?

I looked into her eyes and she looked into mine.

"...You cannot be forgiven, Lucrecia."

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...I have awoken yet I remain riddled in darkness...

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...I catch snatches of conversation as if tuning hesitantly into a radio station:

"...&t#ese cursed interrupti)#s#& ...#he pr(per do$age or we'll n#ver b t#ough #&)(#(..."

...please, oh please, let me be dreaming, let this not be...

The world reassembles, snappily fitting pieces of itself into shape. See the sky form, the most furious of storms becoming the bluest of horizons. See the ocean, as the waves meet shoreline and water washes into sand. See the beach, my friends...as well as you are able See the moon, peeking over the northern cliffs, brimming with the vigor of fullness. See the clouds, pale-white against the darkest of blues, reshaping moonlight into the sweetest of shapes.

But most of all, my friends...

See Lucrecia, and see the divine.

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We talk, her and I.

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"You're turning me into a monster."

"I am."

I nodded.

"It's Hojo."

"It is."

I nodded.

"You told me you loved me."

"I do."

I understood.

God help me, I understood her at last.

"You..."

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All is reversed. I hiccup words back into my throat, unsay all that has been said. The world disassembles, scattering into nothingness. A hazy figure fades into view, resolves, quickly retreats, and I realize that I have been...

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"...he's waking up!"

...regressing in time.

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...I retain only vague recollections of my lapse into the future. The harder I concentrate, the more elusive the memories become. Unresolvable, the future loses cohesion and fades back into its natural state...a hazy conglomeration of hopes, dreams, and fears.

A single sentence flits across my tongue, unbidden though not unwelcome. I mouth the unfamiliar syllables, for noone to hear.

You lust for the most horrible of things.

Shapes congeal into being, shadowed heads peering down upon me.

"What did he say?" "What was that?" Sounds come to me as softly-pitched murmurs, and I suddenly become aware of the glass tube enveloping me. Claustrophobia bites hard, I lash out at my transparent prison in panic.

"He's definitely awake." "...goddamn fools." "Put him down again!" "What did he say!"

The last voice.

Lucrecia.

I cannot help but recoil, and I do not know why. The sentence comes again to my lips, and I can do naught but pronounce the unsummoned words.

"You lust for the most horrible of things."

She flinches.

I am glad to see it.

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...The cog of time slips once again, and the future resolves itself...

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...it is the beach again. It is Lucrecia.

We walk together.

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She cannot help but still be perfect. Even after everything. She walked along the beach and the sand took her unto itself, cushioning her, supporting her, loving her. Everything loved her. Loved her, and...

"You only had to ask."

"I know."

"Why didn't you?"

She smiled, and certainly all of desolation smiled with her.

We continued to walk.

"You enjoy this. You enjoy the...perversion."

"Perversion? Or...evolution?"

"You're turning me into a monster!"

"I'M TURNING YOU INTO A GOD!"

She stands before me, feet squared, arms outstretched, framed by moonlight. She stares at me with undisguised, horrific lust and I can no longer bear the burden of consciousness; darkness descends mercifully upon me. There is only so much truth a monster can take.

...loved her, and...and...

...Lucrecia...

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I opened my eyes.

...Lucrecia...

All scattered recollections of my dream were banished as I saw the blue paper, slipped neatly under the door. I collected it, and read:

Special Agent Valentine

Assigned to Dr. Simon Hojo

Report immediately.

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