pleasure from the pain like he used to, when he was a twisted soul no one could love. He converted that pain into something that made him feel good, and it let him focus more on the fight. Would he lose himself to that feeling though? Could he still be the kind of guy concerned for Ember and Melody, or just his evil, twisted self?

Salem grabbed Dax's neck and started attempting to choke the life out of him, lifting him off the ground. Daxter grinned as his air was cut off, putting the gun he stole from Salem to Salem's chest, pulling the trigger enough times to hear the click of an empty magazine. Salem's eyes went wide as he realized what Daxter had done, then let go of the psychopath and clutched his stomach. "W-What?" Salem winced, letting out a pained groan as Daxter's good arm became coated in flames, grabbing Salem's face and intending to burn him down to a skull. "You remind Lucifer I'm gunning for his job. Ta-ta~." Salem let out a burst of energy from the suit, forcing Daxter to let him go and take a few steps back from the release. Salem expelled his chroma energy into a zero-point form between two places, then teleported in the expanding and contracting portals. Daxter slammed his fist into the wall where Salem had been, angry that he'd gotten away. "Don't worry baby, I'm still coming for you! I won't make you wait too long." Daxter turned his head towards Ember and Melody sharply, the lust of battle still strong in his mind and the taste still fresh on his tongue. He raised his wounded wrist to his mouth and licked the warm flowing blood from his skin. Melody stared at Daxter, seeing the same beast ten years ago that she did today. "D-Dax..." Was this it? Had he finally come full circle into the same twisted individual who loved no one? But this would be different, there was no hidden emotions to get in his way, a being who could openly embrace his emotions and let the twisted darkness envelope them, destroying them. There would be no revelation, no moment of clarity, if this was really how he was going to be...then this was how he would stay.

"Dax! D-Don't be like this! This isn't who you are anymore!" Melody stared to her son in shock and terror, afraid for what he'd become. Melody looked to Ember with tears in her eyes, realizing that Daxter had become something terrible once again, and hoping she could be the one to stop this. When he approached, Daxter staring down into Ember's eyes, then turning to his mom who was afraid of him at this point, the only thing he could do is hug her. "Everything is going to be okay, I'm fine, I'm sorry for scaring you. B-But I had to do it, if I don't embrace my good and my bad, then I'm just going to keep repeating the same mistakes over. I-It took a moment, but I realized I don't want to hurt either of you. I'm okay mom, I'm going to be okay." Melody held Daxter tightly, glad to see he wasn't some sadistic beast, at least not towards those who mattered.

"Ember, are you alright? We need to go before anyone else shows up. I have a feeling Salem isn't the only superpower around here who wants to kill us." Melody grabbed Dax's arm, looking at his wound, "oh my god, sweetheart that looks horrible! We need to get that wrapped up before you do anymore damage to yourself!" "Ah!" Daxter winced, looking to Ember then back to Melody, "I'm fine! O-Ow! That hurts you know! Christ!" "Ember, was it? Are you okay to move? Don't worry you guys I'll take point, anyone comes our way I'll take care of them." She begrudgingly let her son handle his own wounds, and it seemed Ember was well enough to keep moving on. Melody would take the lead while Dax and Ember held back.

[Escaflowdra]

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As she fell forward, he eyes staying locked as she fell forward, she felt Daxter catch her from falling flat to the ground. She fell limp in his arms as she breathed heavily. No tears emitted from her eyes from the pain she was feeling as she decided to hold back her emotions. She knew Daxter had just gone through a delicate stage of being reunited with his family. If his newfound emotions could cause him to stay down and take a beating in respect to his parents, there was no telling what would happen if Ember showed strong signs of a struggle. However, she felt like she didn't want to find out. "I didn't forget about your weak points. And, judged on your heat signature and thermal waves, I could tell where the steel device was." Ember looked back from the corner of her eye as her hand gripped Daxter's shoulder tightly. Her was limp, but her hand held him strongly as she glared at the man behind her and on the approach. "What did I tell you would happen if you tried anything?" he called out to Daxter as Ember closed her eyes. She was going to tell him to go after Salem until she heard the woman speak.

"Dax you take care of your girlfriend, I've got this guy!" she yelled out, causing Ember to flinch and raise a brow. That woman was going to fight Salem by herself? Ember tried to look back but Daxter spoke, "We can talk about how awesome my mom is later." Ember revealed her back to Daxter, not by choice but since given the opportunity... she gritted her teeth before muttering, "T-Thats.. Your mom?" she growled from the pain of his fingers touching close to the spot. It was an entrance. Ugly. Flawed... like the rest of her back. Ember wanted so badly to pull away from Daxter and just leave the bullet inside. She wanted to cover herself up. Her back showed an ugly truth. An ugly past. And an ugly side of who she had always been. She was almost surprised that his mom was out and she had just turned around. She was still alive, which was more than Ember could have hoped for.

"Mom!" he shouted and went to help her after getting Ember to lean against the wall standing, "You okay?" "fine, fine. He packs a punch." "Go help my friend, she's got a bullet embedded in her skin she needs removed, can you do that?" "H-Hey now, I stitched up your wounds just fine when you were a little boy. You got him?" Daxter smirked, facing Salem. "Definitely." Melody approached Ember and began helping her out. Ember watched as Melody approached, "Hold still hun," the woman spoke with a tender softness. Ember clenched her hands and closed her eyes as Melody began working on her back. It didn't take long for her to recognize the tattoo on Ember's back, which stopped her momentarily as she spoke, "...this..." "I know." Ember sighed as she closed her eyes. Melody stopped the conversation from getting into further details. They could save it for another time.

They both watched as Daxter started getting heated up for the battle, while Salem respectively started to flicker his energy wildly.They rushed at each other like a sped up video, moving incredibly fast and ferociously at one another in hand to hand combat. Daxter's flames bounced off the energy fabricated shields that Salem would summon to protect himself. They spun, grabbing at one another. Melody's hand were focused on Ember's wound, but their eyes were somewhere else. "I'm more powerful than you are, when I'm done you'll be begging me for mercy." Salem laughed at Daxter's threat, rushing at him and pulling out a metallic hilt that he used to form an energy blade, slicing at his head and then stomach, Dax avoiding both attacks then forming his own fire blade, the two different types of energy: chroma and thermal, clashing together. The heat waves of the two elements rushed down the hall, brushing Ember's red hair off her shoulders as she lowered her eyes. Something was off about this fight. "You'll regret ever messing with a McLain." "Face it, you're out of your league."

The two went at it even further, and the moment they clashed into the next wall, Ember's bullet was pulled. She gasped and slipped her hands onto the floor. The mechanism in her back fixed itself, and her flesh began to heal itself in front of Melody. "You... You can heal yourself. Incredible." Ember looked back to Melody and shook her head, "Yes... Thank you. But--" Then suddenly they head something. In that hall, a blood curdled shout caught the attention of both women as they immediately shifted their eyes to find "Daxter!" his mom yelled out in pure concern for her son. Ember felt her powers start surge as she took weak steps forward, breaking from the paralysis in her critical stage as she growled. Melody was shocked for her son, but held Ember's shoulders. "Stop! If you keep walking, you could end up --" "Daxter!" Ember shouted, trying to reach him. She stopped moving as Melody held her back, "Dear! Please stop moving!" "He's hurt!"

Ember pressed her feet against the ground, but Melody pulled her back, stopping her, "You are just as stubborn as he is..." Ember looked to her, then stopped her struggles when they both noticed that his cringing sounds of pain were replaced with something else. A growl in the shadows. Ember looked forward as Daxter had fought Salem back into the hall and gave Salem a scare by grabbing his head.. Ready to melt him to the skull down. A memory flashed in Ember's eyes when she saw the scene, recalling her brutal kill of the Elite Dogs back in Gradia... Melting a man's skull and watching his flesh melt liquefied off his bones. Salem got away and Daxter made his statement, "Don't worry baby, I'm still coming for you! I won't make you wait too long." Ember kept a straight face while observing Daxter's behavior. She knew this side of him. She never expected it gone.

He licked the blood off his skin... making Ember feel like the similarity between their beast like behavior was too alike. "D-Dax" his mother uttered as she watched him walk forward. Ember wasn't sure of anything going through his head... but she could only hope for the best. She tried to console him about his behavior in the ending part of his fight, where he had transformed into something of a higher power.. a being with knowledge about how lethal they could really be... and what it took to be that way."Dax! D-Don't be like this! This isn't who you are anymore!" she said while trembling in terror. When she spoke, Ember finally gathered herself to a standing point as Daxter close, staring into her eyes. She tried to read his thoughts, locked in his eyes looking back at her until he pulled away to hug his mom. "Everything is going to be okay, I'm fine, I'm sorry for scaring you. B-But I had to do it, if I don't embrace my good and my bad, then I'm just going to keep repeating the same mistakes over. I-It took a moment, but I realized I don't want to hurt either of you. I'm okay mom, I'm going to be okay." Melody held Daxter tightly, glad to see he wasn't some sadistic beast, at least not towards those who mattered.

Ember turned her head as Daxter looked to her. She couldn't look him in the eyes right now. "Ember, are you alright? We need to go before anyone else shows up. I have a feeling Salem isn't the only superpower around here who wants to kill us." Melody grabbed Dax's arm, looking at his wound, "oh my god, sweetheart that looks horrible! We need to get that wrapped up before you do anymore damage to yourself!" "Ah!" Daxter winced, looking to Ember then back to Melody, "I'm fine! O-Ow! That hurts you know! Christ!" "Ember, was it? Are you okay to move? Don't worry you guys I'll take point, anyone comes our way I'll take care of them." Daxter and Ember followed his mother, but Ember looked down while following. Still unable to meet eyes with his, she grabbed his injured hand and held it in hers, her healing magic fixing up his wounds. Something was moving inside, so when she released his hand, it was still working her magic on him. She paced fast past Melody and took lead.

"Ember, what are you--" Melody asked as she ended up falling behind, but they both only got a glimpse more of Ember's back before she turned invisible. She charged, leaving a trail of ash behind her for them to follow as she charged down the hallway. She fabricated steel blades, charging and slicing up unknown enemies. On her way to find them, she came across one place in particular...

She saw a group of guards charging down the hall, their bullets deflecting off her blades and barriers to protect Daxter and his mom behind her as she kicked off the floor. She spiraled forward, slicing the leg off on man and stabbing her blade down into the side of his skull, sweeping his body with her right foot and kicking his corpse with a powerful impact to knock out two for the price of one. She changed her swords to daggers, throwing them at a man and pinning his legs and arms to the wall he stood before. Her daggers became visible upon release, and he shouted before the invisible force sliced his throat and kicked him down, tearing him from his limbs. His mom was probably terrified of Ember... but she had to. After having gotten rid of more, Ember finally left a trail of ash to the door that led to Melony being held hostage by three more guards on the inside. Daxter could take the entrance of the door with his mom. Ember need to go elsewhere. "I'll be back,"

She quickly took off down the hall before she could be chased.

[Salem Wolf]

The rush of battle had been thrilling, Dax would be lying if he said he didn't enjoy it, and when he was letting his bad side take over and let himself feel the enjoyment of pain coursing through his body, that was when he realized he was too twisted to give it up. The pain, the pleasure, the enjoyment of making and watching other people suffer, he was too bad to be good, but still too good to be bad. As he licked the warm blood off his wrist he'd momentarily gotten lost in the sensation, the gaping wound in his hand that made every twinge too painful to ignore. Getting lost meant he had forgotten, just for a moment, who his allies were. But when he saw his mom scared by her son, a son that once hurt her and nearly killed her, that was the moment it all came back to him. There was no good without evil, and no cruelty without comfort. Yin and yang, if he could find the proper balance then maybe, just maybe, the rest of his life would go smoother. That was his new resolve, balance his life out.

There was something about Ember, beautiful despite the large Dogs tattoo on her back, he wore his mistakes and problems every single day, he knew the story of every single scar both self-inflicted and deliberate against him. Seeing her bare back, her sensual curves and finding himself attracted to her was something else. Trying to remove the bullet, all he wanted to do was let his hands rub all over her, touch her intimately, finding her skin to be beautiful, her scent to be intoxicating. He focused on the mission at hand until his mom needed help, in which he let her take over. But Ember didn't leave his mind, she was beautiful, and now that was he was feeling the emotions that pressed him forward, he found he had something of a crush on her. How weird was that? He wondered if she felt something similar? Then again he was a beast, a cruel unjust monster, even Sapphire had to have forgotten about him by now.

He felt his body heat up when she took his hand and let her healing start to work, rushing the process to minutes instead of hours or days. Even after she had let go of his hand, he could feel the healing continue, and then she took the lead ahead of both of them. She killed the soldiers without hesitation, and he could feel his heart flutter at the sight of that, a woman who could embrace her own inner darkness, well that seemed like a match made in hell. He grinned as he rushed ahead of his mom, following closely behind the trail that Ember left behind. To see Ember just brutally murdering these people with daggers fashioned from seemingly nothing...was it too early to say he was in love? He grabbed a few of those daggers, two of them carefully put into his belt loops and one more he held just in case.

She led them to a door then took off in another direction, invisible, telling them she would be back. He could track her, but she had her own duties, and could take care of herself. Daxter looked to his mom, nodded, and burst in through the door. Once inside he assessed the situation as quick as he could, seeing three guards (two surprised, one with a gun to his mother's head), and of course his mother in a chair as it seemed she was to be executed. An order from Salem? Or someone else? It didn't matter, everyone involved would die. Without missing a beat, barely seconds after he burst through the door, he leaped into the air and spun his body in a twisted acrobatic flip, and two daggers were thrown, impaling into the skulls of two of the guards as he landed, the one with a gun to Melony's head falling down dead. The remaining soldier raised his gun but fell when Melody raised hers first and took a single shot to drop him. Daxter held the last dagger in his hand from Ember, intending to keep it until he could find his sword, then approached his mother.

Melody and Melony embraced, and kissed (much to Daxter's chagrin who would, normally, enjoy such a thing if they weren't his parents), then went on back-and-forth. Melony apologized for the situation, Melody forgave her, the two had a quick moment about their son they both agreed were proud of, and Melody did the motherly thing and talked up Ember to Melony, who said that, while a terrifyingly dangerous individual, seemed to be a good match for their equally dangerous son. "I-I-I-I-I! Am right here. Can we cut it out?" Melony and Melody looked to Dax with a smile, his parents approaching. "When this is done we are definitely discussing the whole Dogs Corps thing you guys did, comprende? I should not feel so inadequate next to my parents. Embarrassing."

"Oh hun," Melody said with a smile, putting a hand on Dax's shoulder, "what kind of parents would we be if we didn't take an interest in our son's hobbies?" Daxter blinked, surprised by what she just said. "A little dark, dear." Melony said with a slight shake of her head. "Sorry!"

Daxter sighed, rolling his eyes, "alright ladies, let's find Ember and get the ******** outta here, huh?" Daxter approached the door so they could leave, ducking underneath his sword as Salem had attempted to catch him off-guard. Even though he missed, Salem let out a blast of energy that knocked Daxter back into the room. Salem looked better, likely having received some healing of his own, and was back for more, rushing at Daxter and using his own sword to try and slice him to pieces, Daxter standing up and countering with Ember's formed dagger. Melody and Melony picked up the guns from the dead soldiers and waited for a good opening to shoot Salem with, take him down for good. Daxter was already into the heat of things though, he was already embracing that darkness, the fire in his eyes, as he started enjoying the thought of making Salem suffer before he died. It brought a smile to his face, not a personality flip but an embrace of who he was. Salem dodged Dax's fire attacks, even moving swift enough to avoid any attacks after Daxter teleported, but they moved too quick for either parent to get a shot off without hitting Dax.

"Don't you get enough of losing?" Daxter asked with a grin, laughing as he did. "You're not the only one to play dirty." Salem replied, referring to Daxter's use of blood to blind him earlier, which was the only reason Daxter had won, at least in Salem's mind. Energy and fire collided in a brilliant beam twisting and bursting all around them, keeping their similar power levels at a standstill. "I'm going to make you feel my pain, you son of a b***h. I've lost a mother, father, sister, and I killed my own brother. Now let's how well you deal with it." Dax grinned, keeping a close eye on Salem, not intending to let him get close to either parent. "What a shame you haven't joined them yet." Dax taunted in reply, but the moment the clashing beam fell Salem rushed towards Melony, pulling the sword close to his body and going for a very tight maneuver to slice the sword through his mother's stomach. Daxter leaped to intercept Salem, a fire shield raising up between them as he rushed diagonally towards Salem, intending to intercept and attack. Salem stopped his movements the moment the wall came up, spinning and twisted to meet Daxter's ribcage with the sword, impaling him in a well executed move intended for Daxter all along. For being impossible to predict, the urge to protect those you care about was something Salem knew too well how to exploit.

Daxter felt the sword through his ribcage, inches from his heart, and slice through his back. Salem twisted the sword and pulled it out, taking no care in being gentle as Dax's little jump and impalement caused him to fall limp to the ground, blood splattering carelessly as he landed and skidded to a stop by hitting the nearby wall. He wheezed, gasping for air as the sword had gone through a lung. "Hear that? That's the sound of Daxter dying, this needs to be my ringtone." He turned quickly as Melody took a few shots at him, deflecting the bullets and expelling a large blast of energy at her which knocked her into the wall, unconscious. Turning to Melony, he closed the gap and put the same sword, still coated with Daxter's blood, through her chest. Pulling out the sword and retracting the blade, putting it into a holster on his suit, he watched Melony bleed profusely from her chest, falling onto her back and laying there, unable to move, barely able to breathe, and dying. Salem knelt down and stared at her, smiling, "h...he will...c-come for you..." "Save your breath, sweetheart." Salem picked up the handgun that Melony was holding and approached Daxter who wasn't moving, but still struggling to breathe. He unloaded the magazine into Daxter's stomach until he heard clicking from the empty magazine, smiling as he tossed it towards the unconscious Melody's body. "'Cause Dax is dead."

Salem approached the loaded gun that Melody was holding and reapproached Melony, putting the barrel to her forehead, "no..." she cried out, gasping as the overwhelming fear of death took hold. She couldn't fight back, she couldn't move, she could only wait for Salem to do what he was going to do. "My name is Salem Wolf, and I'm the guy that just murdered the McLain family." He smiled down to Melony, who stared at him wide-eyed as he pulled the trigger. Standing up and dropping the gun onto her stomach, he glanced over to Melody, "hm. Someone needs to tell Ember what happened, might as well be her." Salem formed a portal on the wall, entering it and disappearing from the complex with Melody unconscious, Daxter and Melony dead in a pool of their own blood.

---

White, brightness, nothing but haze and surrealism, Daxter awoke in a place that wasn't where he'd lost consciousness at. He was surprised, and frankly a little scared, because he wasn't sure what exactly happened, until he remembered from a flash of memory of his own sword impaling him through the ribs. "Ah ********, I died?!" He looked around, motion blur accompanying his every look around. Then came the mirror image of himself, laughing almost giddily, "well well well, if it isn't the top of the food chain himself." Daxter stared to Dax, this wasn't some moment inside his own head, this was different, very surreal, maybe a dream? He didn't know what this was but he didn't like it. "This isn't Heaven, trust me I wouldn't belong here." "Then what is this? This isn't a country club resort and spa." Dax put a hand to Daxter's throat, squeezing and glaring at him, "you hold your ******** tongue around me, I don't appreciate sarcasm and I don't appreciate you forgetting your place." A year ago this would have been terrifying, Daxter might have broken down at the prospect of what would happen, but Dax wasn't part of him anymore, at least not an actual personality he had to deal with. He just laughed, Dax's grip loosening and Dax suddenly blasted backwards. Daxter shook his head, "don't forget you lost the race, bucko. I am you. In fact, your whole existence defies all kinds of ********' logic. We're whole, baby, so what are you?"

Dax stood up and dusted himself off, approaching Daxter with a defeated sigh, "I'm the closest thing to a guardian angel you have. Just a form you're most likely to identify with. Which is...well you. You're a narcissistic ********, you know that? Most people choose parents, best friends, hell animals, but you choose yourself. By the way congrats on your finally ******** state. I mean you're ******** up, but at least you're not "struggling with another personality while being a piece of s**t" ******** up." "Thanks. So what is this? Am I dead? You're telling me the afterlife exists? Which religion was it because I've shunned all of them, but I would definitely do some last minute Buddhism."

Daxter felt a hand on his shoulder, turning to look at his mother, Melony. "Dax." "N-No...h-he killed you?" Daxter embraced Melony tightly, feeling an overwhelming guilt at being unable to protect her. "Daxter you have to realize something...no one should have died tonight but you. You're the mistake, you know? Sure there are a lot of people who are as messed up or worse than you, but let's put it this way...you're not ready yet. For anything, a real life, a real relationship, you can barely take care of yourself properly. You have hidden your true self away from even yourself. You want to keep living? You gotta stop this Dax/Daxter bullshit you've set up for yourself. You're right, you ARE Dax. But you keep separating yourself...it's only going to get worse. Embrace your bad, but don't separate it when the time comes. That's your problem."

"Lovely advice, but I'm kind of ******** dead, what good does that do for me?" Melony grabbed Dax's arm, twisting him around to look at her. Daxter blinked, Melony kissing his forehead. "My only regret is that we couldn't have our mother-son relationship that I've always wanted. But you can't die yet, you know that. Who will take care of your mom? She...she's still a fragile person you know, Dogs training or not, she's going to need someone. And Ember? Well she could use another person too." "Ember and I are NOT, repeat, NOT together." Daxter crossed his arms, pouting slightly. "Hun, I know women, I have been into women longer than you have. There's something between you, I saw the way you glanced at her when I was holding you up at gunpoint. She's fierce, I can tell, she didn't fight back because she cares about you."

Daxter sighed, looking away for a moment, "I don't know what I feel, how to feel. I'm still processing my emotions, I've been unraveling myself for hours, ten years of faking it. It's hard." He turned to look at his mother, who tapped his cheek, "that's not what she said." "H-How did you know?" "You're still my son. Look, I want you to know something...I'm very proud of the person you grew to be. When we last met you didn't care for anyone, but now you're caring for me, your mom, the Ember girl. You have to understand, despite what your guardian angel says, you're making great strides. I love you...Daxter. With all of my heart."

Daxter smiled, "I love you too, mo...mommy." Melony smiled, "you only used to call Melody 'mom' or 'mommy', I always took 'mother' to be because I was harsher to you." Daxter shrugged, nodding slightly, "mom was always the mom of the family, you know?" Melony smiled, nodding, "I know. That's why I love her. You have to wake up now though, okay? You can't die yet, you have to take care of my love, and I really...really want to see you go after Salem. But I need you to do me a favor, okay? Sort yourself out, and remember that no matter how bad of a person you think you are, you can strive and accomplish great things. Be the you you want to be, not the you you think others want you to be. No regrets. I love you, baby. Dax McLain is a wonderful person, I believe that. Melody believes it too. A-And please...take care of her for me." She kissed Daxter on the cheek, Daxter feeling his head swirling with all kinds of feelings and emotions.

"Well, this is it. Time to wake up, it's going to hurt and it's going to hurt like a b***h, but just remember something, huh? You've lived through worse."

[Escaflowdra]

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She took off down the hall, embracing the shadows in the halls with busted lights as she made her way to the control room. She walked in silently slicing more heads off like scissors on paper. It was easy when she was fueled. These people in this facility were set out to destroy Daxter in some way, shape or form. For whatever reason, they were trying to kill Killzone in his zone. She wasn't going to let that happen. She thought that in the moments of her closed door glory. She watched the blood spatter, the skulls smash, and kicked them out of the way as she looked at the flickering images. She got to the control panel where she could see that it was still unlock, making the doors lock in every part of building to hold any remaining guards and officers in the building hostage while the she opened the escape route. Once that was done, Ember smashed the outlet. The screens went blank and pitch black as she had made her final decisions. They were going to steal a vehicle and make it out.

She turned around, then walking out of the room and seeing no more guards. She rushed down the hall she came from, cleaning up her trails of ash as she inhaled the air. She faded from invisibility and kept running. We can finally leave, she thought as she was close to feeling better for once. However long they had been here, being tortured, examined and beaten.. this pain was soon going to be over. If only for a little while... That would be enough for her. However, she noticed that down the hallway, that something was wrong. The smell of familiar blood tingled her senses in the hall, and upon realizing who it belonged to she widened her eyes, then rushing faster. Her heart pounded with each step as she kept leaping forward. Rushing forward. "You know that smell."

Ember finally approached the door, having run so fast she grabbed the steel door itself and slammed against it to halt her from running even further. "You left them alone." Ember couldn't see anything in the room. The light was out. However, Ember's shadow was casted into the room from the lights behind her in the hall. "Daxter," she spoke out loud, like she did when she looked for her mother in the underground... She searched for a light switch in the room, but like most other torture rooms, the lightbulb would be in the middle with a string hovering in the middle of the room. Ember walked forward, the ground was dry... her hand reaching forward as she saw the silver glimmer of the chain to turn on the light. click.

Ember stepped in the pool of blood, looking down and seeing "This is your fault." Ember widened her eyes, the silver in her eyes flaring up so much that the aura of their glow resembled flames. Ember looked down at them... just as she did when she found her mother dead in the underground. Daxter laid on his back with multiple bullet wounds in his chest and stomach, a cut all the way through to his back. His mother, Melony laid, a bullet in her forehead and fresh tears that stained down her cheeks. Melody on the other side, unconscious with no real sign to signify a true death. "You promised to take the pain." Ember's silver eyes went from looking at the scene below her feet as she clenched her fists and went over to Daxter. She looked, crawling over Daxter and holding his face in her hands as she lightly slapped his cheek. "I..." she was going to talk. "Say it. Say you're sorry again. Then destroy it. Destroy it all."

Ember felt fresh tears finally fall from her eyes onto his cheek as she lifted him up by his shoulders and hugged his head in her chest. Her sound magnification powers focused in on herself, and she released a loud cry from her heart. The only person she had left in this world to feel remotely close to, and he was gone? She held him more closer, her heating surging in waves mixed with her sound magnification powers to split the particles of fire into electricity. The rush of air mixed with electricity ran through the building, fueling it with more power and then non in different areas as this room suffered the most in change. She looked over at the dead body of his mother, holding him close. "DAXTER!!!" she cried out as the demon in the room came closer to her back, attempting to consume her mind. To break out of the shell that contained a pure beast of carnage, death and devastation. "The world is making you suffer, so return the favor."

[Salem Wolf]

"I'm in." Defiance landed in a crouch, muffling the noise from his drop from the skylight he entered in. One look around, one reading of the area, and already he could tell he'd come near the end of things. Bodies lined up, blood everywhere, he'd arrived too late to rescue Daxter or Ember, but he was here now, and he had a feeling things weren't done yet. He followed the trail as quick as he could, finding no one else around but dead bodies and lots of wall scarring. He heard a loud scream coming nearby, a pained scream that could make someone's blood run cold. It was the sound of Daxter waking up from his momentarily unconsciousness, the pain of his wounds overwhelming his senses. Defiance ran into the room with his tonfa at the ready, finding the gruesome scene before him: Ember coated in blood likely from Daxter, the man she was holding in her arms, a redheaded woman bloodied and dead on the floor in her own blood, and a young-looking blond woman with a steady heartbeat indicating she was alive. And in the middle of it all, a large demonic-appearing dragon egging on Ember to destroy everything. With a quick release of his weapon's grapple hook grabbing onto the back of the demon, a torrent of electrical energy released itself. That, coupled with Daxter's breathing, pained living existence, forced the demon to vanish. Defiance removed his mask and stuffed it into his utility belt, rushing up towards Melody and checking her level of injuries.

He sighed softly as she opened her eyes, "careful, easy, you may have a concussion you don't want to overdo it." "W-Who -- " "-- a friend. That's all that matters right now." He left Melody alone, approaching Ember and Daxter, who was bleeding profusely from his bullet wounds, the stab wound, and from his mouth and nose. Daxter was in the worst shape he'd ever seen in him, Defiance putting a hand on Ember's shoulders, "careful, girl. It's me, Noatak."

Daxter gasped, then screamed, pain coursing through his body like something he'd never felt before, looking up at Ember, "E-Em? A-Ah...god...damn it." He noticed Noah in the room finally, looking over to him, "s-s**t, you're here? A-AH! Ah...ah...hnng. My mom, is-is she...?" Noah looked to Ember, then to Daxter, shaking his head, "she's gone, but your other mom is fine, just bruised up." "S-So that was...real?" He groaned loudly, wrapping his arms around Ember tightly, "p-please, don't go." Daxter passed out from the pain not even a second later. Noah knelt down, looking at Ember, "heal him as much as you can, then we need to get out of here. Everything is going to be okay."

Melody approached the body of Melony, sobbing uncontrollably as she held the dead body to her chest. He wasn't trying to be cold about it, but Noah knew they didn't have time for this. Even less time as a loud explosion rocked the room, the building self-destructing from what he guessed were a series of well-placed explosives intended to bury those still inside. "Time's up, we move NOW. Ember, take Dax let's go, ma'am we gotta go I'm sorry for your loss but unless you want to join her we're going!" Noah grabbed Melody's arm and pulled her away from Melony, it took a little time but Melody was able to compose herself and follow Noah as he led them out of the room, the building still rocked by explosions.

"They're blowing the place sky high, send us a way out." Noah spoke into a small communication device in his ear, leading the ground to a large cafeteria with skylights, tossing a small rounded disc at one of the skylights, it exploding and shattering the glass. As the explosions got ever closer, a helicopter arrived and a rope ladder fell to the ground, Noah getting the group onto it and holding on as the helicopter rose them out of the building, the explosions leveling it completely. If Salem didn't kill them, the explosions would have. The helicopter had room for Daxter to lay down, and the others to sit, Noah went to the front and took the co-pilot's seat, sitting and relaxing, head resting against the headrest. "Good timing as always, Theodore." Daxter's old My Little Pony fanclub member, Theodore Daniels, was now an official sidekick to Defiance. How times have changed."How's the Equestrian Knights Grandmaster?" Theodore joked softly, looking to Defiance. "Just land the chopper, I'll let you know once I know. It's a mess though, one mom dead, other mom broken, and I'm confident I just tased a demon, so that should bode well for me later." "I am so glad I'm not Gifted."

The helicopter landed at a private location of Noah's, a personal home in Juneau he used when traveling into Juneau to get to his parents' place. Theo got out and escorted the group inside while Noah took care of a few things, Theodore helping to set Daxter up on a hospital bed in a medical wing. This place was likely one of Defiance's many headquarters he used when traveling and fighting crime in other locations. For now, the group had nothing to do but wait for Daxter to emerged from his pain-induced coma. Noah returned to them shortly after he was set up on a bed, inviting them to have dinner with him as it was likely they were all pretty hungry. Regardless, he insisted they at least follow him into the dining room and took them in.

"So...who's going to tell me what happened back there?"

[Escaflowdra]

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Ember cried, holding Daxter close enough and crying over his shoulder. The tears marred her face as she felt lonely, even when he was this close to her. She wanted him to hug her back, wake up and react. Say something. Do something... but she felt a tremor of emotions surge in and out in the waves of power she released. The electricity seized when her highly sensitive ears picked up the blood curling scream that Daxter released. The heat was coming back to his body, and Ember's first instinct at that time was to heal him. Each hole, even tear, every scratch was becoming undone. Time ticked backwards by the seconds as his injuries were becoming undone. Ember looked down into his shoulder, the tears absorbed in his shirt before she pulled back and held Daxter's head in her hand, holding his back. Her silver eyes watched him suffer. "Make the world suffer." Ember's eyes widened. She felt something creeping up behind her. Seeing and hearing Daxter this way had snapped her out of the state she was diving into.

She looked over her shoulder to a black beast being held back with a grappling hook. The electricity of the weapon combined with the leftover waves Ember had distributed earlier caused the demon to vanish, and she looked to "Defiance." He made his way over to Melody, checking on her while Ember was wrapped up in Daxter. She brushed his cheek quickly before realizing she was drenched in blood. He was still bleeding, but not for long. She snapped her eyes over her shoulder when a hand landed on her shoulder, "careful girl. It's me, Noatak." Ember's irises had shifted to their sharp vertical shape... but relaxed back to normal aside from their flowing hue to heal Daxter as she realized she was on the edge. Seeing and feeling Daxter in her hands suffering was stirring up turmoil. She wanted to take that pain away.

"E-Em? A-Ah... god... damn it." Ember had gotten a glimpse from his eyes just what kind of pain he was going through. Her blood racing. He noticed Noatak, addressing him and asking about his mom. Ember met eyes with Noah for a split second. There was too much going on... and there was nothing they could do to make the facts sound better. "She's gone, but you other mom is fine, just bruised up." Daxter groaned loudly, as if dealing with more pain than ever. She looked down as he questioned the reality of it all. She felt like she was looking at Daxter, feeling his pain because she had suffered the same fate once. She wanted to go out, and wreak a new kind of hell on the people that were making him suffer so much, but before she could think about any further kind of action, she felt Daxter wrap his arms around her waist tightly. She stopped her thoughts of malice and massacre to look down at him, "p-please, don't go." Ember's eyes were widened by the simple request as Daxter then passed out.

Noah talked to her, acknowledging his motions and picking up Daxter. Once they escaped to the helicopter, Ember looked to Melody who seemed to be completely devastated by everything that had happened. Ember had no words to console her... but she still had her son. That was more than anybody could ask for in a moment that seemed tragic and finished. She looked down to Daxter who laid, still healing his wounds and leaning towards him. She put her forehead in her hand as she stopped herself from coming closer and just stayed by his side. P-please, don't go she heard the words ringing in her head. You left them alone. Ember could feel the voice this time rather than thinking about it subconsciously. It was the main drive behind her action in the room. She could have lost control... but something about Daxter asking her not to leave sealed those words into her heart. It really was her fault for turning away from them. She should have stayed with them.

She gazed over him, being grateful that he was still alive in the first place. She held her head in both her hands as she closed her eyes, trying to recollect her thoughts and feelings. She needed to calm down. Her anxiety was high just moments ago... But there was no need to worry about it now. "Good timing as always, Theodore." Ember didn't know who that was, but she glanced over to the man who looked to Defiance and joked softly, "How's the Equestrian Knights Grandmaster?" Theodore joked softly, looking to Defiance. "Just land the chopper, I'll let you know once I know. It's a mess though, one mom dead, other mom broken, and I'm confident I just tased a demon, so that should bode well for me later." "I am so glad I'm not Gifted."

Ember looked back down at Daxter, forgetting that he had that club and looked to his mother who was crying uncontrollably. Ember crawled around the space of Daxter and sat beside her, putting a hand on her back awkwardly. Surprisingly, Melody grabbed Ember into a really tight hug and cried on her shoulder. Ember was shocked, feeling that in the short time they had met.. that she would go ahead and be close. I-I thought she would be more scared of me than so trusting... Ember could feel Melody shaking, holding Ember close as she needed somebody to console her. Ember looked down to the woman and hugged her back tightly, rubbing her back and giving her all the time she needed to cry. She just needed somebody to lean on. Ember could do that. In the short time that she had known Daxter's parents, she knew that she was here for support...

Melody regathered herself and gave a very weak smile to Ember, tears still visible in the corners of her eyes. "Thank you hun," the woman said as she tagged on the term of endearment. Ember would have to get used to those. "No problem..." she sighed as she sat beside Melody, the two of them looking over Daxter. Ember didn't know what to say to console her... make her more comfortable... even show sympathy... Melody was better now in the sense of seeing her son. Knowing that she still had him. Ember closed her eyes, resting her head on her knees as they went to Noah's personal home in Juneau. Wish we could leave Alaska already, she thought as the door to the helicopter opened, and the cold air rushed in. Theodore helped carry Daxter, Ember never leaving his side for a second as they made it to the medical wing.

They finally set him up,and Ember helped Theodore in making sure that her healing worked. She was able to get the bullets out while they were buy in the helicopter moments after their escape, so it was nice to no longer see Daxter looking like he had a sponge for a stomach. Ember had also helped Melody with bruises and scratches, but an eerie silence fell over the room as Ember worked her powers. Reliving the moments in their minds. After the healing and seeing that Daxter would not wake for a while, the group followed Noah into the dining room. Upon a few of them taking steps, Ember standing against the wall and looking down the hallway, she looked back as Defiance spoke, "So...who's going to tell me what happened back there?"

Ember looked over at Melody, whose hands were clasped together as she closed her eyes. Ember stepped forward, taking her seat and then speaking, "I'll do my part." She looked to Melody, nodded, and then looked to Defiance. "Daxter and I went to go meet Melony. Shortly after meeting her, we were ambushed. She told us that they were holding Melody hostage and they were threatening to kill her if she didn't cooperate." Ember leaned forward against the table, she could recall the Daxter giving in to the brutality that the troops had given him... for the sake of protecting his family. She opened her eyes, staring at the decorations in the middle of the table. "After we were captured, we were separated. I'm not sure what they were going to do with me if they planned on exploding the building... but I escaped my room and went to look for Daxter. I found him with Melody."

She looked over at Defiance, "Fast forward on my part, I passed a few places and came across Salem. He still wears his suit," she said, noticing the look on Defiance's face that Salem was still operating the suit. Even alive after all that happened in Gradia. "It bothers me... Salem was a part of the Wolfpack. Our team dissolved that group months ago and tore it apart... Since we had been captured... I hadn't seen a single DOGS insignia. Salem is obviously working for a different organization. One that seems to have its sights set on Daxter and his family." Ember paused, taking the water glass and a sip from it as she went on to explain a bit further, "I later found Daxter and Melody. I got shot, Daxter fought Salem, he disappeared... and then I lead them to Melony." She stood up from her spot at the table. "I went to go disable security locks and get us out of there. I got back to the room, and you can guess what happened with me from there."

She looked over at Melody who would start talking, but after standing she looked to Noah, "I'm going to go for a little bit. I'll be right back," she said in reference to staying at his home while she walked out of the room and shut the door behind her. She would have stayed longer to listen to Melody, Defiance and the rest of them talk, but something was already on her mind.

A few minutes, and she arrived back to the medical wing. The night sky was showing out of his window as he slept soundly on the hospital bedding. The moonlight of the night revealed his face as a golden glow swept the horizon of Juneau. She walked over, grabbing a stool and moving it to his bed side as she sat down. He slept without a care in the world. She sat still, observing him, moving a hand to rest on the cushion of his bed as she watched over him. Has he always looked like this when he slept? Ember's eyes traced every detail that she could before her eyes stopped at the sheets that covered him across his torso. He laid on his back, so peacefully asleep. She hovered a hand above him and read his body's injuries.. All his levels were normal. A relaxed sigh escaped her lips.

She pulled her hand back, resting it on her lap as she closed her eyes for a second. She could see Daxter in her mind, but the picture wasn't pretty at all. He was dead, his eyes white and blood spilling from his mouth and multiple wounds. She opened her eyes, seeing Daxter resting perfectly fine... aside from being in a pain induced coma. Finally...reality is better than my nightmares. She rested a hand over her heart as she started to notice something going on. I... I've been sleeping beside him for the past several days... Have I never once seen his face? She couldn't recall a single instance of seeing Daxter this was. She was overwhelmed that he was okay... But there was something about that peaceful look on his face. She watched, admired, scooted her stool closer while muting herself. Her silver eyes could take it in, her fingers started to travel to his hand that laid above the blanket.

She touched him with a finger, and suddenly she felt like her hand was on fire. Why did you do this to me... she asked herself as she looked down at her right hand... The one she kept wrapped when Daxter helped her take care of it. She removed the bandages, seeing that her hand was perfectly normal looking once more. She held the bandages in her left hand until throwing them away... then placing her unwrapped hand on Daxter's. His temperature shot through her like a heat wave, as she felt her nerves getting to the edges of her heart. Her heart, which she gripped at with her left, beat like a heavy drum. She closed her eyes, swallowing a breathe she held. Why am I feeling like I'm on fire?

She rose from her seat, her hand twisting from resting her hand on top of his wrist to slide her fingers in between his. The fire is warm... she thought as a glazed look entered her silver eyes. She couldn't settle down her powers or her thoughts. Everything at this moment about her, mind, body and soul, was totally zoned into Daxter. Ember, who was scared of nothing, felt it once she believed she had lost Daxter to death. She leaned to hover over him, her red strands falling from off her shoulder and landing on the white sheets that covered him. It's dangerous. I don't care. She came inches from his face, it's too late to pull away, she thought as she slowly closed her eyes. She felt his nose with hers, then leaning further until her lips pressed against his incredibly soft, velvet felt lips.

She grazed his lips softly, then pressing against them in a full contact kiss. She breathed slightly different from normal, her heart being squeezed tightly. He was warm. Enticing. The feeling of their lips pressed together reminded Ember of Daxter rushing up to her, forcing a kiss. She had let him dominate her for a second in the world that no one owned besides him. Now she was kissing him in his sleep. It was almost cruel, to feel like she would do this in his sleep. But he was in a coma. She just had to taste it. She had to have one more. It was something she couldn't stop thinking about in the nights were she had not slept, her back just inches from his when they slept facing the other way. She pulled back, feeling the hot air escape her lips and then closed them. She let go of his fingers, stepped up from being over him, and looked down to him. Do you feel regret. That you couldn't share this with him? He doesn't need to know how I feel. Not yet. Not ever. Ember gave a half smile to him, turning her back and moving the stool back to its spot against the wall. She exited the room, pressing her back against the wall in the hall outside as she regathered her composure once more.

After doing so, she made her way back to Noah and the others. She just had to see him.

[Salem Wolf]

It was good that things had finally slowed down, the entire group had gone back to Noatak's hideaway mansion on the edge of the city near the plains, where they had a beautiful view of the mountains, the cool crisp mountain air replacing over the the smell of the city. It was gorgeous at night, the moonlight shining off the thin layer of glistening clean snow, sounds of animals coming from miles. To sit in the large dining hall with big windows to allow the light to shine through, enough food to easily feed the group that arrived, it was a relief. Noah could tell tensions were high, Daxter in a coma, one parent dead and the other grieving, and some feelings between the two Gifted that he'd never seen coming, it was hard. Still, he needed to know what he was going to help deal with in the future, he was never one to be unprepared, but the short notice they had from the time they'd been kidnapped to the time they were nearly killed, it meant Defiance had gone in almost blind. He didn't like it. "So...who's going to tell me what happened back there?"

It was tense, but it was necessary, he listened to Ember talk about the situation to the best of her abilities, but still revealing no names that would be important or any groups. But when she mentioned Salem, and his suit, it was hard to remain as stoic as always. He watched as Ember stood up and mentioned she would be back, likely to go visit Daxter, it wasn't a hard guess to make. Melody took over the conversation while Ember was gone. "Defiance, right?" Noah nodded, "call me Noah. So do you have anything to add, something that could help me name names?" Melody nodded, lowering her head. "W-When Melony and I were in the Dogs, using that to keep track of Dax...ter, uh..." She coughed lightly, she was used to calling him Dax, but to hear he'd started calling himself Daxter was different, new to her. "We knew all about his mercenary work, it was how the Dogs found him in the first place. Well...Dax...Daxter would frequently hit this one particular group, they called themselves Exitium, some real weirdos in there, but Daxter was always against them. Well, after my son's acts in Solica that group started tracking him. We quit the Dogs shortly after he arrived in Gradia, but last I heard they were...expanding."

Melody finally looked at Noah, staring into his striking green eyes, looking him over. He seemed like such a young person, no older than Daxter, but the way he carried himself, moved, even the way he was breathing showed nothing but a man in complete control, did everything with purpose. In some ways Melody felt sorry for him, to put so much into his every action that to slow down and have fun wasn't possible. She was sad, very sad over losing Melony, and would likely take a long time to get over that, but she knew Melony wouldn't want her to keep mourning, to dwell over it, to be able to move forward and give their son the kind of life they meant to a long time ago. Be involved, not let this weigh her down, and though it was hard, Melody knew she had to try her best.

"So they were never much of a threat until after Daxter outed himself as Gifted? Interesting, they realized their tormenter wasn't mere human. The odds of them being behind this is good if they're as large as I think. To have the funds to hire a former Wolfpack member though, they must be easy to locate." Noah stood up from the table, Theodore looking at him with a mouthful of shrimp, chewing slowly. Melody coughed, "Noah, when was the last time you sat down and relaxed?" Theodore snorted, grabbing the glass of milk and drowning the shrimp he started choking on. "Lady, you're barking up the wrong tree. Noah doesn't 'relax', he does the Defiance thing 24/7." Noah nodded to Theodore, who began to say something but was interrupted by Melody, "I get it. You fought the Dogs, trust me the reports on you are a mile long, what's known about you barely fits an index card. You fought to survive, but the Gifted won, the Dogs are all but gone now. You and me are going to talk." Melody stood up and approached Noah, grabbing his arm and pulling him out of the dining room. Theodore watched the two leave, Noah against his will, laughing, "lucky or unlucky Noah? Heh."

Melody sat Noah down in the living room and the two began to talk, Noah didn't do much in the way of "opening up", so he listened to Melody talk while the itch he had to scratch, finding Exitium to confirm his suspicions, remained too large to ignore. Meanwhile, Theodore finished his plate and collected the others' plates as well, taking them into the kitchen. He sighed softly, looking towards the medical wing and approaching it, standing in the doorway as he watched Ember softly kiss Daxter, to his surprise. He ducked away when he saw her putting the stool back, running back to the dining room and taking a seat, watching Ember arrive not long afterwards. Theodore was a terrible poker player, so for him to see her and not smile brightly was something he couldn't do.

"I've always wondered, does he taste like a campfire? It's got that weird burning wood smell that's...actually really delicious smelling. I-I'm sorry I couldn't resist. Sooo you and Daxter huh?" Theodore laughed lightly, shaking his head, "gotta say I'm surprised, usually he chases women. Or did, back when he was...messed up...look I'm sorry I'm not handling this like an adult. I just...really? What could anyone possibly see in him?" Theodore looked away for a moment, "I won't tell anyone you kissed him. He's gonna be okay though, he's tough." Theodore looked back towards Ember, nodding slightly, "ah, anyway, if you're looking for Noah or Melody, Melody kidnapped Noah for intimate talk time. I think he's out of his element though, if you ask me, guy doesn't open up much. But we might have a lead on the group that did this. Melody says Exitium is a group antagonized by Daxter before he joined the Dogs. Speaking of, I suppose I should be researching that stuff." Theodore stood up from the table, smiling lightly towards Ember, "there's a gym downstairs, lots of training equipment, a big entertainment room, a personal bar if you need a drink, kitchen is a few rooms down, you know, just make yourself at home."

Theodore took this as a moment he should go, heading off to check out the Exitium lead.

[Escaflowdra]

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxESCAFLOWDRAxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx


Ember walked out of the room without much thought as she decided to wipe away what she did from her mind for the time being. Of course it took every fiber of her being to pull away from the kiss once it was over, but she couldn't help but feel like… she could have only taken the initiative if Daxter didn’t know any better. As long as he remained unaware, Ember knew it would be alright. There was a reason Ember didn't look him in the eyes as easily anymore. There was a reason she was so quiet. She changed from her old days in Solica, running around with the gang and making friends she thought would try and fight to last a lifetime. She knew that in the back of her head where the demon was gaining control of her new perspectives, that she was almost hopeless in keeping relationships alive. Just like her dream on the plane ride with Daxter, she saw herself, young and innocent, burning everything with no control of the fire. Ember covered her lips, feeling the same tingle. But this time it stung so bad. It felt so much worse. She was putting her heart somewhere she couldn't keep it. It was tormenting.

Once she made her way back into the dining room, she came across a smile painted on the face of Theodore. She rose a brow, wondering what was going through his head, and why Defiance and Melody weren't still in the room until she heard, "I've always wondered, does he taste like a campfire? It's got that weird burning wood smell that's...actually really delicious smelling. I-I'm sorry I couldn't resist. Sooo you and Daxter huh?" Ember stared at Theodore, then stepping back once and turning her cheek. She could feel herself heat up, the color evident on her cheek as she muttered, “You’re delusional.” Theodore laughed as he admitted being surprised. He expected Daxter to be chasing women. Ember looked back at him with a hand resting casually on her hip while he continued to talk. “I just… really? What could anyone see in him?” “Ask Sapphire. I’m sure it’s the things you can’t see for yourself.” Ember rolled her neck, knowing that if Theordore knew Daxter, he must have known about Sapphire as well. Even if this was the first time they had been alone to talk at all, it wasn't a surprise if Theordore knew everyone from their group in the past.

"I won't tell anyone you kissed him. He's gonna be okay though, he's tough." Theodore looked back towards Ember while she glared at him. "Ah, anyway, if you're looking for Noah or Melody, Melody kidnapped Noah for intimate talk time. I think he's out of his element though, if you ask me, guy doesn't open up much.” Ember kept quiet. Noah was never too talkative of a person. If he found something out, he liked to investigate it alone. It was hard in the past to get him to allow Ember to jump in plans for an attack on old DOGS bases in Solica. “But we might have a lead on the group that did this. Melody says Exitium is a group antagonized by Daxter before he joined the Dogs. Speaking of, I suppose I should be researching that stuff." Ember crossed her arms, not sure what to say to him. She honestly felt uncomfortable letting a witness walk around. "there's a gym downstairs, lots of training equipment, a big entertainment room, a personal bar if you need a drink, kitchen is a few rooms down, you know, just make yourself at home."

Ember nodded, walking up to him and punching his shoulder, “Keep quiet,” she said as she made her way past him. After doing so, she knew exactly where she needed to go. Ember walked down the rooms and went to a spare bedroom. She looked at her attire, seeing how bad of a mess she was in her current shirt. It was ripped and drenched in blood, as was the rest of her body for that matter. Ember threw her clothes into an automatic cleaner in the bathroom, which would have cleaned her clothes fully in the matter of twenty minutes as she took a shower. She walked out of the shower, smelling like lavender. It was a nice smell. Afterward she grabbed her clothes from the dryer installed in the wall and slipped them back on. She took her torn shirt and laid it out. The long sleeve shirt was cut in the middle, and since ember didn't know how to sew anything she would just leave it alone. Instead she wore her sports bra and kept her up her heat with her natural dragon abilities. Ember’s silver eyes glanced at the mirror as she decided to turn around and inspect her back down to her hips. She couldn't see the mark of where the bullet hit. Just the ugliest part of her body being fully exposed… She felt some scorn while looking at the mark that changed her life forever, and walked out of the room after putting on her jeans.

She recalled Theodore telling her about an entertainment room. She walked around until she crossed a pitch black room, turning on the lights and finding that they were much dimmer than expected. It was an indoor home theater. She walked in, finding leather seats in front of a large flat screen. She took a seat, and relaxed as she used the remotes on the left handle of the chair to select something to watch. She came across television channels, movie channels.. and then music channels. Ember rose her brow to an interesting song that caught her attention. “I can be tough. I can be strong. But with you, it’s not like that at all. Behind this wall… You just walked through it.”

Ember relaxed herself, the door shut as she listened to the song, seeing a woman on the screen setting fire to a flower. “And I remember all those crazy things you said. You left them running through my head. You're always there, you're everywhere… but right now I wish you were here.” Ember cursed under her breathe as she stayed on the song, clasping her hands together. She listened to the song, staring at the woman. If only this was a guide, she joked in her mind. Although, aside from Theodore having witnessed it, Ember would try to avoid explaining it. She felt like there was no way things could go about as she wanted to. Not with all that has and would have yet to happen.

[Salem Wolf]

Theodore meant no harm in teasing her, in all honesty he was happy that he’d found someone who could appreciate him for all his insanity, and it was no surprise that him and Sapphire had ended, though he didn’t know the details he knew enough that it wasn’t likely they’d be getting back together anytime soon. There was only so much of Daxter one person could take, even if he had the best of intentions. "There’s a reason Saph and Dax aren’t together and you’re the one kissing his comatose body." Theodore replied to her, moving off the topic right quick, lest he ended up on the wrong end of one pissed off Gifted. He gave her a verbal tour of the place and let her do her thing, rubbing his shoulder where she punched him a little harder than she intended. Or perhaps softer than she wanted. He groaned softly as she left, allowing him to go research Exitium. Noah and Melody were still talking, Theodore taking a look at them, listening, and finding himself surprised when he was speaking to her about things Theodore didn’t expect out of him.

"It’s always been difficult doing this alone, I reluctantly let Theodore in because I saw how being alone was crippling. That’s why I let Ember get as close as she did, admittedly not very close. But my nature, it’s why my best friend and I don’t talk much anymore, it’s why Ember and I lost touch. It’s why me and the rest of the Gifted race are so separate. It’s rough to consider yourself part of the same species that can fly, produce flames, or even remake matter when your superpower is being able to see using your mind. And with my eyesight back, I feel ever more isolated from them." Noah chuckled lightly, putting the glass of red wine up to his lips and taking a drink, seeing Melody follow suit. "You let things get this way, you know. You are to whomever how you want to be. You are not just Gifted, but a gifted individual. You have no real powers, but you caused a bigger headache to the Dogs than anyone else. You were, still are, a legend in the ranks, sweetie." She put a hand on his shoulder, looking at him with a kind smile, even if she was hurting inside, she looked to be the strong one. "Your sight, or your radar, it doesn’t make you any less of a hero, or a person, to any of the people you saved. You’re a legend, the name Defiance is known by rookies. You have no powers, but you saved all of us. Don’t be so hard on yourself, Mr. Kesuk." She grabbed his hand, holding it.

Noah chuckled, "Noah, it’s what my friends call me." She nodded, "Noah." Melody smiled gently, "besides, fire or flight is cool and all, but the real superpower is being able to avoid the Dogs Corps for, what, years?" Noah smiled, sipping the alcoholic beverage in the wine glass, "I know. Validation isn’t something I get often, fighting alone is rough, sometimes I do get too hard on myself, but no one ever knows. To them...I’m the same rock, the same pillar they can always lean on." "You can stop doing it alone, Noah, Defiance doesn’t have to be some crazy loner fighting on his own. You can rely on others, you are insanely skilled, you can offer others that same training to make everything a little more organized. But only if you let them in." "You’re right," Noah replied, Melody leaning back on the couch and sipping her drink, nodding, "I suppose Defiance doesn’t need to stalk the shadows by himself anymore. Especially with the Dogs in hiding." He laughed lightly, feeling a huge relief, a large weight come off his shoulders. "So...tell me more about yourself, Noah. Life, family, I’m genuinely interested! In return, I’ll tell you all about mine, a fair trade?" She smiled, laughing lightly at the idea of swapping stories. Noah was a little hesitant, but started talking, the two swapping stories.

Theodore smiled to himself as he continued into the "war room", the room where Noah had set up the computers and equipment to do his job as Defiance while in his Juneau location. He sat down at the computer and began searching up Exitium, Salem, and everything that might link the two together. He sat the glass of water he’d grabbed from the kitchen on the table next to him and did his work while everyone else, for a change, got to relax. He smiled, happy that Noah was opening up to someone.

Ember was relaxing in the entertainment room, the door shut behind her as she listened to the song of the woman singing about another she was in love with. Ember was listening intensely, the song continuing on for what seemed like hours, the door to the entertainment room opening silently, a figure approaching Ember’s left and taking a seat next to her, leaning back in the seat and staring up to the television that played the song Ember was deeply into. He smiled, no words being spoken but his eyes wandering to her face, unaware of anyone next to her, like a ghost in the night. Daxter saw Ember as she listened to the song on the screen, feeling a single tear roll down his cheek.

Damn, damn, damn.
What I'd do to have you near, near, near.
I wish you were here.

He spoke no words, his image still sitting on the couch with Ember listening as the song started to reach the end, becoming stronger with each repeat of the chorus.

"I wish things were different," he spoke to emptiness, even with words there was nothing she heard, nothing to react to. She continued doing her own thing, the song ending and moving onto another one. "I don’t know what’s going to happen to me, but I can’t have you follow me into hell. I’m going to go after the people responsible for all of this. Ember, what you need is someone who can give you stability, and not give you the kind of life you already live. I am the kind of person who will always be fighting, always be running, I consistently piss people off, and I know you don’t need that." Daxter stood up from the couch, kneeling in front of her, she just stared straight through him.

I just wanted you to know
That the world is ugly
But you’re beautiful to me
Are you thinking of me
Like I’m thinking of you
I would say I’m sorry, though
Though I really need to go
I just wanted you to know.

"Despite that, maybe we deserve each other. I couldn’t give Sapphire the kind of life she deserved, lost my chance, doubt she’d even speak to me anymore. But you? You revel in this, you love this, you’d follow me into hell and fight against certain death. I couldn’t do that to anymore, but I doubt you’d let me do it alone. That’s why I have to go."

I wanted you to know
I’m thinking of you every night, every day
These are the eyes and the lies of the taken
These are their hearts but their hearts don’t beat like ours
They burn ‘cause they are all afraid
When mine beats twice as hard.

Daxter stood up from the ground, looking down at Ember as the song continued, nearing its end. He put his hand on her cheek, no reaction, and pushed his lips onto her forehead, leaving behind a little gesture that would never be felt, never be noticed, as wasn’t certain to be real. He walked towards the door he had opened, closing it behind him in silence, leaving Ember in the room alone like she’d been the entire time, unable to feel him, see him, hear him, a figment of an imagination or less credible than that. With the door closed behind him, Daxter let loose the flow of tears from his eyes, his mother dead and gone, his life ruining the lives of people around him. Daxter let out a torrent of emotions from everything he felt of this moment. Then he woke.

---

Daxter sat up in bed in a start, looking around to find a beautifully lit room around him, curtains gently wafting in the breeze, the breeze itself soft and warm, comfortable to feel. The white sheets he slept in he tossed to the other side of the bed and put his feet to the warm hardwood flooring, looking around to survey the situation he was in. He blinked, one moment in nothing but a pair of black boxers then clothed in a high-quality business suit. He instinctively left the room and continued down the hall, down the stairs, into the kitchen where he saw images, flashes of people he knew but couldn’t place. Children laughing, running around the table as their mother told them to sit down, eat breakfast. She turned to Daxter and placed a kiss on his cheek, instructing him to take a seat and join them. Kids, a mother? Daxter took the seat and smiled, kissing the woman on the lips as the children let out a synchronized ‘eww’ to what they’d just witnessed, Daxter laughing.

"So this is my life, huh?" The woman looked to Daxter strangely, then nodded, informing him that it was, in fact, his life. He stood up from the chair and smirked, he seemed genuinely happy at this, a normal life seemed to be rarely thought about, considered unlikely with all he’d ever done, enemies made. The bright kitchen filled with the scent of bacon, sausage, a delectable mix of scents. "Well, I wouldn’t trade it for the world, thanks baby." He stabbed his fork into the sausage and took a big bite of it, feeling unbelievably happy.

Damn, damn, damn,
What I'd do to have you
Here, here, here
I wish you were here.
Damn, Damn, Damn
What I'd do to have you
Near, near, near
I wish you were here.

No, I don't wanna let go
I just wanna let you know
That I never wanna let go.

A bullet passed through the woman’s skull, the bright cheery setting shifting into dark and tragic, the walls burning to the ground as Daxter quickly stood up from the table, a bullet passing through the skulls of the children next. Seeing their broken, mangled bodies caused Daxter to vomit his breakfast, hunched over the table to maintain balance. He couldn’t help to release his emotions as a loud scream, tears streaming down his face as the world around him transformed into a burning inferno, reminding him tragically what life had slipped through his fingers.

"This is never going to stop," Salem’s voice echoed throughout the world Daxter was trapped in, "it will always end in tragedy." Daxter let out a pained sob, the woman twisting into the image of Melony, her long red hair darker as it became stained in blood. One of the children transforming into Melody, her blond hair tangled and twisted around her neck. The third body became Ember, her nude form being burned through like fire through paper. "The only way it stops is when your heart does. You don’t even know what happiness is, so don’t threaten an emotion you can’t have for the people around you. You carry on living like your presence means something, the futility of your attempts at normality becoming little more than fleeting glimpses into something that becomes meaningless with each passing hour. Then suddenly it will come down as your last act of living devastates those whom you’ve tricked into caring for you." Salem appeared in front of Daxter firing a bullet through his forehead. "Your greatest legacy will be leaving a corpse with which to feed the worms in the ground."

---

Daxter woke up, his wounds were healed but his psyche still pained by what happened. Everyone was doing their own thing at the time: Ember in the entertainment room listening to music, Theodore was doing research, Noah and Melody were talking about their lives. The cold sterile room of the medical wing felt nothing more than isolating, lonely. He fell to his knees as he slid off the bed, groaning slightly as he grabbed his pants from the end of the bed, slipping them on. He remembered well what happened in his nightmare, he knew too well what was going to happen and what he said to Ember. If it was really him then it only made it that much more legitimate, but if not then the mind could really be powerful, could he have really seen Ember listening to music? His attempt to interact with her a last act to let her know what he wanted to tell her, but ultimately a futile effort. He could feel the pain deep in his core from Salem’s attacks, the emotional pain he felt from everything his comatose mind had sorted out. On some levels he felt more in tune with himself than before, fixed, but on another level he realized that this way of thinking was nothing that would change him in the long run. He was going to be who he was, and it was always going to be a struggle to have some sense of normalcy. Because of that, he went into the garage while everyone was busy, picked up a key for the fastest motorcycle that Noah had stored, started it up and took off through the garage door, heading into the city and further beyond.

---

Theodore ran into the living room with Melody and Noah, interrupting their laughing and exchanging of stories, "Daxter just left!" Noah quickly set down the wine glass while Theodore went to find Ember, bursting into the entertainment room after searching the other places he mentioned. "Finally! There you are! Come with me, Daxter just woke up and took off on a motorcycle." He led Ember into the war room where Noah was busy pulling up the security footage of Daxter leaving the bed, heading into the garage and taking a motorcycle. "W-Why would he do that? Dax you...you idiot!" She seemed upset by him leaving, Noah looking to Theodore, "we’ll track the motorcycle, Theodore you and Melody stay here while Ember and I go after him. We’ll take one of the sports cars." Noah grabbed Ember’s shoulder and began walking with her to the garage, grabbing a set of keys and the fastest looking sports car he owned: a sporty dark red Ferrari. There were a lot of upsides to having a loaded family. He got behind the wheel and waited for Ember to join him in the passenger seat, then took off.

"Noah, can you hear me?" Theodore asked from the small LCD screen in the center console of the vehicle, his and Melody’s image popping up. "Affirmative." Theodore was tracking the motorcycle Daxter was swerving through the city in, informing the duo of where he was at all times. "Is it possible he knows it’s Exitium after him and is going for them by himself?" Theodore shook his head, "doubt it. Exitium is located in Galen, a few thousand miles south of here on the mainland coast. He’s heading northwest." Noah sighed, nodding, "get comfortable, Ember, we’re going to follow him until he stops."

---

Hours later past midnight was when Daxter finally stopped the motorcycle. He had driven far enough that he reached the a coastline, ice and cliff overlooking the dark sea below. Daxter stood on the gusty cliffs, cold wind blowing over what should have been a frostbitten body, avoided only by his powers. He stared intently to the sea below, unsure what he was even thinking.

Daxter remained on that cliff’s edge for what seemed like a long time, Salem’s words echoing in his head, the actions that had occurred, the loss of life and devastation that kept following him. It seemed like it was a way out that he was looking for, perhaps something that could stop him from causing all this destruction. He was no stranger to trying to end his life, but he’d gotten past that point when he stopped being separate personalities, no longer afraid of what he was. It seemed like, then, that those kinds of feelings and thoughts had returned to him. An answer to a question attempted by so many people: how do you kill Daxter McLain? Take away what little bit of happiness he gains, kill off those he attempts to connect to, threaten the rest that he wants to make a relationship with, and shatter what bit of hope remains.

'This is never going to stop, the only way it stops is when your heart does. Your greatest legacy will be leaving a corpse.'

It seemed like everything was pushing him into leaping off that cliff, don’t come up for air, leave behind that corpse that would be his greatest accomplishment. Having been behind him the entire time, it was only just now that Noah had been able to catch up to Daxter, stop the car and put it in park. It didn’t take a genius to realize what was happening, which was where Noah’s attempt to catch Daxter ended. "This is your time to shine, girl. Go for it."

Daxter stared down to his hand as fire erupted from it like from a lighter, creating something so beautiful but deadly. As he contemplated every single thing he’d ever done, ever felt, and processed everything, he was struck by a sudden realization.

[Escaflowdra]

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Ember sat on the chair, relaxing herself as she watched the woman on the screen to pour out her heart, wishing for her other, her partner, her lover to be there. She wanted him near, and the song did little justice for itself as Ember observed it. She was slightly entranced by the song while watching, but then the song changed again. The World is Ugly by My Chemical Romance came on, and so Ember heard the start of the song with a slow intro. It rose to the guitar and bass taking place in the song, the drumbeat vibrating through the entertainment system. She closed her eyes, waiting for the demon following her to say something. Something strange was happening. As she expected more to be said, the voice of the demon seemed to suffer from interference from something else. She reopened her spring green eyes, looking at the screen as the words presented themselves on the screen to show the lyric video.

These are the eyes and the lies of the taken
These are their hearts but their hearts don’t beat like ours
They burn ‘cause they are all afraid
For every one of us, there’s an army of them

Ember widened her eyes, taking in the depth of the words. For Ember and Daxter's existence, an army of Dogs existed. The hearts of humans could never beat like theirs. Defiance as well. Sapphire, Zack, Mars, everyone.. There was an army to take them down. All that was left now was Daxter and herself, not because everyone else had died, even though most of them did, but because they were reunited. Daxter asked her to come with him. She decided to stay, not because she enjoyed the life of fighting or because she felt obligated to. She was alone for three months by herself after their victories in Gradia and what happened to Zack. What she had done. Daxter brought her out of that loneliness.

But you’ll never fight alone
‘Cause I wanted you to know
That the world is ugly
But you’re beautiful to me
Well are you thinking of me now (now)

She felt compelled to start tearing up, but Ember had no reason to cry... did she? She closed her eyes and thought about the image of Daxter. She could see that bloody scene of death transforming to his sleeping face. He looked so peaceful, and she wanted him to stay peaceful. But she didn't want to see him sleeping either. In the moments she had pressed her lips against his, that spark in the moment she realized that she did want to share that experience with Daxter. It was sad, but she couldn't take it back. She could not unwind time to wait and experience that with him. Instead, she knew it was better for their situation to hold herself back. But she wanted him to know the little things that were adding up.

These are the nights and the lights that we fade in
These are the words but the words aren’t coming out
They burn ‘cause they are hard to say

Ember looked at the screen, feeling something from that last phrase that strongly resonated with her.

For every failing sun, there’s a morning after
Though I’m empty when you go
I just wanted you to know
That the world is ugly
But you’re beautiful to me
Are you thinking of me
Like I’m thinking of you
I would say I’m sorry, though
Though I really need to go
I just wanted you to know

Theodore busted into the room and looked at Ember, "Finally! There you are! Come with me, Daxter just woke up and took off on a motorcycle." Ember quickly got out of her seat, small drops of water on the floor as she left them behind. Melody was upset from Daxter's leaving, but Ember was curious as to what was going through his head. It was no surprise he would need time by himself... but to take a motorcycle and just rush off into the night like that... there was something else that was causing him to act out as far as leaving the solitude he had in the medical wing. She made no arguments when Noah suggested Ember go with him, which she hopped in the Ferrari and watched as they took off. Theodore and Melody appeared on the small LCD screen, showing their images to the pair and confirmed Daxter's locations. Ember watched the dot they were following, envisioning him going quickly to somewhere she couldn't reach him. It was frustrating to see him running away, but regardless.. if Noah had not offered her a ride she would have taken flight.

I wanted you to know
I wanted you to know
I’m thinking of you every night, every day

Ember slammed her hand against the front of the car, seeing Daxter close to a cliff and lighting a flame in his hand. Noah stopped, his comments barely passing through Ember's mind as she had already jumped out of the car. Running barefoot as the ice scraped her feet, the snow freezing her, she embraced that cold that made her feel as if time stopped so she could move forward towards Daxter. Only inches from his back, that fire consuming a mass of air in front of him, and Ember embraced him from behind, holding her hands over his chest. She closed her eyes. It was comepletely possible for him to throw her off or even jump forward but she yelled, "I'm going with you!" With that, Ember stayed locked around him, holding her arms tightly around him as she was damn determined to go with him wherever he would. If he would die, she would die with him, by him. It was how she wanted it to be. He made her feel less alone. Even though she was alone in her mind, in turmoil, in want and desire, she was not alone... because he brought her out of the dark. "Time stops moving for me when you do."

[Salem Wolf]

Time stood still as he stood on the cliff, only the sound of the wind blowing across the untouched snow and the waves crashing against the cliffs to break the silence. Daxter could see for miles with the stars lighting the sky, every major constellation seen in the clean sky above. He could recall every painful memory, every drop of blood spilt, every death at his hands from the beginning of his long history. Every painful memory brought up made him cringe, another tear dropping from his eyes onto his cheeks and down his chest. Daxter didn't cry for anyone, not until recently, but the flood of emotions were coming out in one form or another, and tears were a good way to get himself free of the thoughts and feelings he held in for so long. He could recall everything with perfect clarity, and he hated himself more with each memory. It was so quiet, so calm, so serene, that dying here would be too good for him, but he would be leaving in silence.

--- Memory 1 ---

"Something wrong, Dex?" He grinned, putting a hand on the brown-headed male whose appearance constituted as average. Broken brown eyes stared back at the twisted expression of Dax as the two of them stood in an alleyway leading to a cul-de-sac of a run-down ghetto, in front of a house. "Don't be such a b***h, go inside and tell them you're not going to be bullied by them anymore. I'll be behind you the entire time." Dexter nodded reluctantly, approaching the front door and knocking softly, until Dax knocked louder. The door opened and Dexter stammered how he wasn't going to be bullied anymore, and would involve the principal if it continued. Looking behind him to Dax for support, the psychopath was no where to be seen, having set him up to fail. The bullies pulled Dexter inside the house and beat him until he felt nothing. Dax watched with a bit of a smile, "kid needs to grow up sometime."

--- Present ---

Daxter clenched his fist tightly, letting the heat leave his body to feel the chill of the air, attempting to numb the pain. Tears strolled down his cheeks as he could recall the numerous attempts in which hurt Dexter on his own or using others.

--- Memory 2 ---

"I ever tell you the story about the lawyer who let a rapist go free?" Daxter chuckled lightly, sitting on a desk in the dimly lit office with a gun pointed towards the sweating, terrified man who had recently won his case. He had proven that his client and the victim hadn't seen each other that night, though someone paid Daxter a large sum of money to make both the lawyer and the client suffer for the emotional trauma the victim had gone through. Daxter carefully picked up the framed picture of the lawyer, two children, and his wife. "It begins with forgery of evidence, and ends with a widow." The lawyer openly sobbed at the idea of being killed by Daxter, pleading with him that his children needed him, that he did nothing wrong, that the jury of the client's peers had found him innocent, and he never tampered with evidence. He cited witness testimonies, then watched a dagger slam into his hand and nailing the hand to the chair. "Shhshhshhshhshh. I don't care about facts, I care that someone is paying me 20k to make you both suffer. Your kids are cute though, your wife is totally ******** someone else on the side. Got a pool boy? Butler? Mail man? It's always the mail man."

The lawyer screamed from the dagger, a sock stuffed into his mouth that had been soaked in a liquid that smelled like gasoline. "Now for the game of: pee or gasoline. Hint, it's flammable, and it doesn't come from me. Can you imagine if I peed gasoline? Instead all I got are these wicked cool fire powers. What happens when you catch gasoline on fire? Oh right, it burns!" He touched his finger to the sock and lit it on fire, pushing it into the lawyer's mouth and closing it, the fire running out of steam quickly but not before giving the lawyer severe burns in his mouth, blood pouring from his mouth like the tears did. "I-I'm sorry, were you saying something? Guess not." Daxter smirked and took the dagger out of the lawyer's hand. "Oh oh! Before I go I don't suppose you can validate my parking, can you? You don't do that here? God you're such a terrible person." Daxter slipped off the desk and put a bullet in the lawyer's skull, cleaning up the evidence that could be traced back to him and leaving.

--- Present ---

'I killed them for money, didn't care why or if the guy was right. Isiah Jones left before two children and a disabled wife. I destroyed their lives for money I spent on things I can't remember, that didn't benefit anyone.' He could remember the client too, the things he'd done to him, how the body was found mutilated. Daxter let the heat die out, feeling nothing but the intense chill of the nighttime surrounding him, the cold snow wrapped around his bare feet, the arctic chill striking his body like knives. As he ran through every terrible event he'd ever done, he finally made his way to Sapphire, how cruel he had been to her near the end.

--- Memory 3 ---

"I bought a tiger." Daxter said matter-of-factly, Sapphire staring at him, then to the tiger that was laying on their couch, a living tiger. "D-Daxter you can't have a tiger!" Daxter scoffed, crossing his arms, the only reason for his purchase of a tiger which he'd in all actuality stole, was that he knew Sapphire would be against it. "You remember that puppy you were dying to have, and I said we couldn't care for a dog? Well this isn't a dog. C'mon, you're seriously going to break my heart?" Sapphire looked at him, a little hurt as he smiled, knowing this was about the time she would either cave in or he'd have started another fight. Why? He didn't want to fight with her and yet he loved the ability to ******** with her, maybe because he would coerce her into make-up sex later, which he got regardless. As expected, they argued about the tiger for a little while before Daxter finally agreed to get rid of it, "C'mon baby, don't be so upset let's go out for a romantic dinner on you, and then we come back and I'll give you the good stuff. Mmmhmm, tie you the bed make you scream." He chuckled, slightly wickedly, Sapphire looked incredibly hurt by him while he didn't seem to care. She never could understand why he did these things, what happened to him from when they'd just gotten together. But this wasn't the same Daxter she fell for, now he was purposely cruel. Just to add to it, he'd gotten his way, what he wanted and had his way with her, then broke up with her the next day.

--- Present ---

Daxter locked his fingers in behind his head, hunched forward as he screamed in sorrow and sadness, unable to believe he'd become so terrible a person to hurt the person that had done nothing but show him incredible kindness and love. He left her because he felt bad for doing such things to her constantly, but unable to stop himself from being the sadistic person he had been. He crouched down, yelling in emotional pain that tormented him. 'She'd never forgive me for the months of torment, all the times I made her sad for the sake of doing it. Denying her pleasures she wanted me to do for her. I strung her along and I didn't deserve that unconditional love. Now I'm doing it to Ember, stringing her along while I lead her into an early grave because of who I am.' Daxter stood up as his tear-stained face stared out to the darkness of the sea in front of him, producing a flame in his hand as, unbeknownst to him, Ember and Defiance had arrived after following him for the several hours he'd been driving.

He felt the heat of another person approaching, perhaps someone sent to kill him, which would be a welcome change in his plan, until said person wrapped her arms around him and spoke to him, "I'm going with you!" What? "Time stops moving for me when you do." Daxter felt every single wrongdoing he'd done, all the innocent lives he'd taken for money or less, and brought up an old memory, something he could never appreciate at the time. With Ember's head against his bare back, the warmth of her body and the embrace of her hug, it was a memory from Melony a long time ago.

--- Memory 4 ---

"How're you feeling today, Dax?" 13-year-old Dax sat on the chair as Melony was working on an article on her typewriter, doing something for her job. He crossed his arms, having feigned normalcy on the medication he was on just to stop them from being so overbearing. He looked to Melony with loathing for her in his heart, but looking at her with a happy smile. He detested her at the time, her harshness towards his actions forcing him to resent her, preferring the pushover to what might as well be a cop in the house. "I'm alright, a little hungry. I'm going to see what mom is making." Dax stood up from the chair and made his way to the door, before Melony called out his name. "Dax." He stopped, not looking back at her, though she was staring at the back of his head. "I know...you hate me, for being a bad guy." "I don't hate you, mother." Dax replied, turning to look at her curiously. "You resent me for taking you to the doctor, putting you on this medicine, I see how you look at mom, and how you look at me. I'm doing this for you though, to give you a chance to be normal. What you do to Dexter is cruel, you can't go through life being a bad person. I'm tough because you need someone to kick your a** in the right direction."

"Mother," Dax rolled his eyes, approaching her and giving her a tight hug, though he didn't refute anything she said on the inside. "I want you to have a good life, despite what you may think I love you so much, Dax. I don't regret adopting you, Melody and I love you with all of our heart." Dax felt a pain his heart for a second, something he'd never felt before when he heard her words, then groaned mentally at this love stuff. "I don't know why you're doing this but I love you too!" Melony held Dax tightly, nodding softly. "I hope we've raised you to be a wonderful man, you're so handsome, you'll make someone very happy someday." Melony grabbed Dax's shoulders and pushed him back a little, staring into his eyes. "You're a good person, Dax, even with all those things Dexter says you've done. Just misguided." She kissed his forehead, turned him so his back was to her, then patted him on the butt and sent him on his way. "Mommy has more work to do, see if mom needs help with her baking, alright?"

--- Present ---

Daxter reluctantly grabbed Ember's hands and held them tightly, still looking out to the sea standing before them. Tears continued down his face, apparent as they fell onto her arms from his cheeks. "I'm a terrible human being, Ember. So many years spent in self-hatred for what I'd become, but never once did I actually put forth real effort into becoming the kind of person Melony would have been proud of. I tried to be good, had rules and honor, but in the end I was the same person who hurt others for pleasure." Daxter told Ember about Dexter, the one particular memory that surfaced, about how he had tricked his 'friend' into standing up for himself, knowing full well the bullies would beat him up, how he filled Dexter's head with a false hope that he'd have his friend's back, but watched from a distance with a pleased smile. He'd been beaten black and blue, threatening the kids with involving the school faculty. Dexter was as afraid of Dax as he was the bullies, but how he always forced Dexter to hang out with him, do what he said at the risk of more physical torment.

"I did even worse things for money, just because I had that power." He told Ember about the trial, a man had been accused of rape but was found innocent by the lawyer and a jury of his peers. The victim had contacted Killzone to make both of them suffer, the lawyer and his client. He told her about the gasoline sock, torturing him before killing him, how the man had a family that would never see him again. He talked about mutilating the body of the client, leaving him in parts and pieces, writing 'RAPIST' in blood on the walls per the request. He did it for money and didn't think twice or even care that he was targeting innocent people.

"Worst of all, the people that loved me? I hurt them the most." He talked about his cruelty towards Sapphire, the way he tormented her in his own little ways that could be misconstrued as harmless jokes or moments, but ultimately hurt her. He talked about the day before breaking up with her, about the tiger incident, coercing her to have sex with him that wasn't a very loving experience, and then how he broke up with her. "In my only defense, I broke up with her because I realized I was doing terrible things. But that doesn't excuse it." Daxter turned to face Ember, grabbing her hands and holding them in his, "you might think I'm some amazing guy, but I'm so ******** up I can't tell left from right or north from south. I let my past ruin 10 years I could have had a family, and when I got her back, my mother dies leaving so many things unsaid." He lowered his head, his eyes looking up to her, "my mother called me a good person when I was 13, told me I was misguided. She believed in me when all I wanted was her out of my life. I can't erase my past, but...I don't have to be defined by it anymore."

He put his hands on her cheeks, staring at her intently, "I'm going to do better in my future, and stop focusing so much on my past. If you're going to be part of that, to help me better myself, then you need to be capable of exorcising your own demons, your own fears and negativity. You do that for me, for yourself, and you can follow me into hell." Daxter felt his heart beating intently, emotions that he had blocked away now becoming something known, manageable. He closed his eyes and moved his lips closer to hers, the tingling of their near-touch unbearable but lasting a mere second before they touched. He breathed in deeply, the warmth of her soul as his kiss to her came backed up with days of suppressed emotion towards her, and years of lying to himself about his own emotions he released in controlled amounts. To be human wasn't about being able to stop feeling, but to control how you handled those feelings. Being human was perhaps one of Daxter's impossible dreams, and now he was feeling, thinking, and letting himself not be controlled by how he used to be but be guided by how he wanted to be.

Daxter ran a hand up the side of Ember's neck as his kiss to her became passionate, fiery, a gentle bite of her lip escalating the level of intensity. He ran a hand into her hair and held the back of her head, another hand wrapping around her waist and pressing them close together. He stepped forward which brought Ember to step back, then purposely tripped and landed on top of her in the snow, kissing her passionately as he let himself wrap up in her. Heat filled him from the inside, the intensity of their passion and the heat of his powers melting the snow around them. Daxter ended their kissing and brought his lips to her ear, whispering into it softly, "follow me into hell, Ember, and I'll make you its queen."

"So what's the word, Noah?" Theodore asked him from back at his mansion, Noah looking to the LCD screen with a grin, "they're making out in the snow." Theodore choked, as Melody could be heard in the background giving a loud "woo!" "They've got five minutes or I'm bringing out the hose." Noah slumped in the driver's seat, watching the two as he started laughing at the absurdity of it all.

[Escaflowdra]

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Ember held him tight, closing her eyes with a serious expression across her face as she could hear his heart beating from her ear pressed against his back. She could hug him, and for the first time, Ember felt content. There was a line where everything could dissolve and fall to ruins, and there were times Ember could escape her reality for another and stay happy. She finally stood in the middle, where she could put everything aside and focus on something that she realized that mattered to her. She felt that all the drives in her life came from revenge... anger and destruction. Mars was her first friend. Zack was her first lover. Daxter was...

"I'm a terrible human being, Ember," he said as he moved his hands up and grabbed hers. His tears stained their skin as he continued to try and speak, "So many years spent in self-hatred for what I'd become, but never once did I actually put forth real effort into becoming the kind of person Melony would have been proud of. I tried to be good, had rules and honor, but in the end I was the same person who hurt others for pleasure." Ember listened as he talked about his 'friend' Dexter, who he had set up for failure in the past. Ember's silver eyes looked downward, realizing that it was a bad thing to do, and certainly couldn't be taken back... but that he was in a complicated stage in his life. Even regarding his family and having no excuse to act that was... sometimes it was more about being misguided. "I did even worse things for money, just because I had that power." He went to continue about a trial of a man accused of rape. The client paying him to kill who was found innocent and the lawyer for the money. A mercenary was a mercenary. She knew too well that even with the brutality of the killing explained... good mercenaries are the ones who don't know 'good'.

"Worst of all, the people that loved me? I hurt them the most." Ember looked up at him as he talked about Sapphire and the way he would torment her by the day. She was surprised to be hearing about what really happened between Sapphire and Daxter, realizing the last time she saw Sapphire... that this was clearing up that expression on her face. Ember could envision the two who looked happy at first, but then recalled all kinds of moments in Gradia. Was it always deteriorating, but she failed to notice? That's what Daxter was always good at. Hiding. "In my only defense, I broke up with her because I realized I was doing terrible things. But that doesn't excuse it."

Ember closed her eyes for a moment before reopening them as Daxter turned around. He turned to face her, making her step back from hugging him and was going to give him some distance until he clasped her hands in his. She could have torn her hands away, but with Daxter she was trapped. "You might think I'm some amazing guy, but I'm so ******** up I can't tell left from right or north from south. I let my past ruin 10 years I could have had a family, and when I got her back, my mother dies leaving so many things unsaid." He lowered his head, his eyes looking up to her, "my mother called me a good person when I was 13, told me I was misguided. She believed in me when all I wanted was her out of my life. I can't erase my past, but...I don't have to be defined by it anymore."

Ember's silver eyes observed him as the tone of his last sentence changed the entire situation. What was a sea of sorrow and sadness, turmoil and pain behind him was all transforming as he placed his hands on her cheek. It burned. Ember flinched slightly, not having been held by anybody like this for years. She had a flash in her eyes, the demon in her head screwing up the happy train of thought... but his voice suffered interference again. Ember could only hear a small growl in the back of her head, while heat flushed forward.The dragon girl, a dangerous and uncontrollable factor of the world that would one day bring every enemy of hers to her knees was melting slow and standing in the still snow in the palms of a man she knew to be the only person left. "I'm going to do better in my future, and stop focusing so much on my past," he told Ember while she looked back at him, her expression of being monotonous staying as well as she could hold it.

"If you're going to be part of that, to help me better myself, then you need to be capable of exorcising your own demons, your own fears and negativity." Ember's mask broke slightly as he struck a powerful chord in her entire being. The words sent her heart into a tremor, "You do that for me, for yourself, and you can follow me into hell."

Her thoughts raced faster than ever as she noticed Daxter's proposal for them to be together in some way, some shape... if she could fix her inner monstrosities. What do I want? she asked herself as she felt her heart falling. She stared up at Daxter, seeing how long it took him to conquer his demons. He would always have problems, but he was controlling them. She was entirely to jealous of it all. There was something about seeing Daxter, who lived through a tragedy unknown to the world besides those close to him, who saw the same if not more things Ember had, that made Ember want what he had. Control. Her moments of jealousy and turmoil shattered for the second that Daxter closed his eyes, leaning towards her. She kept her eyes open, realizing this was her form of foreshadow. If I could learn to conquer my demons... to meet him halfway in all of this... She closed her eyes, his hands still holding her cheeks and it felt like he was pulling her into a graze of temptation.

She struggled with the burn of their soft skin hitting each other in something they both could admit inwardly as simply unbearable. The second seemed to last forever, which Ember noted as something she thought she could feel. To feel it now.. was simply unimaginable. Once pressed, Ember felt everything in her lean forward, though she stood completely still. He breathed deeply, while Ember struggled with her air. She had never kissed someone in such still time. Only once before had she shared a moment like this, but it was a surreal dream in the past. It was something that she couldn't imagine happening again, because the circumstances of it all were fake. Ember knows that the world is ugly, but for now she felt like she found something rather beautiful in the mess of it all. This wasn't the kind of beautiful in an ugly world where the blood spill fascinated the mind of somebody who focused on its scent and color. This wasn't the kind of beautiful in an ugly world where the struggle to hold in tears at a gruesome view made somebody look like they had a heart.

Two hearts born from tragedy and tormented for every everlasting minutes of their lives touched. Daxter ran his hand up the side of her neck, having her crane her neck as she continued to try and participate in the race of their hearts. The physical contact drove Ember up a wall in her own mind as she couldn't recall, think or form a thought. He bit her lip slightly, she flinched again and released an unfiltered gasp for air. It didn't feel like Alaska anymore. She felt lost in waves of heat as he pulled her waist close, her hips locked against him closer than she could have ever fathomed. The innocent kisses of the past never escalated in such... maturity. She felt him step forward, which left her to step back. In that moment, she didn't know whether it was Daxter's doing, or the weakness that became evident in her legs, but they fell. His hand on the back of her head cushioned the fall against the snow as she felt herself laying helplessly against the cold. It felt nice for once. However, it didn't last much longer. Daxter put in so much passion than she would have expected, the Ember, literally and for one of the few times in her life, blushed a deep red. She could feel his fingers intertwine with her hand for a short moment as she forgot about her hand. She forgot about everything as she was only focused on the contact.

He moved his hand away, placing his forearm against the ground and picking himself up to hover barely above her and end the kissing. Ember's eyes squinted open as she turned her head. She didn't want to be seen with such a vulnerable look on her face. She felt some chills crawl up the side of her neck as Daxter brought his lips to her ear and whispered into it softly, "follow me into hell, Ember, and I'll make you its queen." Ember's expression was bewildered and filled with a desire that she would fail to look back to in the future. In the heat of the moment, and feeling no snow to cool her down any longer, she whined slightly. There was something about a whisper to her ear she never experienced before. Unlike all other things she had trained for, endured and suffered, this was something completely new. Her whine was small, light, and revealed something about Ember that she forgot at times. She was still a woman. Such a feminine sound that had leaked from her lips on the mask of her person... how could that have happened? Immediately, Ember covered her eyes with her arm resting across her face as she laid for just a few seconds.

She regathered herself as she could hear a little laughter from Noah in the background. Immediately afterward, Ember took her other arm and pushed Daxter up to still hover over her but back up and see more of her. She intended to use this space to feel the cold air cool her down, and to breathe regularly again. "I..." she began to speak a little timid as she was unsure of how to respond. But she brought herself to look up at him slightly by uncovering her eyes slightly by her arm as she bit her lower lip. "I... will try... for..." But then she heard a ring from her pocket. She uncovered her face, being distracted by the obsessive ringing and took the phone to look at the screen from out of her pocket. She had forgotten that she still had this cell phone... Keeping it on her but not having used it since their time in Gradia where the only purpose it served was to keep her in contact with the group.

She stared at the phone as it rang and clicked answer. She pulled the phone to her ear and listened since it rang up as unknown. She stopped herself from saying something as soon as a high pitch noise took over the sound of the call and emitted a voice: "Try." the phone clicked off with a loud screech as Ember finally sat up and looked down at the phone, closing it and looking back to Daxter. "I'm not sure what that was..." she spoke and looked up to Daxter, "But it doesn't matter." She finally had regathered herself to stand and lowered a hand to him, taking his and standing up with him. "Let's go," she said as she made her way over to the car.

They later returned to Noah's home, and Ember laid against the Queen mattress with her back on the sheets. She knew Daxter and Noah might have been catching up about what they had discussed while in his sleep, so eventually Ember closed her eyes. For the first time in a handful of nights, she finally slept.

[Salem Wolf]

So many years wasted in his life as he realized that by focusing on his past he was self-fulfilling the prophecy that would keep him the same person as always. He let himself become stuck in the loop that caused him to distance himself from his friends and from Sapphire. He was given another chance with his mom back in his life again, able to fix the mistakes of his past. But there was still one more person in his past that he needed to reacquaint with before he could let go of all the mistakes he made, a repentance for what he'd done. When he returned to the mansion he would try to find Dexter. It was him that caused him to call himself Daxter, taking the -ter suffix onto his name as a way of his self-hatred guilt to be known to himself for the rest of his life. Even though he let go of the guilt, the feelings of wrongdoing he couldn't fix then, he liked the name Daxter so much it became as much a part of him as anything else. But to fully heal, or at least attempt to let go of all the animosity he held for himself, he needed to talk to him. That was the last thing off his checklist before he could really be happy with himself. For now, though, he had Ember, someone that was willing to be something to him that he hadn't had in a while, she was going to help his journey and he would help her as well. Sapphire had become relatively well-adjusted after the journey in Gradia, perhaps Ember could be as well.

Their kissing has lasted for several minutes, they got lost in the pleasure that each other caused for the other. Daxter hadn't felt this good in a long time, his body heat rising as he touched Ember behind her neck, around her waist, the back of her head, and feeling her tongue and lips against his own. He was feeling amazing, all of his processing and sorting had resulted in a changed Daxter, one who felt happy and confident in himself but still capable of fighting to take care of the problems that came his way. He put a hand on Ember's thigh and felt her in ways so few had, seeing her blush from everything they were doing and finding it adorable. His hips were pressing against hers, despite the desire and need to have her he remained content with what he had, what he was doing. He whispered softly into her ear and smiled as she covered her eyes with her arm, he'd hit a trigger he didn't think anyone had hit before, and she made her moan in such a feminine way. It made him feel pretty good about himself, realizing that perhaps, just maybe, he could be as good a lover as he was a fighter. Daxter looked up to see Noah in the background, in his car, laughing at what was happening. He was about to growl, pissed they were being interrupted, but it didn't matter because Ember's phone went off a moment later, hovering over her so there was some space between their bodies. He heard the phone screech loudly, Ember sitting up which pushed Daxter back to rest on his knees, looking at her as she said she had no idea who it was and that it didn't matter. He nodded, watching her stand and then take her hand to stand up himself. They returned to the vehicles and made their way back to Noah's mansion.

Ember seemed to go straight to bed, but before he could actually do the same, Noah and Melody stopped him, cornering him in the kitchen. "Daxter, are you okay?" He blinked in surprise, eyes widened slightly for a moment, he was surprised she was calling him Daxter, not that he minded but it was still surprising. He took a bite out of the large sandwich he made for himself, nodding and talking with his mouth full, "of courff, why whouldn't I bhe?" He swallowed what he'd bitten off, looking to Noah who had looked to Melody. "Is there something going on between you two I should know about? Being that you are twice his age and a lesbian?" Melody looked shocked at Daxter's accusation, considering she'd just lost Melony. She supposed he couldn't help it though, by moving forward he didn't have to keep holding in the pain Melody herself still felt. She sighed, shaking her head, surprised that Noah spoke up for her, "don't be absurd. Melody has been helping me to open up, perhaps overcome my incessant need to be alone. If anything I will say we are friends at best, she's my therapist at worst." Daxter rolled his eyes, taking another bite of the sandwich, "ohkhay, bhut if I fhind --" he swallowed, "you two in bed, I'm telling mother." He walked away, much to the surprise and shock of Noah and Melody.

Melody stopped Daxter by putting a hand on his shoulder, "D-Dax, you do know that -- " "I know," he interrupted her, not looking back. "I know she's dead, we talked. She told me not to have any regrets, I'm okay with her gone, because she loves me and is proud of me. Gotta move forward, I spent too much time in my past and it ruined almost everything." Melody found herself somewhat surprised by his reply, then nodded, "she was a wonderful woman, she can never be replaced. I'm not surprised she said that." Daxter walked away, leaving Noah to cross his arms and stare at Melody, "you really think he met her in some afterlife?" Melody shrugged, looking to Noah with a big smile, "I don't know what to think, Noah, but with all the Gifted and their powers I wouldn't be surprised. Besides, it sounded like her, and Melony was never too big on dwelling on the past. Make mistakes and keep moving, that's what she'd say." Noah nodded, looked out the doorway where Daxter left from, "I'm surprised to hear myself say it but...I think Daxter is going to be just fine. Normal, even. I should talk to him."

Daxter's path was intercepted by Noah, who seemed to be interested in talking. "There's nothing to talk about. I woke up, I felt discouraged, I left. If you're wondering if I was going to kill myself the answer is no, thought about it and I've tried before, but to everyone's shock and amazement I'm still alive and -- trust me -- I'm fine. If you don't mind I have a...I think a girlfriend...who could probably use a snuggle buddy." Daxter swerved past Noah, then stopped and looked at him, staring into his eyes. "I love my mom, and I know how you operate. You make friends with her and disappear do your little dark knight disappearance thing, and it'll break her heart to lose someone she cares about. Give it a week, she takes a liking to you and you're one of the family." Noah shook his head, laughing lightly, "she's already adopted me, bro. Besides, I'm done with the bad sides of being Defiance, the loneliness, the solitude, there's enough time for that when everyone else dies around me and I'm all that's left." "Well...uh..." Daxter looked around, "that's a bit pessimistic." "Realistic. Though if anyone would survive all the stuff you're doing, it'd be you and Ember." Daxter nodded, then made a last comment, "I need a favor. Find Dexter Anderson for me, I need to know where he is, he's the last thing I need to do before I can be completely fine with myself." Noah nodded, letting Daxter leave as he went to meet up with Melody and get the story on Dexter, then begin his search for him.

Daxter entered the room Ember stayed in, seeing her sleeping peacefully on the queen-sized mattress. He could have let her be, but he liked the idea of sleeping with someone else, being alone wasn't any fun. He took off his clothes down to his underwear, crawling into bed with Ember and falling sleep with her.

---

The next morning Daxter was awake early, showered, dressed, and went to have breakfast with everyone who was already up. Noah and Melody were already awake having coffee together and talking, Noah sliding a piece of paper across the table towards Daxter. "Dexter Anderson is living in Greenhorn, Calafina. It's a shack town 30 miles northwest of Galen, which is about 15 miles East of Los Angels." Daxter picked up the paper and read what Dexter had been doing with his life, "he lives in a trailer park community in what is believed to be a drug-heavy area. I had a thought," Noah took a sip of his coffee while Daxter continued reading, "Los Angels is a large city on the West Coast, it's practically a hub for any kind of activity you can think of. Exitium is based in Galen, a 20 minute drive from Los Angels, and Greenhorn is 15 minutes from there. The two cities and that one small town make it a tri-country." Daxter looked to Noah curiously, "what's with the geography lesson?" "Dexter and you don't have a good past, Los Angels is a good place to recruit the kind of people that would be after you, there are two private military companies in Los Angels that has become a security detail, and Greenhorn is so close to Galen that...what if Dexter is part of Exitium? Might explain why they're after you, aside from your terrorizing of their group in the past."

"It's possible. Guess we'll find out. Ember and I are headed to Los Angels then, we can get lost there. City of Angels and home to the world's largest burrito. If you eat it in 30 minutes you get a hat. I'm winning that hat." Noah nodded, "good, we could all use some activities to keep ourselves occupied in Calafina. I have a place there we can stay, I suggest everyone pack their stuff and I'll arrange a flight to Los Angels International Airport." Daxter wasn't sure what to say about that, he didn't expect Noah to come, hell he half-expected his mom to stay behind, but to find out everyone was accompanying him and Ember? Well it was a surprise to say the least. Ultimately, he seemed okay with it, the company could be appreciated.

---

Over the next day, the group would be packing up their essentials and when Noah had finished preparations, they took a non-stop private jet to Los Angels, Calafina, arriving to the warm city with the bright sunshine, beautiful beaches, best attractions, craziest amusement parks, and non-stop places of interests to check out. A city to get lost in with little worry about being discovered or recognized in such a big city. The mansion was about as large as the other places Noah lived, different set-up but same rooms and a garage with enough cars everyone could get one they liked to cruise the city with. Although while (surprisingly) Noah and the others were into the idea of exploring the city and enjoying themselves, Daxter was on a mission to find Dexter, then go after Exitium and finish up the journey he'd brought Ember along on once and for all. It seemed like it was all coming to a head, with Noah, Theodore, and Melody taking a joyride in the city to explore, Daxter talked with Ember to go with him to Greenhorn. The two took a sports car into the city and onto the highway, where they would be going to Greenhorn from. Their drive didn't take long, and the beautiful warm weather felt amazing with the convertible top down.

They arrived in Greenhorn 30 minutes after leaving, the place a run down and grungy dirty place, slowing down in a parking lot of a ghetto strip mall with a convenience store with a board covering a hole in the window. This place was probably safer than it appeared, but neither of the Gifted would need to worry. With the trailer community park entrance across the street, Daxter exited the vehicle and crossed the street, heading towards Dexter's address. "If anyone offers you a needle, you decline, we're not here to do drugs." Daxter made a joke about this place, but he felt that Dexter's life's direction was his fault, and that whatever condition he was in now was something he would have to take responsibility for. He might've ******** up Dexter for good. "Don't be alarmed if the bumpkins around here have never seen someone as sexy as you before, but promise me you won't fall for a one-toothed hillbilly with mommy issues." He knocked on the trailer door, this was it.

[Escaflowdra]

While in her sleep, she could envision a golden blaze in her dreams. It was enchanting to watch, until the shadows of bodies rose up. It wasn't zombies... but people she knew. They were all still in the process of dying by her gentle flame. How come they are crying? asked a younger voice. Her eyes peered down to a younger version of herself looking back at her with the spring green irises. Why do they cry? This is my love. Ember herself looked up and could see that this was her heart. Few people she treasured, knew, or even remotely cared about were melting in standing position. Some melted as far up as their waists, and would start crawling. They didn't move. Ember gazed at the fire and furrowed her brows. What kind of nightmare is this? The younger girl started crying and wiping away her tears as she hiccuped, I burnt them. I burnt them all with my love. Her eyes widened.

Mars struggled in the ground as tears filled his eyes. He scratched and dug his nails into the ground while trying to escape the puddle of fire he was melting into. His torso tossed over the dirt filled with his sweat and blood made Ember turn away from her younger self to witness the black hair boy struggle. You... he said in an angry tone filled with tears in his throat and passion. I should have never trusted you! He shouted at Ember, making her freeze in place as she watched him hate her. She walked up to him anyway, feeling his gravitational power push her against the dirt hard and try to crush her. Ember crawled to him, reaching a hand out for him to take. Mars!!! She shouted but suddenly felt his hand slap hers away roughly. Don't ******** touch me Ember! She looked at him, her eyes filled to the brim with grief. My best friend betrayed me to my own family. My whole family, school, everything... hated me! But you? You knew me and still left me to die! I ******** hate you! His eyes sunk as his hand lost the energy of hatred fueled anger and dropped dead to the ground. Ember could feel the weight of his gravitational power give out, but not the weight in her heart.

Ember woke up abruptly in the middle of the night and ran to the bathroom, shutting the door, turning on the sink and throwing up.

---

The next morning came by rather quickly after Ember went back to bed. She was pleased to see Daxter there... Keeping her company after their long past few days. She accompanied Daxter to the kitchen where everyone was having breakfast and coffee. Ember grabbed her cup of water and stood in the corner of the room, relaxing and bumping shoulders with Theodore. "Do you have a bruise?" she asked calmly as he muttered a reply. She kept her eyes forward, being able to ignore his comments or smart remarks as it seemed word was out. They kissed. As for what they were... It was left undefined.

"Dexter Anderson is living in Greenhorn, Calafina. It's a shack town 30 miles northwest of Galen, which is about 15 miles East of Los Angels. He lives in a trailer park community in what is believed to be a drug-heavy area. I had a thought," Noah took a sip of his coffee while Daxter continued reading. Ember was quite surprised to hear that Noah found Dexter's location so fast. Then again, Daxter had never gone looking for him, but it was impressive none the less. Ember was a tad worried about what to expect if and once they saw Dexter... what more could happen to Daxter... but after last night she figured it was pretty clear something needed to be done. For his sake. "Los Angels is a large city on the West Coast, it's practically a hub for any kind of activity you can think of. Exitium is based in Galen, a 20 minute drive from Los Angels, and Greenhorn is 15 minutes from there. The two cities and that one small town make it a tri-country."

"What's with the geography lesson?" "Dexter and you don't have a good past, Los Angels is a good place to recruit the kind of people that would be after you, there are two private military companies in Los Angels that has become a security detail, and Greenhorn is so close to Galen that...what if Dexter is part of Exitium? Might explain why they're after you, aside from your terrorizing of their group in the past." Damn. Noah had his information and more...

"It's possible. Guess we'll find out. Ember and I are headed to Los Angels then, we can get lost there. City of Angels and home to the world's largest burrito. If you eat it in 30 minutes you get a hat. I'm winning that hat." Noah nodded, "good, we could all use some activities to keep ourselves occupied in Calafina. I have a place there we can stay, I suggest everyone pack their stuff and I'll arrange a flight to Los Angels International Airport." Ember was as surprised as Daxter was to find the entire group willing to tag along, but what could she do? They were willing to stick close by for a while longer. The only problem for Ember was responsibility. Sure, everyone in the room was tougher than their outer appearance, but there was much more to lose if somebody got lost or injured. In any case, Ember made her mental preparations for the worst... and the best.

---

Ember packed some essentials, some given to her and some she still had carried on her.. She flipped open her cell phone, giving thought to the mysterious call that told her to try... or reminded her that was what she would do. Try. Either way, she rolled her finger over the screen and then closed it as she was ready to leave. While the other half of the group was willing to go relax and enjoy the city, Ember stuck with Daxter on finding Dexter, They could have a happy time after this matter was settled. Ember enjoyed riding in the top down convertible, feeling her hair lift of her shoulders in enjoyable weather and nice speed. It almost felt like flying again. Once they arrived to Greenhorn, Ember took a look around at what appeared to be less stable East Gradia. She was mildly surprised when they found the address, but looked to Daxter. "If anyone offers you a needle, you decline, we're not here to do drugs." Ember sighed in monotone. "Really? I thought we were here to get high." She crossed her arms, giving a half smile and taking a glance at Daxter. At least they still had their sense of humor... to some extent.

"Don't be alarmed if the bumpkins around here have never seen someone as sexy as you before, but promise me you won't fall for a one-toothed hillbilly with mommy issues." Ember tilted her head, looking over her outfit and feeling the blood in her cheeks attempt to attack her. Sexy? Please. Ember was as plain and dull as she could see. The tattoo on her back that resembled a hell in her mind and body. She never thought she would hear sexy coming from anybody... But a moment of recalling certain events... and she wouldn't argue. He didn't exactly treat her like a friend or something that was 'kind of pretty'. She didn't respond to making promises. There was no way she could fall for anybody that she didn't know. And mommy issues? Well, if Daxter was one to talk. Having experienced this with him all the way up to the doorstep of a long forgotten friend.. Ember braced herself, not knowing what to expect.