Trials of Beta

Interlude

Beta found himself in a vast, dark place. Pitch black as far as he could see in all directions, all encompassing and total. "Where am I?" His voice echoed back at him, repeated several times.

All of a sudden, he heard a female giggling behind him, and he spun around. "Who's there?!" He demanded, not speaking but hearing his own voice.

Before him was Lunehhy, her back turned to him. "Lunehhy!" He cried, and ran towards her, placing his hand on her shoulder, only to have her image flicker and vanish, reappearing several feet ahead of him. "Huh? What gives?" He gave chase to the fleeing flickers of Lunehhy, always so close, just out of his grasp, and she was getting further away from him with each pass, until at last she was but a speck on the horizon. But he didn't give up, still he ran, determined to catch up to her.

"Where do you think you're going?" Came HK-55's voice suddenly to his left, causing him to stop dead in his tracks. Her image floated just a foot off the ground, or rather, what he perceived as the ground.

"YOU! You're the one who killed Lunehhy!" He accused her, pointing a condemning finger.

"No, you killed Lunehhy." She replied, crossing her arms over her chest insolently, "See for yourself."

The scene of Lunehhy's death replayed itself before his eyes, like a movie. As the blade of the Soul Eater pierced Lunehhy's back, HK-55's form changed to that of Beta's own image. Beta took a step back, then looked at his hands. They were covered in blood, Lunehhy's blood. Screaming, he tried desperately to wipe the blood off on his robe. "No! No, no, no, no! It's all lies! I didn't kill Lunehhy! I didn't!"

"Yes you did. If you weren't there, I would have never dropped my guard." Beta wasn't sure when it had happened, but Lunehhy was standing where HK was only a little while ago.

"Lunehhy? No. It's... N-not my fault! I didn't mean to! Please, forgive me!" He tried to step forward and embrace the red head RAmarl, but as he put his arms around her body she swirled and vanished like a cloud of dust blown by a strong breeze. "LUUUUUNEHHHHHHY!!" Falling to his knees, Beta began to weep into his hands.

"God, you're such a baby." Alex D. said, shaking his head as he crossed both arms across his chest, standing over Beta. "Wah! Wah! Wah!  All you do is cry. Do us all a favor, grow a pair, would ya?"

"Alex?" He said, wiping away tears from his eyes. "I'm sorry."

"And stop apologizing! It's making me sick. Be a man for once!"

"A man? All Beta will ever be is a wimp. A weak little child, always wanting to cry to his mama." HK said, appearing behind Beta.

"And you're so dumb. All you think about is avenging my death, but you don't see the higher picture." Lunehhy said, she too behind him, "If HK-55 brings back the terror, all sorts of bad stuff will happen."

"'The Terror?'" Beta asked inquisitively.

"Yeah. The Terror. Don't just avenge me, stop her."

"Stop me? As if. I'll kill him and mount his head on the wall above my bed."

"I don't doubt that." Alex said.

"NO! NO! STOP! Shut up!" Beta shot to his feet, the images of Lunehhy, Alex D., and HK-55 vanishing, "Enough of this!"

"Beta...?" A voice came, disfigured, coming from all directions at once and originating from nowhere. "Beta... Wake up..." The voice became clearer. It was Alex D.! "Beta! Can you hear me?"