Ed...


A bright light lit up Edward Regal's eyelids. Seconds later, they fluttered open, the light shining into his pupils and waking him up. The cold ground wasn't a bother to him as he had his jacket on, but the breeze from an unknown source hit his face like a bucket of ice. Shivers ran down his body, all the way to his toes as he began shaking, the light making him unusually uncomfortable. Ed sat up, crossing his arms to try to tame the freezing temperature, and noticed Jimmy against the wall, twiddling his thumbs nervously.

The hallway that Ed had woken up in was long and seemingly endless at first before a turn could be seen far down. No colors other than the casual silver that accompanied the rest of the building. The lights above weren't coming from a visible source; Just randomly shining out of the ceiling at different parts.

Ed quickly got up and approached Jimmy, who looked up in a deep breath of relief, "I'm so glad you're okay, Ed. I was beginning to think you didn't make it."

"Well, I made it for sure," Ed said before developing goosebumps all along his arms and legs, "But I don't think I can make it in this temperature. How has the heat suddenly disappeared? Where are we, anyway?"

Jimmy thought about it for a second before shrugging, "I'm not that cold. Trust me, I was forced to sit in that Regal guy's throne room for several days and that was almost as cold. It's like these people like being cold."

"Okay, got it. Again, where are we?"

"We're still in the Twilight Court, right?"

"I hope so. I don't want to be utterly screwed when we came so close." Ed said and began walking down the hallway, Jimmy following closely behind. As they neared the turn, the lights all along the hallway began to disappear, leaving only a path of darkness for them to hope was going somewhere safe.

Once at the turn, they saw a door at the end of the hallway. A small window in the metal door revealed light and life inside. The two heroes walked forward and pulled the door open, the light brightening up the rest of the hallway. Inside, the walls were now brick with a cobblestone floor and a cement ceiling with actual light bulbs to completely throw you off. A small, wooden stool sat in the center of the large room, a figure in a black cloak seated on it. He slowly looked up, red eyes glaring angrily.

"Why do you come here?" The figure said, standing up and revealing metal legs and arms. He slowly pulled down his hood and showed off his robotic head, looking like a mix between both Regallis' and Billion's, giving a sick feeling to Ed's stomach.

Ed stepped forward, guarding Jimmy, "We need to find our friends!"

The figure shook his head, "Not going to happen. You're friends have been victim to the great demon Nightmare and so will you," He said and stepped forward, "I can make you into one of us if you would like to realize the insanity in what you're attempting to do."

"You aren't going to change my mind." Ed retorted.

"Edward Regal, don't be like this. It's not like you to ignore the orders of your superior," The figure said and got even closer, clenching his wired hands, "I am a new Regal. I can forgive and forget our rude fights in the past... As long as you do as well."

Ed pushed the new Regal awake, knocking him into the stool and onto his back, "No way. We're going to make things right since your leader screwed things up, thinking that his plan would work."

"Plan? No, more like destiny." Regal said.

Ed froze in place, remembering those words to be originally said by Rolf after Billion's death. Was he somehow capable of figuring out Ed's past? "Destiny is a myth. If you want something to happen, it's not destiny; It's called work."

"Work is for people who think they have a life," Regal said. The clone raised his hands up, the pair eventually falling off and hitting the ground. What was left was instead completely black hands, long fingernails on the tips of his fingers. The rest of the body began falling off, leaving only a dark body with black eyes and long horns extending from his temples. His smirk turned into a sinister smile as he growled in laughter, "Now to finish off what no one else could."

Without enough time to block the monster's instant attack, Ed rolled out of the way and into the clear, getting back to his feet in time to watch the monster grab Jimmy and thrust him up at the ceiling. The child squealed in pain as he collided with the cement, falling back down onto the demon's fist, hitting him the stomach and making him nauseous instantly.

"Easily the best thing I've done in a while." The monster growled and picked Jimmy up by the hair and legs, tugging both ways to cause sharp pain to the minor's scalp.

"Let go of him!" Ed shouted and sprinted at the monster, only to be knocked back by a surprise punch. Jimmy fell to the ground and ran into a corner while the monster stared the fallen Ed down.

"Tsk tsk, what worthless bashing. I'm just doing my job. You may call me Nightmare, if you wish," Nightmare said and turned around, ignoring Ed's groans of trying to get up and fight back. Jimmy continued shaking in fear in the corner, crying tears as Nightmare's hand reached for him. Grabbing a hold of his hair again, he held him up to his eye level, "It's time to go, Jimmy. Master Prometheus is waiting for your return." He cackled.

Suddenly, a force fell over the villain as he fell to the ground, Ed piling on top of him. Jimmy fell to the ground and ran away again, looking as Ed quickly got up to face Nightmare, "You're not taking him away again! I'm the one you want, not him!"

"There's more to it, dumbass. Those circles that were imprinted on Jimmy's skin during the Silver Storm connected to his memory. Regal was able to extract all the information he needed to destroy you... And the same power is available to Prometheus' use." Nightmare said and pushed Ed into the wall, the teen falling back to the ground. The demon approached Jimmy slowly, his hand glowing red slightly, "I will now finish what Regal was supposed to do... And then I can become reality."

Jimmy cried in fright, "Ed, help!"

"Shut up and let's get going, you little prick." Nightmare said.

Ed slowly stood up again and stared at Nightmare, who had grabbed a hold of Jimmy again, preparing to disappear, leaving Ed to die alone in the empty room. With anger filling up inside, the protagonist sprinted forward and grabbed the demon's tail. Getting a tight grip on it, he pulled with all his strength. Nightmare swiftly fell back, letting go of Jimmy and falling onto his back. Jimmy ran over to Ed and hid behind his back, peaking to see if the enemy was dead or not.

"Jimmy, I let you go once... And that is enough." Ed huffed.

As the battle seemed to be won, the monster pushed himself up with his hands, quickly retaining his battle stance. His eyes shined a bright red tint as he growled deeply, his breathing becoming rapid and rage filled.

Nightmare looked up and directly at Ed, "You will pay," He said and dashed at Ed, his hands red and ready to blast Ed to his doom. However, Ed was quick and positioned himself just like his opponent, the two pushing against each other with their hands, electricity blasting out of Nightmare's hands. Both of the fighters showed no signs of weakening as they both grunted and stared at each other directly in the eye, "Why is it that it always comes down to you, Ed? That the neighborhood kids always rely on you to do what they can't? I find it pathetic and inexcusable."

Ed laughed, "Pathetic? The same thing is going on with your damn race."

"Lies! With you in our path, our positioning of ranks and generals changed significantly and thus we-"

"I was in your path?" Ed grunted, pushing with more strength, "Heh, I thought you were after me this entire time. There something I'm missing?"

Nightmare began to be pushed back, his strength slowly being overpowered, "There is nothing that is wrong with our race! We are superior to all that exist."

"Then kill me."

Nightmare laughed and pushed harder, trying to prove his point. His facial expression changed to worried as he was pushed back further, Ed determined to win, "I am superior to all of you bastards!"

"Then kill me!"

"I... Am trying..."

"Kill me already!"

Nightmare shook his head, "I... Can't..."

Ed smirked and, with one massive push of strength, blasted Nightmare into the wall, the bricks falling out of place and the monsters disappearing in the wreckage. The victor fell to his knees, breathing heavily at the previous battle that he had just barely won. Jimmy smiled happily and hugged Ed, who slowly got back to his feet and motioned towards a door opposite to the one they entered the room through. The two approached the metal door, pushing it hard until it creaked open all the way. On the other side, a wave of cool air blasted Ed's face, forcing a smile to form.

In front of them was a group of kids, their age, huddled in a group, talking in a heated discussion. Ed approached them happily, the six not noticing. Finally, Jimmy ran up and hugged Sarah, the group finally realizing that their friends were okay and ready to move on.

"Ed!" Double D happily shouted and hugged his friend.

"Lumpy, what took you so long?" Eddy grumpily said.

"Well, we had to make an unexpected stop... But we are ready to finish things. Everyone ready as well?" Ed asked, sitting among them. They all sighed and looked at him with confusion, "What? Is something wrong?"

"Ed, we have a question..." Kevin started, "In those battles that we had to nearly give our lives to protect each other... Why didn't you just use your cache and finish things before they became ugly? We could have preserved the lives of-"

"Nana and Papa..." Rolf said, getting teary eyed.

Ed sat deep in thought, for he had never been asked such a strange yet true question. Was there some reason why, while he had the minds of the greatest people to ever live, he was still missing the necessary information to finish things, "I'm... Not sure. I guess I never actually thought about it, but there must be some sort of explanation."

Double D cleared his throat, "I was trying to prove a point in our discussion before you entered, Ed, but they wouldn't listen. Now then, I presume that the cause of the strange loss of knowledge must be similar to the giant at the bottom of Benson's lake. Some sort of sentence or collection of words must be needed to unlock the rest of your cache that could have saved the lives of those loved dearly by us."

"That is the most likely reason," Ed said, "But there is no need to worry about the reasons for things in the past. We're here and alive and we're about to completely destroy Prometheus in revenge for what he has done."

"But Ed," Johnny shouted, hurting everyone's ears again, "Plank says what if you don't win?"

"Then we'll be the ones screwed." Ed said.

To be continued...