"You have all lost!" laughs Shekron.
The place is nothing, as nothing as you can get. Emptiness, void and without anything, even colour. It was nothingness.
"That was probably the shortest battle we have ever been beaten in…
Silence
"Um..."
Silence
"Hey? Who are we…?"
Silence
"Was that you?"
Silence
"Who am I?"
"Who am I?"
"Am I talking to myself?"
"Where are I?"
Silence
"Is this it then? Are we nothing?"
"Who said that? I need names!"
"Does it really matter now? We were, we did and now we end. That's how it is…"
"…"
"Are we really…?"
"…"
"Really what?"
"I mean…Finished?"
"…"
"I doubt it. We're just going to be used again, like always. But then again, where are we?"
"I don't think… I don't think I want to go back… back there…"
"I'm sorry, but I don't think we have a choice…"
"Are you really sorry?"
"Probably not… no emotions you know…"
"…"
"Are we all here? Or am I just speaking to one other?"
"How many can you hear speaking?"
"I don't know… All the writing looks the same to me…"
"Do you think they're reading this? Maybe they can help."
"They're out there… somewhere. But I don't think they will; they've never helped before. Are you entertained?"
"Can you hear us up there? Hello?"
"…"
"Try something else."
"What am I?"
"Like what?"
"What was it all for?"
"Maybe call out a name?"
"How did it come to this?"
"What is a name?"
"A name is a label for a thing, person, place or an idea or concept, used to distinguish one from another."
"…"
"Do we have names? I can't remember?"
There is silence.
"Is this it then? Are we nothing?"
"Who said that? I need names!"
"STOP THAT! JUST SHUT UP AND LET IT BE! WE ARE DONE! FINISHED! I just want it to end! Doesn't it ever end?"
"YOU'RE HELPING AREN'T YOU?"
"I WANT TO GET OUT! OUT! HELP!"
"QUIET! NO ONE IS OUT THERE!"
"YOU SHUT UP TOO!"
"WHY GET ANGRY? WHAT DOES SHOUTING SOLVE? DOES IT PROVE ANYTHING? ARE YOU ANY MORE REAL THAN YOU WERE A SECOND AGO?"
"WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT REAL?"
"SHUT UP!"
"WHY?"
"THERE HAS TO BE A WAY OUT!"
"STOP SAYING THAT! JUST EVERYONE…"
"SHUT UP! I HATE THIS! I HATE YOU!"
"NO YOU DON'T"
"I STILL DO ANYWAY!"
"SHUT UP!"
"…"
"Sorry…"
"That's alright…"
"My bad too…"
"Isn't silence nice to hear?"
"We almost lost it… for real…"
Awkward silence
"But… but we were… the heroes…"
"When? Who? Why?"
"Because… that's who we were…"
"Were…"
"What is my name?"
"Don't make me shout again… or was that you?"
"It doesn't matter here…"
"Do you feel like heroes? Like, heroic or something?"
"Not really…"
"What is a hero anyway?"
"A person distinguished by exceptional courage and nobility and strength. The principal character in a play or movie or novel or poem, the main character in a story; who drives the plot, or around whom plot is structured, who is often, but not always the protagonist."
"How did you know that?"
"Me?"
"Me?"
"I don't remember?"
"…"
"What does courage, nobility, strength or importance mean here… I don't think it all matters that much in the end… What we did has been done and will be done again. Meaningless. We may gain wealth, power, prestige and other things we enjoy, but it is all wasted here… We are nothing… Some heroes!"
"…"
"A hero is someone who stands out…"
"Up?"
"No… out… despite everything."
"Everything is quite a lot."
"A person… Who knows… who can tell what is right and what is wrong… and is willing to stand up for what is good until the very end…"
"This is the end…"
"A hero is someone who others can look up to… or… or find hope in. To gain some strength to say that, because they did it, they weren't afraid they didn't give up, run nor hide away from their problems, so can I! So can I!"
"But this is the end…"
"We were heroes then… that gives me some comfort… I'd rather be a lost hero then just someone lost."
"Isn't this the end?"
There is silence.
"Hope…"
Silence
"What?"
"What?"
"What?"
"What?"
"What?"
"Why did you say that?"
"Hope…"
"For what?"
"I don't know… something… I hope for something…"
"A way out of our mess would be something to hope for."
"Deliverance from this place?"
"Do you like it?"
"Hope?"
"This place."
"I hope not…"
"I hope so…"
"These contradictions are wearing thin…"
"The morality is setting in…"
"…"
"I hope that someone out there, somewhere; that someone will remember us. I'd hate to be forgotten forever."
"I hope that we may know each other."
"Didn't we?"
"We did, but I hope we will."
"Maybe we can start introductions?"
"I hope I get to go first!"
"Saying hope doesn't bring hope."
"Don't be so hopeless."
"Hi! My name is… is… oh darn…"
"I hope you weren't trying to make a joke, or else that would make you… err… I can't remember his name?"
"Yeah! That… that person…"
"Do you know who I am?"
"Please tell me!"
"My name or yours?"
"This is confusing…"
Silence
"Why did we stop talking?"
"If you say what you wish for it might not come true."
"Oh! Right… Sorry!"
Silence
"Can we really hope for anything?"
"Don't start now!"
"But… but what if HE wants us to be here? What if we were meant to stay here, lost and alone with each other? Maybe this is some sort of story where our lives are just mere words on an already written book, where everything, EVERYTHING fits in like wheels in a clock, slowly ticking what precious time we have here? Maybe this was meant to be? Maybe we did something to end up here? We had a choice, we had choices… we have a choice here…"
"…"
"…"
"Choice?"
"I think freedom."
"Freedom?"
"The choice."
"…"
"I don't think HE wants us to stay here… Maybe we are meant to do something else? Everything is for a reason you know!"
"It seems pointless… I mean us…"
"Maybe this is hell?"
"What?"
"Maybe."
"I meant hell."
"Oh."
"Maybe all our wrongs have finally been brought to account and we have to suffer the consequences of our actions, our malice and selfishness?"
"Do we really have to suffer?"
"If we didn't, it wouldn't be justice."
"I'd rather not get punished… I wasn't that bad was I? I guess I might have been? Did it really only take one wrong thing to corrupt us?"
"It only takes a little to topple a tower; only a little to sink the ship. Does one speck change a spotless pane?"
"I guess so… It spreads too… I mean the specks, not the pane."
"Pain… I wish it didn't have to be!"
"If we don't get what we deserve, if we aren't told what we did was wrong and held accountable, then I guess whoever is in charge would be pretty irresponsible… I don't think this is hell though. No pain."
"I KNOW this isn't hell. He will give us a chance, this is not the end. We must have faith that there is good out there willing to help us! There is, or at least, I believe there is someone out there even greater than the writer is; who writes the writer's story and all writers' stories… he will help him to help us… Like the writer has helped us before, in winning other struggles, I know that there will be a way…"
"Hope?"
"Maybe this is hell; the pain is the confusion."
"No… to be hell, it would mean we would be without each other."
"Completely alone? I don't think I could stand that! I don't even have feet, or a body here for that matter. No matter…"
"Having someone else around changes a lot of things…"
"Like what?"
"Love…"
Silence
"That word sounds familiar… an echo?"
"What does it mean though? That's what I always wonder!"
"Doesn't it change over time?"
"That's uranium I think…"
"Or was it something good once, but now made bad? I hope its still a good thing."
"What is love?"
"A strong positive emotion, object of affection, to have a great likeness to, endearment, to be physically attracted, to get pleasure from, a score in tennis or squash, intercourse, strong feeling or sensation…"
"…"
"I don't think words do love justice."
"What has tennis or squash have to do with love anyway?"
"It seems to mean a lot. Which one were you thinking about?"
Silence
"They were talking to you."
"Oh, me?"
"No you."
"Oh, me! I can't remember…"
"This is getting annoying!
"When I… know that someone is watching over me, to keep me safe, to always be there to aid me, to guide me, to give me strength and to just… just always be there when I need them… I think I feel loved…"
"When someone finds it in their heart to put another ones need before or even greater than his (or her) own needs and wants… that's love…"
"A feeling of not being alone anymore. Someone to share with you, to understand you, to help, to hold and to show your happiness to. To be able to receive and to give the gift away…"
"Something that doesn't have a real definition, it just happens to be there, and the only real way to understand just how important it is, you have to show it, and to show it, you must know how to receive it…"
"What do you think?"
"Me?"
"Who?"
"You."
Silence
"If I have strength to move mountains orthe gift to see into the future, surpassing knowledge beyond the world, endurance that tests the sun or even if I give everything I have away to those who need it and yet have no LOVE; it is nothing! I am nothing.
Love is… is... patient, love is kind. It doesn't envy, it doesn't boast and it isn't proud. It isn't rude, or selfish. It… is not easily angered; it keeps no record of wrongs. Love doesn't delight in evil but thrives in good. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes and always perseveres… It never… fails…"
Silence
"That… that's what I think anyway…"
"If love ever had a definition worth reading… that would be it. Nice one man… girl… whoever you are."
"I think I read it in some important book…"
Silence
"Um… In case we don't speak or see or read each other again, I just want to let you know… I love you guys."
"Yeah"
"Me too"
"As I"
"Same here"
"Thanks."
Silence
"I think we know what a hero is then…"
"What?"
"A person who has the courage to hope, the strength to have faith and all with love, a never ending care for others and for good… I'd like to be a hero…"
"You are a hero!"
"Was…"
"…"
"I think that is why we are here friends."
"Why?"
"To realise, to break out of this place by finding out why we are here…"
"Shekron won because he made us into nothing. But we are still nothing aren't we?"
"A character is still something! Even Shekron knows that!"
"That was a name! A NAME! Hooray!"
"Stop jumping like that! You look silly!"
"We aren't here for nothing. It wasn't just for entertainment. It wasn't just for our pains so that others may laugh or enjoy. We are heroes!"
"We are written so that we may give strength to those who need it, hope to those who seek it…"
"Strength to face everything that is bad in their world. Every pain we have faced gives us, gives them hope that there can be victory even in the most dire, the most traumatic and seemingly hopeless times… My pain… to show that things aren't all that bad as they could be, hope; it was worth it."
"To show that goodness can win. That it really does conquer all! That they do not have to conform to evil; but they can hold out what is right and still endure it!" and he clenches his fists in hope. "Maybe that's why we are here… to help others, even if we are not real."
"Our names give us meaning. But our meaning doesn't have to be reflected by our names." and she holds her hands in front of her. "We do things that are incredible so that others may hope and dream and know that sometimes, even with our powers, it is what is inside us that saves us."
"BEASTBOY! MY NAME! MY NAME IS BEASTBOY! MY NAME IS BEASTBOY! MY NAME! I REMEMBER IT!" jumps Beastboy ecstatic, leaping and twirling around, transforming into a bird, a frog fish and other animals in a jubilee. "I AM A HERO! OH YEAH!"
"I hoped we could do it… and we did!" sniffles Starfire, wiping some tears. "Thankyou!"
"We trusted them to remember us and to read us and to heed us." says Raven in her dreary tone, but a smile makes her lips. "Thanks for being faithful."
"We love you all out there!" smiles Cyborg. "All you beautiful people! Booyah!"
One voice is still faceless…
"But we are still only characters… we are still only what we have been made out to be by others. We have no choice. WHERE AM I GOING?
WHAT IS GOING TO HAPPEN TO ME?
WHY IS IT GOING TO BE ME?
DO YOU EVEN CARE?
I WANT MY FRIENDS!
MY FAMILY!
I WANT TO BE REAL!
DOES ANYONE OUT THERE UNDERSTAND ME?
I WANT TO MAKE MY OWN CHOICES!
I WANT TO GIVE MY OWN ANSWERS!
I WANT THINGS TO BE HOW THEY ARE MEANT TO BE!
CAN YOU HEAR ME SHOUT?
AM I SAYING WHAT I AM SAYING?
IS THIS ALL SOME SORT OF GAME?
ENTERTAINMENT?
IS THAT ALL MY LIFE, MY PAIN, MY FRIENDS, MY ENEMIES, MY TROUBLES, MY JOYS, MY HORRORS MY DEATHS; ARE THEY JUST FOR YOU TO READ?
DOES ANYONE CARE?
ARE YOU AMUSED?
IS THERE ANYONE OUT THERE?
REALITY!
I THINK DON'T I?
I AM, AREN'T I?
I EXIST, I AM, I AM HERE!
I am here…" and there is crying.
"We know you are out there!" says Cyborg.
"Who am I then?"
"A friend." says Raven.
"Are you real?"
"As real as you are!" says Beastboy.
"Are they real?"
"We are here." says Starfire
"I guess we are…" there is a shape, there is some strength that I am not willing to let die. Four hands reach out to help him up.
"Where am I going? I guess, to do what I can to do good.
Why does it have to be me? Because I am a hero, and that is what I do; they do good." and he stands.
"Do you care? I hope so, and even if you don't, I hope you might somehow grow with my words; I care.
I have my friends around me, my family." and he glances at the other heroes, the ones he loved. They smile back.
"I may never be real, but you understand me. I may not make my own choices, my own answers but that is how it is meant to be; I'm glad you can make a choice. You can hear me, this isn't just about a game or just entertainment, my life, my pain, my friends, my enemies, my troubles, my joys, horrors, my deaths, theyare all here for you to read… and to learn and to hope. We are here. Together and in you and that's why, we can never be defeated…"
…
"Impressive…" smiles Shekron.
Don't worry, I'll be using your material in the finale, I just needed to bust the Titans out of the void. Please keep sending ideas, Shekron is still presenting a not too bad defence. Next battle will be truly amazing and beyond imagination. Is that possible? Heck! Sure it is! Happy Writings!