Danny had no idea where he was, and only the vaguest notion that he was even traveling the right direction. The sewer was dark, even without the fog to obscure it. It was the perfect environment for slayers and mainliners, and he had left quite a trail of them behind him.

He was scared; he was tired; and his mind had him convinced that Diego was right behind him. Silver had gone back to not talking to him, but he had the impression that she was nearby since the fear was a little easier to deal with. She almost reminded him of lost puppy. He couldn't believe she was the same person who had tortured him so relentlessly on Carnate.

Something began to whine. After a moment, it rose to a wail that degenerated into racking sobs. The mini searchlight began to flicker. Danny banged on it a few times; he knew it couldn't be running out of batteries. He unconsciously quickened his pace.

"It's too dark!" cried a child's voice. "I'm scared of the dark!"

The echo made it impossible to tell which direction the voice was coming from, but he thought it was behind him. He hastened further, hoping to put as much distance between himself and the Malice as possible. The light continued to flicker, spending more time off than on until it finally went out completely. By then, Danny was running.

The fact that he couldn't see and might crash into something didn't even cross his mind. The batteries were still good; he knew they were. So why didn't the flashlight-

All he saw were pale glowing eyes, centimeters from his own.

"It's awfully dark down there," he whispered.

A hand descended on his head and a voice murmured into his ear, "They say it's bottomless. If you fall, you'll go straight through the earth."

He shuddered with only a touch of exaggeration. The thought of falling forever in that darkness was almost enough to make him wet himself. He smiled up into Meryll's cold blue eyes, happy she was there with him. He trusted her implicitly; ever since his brother's accident with the axe, she had taken care of him. She had even told him what happened to brother, even though he wasn't supposed to know. It had made him cry, but she had wiped away his tears.

She had told him she could take him to see brother before bringing him here. But he didn't see brother anywhere. "Big sis?" he asked tentatively. "Where's brother?"

She took him by the shoulders and turned him so that his back was to the mineshaft. "Are you ready to see him?" At his nod, she smiled and tapped the side of her head. "He's up here."

The darkness closed around him. His last lesson was the meaning of betrayal.

The little boy let go and moved past. "I'm scared of the dark!" he cried. "Big sis! Why?"

Danny leaned against the concrete wall and listened to the child's plaintive wails. Why had the boy just let go like that?

"The innocence of a child…" intoned Killjoy's voice, startling a yelp out of the fourteen-year-old. "It's a spectacular thing, isn't it? Even after years of being trapped inside our dear Meryll's mind, his own psyche remains undistorted, unlike the others."

"He just wanted someone to listen," Danny muttered as his light flickered back on. Killjoy didn't answer, but he didn't need one.

Silver was a worse monster than he had given her credit for, apparently. He suddenly found himself wondering what might have happened if she had ever had children of her own. Doubtless, she would have killed them, too. Was it even remotely possible that she truly thought she had done these people a favor? Sadly, he thought it was.

What little pity he had begun to feel vanished again, although his ability to properly hate her seemed to have been left with his ghost half. He considered calling to her, fighting her right then, but that probably wouldn't have been very smart. He knew his family and friends were alive because that was part of the game. He also knew that she was the only reason they weren't dead. If he beat Silver before he reached the clock tower, he was relatively certain the sniper would just kill them.

With the little boy's soul again far enough away, slayers and mainliners should have begun to crawl out of the proverbial woodwork. The sewer was swarming with them before he showed up.

Then he heard the muttering. Diego had followed him.

He looked around frantically; it sounded like it was behind him, but so had the little boy. "Which way?" he whined. The panic was almost enough to overwhelm him, especially since Silver had fled again. He screamed as something grabbed him around the ankle, but it was only the drowned girl. He managed to shake her off and started running.

He was completely turned around; he couldn't remember which way he had been going, or where he'd come from. The drowned girl made another grab for his ankle, then froze and withdrew. He didn't want to turn around. He knew in the same manner of five-year-olds everywhere that if he didn't see it, it didn't exist. Unfortunately, that rule only applies to the monsters that aren't there.

"Tú puta malo," Diego mumbled. He was still a few feet away; Danny started running.

He had to get back above ground. He didn't know what he would do when he got there, but he had to. He couldn't take the confines anymore. Light glinted off metal, and the boy threw himself onto the ladder. His sudden climbing dexterity would have put a monkey to shame. At the top, he shoved at the manhole cover, growing increasingly frantic. Something brushed his leg; with a strength born of terror and dread, he gave one last shove and tumbled out into the night air.

Something struck the ground right in front of his nose; something else brushed his leg again; and he was running for the relative shelter of a gas station. There were catmen inside, but he could handle them. Compared to Diego and the sniper, they were almost tame. He collapsed against the side of the building to catch his breath.

Something sparked in his peripheral vision, but he didn't pay much attention. It seemed like something was sparking wherever he went lately. It almost reminded him of Ghost Writer's Christmas curse. If it wasn't sparking in his presence, it was blowing up. He jumped as whatever it had been did just that and forcibly dragged his attention towards…

Male or female, he didn't know, as half of its head was missing. He lunged to his feet, but he was too slow. As he fought against the all-consuming darkness, he saw that it wasn't alone.

There were too many of them, reaching out to him. Awake and aware, their voices were no longer a simple buzzing, but a shrill howl. He shuddered as though frozen, and in a way, he was. He couldn't move; he couldn't even think to move. The images they presented filled his mind until he could no longer remember who he was.

"Brother?"

The simple word cut through everything. The Malice screamed and backed away, and Danny realized he had fallen. He looked up slowly to see the little boy's pleading eyes in the darkness.

"Why?"

Danny held out his hand; he felt something take it. Suddenly, the light came back on directly in his eyes. He fumbled with it and finally managed to shut it off again, but the little boy was gone. He could see the Malice lurking around as it moved away. Behind the gas station loomed the clock tower. Now if he could just figure how to get there…