A/N: First of all, if you want to read this here on , go ahead, but if you have the ability to, I'd recommend you read this on Ao3 at Brickmaster_Guy, as there are more notes and better communications over there. But, uh, sorry for writing another one of these. I explained my reasons for writing a fourth one more on Ao3, but for now just know that this is being written so that I can get my personal closure on this series and finally move on. Sorry for this. Read it if you want to or don't if you don't— I don't care too much. Sorry again.

Darkness. A sort of physical manifestation of anxiety. A presence. Power. She'd felt these before, but it'd been so long that she'd come close to forgetting. No, she neverwouldforget, but she'd pushed it back in her mind. She didn't want to think much about the bad parts of her life anymore. But here she was confronted— surrounded by her past and her tormenter. She'd come to hate it more and more every passing day, culminating in such rage that she refused to even give him so much as a single thought. But now she would be able to think of nothing but him. The black goat.

From the void was the black goat. He didn't seem to step forward, nor did Mae, yet now she saw him where he wasn't before. He greeted Mae. She stepped forward, attempting to get a good look at him. The one that killed Casey. That killed the taco guy. Bea's dad. Mae paused. Angus. Mae furrowed her brow and began to yell. "What do you want?! Haven't you done enough? I destroyed you, remember? You're stuck in that hole and moved on. I lived. I won. Your cult is dead, and I'm alive! What could you possibly want? To ask for forgiveness? For more help? Well, I've moved on, and I'm never gonna help you like I did. Just keep to yourself and stop being a sore loser, asshole."

The darkness shifted slightly, and she heard the goat's booming voice in her head. He simply acknowledged Mae with a grunt. Mae had tears well up in her eyes as rage reinvigorated her again.

"Fuck you, asshole! You don't deserve to even exist, let alone torment me for the rest of your sad life! I got you already! You killed enough, you're not gonna get anymore! Was Casey not enough? Bea's dad? Angus?! You've destroyed enough lives!" Mae screamed.

The goat shifted again, and Mae felt surrounded, restrained even. She struggled against the nothing that bound her, only resulting in grunts from Mae with no real results. Mae felt the voice again in her mind. A sort of whispering filled her head. Thoughts that weren't hers leaked into her own. Her anger at the goat was slowly fading into an acceptance.Mae struggled against it, physically and mentally, to no avail. She hated it. She hated this whole thing. A bad, bitter taste began to fill her mouth. She heard her own voice in her head pledging allegiance to the goat. She heard herself join the cult again. Mae went limp, tears dripping down her face as she remembered the cult and her assistance to it. She helped the cult.

Mae's eyes opened. She was back in the real world. Objects seemed fuzzy, however, and all was still terribly dark as she tried to realign herself in reality. She heard a voice she couldn't make out and felt someone adjusting her position. She blinked her eyes tightly, and tried to clear her throat. She opened her eyes again, and saw her bedroom, fuzzy and out of focus, but recognizable. The voice became clearer as she began to pinpoint the source— Bea.

Mae sat up. Bea asked, "Mae? You hear me? Are you alright?" Mae shook her head, and shut her eyes again as the light was suddenly switched on, blinding her.

Mae cleared her throat again, and hoarsely responded. "Yeah, I'm good, why?"

"You were having a nightmare or something, babe. You were, like, thrashing around and shouting. I thought you were having a seizure or something. But you're okay?"

"I'm good." Mae tasted the bitter taste in her mouth still.

"Alright, well, you also threw up, so, maybe you should go get some water to drink or whatever."

Mae looked down at herself. "Ughhh, gross." She began to slide out of bed.

"Hey, uh, what were you dreaming of though? You scared me to death with that."

Mae thought for a moment, a simple hum indicating it. "Uh… It was… I saw…" Mae nervously stuttered as she tried to convey what was bothering her without continuing Bea's anxiety.

"...Was it, uh… you know?" Mae nodded and Bea put her hand on Mae's shoulder. "You wanna talk about it?" Mae nodded again. "Alright, well go clean yourself up first, Maeday."

The cat stood up and wandered over to the bathroom, quickly discarding the dirtied shirt and sweatpants she'd been wearing. It was almost as if she was four, having nightmares and messing up her bed. Mae looked at the time, which showed it was five. She would've been getting up in only half an hour, so she decided she might as well start her day now. She got in the shower and turned the water on, doing her best to stay out of the spray until it warmed up.

It had been at least five years since Gregg first moved to Bright Harbor. Maybe even coming up on six— she'd have to ask him about it. But regardless, it didn't make for her nightmares to be acting up now. Unless… She thought about it in her head, and then suddenly became tense. It had been exactly five years since Angus died.

Angus was a great guy. He completed Gregg and seemed to beam politeness and rationality wherever he went. After he died, Gregg's whole world changed, and to be frank, so did Mae's. Angus had been a beacon, an anchor of Mae to reality. Gregg was always there, and next to him was always Angus. It's been that way for forever. But then he was gone. Angus wasn't there to fix her computer, or to steady Gregg, or to cook amazing food, or to convince Mae that the supernatural and unrealistic weren't real. Even before she'd moved to Bright Harbor she'd noticed. Mae missed that guy probably as much as Gregg did.

Mae walked out of the bathroom dressed in her uniform. She'd gotten a job as assistant manager at a popular restaurant just around the block of her apartment, and wasn't about to ruin that, regardless of her terrible start to the day. Mae's stomach growled as she grabbed her phone off of her bedside table, and so she walked into the kitchen. In the kitchen was Bea, making pancakes.

Mae noticed Bea cooking and said, "Aww, you don't have to do that, Bea."

Bea turned and looked at Mae. "I can make you some breakfast for once." Bea flipped the pancake. "Sit down." Mae sat down at the small table they had against the wall. "So what was bothering you, Mae?"

Mae sighed. "Well, I had one of those nightmares with that goat guy."

"Like you did when we were in Possum Springs?"

"Yeah, like that, except this time he did nothing at all, at least at first. I just saw him, and started thinking about all he's done. And… and I just was angry. I was just absolutely pissed, and I was yelling at him, but he still did nothing. Then I felt that I couldn't move, and I started hearing his voice in my head, and it started getting hard to think and—"

Bea set a plate of syrup-coated pancakes on the table in front of Mae before sitting down across from her with her own plate. "Mae, it's alright." Bea caressed the side of Mae's face with her hand, and Mae smiled. "So is there any reason that this is bothering you again, all of a sudden?" Bea began to cut into the pancakes on her plate.

Mae frowned. "It's, uh, been exactly five years."

Bea chewed the food in her mouth and swallowed. "Five years? Five years sincewhat?"

"Since Angus died."

"...Oh. Mae, do you need to—"

"No, I'm fine." Mae began to eat her pancakes.

"Are you sure? Cause—"

"No, no, I'm okay. I'm not four anymore, I can manage myself. Thanks for letting me talk to you, anyways."

"...Do you wanna do something with Gregg maybe?"

"I don't know. I'll think about it at work, BeaBea."

"Alright."

After that, the two finished their morning routines and both headed off to work. Bea took their car over to her job across town, while Mae began simply to walk to the restaurant, which was so close that the parking nearest the place was probably in her apartment building.

Work wasn't interesting, as usual. A couple of annoying groups of people, a few genuinely nice and caring people, and a lot of people in between. Yet Mae still had her dream and Angus on her mind. It all just sucked and Mae wished she could just go back and fix it. It was her fault that the cult was able to make such a comeback, and it was her fault that Angus died. She couldn't just ignore that. It was her fault that she helped the cult and allowed one cultist to live, and then it was her fault that she didn't go out to call for help. Instead she just went and shot the cultist with that gun, and Angus died because of her. Mae did it.

"Excuse me? Did you hear me?" Mae looked up. She'd zoned out standing at a couple's table and had started crying. "...Are you alright, miss?" the woman asked.

Mae wiped the tears away from her eyes and cleared her throat. "Yeah, yeah, sorry. It's just… a lot on my mind. What was it you wanted?"

"Are you sure you're alright?"

"Yes. What did you need?"

"Uh, could we get some more tea?" Mae nodded and walked off to go grab some tea.

Mae caused this. Gregg probably blamed her for it, too. Maedidcause his death. He was stabbed and bled because of Mae's blind rage and incompetence. If only she could go back and stop herself from joining the cult. Convince her friends that the figurewasa cultist. Make herself go out for help. To fix her horrible mistakes. But now she couldn't. She'd have to live with her guilt and her mistakes. With her failure as a friend. With her failure as a person. With her.

Mae opened the door to her apartment and walked in. Locking it behind her, she immediately began to get out of her uniform. Bea wasn't home yet and Mae felt terrible. Work was annoying and Mae felt like the personification of sadness. She stripped down to a plain white shirt and underwear and fell onto the couch. She looked down upon hearing her phone buzz in the floor in her pile of clothes. She groaned and reached out to grab it out of her pocket. Germ had texted.

Germ moved to Bright Harbor a bit after Mae and Bea, but lived across the city. He also now finally owned a phone, and he used it often. Mae didn't mindtoomuch though, he was a very… interesting person. He'd also come out as gay a few months back, which meant that pretty much no one in their friend group was straight. It was almost comical, really.

'Hey are we doing anything tonight?'

'uh i guess so. i havent talked to gregg about anything tho'

'Alright then. Your place?'

'maybe. ask gregg about it for me'

'Ok'

Mae groaned and let her phone slip out of her hand onto the floor. She was tired from work and was just generally sad. Reminiscing on her past was always bad, and she'd spent her whole day doing just that. Mae grabbed a pillow and buried her face into it, giving a loud sigh. Angus… Goddamnit, why did she have to fuck everything up? Angus would still be alive if Mae wasn't such an asshat. She was to blame.

Mae turned over and closed her eyes. She wouldn't be bothered by her own thoughts if she was asleep, right? She could just sleep and not have to worry about anything. And so, with that thought slowly growing in her mind, she drifted to sleep.