Drawn to Life
The Final Arc

01. World in Grayscale

A Raposa awoke with a start, his vision a blur. Slowly sitting up, he rubbed his eyes, a soft groan emitting from his throat. It sounded a bit garbled as he had been asleep for so long. How long, exactly...?

Once his vision cleared, he examined where he was. Why, lying in a bed, probably in one of the few spare rooms in the Mayor's house. But what about all the...

He recalled some things. He'd stolen the Book of Life, drawn in it, got covered in Shadow Goo, made everything all shadowy, and then a hero made from a mannequin defeated him. Somehow surviving, took both appearences of Raposa named Salem and Sock, stole another named Heather and by taking the color away from everything, had a staff that shot rainbows of death. Though again, a hero of a mannequin defeated him, and it seemed like the end of everything as everyone knew it, because a Human named Mike had to wake up from his coma...

He suddenly let out a laugh. Oh my... It was all a dream! Some of this stuff was so silly and made no sense! Recalling everything as a whole, he rolled his eyes and shook his head, getting out of bed and ruffling his clothes down. Huh, he must've been so sleepy that night that he didn't even change to proper nightwear. Oh well, it happens to every Raposa, he thought with a shrug.

As much as he'd like to change his attire, he couldn't as he was no resident here. Instead, he ventured out the room entirely, almost wondering why he'd woken up here, rather than his own home. Down the hall, he paused at a window. Then his eyes widened at the sight of outside.

Everything was grayscale. The trees had no leaves and were a pitch black; the grass a depressing silver; the sky seemingly nonexistant. A constant, soft breeze made both grass and trees shake. There were no other Raposa outside, either. He shook his head and rubbed his eyes, looking around the hall. Nope, he hadn't gone colorblind, it's just outside. It was depressing.

While there were no other Raposa outside (which was odd; he recalled that there was always a lot of them out there, bursting with life), there were Shadow Walkers abo-

SHADOW WALKERS? But wasn't it all a dream?

He found himself running from the window, wanting to be convinced it wasn't true; no, he was seeing things! After a little bit, he headed downstairs, only to see the same horrors from the windows that were there. More Shadow Walkers prowled the paths; even some Shadow Bats flew around. He got to the front door, opening it up and sprinting outside. He continued to run, straight ahead, toward the front gate. It had to be lies!

Once he got there though, he had to grasp the gate's pillar as a sudden cliff began right outside of it. Just seeing it made him let out a sharp cry of fear, as it seemed like it would be a long fall. In fact, he could barely see where the fall would end. This gaping hole seemed to stretch onwards, all just wasteland of gray dirt. More Shadow creatures roamed down there. Afterwards, he noticed the cliff wasn't just at the gate, but began a circle. His eyes following the line, it seemed to surround the village...

No, whatever was LEFT of it.

More than three fourths of the village was gone, he came to a conclusion. Isaac's shop, Chef Cookie's resturant, the stage, Farmer Brown's farm, Cricket's police station, Galileo's observratory, The lighthouse, even Dr. Cure's hospital... It was all gone. Only a few houses remained, while the others made space for the canyon below, but with no sign of them ever being there. He didn't have to step away from the pillar to see this, however - that much of the village was gone. His face fell even further when he realized his own house was gone as well.

With the Shadows roaming freely like this, the Raposa came to realization. He hadn't been dreaming at all; all of this really did happen, but he absolutely knew he didn't do THIS. The last thing he remembered was something putting him to sleep... And then waking up in his bed.

Everything was colorful back then...

Just how LONG was he asleep?

While he was busy thinking about this, he didn't seem to notice some Shadow Walkers seeing and approaching him. When he finally did, he was hopelessly surrounded, his only option to jump into the large canyon. He really didn't want to do this as jumping would lead to demise. They got even closer towards him, as if they were going to...

Going to what? Kill him? No, since his dream was actually real, they wouldn't want to do that; he'd be commanding them! Though, the look in their faces suggested no such thing. Yet, he had to try!

"I command you to stop, Shadow Walkers!" he opened his mouth to shout this, but he let out a cough as the shout was more of a rasp. "I am your-!" He stopped short again, this time going into a coughing fit and falling to his knees. Oh, the one time for his voice to fail him, and it had to be when the Shadows were going to maim him.

Well, he guessed it was finally over for him. Nothing to defend himself with, his voice nothing but a coughing rasp, and jumping wouldn't save him. He got up, trying to lash out at the Shadow Walkers, but then remembered he had none of the powers he once had. Rapo, if he had the powers, he simply would've flown away! He threw a fist at the nearest with a raspy battle cry, only for the Shadow Walker's hands to grab onto it, and not let go. His face twisted into pure fear, he couldn't even move now, and they were almost upon him. "No...! No no no...!"

Suddenly there were gunshot sounds, and the closest Shadow Walker now had holes, before letting out a cry and fading away. Acting quickly, he ran out of the surrounding circle of them, as the others faded as well when they were hit... With acorns?

After seeing all the scattered acorns, he turned to see another Raposa, though was ginger in fur color. The Raposa even seemed to have odd attire, sporting a shirt, a scarf with a bell attached to it, and a pilot's goggles. He wracked his brain, trying to remember the name of this guy... Oh right, wasn't it Jowee?

Once the scene was safe, Jowee lowered the weapons, stepping toward the Raposa he had just saved. He smiled a little, even when before it was a much more serious face.

"You're finally awake! How do you feel?" he began with a soft chuckle.

"Er..." the other Raposa coughed some more; his voice seemed to really have it bad, so he tried to reply simply, "L-Like Baki dung..."

Jowee patted his back a little before starting to lead him away. "I bet you thought it was all a dream, huh? You wouldn't be the first Rapo to want to believe that..."

"Really, now...?" Couldn't help but roll his eyes at the obvious statement. "Never would've guessed..."

Jowee opened the Mayor's House's front door, stepping inside. He stopped the other Raposa from entering, glaring him in the eyes. "Look you, I just saved your life. You should be more grateful for that. After everything you did in the past, I'm surprised I even lift a paw."

He was surprised at this. To his knowledge, the villagers only knew him in his Shadow Gooed form; where it covered him head to toe, made his voice all funny and especially hid everything he was before; a gray-haired Raposa. Although, he knew it didn't hide his ponytail, so maybe that's how he was recognized. Yet, he had to ask anyway. "You know who I am?"

This time Jowee rolled his eyes, though let him come in the house. "Of course I do. Everyone does! What, did you really think we'd forget you? It's probably in history textbooks by now." He paused a bit here, heading further inside the house. "We know who you are, what you did, and the fact you just wouldn't stop trying to wreak the world the Creator worked so hard to make. Like Rapo we'd ever forget, Wilfre."

Ugh, Wilfre thought to himself, already feeling bored of the conversation, The Creator stuff again. Can't believe they still believe in that sh-

"The only reason we didn't lock you up right away was that this creep covered in goo literally stormed in, took the Book of Life and had his scorpion drop your body to the ground-"

"Wait, what?" Wilfre had strained his voice too much this time and it left him, coughing more.

"Yeah, he said he had a 'present' for us, then dropped you to the ground," Jowee replied with a small shrug, heading to the kitchen with him, "Before he did any of that though, everyone thought it was just you. With the biggest Shadow army everyone has ever seen, there was nothing we could do to stop it. Praying for a hero or even guidance didn't help; the Creator never answered. It's like the Creator abandoned us again." As he said all this, he got out a glass, filled it with water from a tap on the counter, and finally handed it to Wilfre. "It seems like the Creator abandons us whenever something so catastrophic happens-"

He had stopped short here as Wilfre practically snatched the glass from him and guzzled it down without relish, before letting out a relieved sigh. After a few moments, he looked at Jowee. "Yeah yeah, like that one time a very long time ago, it was so amusing..."

Jowee huffed a bit from this behavior, glaring again. "You're WELCOME."

"... Yes, yes I am. Thank you for noticing." Wilfre simply smiled, waving a paw at him a little before continuing, "Seriously, you had no sky, or clouds. How was there snow on the ground? How does that even WORK?"

In his rage, Jowee took the glass back. "That's not the point! The point is now we have almost NO hope to make things okay again! No Creator, no Book of Life, no Hero, NOTHING! We are living in something much worse than a colorless world, a GRAY WORLD. Most of the village is gone, the residents have either died, disappeared, or become Shadows themselves, and you acting like this is not going to help!"

Wilfre was slightly intiminated by the wrath, but not enough to actually get scared. Besides, Wilfre was actually older than Jowee by a good seven years. "And how exactly, is this MY problem? I don't recall ever having a ROLE to fix this mess. For all we know, I may just have woken up to leave this dump-er, to leave."

Jowee turned away, huffing again. "You're right, it ISN'T your problem, Wilfre. We could just lock you up somehow but I'd be sick enough knowing you're even in the village. Why don't you just go back to the Shadows where you belong, then? I'm sure that Shadow Gooed monstrosity would welcome you back to its ranks." He paused here, looking back at him over his shoulder, now with a more cruel glare. "That is... IF you're that willing to follow what the Shadow is now, compared to how you controlled it."

"Compared to how I controlled it? Whatever do you mean? I'm quite certain it's the same... I established it, after all."

"Well-"

"Jowee, he'll find out tonight." a new voice cut through, feminine. A female Raposa had entered the room. "Remember, it's Sunday. The... The Church Eve."

"Already? I thought it was still Saturday, Mari!" Jowee seemed to change face from the relevation, unprepared. He pointed at Wilfre. "That means HE has to attend as well, and he doesn't even have a suit!"

Wilfre briefly looked down at his clothes. It was the light blue and gold trimmed shirt and trousers he wore; but wrinkled and slightly dirty from being worn from what felt like the previous day. Mari came closer to Jowee, her voice a bit fatigued. "Just let him borrow one of yours Jowee, he'll behave. He'll have to."

"The Church Eve? Attend? Suit? Borrow?" Wilfre couldn't help but spill the thoughts outloud. "What the Rapo are you two talking about?"

Mari couldn't help but laugh a bit. "You mean you never saw the Church building? It's pretty big..."

Jowee pointed out a window. "Right over there. Some of the village that didn't go under was bulldozed to build it. It's sickening..."

"A... Church building." Wilfre was in disbelief. The building itself was almost a pure black, bricked and tall, tall for Raposa standards at least, and there were statues of Shadow Gooed Raposa, each sculpted to perfection and of the same color as the building. The statues however, while amazing, were also quite sinister. The double doors that were the entrance were gray, darker than the grass, and seemed to be from the dark ages.

Mari nodded, looking at it with a glare. "Yeah. Every Sunday eve, attending the Church of Shadow is required, while wearing a gray suit. You go in, bow at the alter in the front of the hall, then sit down. You will be fed lie after lie about how the Shadow's rulings are 'fair' and 'just'. That everyone is 'happy' and 'well cared for'."

"And you have to sit through this for about two, long hours," Jowee added, "It's no picnic."

"They're expected to BELIEVE IT, too?"

"Outwardly, yes. Everyone has to have the impression that it's all true, dispite the obviousness of the lies." Mari seemed to glare at the building more, then turning away from it, clenching her paws into fists. "I wish we didn't have to go... The Creator certainly wouldn't have had it. Not even the Creator would make us do this."

While Wilfre continued to stare out the window, Jowee followed after Mari, putting his paw on her trembling shoulder. "There has to be SOMETHING we could do to stop the Shadow... I've been getting better with my shooting skills so we could start a re-"

Mari roughly pushed him away, starting to storm off, tears littering her face but still had a strong glare. "Forget about it, Jowee. There's only us two left! Everyone else is GONE. A rebellion of two? It's HOPELESS!"

"Mari...! Wait!" Jowee ran after her, only for her to respond with,

"It's OVER, Jowee! We're DONE for! The Great and Mighty Era of Shadow really has begun! No one can stop that thing! NO ONE!" Then, a loud slam of the front door made Wilfre jerk his head away from the window. Things really seemed to be nicer when he was sleeping, as the village went to Rapo hell while he slept right through it. From what he heard so far, he had been proven wrong. The methods being used compared to what he would've done was far from the same; Wilfre had to admit that was not how he would've ruled things. He'd just be worse than the Creator, after all.

Then, he heard a sigh as Jowee retreated back into the room. "Nevermind her; she's been like this since the Shadow took the Book of Life, even when she did so well to hide it."

Wilfre nodded a little, seeming to understand their situation. Even if he used to be the one to rule all of the Shadow, this definitely wasn't what he had in mind if he had completely took over the Raposa world. Churches that fed you lies? The world in grayscale? A gaping canyon overtaking almost all of the very village he was raised in? No, nothing like that. "Though, I couldn't help but notice neither of you mentioned how I was still here, like I wasn't around."

"Well," Jowee replied, "We can't be sure if you're even on our side, can we? Any minute you could be running out that door and begging for the Shadows to recruit you. But, not just because of your past. Some of our own villagers did the same thing, just so they'd be spared from having to go through what we did. So, we wouldn't be surprised if it turns out you became one of them."

Wilfre let out a dry laugh. "True, true... But if what I've come to remember is correct, I'd have to be going back to those things kicking and screaming."

Jowee was confused by those words. He almost hoped he was kidding about it, even. "What do you mean?"

Wilfre was quiet for a few moments, as if hesitant to pour it out just yet. No, he wanted to banish it from his mind entirely. "Let's just say I wasn't always the one in control, Jowee. However, I do not wish to speak about it."