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{ATE: Reisen Dietre 2}

[Nick :: Narnia :: Seymour's Castle ~ Hallways]

Nick blinked, then looked at Louis with a look that can only be described as confused as hell.

"...Oh man, my brain must be warped from Teacher's little dread trick, because I could swear you're being nice to me. Sorry if I sound so negative, but you did just threaten to kill me not a moment ago. As for your question, I'm from California. Beautiful Orange County, but I lived up in the Central Coast, something I really disliked and...I'm rambling again. Heh...What about you, Louis?"

He was still tense, for a few different reasons. One, he wasn't sure of what to make of Louis. Two, he felt as if his teacher was still watching, which could be a definite possibility, especially with the little knowledge he had on that woman's powers. For all he knew, she could blow crap up with her mind. Which brings him to the final point, is if she is watching, she'll probably tell Seymour of what was said, which is the thing that Nick could really do without.

{ATE: Reisen Dietre 4}

[Nick :: Narnia :: Seymour's Castle ~ Hallways]

Nick laughed at Louis' tone, shaking his head. "You don't need to be so serious about it, Louis. It's not like a secret spy meeting or something. My reason for being here isn't just by chance, I would like to think. I would prefer to think fate had something in plan for me...something to do."

"I will admit this to you, but not to the Maester or Teacher. I honestly dislike battle. I don't like the front lines, the mindless destruction. It's always bothered me that we as the 'evil' people, the ones who have thrown our hearts into the darkness, must be thought of as malicious and violent. I miss my family, my friends...But I don't want to leave this world. I don't want to go back to the life I had. I love having these powers, these abilities, the chance to create something new."

"I want to change the world, Louis. Something that just wasn't logically possible back on our world. And with the power Seymour and Teacher have given me, I'll have that chance. To create a utopia where no war or strife will exist. I desire peace...even if I must use force to achieve it."

Nick stared for a long moment, his eyes staring straight ahead at the Armory door down the hall still. "...Yes, it's overdramatic. But it's the truth. And you wanted to know, so I threw it out. I trust you over Seymour any day, to be honest."

[[Louis : Narnia : Seymour's Castle - Hallways]]

Louis stopped at the door to the armory and glanced at Nick, his body positioned in a way that passing him would be difficult, "Nick... listen carefully. No matter what anyone says, no matter what they honestly think or believe... we are not evil and by no means are we malicious in our actions. About my actions earlier, yes, what I said was cruel, but it wasn't without purpose."

Louis put a hand on Nick's shoulder and looked into his eyes, "I said it before, and I'll say it again. Our espers do not believe in the same things we do. They grant us power, but not without a cost. Every breath we breath is taken in a war against their wishes. They would bring about pain and suffering like none have ever experienced before, simply for their own amusement. You must always keep up your guard, because at any moment, Chaos could do to you what he did just now, and what Mateus did to me not so long ago. Once they have complete control, there's no going back.

Again... in this world, we are all we have. If we lose ourselves, we have nothing. And even more than that, our efforts are for more than ourselves, we fight for the sake of every living thing in this world. We can NOT fail.

Louis paused, backing away so he could open the door, "Just... understand, I won't let you lose yourself. I'm your friend, and likely the only person in existence right now that can truly understand you, and you, me. It's why I will be here for you, as your ally, and your enemy... should you need one."

Louis swung open the door and stepped inside leaving the door open behind him so that Nick could follow.

{ATE: A Foolish Dream}
[Alan :: Alan's Fevered Dreams]

As the battle between Kyle and Cory raged on, as Alan's unconscious body was used (unbeknownst to him) as a bargaining chip, Alan's mind slipped into a dream. It was a dream of the old Earth - a dream of the life of a human.

He was standing at a platform in an abandoned train station. In his dream, he understood that he had just graduated from College. The Earth was intact, and he had his whole life ahead of him. And now he was in an abandoned train station. It was abandoned so long ago, in fact, that it was quite badly overgrown. It was as much forest as city. Indeed, at some point the train tracks had been replaced by a sleek lane of dewy moss. Alan thought this gave it an interesting appearance, but did not question it, as we are wont not to do in dreams.

There was a train there, in that abandoned station. This struck Alan as odd - trains should have stopped coming long ago. And yet, it rested on the mossy track as if it had every intention of simply leaving, moving onwards to its destination.

A girl sat on top of the train, above its open entrance, dressed in an old-fashioned ballroom gown. She had dirty blond hair, gold eyes, an easy smile, and two large horns on her head. Alan didn't think any of these things were odd. He knew who she was, even though he could never articulate it.

"I came to say goodbye," he said. "I'm going to be very busy the rest of my life, so I won't have time for you anymore."

The Horned Girl looked deeply at Alan, entreating him wordlessly to enter the train.

"I can't . . . "

Alan looked at the ground. He couldn't bear to look at her.

"I can't go with you. I wish I could. But, there are people who need me over here, more than over there. And . . ." he paused as a powerful sadness welled up in his chest, "I'm not strong enough. I'm sorry."

The Horned Girl looked a little sad, but still said nothing. She simply continued to stare at Alan as if she was hoping he would change his mind.

"I'm so sorry. . . "

Alan went on to study Law and become a Lawyer. He worked for a nameless institution doing nameless tasks, and over time accrued a decent measure of esteem and respect. He got a nameless house in a nameless neighborhood and married a nameless woman. Who knows why. Perhaps he was simply desperate for company, now that his old friends had grown up and moved away. Perhaps it was something more sensual that drove him. Or, perhaps, it was to please his petulant, grasping peers. It certainly wasn't because he loved her. He had met her at work, and they got along alright, but never well enough. Within the first year, they had exhausted the conversations provided to them by their scant mutual interests, but both of them were unwilling, for whatever stupid reason, to seperate, despite obvious incompatibility.

They did have kids - two nameless children that Alan could never bring himself to love. They ran around the nameless house and played nameless games and Alan had to work harder and harder at his nameless job to support their ever increasing expenses as they went off to nameless schools and studied nameless subjects.

And, one day, in a flash, he realized that nothing he knew - nothing he had surrounded himself with - had a name. It made him want to scream. His nameless wife told him that everything would be fine. His nameless children looked at him with pleading eyes. Alan grabbed the wall of his nameless house, and found it to be made of cardboard. So he ripped it up. He left without even saying goodbye to his family. He went back to the overgrown abandoned train station.

But the train was long gone. The Horned Girl was no longer in this world.

And Alan collapsed. His aged body could no longer take the stress of the world or its disappointment's. And the Darkness welled up around him. He could give no resistance as it swallowed him completely.

"This is stupid," said the Horned Girl. "There's absolutely nothing stopping you from boarding that train. This is the twenty-first century. No-one's going to force you to marry or to practice law if you don't want to."

"What difference does it make if I marry or not?", Alan responded. "In the end, the result is the same."

"It makes quite a bit of difference. Living a life you can be proud of, in a way that satisfies you . . . surrounding yourself with things you love while never neglecting to share that love with others. . . Doing good so that, at the end, when you are called before the Enma to give an account of your life, you can do yourself justice . . . Is that not ideal?"

"I guess. But I could never be satisfied with that."

"What arrogance! Why is what you prescribe as just for your human peers unfitting for you?"

"It's good for most people . . . "

"Aren't you only separated from most people by your desire to be separate from them?"

"I dunno . . . a lot of people seem to be satisfied and happy with that sort of thing, but I could never be."

"Then go do something crazy! Throw society's conventions back in its face! You can't change what you are, but you can change what you do with what you're given. Would you be satisfied with that?"

"Maybe, but it's too late now. I've already gone too far down this path. The train . . . "

"The train is still there! It still wants you to board! Yeah, it's a little harder now, but it's still totally within reach!"

"I told you . . . I'm not strong enough. I'm not like you."

"You're wrong. You are. You're just afraid."

"Does this even matter, anyway? That world is no more! It doesn't exist!"

"And your heart's desires came purchased at its price. Yes. But the mere fact that you're having this dream means that you can tell that what you were and what you would do in that world is the most important possible thing right now. More than ever, even."

Alan didn't have anything to say to that. The Horned Girl reached out to pat him on the head comfortingly.

"I'm gonna take off for now, but I'll always be in your dreams when you need me again. Defy your fate or accept it as you will, but do either with dignity."

[[Louis : Narnia : Seymour's Castle - Armory]]

Louis chuckled darkly, "If only it were that easy." His eyed drifted from one shelf to the next, appraising each weapon like a jewel before moving to the next. He stopped when he came to one sword reminiscent of the weapons Chaos used on the group a bit before. He turned to Nick and yelled out a heads up before tossing the sheathed weapon over, "How does that work for you? It's similar to Chaos' swords, simple, but maybe the big windbag can even give you a few pointers."

[[Louis : Narnia : Seymour's Castle - Armory]]

Louis smiled and replied simply, "Pick that sword back up and I'll tell you." There was a slight hesitation in his voice as he spoke, his eyes, gentle, yet locked on the sword like hooked daggers. It was obvious whatever he had in mind wasn't exactly the friendliest of suggestions.

Joe stood there, Dawn attatched to him in happiness. Really, once she stopped dancing, the 'muscle mass' left him, but that got replaced with her, it seemed.

"Well, glad to see someone is happy now," he said, patting the girl on the head. "Anything else you wanna try, barnacle girl?" Mind you, it was said in a playful tone, with a smile to boot!