Darkness Falls - Chapter 10: Past

Caroline stared at the little girl, shocked. "Kill yourself? Firstly, you're already dead, so how can you kill yourself? Secondly… why would you want to?"

The little girl smiled sadly at her. "How can I? By giving up my soul and my spirit to him, so that his soul could heal. Why?" She sighed, bowing her head. Strands of black hair fell forward, obscuring her face. "Because of what he did."

"What did he do?" Caroline asked, curious. The little girl's hand was growing fainter by the second. "And what are you doing?"

"Giving him my spirit." She looked up, blinking. "My name is Tanya…

"A maverick attacked my home one day. And killed my doggy. It was… this… clown-type reploid, I think. It wasn't made maverick, it had gone maverick.

"X came that day, and fought the maverick. He tried to save my doggy, but he failed. I wasn't mad at him, but I was sad, and started crying. He came to me and comforted me… he tried to help me anyway that he could. It didn't bring my doggy back, but it did help.

"Because of that, I want to help him." The girl, Tanya's, voice trailed off as she brought her hand up. Or what was left of it. By now it was so transparent that her fingers weren't even visible. "Besides, I'm just a spirit caught under Malice's influence. If I stay here too long, I'll become evil. Like Samurai was.

"Tanya… isn't there something else that can be done? That I can do?" Tanya shook her head.

"I'm sorry Caroline, but there's nothing that you can do to help him. What you can do is prevent this from happening to anyone else." Caroline looked at her, questioningly. "Alia and Zero are still in here. If you don't save them, they'll be lost under the influence of Malice. Please, help them!"

Caroline nodded. "I'll help them Tanya. I'll help them in any way that I can." The younger girl smiled, nodding.

"Thank you." With that, she closed her eyes, fading away.

For a moment, Caroline crouched there in the darkness, staring at nothing. Something began to sting in the corner of her eyes and, wiping it away, she bit her lower lip. That girl sacrificed herself…

There was a groan. Startled, she shoved herself back. X's body stirred, then sat up.

"Where am I?" he asked, confused. "And why does my head hurt so much?"