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Zabe explained his plan to Raz in the overly-clichéd whispery voice.
"… and then, if all goes well, you and Lili will be perfectly sane."
Raz let out a war whoop and hugged Zaberial. "Man, you rule!"
Zaberial blushed and rolled his eyes. "Hug later, please. My mom's sanity is on the line here."
With a smile, Raz nodded and went off to start the plan….
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The catwalks were extra creepy at this time of night, when some of the spotlights had been shut down and there were hundreds of places for someone or something to hide. Nonetheless, Raz maintained a cool head as he walked through the maze-like area above the stage. Whistling, he waited by the hot air balloon and kicked his feet. He was just about to give up and go tell Zaberial the plan didn't work when he heard it. All too familiar suffocated breathing. And he heard a clank of claws upon metal. Turning, he saw the monstrous form of Zaberial's dad atop a spot light, blinking curiously and licking his fangs. Man, I'd hate to be Zabe if he got a bad report card. The sight of the monster glaring down upon him with his evil eyes was almost too much to bear. But when Lili's sanity hung in the balance, Raz had found he could face any terror for her.
Swallowing, Raz held up a hand and said firmly, "Hey pal, I'm just here to tell you you better tell Zabe you're sorry for hitting him… Before it's too late."
The creature jumped down and transformed himself into a very tall, thin human with pale skin, dark orange eyes, and long black hair pulled into a ponytail. He had sharp features, and the same long hands and Zabe. Suddenly, he looked very afraid. Glaring forgotten, he asked, "What do you mean! What's happened to my baby!"
"Zaberial says it's because of Lili's mind collapsing. He says he has a few hours… before, you know," Raz ran a finger along his own throat and made a 'kkh' noise. Pretending to get teary, he said, "Well, Zaberial wants to see you one last time, you know? He says even though you hate him he still loves you."
"Oh my god…" Zabe's father started to sniffle. "I'm such a bad father. And now… and now…. oh my god! Razputin, take me to him, I beg of you!"
Raz nodded and lead him semi-silently through the catwalks. By semi-silently I mean Zaberial's father was having a total breakdown and kept telling Raz everything Raz really didn't wanna know about Zaberial's early childhood.
"I used to read to him all the time," he choked out. "Zabe was always so smart. He gets it from his mom, you know. He used to pick up every book and memory and make me read them to him. And he always used to hug me every night and every morning, too."
Interested in spite of the severity of the situation, Raz asked, "Then what happened?"
If Zaberial's dad had been sad-looking before, he positively dripped regret now as he whispered, "Then Zabe told me he was gay… And I… I… I beat him up, Raz! I hate myself for that now. It just seemed so disgusting at the time. But if Zabe makes it through this, I'll never hit him or even swear at him ever again. And I'll let him date. I'm such a bastard!"
Raz sighed. Man, Zaberial's whole family had so many issues. No wonder Zabe was so sneaky about following me around, Raz thought. He was probably scared his dad was gonna see and hit him again. Poor guy. My dad's a little weird, but he never hit me. I wonder who Zabe would even date? A figment or a muse or something? That probably makes for interesting choices… I wonder where he'd go on a date? The theater in Gloria's mind? Milla's dance party? I wonder if he can even go there…
Leading the sniffling father to where his son lay, stretched out and weak upon the ground of Lili's mind, Raz sighed. Man, he never knew Zabe had it so rough. It must be hard to be a kid in the Mental World. With a cry of agony, his father ran to him and scooped the boy up in his arms. Zabe smiled weakly, and his dad cradled him. Softly, the father began to sing something in Russian that Raz recognized as 'Rock a-bye baby'. Then the two began to talk in hushed voices. Finally, Zaberial smiled and winked at Raz. Zabe's father stood up, gently laid his son down on the ground, and walked over to Raz with an apologetic look on his face.
"I-I never meant to drive Lili insane, Razputin. Believe me, if there was any way I could go back and change things, I would." He sniffled. "But there isn't. So now, you have to kill me. Otherwise Lili and my son will both die." He started to cry. "And just when we had worked things out, too…"
Feeling about ready to cry himself, Raz prepared to do the what he was sure was the most horrible thing on Earth. Only a few things could kill members of Zaberial's species: Dream Fluff explosions, weirdly, were among them. And Lili happened to have one Dream Fluff in her mind at all times for emergency use. This definitely was an emergency. But still… Raz took a deep breath as he set the Fluff on fire next to Zaberial's dad, who was just crying and staring at the ground. God, this shouldn't have been so damm hard.
BOOM!
There was an explosion the likes of which hopefully won't be seen ever again. The two mind's links were blown apart. Memory vaults belonging to Lili flew out of Gloria's mind, landing very soundly behind the appropriate doors. The nightmares were sucked as though in a vacuum into their Village, screaming and snarling. The doors shuffled to arrange themselves in neat rows. The connection to the catwalks cracked and flashed with blue lightning before fading out of sight. Black smoke puffed out from around the huge crater now created by the Fluff. The sky turned blue with dark burnt orange streaks. The sound of weird, three-headed birds chirping could be heard as bright black trees sprung up from the ground. The ground, by the way, grew spongy and dark purple.
Zaberial came up behind Raz, crying silently. Raz hugged him in an attempt to make him feel better, but in a situation like that there was nothing that could be done. Zaberial had lost his father, the only real parent he ever had. Raz couldn't imagine what losing his dad would be like. Crappy and sadder than hell were some of the terms that came to mind. So Raz just sort of stood there, one arm now around his friend's shoulders, trying to think of something to say.
"I can't believe he's gone…" Zaberial said softly, in a hollow voice that didn't suite him at all. His eyes had changed color to a hazy grey that made him look possessed. "I just can't believe it… You know, he really loved me. He told me so. I never knew…"
Raz just patted Zaberial's back, tongue-tied. "At least he got a chance to tell you."
"Y-yeah…" Zabe started to walk away. "Well, I should probably go back to my door or something, I guess." He looked so sad, like he could care less if he went to his door ever again.
Then, suddenly, from inside the crater. "ZABERIAL!"
Zaberial's eyes got wide as he practically flew over to the crater, hope in his eyes. Raz followed, his jaw dropping. Unbelievable! Zabe's dad was alive and well. Well, alive at least. He smiled at his son, who jumped down and tackled him, crying hysterically into his shoulder. Raz wiped away a tear, embarrassed but kind of touched at the family reunion.
What a great ending….
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When Raz exited Lili's mind, he awoke with a start in his own body. Usually there was period of time in which he was slightly disoriented, but not now. Now, he had one crisp, coherent thought in mind: Lili!
Jumping up, he gently began to shake her. "Lili, come on, wake up! I'm here, everything's okay-" Suddenly her eyes shot open and she blinked several times before smiling weakly.
"Hey, stupid."
"LILI!" Raz yelled, hugging her. "Oh man, I was so worried! Without you, I don't know what I'd do! It's like that really lame Hallmark card I got you for Valentine's day said: Without you, I'm incomplete! But that card didn't say that along with being incomplete I'm scared, and emotional, and totally alone, and-"
Lili just smiled and kissed him full on the lips. "I always knew you'd save me. Sheesh, what took so long?"
Raz smiled. It was so good to have Lili back, safe and sound. And happy, too. He'd missed her cynical comments, her funky fashion sense, the way she glared at him, even the way she called him stupid occasionally. It was so great to be able to see her, to know she was alive and sane and still totally Lili. With a grin so big he was sure he looked insane himself, he kissed her. God, he loved her.
And she loved him.
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(Two days later)
"So darling, let me get this straight," Milla said, staring from Lili to Zaberial to his father. "Zaberial is your son, sweetie, who somehow got out of your mind and into the real world? And Raz didn't drive you insane, Artra did?" (Zaberial's dad flinched at his name coming up. Artra was a girl's name in their species.) "And Artra planted items in Raz's brain on accident? Then Artra and Raz both helped you return to sanity, and now Zaberial wants to be a Psycadet and Artra wants to help me with my nightmare studies?"
When Lili nodded, she sighed and shared a look with Sasha, who said, "Well, that can be easily arranged. However, I would like know how Thorney Towers managed to appear when it was destroyed two years ago."
Artra turned to Lili, who shrugged. "I didn't do it. I thought you did."
"No," Artra shuddered. "I never like that place to begin with. Zaberial, did you-?"
His son shook his head. "I was born after the place was wrecked, remember? I hadn't even heard about 'til we were living there all of a sudden."
"Hey," Raz chimed, wrapping an arm around Lili. "Who cares? It's not like it's doing any damage to anyone. Let sleeping dogs lie, right Sasha?"
Sasha sighed but smiled. "Yes, let's just forget about it. I've had enough excitement for one mission. Now, as an apology for my accusations, Razputin, how about I drop you and Miss Zanotto off at your place? It's been quite a while since you've gone on a date, which logically isn't very good for your relationship."
Lili smiled and leaned her head on Raz's shoulder affectionately. "Yeah, that'd be cool."
Raz smiled back and thought about how close he'd come to losing her. It really scared him sometimes to think that she had actually gone insane. But she was here now, safe and sound and cynical. Never to enter the dingy halls of Thorney Towers ever again. Never to have to fight off her nightmares alone, because now Zaberial and Artra and Sasha and Milla and most importantly Raz were all on her side to help her. No matter what, Raz decided, this was a positive thing. He'd always known he loved Lili. Now, he knew he loved her more than anything in the world and she knew it, too.
With a goofy grin, he kissed her on the cheek and held her close. Zaberial giggled softly, earning a smirk from his dad, who leaned over and whispered, "Someday you'll have a boyfriend like that, huh?" Zaberial turned pale and blushed at the same time, much to the bemusement of Sasha. So Milla winked at Sasha and made him go pale and blush too. Love was in the air. The group had escaped yet another awful, insane life-or-death situation unharmed. Lili was back to normal, Raz was now sure he wasn't insane, Zaberial's dad had finally gotten over his homophobia, and Zaberial wasn't living in Lili's weird, overly complex mind anymore. All was calm, all was bright, all was happy.
Not a bad ending considering all the crap they had to go through to get there.
If only such things lasted forever…
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Well, that's it! Don't worry, people, a sequel is in the making as we speak!
So, tell me what you think. (I somehow had flicked on the nasty thing so anon. people couldn't review, but now they can. God I'm dumb.)
Peace out mah hippies!