----------------------------------

Raz's panic wasn't aided by the little nightmare who now followed him everywhere. It was a little red-purple dude who had green eyes. Squeaking frantically, it stayed barely a foot behind him at all times. Raz collapsed, face first, onto the cold black ground. His mind was starting to really consider a possibility his heart couldn't take: Maybe he had driven Lili insane. Maybe this was his fault, for leaving that dammed door open when Lili had gone through so much pain trying to seal it.

At a loss for what to do, he simply lay there, immobile, unable to think. Glancing at the little nightmare who was now tugging frantically at his glove, he decided to follow the little guy. It seemed important somehow in his brain, even though he knew that he couldn't be thinking straight to follow a nightmare into the depths of his girlfriend's mind. It backed up his 'I-have-gone-mad' theory, he thought dryly. Trudging after the nightmare, who moved slowly, he was barely conscious of what doors he was being led through. Did it matter? Either he or Lili had gone totally mad. He kept thinking of the scissors with blood on them, the creatures, the nightmare village. The more he did, the more and more he realized: he had to be totally insane. So lost in his thoughts was Raz that he nearly stepped on the nightmare, who had stopped.

They had stopped in a pure blue void of some kind, with floating brown platforms leading to an object in the distance that Raz couldn't quite see. Glancing down at the nightmare, it hugged him once before slithering off to be on it's merry way. With a sigh he examined his surroundings. Not much to do but try and climb to whatever was so important that the nightmare had led him here. But it wasn't easy work. The figment level in here was so high, he could barely see where he was going. Small censors leapt out at him from nowhere. It was a long struggle that made him lose a lot of his health until he managed to go invisible and make a break for it.

To say he landed on the final, pure orange platform would've been a lie. To say he fell flat on his face with a small whoop of joy was the truth. Pulling himself up, he was grateful that the censors here were too small to follow him from platform to platform. Raz turned his attention to the pulsing orange thing upon which he now stood. It felt almost as weird to stand on a floor that pulsed as it did to stand on a cloud. Every few seconds the floor would heat up, go icy, heat up, and go icy. The only thing in this area, besides a cleverly arranged wall of figments around the platform, was a small memory vault that totally motionless. It was faint orange in color, and shook a little when he got near it. Cautiously, Raz reached out a finger and poked it.

It sprang to life, hurled its contents at him, and then threw itself over the edge of the platform into nothingness. Startled, Raz glanced down at the reel he now held in his hands. It was relatively short, which was good, but the title made his blood run colder than the floor he was standing on.

It said 'Raz's attack'.

Scared, he just stood there for a long time, unable to run back for fear of censors and unable to look at the memory in his hands for fear of what it contained. Raz knew he'd have to look at it, because he needed to know if he'd really… driven his girlfriend insane. At the same time, there was no way he could bring himself to look at it. There was a war of emotions in him that he couldn't calm. Finally, he took a deep breath, and held it to his eyes.

---------------------------------------

Start Flashback/Memory

-------------------------------------

Raz knocked on Lili's door with a bouquet of her favorite flowers – they were star shaped, purple, and called Morning Glory – in hand. There were faint orange flecks in his eyes, but other that he seemed perfectly normal as he hid the small box of white chocolate – Lili's favorite – behind his back.

Lili answered the door dressed in the same outfit she had gone insane in. Except now, her hair was up in four poofy little buns. Even insane, Raz had to raise an eyebrow. She just told him she was considering alternatives to her ponytails. Nodding faintly, Raz followed her inside the Zanotto mansion, which was so richly decorated and so flashy that he stopped dead.

"Ignore my dad's obsessive compulsive complex," Lili sighed, leading him up the massive, purple-carpeted staircase. "My room's up here."

But the place was so weird he had to stare. Portraits of Lili's extended family decorated the walls constantly – apparently Italians either had big families or else hers was special – and there were multiple objects from different countries mounted on the walls between the portraits. A samurai sword, a Russian sword that was curved and spiky, a Chinese scroll, a French royal beret with small jewels on it, and countless other things that probably cost more than Raz's family made in a year solid.

Raz's eyes glowed orange as he suddenly grabbed Lili's head with both hands. She started to scream, but his hands flashed orange for a moment, and she was totally still. He dragged her to a closet, then closed the door behind them. Taking out a black psycho portal, he placed it gently upon her head before entering…

When he was finished, he exited her mind quietly, grabbed the portal, and turned invisible as he flew silently and without a levitation ball, towards his distant circus. The chocolates and flowers had been left in her arms, where she would discover them once she woke up.

Once Raz got to the circus, his eyes returned to normal and he looked around the camel pen. "Huh? I thought I was over by the elephants… must be daydreaming, I guess."

----------------------------

End of Flashback/Memory

-------------------------------

Raz dropped the reel in absolute horror and denial. No, I didn't… I would never… But then why can't I remember where I was before I was by the camels? He started to shake. This couldn't be happening, he thought for the millionth time. But as always, it was. He wondered if it was possible to be sick in the Mental World. It felt like he was about to find out.

Then someone tapped him on the shoulder. Someone with orange eyes and a soft expression.

Zaberial.

With a cry of rage Raz launched himself at the inhuman boy and smacked him across the face. Zaberial blinked and started to say something, but Raz smacked him again furiously. Raz tried punching him and kicking him, but there was no effect. Finally drained of whatever energy or determination he had left, Raz just collapsed on the ground for what seemed like the billionth time in this mind, and screamed. Zaberial poked Raz with his shoe to see if the former-Psychonaut was about to attack him, then sniffled. Looking up, Raz saw that Zaberial was crying.

"I'm sorry for what my dad made you do," he murmured, stroking Raz's head. "I tried to keep him out of Lili's mind, so I didn't think to keep him out of yours. And now you think you're insane and Lili's dying and… I wanna help. I think I might have a plan, Raz. But I think you should know… You might have to do some heavy lying."

"Zabe – can I call you that?" Raz started. When he received a nod, Raz continued, "What the hell is going on here? Who are you? Why did you call Lili 'mom'? And how do you think I'm supposed to get Lili sane when there's so much work to do and I can't leave her mind?"

Zaberial sighed and pulled Raz to his feet. "Lili is technically my mother because I am part of her deepest fears given material form. My dad is, well, my dad, because he was the first creature to form in Lili's mind and he created me so he wouldn't be alone, you see?"

"O…kay… That's a little weird," Raz said slowly.

"You could theoretically leave Lili's mind, because I could modify my astral projection to look like yours. The psycho portal wouldn't know any better, so it wouldn't give off a signal." He grinned. "And I put most of my Mom's doors back in order, so she can think now. After all, I live here most of the time, so I kinda know what order they used to be in."

"If I left Lili's mind, what would I have to do?" Raz asked nervously.

"You would have to kill my father."

----------------------------------------------------

Wow. This came out of nowhere. Well, review and tell me if you liked this weird chappie…

I'm sorry it's so short. Really!