I hear the low growl of the factory above me. I got up from the snow and see a big looming metal castle where the house once stood. All of its lights are on and I could hear the humming of the machines. In the air above, smoke and toxic clouds filled the air so much so that people who took the poor job are required to strap gas masks over their face. "Spirit?" I call out. "What is this..? Where am I? I.. I didn't mean to shoot you.. You wouldn't stop! I'm.. I'm still being judged.. right..?" There was no one dare of course. All of her dumb Snowdown music was gone. I looked at the snow in front and remembered that those were the maven's remains. I grab at the spot where she left me and felt its cold surface, still ever present and lingering on the ground, as a constant reminder of whom I rejected.

Suddenly the lights go off, one by one. Bells ring to signal the departure. I hear the marching of people leaving their prison as they go back to their homes in the safety of their homes to rest for the next session of torture. Their faces seemed wearied and tired of going through the same monotonous routine over and over again and their hands reach for the wrinkles as that could fix anything. The metal castle stood solemnly as it watched its slaves leave for the day as the remaining people within it shut off its lights and power and continue the ringing of the screaming bell. I witness this until the bell's last powerful sound faded, the bright lights vanquished, and the last person gone, leaving me alone with only a single lamppost shining my shadow across the snowy floor.

I look at shadow as it begins to enlarge onto the factory's cold metal walls and mutate to a creature with what seems to be large beard stretching to the bottom of his toes and a large dark robe. To his left are large metal claws and to his right is a large hook. He looks down at me with hatred and sadistic glee at the torture that he would love to bring to me with his glowing light blue eyes. "Are.. If the ghost of the past and the present has past, then are you the future?" I ask.

He continues to stare at me as he begins to point his hook downwards where it begins to bend with the floor, pointing to the city. "You... You want me to go there..?" I ask. "Where.. where am I?"

He said nothing, and continued to look down at me from his looming size, sending shivers down my spine. I follow his directions out of fear and caution, knowing that my actions with the second of these ghosts could lead to my death. I just needed to make this as quick as possible. Just follow directions and you'll see The Goopy One again and contain him for sure from the stupidity of the surface holidays.

As I walk to the green city, I begin to notice the absence of decorations. There's no more plant life on the streetlamps nor tribute to the grand king of poros. The groups of drunken, crazy men screaming the phrase "Snowdown" were now replaced with humans buzzing around, only concerned with their destination. The music was heavier than that of Snowdown with low keys and depressed tones, yet it still tries to be jubilant of the world. As I go through the crowd, I begin to feel claustrophobic of the people around me. I didn't want their surface-dweller..-ness to rub off on me. I decide to try and find a manhole to go through.. Maybe that would make the place more familiar as well. I don't know all of Zaun, but I do know all of the sewers, but every manhole I come across, there was always a person walking on it.

However, one place stayed the same. On the outskirts of this sector, I saw the same abandoned neighborhood that The Goopy One lived in. While every part of the city had people buzzing around, this one had no one. It's house were still one made of withering rocks about to give in. As I walk around this place, I begin to notice houses that have finally crumbled. Only half of the houses seem to have lived, but they only lived as zombies. I go into ZAC's house and found the wallpaper more decayed and the holes numerous. I go into the basement and found piles upon piles of newspapers cluttering in the room. On the wall where the poster used to reside is an old bulletin board with newspaper clippings. The clippings tell of a "Mysterious Green Giant" or "New Zaunite's Hope?" I sit down to gaze upon it and even some newspapers scattered around the floor. Not all of them speak well of my friend. Not with stuff like "Monster Infestation" nor "Disaster Maker". These surface dwellers.. why must they be so dense?

The door creaks open. I blend into my surroundings instinctively. I tip toe back to the shadows of the room. I see The Goopy One come back, but his face sad and angry with his entire body covered in debris. He sits down in front of the bulletin board and takes out glass shards one by one and throwing them too me. First there's one at my feet. Then there are five. Then there are 10 and 20 and 30. It never seemed to end. "I.. I can be a hero.." he tries to reassures himself. He looks at the board. "I... I... UGH!" Using all of his strength, he punches through it. He punches and punches. The clippings fall and the glass scatters. He's relentless on it, taking out all of his frustration until.. he sees one of the pictures on the floor. He stops his pursuit and grabs the picture. He looks at it once before pausing and all of the anger turns to despair. He leans against a stack of newspapers and begins to sob, holding the picture to his chest.

I approach carefully to him and tried to grab the pictures of heroism, but they all phase through. I tried to scream what he has done in the past for these miserable creatures, but my voice is just a breeze of air to him. I even tried to hug him, but we couldn't even touch each other. "Spirit!" I call out. "Let me talk to him.. Please.. He's delusional, but miserable. All he wanted was to make them happy, AND LOOK WHAT THEY DO! These surface dwellers don't know what to do with him.. They deserve to perish.. ALL OF TH-"

"BOOM!"

The ceiling rumbles above us as the old house finally crashes down to the rubble it was fated to be.

The stairs begin to creak rapidly as the soldiers begin to march. I take out my crossbow and pointed at the worthless humans above us before the room transformed around me. The decaying brown paint turned to metal gray. The light no longer stemmed from ZAC's lantern, but now.. facility lights above me.


"Spirit!? What did you do!? Where did you take us!?"

As usual, the spirit said nothing, but simply pointed behind me at the end of a hallway. The door only had a label: "Containment Unit 17A", yet what came out of the door is telling. It sounded cold, faint, and broken.

"On this Snowdown day," it sang. "Santa comes to town.. On this Snowdown.. there will never be a frown.."

"ZAC?" I ask in the darkness. I run up to the door, phasing through it, and witnessing the blob cramped in a glass container. His eyes are closed as he sang his Snowdown song. I approach carefully to it and touch the cold glass. As I placed my hand, the blob awakens and stares at me before seeing who disrupted his soft slumber.

"Twitch..?" he asks. He steps back in fear. "What.. what do you want with me..?"

"You.. you can see me..? You.. YOU CAN SEE ME!" I begin to cackle in delight at this prospect, jumping up and down in excitement.

"I.. I didn't forget how.. Heh. How.. how could I forget?" he grumbles. "What are you doing here this Snowdown..? What do you want from me?"

"I.. If I can talk to you.. I can help you! I can free you! And I can get you back to the sewers where you belong!"

"No.. NO! Get away from me!" ZAC jerks back in his container, moving further and further away from me, refusing to make eye contact.

"What? What are you talking about!" I shout, pressing my face on the glass.

"I don't want to be with you.. I don't want to be anywhere near you.. You're a criminal. A psychopath. A murderer. I want nothing to do with you nor your 'kingdom'!" ZAC huffs. "I'm tired of being a tool.. To you.. To everyone I've been with! I'm just a weapon.. I'm just a tool for you admit it! That's all I ever been to everyone.." ZAC sighs. He already cried all of his tears. "Maybe it's better that way.. I just want people to be happy.."

I pause, trying to recollect my thoughts. "Do.. do you ever see them happy?" I ask. "I know you have.. an obsession with watching humans being happy.."

"No.. Not here.. All I see is pain.. torture.. The people I've killed... From the people I let you kill to the ones I've killed in here... I just want to leave, but I know what happens.." ZAC pauses. "Get out..." ZAC growls. "Get out.. please. STOP HAUNTING ME!"

I pause slowly, flinching at my friend's harsh words. He never used those before. Was I like them..? "But.. you do make people happy.. What about your creators?" I ask. That has to be the picture he held, or at least some semblance of it. "You always told me they sacrificed their life for you, because they wanted you free, and you always loved bringing up stories about them. Your mom's cooking.. Your dad's love of his stupid human weapon.. A gun... Those creators must be glad to have you were they not? And.. what about me.. I.. I didn't have anyone... Goopy One.. I needed you!"

"Stop. Stop lying!" he shouts, turning his face on to me with anger. He begins to rub his eyes and breath heavily. "Stop lying to yourself Zac.. Stop it.. It only makes it worse.. Twitch died... sob. Twitch's gone." It was as if he stopped talking to me. "He would never act like this anyway. I was just a spy to him ZAC.. You're always going to be a weapon.. Nothing more! Just.. accept it. You're better off as a weapon. Accept it, and you'll be fine ZAC.." I pause, unable to say anything. Suddenly the alarms goes off. The lights go dark except a large red light on the ceiling blinking and blinking. There's a breach. My time may run short.

I bang on the glass. "Hey! Listen to me!" I shout. He stays silent, turning his back to me. "Sigh. Fine.. if you don't forgive me, or believe me, but know this! Twitch knows very well of what you're capable of. You're an awful spy, Zac. You never catch invaders well or give me valuable information. You just dream about the surface. You would do anything to make them happy. You would do anything to protect them. You did it to me and you did it to your creators Zac. You make mistakes? So what!? I mess up all the time. You don't see me giving up on my sentience potions.. Heh. And if I know anything about my Goopy One.. he's always difficult to control. You should be the same!" He looks back only slightly, and looks down in consideration. "Twitch doesn't care what anyone thinks or even you.. You may not even forgive me for anything, but you must listen! You're messy. Uncontrollable. Sometimes even delusional.. but if a hero is someone that makes people happy, then you're a hero to me.."

"Twitch..." he says, turning towards me.

Suddenly the door behind me slams open and the room around me fades from metal walls to stone. My hand now rest on free air and hangs aimlessly on my body. I pause to catch my breath. I didn't even get to say goodbye...


"Spirit.. what happened to me..? Where was I!? Zac told me I died.. So.. what happened..?"

The spirit simply points with his metal claw to the end of the tunnel where the opening of the pipe lay. I trudge slowly to it, not feeling the need to rush. Eventually from outside the pipe, I saw the edge of Zaun from a cliff. As I step forward, I feel a piece of paper underneath me. It was dusty and the ink was gone on most of it, but the headline was relatively clear: "THE PLAGUE RAT FOUND IN COMMERCIA!"

"Found.. in.. Commercia.." Twitch repeated. Twitch looked to his shadow. "Spirit? Tell me.. when do I die...?" The shadow's hook begins to glow as he makes a swift slash on the pavement, crumbling the floor beneath me. "AAAH!" I shout as I fall. My hands dug deep into the rock in desperation. As I hung on, I hear the bell.

"Ding! Dong! Ding! Dong! Ding! Dong! Ding!"

7 bells. It.. It can't be! I look behind me as I hang on the cliff and saw the dreaded sun rise. I knew exactly how I was gonna die.

"WAKE ME UP! WAKE ME UP!" I shout to the spirit who now looks down on me from the edge.

"I promise to change.. I promise to never let my friend down! Please.. Let me change! Wake me up! Before they come to me.." The bell begins to repeat its alarm.. Every time it rang, the rocks crumble.

DING! A rock hit my shoulder. DONG! A shard hit my nose. DING! "Let me change.." DONG! "LET ME CHANGE!" DING! The rock hit my hand and I couldn't hold on. The sun rises higher... DONG! I feel the air beneath me hitting my face as I begin to brace for impact. DING! As my head began to hit the salty water of the ocean, it transformed into concrete.