Well this is dandy. I'm stuck on a tiny island remnant, in a vast world of nothingness, granted with one of my best friends, and a pretty cute friend- AGH. Why am I thinking this? Granted you know, if she wasn't lesbian I would probably try something. Did I forget to mention that? Yeah. For the first three years I've known her she has been strictly 'Guys can go jump off a cliff, because we don't' even need them anymore to procreate, and Science.' So, Yeah. Would love too, but can't, because I'd be shot down faster than a jet.

It's really annoying to be hanging out with her. She likes to cuddle. So it's weird when she cuddles you and for her its purely platonic, and I'm sitting here like, 'whatever you do, don't let her know.' Know what you ask? If you can't figure it out, then you are too innocent for this discussion. Anyway, how do you propose we remove ourselves from the current situation we find ourselves in? What? Oh, oh yeah. I actually forgot for a second we're stranded in the middle of nowhere.

Heh. Courage. I loved that dog. Well I liked the show. I couldn't stand his voice, but I honestly did enjoy his moxie. Moxie? What does that even mean? The word you're looking for is indeed Moxie. Thank you disembodied voice in my head. You know my name. Oh really? When did I learn this? Think you daft boy. I'm the administrator. Administrator? What kind of code name is-OH! AEther. You're the other ''User'' that my PA was picking up. Yes. That would indeed be me. But, as I said, I am not a ''User''. I am an administrator.

What does that even mean? That's none of your business, my dear boy. You're the one stuck in my head. Oh? And what makes you think I'm stuck? I can feel you. As a constant pressure in the back of my mind, and you never leave. Oh. Yeah, oh. So don't start with this ' I can do whatever I want, cause I'm a mystery' crap. I know you're stuck with me whether either of us want you to be or not. Atleast I'm being nice, which is more than I can say about you. I could be doing all kinds of mean nasty stuff. Oh please. I call major Bull Shi-

Next thing I knew I was standing up and then I was running in circles. What the fuck. It felt so wrong. I was conscious of me running, but I wasn't doing that, or rather, I wasn't controlling it.

See what I mean? I could feel the smug grin on his face as he forced me to sprint aimlessly. I could hear Mary yelling at me, asking what in the hell was I doing. I couldn't stop. I tried to will my legs to halt, but they weren't listening. I was helpless, I couldn't do anything, useless, worthless.

''STOP IT!'' I screamed. I put every ounce of strength and rage I had in me towards this effort. All of a sudden I find myself face down in the dirt. I didn't move. I was afraid- no, terrified that if I began to move that I would not be able to stop. It had felt so wrong. So wrong. I couldn't even begin to describe it. Please...Dont ever do that again.

That was just a demonstration my dear boy. Next time you force my hand, you won't like it. Fine fine. Just dont. Wipe those tears. Youre free to move, also your friend is worried about you.

I hadn't even realized I had started crying. The tears flowed freely down my face, my breath was catching in my throat. I picked myself up from the ground and moved so I was sitting with my legs crossed in front of me. I forced myself to take a full breath. My throat hurt, probably because I had screamed so forcefully. It finally registered that there was a hand on my face, trying to make me look up. I relented. Mary was inches from my face and she was worried. Her eyebrows were knitted together, but her eyes looked wet.

''WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?", she asked once she had thought I was recovered enough. I told her I was fine. ''Bullshit'', she cried, ''I've known you too long, and too well. I know you, and I KNOW that if you cry then something has really fucked with you. Not to mention you running around like a lunatic, screaming, and then falling on your face in the dirt.''

I cast my eyes to the ground, and refused to look at her. I ignored the rest of her ranting and tried to muster some kind of response.

''Well at least there isn't anything special about my face to ruin.''Not my best line, but it worked. She stopped talking, and sat down next to me.

"Well, I like your face. I'd hate for something to happen to it.''

Well. That's weird. I'm not sure how to take that, let alone respond to it. You daft Git. What? Wait, Why? Why am I a Git? Hello? Hello? ...Fine. Fine. Whatever. You know what, I'm going to not worry about anything for a few moments. I'm going to sit here, right here, and relax. Not going to worry about Mary, or AEther, or the heartless, or the gaping hole in space rapidly approaching our floating island. WHAT!

I jump to my feet and focus on the hole. Which is weird, that I can even see it, cause our island is literally just a patch of dirt, floating in total darkness. It's not even so much that I can see it, just sense it. Like and even emptier empty than the ever expanding emptiness surrounding our encampment. Really? Alliteration? Not my fault. What am I supposed to do?

Jump into it. ARE YOU CRAZY? The island that was our refuge from the black, was rapidly crumbling and being sucked into the vortex, and yes, it is a vortex. I could feel swirling black heavy tendrils rotating from a central axis point which resides within the mass of empty. What? Just go with it, my dear boy, and do what I say. Jump. Hell no. Grab your friend and jump. Youre trying to kill us. I'M STUCK WITH YOU. YOU HEAR ME. If you die, what becomes of me? Now grab your friend and jump before I make you.

I looked at Mary. She was sitting on the ground, knees tucked under her chin. She was crying, sobbing. She was every bit as terrified as me. She thought this was it. But it isn't, is it. Thats why AEther was telling me to jump. There must be some hope that by willingly jumping into the portal, we would survive. I knelt in front of Mary. I shook her gently, ''Mary. Mary, look at me.'' Her eyes focused on my face. ''Do you trust me?'' She just looked at me. ''Mary do you trust me?'' She slowly nodded. I took her hand and helped her to her feet. I pulled her along, walking, jogging, running. I pulled her with me faster and faster until we were running full tilt towards the edge of the island. Tell me when.

JUMP

And that's just what we did. We jumped into the unknown, and with jumping there's always a fall. And that's what happened. I clutched Mary's hand as we fell. The blackness was oppressive. It was suffocating, heavy. We just kept falling. Falling...falling...into darkness.