There is chaos and bedlam surrounding him. And amidst to all of that, Parad carefully hides the Mighty Doctor gashat in his coat pocket and he feels the heavy weight of it; like an unbreakable shackle about to drag him back down to the dark waters.
Only this time, there'll be no one to pull him out of it.
"Parad?"
Breaking out of his maudlin thoughts, he glances up to find Emu waiting for him by the hospital entrance. His former host (ally? friend? childhood playmate? partner?) looks haggard and pale, exhaustion and grief adding years to his features. The sight of it breaks his heart. At the same time though, it strengthens his resolve to do what needs to be done.
Although brief, this truce between him and Emu was fun while it lasted.
"You can go first," he tells Emu, lips numb before he gives the doctor a smirk that feels too brittle. "I think I've found a way to defeat Cronus once and for all but I need to confirm it first."
Eyes widening, Emu nods and presses his mouth into a grim line. "Got it. How much time do you need?"
"10 minutes. Tops."
"Alright." Sprinting out, Emu shouts to him over his shoulder. "I'll see you there!"
"Roger that!" Parad looks on, burning the image of his first friend, white coat fluttering in the wind for the very last time. "Clear this last game of ours with no continues, Emu."
Gripping the Mighty Doctor gashat, he teleports down to CR and finds Director Kagami and Tsukuru by the table. They both jump at his sudden appearance but relax soon enough and wow, how things can change in just a span of a month. Ever since he joined CR, Parad has done his best to make amends for the harm he's caused with varying degrees of success. Although, it's kinda funny in an ironic sense that it was Director Kagami who'd been the first amongst the CR doctors to accept him despite the fact that Parad threatened the man not too long ago.
He's gonna miss the goofy, fatherly doctor.
'Focus,' he scolds himself.
"What's the diagnosis?" Parad asks, walking up to the two humans and leans down to peer at the laptop that Tsukuru is typing away. "Was I right?"
Kagami sighs, looking terribly old. "I'm afraid so, Parad-kun. Even if we defeat Cronus, the Gamedeus virus he's now fused with won't disappear unless we find a way to separate them."
"Don't worry, Emu has that covered," he reassures, remembering what his former host told him about LVL 1. "What I wanna know is what comes after. Was my hypotheses correct?"
Tsukuru nods. "Yes. For the Gamedeus virus to be cured, we have to destroy the strain its anchored to. The only problem is, no matter how much I try to trace the strain back, I can't find it." Sighing, the programmer clutches his head. "Even if Gamedeus is defeated, as long as its anchored to the strain, its virus will remain within people and infect others. Eventually, it'll reform and come back again to a higher level."
"Unless the bugster strain dies," he quips, feeling cold.
Tsukuru nods. "Yes. To permanently kill Gamedeus, you have to kill the strain it's anchored to as well."
"What Poppy did slowed down the process of the infection and helped us figure out the existence of the strain." Kagami rubs his face in frustration. "But despite being so close, we can't find the strain at all!"
Parad looks at the screen and sees the familiar sequence of the strain Gamedeus is anchored to. He suspected it but it's clear now that Cronus is a cruel, petty bastard. Parad sighs, body heavy. Closing his eyes, he fishes out his game console. Determined, he pushes the buttons and pours out a wave of pixels in it until an envelope appears on the screen. It seems like this is all he can afford to do with the time he has left.
"Here." Parad offers the console to the director. "Can you give this to Emu?"
"Eh? Oh, um, sure." Kagami looks at him in confusion as he takes the concole. "But why?"
"Don't want it to get banged up since I'm gonna go help the others now."
"But the strain...?"
The grin on his face feels more like a grimace. "Don't worry. I know where it is." Before he can think better of it, Parad gives the director a quick hug. "Thanks, Kagami-inchou."
Before the director can do or say anything back, Parad disappears in a flash of pixels.
Reappearing on a rooftop near to where he can sense the others are, Parad takes out the Mighty Doctor gashat and looks down at it. He feels cold. Terrified.
I don't want to die.
They should've known that Cronus merging with Gamedeus wasn't just a way to gain more power- the man was too calculative for it to be just that. No, merging with Gamedeus was an insurance for the bastard and as much as Parad hates to admit it but, Cronus is a much better businessman than Genm ever was.
I want to live.
By merging with Gamedeus, it ensured that the virus and the infection will continue to spread for Cronus to control. Unfortunately, it doesn't stop there. Despite the fact that Poppy sacrificed herself to cure the infected, the virus is still spreading and it made them realise that there is more to Gamedeus' virus than they thought. Now that Gamedeus is fused with Cronus, the virus will only keep coming back but even if Gamedeus is separated from Cronus, the infection won't stop because the Bugster was merged with someone who was already infected with game disease and has thus anchored itself to the original virus strain within Cronus.
More specifically, Parad's virus.
After all, Cronus developed his antibody and got his powers from Parad's negative strand. Unfortunately. In which case, they've been played because Cronus is taking advantage of Parad's fear of death which it ensures that Parad will keep himself alive and thus, Gamedeus as well. However, if there is a chance that Parad does die, Emu's powers; as Muteki especially will be gone forever.
In other words: damned if you do, damned if you don't.
"Guess it's a good thing that I'm a sore loser, huh?" Parad muses, turning the gashat over in his hand as tears well up in his eyes. "Even when I'm gone, Emu still has his antibody in him and with just enough stress in hopes of stopping Cronus, well..."
Sighing, he rubs away the tears and transforms into Perfect Knockout for the last time. Sliding the Mighty Doctor gashat to the gamer driver, Parad teleports to where Emu is.
Just in time to stop Cronus (Gamedeus?) from skewering Emu clean through.
The next few moments go by in a blur. Too focused on ensuring that Gamedeus and Cronus won't fuse back together after the others succeeded in the operation, he locks Gamedeus in place and activates Mighty Doctor as his transformation fades away.
The pain is mercifully swift and he combines his powers with the gashat to eradicate Gamedeus once and for all.
In the past, he once heard a saying that your life will flash by the moment you're about to die. Parad thought it's just a load of crap since it didn't happen to him when Emu 'killed' him but as he falls to his knees, Parad thinks that might be because he didn't actually die that time so it didn't really apply. However that doesn't seem to be the case right now as memories flash by in his mind's eye; both good and bad. Hell, even the hazy memories of his past from before the extraction are thrown into sharp clarity.
It makes him laugh at the horrible timing.
Terror; sharp and chilling strikes down from the bond and Parad looks up to see the horrified face of Houjou Emu staring right back at him.
'Why!?' Emu's voice wails through the bond, mouth opened in a silent scream.
Parad smiles. 'It was the only way.'
There are tears in his eyes hidden from view as his body breaks down into fading pixels; crumbling away to nothing without so much as a glancing touch. Even from where he is, Parad can see the denial and tears welling up in Emu's eyes. To see that Emu would cry for him, Parad supposes it shows how far they've come in their month long truce. He wishes there'd been another way; anything to spare Emu the pain.
But...he's not too worried. Compared to Poppy or Lazer, his death won't hurt Emu too much if at all; will just be a blip since he's more of a situational ally than anything else. Emu doesn't need him anymore- hasn't need him for many years actually, he's willing to admit now. And well, knowing Genm, there's no way Poppy will stay dead so Emu won't have to grieve long like he did with Lazer. It's only just a matter of time.
As for him? Honestly, if he's going to bugster Hell or an equivalent to it for the things he's done, Parad thinks it's only well deserved. He just hopes that he managed to do some good to lighten his sentence, if only just a little.
And although Emu will soon move on and his death will be nothing more than an unfortunate memory his human will soon forget, Parad is grateful that at least Emu will be the last thing he sees before he goes.
So even as his smile is faltering around the edges and held by nothing but dogged will, Parad reaches out and sees Emu scrambling and running and reaching for him with a bloodcurdling scream.
"PARAD!"
As his vision darkens, Parad breathes out his last with a final glimpse of his precious human Heart and then everything is lost to darkness as he sinks into the pitch black waters.