"Hey..."

"What?"

"Can I tell you a secret?"

"What can you possible tell me that I don't know already?"

"I lied."

A million emotions spread over his face at once. I didn't need mind reading to guess what he was thinking. 'What about?'

"I could speak English."

"What?"

"I knew how to speak English the whole time. I was just messing with you."

He gave me a deadpan look. "Seriously? That was your secret?"

"It messed with you, didn't it?"

He sighed, shaking his head slowly, then leaned up against the cage that held me. I grabbed the bars and pressed my face against it in a failed attempt to look down on him like I used to.

"Are you mad now?"

"No. Well... maybe a little." He elbowed my cage, shaking the whole thing and waking Tiger Lily. She blinked at me, then at the spider boy.

"What are you two doing up so late?" She asked.

"I don't know, Wilbur. Would you like to explain?"

He grinned up at me, and I couldn't help but smile back. He once hated me, but now we were like best friends. "It doesn't feel right."

Tiger Lily flopped onto her back and groaned loudly. "Stop waking me up when you decide to pull an all-nighter!"

I fiddled with my paws. It really didn't feel right. He felt it too. Neither of us could sleep.

We didn't know what day that was.

The day it was set free for the first time. It wasn't until he let out a sudden cry of fearful pain that I realized. He backed away from me, shaking his head wildly like a cat with a box on its head.

"Webber!" I cried. I reached my paws through the bars of my cage. He lowered his gaze so I couldn't see his expression.

Then it appeared next to him, grabbing his shoulders with a grin nothing short of manic. "D͞idn̕'̡t̸ ͝ýoù ̢m̴i̛s̸s me?" It purred. Webber thrashed in its grip. Its eyes were on me, though. Not its captor. ҉Y͟ou ́k̀ǹe͡w̨ I ̶w͏ouĺd ̷co̴me b͞a̡c̵k͡...͞"͡

"Get away from him!" I demanded, leaning against the bars of my cage so heavily it toppled over, popping the cage top off and sending me rolling right towards it.

Webber looked up at me. His eyes were wild with panic. Obviously, he too had thought that Nightmare was gone for good. "Help me!" He wailed.

I took a few steps back, torn between helping my friend and sparing my own life. Nightmare would kill one of us.

"Wilbur!" Tiger Lily cried. Apparently she had been freed too. "Run!" She grabbed my tail in her teeth.

"I have to help Webber!" I tried to rip my tail away, but she kept a firm grip. Finally, I gave up and turned to flee myself. The sky was turning shades darker. The Fall of the Ancients had begun and it was because of Nightmare.

Webber didn't cry out for help again. I felt his gaze boring into my back. I could tell that his eyes were filling up with tears at being left behind at the mercy of the beast who had chased him for so long. Mine were too. I understood now why he hated me at first. He hated me because I left him. Because I had betrayed him.

He hated me because I abandoned him.

…

Many years later...

The Nightmare Captor paced restlessly while he waited for his servant. His hands were folded behind his back and his eyes were locked in a scowl. "Charlie!" He barked.

The Night Monster sauntered into the room, obviously in no particular rush. She nodded once to him. "Maxwell. Why the urgency?"

He paused in his stride for just a few seconds before resuming. "I fear something is coming."

"Something is always coming. What fears you about the future?"

"I saw myself... being overthrown."

Shock rippled over the Night Monster's features. "Overthrown? By who?"

"That is the problem..." He shook his head, biting his lip. "I only saw..." He drew his breath in between his teeth. "I only saw one I could make out."

"And who was he?"

Maxwell answered with silence, though his movement ceased entirely. He lowered his head and let a demented grin spread across his face. "Charlie... you are excused. But before you go..." he added as she had turned to leave. "Bring me the Prime Ape."

"Whi-"

"THE Prime Ape, Charlie."

She lowered her gaze and nodded once more. "Yes, Maxwell. I will do as ordered."

…

"You are destined for greatness."

"Few people can stop you."

"You are the one true heir."

"You are our only hope."

"Yes... yes I know!"

"Fight for us!"

"Fight with us!"

"You will be immortal!"

Supposedly, I had the most to say of anyone. I remained quiet as a child and young Prime Ape- or so I was told. They thought it was because I was just afraid of saying anything wrong. Of course, being the first of a species can cause a lot of stress for getting yourself set up.

They were wrong.

They were so, so wrong.

"Be one of us!"

This whisper caught my attention. I rose my chin to seek out the source of the voices, but the area I was in was blank. "Who are you?"

"We are the darkness!"

"We are the night!"

Excitement caused my tail to twitch. A small grin began to spread across my face. "What can I do!?"

"Listen to us!"

"Worship us!"

"Follow us!"

"Yes- Yes I will! Tell me what I can do for you!"

The voices began to overlap as they demanded their own sacrifices.

"Kill the boy!"

"Drown the survivors!"

"Betray your friends!"

I would gladly do any of those things, if I knew a boy or survivors or friends.

"Eternal strength!"

"Eternal power!"

"Be a King!"

"You are destined for greatness!"

"Greatness!"

They began to chant this one word over and over again. "O-Of course! Show me what I have to do to become one of you!"

One voice. One voice stood out above the rest. It was deep yet high pitched. It was feminine yet masculine. It was gravelly yet smooth. It was there, yet it was not. "F̕ol̸l̸ow ̕me̷. ̕An͏d fol̨ĺow͟ m͏y ̕comm̛an͡ds. Tr̢u̵st ̵m̧é... ̢yo͝u̸ ͟wil̕l ̛n̡o̕t͠ ̨r͠eg̵ret ͢a̛ ́th̴i̢ng."͠

I could barely contain my glee. "I'll kill them all! I'll lead them all astray! I'll do whatever I have to! I want to become one with the shadows! I-I always have!

"Let me fight beside you!"