Chapter 1: Nowhere

Present Day: 2056 - The Former United States of America

Even at a glance, it wouldn't be unusual for a passerby to assume that this young man wasn't exactly doing well.

For instance, one could tell he hadn't been getting nearly enough sleep. Or was it that he'd been crying? The dark semi circles under his eyes didn't exactly paint the picture well enough to tell either way. Or perhaps his face just happened to take on the gloomy nature of the day: a cold and wet March morning, typical of New York City this time of year. He wasn't doing much of anything as he emptily gazed out the window, resting his head against his hand, propped up on an elbow. Well, apart from smoking a cigarette, the smoke of which rose up, partially obscuring the unkempt, mid-length, platinum hair that fell in his face around eye height. Dressed in black, he almost blended into the booth in the corner of the East 64th street pub he sat in. One may have mistaken him for a shadow.

While obscured to the commuters hustling and bustling outside, a small sliver of a number could be seen tattooed on his neck, just behind his collar.

2…

"What can I get for you?"

Slightly startled, snapping out of his trance, he raised his face to see a waitress suddenly standing next to the table, one hand pulling a pen out from behind her ear, the other held a small pad of paper.

"Beer and a shot of Jack Daniels. Make it a double please." He replied flatly, extinguishing his cigarette in the ashtray on the table, only to produce a new one from the pack in his shirt pocket and light it. The waitress glanced at her watch, trying not to make her judgment obvious. 8:45 A.M.

"I'll just need to see your I.D., please"

He silently reached into the same shirt pocket to grab it and hand it over. There was a brief pause before she handed it back.

"I'll be right back with your drinks"

"Oh, and Happy Birthday"

"Is it my birthday?" He mumbled to himself as she walked away, and he resumed his vacant-eyed stare out the window. "I hadn't noticed."

Fuck, has it been another year already? He took a long draw on his cigarette, as his mind drifted off to various scenes from his memories. A tear began forming in the corner of his eye.

Why did it have to end up like this? Out of everyone: why me?

2047 - The Paradise Hideout

"Wait. Years?" Norman asked Emma, who still seemed a little out of it.

"Years, Norman. I… Can't even begin to describe how long we were searching. The whole place was a massive maze. A labyrinth." Emma replied. Her face showed a slight, inquisitive concern, before perking up, more like her normal cheery self. "But once we figured out what to do, it's like everything around us faded away, and there was this black… thing, inside this weird cube."

"Okay, then what happened next?"

"I just… touched it, and suddenly I was somewhere else." Emma said, looking at her hands, almost as if she couldn't believe it herself, before looking back at Norman. "T̵̍͜h̸̦̕e̴̳̔ ̶̭̈́O̶͇͝n̴̦̽e̵̺̎ was there though, and I was able to make a new promise! We did it, Norman!"

No more than a week ago, Norman couldn't have imagined he'd be in this position. Everyone from Grace Field had made it to the hideout, save for Phil and the children under four, that is. He had planned to eradicate the demons entirely, but when that plan was brought up to everyone, Emma was staunchly opposed. Ray firmly backed Emma's decision, and the rest of the group eventually followed suit. Norman had tentatively agreed to go along with it, under the condition that if Emma and Ray had failed in their search for the Seven Walls, he'd proceed with his extermination plan. After all, he lacked the firepower for an all out frontal assault as it stood, even with his recent brokering of a deal with a clan of demons to secure extra soldiers.

He gave her a week. She had only been gone a day.

That girl can move mountains when she puts her mind to it.

"So where do you think he could be?"

"I have no idea. We were both standing in front of the portal, and we made a point to join hands in case something happened. He never showed up in the same area with me and T̵̍͜h̸̦̕e̴̳̔ ̶̭̈́O̶͇͝n̴̦̽e̵̺̎, and I didn't see him again. He's really not here?"

"No one's said anything. I'd imagine there would also be a commotion around him too if he were here."

"Well, we'll just have to look!" Emma finally rose to her feet. "Maybe he just ended up where we did the ritual to enter! He's bound to be around somewhere." She had come back to this plane of reality just a few moments ago, and while she remained positive, Norman felt unsettled. The rest of the crowd that had gathered around her were silent.

As it turned out, Norman had good reason to suspect something had gone wrong. The minutes turned to hours. The hours to days. One thing was becoming terrifyingly apparent.

Ray was nowhere to be found

5 days later:

"Well we can't just leave him there! I'm going back in after him." Emma began to walk away.

"No!" Norman grabbed her by the wrist. "Listen to me, Emma: there's no guarantee he's even still in there. There's no guarantee you'll be able to come back out, or even get in for that matter! We don't even know where 'there' is! We-" He became alarmingly aware just how much he was raising his voice by the look on Emma's face, and cut himself off. Grasping one of her hands between his own, he hung his head slightly. Nearly in tears, he spoke again: "We can't lose both of you. We -... I need you. Here."

"He's our friend, Norman." She replied after a pause, matching his new soft, pained tone, and lowering her head to force him to make eye contact with her. "Our best friend. I have to go. I have to try to find him."

And so, gently removing her hand from his, and giving him one last affirming smile, off she ran into the forest.

Much, much later:

"Boss, if I may:"

Cislo put his arm around Norman's shoulder as the two sat on the couch in his office. Cislo had never seen him so overcome with grief. In fact, he hadn't seen his boss be anything but a badass since the day they broke out of Lambda, even despite the losses suffered. Less than a month ago, he'd seen him fearlessly stare down the leader of the Geelan clan, all while Cislo was secretly shaking in his boots. Cislo shook him slightly as he sat with his head in his hands.

"Wouldn't it be a good decision to move forward with the plan?"

"There is no plan without them, I'm afraid." Norman said. His voice seemed to tremble more with every word. "There's no way of knowing if we can even put the promise into effect without Emma, seeing as she was the one to make it. Then there's Don and Gilda's team. Given that none of them have returned-" Norman sighed and raised his head. With his hands now together in front of his face, he rested his chin on the crooks of his thumbs and forefingers. It seemed almost as though he were praying as he looked toward the ceiling. "-I guess that means we're pretty much fucked, huh?"

Norman never swore, or at least, Cislo had never heard him do so. He did have a point though. It was pretty much the worst situation possible. If Don and Gilda's team weren't able to track down the two evil-blooded, or were killed in doing so, there was very little hope for either Emma or Norman's plan.

"It looks pretty dire, yeah, but boss- We really can't hope to get anyth-"

Thud.

Just outside the office door, it sounded as though someone had fallen down, the noise stopping the conversation and causing the two to look toward the door. Odd, as at this time of the day, the other kids were usually downstairs playing, training, or otherwise getting up to hijinks of some kind.

Wait… Please.

Please! Norman begged in his head to someone. Anyone. Please be back.

He jumped up from the couch, practically vaulting over the armrest and threw open the door. A small, slim figure lay face down on the floor. The first thing Norman laid his eyes on that he could recognize was hair.

Orange hair.

"Emma!" He screamed out as he dropped to his knees and shook her. "Emma!"

Silence. Followed by the sound of everyone else running up the stairs to see what the commotion was.

Norman had rolled Emma over, her face and clothes stained with dirt. He continued to shake her and call her name, when all at once, her upper body sprang up, nearly knocking him over.

"Emma!" It was as if Norman knew no other words but her name.

"N-... Norman?" She paused, and looked up at those around her, "Everyone?" She reached up to touch Norman's face, and upon doing so, her eyes grew wide. Norman blushed a little.

"Is- Is this the real hideout?"

"It's really us, Emma" Norman's face was washed over with an indescribable relief. Good. Okay. At least one of them is here, he thought to himself, when the realization hit him, but it was Emma who spoke first.

"Ray?"

He turned about, seeing nothing, then up at each of the watching faces, all solemnly, collectively shaking their heads as they met his gaze.

"Did you see-" He said as he turned back to face her.

He didn't need to finish the question. It was obvious by the tears already streaming down her face that she had failed. Emma simply buried her face into his shoulder.

He wrapped his arms around her, cradling the back of her head with his hand, as her sobs turned to wails that echoed throughout the hideout.