Inside the fire

Oreki tossed and turned in his bed, having a terrible nightmare. Glum, grey morning seeped through the curtains, calling him with a whisper.

Wake up… Wake up…

Suddenly, something disturbing and familiar woke him up from a restless sleep. Eerie, barely audible buzzing slowly filled his hears, like a heavy rumble beneath his feet. Sitting on a border of the bed, Oreki stared at the wall, trying to remember… Where had he heard it before?

And then, it dawned on him. It's the same buzzing as the one he had heard in that nightmare, almost three months ago. He remembered a huge mantis, monstrous rib cage and mouth, which devoured the sun itself.

"No… that was just a dream." he mumbled, shaking his head. As Oreki washed his face, ready to start with his morning chores, suddenly somebody knocked on the door.

"Oreki! Oreki, please, let me in!"

Mayaka's voice had a terrified note. That definitively woke him up. Running towards the door, Oreki even forgot to dress up. Mayaka blushed.

"C-Cover yourself up…"

"Oh, sorry." he said, quickly donning his shirt. Mayaka hurried into the room and closed the door.

"Oreki, you've got to come with me. This is serious!" she latched onto his shirt with a concerned stare.

"Have you found Persocom Chitanda?"

Mayaka looked to the side.

"Yes and no. "

"What do you mean?"

"The project… it happened! That thing woke up, and now it's tearing the city down! I went back to my apartment, and it's empty! Satoshi is gone! It's eating people, Oreki, please help us!"

"But what can I do?!"

"Satoshi woke up this morning. It seems that the infection took over his brain, completely. He ran out of the building, and I couldn't catch him. That's when I saw that monster and ran back to your place. Just come with me!"

Oreki and Mayaka ran down the street. They finally caught wind of Satoshi, as he ran like a madman, down the wet streets.

"You can't stop this, Oreki!" he yelled, swerving around the corner. Stealing a bike, he pedaled over the bridge, up to the center of a town.

"Fuku-chan, please, wait! We just want to help you!" Mayaka yelled. Satoshi just pedaled away.

"Gone." Oreki muttered.

"Ahh… that moron!" Mayaka yelled. Stealing another bike, she went after him. Oreki remained behind.

"Guess I'm going home."

Just as Oreki turned around, a high-pitched scream tore the dawn's glum silence. Oreki felt the creeps traveling down his spine. As he turned around, a shadow fell upon him. Above the center of a town, loomed even a greater shadow. He recognized those green eyes, huge teeth and skeletal form. It was a huge mantis, monster towering over their heads.
Oreki felt helpless.

"She was right…" he said, with an open mouth. Standing under the tower, he stared at something that shouldn't even exist.

"I scream, but nobody hears me."

That buzzing turned into familiar words inside of his ears. The virus inside of his brain acted like a speaker, projecting the words in his mind.

"Hyou…ka." Oreki muttered.

"I scream… I scream… I SCREAM I SCREAM SCREAM SCREAM SCREAM SCREAM"

Buzzing turned into a loud, high pitched scream. Mayaka wept, hiding her ears. Oreki could have sworn his ears started bleeding as he stood in front of the beast.

"TEAR THE FLESH OF AN ENEMY – NEW DAY IS BORN? IS IT A NEW SPRING? UNCLE?"

Words kept ringing in Oreki's ears, he couldn't block them. Suddenly the urge to come closer overwhelmed him, and he couldn't resist. Hypnotized, Oreki slowly walked towards the looming vision. Beast hunched down, its compound eyes staring at him. That's when he realized why the town is empty.

Various bodies, mostly men, hanged from the monster's chest and body, bound with vines. They weren't dead, but it creeped him out and he bolted away.

"Bind yourself to me, Oreki. Fill me up with your SEED. Isn't that what you've always WANTED? TAKE MY PRETTY FLOWERS AWAY. PRETTY. FLOWERS. AWAY, AWAY, AWAY-"

"Stop that!" Oreki yelled. Monster's head tilted to the side, and Oreki felt something reaching for his ankles. A vine bound him up and he lost the footing, flying up in the glum sky. Suddenly, he was above the town, high in the air. As vines held him up, Oreki saw a familiar face.

"Chitanda…?" Oreki muttered, seeing his persocom behind the breastbone. Vines tore her stomach apart, spreading everywhere around. Wires opened her chest, and Oreki saw a machine heart, pumping the oil around her parts. Same wires hanged freely, but her eyes remained open.

"Ore… ki…" Persocom whispered, trying to smile.

"So, Satoshi spoke the truth. You're the one behind this?" he asked. Vines slowly turned him around, and he saw a familiar face. It belonged to unconscious Satoshi. A monstrous voice appeared in his head, again.

"CREATOR-"

Next to Satoshi, monster tied Baba-san, who still held onto Kimatra's burned out husk.

"Chitanda, I know you're inside! What do you want?" Oreki yelled, staring at grotesque, bug-like head.

"OREKI-"

The tone of the monster's voice was a horrifying, distorted version of Chitanda's kind chime.

"What is your plan?! Why are you doing this?!"

"DESTROY – kill? DESTROY, TECHNOLOGY, HUMANITY-"

Words appeared incoherently. Oreki wanted to break free, to no avail. Then the true horror started. Monster bound him in its flesh, and dozen pinpricks stabbed his body. His usually low energy drained away. Words formed clear in his head.

"I WILL BECOME GOD – SUCH IS WHAT MY CREATOR WANTED – SATOSHI-"

"Satoshi… you idiot… your own creation turned on you…" Oreki mumbled, feeling his strength fading away.

"SATOSHI CRIED – CHITANDA DIED – SATOSHI WANTED TO PLAY WITH HIS FRIENDS A LOT MORE. A LOT. MORE. WITH HIS FRIENDS FRIENDS FRIENDS HE SCREAMS BUT NOBODY LISTENS. CHITANDA DIES, OREKI LEFT, HIS ONLY FRIEND, TECHNOLOGY IS WRONG

KILL KILL KILL-"

"Satoshi, you moron... It was never your fault!" Oreki found enough strength to muster another scream, before his consciousness faded away.

Oreki woke up inside of a dream. Or so it seemed. He sat in front of the wheel of his car, or his former car, better to say. Chitanda sat next to him.

"Oreki, let's go visit those Sphynx Statues! I'm so curious!" she clenched her fists.

"No.. no, no, no! Not this again!" Oreki yelled, as his guts twisted in a painful knot.

"What's wrong, Oreki-san? Are you sick?" Chitanda worried, touching his forehead.

SUFFER FOR THE WHOLE ETERNITY.

He heard a voice. So that's what it was. All of those people latched onto monsters body had terrible nightmares of worst life experiences. It fed the thing. It fed on fear and anxiety.

"I will change my past. Chitanda, I will save you." Oreki said.

"Oreki, you're scaring me…" Chitanda said. But he couldn't get out of the car. As he tried going out, doors locked and he couldn't get away. Car moved out on its own. Oreki tried stopping the car, but he couldn't press the gas, or turn the wheel. The damned thing moved on its own.

"What the hell?!" he yelled, as car moved out. Concert of wipers cleaning the windshield mesmerized him, just like that time. Rhytmic click-clacking of iridescent signal lights, pointing to the right. He held onto the leather wheel, trying to move the car away, but to no avail.

Huge truck appeared out of nowhere, swerving to the left and right and then huge crash, which ended up with silence. A smell of blood filled his nose, he saw Chitanda's lifeless body and he let a scream.

"No!" Oreki painfully sobbed, "Please, stop! I can't see this thing again!"

"Oreki… it was fun.. let's do this again…" dead Chitanda said with lifeless eyes, and next moment he was in front of the wheel again.

"Oreki, let's go visit those Sphynx statues! I'm so curious!" Chitanda clenched her fists.

Again, and again, Oreki went through the same experience. There was no way to help her. He tried moving the wheel, he tried breaking the window, but nothing worked.

"I have to try and move her. My body can still move!" Oreki yelled. Car moved on its own. Volkswagen beetle moved to the right, as they had the right to move to that direction. Oreki braced himself, and just as truck appeared, he grabbed Chitanda, taking her to his lap.

Car collided with truck, and chunk of metal which killed her pierced the seat. For a moment, everything was silent. Oreki smiled, as a mountain of weight lifted from his shoulders, and he let out a long sigh. Suddenly, something flew from the trailer. It was a huge piece of stone.

"Oreki, what's wrong?" Chitanda asked.

His eyes widened in horror, as stone fell on her face, splashing her head all over his legs.

"No! No! No, please stop! End this nightmare! Please!" Oreki sobbed. Suddenly, she appeared back in her car seat.

"Oreki, let's go visit those Sphynx statues! I'm so curious!" she yelled.

"I can't do this…" Oreki muttered, completely giving up as car moved on its own, like a broken recording.

"What's wrong, Oreki-san?" Chitanda asked.

"You're going to die, Chitanda." Oreki said.

Chitanda's eyes widened in fear and horror.

"What?"

Suddenly, car swerved left and right. Oreki somehow managed to create a paradox, and it broke the law of this nightmare world. Realizing what happened, he quickly took the wheel, just as the truck appeared. Swerving the car to the left, he managed to escape the collision and car quietly stopped on the side of the road.

"You idiot! You moron! Watch where you drive?" truck driver yelled.

Oreki couldn't answer. Chitanda was alive. She looked like she suffered a panic attack, but she was unhurt.
"O-Oreki! I almost died... how did you know?"

"It doesn't matter, Chi-chan. I saved you." Oreki hugged her.

Suddenly, a glass knife appeared in his hand. He felt the urge overcoming him, the urge to bury the blade deep in her body and go through the nightmare, again. Depression overcame him, feeling of hopelessness. The show has to go on, the nightmare won't stop.

"Oreki, I've never told you how much I love you." Chitanda muttered.

"You… loved me?"

"I love you, Oreki. Thank you for bringing this nightmare to an end. I have a little time. I promised her we will be reborn, together. But she has to die, first. Please, use the knife and pierce her heart. Only that way, we can be reunited."

Suddenly, warm, happy feeling overcame him. The vision disappeared in front of his eyes, and he woke up. Only this time, he had a shimmering knife in his hand.

"Ore..ki… I love you…" maimed Persocom in front of his eyes whispered, smiling with a crooked grimace, coughing a bit of oil every time she spoke.

Tears rolled down his cheeks as he cut the wine that held his arm, reaching out to grab her body. He hugged her tight, feeling her warmth. She was broken and mangled, but the glimmer of life still warm under his fingertips. He knew… the only way to truly stop this nightmare was to kill the persocom inside. Still, Persocom was his friend. He realized that he cared for her, even while she wasn't real Chitanda.

"I love you too Chitanda. So much. I'm so sorry…" he muttered. His hand slowly creeped up her open chest, and the glass blade reached her heart.

"Will you… marry me?"

"I will, Persocom Chitanda. Once this is all over, I promise you."

"That's good.." she whispered, smiling.

"Sleep now."

"HE WANTS TO DECEIVE YOU, KILL, KILL, KILL-"

Monster harped inside of their minds.

"Oreki, what are you doing..?" she whispered. Suddenly, vines let him go. He only had one moment before the monster reached with its huge claws, ready to tear him apart. Crying as he grabbed firmly onto Persocom's shoulders, Oreki pushed the knife through her mechanic heart.

"Gah-" Persocom gasped, her arms falling down the body sides. Next few minutes remained a blurry mess in his mind. Oreki remembered a loud scream, sound of breaking and his body falling in the endless void.

He fell down, next to the lifeless body of his former Persocom.

"This is right... I made a right choice…" he whispered, taking her cold hand, closing his eyes.