Chapter 9: Possessive (Part 3 Finale)

I can't escape myself

(I can't escape myself)

So many times I've lied

(So many times I've lied)

But there's still rage inside

Somebody get me through this nightmare

I can't control myself

~Animal I Have Become, Three Days Grace

Four months after the comatose state of Aspen Kozak, Kalik Kozak, father to Jennifer Kozak, Lenn, and Aspen, as well as wife to Sarine Kozak, was arrested for charges of first degree murder.

A few minutes after that was all it took for Fantom and Tiger to get to our coordinates. Fantom was smirking, though in a successful way unlike Dark would, and Tiger looked like she was about to explode with excitement.

I turned towards Anak. "Okay, dig in."

He did, and unfortunately, a silverfish leaked out and decided to attach itself to my leg. It only took a couple hits to destroy, and by the time Anak had made the entire Stronghold accessible.

We entered into the center of a staircase, near an iron door, the darkness of the place making it seem more life-like than what a bunch of blocks were supposed to be. Fantom stood to my right while the other three were on my left, listening to the sounds the Stronghold possessed.

We shared a glance and an untold decision settled upon us. I held my sword in my hand, gripping it tighter as I walked down the stairs towards the iron door. Sparky followed up behind me and pressed the opening button, causing the door to flick open. It was already lit with a small monument, so I entered in first.

Strongholds in the game always were an amazing find. The were fun to explore and it was always a mystery what you would find. Now, though, that had changed; it didn't feel special or thrilling. Each step gave me a feeling of dread, like the Stronghold wasn't a wondrous find of treasure, but a sentence to death.

The excitement of finding it was gone and I knew I wasn't the only one who felt it.

It didn't take long for us all to file in and surround the Stronghold. The little room we were in split off in three other directions, and the untold question hung in the air thickly.

Were we going to split up, or were we going to keep going as one group?

Fantom was the first to speak. "Okay. There's five of us, so splitting up would be a good idea. I'll go with Sequeter and Tiger, while Sparky and Anak head off in that direction." He pointed to his right down a semi-lot corridor.

Why did I have to go with him? Anak and Sparky didn't talk much and their presence would've been more tolerable. It was like they were trading me off.

Not keen to that idea, I spoke up. "Um, what if I want to go off by myself?"

"And what good would that do you?" Tiger snorted, crossing her arms with a form of sass I didn't like. "You can't mine here, much less open chests or doors. Someone has to go with you."

"I'm perfectly capable of fairing on my own, thank you," I spat. I knew I wouldn't be able to open all the chests or mine anything, but there was a chance I would wonder off of WhiteUnion territory and then everything would be free gain. The depths of the cave were already almost reached, and if the coordinates were anything to go by, we were near the edge of their territory again.

Fantom stepped forward, eyeing me like I was the worst think that could've happened. It was then I realized the person who had pinned me earlier, giving me the options, wasn't Dark; it had been him. I felt like an idiot for a fraction of a second, but only because Fantom took me out of my mental criticism. "We never implied you were not capable. However, as it stands, we are deep under ground. Mobs could appear any minute, and with Strongholds, there's a high chance of finding a ravine. If you go off alone, no one will be there to help you. This isn't a matter of you being babysat; it's a matter of exploration and preservation."

I had half a mind to yell, "Screw you!" and storm out, but the logical and sensible part of my mind caused me to process the information. Acting on impulse in a fit of mixed rebellion and anger wouldn't help much. And, though I hated to admit it, Fantom had a point.

I didn't want to find myself trapped, or suddenly unable to fight back, and be alone. Before, when I had been exploring, the threat hadn't been as bad because I had anticipated remaining near the surface. It would be safer to explore with a partner, even if it meant going with someone who probably wouldn't shut up.

I nodded slowly. "Okay."

Tiger blinked at me, and I was mentally amused at her shock. "'Okay'?" she reiterated dumbly. "You're agreeing, just like that?"

I glared at her. "I'm prideful, yeah, but more importantly, I'm smart. I know when I'm wrong."

"He's just not always keen on admitting it," Sparky added in his two-cents.

My glared shifted to a dark sneer when I turned to look at him. "Be so glad we are on your territory. The moment I step off and you're around, you are so getting it."

Sparky returned my glare. "I'd take you on any day."

"Good, then we can— Hey!" A smack to the back of my head caused me to, again, spin and glare to face the offender. Anak stood innocently and I felt a feeling of mock betrayal, but it only lasted a moment when Anak gave me a small smile.

Fantom roughly grabbed me by the arm. "Come on, let's start exploring. At the first sign of trouble, send a teleport request to the other party." His grip tightened and I yanked my arm out of his grip, wishing I could inflict damage.

Perhaps I'd commit mass murder on the WhiteUnion faction.

…

…

…

Kidding. Totally kidding. As much as the idea appealed to me, it disgusted me.

Would Aspen want a monster as a brother?

The answer was simple.

Sparky's eyes went from Fantom to me and he nodded, giving me a distrustful look before him and Anak headed down their lit pathway to explore. The moment they were gone from view, Fantom once again grabbed my arm and began to haul me in the direction of a darker pathway.

"I can walk!" I, again, yanked my arm from his grip and huffed. Fantom's only response was to have his eyes narrow.

"I know you can. But I want to get one thing settled right here, right now." Why wasn't this guy called 'Dark'? Seriously. It was ironic how the flirty version was named the more serious name. "You're teaming with Tiger and I because, quite frankly, I don't trust you."

"I don't care."

"Jackass!" Tiger fumed, walking over and delivering a punch to my gut. It hurt, though not like something Glaze would've done had I upset her, but my hearts decreased by an entire point. I got ready to deliver a hit to her face for the sake of revenge, but my fist went right through her harmlessly.

Tiger only grinned. "Damn. That felt good."

"Fuck you."

"Sorry, not interested," Tiger brushed off. "Though ask Dark. He seemed rather interested."

To my surprise, it wasn't just my face that suddenly felt the temperature of lava. Fantom's face increased a few shades and he grunted, crossing his arms.

"Dark does say he'd want to, but personally, the idea disgusts me." Fantom turned around abruptly. "Let's go exploring now. Come on."

Lenn had been the one to report his father. He had called 911 as soon as he had seen the unconscious body of his dad's coworker. The police arrived rather quickly, and Lenn informed them that the man had been over for a meeting, that his older sister and mom were at the hospital, and he had been there with his father.

There had been drunk laughing, a crash, and Lenn had come to investigate.

The result was the permeant imprinting of a dead body in a thirteen-year-old's mind.

Tiger placed torches along the wall while I held out my sword, Fantom leading the exploration. It was far from silent, with Tiger making failed puns every few minutes, and with Fantom griping at her to tell a joke that was actually good.

It didn't take long for us to run into mobs. Tiger, apparently, wasn't very qualified to fight mobs, and I ended up doing most of the obliterating. At first, they were scattered, rarely appearing, but the groups began to grow more clustered and more apparent.

I ran out of the iron sword within a couple hours.

Now, as it happened, things weren't going as any of us had hoped. Tiger was standing between us, fiddling with her Rule Book, while Fantom and I tried to keep the mobs at bay.

"My…my Rule Book isn't working!" Tiger cried, ruffling her eyebrows in a furious manner.

I blocked a shot from a skeleton, only to wince a moment later when I felt my heart points tick down. "What do you mean?" I demanded. I heard Fantom swear and turned to him and regretted I hadn't sooner. A creeper had somehow gotten abnormally close and was hissing loudly, threatening to blow. I yanked Tiger and Fantom a short distance away from the mob, wincing as the damage was felt from the explosion. Luck hated me, seeing as I backed up right into a small force of zombies, and I continued to drop hearts like crazy as I deleted the ones in the general vacinity.

"The pages... the ink is all runny... I can't read it!" Tiger slammed the book shut, flicking it away before removing an iron sword. "We're on our own here."

I scowled. "Too damn," I sliced through a spider (it was a wonder I wasn't poisoned yet), "right."

Fantom twisted by my side to block an arrow that would've lodged itself in my back. "Something's not right about the mobs," he pointed out. I was about to dismiss it and keep fighting, or take in some more food for steady healing, but I noticed exactly what he meant a moment later; when the mobs were hit, they didn't vanish in a flurry of white particles. The blocks they deteralized into were black swirls, almost like something that would emit from a Nether Portal.

I took care of a quick creeper before replying. "They deteralize differently. They keep coming, and there's no spawners around, so why-?" I wasn't able to finish the question because a spider leapt at me from the side, almost easily landing a hit. I had jinxed it, and painfully, too. Pain couldn't be felt, but nausea and toxins were obviously a whole 'nother story. It was like I could feel the stinging sensation running throug my viens and the sword suddenly felt a million times heavier.

"Spider bite," I grunted, watching as Tiger mercilessly destroyed the mob that had stricken me. It was impressive for a girl who had claimed they weren't qualified. "We need to get out of here fast."

Fantom's face had something of horror and anger. "Spider bite? Shit... Okay, Tiger, I want you to grab Lenn and get him out of here. Find Sparky and Anak."

"But-"

"That's an order!" Fantom snapped. He rocked shakily on his legs, his sword heavily damaged. "Get to safety. Now! Go!"

Tiger hesitated, but she gave a sharp nod. "Oh...okay. C'mon, Sequeter." She made a move to grab my arm to yank me with her, but I surprised myself by glaring at her and shaking my head. It took a moment for her to understand, and when she did, she beamed at me. "Okay..."

I traded out my bland iron sword for my enchanted one. "Fantom, Dark, whoever, we're in this to the end." Aw, I was being nice. It felt disgusting, but I brushed it past quick enough to continue with the fight in sluggish motions.

"Since when did you start to care?"

"I don't," I replied cooly. "I'm just not going to let anyone in this faction die until I can punch them properly."

Those words appeared to be my last. It didn't take long as the wall above us suddenly started to crumble, the blocks breaking and allowing more potentionally deadly mobs to rain on us.

Or karma realized the good stuff was long overdue and send some help.

"About time you guys got here," I muttered, blocking a hit from a zombie with a gold shovel. Sparky and Anak had chosen that moment to crash through the ground and suddenly join the fight. I swung around, heaving my sword up in time to stop an arrow from cutting through Anak's neck. Sparky returned the favor, moving behind me and finishing off the zombie I had neglected. Anak whipped out his own enchanted bow (I'd have to ask how he got that later) and began firing flaring arrows with dead-on hits towards the offenders.

I was able to notice Fantom's relieved look.

"Ready for formation Beta?" Fantom questioned, his voice strangly low.

"I have no idea what that is, but I'm all for it," I stated. I moved to the side, only to feel like my legs were about to give out on me. One look at my heart rate told me I could take four more hits before I was out, gone, finished. "And hurry up because," three hits, damn poison, "I've got one and a half hearts left."

"Just don't die," Anak stated firmly, and like that, the entire formation of the group shifted. Tiger moved to my right to stop a zombie from murdering me, Sparky came to my left, with Fantom and Sparky taking post behind us.

"Three, two, one, charge!" The pattern wasn't hard to catch onto. All it involved was moving forward quickly, getting rid of mobs before they could hit you, and retreating. It went on for two minutes, in which time my poison finally subsided and my hearts steadily gained back life, and working with the WhiteUnion became something of relative second nature. Slash, almost hit, save by a hit from someone else, then saving someone else the next second.

If I had been thinking in my right mind at that moment, I would've been terrified of how easy it was fighting alongside them. Even with PandaMania, there never had been group-fighting. I always went solo.

I enjoyed solo.

Eventually, throughout the seemingly costant fight, Tiger did something none of us expected her to do. The girl charged past all of us, breaking the pattern, and attacked a shadowy figure in the back. Each hit to the figure cause the mobs to flash, as if they weren't supposed to be there, but Tiger was blasted back from the shadow in a minature ray of black shadows.

"That thing is creating the mobs!" Tiger cried, rising to her feet and holding her sword out. "It... it hasn't taken any damage from my sword though..."

The mobs had frozen for a second and the phantom-like figure had slowly risen from its place in the background. I never would have noticed it, due to my entire attention being focused on not dying, but Tiger had. The shadow didn't look happy at all and as it appraoched, the mobs deteralized into a mass amount of black swirls.

It paused for a second, nothing more than a series of swirling black blocks, before two deadly red slits appeared on its face. The familiarity of it was placed instantly and I felt angry again at recognizing the red eye - the same color that the bitch Kenjia had - and I charged. Easily, though, its body manouvered around each hit I threw at it (and soon, everyone else's) before it vanished into the ground.

There was a moment of silence until Sparky asked, "Is it gone?"

The answer was so obviously a 'no'.

Kalik never was caught by the police. As a man who worked with other countries to determine shipping, marketing, and pricing, he had many connections who were willing to get him out of his tight situation.

His mother had been devastated when she learned, screaming at the police that her husband was an angel. She had claimed that her daughter had been taken from her already, and it was their fault she had lost a husband. It took mature words from Lenn to calm his mother down.

Lenn got his sister to help him get the police to not give up the investigation, to attempt to keep searching, but after three weeks, the police gave up. The case didn't matter anymore — they had more important things to focus on.

The shadowy figure rose up from behind Fantom and suddenly merged with him, sending Fantom into an insane fit of screaming and clawing at his clothing. My eyes widened and I made a move to help him, but I was frozen in shock at what I was seeing. Red energy crackling off his being in little bolts of electricity, his body gaining a dangerous glow to it that certainly wasn't anywhere near humane.

The answer was simple to me, and I knew I would come to regret my decision. That didn't matter, though. Fantom's eyes were no longer the Harry Potter green they had been, but were actually a fatal blood red.

I gritted my teeth.

The insecurity was high between all of us when he let out a low, dark chuckle.

"This isn't Fantom anymore," I stated bluntly, not caring if they wouldn't react well to my statement. "He's…possessed, I think."

Tiger's eyes widened, Sparky glared, and Anak gained a look of utter horror.

I had one of set determination. "I don't know if there's a way to save him."

Sparky swore loudly. "We have to kill him?"

"Kill me?" Fantom's voice … no, it wasn't his voice Something else's. "Your leader? Isn't that mutiny?" The low chuckled continued and it took a step forward, though sluggish, as if getting used to its new body. "Don't kill me, kill Sequeter!"

Why was it always me?

"You're not in your right mind, Fantom!" Tiger cried desperately. "You're strong enough to fight this! Come on!" She took a step forward, but I reached out and grabbed her arm firmly. Tiger glared at me and attempted to get out of my grip, but surprisingly enough, she wasn't able to.

I wasn't complaining.

"Fantom, Dark, and whatever other personalities he has, aren't in control," Anak stated. He moved forward, bow at the ready, prepared to fire. "If I am correct, since he is no longer in control, he can take damage." The arrow was fired, though it didn't bother it dodge.

The flaming arrow lodged right into the body of Fantom's shoulder, causing the possessing mob to pause. "Oh… I've been hit…" Its eyes flashed. "You bastards!" In a fit of insanity, it charged with Fantom's sword and delivered a clear bow to Anak's chest. Anak grunted and kicked its chest, sending the mob flying a few blocks back.

"Fantom…" Tiger whimpered, taking a few steps toward her leader tentatively.

I ignored her, realizing she wouldn't be anywhere near strong enough to fight her friend, and turned to Sparky. "We either kill him, or be killed. I don't know about you, but dying isn't on my to-do list."

Sparky nodded firmly. "But only because it's what Fantom would've wanted."

I didn't reply, instead turning to the mob that had possessed Dark. It rose off the ground and stood in the middle of the air, surrounded by a mix of deadly electricity and black swirls. A cruel grin spread across its face when it looked up. "I don't want to kill any of you… You're my friends…"

I noticed Sparky's hesitant look towards me and Anak's fierce one.

"But Sequeter can't live… Morikio's orders. His death will quell the rebellions!" I didn't have time to move before the mob sprang forward at abnormally fast speeds, the sword straight in front, as it and all of the red glory implanted itself right through my chest.

And god, it hurt.

The electricity that flaked off of the sword went in deadly waves through my virtual body, and it was like I was being electrocuted from the inside out. My senses weren't working, my eyes were fogged up with a sheet of white, and I did something stupid.

I almost let myself accept the offer from a hidden voice to let the pain end.

Anak had obviously been stabbed like I had and he had punched through it. It took a supreme amount of effort, and each twitch of my fingers sent a new wave of deadly jolts through my body, but I delivered the same kick Anak had done to the shadow's chest.

I pulled the sword out easily after that and my sense returned instantly, granting me the ability to hear Tiger's choked sobs, Anak's odd silence, and Sparky's furious yelling.

The sword in my hand was still crackling with the red electricity and I commuted myself to the choice I had made earlier. I didn't bother with fancy sword flips or twirls, and instead hulled up the piece of red junk and threw it straight at the old leader's head.

He caught it easily between his hands.

"A stupid trick like that won't work on me," the possession mob chanted. "My sword doesn't harm the original owner!" With that, it took a turn and tried to attack me again, but I was ready. I leapt to the side and blocked the hit with my sword.

"Sequeter!" Sparky cried, and suddenly I was joined in fighting the monster by the guy. He swiped at the under part of the Possessive's feet, but a shield of black swirls stopped damage from being delivered.

"I am programmed to learn," the Possessive informed. "Any tricks people have used on me won't work!" It turned to ram the sword into Sparky's head, but a fiery arrow rammed into its side.

Anak fired three arrows after that, all landing perfectly.

"You don't learn quick enough," I informed. This time, I allowed myself to show off a bit and spun my sword before stabbing the blade right through the center of Fantom's neck.

In one clean slice, I pulled it out, and one more arrow hit from Anak caused the mob to stumble back. The sword dropped from its hand, clinking to the ground and making a depressing jingling sound. It continued to stumble back until the red glow abandoned Dark's eyes, leaving the leader to collapse onto the ground.

"This time, learn to stay dead."

He vanished in a shower of red particles.

Each holiday, Lenn received a letter without an address, telling him that his father was well and was waiting for the day Lenn would follow in his footsteps.

The walk back up the surface was dreary and silent. Anak's expression was unreadable. I wasn't sure if he just wasn't willing to admit his insecurity or if he truly didn't feel anything. Tiger hadn't looked up, her gaze tracing the blocks on the ground. Sparky looked conflicted, like he didn't know how to feel about killing his friend, and I didn't blame him.

I had killed three people now: Orkiz, the original Kenjia, and now, Dark. Fantom. White.

Make that five people, actually, didn't it?

I wasn't grieving over Fantom's death like I had been for a while about PandaMania's. I hadn't know him well enough, or even the various sides of him. I knew what I was upset about, and I hated myself for it.

I wasn't disgusted with myself for killing.

I didn't enjoy it. I wasn't thriving in the fact I had taken various lives, or even pleased that I had faced the challenge if death various times in the virtual reality and had won.

I was, however, terrified that I didn't hate myself for it. I was terrified of how easy it had been to betray something Aspen would've wanted. I was terrified that I didn't feel like a monster, like I felt it was just something that needed to be done.

At the same time, I was terrified that I was relieved that I felt no guilt for killing Fantom.

He had been an okay person. Annoying, bossy, and flirty, but okay. An incredible leader and asset to the escape of Deathcraft.

I had killed him to protect others.

I felt no remorse.

Even when we ended up surfacing in at dawn the next morning, even when I had to break the news to the other team members, even when most of then hadn't blamed me, you would think there'd be an inkling of guilt that lingered. Something in me upset at myself for killing someone.

I wasn't upset with myself. I was sympathetic for the members of the WhiteUnion. I regretted having to kill their leader, and I regretted that it had to be done.

But I wasn't sorry, and I never told them I was.

I realized then that killing then had been necessary. I didn't have another choice unless I wanted Fantom to become like Kenjia had been. His death wasn't a blessing, but it wasn't a curse. I think, above all, I granted him freedom from knowing he would kill his friends. I didn't bestow mercy, I didn't nearly think of myself as that kind of person, but I did stop suffering.

I used to consider myself open-minded. I realized I actually was rather close-minded.

In the end, as the result, I did end up walking away from the WhiteUnion. Sparky had been appointed leader, with Karl as his right-hand man, and some girl named Phier as his missions operator. Phier had sent out the message about the new "Possessive" mob, and I knew it would be a matter of time before people started reacting to it.

Good or bad, I wasn't sure.

I took with me the knowledge I had killed, and the knowledge that it was necessary. However, I also realized that it had been partly selfish of me for killing him.

One thing was for sure, when I was going face-to-face with it, I knew I couldn't die. It wasn't something I was willing to do.

End of Part 3

I debated long and hard about whether I should've split this chapter in two. In the end, I decided to keep it long, since I will be going back to long chapters. Short is boring. Nothing exciting ever happens. :P

Anyway, were you expecting that with Dark? I enjoyed writing it. ;)

Testing be starting for me soon (yay, AP Human Geography [not]), so updates may come a bit slower than usual. Just FYI. Wish me luck! I need it. OwO

Also, on my deviantART account, I've drawn pictures for DC. Characters and (possible) events. PandaMania characters, future characters, and BloodRebellion members have been drawn so far. Check them out! Go do it! :D

On a scale of 1-10, how was the chapter?

Chapter Question: How would you guys feel about Omakes? :3

With a hint of sadistic love (I blame school),

~Jet

PS: You should totally review. ;)