LPD Cancer

by Phantomneko

A curse to be feared. Worlds to be discovered. Friends to be met. But most important: SURVIVAL. Warning: violence, horror and, maybe, confusion.

Laproxidianthis Cancer and I

(Laproxide Cancer) By Phantomneko

I do not own the characters in the story coming. All credit goes to the authors of the characters except for Dominick Henry, whom I created.

Prologue

It started off when a baby was born in South Africa. Everything seemed to be going as it should and the doctor saw that the baby was fine in every way, and as a premature, that is good news. There was only one thing that puzzled the doctor. The baby seemed to be showing extraordinary signs of brain activity. That and the baby seemed to be in such extreme pain that it would make the toughest of men commit suicide. The child wasn't even in tears! There could only be one reason for such behavior. The poor thing had an advanced case of Laproxide Cancer. It made the doctor shiver in spite of himself. The thing about Laproxide Cancer was that it is the rarest thing discovered since 1756, and only one person was known to have it. He was dead… Laproxide Cancer is a disease which speaks against science in every way. It gives the person certain abilities, like the ability to move things with your mind, to open portals to different dimensions, to have knowledge without even being educated and many other unlisted mysteries. Scientists have, however, found a way to measure this disease. The doctor did an analysis on the child and felt all the more sorry for him. He had by far the worst case ever recorded. He doubted that anybody whom happened to have the disease would ever have it this bad. He then gave the child to the welfare, as his biological parents did not possess the ability to take care of the child. The doctor gave the boy a name. His name was Dominick Henry.

Chapter One

My life is not what you can call adventurous or fun. It's more like living in hell and being the only person there for the devil to torment. I'll start of by saying my name is Dominick Henry Edison Stevens and my life sucks worse than a rats arse. I am now twelve years old and the pain is more than I can handle. I have the legendary Laproxide Cancer and to add to your confusion is that I know exactly how to use it. I have no friends because no matter how hard you try, living in the 21st Century is no walk in the park for people like me. The children at my local private school mock me constantly because I love to read. Pathetic huh? I mean, look at them. They are spoiled little brats who think they're too good for me, yet if they just knew at least a hundredth of what I go through daily, they would be crying themselves to sleep for the rest of their natural pathetic lives. I do so envy them. The principle of the school knows of my "little" problem though. At first he could not even allow himself to believe what he heard, but in the end he had no choice in fear of being arrested. And that is how I live my life.

"Hey, Dominick!" I looked up from my book to see Arthur van Heeden pick up a good sized stone and throw it at me. I didn't even try to dodge it because, when it hit me, the pain was just a tickle compared to my natural pain. It had been a rough day for everybody as there was constant rain and traffic to kill. I must say that it did nothing to raise my mood when I was late this morning and to top it off, it was assembly day.

I put my book away because two things were happening right now - as the stone hit my arm, it was bound to be a cause for attention and of all the people to come over, it just had to be the clown François Anders. He came over to me and just stared at my wound, for I was wearing a short sleeve shirt and it was covered in blood.

"Your own arm cannot stand your stink, so it starts bleeding in protest." he laughed.

"It's too bad that you have three quarters more wit than brain in that space you call a head, Francois, you couldn't make a decent sentence if you tried." I replied as he continued to laugh. That shut him up for about three seconds as he savored what had just been said, then he lunged at me. So he expected to break me? What he didn't expect was to get a mouth full of dirt and sand as he reached where I had been a second ago.

"Wow! Even I'm impressed by how clumsy you are Francois; you couldn't have the grace of a whale stranded on land." I said. And with that, I turned and walked down to the water fountains, letting him wonder how I could get the better of him so easily. That little stunt had everyone wondering, as Francois was rather small and nimble for a twelve year old.

The only thing that they didn't know was that I was a fourth degree black belt in karate and that I had dealt with worse than them. I turned to a new sound and found a real danger. One of Anders friends was also a black belt in karate but in the first degree. His name was Freddie Brent and he didn't look too friendly. He started off by giving me a Jou Do Sin upper roundhouse kick, which I had no trouble blocking. I retaliated with an advanced Don Sien sky rotating kick and a series of other moves which he had some trouble deflecting.

He suddenly did what I didn't expect. He rolled to the left then the right and finally behind me. I barely had time to roll forward before he was upon me. He hit me over and over again, which only achieved to anger me, and you have never been truly frightened until you've seen me angry. This is where the Cancer kicked in. I got a sudden tingle in my body and the pain increased slightly. I concentrated the tingle into a thought and a sentence.

"Salvinos et reginus gratzil marrenos!" I screamed, and the oaf of a boy flew backward for about 12 feet. Everybody who witnessed the fight froze. There were even a couple of kids who thought to join the fight, but thought better of it and backed away slowly. And then the chaos started. First the screaming then the running. Like I said. My life is no walk in the park.

Chapter Two

When I got home, my mother was very angry at me and as soon as we entered the house, the screaming came. Not that I really cared or listened. I was shaken over the day's events, and wanted nothing more than to go somewhere quiet and play the piano. I had never felt like this before, but there was something else in the feeling. The tingling was still there, which meant I still had access to the power unleashed earlier on. I decided to practice using the power and went outside to start training. Earlier on when I said those weird words, I had no idea I even knew of them. They just sort of came out naturally. I thought on how I had guided the tingling in one thought and tried it again. The pain increased again slightly as the tingling grew and I thought of what it would be like in a different dimension. And as if reading the image in my mind, the tingling grew more intense until I could no longer hold onto it. I let go of the mental leash holding the power and suddenly where my eyes and attention was set, the atoms positively charged particles reacted to the power and seemed to glow a multicolor light. It grew to form a rotating oval and when it finished growing after a couple of seconds it was as wide as two grown men and as tall as the house. As curious as I was, I was not stupid. I approached it warily and when I reached it, I was awed by the magnificence and beauty of the portal. When I neared it, it seemed to turn ultraviolet. I decided to see if I could walk through it. As I first put my hand through, then worked my way through, I had a soothing sensation. It made me sigh in an explosion of relief. All the pain seemed to melt away and was replaced by a weightless feeling. I could've shouted in joy if it were not for the sudden dropping feeling which came right afterwards. After a few seconds, the feeling dimmed until there was nothing left. And the portal collapsed around me. I was shocked to find that I wasn't in my backyard anymore, but in some kind of fair. Then the pain returned. It hit me so suddenly and intensely that I blacked out remembering nothing.

When I woke up, I found that I was looking up at a white ceiling in a soft bed. I tried to get out and almost succeeded had it not been for what I thought was my nurse.

"Please. Lay still for a while before you try to get up. You took a rather nasty fall there, young man." She was smiling, but I could see the concern in her eyes. She was a beautiful young lady, with red hair as dark as mine and grey eyes.

"How long have I been out for?" I asked.

"Nearly two days, dear. I saw you appear out of nowhere, as if there were a sudden unseen portal. You fell about a minute after you appeared." She got up and went out, but was back in a few minutes with a tray of what looked like vegetable soup. When I was finished with the soup, she finally helped me out of the bed. She gave me a quick tour of her house, which was more of a mansion if anything. She was apparently the daughter of a man of much power. He worked for the military and was a captain of a small fleet of ships and, if I heard correctly, LFOs.

"What are those?' I asked. She didn't believe that I didn't know what they were, so I began my part of the story. When I was finished, she was silent for what seemed like hours, before, finally she spoke.

"If I had not seen you appear like that, I would not have believed a word you just spoke. So you say you are from a different dimension and have Laproxide Cancer. You are the first person to have that cursed disease on this planet and you would do well to keep it a secret from anybody who is curious about you."

"So be it. I will try and find a different identity for the time being, but right now I have to practice to control this disease, for I nearly killed a person because of it in my world."

For the rest of the day, we went out to do some shopping while I tried to learn as much as I could about where I was. I learnt that the name of the town was Belle Forest and the huge tower in the middle of the town was the main building in many ways. Later that day, I went to see the junkmen of the town to repair a small machine I saw lying just outside the gates of the town. When I arrived, I saw an old man working on some kind of machine which looked like nothing I had ever seen before. He saw me staring and got up and came my way.

"What do you want boy? Can't you see, I'm busy?" he demanded.

"I was just wandering if I could bring that broken machine outside the local gates here so it wouldn't be in anyone's way." I nervously replied. He looked at me as if to see if I was telling the truth or wasting his time.

"That has been there for a while now and I did want to do something about it. I'll call my assistant to go with you to fetch the contraption." he finally said.

"Renton! There's someone here who needs your help. Get down here and be useful for once!" A small commotion then:

"Coming grandpa!" A boy who looked thirteen or fourteen came jogging out of the workshop and came to rest at the old mans side.

"I want you to go with this boy and help him with some stuff that are on my to-do list."

"Why can't you go with him yourself?" asked the boy. Suddenly the old man cuffed the boy known as Renton over the head and said:

"Because I make myself useful by fixing more stuff than you can look at, you disrespectful little-"

"Hey! Incase you've forgotten me already, and incase you haven't noticed, I'm only twelve years old and have no need for bad language… yet." Then as if noticing me for the first time, the old man grunted and went to finish doing his job, leaving me with Renton.

"Sorry you had to witness that. We do get along most of the time." He said.

"It's okay. I've seen, and heard and been in worse." I replied.

We started to walk back to where the machine was.

"My name is Renton Thurston" He said after the workshop was behind the hill.

"I'm Dominick Wilson. Nice to meet your acquaintance, Renton"

"Likewise" With that we fell into deep conversation. I learnt that his father, whom he hardly knew at all, had been a great hero. And so he seemed trustworthy enough for me to tell my real life, and in the end, he asked one very simple question:

"What's Laproxide Cancer?" I stared and gaped until I caught myself.

"It's is in a way the most accursed disease that a human can get, whilst in another way being a blessing." I explained.

"If it's so cursed, why call it a blessing?" he asked

"Cursed means the pain it causes. Blessing means the abilities that come with it like for example: I can open a dimensional portal with a thought and an image." He gaped and I laughed. I had never really been all that great at explaining stuff and this was my worst explanation yet. And so I continued to explain the rest of the details to him of my world and how it was different to here.

When we finally arrived at the area where the machine was, there was what looked to us to be a gang group of people in their late teens. One of them looked up from his graffiti to see us coming and gave us a wicked grin of yellow, mismatched teeth. A few were missing.

"Come to see our legendary art, little ones? If you look closely, you might see what we use as paint and ink." He grinned all the wider at us as he said it.

"No thanks. But we would like to ask you to hand over your machine, so we can take it over to the junkman's palace over that distant hill yonder." I replied without so much as glancing at the graffiti they called art. It didn't look all that legendary to me.

"Be careful, Dominick. I've seen these guys before, and they don't take kindly to anything that they don't agree with." Renton warned.

"Yeah, little kid, whatever your name is. Not that I care anyway. Listen to your friend there, he is older and wiser, so he knows best." The gangsters started to laugh. That angered me. How dare they mock my new friend and me like that?

"Do not mock me, for I don't take that lightly, but what seals the deal is when you mock my friends. You don't want to see me angry, now do you? If you are as brainy as your 'art' suggests, you would stand down and back off." I growled. They stopped laughing.

"Are you challenging me, little boy? I like challenges and I think I'm starting to like your wit." said the leader of the gang. I allowed myself a chuckle, then:

"Well then! Down to business. I propose a bet. I beat all of your men and you included, I get what I came for. You win, and you can do with me what you like." He seemed to consider this.

"What about him?" he asked.

"I'll put it this way, nice and easy for your tiny brain to understand. Touch him and you will feel my wrath, you pig-brained, lily-livered son of a circus oddity!" That got his attention.

"What did you call my mom?" Good grief! What a genius.

"You heard me. Or do I have to repeat myself, because not only do you show the intelligence of a broomstick, but you also seem to have a broomsticks ear." I taunted. I hoped that I knew what I was doing and that it would happen just as I wanted. He came at me as well as the other six. It was easier than I expected. They weren't clumsy, but not too quick for me to handle. Within minutes, four of his cronies were down and he was beginning to regret taking up that challenge. The guy next to him muttered something I couldn't hear and turned and fled. The leader wasn't going down without a fight though, and he wasn't going to make it easy and fair for me. He took out a gun big enough to be mistaken for a Sig Sauer. He pointed it at me.

"You're quick, but are you quick enough to dodge a bullet, huh kid?" He grinned. I had a sudden tingling feeling in my head, and the pain increased, but not slightly this time. I almost cried out in pain, but the situation was not good. I concentrated the tingling into three thoughts, no words this time. I just held and let it grow until I couldn't hold it in anymore and released. The effect seemed to come from everywhere in every direction at the same time. It was a red light that entered him and kept coming. He dropped to his knees and started to shake as if he was having a fit. Then he dropped down unmoving. I sprinted to him and felt for a pulse. I found none. Then I noticed that the gate guard was just staring at me with disbelief and fear.

"You didn't just kill him like that, did you?" one asked. I smiled sweetly at them.

"If you value your lives and don't want to feel extreme pain, you would do well to keep your mouths shut." I turned to Renton.

"Well. A deal's a deal. Let's get this piece of junk back." He just stared. I pointed at the machine. He nodded and proceeded to help me carry it back. When we got back to the workshop, the old man was nowhere to be seen.

"Grandpa! Where are you?" Renton shouted. Then he came out of the workshop and stared.

"What the hell happened to you?" I saw that he was staring at me. Renton looked at me and gave a yelp.

"Dominick! You're bleeding!" I looked down at my stomach and noticed that I had a knife wound in my side.

"Well. What do you know? They actually managed to gut me." I tried to smile reassuringly, but I had lost too much strength. I fell to my knees and the last thing I remembered was the old man and Renton rushing to me, before oblivion took me.

Chapter Three

I woke up staring once again up at a ceiling, but it was not white. Rather it was not even flat. It was grey is if made from steel and I noticed that it was the workshop roof. The bed was not comfortable, as if it was a thin bedroll on a steel table. I looked around to study my surroundings. Nothing interesting, if you find junk and scrap interesting. I could manage to get used to it. I saw the old man working on the machine that we had brought from the gate. He looked around and saw me looking at the machine with curiosity.

"It's the cockpit of a military LFO. I don't know how it got there, but I don't care either. It should sell for a good price. Well, enough to buy the food anyway." I saw that my wound was wrapped up in linen bandages.

"Where's Renton?" I asked as I saw that the boy was nowhere to be seen.

"He went to his local school. That damned place is getting on my nerves. They want to send him to military school. Can you believe it? We're junkmen; we don't need an education when it comes to fixing and selling!" He sighed and came over to look at my side wound.

"I have rarely seen a knife wound that deep. You didn't even seem to notice the wound. I know grown men who would beg for death when they got a knife wound smaller than that, and here you are; a twelve year old kid who braves over seven men to protect my grandson and a knife wound big enough to stick your hand in without so much as a grunt. I'm impressed." He said admiringly. He cleaned my wound and wrapped it up again with clean bandages.

"Renton should be back in about an hour. In the meantime, I'll make you some food and drink. You had us worried there. Out for a day an' a half." He laughed as he went to make the food. After I had eaten, I thought about the wound. I wandered if I could heal it, like I had opened that portal. After about an hour, I heard a bike approach and screech to a halt outside.

"Ah! That would be Renton." said the old man. As if attracted by the sound of his name, Renton appeared at the door. He put down his bag and without a word, came over to me.

"I see you're awake again, Dominick. How do you feel?" he asked as he approached.

"I don't really know, seeing as I'm in pain constantly. I wouldn't know the difference, now would I?" I joked. He smiled and gave me a playful punch on the arm. I tried to get up, but was stopped by my wound and Renton.

"You need to rest for a while before you go beating the crap out of gangsters again." I chuckled and climbed back in the bedroll.

"Have you got any homework?" I asked.

"Yeah. Now that you mention it, the teacher gave us all one hell of a heap." And as he pulled out his books, I saw that it was no exaggeration. The amount of books was nearly taller than him.

"Bring them here, and I'll help you with them." He just stared.

"I was born with all education in my head." I explained. He nodded and brought the books to me. To tell the truth, I only wanted to help because I was bored. After nearly four hours, we were finished with the 'heap-o-homework.

"Thanks. I don't think I would ever have gotten that homework done in time."

"Don't mention it. And just for the record? That teacher isn't even handing out a challenge." I grinned at Renton.

"Now. How's about I show you I trick I learnt, huh?" He looked up hopefully and I laughed.

"No worries. You'll never be bored with me around. Now, I'm going to heal myself using the disease to my advantage." He looked worried and I took pity on him.

"Don't worry. My theories seldom go wrong." And with that, I proceeded to find the tingling sensation. I found it almost immediately. I concentrated it into an image of my wound healing and the tingling traveled down to where the wound was. The room filled with a dark green light which came from the bandage. When the light died down, I removed the bandage. Renton fell over in shock and the old man stared: there was no wound.

"Hells bells boy!" That's all he managed to get out. I got out of the bedroll and walked around the workshop to get the feeling back in my legs.

"Ah! That's better. A good stretch here and there and everywhere." I sighed in relief. I looked over at Renton, who was busy picking himself up off the floor.

"No need to act so shocked. And I did warn you Renton. It's natural, for me that is." I said exasperated.

"So you did, but it didn't make it any less shocking… well look on the bright side. At least you're healed." said Renton with a smile.

"You never cease to impress me kid. First you take it without noticin' it, now you're healing it." laughed the old man.

"While we're in a good mood, I'd like to ask you a favor." I said.

"Yeah? What would you have of me?" asked the old man.

"I need a place to stay for a while. And I could be quite a help around here. What do you say?"

"I say that I think that it's a great idea. You could teach Renton a thing or two." said the old man glaring at the boy.

"Then it's settled. I don't have any provisions, so I am officially part of the group." I was surprised at how easy that was. I looked over at Renton. He nodded.

"Thanks. I'm in your debt it seems. Twice." I chuckled.

"So, now that you're going to be staying with us, what do you plan on doing to pass the time?" asked Renton, happy with the agreement.

"I think I might just join you in your classes tomorrow. I want to compare your school to mine." I answered. I went outside only to find a bunch of vehicles riding towards the workshop. After the vehicles came one of the biggest I've ever seen.

It must've been the size a house. When it came to about a kilometer, it began to transform into a humanoid and shot into the sky with some kind of board.

"If I weren't mistaken, I'd say that the gate guard blabbed. Hey! Mister Thurston! We've got company! A convoy of some sort." He came running out of the workshop. What he saw made his eyes widen. I took that to be a bad sign.

"That's the government for sure." Then the humanoid machine landed in front of the gates of the junkyard.

"What the hell did you do for them to bring in a whole LFO?" he yelled and jumped back. Then the convoy arrived.

"Put your hands in the air and come quietly!" At the back of the line was a truck. The doors opened and a squadron of about fifteen soldiers, armed with mgs rushed out and surrounded me.

"And what exactly did I do to become such a big threat to you?" I calmly asked.

"I said to come quietly! Or do I have to take you down hard myself?" asked the man in the front car.

"I, incase you failed to notice, am a twelve year old sir. A little smack to the head could kill me, or didn't you know that?" I retaliated.

"You had your last warning kid!" He jumped out his car and advanced.

"I must warn you that I nearly killed seven men three days ago. Hand to hand combat isn't your best choice." I warned. He just kept coming, and when he broke the circle of men, threw a canister my way. I knew that it was a flash grenade, so I closed my eyes and turned as it exploded. Then he struck at me. He got me in the side, and it was surprisingly painful.

"Not so tough now, are we?" he growled. He struck again, this time I was ready and blocked it without a problem. I wasn't going to make this easy for him.

"What are you going to do with them?" I stuck a thumb at Renton and his grandfather.

"They broke the law in keeping you from us. They will be taken into custody." That to me was not acceptable.

"You won't do that while I live!" I advanced on him with all the years of karate I could remember. His eyes suddenly showed the first sign of uncertainty and he tried to retreat. I wouldn't let him escape and delivered him a sweep. He fell to the ground.

"What are you fools waiting for? Get him and show him why we are so feared!" The soldiers rushed at me. That's exactly what I wanted. After nine of them were down, I heard the guns being cocked and stopped.

"You would shoot a kid of my age without regret?"

"You can bet I would give the command with pleasure. And I will have your friends executed on sight!" He started to laugh at the shock on my face. It quickly turned into a mask of rage.

"Then. You will find out how I killed that man in front of the gate guard!" I reached for the now familiar tingling and set all my rage in it. The soldiers were suddenly nervous.

"Maybe we should call in reinforcements, sir."

"Nonsense! I'll have the LFO on him!" he laughed again, then signaled for the LFO to take care of things. The tingling was so intense that I could not hide the pain from my face.

"Look lads! It hurts his little body when the guns are on him!" His glee quickly turned to fear as the LFO started to melt right in front of him.

"What the- aaaaarrgh!" His cry was followed by the rest of the soldiers, and it soon sounded very frightful indeed. The cries didn't last long. The men were all dead and I was the killer. How could I live like this? I knew that I had no choice.

"Dominick." Renton had come up next to me and put a comforting hand on my shoulder. "It wasn't your fault. You can blame your instinct for survival on all this."

"How can I live like this, Renton? How can I live with the fact that I've killed so many, and going to kill more? I can't do this any more. I cannot be allowed to live in fear of the sake of others fates. It's just not right!" Renton shook me.

"Don't talk like that! Every person has the right to live, and that includes you, Dominick. Now let's go inside and eat something." he said. After we had eaten some bread and fruit, Renton took me on a tour around the workshop and showed me what everything was and what it did. It looked easy enough, though most of the names I had never heard before.

"An LFO? What does it use to transform like that?" I asked.

"It uses a compact drive in the main circuitry of the cockpit." he replied. He took me to the cockpit that his grandfather was working on and opened the screen. It looked like the cockpit of a B25 bomber. It had many controls inside it, most of which I didn't recognize. A control that I did recognize though, was the joystick. Renton took me over to the joystick and, right next to it, he started to unscrew something. It was about the size of his whole hand, and it was triangular.

"This is what a compact drive looks like. It looks like it's still in working condition." he explained. I looked over at the contraption and studied it carefully.

"Do you have any friends at your school?" I asked eager to change the subject. I don't know what came over me, but it scared me.

"Not really. They make fun of me. They say things like, 'you don't look so tough, Thurston. You will never live up to make your father proud.' And there's this one guy who keeps saying that I don't look like my fathers son, not that I care what they say." Looks like we had something in common.

"I also used to be bullied at my school, but for different reasons. They bullied me for reading books and having no friends. At one stage, I even think they were jealous of me, because I played the Hungarian Rhapsody #2 by Franz Liszt for the school once. They usually took to stoning me, but when they saw it had no effect on me, they took to verbal abuse." I recited the memory without any pride, but regret. A person should not have to go through all that plus Laproxide Cancer. The old man came into the room.

"It's getting late and you've got a long day ahead of you. You don't mind sleeping in Renton's room, do you Dominick? He has the only spare bed." he asked.

"No. Of course not." I assured him with a smile. His room was more or less like mine. The only thing that it lacked was a piano. I went to the bathroom to wash up and get ready for tomorrow. As I climbed into the bed, I thought some more about my strange abilities. I did miss my piano, because I was used to playing every night. As I thought about the piano, that tingling sensation washed over me. Before I could consider what was happening, a bright whit light appeared in the corner of the room and grew. When it died down, there stood my piano! I could get used to this after all, but what would Renton say about the piano?

"What the hell is that, and how did it get there?" I took it that Renton was standing in the doorway and saw the piano.

"It's my piano, my pride and joy. As for how it got here, there was this bright white light and it just appeared." I tried to explain as best I could. Then curiosity took over Renton.

"So this is what a piano looks like, huh? How do you play it? I don't see any of the keys that you spoke about." he said as he looked it over.

"That's because it's closed, heh-loh! It has a key guard over it so that it doesn't break or get dusty." I walked over and opened the cover. What Renton saw made him catch his breath. I thought that it was the beauty that took his breath away, but was mistaken.

"How do you keep up with all these keys? There must be at least a hundred of them!" I looked at him with raised eyebrows.

"Renton? Have you ever heard the saying 'Practice makes perfect'? It took me at least five years to get it all right." He pressed one of the keys and no sound came out. He looked over at me with a look on his face which said 'What just happened?'.

"You didn't hit the key hard enough. Try it like this." I sat him down on the chair that the piano came with and told him what octaves were and where they were on the piano.

"So octave means eight and there are eight keys in an octave. For example: C to C, or G to G, or A to A or even A# to A# and Ab to Ab. To get this right, you need to do scales. Don't mind the black keys. They only change the cord you play. Now, what songs do you know that are rock or classical?" I asked.

"I don't know. I have heard of old songs they used to play back on earth, but I never understood what they were talking about. I do remember one that seemed to be extremely popular to them. It was called the Piano Man and was sung by some guy named Billy Joel, or at least I think that was his name." Billy Joel. One of the most famous singers of his time. Piano Man was his most famous and popular song.

"You are in luck, my friend. That just so happens to be a song I can play." Renton shook his head quickly.

"I just want to call grandpa quickly, so he can see for himself." He ran to fetch the old man and they were back in a minute.

"I have never in my life heard a piano, let alone witness one being played."

He laughed. I started playing the Piano Man. When I finished off with C, F and C6th, my fingers were sore from lack of practice.

"I have heard this song before! When I was a boy, I listened to the radio and was on a station called The Oldest Classics, and they played this song many times." he exclaimed. So they still played music from before my time then.

"Well, I don't know about you, but I'm going to bed." I said as I closed the key guard once more. I would practice again tomorrow. Renton and his grandfather just kept staring at the piano. 'Now, how did I get it here?' I asked myself. I thought of the piano being back at home where it belonged, and as I thought it, I felt a tug at my gut and the white light reappeared, only brighter than before. When it died again, the piano was gone. Renton blinked and his grandfather just kept staring.

"Are we just going to stare at an open space all night?" That got their attention.

"What just…happened?" asked Renton. Honestly! What happened to peoples brains in the past centuries? Had we evolved again, only to become slower?

"I sent the piano back to its own time. You kept staring at the damn thing." I said. I climbed into the bed again and Renton did the same.

"Do you play any other instruments other than the piano?" asked Renton.

"I did do guitar for three years and play the drums for nine. Why do you wish to know?" I inquired.

"Curiosity, I guess. G'night." he answered.

"Goodnight." And the lights went out.

Chapter Five

I awoke to the sound of birds chirping. I opened my eyes expecting to be blinded by the sun, but the sun wasn't even up yet. I lay for about five minutes then get up and got dressed in school uniform, as I brought nothing els. I looked over at the bed next to mine. Renton was still asleep and I had no idea why I woke up, so I made my way out to the front door and opened it. I know that I heard something strange, but what was it? I stepped outside and looked around. I heard the sound again, this time louder than before. I made my way over to where I heard it. It sounded like a hammer of sorts. I turned the corner of the workshop and was blinded by a fluorescent light in some kind of storehouse. As my eyes adjusted to the light, I saw the old man working on the cockpit that Renton and I had brought a few days back.

"You're up early. I didn't expect to have company so quickly." said the old man.

"What are you doing to the cockpit? I thought it was repaired already."

"Just adding some stuff to the steering stick. It was rusted inside, so I had to take it apart again." he answered, hammering yet again at the loose jack. I went over and had a glance at the stick's console.

"You might want to redirect the wiring in the console and the stick itself needs to be replaced." That got him staring. He looked over at the console and the stick.

"Tell me something Dominick. Have you ever repaired anything in your life before?" he asked.

"No, not really. Most of the things that I built didn't need repairing. Why?"

"You noticed something that I failed to take note of, and you did it quicker than anyone I've seen." he praised. I left him to continue on the console and headed back inside. When I arrived inside, Renton was up already.

"Good morning, Renton." He spun 360° and nearly tripped over himself.

"Where did you come from? You wanna gimme a heart attack?" he gasped. I started to laugh.

"I only gave your grandfather a heads-up on the stick console in the cockpit." About an hour later, after we had eaten breakfast, we left for the local school. Renton had a small bike that he always traveled on, and luckily I was small enough for both of us to fit. In fifteen minutes, we arrived at the school. It was about half the size of my school, but more developed like, it had a bike shed where my school only had a parking lot. I got off the bike in a way that would've injured you if you didn't know how. Just before we reached the gate of the school, I dove off the bike and as I hit the ground, I used my momentum to propel me forward into a giant roll which overtook the bike, and that isn't an easy feat. Renton got off his bike laughing.

"That would've scared the crap out of the toughest bully in the school. You got to teach me how to do that." He doubled over laughing all the harder as he imagined the face of the other kids in the school.

"Not if you wish to lose your bike. Who's going to control it as you take a quick dive?"

"Well why would I need to dive off the bike anyway? Let's get to the main building." We seemed to be the only people there. Then as we got nearer to the main building, I saw another kid.

"I hate that kid so much. He arrives early just to beat up more kids." said Renton through grinding teeth. The kid caught sight of us and came our way.

"Who's the retard, Thurston? Pity it looks like the wrong end of a dog." grinned the kid.

"And who are you to call others what you are? I might look like the wrong end of a dog, but at least I have more chance of attracting a girl than you have." I countered with an even wider grin. Renton looked like he had been punched and I wondered if this kid had more to him than met the eye.

"Me? I'm the one who's gonna make you meet your maker." He looked like he meant that.

"You're lucky that I'm feeling generous today. I'll give you a twenty second gap to run for your lives, then you better pray that I don't sniff you out." he said pointing at his nose. I decided that it was best to run. I turned and ran with Renton hot on my trail. We ran until we couldn't run any more, then we waited, catching our breath. Five minutes passed by then ten and nothing happened.

"You think we lost him?" Renton asked. I walked around the corner we turned earlier. He was still standing there, only he wasn't alone. He seemed to be picking on a smaller child about my age.

"He got occupied with someone else." I said as I walked back.

"Is there a back door that we can enter?" I asked.

"There is a door to the kitchen, and the kitchen is linked to the school cafeteria." he replied and headed in the direction of the opposite corner. We turned another corner and almost immediately reached the kitchen door. He looked around to make sure that the coast was clear, before he entered and I followed. It looked like a normal kitchen despite the absence of the refrigerator and the stone floor. Renton headed for another door and opened it revealing a hall lined with steel tables and a jungle of chairs. It was the cafeteria. We crossed the abused room and fronted yet another door. This is definitely not what I was used to. I guessed that beyond this next door was the main corridor, lined with lockers and strewn with papers. We walked through and I was not surprised that my guess had been correct.

"Do you always arrive this early?" I asked.

"Yeah. I somehow got into the habit of getting here before anyone else. Even the teachers." He answered with a grin. "It really doesn't make sense as I would kill to get out of school. It's just so boring."

"You're right."

"About what?" he frowned.

"Right about it not making sense. It reminds me of my first school. I had to get up early because my mother worked so damn far away. I ended up being the first to arrive." I explained shuddering at the memory.

We stopped at a door on the right hand side of the corridor.

"Well, this is my class. It's not much, but it's comfortable enough for anybody." said Renton as he opened the door. It was a much better sight than the café. Every chair was behind its desk, and every desk was in a neat row. All in all, there were four rows. It looked exactly how a classroom would, with a bigger desk in the front and a blackboard behind it. Behind the class was a set of shelves lined with what I took to be subject books of sorts.

"I hope that there are enough desks to support one more." I said.

"The teacher always makes sure that there are enough desks–"

"For every new person whom happens to enter my clutches." finished a new voice. We turned towards the door to see a man who looked to be around thirty years old. He was wearing oval glasses, which looked like bifocals, had short black hair and had a nervous air around him.

When the LPD Cancer is in control

Patrick Brönn

It's sunny and calm. Too calm. Behind me, in the distance, I hear a snarl and turn to see the strangest looking creature to ever meet my eyes. It had feet made of what looked like minced human flesh, legs of burnt human flesh, and a torso of rotting flesh, arms and hands of skinned flesh, a broken neck and the vilest head. The eyes stayed moist in blood, the mouth spewed maggots, the ears were sewn closed and it had tendrils of veins and nerves for hair. Somehow I knew what this creature was. Renton started calling my name up on the hill of his grandfather's workshop. The monster turned towards the sound and started to howl. Renton stopped calling and just stared in horror as the monster started running toward him. There was nothing I could do as the monster neared him. Then it pounced.

I awoke with a start to the sound of a great snort. I got a sinking feeling in my stomach. Was that monster really here?

"GGHHHNNGGHHRR!"

Nope. It was only Renton. I calmed down as may fear was replaced with relief. It was only a bad dream, but I still felt that it had something to do with the Cancer. The previous week had been quite stressful. The military had begun to mobilize their units for something big. They had requested parts for a super battle unit undergoing what they called "a most vital" upgrade. We had been working our hardest to build these parts, but I had begun to build up a noticed reputation which wasn't helping as it attracted unwanted attention from the media. Today, we are supposed to finish the last part for this upgrade and it was nigh impossible to do with the constant bombardment of the media. There was movement outside. I knew that it was Axel Thurston, Renton's grandfather. Ever since the media problem, he had been getting up earlier in the mornings to try and finish as many parts as possible. I got out of the bed and went down the stairs only to stumble upon a room full of blueprints and calculations. This part must really be big. I dodged around the mess towards the door and somehow managed to keep from tripping over a stray roll of paper. As I entered the great outdoors, I noticed that there were a couple of trucks parked near the main building. I entered it and saw a group of five men in overalls and a woman in a white lab coat all of which were drinking coffee. Axel was in the corner, working on a part of the part.

"There ain't any time for damn coffee. But the scientist has to many brain cells to care." he muttered to himself in an annoyed voice. I walked over to him and he looked up to acknowledge my entrance.

"Coffee is also very bad for your body's system. The caffeine kills the brain cells. Almost like a human being. They can only run so far before they need to rest. Overwork them and they die." I greeted.

"That's not entirely true young man. That only happens to certain people.

Not everyone." stated the scientist. She looked about 26 and looked half starved. She had long black hair, a strict air around her and I sensed the self-confidence in her. Most annoying.

"Good morning Madame. May I help you with something?" I asked, ticked off at the idea that she was also the type who loves to show-off.

"Good morning and no, I don't need a 12 year olds assistance in any means. It would be insulting to learn something from a youth with no education when I have the highest passing degree attainable." she bragged. Good grief!

"I don't have time for your stupid little remarks on the comparison between my education and yours. As you may or may not have noticed, we have a super-part to complete before sunset. So if you could be kind enough to excuse me." Her reaction was immediate and huge.

"You little bastard! How dare you show such disrespect to an elder! I ought to-"

"YOU OUGHTTA STAND YOUR GROUND AN' WATCH YOUR TONGUE! DID YOU NOT NOTICE THAT YOU JUST CALLED A TWELVE YEAR OLD A BASTARD? THIS CHILD GOES THROUGH MORE 'N A DAY THAN YOUR ENTIRE LIFE!" raged Axel suddenly.

"Calm yourself Axel. Keep your strength on the job ahead." I turned to the scientist." As for you. You better watch yourself from now on. I don't need people like you in my face all day and stand for it. Leave your coffee and get to work. I have more authority over you than any person alive. The rules are as such: do your job at your best, do not disturb Axel and me without a very good reason, if, for any reason, I get the feeling that your sabotaging anything in this building, I will take action and hand out the necessary punishment; death. If you keep to these rules, you will get your reward by the end of the day. Now get to work." Everybody ran to their specified stations and started their work. It's amazing what the power of suggestion can do to people! Even Renton decided to show up at that moment. He headed towards us at the table in the corner.

"Did I miss something?" he asked.

"Not much, really. If you heard the shouting, it's better that you don't ask." I replied skeptically. Something on the blueprint map caught my attention.

"Axel? Is that drive supposed to be in the main circuit? Wouldn't that cause a chain reactive explosion to the other parts?" He looked to where I was pointing, did a calculation and finally gave an exclamation.

"How come you noticed that an' not me? I'm the expert!" he exclaimed.

"Don't forget about the Cancer now. Eternal knowledge remember?" I reminded calmly. "Let's get started, shall we?" I reached out for the tingling sensation at the back of my mind and lured it out. With it I readjusted each part of the blueprint and found that the whole thing was a bomb.

"Get away from all the parts! They're all bombs!" I shouted. Everyone scrambled for a safe distance, but in doing so one of them knocked one of the parts to the ground. Red numbers notified the presence of a countdown. 20 seconds to self destruction. Not much time and I was not used to this. What was I to do? I couldn't disarm a bomb! I didn't know how! 12 seconds. What if the…the Cancer might be able to absorb the explosions energy. But what if it didn't work? 7 seconds and the screaming wasn't helping. I reached for the now familiar tingling in the back of my mind and as the pain increased I pictured a field of zero-space surrounding the parts/bombs. For a precious second, nothing happened but then suddenly the pain jumped a whole new level of what not even agony could describe. I almost blacked out but held as a green-blue-white colour started to spread around the mass of parts. 3 seconds. The field started to speed up to keep up with the growing despair. Just as it closed the bombs chain-reacted with the first explosion. It was quite an impressive sight. That was the last thing I remembered before the pain consumed me and my brain shut off completely.

"He seems to be in a stable condition, but the brainwaves are off the charts. We've never witnessed anything like this. There is nothing in the library except for one thing that we thought we had rid ourselves of when we left it behind on Earth." said a distant voice.

"Well obviously it is LPD Cancer. You scientists never cease to amaze. This child told me that the Cancer attacks randomly and only attacks humans. It's bad enough tha-"

"That's not what our research concluded on."

Research? What a pathetic ruse. No one can research this Cancer as it speaks against science. With an effort I opened my eyes. And what do I see? For the third time since I came here, I wake up to a-a bright light? I know about when they tell you "Don't go into the light" but this is ridiculous. I tried to move my arms but they were tied down.

"Why the hell am I tied down? And what is this crap about researching LPD Cancer? You cannot research it!" I screamed.

"It seems that our guest is awake. This is a cancer boy. Cancers ought to be researched." Greaaat. Another smart-ass to deal with. Amusing really. I'd have to do this the routinely way.

"If you don't release me within this minute, I'm going to destroy something. In fact, I'm going to destroy something big and do it slowly that it hurts! LET! ME! GO!"

"Is that supposed to frighten me? You're not going anywhere without a hundred bullets hitting your scull." Good grief!

"What do you want with me?"

"We want answers, and we will get them. Now shut up and take the pain like a man." Pain? What the hell could be worse than the Cancer? A movement caught my eye and what I saw made me catch my breath in fear. When he said pain, I didn't think he meant dissection!

"Heart rate exceeding safety limits by 7.12%. No change in brain activity and no spike in blood pressure."

"We can rectify that spike in the blood pressure." With that said I felt a sharp pain in my toe. What do these people expect to find? I tried to concentrate on drawing out the power of the Cancer. Instead, I felt a different presence. A very strong one trying to escape some kind of bond. Before I could even try to identify it, I felt another sharp twang of pain in my arm and started to feel drowsy. My vision started to blur and everything faded into nothingness. I gave up and fell unconscious for a second time.

The monster screamed and fell back. It couldn't touch me. It glared at me with hate and greed.

"So you have found the will to keep me at bay. Give up your will to me. Give up all your pain and be free of the Cancer." It was trying to grab at me again, but failed. "You cannot hold forever. I always win!"

Its rotting body started to morph and grow. It kept growing into a more grotesque form, a more-

"Dominick!" I opened my eyes which felt like lifting a small car. I was on my back, staring into a pale face.

"Renton?" I felt my strength returning to my limbs and I sat up.

"No. The name's Sora. Sora Harada."

"How did you know my name?" I asked.

"You talk in your sleep. I found you lying on the beach with this portal thing hovering over you. Gave Riku a good scare; Kairi couldn't stop laughing." He giggled at the memory and helped me up. "I like your hair. It looks a bit between mine and Riku's. Only it's red and not half brunette and silver. And it's shoulder length." Now that I got a good view of Sora, he was thin, about my height, brunette hair that was extremely spiky and had blue eyes that sparkled mischievously. All those traits complemented each other and made him look a bit boyish.

"My name is Dominick Henry." I shook his hand. "Where am I?"

"We call it the Destiny Islands. You look tired and a bit battered up. Come with me and I'll show you where to clean up." With that he pulled me to a small hut. It was made of bamboo stalks which made up the wall and long yellow grass for the roof. Inside it was exactly what I expected a beach hut to look like. "I know it's not much, but you can stay with me. You can wash up in the lagoon. There's a waterfall which provides privacy where needed." I looked out the window, and caught my breath. What I was staring at was the most beautiful lagoon surrounded by coconut trees, backed by a most glorious waterfall. The stars reflected perfectly on the clear water. "Great sight, isn't it?"

"I've never even dreamed of such beauty!" I exclaimed. I went outside and to the lagoon, where I washed out my wounds. I didn't want to scare Sora with my abilities, so I contented myself to doing it the old fashioned way. When I was finished, I realized just how exhausted I was. I wondered what it would be like if I slept by the lagoon, and sleep I did.

It stared at me with exaggerated patience. "You will give in. You can't fight forever: I always win. Your attempts are all in vain. Sleep now and enjoy what little freedom you have left.

I awoke to the sound of splashing. I felt no pain! Something was wrong. I felt relaxed and at ease, which I never did. This angered me beyond anything. That son-of-a-bitch was toying with me. I felt a tug at the back of my mind and felt unbelievable strength course through me. When I opened my eyes, I saw that I was glowing red and black. I jumped up-no, I flew up. My feet weren't touching the ground! What was that splashing? There was a boy, not much older than Sora, with long, silver and spiky hair. His eyes were the colour of aquamarine, and he had rather large biceps. He looked up and just stared.

"What in Hades! You're a Heartless! Sora!" It was almost funny and I would've laughed had I not been knocked in the head by something rough.

"Dominick!" Sora was suddenly at my side, holding a really big key. "I didn't see that it was you! Why were you glowing like that?"

"He's a Heartless! Kill him!"

"He's not a Heartless. If he was, he would've attacked you already!" At least I still had the power.

"You must be Riku. Owww. That really hurt." I said rubbing my head.

"Sorry. You still haven't answered my question." And so I proceeded to explain the Cancer again. I just got to how powerful it was, when we were rudely interrupted by nasty, small, black ant-like creatures.

"Well if your as powerful as you say, we might be really busy, really soon." I took the hint and felt for the tingling once again. This time though, I thought about a scythe like the one from the Grim Reaper, and was not disappointed. A huge, mean looking scythe appeared in my hands. That and I knew how to use it. I took a moment to assess the battle: we were outnumbered fifty to one. There were the ant-like creatures, and then there were really fat creatures that seemed to be immune to frontal attacks. Accompanying them were red, blue and green hovering creatures. There was some kind of aura surrounding them.

I called upon the earlier power and felt the slightest twinge of pain. It increased by the hundredfold, until I was no longer able to hold on it and released it in a huge shockwave that blasted a three meter radius around me. The creatures faltered to this new threat, but only for a moment. Then they attacked me. I now had the power back and wasted no time in marveling at the sight of my glow. I was literally a blur of deadly attacks and each time the scythe struck home, it blasted many creatures backwards. However, they just kept coming and coming, and I was tiring quickly. We didn't stand a chance against these things. I called on the tingling once more, but instead of coaxing more power, I thought of my pain, and through that pain I directed it to all the creatures. The effect was immediate: the creatures started howling and writhing in agony and quickly disintegrating. Within seconds it was all over, though the Cancer had left its toll on me. I felt the creature inside me stir, as if awaking from a long, dreamless sleep. It prodded at my mind and I had to fight to remain in control of it. Something wasn't right though. The more I fought it, the more it seemed to take control. So if I stopped fighting, would I win? Only one way to find out, I told myself. It worked. Big surprise.

"Dominick! You were amazing! The way you just-" that's when I lost consciousness.

The monster roared in frustration.

"You know not your enemy! I am Fear! I am Pestilence! I am Death! I am War! I AM THE SON OF THE DEVIL! Satan himself fears me!" He was literally burning in rage. "You might have won the battle, but you have not won the war!"

I opened my eyes to the sound of waves. They must've set me out on the beach. I realized that I was gripping something. I still had the scythe, and it was glowing.

"He's awake! How you feeling?" asked a female voice. I looked over, and boy did it really hurt my poor neck, to see a red haired girl. She was pretty. Her hair was a lighter red than mine.

"Like I just lost a battle with Aries. How long was I out?"

"A few hours. You really seem to like that scythe." She pointed to the wicked thing and I just couldn't help giggling.

"It's the other way around. It really seems to like me." Now it was her turn to fall over giggling. The two of us sat giggling like littlie kids until Sora and Riku jogged over.

"Well, it seems you two are fine just on your own. I expected to see you crying over a dead body, but that would be completely ironic to this!" I started blushing and desperately wanted to change the subject.

"Hey, you got a piano here?" I asked lamely. Brilliant. I'm supposed to be a mega genius and here I am, wondering how to change a simple conversation. I think I preferred the battle.

"We seem to be getting alotta weird stuff washing up on the beach."

"It sounds like you have a rogue portal somewhere out at sea." Actually, I had a feeling that this had to do with the Bermuda Triangle. I suddenly felt really scared. If it was the Bermuda Triangle, then there might be more than just the Heartless. Sora was looking around nervously.

"There is this huge wolf, and it seems to be half man, and it's standing right there!" he screeched in fright. It was definitely a werewolf. It stood over seven and a half feet tall. Its hands (claws) were as big as a third of my body. Its eyes were yellow and tinged with red. Its muzzle was covered with blood, as well as half its body. From far off, it would've looked harmless, almost human. This thing wasn't far off; it was really close.

"Don't move a muscle!" I hissed. Did I mention that it had extremely good hearing? It roared at the sound of my voice. Before it charged, it threw back its head and gave the most blood chilling howl. Then it charged. I threw Sora back and stood to meet the danger. I swung my scythe, but the werewolf just swept it aside and sliced my side open.

"AAAAAAAGGHH! You pile of crap!" The pain was unbearable. The Cancer couldn't even reach this kind of pain. I couldn't control my anger and pain now. The Cancer took control. I started transforming into its' own kind, only much, much more scary. My face bulged out, my teeth grew to the same size as the werewolves, I grew to eight and a half feet tall and so did my hunger for blood. The werewolf snarled and backed away.

Puny thing. It couldn't even charge me now. Who was scared now? Then I roared so loudly that the ground shook and the manwolf howled.

We engaged in a weird variety of fights, ranging from kicking, biting, punching and pouncing. It bit my arm, and I broke its ankle right off. It bit down harder on my arm in pain and rage. Something hit me in the small of my back. It burned beyond pain. Something hit the werewolf in front of me, on the head. It reared and howled, and started to writhe on the ground. It wasn't long before I joined it, squirming like a snake in an eagle's talon. I started to feel the hunger and anger ebb away. It was almost as if I blacked out, because when I opened my eyes, I was normal again. There was a man next to me, moaning in pain. He was missing his ankle, and I remembered with a twang of regret that it was me who bit it off.

"What just happened? How did you get back to normal?" asked a terrified Sora.

"Is your key made out of pure silver?" I asked. He nodded.

"Silver is like poison to werewolves. It backfires the curse of the wolf." I explained.

"And that man? Shouldn't we help him?"

"Yes. It wasn't his fault he became a werewolf. Most people have to be bitten or hurt by the claws of a werewolf. The fangs hold the curse, which is like poison."

"How did I get here? OOOWWWW! My ankle! Where is it?"

"Yeah. We really ought to help him." I repeated. His face was twisted in pain and scars.

"Hey, sir. I'm going to take away the pain for you, but first you must tell me your name and how you got those scars. It is essential that I know that information." I gently shook his arm to get his attention.

"My name is Cooper. The scars came from a pack of rogue werewolves in the highlands of Scotland. Only a few weeks after I killed a pack. We were on a training routine. A mission against the Special Ops squad. We went to their rescue when we saw a flare go up. What we found was the remains of the team. Only one survivor. He had a deep scratch in his chest and kept yodeling about how there was only supposed to be one. Five minutes after we found him, we saw the moon, a full moon, and only seconds after that, we heard distant howling. We started to panic and ran to the main road. We saw shapes, huge shapes in the shadows, about two-hundred meters away from our current position. We shot at them, but they kept coming. One of us was killed, when he ran into a stake of a branch. It wasn't the branch that killed him. When we found him, there were body parts laying scattered about for all the world to see.

Ironically, it was the sergeant that went to see, and got a sight of the danger. When I got there, he was yelling 'me guts are fallin' out!' and that was no exaggeration. His gut and colon really were rolling out of what used to be his stomach. I called the others and we dragged him to the road, where we met this charming young lady. She was a zoologist and claimed that she knew what was chasing us. Before we could ask any real questions, one of the bastards punched a hole right through the two foot thick steel canvas roof of the truck and grabbed at the sergeant. We shot at it until it left us for a few seconds. That was enough time to get the truck down the road. We rode into a clearing and stopped next to a farmhouse. It didn't look very safe, but with the state we were in, I wasn't about to complain. It was empty inside, except for one collie. It was on a state of panic, but weren't we all? We barred the windows and locked each door, but kept one window open to keep a lookout. The lady made us some soup and tea. We heard an explosion outside and when I went out to see what it was, I was shocked to see what they did to the truck, and only in a few seconds! There was nothing left of it that wasn't burnt or twisted. Going outside was a mistake, because it provoked them into hunting us down. We spent the next half our wasting our ammo. We pumped so much lead into them, yet they would not die! We managed to repel them for then. While the others kept watch, the zoologist and I took the sergeant upstairs and proceeded to superglue his guts back in. He had a bottle of whiskey, so luckily he was drunk. We still had to knock him out, he was screaming so much that the creatures were howling at it." He paused, taking a breath.

"I'm going to take away the pain now, so just relax. If you calm down enough, I might be able to regenerate your ankle." I soothed Cooper. "Sora? Go fetch a bucket of water, and a rag. We need to clean out this wound, so it doesn't become septic." While he ran off, I pulled up his trouser leg, or what was left of it. He howled in pain and I thought there was another werewolf somewhere. "Did the curse become permanent?" I asked.

"Yeah. I've been in that cursed body for some years now. I've killed countless amounts of people." he sobbed. What could I say? I would be a hypocrite by saying that it was fine. In fact, it wasn't fine. It left you feeling hollow, and empty to kill the innocent, or anyone in this case.

"I know what it's like. I've killed many people myself due to a Cancer." He looked up with huge eyes.

"This wouldn't be the legendary LPD Cancer, now would it?" He started to grin. "That explains why you were able to turn into a superior werewolf."

"Don't think for one minute that this Cancer is the best thing to have; it's not. First is the pain. Then is the threat that comes as power lust. You still have your ups and downs." I couldn't get that glint out of his eye. "Look. You really wouldn't like it if you knew what it was like to experience the pain." That seemed to do it. Just then, Sora came back with the bucket and a piece of cloth.

"I hope it won't hurt too much?" Cooper asked. I didn't answer. I couldn't answer. How could I know?

"Just keep still, and bite on the driftwood lying next to you." With that, it got the Cancer to light the end of my palm on fire which was white hot. It didn't affect me, but it would hurt Cooper a great deal. Before he could react, I slapped my palm to his wound. He screamed so loudly, I thought there was another werewolf somewhere. After a couple of seconds, I removed my palm. At least the wound was scorched, thus killing all bacteria and stopping the blood flow. I took the bucket and told Sora to hold him down. I didn't think he would be enough, so I called Riku as well.

"Hold him down and make sure he doesn't get sand on the wound." I instructed him as he came running. The next part would be extremely painful, or so I thought. I had to pull the rest of his bone out of the wound. I mean, why wouldn't it be painful? "You sure you want to stay conscious through this?" I consulted Cooper. He just nodded. With that, I dug my nails into the end of his wound and pushed them until I could feel the end of his bone. He couldn't even scream it was so painful. I got a grip on the bone, just as a new torrent of blood spurted forth from the wound, and pulled as hard and as quickly as I could. Then he started to scream, even louder than before, and struggle. Sora and Riku had to concentrate all their strength to hold him down. This would not do. The effect would be traumatic on all of us if we had to watch anymore of his suffering. I called on the Cancer again and absorbed most of his pain. For some reason, it was only a tickle when I felt it. Then out popped the bone. I grabbed the bucket and splashed some water over the wound and bound the rag tight around the wound. I concentrated on absorbing all his pain. That took a couple of minutes, but when it was done, he passed out. I sighed, exhausted a second time that day.

"Take him to the lagoon. Let him rest a bit. I'll check on him now and then." With that, I went to the lagoon myself to wash up and calm down. After that, I picked up my scythe and put it next to me against the hut. I was facing the sea, because it always seemed so calm. The sun was hovering over the horizon, red and huge with clouds over it. It was a sight to behold, indeed. Sora came and sat next to me.

"How you feeling?" he asked. I thought about saying "Me? I'm fine. I fight Heartless and werewolves everyday and end up half slaughtering men." but just didn't have the strength.

"I feel like crap. I never want to do that again." I sighed. "How did the Heartless come to be?"

"I don't really know the answer to that myself. You ought to ask Riku. I first ran into them when I got this key."

"I don't think Riku really trusts me. Maybe I should rather leave this knowledge." We sat there for the rest of the day. I think I fell asleep at some point, because Sora was shaking me and telling me to wake up.

"There is something weird on the other side of the island. It's huge." I followed him for what seemed like an hour. We stopped behind a dune.

"What exactly does this thing look like?" he just shook his head and I climbed over the dune. My mouth dropped. "Sora! This is beyond huge! This is…I don't even have a word for it." What I was looking at, looked very much like an American aircraft carrier. As big as five football fields and the guns where as big in length as the poles of the football goalposts. It was definitely the Bermuda Triangle.

"What is it?" I jumped. I was so caught off-guard by the carrier that I didn't notice Sora next to me.

"I think it's an aircraft carrier. A Lennex by the looks of it. I'm going to see if anyone is still alive. It doesn't really look like a derelict." I had no idea how they even manned the ship. There was no boarding plank. Luckily there was an extremely tall tree leaning against the deck. The height wasn't very encouraging, but I climbed up anyway. When I got to the top, I had to make a leap to get across the railing. There were corsair planes in two lines, one of them even had its engine on. The deck was deserted, so were the planes. I went to the control tower; empty. I climbed back down and sat, suddenly exhausted.

"What was up there?" asked Sora.

"Nothing. The whole ship seems deserted. I haven't an explanation, but I would think that when it entered the Triangle, it was boarded by something. Something big, because there were huge prints which seemed half human and something else." I said. I had a suspicion on what it was, but didn't really want to know.

"Why don't we fight it? It can't be tougher than an oversize heartless."

"Because, it took, say, 3000 men, burly and muscular and really tough with guns, to man that ship and they were all wiped out by this thing. Now I beg for common sense. Do we really want to fight something that dangerous?" I almost laughed at the absurdity of the thought. Sora just paled.

"You really have a way of persuasion, don't you?"

"The truth can be very persuasive when the situation is dire."

"But-but what about the Cancer? Can't you use that to destroy the beast?" he stammered. I just scowled and walked away. Why did people always think that the Cancer was the answer to life? Why did they always take it for granted? It's not as if I'm Christ in another body, come to save us all. He already did that, and we did as much as ignore that. He gave his life and we spat in his face. Why should he come again and save us? Why would human pride change? It's time that humans got their fingers out of their asses and solve their own godforsaken problems. It's because of humans that the ozone layer is evaporating. It's because of humans that there is HIV aids. It's because of human lust for money and power that we are so blinded. I mean, I have eternal knowledge of my dimension, and they know it, but they still refuse to listen. Look at the Americans. Look at the Russians, and the British. Look at the whole world. We're tearing the Earth, our chance for survival, apart, and all for what? So we can live in the plushest house? So we can buy the pimpiest car that pollutes our air? So we can have all we want and nothing we need? I know every outcome in every direction of human action and right now, we need harmony and unity. We are all humans, and that makes us a team. We complain about how those in sport don't work as a team, but we really must look at ourselves. Take action for our own mistakes. We cannot win a game as individuals, but we can win as a team. We all look for alternatives, and not for the obvious. We look toward the future, but don't work toward it. That is our problem. Human pride.

"Hey! Dominick! Where you headed?" It was the girl that I woke up with. I think her name was Kairi. "Wait up! I want to talk with you."

"What about?" I asked.

"About that object there. I was exploring it before Sora and Riku knew about it. When I was up there, I saw a shape. It looked like a mutant. A bit between human and I think bull. I don't know what it-"

"It was a Minotaur. Half bull half human. It feeds on human flesh, and is always in a rage of bloodlust. Pray that w don't become its next target, because once it has your scent, there's no stopping it." As if on cue, I heard a tremendous bellow. "Perhaps I spoke too soon. Run!" We ran as far as we could, back to the lagoon. Riku was leaning against the hut.

"Where have you two been? Having fun?" he said, amused. I wasn't.

"Shut up! We have a Minotaur on the loose and a very large one at that. We have to destroy that ship before the beast finds a way onto the beach. Where is Sora?" He wasn't amused anymore.

"He's in the hut doing whatever. He seemed rather scared when he came back."

"Scared? You mean that was what you thought? I was terrified. There's something on that ship!" screamed a pale looking Sora.

"Hermes has a lot to answer. Come out here you big coward. It's safe!"

"Why? I'm not coming out until that thing is gone!" I sighed. This was going to take some coaxing. Then the idea struck me. Why don't I build up some defenses to build up everybody's confidence? But what would I build? It's not as if I could just summon a couple of missile turrets and plasma walls. I knew how to build them, but I didn't know where to find the resources. Maybe, just maybe I could…

"Hey, Sora! Would you come out if I built up some kind of defense against the Minotaur? I just need to know where to find the material. Will you help me to achieve this?" It seemed to work, but he still looked uncertain.

"How do you know if this would work? How do you know that we'll all be safe?" The boy hit the soft spot!

"I don't, but what have we got to lose? If this doesn't work, nothing will."

"Good point. I'll try and help, but what if it doesn't work?" he finally said.

"Then if I'm to die, I WILL NOT DIE WITHOUT A FIGHT! I won't just sit around and do nothing but feel sorry for myself while that thing is out there. I will not wait for my death. Besides, where is the fun in being a pacifist? No! The problem with humans today is that they will NOT stand up for themselves! They have forgotten how to help themselves. The children with Laproxidiathis Cancer have spoon-fed them enough! What gratitude do we get for our help? Nothing but grief. If you're just going to sit about and mope, then that's fine by me, but I'm going to do something and try!" I shouted. I just couldn't keep it in any longer.

"I couldn't have put it better myself." said a new voice. I whipped around to the sound and found myself staring for the second time that day. If my eyes weren't playing tricks on me, I was looking straight at the cartoon characters that everyone loved so much. I was staring at Goofy, Donald and Mickey Mouse. Mickey was dressed in what looked to me as clothes for the royal, and my thoughts were justified by the crown on his head. Donald was dressed in blue robes and a pointed hat; he must be the wizard, Goofy was dressed in armor and held a huge shield.

"Am I dreaming or hallucinating? This cannot be real." I almost laughed.

"Well was everything else that you saw real?" asked Riku. He had a point. "Where I grew up, you were all cartoons. I'm still new to meeting these new surprises. I apologize, Your Majesty. I did not realize the importance of your being. Please forgive me." I bowed as I said this. Before anyone could answer, another bellow, louder than the previous, sounded.

"So much for those defenses, but we have defenders. Now! To your arms and on your guard! We don't know where the monster is or how big it is. We do, however, know that we outnumber it six to one. Whilst we have the advantage of me and our numbers, that thing has the advantage of the element of surprise and strength. I know that I am the most inexperienced in battle, but for this we need strategic and tactical retaliation. I don't know, or care, if any of you agree, but I do know how this creature will react to the identity of prey: we are that prey. Now there is no time for pride; it's work together as a team or risk being killed. If you refuse this string of hope, stay out of my way. I hold to my previous statement that I will NOT go down without a fight!" I looked at the others, daring them to object. No one did. I nodded. "Any questions?" I inquired.

"Just a few hundred, like how are we going to keep Cooper alive; how will we be able to see the thing since it's night and what are we to expect?" I was delighted by these questions.

"We should form an ellipse and border the lagoon, while at the same time defend Cooper. As for seeing at night; just don't build a fire. It ruins your night vision. Frankly, I'm just as prepared for this onslaught to-be as you are. I never have faced a minotaur, but I do know how it thinks and what it's hunting patterns base. Form a border of twenty meters between around the lagoon. We'll create a fire to cook our meals and keep Cooper warm. We might need to form a patrol group of two. Think of it as scouting out. I'll be first patrol and Sora can be my partner. Kairi, you'll be first watch. The watch must be rotated every second hour to keep our senses fresh and sharp. Remember to sit away from the fire during your watch." With that I set off toward where the bellow came from, Sora right behind me. I had my scythe again, so I wasn't completely weaponless. It wasn't until three hours later that I heard something lumbering in the sand. Sora heard it too, because he suddenly gasped.

"We have to get back to the others and warn them," I whispered. "It's headed straight for them, and by the sound of it, it's not used to sand." But before I could take half a pace, three things happened: the world suddenly exploded in front of me: a brilliant white light flashed behind me: I found myself flying backwards and landing at two winged feet. Next second, something heavy landed right on top of me.

"You aught to be more vigilant and alert. I've been searching the entire world for the beast and it led me straight here. Imagine my surprise!" I looked up to a young, slim and glowing face which held an amused expression. Hermes. God of thieves and messengers, messenger of Zeus.

"Took you long enough. Your pet cleared an entire aircraft carrier without so much as a scratch! How did you lose something so big and ugly?" Sora was tugging at my sleeve.

"That's none of your concern. I won't be spoken to like that!" So even the Greek gods were arrogant and cocky.

"Have it your way then. I care not. What is it, Sora?" He had just hit my arm and was pointing at a deformed figure limping towards us.

"Ah! There you are, you naughty boy! Get over here so I can take you home." said Hermes. He turned around and was headed for the ocean when he stopped dead. He turned slowly, and I saw a look of confusion on his face. "I sense a powerful, dark presence coming from you. But you are a mere insignificant human! How is this possible?" He thought of me as an insignificant human? What a laugh this was going to be.

"I have a very "insignificant" cancer. Laproxidianthis Cancer." I said coldly. Once said, the glow was gone from his face. He gazed into my eyes, which remained cold and hard, before finally making a decision.

"You will come with me to Mt Olympus. The great Lord Zeus will wish to speak with you." he finally announced. That came as a shock. He was so taken aback, that he had completely forgotten about his beast, which was standing at his side.

"Fine. But leave my friends out of this." He agreed and no sooner had he nodded his agreement, than everything turned white. I didn't even have time to blink, before it ended and I found myself standing on a path of gold and silver. Around me stood buildings of white marble. They were all huge and all beautiful. The path led to the biggest of them, which was made of the strangest and most beautiful combinations of marble walls, golden ceilings, silver floors and crystal windows. It was built in the shape of a temple, but was the size of a very big palace. The entrance was lined with statues, representing who I thought was Zeus, Poseidon, Hades, Athena, Demeter, Artemis, Hermes, Ares, Apollo, Hephaestus and Helen. Between each statue, stood a huge, marble column. Right behind the palace, stood the peak of Mt Olympus, throwing the entire palace in shadow. Hermes and I started in that direction. All around me, people, adults and children, stared as we passed. Some threw laurel leaves on the ground where Hermes had stepped. Others just pointed and whispered amongst each other. Before long, we were approaching the palace entrance. I took the opportunity to get a good look of each statue. Zeus was clothed in the bluest silk cloth and held a lightning bolt as a staff. His eyes looked like they were shooting lightning bolts. Poseidon was clothed in a robe the colour of the ocean. He held his legendary Trident. His eyes were blue and warm. Hades stood robed in the blackest cloth. He wore a dark helm and held a withered staff made of bone. His eyes were cruel and merciless. Athena stood dressed not in cloth or robe, but armour of bronze and gold. She held a shield and sword with her head high and proud. Her eyes were grey and calculating. Demeter was dressed in green robes. She held a wicket basket of all sorts of fruit. Her eyes were brown like soil. Artemis had a silver silk top and silver skirt. She held a bow, knocked and aimed. Her eyes looked alert and kind. Ares was also dressed in armour. He held a black round shield and silver sword. His face looked cruel and wicked. Apollo was dressed in white robes. He held a bow at his side. His eyes looked caring and concerned. Hephaestus had only a simple loin-cloth. He held a hammer in one hand and the other held down some copper ore. His eyes were hidden. Helen was dressed in golden robes. She held a simple white staff in her hand. Her eyes were alight with laughter and curiosity. Then we were inside. The floor was made of pure silver and the ceiling of gold. We passed three more rooms like the first until we stopped at two huge oak doors. Hermes looked around nervously and turned to me.

"Wait here," was all he said before he opened the doors and closed them behind him. Hopefully this wouldn't take very long, I was getting restless.

"Who are you?" I twirled around towards the voice and saw…nothing. I must've been imagin –

"What the heck?" There stood the most beautiful woman I had ever seen. She had wavy blond hair, striking blue eyes, white, smooth skin and a flattering look on her face.

"Who are you?" she asked again in the same soft voice.

"I-I'm Dominick Eddison. May I return the question?" I almost whispered in awe. She just looked at me with a curious look.

"I am known as the Goddess of Beauty: Aphrodite. You look cute, and that's something coming from me. Where do you come from?"

"I come from South Africa. I really didn't like it there much." I was getting used to her appearance. Before she could ask anything else, the great oak doors opened to reveal a beautiful chamber.

"You may now have an audience with the lord Zeus." boomed a rough voice. As I entered, I glanced over my shoulder. She wasn't there anymore. I turned my attention back to the chamber. There was only one throne. On the throne was a huge bearded man with sky-blue robes.

"You have come to me, not because you wanted, but because I ordered it so. Hermes tells me that you have a unique condition. How would you explain it?" he said. I didn't answer at first, but he became impatient after a few minutes of silence. I told him of how I found out how to use the Cancer and how it lead me through many hardships. He sat there listening and not interrupting. When I was done with my tale, he whispered something to Hermes. After what seemed like hours but was really a few minutes, they seemed to come to some kind of conclusion.

"I am going to take this up with the rest of my council. In the meantime, you may do whatever you like. You will be our guest of honor, and we will treat you as such. Do not forget to treat us as your superiors with respect. Do you have any objections?" he boomed.

"My lord. I am grateful for your lenience towards me and would be honored to be your guest. I do, however, have one question. What do I do if I lose control?" I asked. He seemed to think this over for a few seconds.

"I shall place upon you a spell. The spell will keep your mind strong and open, thus helping you in keeping control. Now enjoy your freedom and begone!" There was a flash of lightning and he was gone. Hermes led me out again and handed over a bag of silver coins.

"These coins are called drachmas. They are the Greek currency and will aid you in getting what you need. I hope to meet you again sometime. Goodbye!" And with a flurry of wings, he too disappeared. I hoped they wouldn't take too long. As I walked toward the exit, I noticed a glint in another hallway. I just kept walking ignoring what I saw. The last thing I needed was a fight with a god. Before I even got to the entrance hall, there was a blinding light.

"We have decided." I turned to stare straight into the eyes of Zeus.

"Decided?" I asked, confused.

"Yes. We have decided to grant you immortality. We hope to trap the LPD Cancer into one body. I read your memory and personality. You can be trusted not to abuse this power." he said. I couldn't believe what I was hearing! Immortality! But I was suspicious.

"Will I have any responsibilities for immortality? Or will I be free?"

"You will be completely free under the condition of misusing the power of the Cancer. You may return to wherever you came from,' and with that, he disappeared with a flash of lightning. I felt for the tingle and thought about the Destiny Islands. I wasn't surprised to see the multi-colored portal open and stepped through it. I closed my eyes when it closed behind me and didn't open them until I was sure that I felt sunlight. I was standing at the edge of a cliff. What I saw was not the Destiny Islands. I was looking out at the remains of what looked like a huge city. It was completely barren behind me, so, naturally, I headed for the city. It was a long walk and by the time I arrived, the sun had started to set. Everything was twisted, melted, torn, ripped, rusted or shattered. It looked like a nuclear bomb was dropped right on the city. I moved towards what looked like a monument about a kilometer in. As I got closer, I noticed a lot of movement around the monument. The city still had a population! They were all in rags, but they seemed happy. I looked into an alleyway and was shocked to see it littered with kids. All of them just laying about, doing nothing.

"You can't do anything about them. They're all orphans, nobody to take care of them. Except me, of course." I didn't notice him standing next to me. He was tall and really thin. He had blond hair. Spiky. Blue eyes. He had a huge sword strapped to his back. "We don't get many outsiders with such fancy clothing much. Where're you from?" He looked suddenly menacing, somehow.

"I'm not from anywhere. Anywhere you'd know about anyway." I muttered. I really wasn't in the mood for trouble. "Listen man, I don't want to cause any trouble. Please could you show me a place to stay? I hadn't had all that much sleep lately. My name is Dominick Henry Eddison." I said a bit louder. After that, he didn't look as menacing.

"I'm Cloud. I don't think you would be that much trouble, so I'll let you be. The only place that you can stay at this moment is my hostel. That's where some of the orphans stay. Be mindful though. They do tend to pick a pocket when it is offered." He shook my hand and led me deeper into the city. This part was even more wrecked. The only thing still partly standing was a small church. The entrance doors were on one hinge, and the windows were all broken. The roof…well there was no roof. Inside was no better. The pews were dusty, the floor was cracked, a pillar was knocked down and the walls were covered in holes. Well what do you know? I might actually like this place. At the front of the church, where a huge part of the floor was missing, stood a small meadow. A small box stood next to the meadow. And around the box, crouched a few kids. They seemed to be examining the box. One of the kids broke away and ran towards us.

"Please will you let us have a look? You never let us look!" he pleaded, hanging on Clouds arm. Cloud just smiled and gently pulled the kid off his arm.

"You know what the answer is. You will only find danger in that box. I have told you that Materia can kill you if you don't know how to use it. Anyway, I would like you to meet our guest. Dominick, this is Denzel. Denzel – Dominick. He is an outlander who needs a place to stay," he added in a gentle voice, "He might also have an answer to your problem." The boy called Denzel turned to me. He had fine, brunette hair, and blue eyes. He looked depressed.

"You have an answer? Can you really help me, sir?" he whispered, a look of hope on his face. I really hated to burst his bubble.

"I cannot help that of which I do not know. I am sorry," I hated myself. Who said I couldn't help? "But if you tell me what the problem is, I can try." I blurted. Cloud smiled and pulled me to the side, into the shadows.

"He really does see hope in you. Are you sure that you're up to it?" he whispered to me.

"Whatever problem there is, can be fixed. I will try my best for him." I replied. I just moved out of the shadows when an idea struck me.

"Cloud? How big exactly is your sword? How strong is it?" He turned around taken off guard.

"Why?" he asked.

"Just curious. I want to compare it to my scythe." I felt for the familiar tingle at the back of my mind and imagined the scythe appearing in my hand. For a brief moment nothing happened, then suddenly the pain increased and a sickly green light shone from my hand. The green light just hovered for a moment and then started to take shape. It elongated to form a staff, one end curving wickedly. I looked at Cloud and was amused to see that he already had his sword out. I took hold of the scythe and the light moved to surround me, and then dimmed to a glow.

"Nice glow. All you need now is a black cloak and I'd think you were Death."

"Maybe I am Death. Maybe I'm not, but we will never know now, will we? Just so you know, I have no idea how to use a sword or any kind of weapon."

"I'll go easy on you." came the amused reply. Like lightning he struck just below my waste. Luckily that was where I held the scythe, and brought it up to meet the blade. As I did that, I swung the other end at his neck. He ducked and lunged. I side-stepped and brought my weapon down at his head. He swung his sword above his head and parried and threw his shoulder into my – well let's just say that's where the sun don't shine. With the wind knocked out of me he kicked me down and I found myself staring at the edge of his blade.

"Well fought. With enough practice, you could even leave Sephiroth speechless," he said as he helped me up."I hope I didn't do anything permanent?"

"Nothing I can't live with," I panted."But try to aim somewhere else next time." I sat down on one of the few pews that weren't broken and tried to remember what my old life was like. The only things I remembered were my family and my piano. I looked around at the patch of meadow and saw Denzel sitting next to the box.

"He always sits there. It's an obsession to him," said a new voice.

I turned my gaze to a young and beautiful lady.

"Hi. I'm Tifa, the protector of Cloud," she said."Denzel thinks that the Materia will solve his problems, poor lamb. He really has high hopes about you. You sure about this?"

"I don't know what I'm sure about anymore. I just let fate do its thing and suck it like any man. What more can I do?"

"Nothing, I guess. What do you know about a sickness call the Enigma?" I just shook my head.

"Enigma was a sickness that came from the planet itself. When one is infected with it, that person lives a life of torment and torture. It weakens and destroys mind, soul and body. The only cure we found was water. Only, the water didn't cure Denzel. He lost the marks of the Enigma, but the effect remained. He really is such a sweet kid; I couldn't bear the idea of him in torment. Can you do anything for him?" I didn't answer. How could I? I turned my gaze towards Denzel once again as I contemplated my options: find the solution through fate or give him immortality. I preferred finding the solution, but I didn't know how long he had left. If there's one thing I know about diseases, it's that they're always unpredictable; he might look healthy now, but he could be dead tomorrow. That left me with only the last option.

I was staring down. Down into a pit so deep and dark that I felt my soul shudder.

"You see before you the very pit of the soulless. It would be most entertaining to hear your tortured screams rising from the bottom." Suddenly I was staring into the most horrible pair of eyes. Eyes as black as the very pit and just as merciless and cruel. They were full of laughter. They were starting to glow red and –.

"Wake up, sleepy! Do you want any breakfast- or what's left of it, anyway." I opened my eyes and was rudely assaulted by bright sunlight. After blinking a few times to get used to the glare I noticed a tray on my lap. It was full of eggs and… eggs.

"Thanks. What time is it?"

"Noon. You slept like a rock. Literally." I caught sight of Denzel. He had this expectant look. You know… the one you get on a toddler expecting a lollipop. I tried to ignore that feeling of guilt, gnawing at the pit of my stomach. This was the boy whose life I would destroy.

After I had my… eggs, I looked around for Cloud. All the while being followed by Denzel.

"If you're looking for Cloud, he left to patrol the city borders. He always does that before training me and Marlene. It's a real pain, but he makes it fun." Great. Now what would I do to pass the time? Maybe I could get Denzel to teach me some basics in weapons? That would be useful and it would distract me from the pain.

"Hey, Denzel? Could you show me a couple of your sword techniques?" He raised an eyebrow in surprise. "Just for interest sakes. I want to get Cloud back."

"I don't know. He is very good with a sword. He was just toying with you," he said doubtfully, "Besides, he wouldn't fight you again. He's too proud and quite stubborn at times."

"He can't be as good as you say; no one is that good. I might just surprise you."

"I don't think so," said a new voice, "You would first have to be skilled in martial arts. Only I have bested him at that."

I whirled around and almost bumped into a very thin figure. Then it wasn't there, but behind me and suddenly, I found myself flying forward. I didn't even get the chance to be surprised before I was knocked back by a blur, crashing into an unfortunate pew.

"Try and best that, kiddo," said the blur as I was getting up from the ruined pew. "It took me half my life to master these skills; you don't stand a chance."

I didn't waste energy on words. I spread my knees and slightly bent my legs to focus my center of gravity. Then I took a good look at the "blur" and saw the face of a young brunette woman.

She cocked her head at me as if amused.

"Fight me. I was unprepared for your attack, but I am now prepared."

She just laughed and turned around to walk away.

"What makes you think that you can compete against me? You're rather daring for one so young. You remind me of Cloud. It really gets me thinking."

No sooner had she said that than she whirled around and lunged at me. I was expecting just that and jumped by digging my toes into the ground. The result was me flying towards the roof. Just before I hit, I twisted around and kicked hard, letting the momentum propel me back down to where she stood confused. She gazed up just in time to spot me and roll backwards. As I hit the ground, I rolled to lessen the force of the impact, and then ran at the nearest pillar and up it. Pushing myself away, I back flipped and landed right behind her, and then I pushed her with the flat of my palm. Now it was her turn to find herself flying forward to smash another pew.

"You beat me! I can't believe I was beaten by a brat! How? How did you learn all that?" she gasped as she rose up out of the debris.

"I have the ability to sense a person's intentions before they act."

I walked over to Denzel, who was gaping with disbelief. Just as I neared him, I felt a sudden pain like no other spread across my entire body. I was faintly aware of Denzel and the woman running towards me before darkness took me…

"I warned you. There is no escape from the offspring of Lucifer."

I was staring at an exact copy of myself. It was like staring at a mirror, but with no control over your reflection.

"Submit to me, human. I can make the pain go away. Give me complete control. I am now you!"

"You're not anything like me! You were born from lies. I will never grant you the pleasures of my being! Never!"

"Fool! Submit to me or you will know the meaning of Ultimate Torment! I will butcher your closest, ever so slow, and you will bear witness to the entirety of it. You will suffer as I violate your very being and laugh as you beg for freedom."

"I will never submit! Never!"

"Enjoy your so-called freedom while you can. Ha ha ha-ahaa haa!." –

Dominick. My name is –

"Dominick, wake up!"

The voice sounded far away, like a tunnel. I opened my eyes to the anxious face of Cloud.

"What's u – aaargh! My head!"

I felt like someone was pouring lava into my head.

"Dom! Get up! Something is wrong with Denzel!"

In spite of the pain, I struggled up and looked around. Lying on the floor, beside one of the pews, was Denzel, writhing in some horrible torture.

So that's what the Stigma did to the victims.

"I won't allow this to continue. He deserves a normal life without torture." I walked up to the boy and felt for the tingle in my mind. Instead of a rush of pain, my sight went dark green and the aura returned around me. The scythe was in my hand again and I was not walking, but actually FLOATING towards Denzel. I could feel the Stigma attacking him. I could sense its origin….

Sorry about the suspense ending. I'm still busy completing the story, so please bear with me!

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