Greeting: Today, I will do something special. I will go back to Leslie.
He is still in Germany but hopefully soon that will change.
Let's move on, people. Enjoy!
(Leslie. On a ship in Germany)
Leslie had just exited his cabin. He had brushed his teeth and taken a shower.
Something was off in the world though.
Their plan was to leave to the US that day. Leslie should have been happy but he wasn't.
Leslie saw the lamps and the walls but they seemed off. It was one of those weird feelings again.
He had helped the Egyptian girl brush her teeth and washed her as well. Leslie was walking towards the stairs to get to the upper deck.
The ship was huge and so many people lived there. The ones, in the safe house, had been the brave ones.
They had taken a risk by coming to the shore.
The ship was a safe place for pretty much everyone. If Leslie hadn't been in such a hurry to stop the end of the world, he would have stayed there.
As he was walking, some Spanish couple greeted him happily and giggled at the little girl.
Everyone was so friendly but it didn't stop Leslie from feeling odd.
" What is happening to me? Am I dying?", Leslie asked the voices in his head.
Ornica didn't answer for a second but then it came.
" I can feel that too. It's my trusty sword. The Shadow blade has found its way home", Ornica sounded worried.
Leslie sighed.
The little girl glanced at him so he smiled even though he didn't feel happy.
" Where is that thing's home then? It's not here", he asked Ornica.
The answer was sinister.
" With me. Its home is with me. It has found me but not really me", Ornica told Leslie.
" Whatever it's doing, my head is on fire", Leslie closed his eyes for a second.
" Your head is not what we should be worried about. The sword has found me but it is not here", Ornica was really scared.
" Who has it found then? Jenner? He has my true soul with him", guessed Leslie.
" I'm afraid so. The sword wants to find me. My four friends have been protecting it for centuries.
Hopefully it's smart enough not to be fooled by the beast witch", Ornica was hopeful.
" The Shadow blade. It can actually think? I thought dad was just kidding when he said that", Leslie wasn't very focused.
" It is the greatest weapon ever. Did your dad tell you that?
Of course he did, Leslie. I already know that.
But you don't know that I was able to fly with it. It pulled me along and I could shoot lightning out of it", Ornica told him.
" Like Thor?", Leslie asked her quickly.
" Yes, actually. Exactly like Thor", Ornica chuckled.
" Could Jenner use it? I hope not", Leslie was stressed.
" I already said that it should be smart enough. It senses intentions, souls and moods. It chooses its wielder based on these factors", Ornica told Leslie.
He walked up the stairs to the upper deck and greeted Alessandro who was up there.
Then Leslie continued.
" Even if Jenner doesn't figure it out, Elleroth and Black will. Black should know your weapon since you tried to kill him with it", he realized.
Ornica was doubting something.
She felt uncertain about it.
" I think the sword isn't at the factory. I can feel it. Try for yourself", Ornica made her choice.
She helped Leslie feel what the sword was feeling. He sensed monsters around him, a ton of them.
" It is at the factory. There are so many beast witches around", Leslie found it hard to keep his breath steady.
" How about everything else?", Ornica gave him a hint.
Leslie focused on the surroundings and tried not to gasp right then.
" I can feel kids and happiness. Something amazing has happened. That joy right there. It's like..", Leslie stopped suddenly.
It was Bonnie. She was playing with children and Springtrap was beside her.
" It's not at the factory. It's at Freddy's! Both Jenner and the Shadow blade are at Freddy's", Leslie almost said it out loud in the real world.
Ornica wouldn't have wanted him to know that but she had no other choice.
" What is Jenner doing in there? I must see more", Leslie demanded.
He and the girl reached the deck where all the fighter jets had been kept. Leslie sat down and the girl went off to do her own thing.
There were more children there to play with her.
" Leslie. You can't help them. Plus, I feel that they wouldn't be having fun if they were in danger", Ornica told him.
" I'm not saying that", Leslie corrected.
" I just want to see what is going on", he added.
Leslie focused on Jenner and the brown wolf, he was in. He sensed kids and some animatronics.
Leslie went forward and saw something clearly. He was inside Jenner, he was sure of it.
That was his soul so he could see through it.
Jenner was in the Arcade palace of Freddy's. Toy bonnie was on stage with Toy freddy.
Nothing had changed at Freddy's and Leslie was happy about it. There were more children though and almost no adults.
Whatever he was seeing, was happening right then.
Leslie saw the big brown snout in front of his eyes.
Jenner looked to the right to see Mangle, playing with toddlers.
On the left, Balloon boy was helping kids to inflate balloons on their own.
" Come on. You need to get started. Once it starts inflating, nothing can go wrong unless it pops", BB told one boy.
" Hang in there, little one. It is hard", Jenner said in the soft voice of the wolf's voice box.
" I can do it", the boy looked at him.
" I meant BB. It is exhausting to be saying that for hours. He should realize that it's about your lungs, not your skill", Jenner corrected.
The kids laughed. Jenner chuckled too.
(Since he was wicked, the laugh freaked Leslie out.)
" You are so funny, Thunder. These kids are ready. They only need encouragement", Balloon boy answered him.
" Thunder? That's a weird name. Kinda like Storm. What is he doing? Has he lost his memories?", Leslie thought.
Then it hit him. Jenner had been hit by the Sorcerer's energy as Leslie had left the body.
That amount of energy could have destroyed his memories.
As long as Jenner didn't get reminded of his old self, he should remain as Thunder the good wolf.
Leslie came out of it and told Ornica everything.
" Jenner has lost his memory. He got to Freddy's and thinks he's a wolf named Thunder", Leslie told her.
" Okay. But could you first tell me how you did that?", Ornica was shocked.
" What?", Leslie asked her.
Luckily there was nobody paying attention to him as he got cold chills.
" You connected with Jenner's mind on your own. If you weren't me, I'd be really concerned", Ornica told him.
Leslie looked around and saw nothing but people and equipment. He could look as scared as he wanted.
" So you didn't help me with that? I thought it was you, the same way you connected me and Storm Jr.", Leslie wondered.
Ornica hadn't done anything to help him, he already knew that.
" You connected to someone, on the other side of the planet. That is impressive, even for me", answered Ornica.
Leslie hoped Ornica's tone meant that nothing bad was happening. Leslie's thoughts only had one direction to go.
" But it is normal, right? This doesn't mean that someone, inside my mind, is awakening.
Like some personality of the Sorcerer that has stayed in my head. This doesn't mean that I'm back in that hell, right?", Leslie chuckled nervously.
He heard nothing for a second or two. Leslie started to wonder if Ornica had left.
Then she sighed and spoke up again.
" I'm not saying that either. The Sorcerer is still inside you. Some part of him will always be with your consciousness.
Except that this time it might be a good thing. I know you hate them but you shouldn't.
Believe me, this is progress", she said before Leslie could get scared.
It was good since Leslie's imagination would have kicked in instantly.
He got the main point, the Sorcerer was not coming back to end all existence and its other variations.
The Sorcerer was scary nonetheless. He was very close to being omnipotent.
Leslie was afraid of that since omnipotence isn't exactly a calm power.
Many absurd things went through his head.
Metaphysics, pataphysics and even kataphysics.
As far as he knew, pataphysics was something beyond metaphysics like metaphysics was beyond physics. Kataphysics was the next level.
Leslie didn't know why he thought of those.
Was kataphysics even a thing?
All, he could say about it, was that if so, the Sorcerer was able to bend it to their will.
Even metaphysics had always been above Leslie's understanding.
In other words, inconceivable power was at his fingertips.
Leslie shook his head to shrug it off.
" Well. At least now I know my friends are okay. Hopefully they'll stay that way until I arrive", Leslie stopped thinking about the inconceivable.
" What will you do then, Leslie? You come, then what?", Ornica asked him as he sounded certain and determined.
" Then I'll shove that sword through Jenner and take my body back.
After that, we'll kick the air out of the beasts and send them back to wherever they came from.
Then I'll kiss Storm Jr.", Leslie had it planned out.
" I'm afraid it won't be that easy. Except when it comes to kissing Storm Jr. It will be the easiest thing you've ever done", Ornica said.
Leslie knew it to be true. He wondered if Storm Jr. ended up liking his new body.
The brown wolf was very sweet to eyes. Storm Jr. and Leslie would be alike but Storm Jr. loved his human body.
Would she like the new body as much?
That was a question only those, able to understand katara..whatever-physics-it-was, could answer.
Leslie himself had no idea.
" I bet it will. I still love her and, I hope, she still loves me", Leslie said silently.
" Of course she will. You paralysed her and even midst all the pain she was worried about you. I was there to witness her sorrow and concern.
She had every reason to focus on herself but she didn't. I'd call that undying love", Ornica told Leslie.
He stood up and held his head.
" I hope you are right about that", he said quickly and started walking.
Ornica didn't say anything as to not make it worse. Leslie needed some time in peace.
The deck was windy and dark but there were a few lights around. Leslie let the wind purify his mind of worries.
The floor felt hard but firm. It was like love.
Sometimes love is pain but it also works as a firm floor to stand on. Leslie heard the harshness of the waves that were hitting the ship.
Water was constantly moving in the sea.
It was like life, always moving forward no matter what.
Black had said things about self-realization in Leslie's nightmare. Life's constant movement reminded him of that.
Life's about moving forward in hard situations. But how could Leslie live without Storm Jr.?
He never wanted to leave her side again. There was no life without Storm Jr.
Sure, the brown wolf was heavy and the snout was in the way all the time, Leslie knew that.
He needed it to save Storm Jr. from the end of the world.
Leslie realized that living in a wolf without Storm Jr. was better than letting her die.
He would do it but it still concerned him very much. Leslie was always in the future, not focusing on the here and now.
No matter how hard he tried, Storm Jr. was everywhere.
She was in the reflection, on the floor. Her whispers were in the waves, below Leslie's feet.
Her tender touch was in the wind, dashing through Leslie's hair.
Her giggles were in the laughters of the children, on the deck.
She was on the sky, waving at Leslie.
" Come back. I love you so much", Storm Jr. said on the sky.
" I love you twenty times infinite", Leslie reached for her.
" Leslie. I'm here", Italian words penetrated his force-field of thought.
" What?", Leslie looked at Alessandro.
He was right there by the door, leading to captain's quarters.
Klaus was there, obviously. They had talked about boarding the plane soon.
" I just want to ask you if you are fine with tight spaces.
The plane will be quite full and there won't be any space to run around in", Alessandro told him.
Leslie had never been a fan of crowds. It wasn't nochlophobia, fear of crowds, but Leslie had always feared people.
Jenner was the obvious reason. People tended to get hurt around him.
" It's fine. I like people, always have", Leslie lied to Alessandro a tiny bit.
Alessandro looked at him and smiled.
" Good. We should be ready soon. It might take a minute though, the plane needs oil and care", he told Leslie.
Alessandro was nervous about something, most likely it was the journey.
There was a hurricane close to the US and the wind speed was tremendous. They would get into big trouble when they reached it.
Hurricanes were not to be messed with but Leslie wasn't worried.
" Take your time with it. Leaving later is better than falling to our deaths, isn't it?", Leslie replied to him.
Alessandro nodded and left to do something else.
Leslie knew that Klaus was in the captain's quarters at the moment so he went inside. He had nothing special to say.
He just wanted to greet Klaus. The stairs were long and Leslie looked at the walls there.
The paintings, on the walls, were almost as good as Delilah's.
In fact, it reminded Leslie of that a lot. One painting had a picture of a lonely girl in the rain.
The silhouette of someone was in the background.
Like someone was chasing the girl and finally she had given up.
The water drops, on her hair, were well painted and the hair looked very wet. It was an interesting painting with many possible renditions.
The staircase was like a gallery for the captain.
Another painting was about a group of dogs playing poker.
" A classic", Leslie shook his head a bit.
Then something hit Leslie in the eyes. Not literally, a painting came into his view.
Leslie saw it when he looked to the right. The two other paintings, he had looked at, had been on the left side but this one wasn't.
It was about a plane, pictured from the inside.
Leslie stopped to look at it. The plane had many people inside and they were all scared.
Water drops, flying sideways, were outside the windows, in the background.
The plane was flying through a storm of sorts. A lightning strike could be seen in one of the windows.
Many female adults were holding toddlers on their laps. The plane had many crates in it and some were open.
One crate had fallen over and the blankets, inside, were across the floor. It made an illusion of the plane shaking.
The pilot was trying his best to fly the plane but he was grinning.
It wasn't going too well by the looks of it. The plane reminded Leslie of the plane, he was about to board.
In fact, it was the exact same.
There was a small space in the middle of the people. A boy was standing there with his arms extended to his sides.
It wasn't Leslie even if it looked like him a tiny bit. The similarities were small and only Leslie himself could have noticed them.
Leslie started from the feet and moved his gaze up the boy's body.
" I knew it", he whispered when he reached the face.
The boy's eyes were bright blue, he was a witch.
" Cool, huh?", Klaus said and put his hand on Leslie's shoulder.
That made Leslie turn around quickly. The man had snuck up on him like a tiger.
Leslie had been too focused on the painting.
" It is creepy, I know", Klaus chuckled at Leslie's wide eyes.
Leslie chuckled too.
" It reminds me of..", Leslie started.
" ..the plane we stole?", finished Klaus.
Leslie nodded to him.
" That is a funny coincidence. This painting gave me the idea of stealing a plane.
It always makes me wonder what the boy, in the middle, is doing", Klaus examined the painting.
Leslie was pretty sure that the boy was him. He was steadying the plane with his telekinesis powers.
No hurricane had lightning inside it but that painting was about it. Leslie didn't tell Klaus anything.
" It is a beautiful painting. I wonder who painted it. The paint is smooth and the brush has been soft", Leslie told him and turned around to look at it.
" You know much about paintings? I didn't know that. You are absolutely right though.
The paint and brush choices have been interesting", Klaus nodded and rubbed his own chin.
Leslie agreed with him on that.
He had asked Klaus who the painter was but he had a hunch. Leslie was pretty sure his mother had painted it.
He had no idea of how it had ended up there but that wasn't important. There was a reason for Delilah to put it there.
Was that a hint for Leslie? Was that his mother's way of telling him how to get through the hurricane?
It really reminded Leslie of something he had forgotten.
Delilah was dead but she had seen it all.
Even before Leslie had been born, Delilah had been peering through time staring at that moment.
The Apocalypse, Jenner at Freddy's, Leslie in Germany.
Delilah had seen it all years before any of it had happened. Leslie had never heard of seers that powerful but it was possible.
Only an unstable seer could see something like that.
Leslie tried to remember every detail, in the painting.
" So! Were you going upstairs to see me?", Klaus asked Leslie.
" I just came to say good morning. Alessandro seems worried but you don't. Are you afraid of the hurricane?", Leslie responded.
" Of course I am. I can steer us out of the storm if needed. Alessandro is worrying too much", Klaus answered Leslie.
Both walked downstairs and came to the deck.
Klaus told Leslie to follow him, they were going to the plane. Leslie couldn't help but wonder if they ever got out of there.
The plane was in bad condition but they had made it that far.
The plane had worked and the engineers had repaired it and upgraded it a bit.
The evening before, Leslie had heard that the fuel tank would have to be changed to a new one.
The plane was broken but not junk. They could use it if they believed so.
Leslie was certain of that.
Klaus was on a happy mood and he had faith on himself and his friends.
In that way, Klaus was like Freddy. Both believed in their friends in a bad situation.
They both understood that togetherness was the strongest force people have.
It was also true.
Togetherness was an aspect of love.
Leslie and Klaus reached the plane and Alessandro was already there. Leslie looked at the plane with determination in his eyes.
" Mother would have believed in me. I can do it. If and when that hurricane comes, I can steady the plane", he told himself certainly.
Farewell: Leslie is leaving now. The trip will take a long time and most of it is nothing.
I'll tell you only the good parts.
Freddy's crew with its new members will be the focus of the story. THE ONLY WAY TO LIVE IS TO WRITE.
