"...I don't want to die here, Crane..." The voice reverberated throughout the black empty ocean of darkness that Crane floated in. He tried to locate the source of the voice, and he suddenly witnessed the atmosphere change. In a few seconds, his mind had created the environment of the Tower. He stood on the roof, where suddenly, an illusion of Rahim began manifesting.

Crane felt an immense sadness take ahold of him, and had the urge to hug the kid. He knew better though. This was fake. It wouldn't do anything at all. He tried to close his eyes, but how do you do that when you're stuck inside your own head?

He looked over at Rahim again, only seeing the young man's disappointed face.

"Not like this..."

"I-I'm sorry, Kid." The runner's voice vibrated in a choked sob. "I couldn't help you anymore."

And then a second voice rang out from behind him. He turned around to find Jade, her whole body mist-like. Somehow, she still appeared just as beautiful.

"Everybody's life is finite, Crane..." the illusion of Jade said.

"No... no no no.." Crane said as he fell to the floor and started to back away. His face became coated in a wave of distress and pain.

"You can't deny it..."

"No, it's not. My life should have been done long ago!" He yelled at the apparition. "No one could have changed what happened. It would have played out all the same. "

"I am glad you never had to experience this suffering." Crane whispered.

He then heard the voice of Dr. Zere, only adding to the torment and emotional torture.

"Crane... Save these people..." Zere breathed out, his lungs using up the last of his energy. "They don't deserve all of this..."

Kyle tried to block out the voices. Each one was like a hammer pounding on his head. He wanted them to stop. He couldn't take the pain. The pain of knowing that he couldn't help those that needed him the most.

"You've got to let me save you."

Crane grit his teeth together. "Saving me did nothing."

"Let me save you."

Crane begins to sob, letting the fat tears escape his eyes. "You shouldn't have saved me. Your sacrifice didn't help Harran at all. I probably made everything worse."

"Just remember what you promised me..."

Crane stopped his sobs for one quick second. He began laughing and covered his eyes in shame.

"It was a promise I didn't really keep."

For a moment, all stayed quiet. The atmosphere had changed back to pitch black, but he felt the presence of something there. He could still hear the echoes of the voices that always stuck with him, engraved in the most sensitive parts of his brain.

"All of this, and yet you still had your choice made for you." The voice. The voice of the man that was the main cause of her death. Crane could already feel his anger boiling up, making him fluster.

"Disappointing Crane."

"It wasn't my choice at that point!" Kyle cried out. "I couldn't change anything, and I would never change anything. Never would I put this hell onto someone else."

And Rais's voice finally disappeared, but he still felt something. It put him on edge, and he couldn't help looking around a bit to ease his anxiety.

And a voice. The final one. The one that changed his whole life for the worst.

"Such potential, Kyle!" The voice boomed all over, no source whatsoever. "So much wasted!"

He could hear the acid in the Mother's voice, its effect like the strongest of poisons. He began quaking in wrath, and felt himself grow melancholy as well.

"My God... Why can't I be set free..." Crane desperately whispered as he gripped his head.

The only thing he heard was the whirlwind of voices all running through his head. It scrambled his brain and frustrated him.

"Get me out of HERE!" The man yelled as loud as he could, but it was lost in the twister of voices.

He heard their comments, their remarks, their words. They all impacted him, and all it did was make him feel more grim.

Crane began to feel hopeless, feeling a coat of dread already tightly wrapped around him. And that's when he heard the Mother comment something never spoken by her.

"Wake up, Kyle!" The Mother said. Crane's eyes widened and he looked all around, not knowing what to do. "Can't you see? If you had just listened to my plea, all of this never would have happened!"

"No, you can't be saying that!" His voice quivered. "I killed you. You never said this!"

"You will see the consequences soon enough." The Mother spit out her last comments. "You will regret this, Kyle Crane!"

Light poured into the eyes of Kyle, blinding him temporarily. He squinted a bit and began rubbing his eyes, clearing away any gound that collected in his tear ducts. Crane opened his eyes to normal size, looking around the room. His sights caught the supplies lying on the floor where they stood the night before.

He immediately stood up and grew worried. There was no sign of Brecken.

"Holy shit... Brecken!" Crane shouted, hoping to get a response. He waited a few seconds, but nobody responded.

"No, no, no, no." The man muttered to himself as he immediately went to the first floor. And there, he scanned all over, not even seeing signs of death.

"God dammit! Not AGAIN!" Crane cried out as he slammed his fists against a desktop that stood nearby. All items on it rattled and settled back into place.

Crane sighed as he fought back the urge to run away from this place, knowing very well he couldn't run away from his demons.

He couldn't run, even if he tried to.

Brecken was sound asleep, dreaming about Lena and himself. They were away on a trip to an island. He pictured the two together, finally happy, not worrying about what was truly going on in real life.

And just as he imagined him and Lena walking down the beach during sunset, a foreign noise awoke him.

His eyelids began fluttering open as he looked around. The first thing his eyes caught sight of was Crane, fully awake and desperately looking around for something. He had heard the man call his name, and it struck him. He was still hidden very well behind these shadows. Even with daylight, the runner hadn't noticed his presence.

He saw Crane jump down to the second floor, still looking for him. Brecken tried his best to keep himself quiet, not wanting to alert the man with a laugh.

He arose from his spot and stretched a bit. Brecken could still hear the sounds of rustling come from downstairs. He tip toed his way to the hatch and looked down, seeing Crane's worried face. It instantly changed to a face of anger and the man randomly slammed a desk that stood next to him.

He also cursed extremely loud, and Brecken almost lost it there. He wanted payback for being made fun of. This was probably the only chance he could get.

He began sliding down and grabbed the ledge to slow his impact. This, in turn, allowed him to land on the floor with almost no noise being produced. He turned around and saw Crane breathing in and out.

"This was payback for laughing at me." Brecken said aloud and he saw Crane stop everything. The man rapidly spun around and he didn't know what to do. He sighed in relief and began laughing with Brecken, but after a while, he grew frustrated.

"My God, Brecken!" The man yelled. "Do you get how FUCKING terrified I was?"

"I did, and now you know how we felt when you went missing."

Crane grinned while shaking his head. He then remembered about the supplies, reminding Brecken.

"That's right. I completely forgot that I'm supposed to retrieve them." Brecken said. He began chuckling, but it died down as a thought occurred to him.

"FUCK! Lena is going to be pissed!"

Finally, I was able to write this chapter and update the story. Anyways, leave a review if you would like to. :)