A/N: Yeah, so spoiler alert, this definitely is the last part. And hey, since there's the same number of games in this trilogy, I'd like to think that each part is representative of its corresponding game in the franchise. Anyway, enjoy the conclusion of this story!

Seven years of strengthening both body and mind... all for this. And now... Ness would use it to break free of everything.

By killing Paula.

Ness was here. He just had to knock, wait and then... stab her with the knife. It was... simple. Simple.

Okay... okay. First thing then, knock on the door. Just knock on the door... knock on the door...

Ness started... shaking. Haha... he can... he can do it. Just knock on the door and wait... and then...

Kill her. It's simple.

Yeah... it's simple.

"I can do it. I can do it. I can do it! I can do it, I can do it, I can do it, I can do it, I can... I can... I can... I, I... I can't...

"I CAN'T DO IT!"

Ness... ran away. He... teleported... to Giant Step.

"DAMN IT! I CAN'T... I CAN'T! I CAN'T KILL HER! I..."

"I still love her... I spent so long... why can't I... why can't I move on?"

Alright, alright, calm down. It makes sense — she helped you a lot... so you still have some... lingering feelings for her. Perhaps... we need to start smaller... something easier and then... work our way up...

Yes... something smaller. Someone Ness, could kill more easily.

How about Poo?

Poo... he hadn't heard from Poo in ages. He mediated with him a lot in the past... but Poo had perhaps the least relevance in his life... so surely, surely... there was nothing left. It would be much easier!

So with that... Ness went to Dalaam. Now, Poo would be heavily guarded, being royalty, but Ness would easily be able to dispose of any guards, as he would be far, far stronger than any of them, so getting to Poo would be easy.

However, of all the people Ness knew, exempting himself, Poo would be the most likely to keep up with some form of training and given Poo's previously established strength, (Starstorm isn't exactly easy to use) he may very well put a fight. Ness would say he was still stronger than Poo, but it couldn't help to be careful.

If you're worried, you could just make things easier by razing the palace down. Starstorm? Certainly a sense of irony to it. But Rockin would probably create more destruction, so there's a better chance of killing Poo.

Indeed... and this way he wouldn't even have to see Poo. He could just stay right here, outside... before he killed... him. It would be much easier.

But then Ness started... remembering. The people of Dalaam... he would be taking away their beloved ruler... no, not just their ruler... but his... friend? Poo... saved him many times... against Master Barf, against the Starmen, and even after they finished their adventure... Poo helped Ness with his thoughts, his dreams... and of everyone, Poo... he never really did do much to Ness... so did he... have to... do it? Was it... right?

In the end, Ness got cold feet and teleported again, this time to Pink Cloud.

"Poo... didn't really do much... he abandoned me... but that's no more than everyone else did... wasn't it?"

... okay, okay. You still have your love for Paula and you don't feel that you can kill Poo in good conscious. Okay. Alright. What about someone you hate then? Someone you want to kill. Someone you hate with every fibre of your being. And once you kill them, it'll be easier to kill the others, wouldn't it?

So then, Jeff. Jeff. He stole, stole, his love away from him. He was responsible for all of this, surely? Ness had spent nights just waiting for what he'd to him. He wanted to do so much more to Jeff... but if he had to go and kill anyone first, to ease himself into it, then... Jeff would be the first to meet the Reaper.

So Ness teleported to Winters and made his way to the lab.

Just break down the door, grab that bastard, slam him down to the floor, and make him feel pain! Do everything you said you would do at Lumine Hall! All of it and more!

He took everything... Jeff had contributed to his pain and suffering the most... he would kill him, and then, he could kill all the others. Now that Ness thought about it, he was probably working on some sort of experiment right now.

And doesn't that proves that he doesn't love Paula at all? If he did, wouldn't he be there, in her time of need for him? Even if he was once your friend, punish him for that, if nothing else!

Ness remembered Jeff's experiments... a lot of the time, they'd fail, usually with explosive results. But Jeff... would always keep trying. Even when he kept failing, over and over... he would always... just dust himself off and go at it again. It was... admirable... in a way.

Sometimes, Ness helped him out on those experiments. They were... fun. Ness didn't always understand what Jeff was trying to do... but Jeff was rather patient with him... and... he always did explain things to him... he... really did do a good job as well... he did a good job making Paula happy as well...

A vortex opened up at Rainy Circle.

"I... can't... I CAN'T KILL ANY OF THEM! I CAN'T DO IT! I... I... I don't... I don't want to...

And, for the first time in seven years... Ness began to cry.

Why... just... wh — GODDAMN IT, NESS! Why?! WHY?! THESE PEOPLE ALL HURT YOU! All of them... THEY ALL CONTRIBUTED TO YOUR SUFFERING! ALL OF THEM!

Paula... she strung you along for five years and then, when you needed her most... she abandoned you! She just left you to pick up the pieces of your life! And to prove she never even cared, she immediately went on, to Jeff! As if it all meant nothing!

Jeff... he not only took Paula away from you, but the life you could have had with her! What friend does that?! And he has the audacity to get her pregnant and leave her in a different country?! He did this all, just to spite you when, for all he knew, you were dead!

Poo... always busy with his country. He never had any time for his 'friends'! He thought he was just too good to hang out with the people that helped save the world! And you still care for a person like that?!

But... it's not even just them, Ness. Isn't it everyone?

Picky... he was useless for that brief stint that you had him for at the beginning. And considering how Pokey went... he could go the same way as well! The Apple of Enlightenment never falls far from the tree.

Then... there's our sister. Tracy. She didn't do anything to help throughout all your suffering. Even though you helped her all throughout her life. Aren't siblings supposed to support each other?

The older Dr Andonuts... a kind old man on the outside... but he abandoned his own son for ten years and was perfectly willing to send four kids to the past in robot bodies, knowing full well that they may not come back! Is that the mark of a good person?

And finally our dad... he was never there for you at all... do you... do you even remember what he looks like? I... I don't... I can't remember... but it just shows how little he did for us. And the divorce proves it! He destroyed Mom's heart, and our family!

All these people... all of them made us, you, suffer... isn't this what we... we worked for? And if we stop... well... there's nothing left...

Ness stood up and looked at the pond before him.

"Everything... all those... things you said... it's true... but... is because they are or... is it because we... we've been looking at things in the wrong way?"

"Dr Andonuts... he may have left his son... but he at least gave him a good education... because he cared! And sure, he knew we could have died when he turned us into robots, but... there wasn't any other way... we all agreed to it. Look at what happened to Pokey... and you'll see that it couldn't have been easy for him either!"

"He was sending his son and his friends to their deaths... and he would have felt grief if we died because of him. And didn't he try to be a better father to Jeff? He did, and I'm sure Jeff is glad to have him in his life."

"Poo... I may not have seen him very often... but he had his duties to do. And whenever I did see him, he... he always enjoyed his time with us, even though those times were infrequent. He let me meditate with him as well... and the nightmares even started to wane because of him!"

"He was... no, still is, beloved by his subjects... he saved my life countless times. He may not have been there very often... but he was always there when it counted. I could always rely on him."

"Picky. He didn't help me very much in my adventure... but he was still kind. Of all of the Minch family, Picky was the exception — he treated others like actual human beings. And because of that... I know he won't turn out like Pokey did."

"And he was such a good friend to Tracy as well when they were children! When I was gone from my adventure, Tracy told me about how much time Picky spent with her... it helped her forget that how much she missed me. And then he started dating her when they got older... and she was so happy, wasn't she? So... he will always have my gratitude for being there for her... because I wasn't..."

"Then... Dad. I hate him... and I still don't know how to feel about him... you're right. He was gone for so long that I... I can't quite remember what he looks like. And he did break Mom's heart with the divorce."

"But... even after that, he still supported me and Tracy through school. He supported us all financially... and perhaps... we saw only the negative side of things... maybe Dad saw that his relationship with Mom was becoming all the more... strained, because of all the distance and... he wanted Mom to be able to move on... choose someone else, if she wanted."

"And the same went for... Paula. I... still... love her. I don't think that'll ever change... but I'm not sure if I want it to. But our relationship... she was the one supporting it the entire time... and... eventually, she couldn't take it anymore. And... it's all my fault. A relationship is supposed to be a give and take... each person supports the other. But... I couldn't give anything to her. And... "

"These past seven years... I've always seen her... as... just a thing. Always saying how she was stolen from me... as if she were an object, rather than a person. I never saw her as the strong, independent women she always was..."

"I don't deserve her. I never did. And I don't deserve her now. I may love Paula, but if she still loved me now and never moved on... I'd be nothing but worried for her... for still loving someone like me."

"But she did move on, didn't she? Jeff. Jeff... he's another person I feel... conflicted about. But, in all honesty... I'm just a bitter, envious fool. I'm envious of Jeff, for being far more successful than me — in terms of finance, family and romance. He 'stole' Paula from me... I... what a self centered thought..."

"Jeff loves her... he treats her well. And... she loves him... perhaps more than me... and... it hurts... it really does. But that's not... it's not Jeff's fault. It never was. It was always... mine. He was everything to her that I could not be... he is her life now. And... that's just how it is. I don't like it. I don't think I'll ever like it. But... that's my problem, isn't it? Just like everything else... it's always been... my problem."

"And Tracy... she was the best sister a person can ask for... she was may have been my younger sister... but with her maturity, she was really my big sister. And siblings are supposed to support each other... but I never supported her at all."

"She really grew up to be a thoughtful women... she rose beyond all the struggles of her life, unlike me. I crumbled and ran. I love her... and I hope she has the happy life she deserves with Picky."

"All these people... they tried to help us, but we... I... I just pushed them away more and more. I... I only ever saw the negatives in my life. I only focused on the trauma, my struggles, my nightmares, my doubts... but I forgot all the things I had."

"I still had my friends, who I could always rely on! I had my girlfriend who was always there for me, and then some! I had a sister, who was there through all my struggles! I had my dad, who supported me even though he couldn't be there! And... I always had Mom..."

"Everything you said... it's true. All the things that happened... I can't deny it. But we saw things from one point of view, and everyone else saw it from another. And in the end... they're the ones with successful and happy lives... and I'm the one here... alone... AND IT HURTS!

"It hurts so much! But you know what the worst part is? It's all my fault. It always was. So what now... keep going? But... I can't kill them. I can't. And if you don't believe me... you're only fooling yourself... because you can't do it either."

What do you mean?

"You said something about everyone... no, almost everyone. Because you forgot one person."

I did?

"You forgot Mom. And it's simple why... it's because there's nothing either one of us can say about Mom and how she made us suffer. Because Mom never did do anything. She was always there for us. She was there whenever we needed her."

"Whenever we wanted some steak... she'd gladly make it. When we were struggling in school... she would be there. Whenever life was hard... Mom was there. And I miss her so much. I thought... I thought I had gotten over this... but some things don't change... no matter how old you are... you can still get homesick.."

"I miss Mom! I miss everything she did for me! I miss her hugs, her kisses, her sass, her words of consolation, her cooking, her advice, and most of all... I miss her love! I just... I wanna go home! I... just want to see her again!"

"But I can't. After... this. I... I can't let her see what I've become. Better for her to remember me the way she wants to... rather than the way I am."

"Mom... she did everything for us.. and she never once did anything to hurt us... and... and you know it's true..."

Never say never. You're forgetting when Mom... well no... instead, what about that time where... or when she... ah! She messed up... but... there was... no, hm, ah, but, what if... don't you remember when she took... when she hid... she wasn't there on that... but, there's... and... hm.. no... what...

"You can't do it, can you? Because you know... Mom was always there."

NO! It's not true! You suffered and Mom was there... but she... was there... she was... always there... right? And... she... I... I... Ha... hahaha... I can't ... I...

I can't do it. You're... right... she was always there...

"Exactly... Mom never did anything to hurt us... But... this gives me an idea. I tried killing Paula because I loved... no... I don't deserve to say that. I tried killing Paula because I thought I loved her... so if I could kill her... I would have no issues with killing anyone else."

Yes, this much is clear... but what, exactly, is your point?

"Maybe we've been trying this the wrong way... we need to start with the toughest chain to break... but it isn't Poo, or Jeff, or Paula."

Ness... where are you going with this?

Ness gripped his knife harder.

"It's Mom... I have only love for her... and I know... I have no desire... I don't want to do this at all... but if I know that... if I kill her... then I will have broken free of any of my mental restraints I still have... I can break any chain... can't I?

What? NO! You're not saying...

"If I kill the person who was always there for me... then I can kill anyone, can't I? So... let's do it. It's time... to go home."

Ness started to teleport.

No, no, NO! What are you thinking?! Don't you... DON'T YOU DARE! Ness... NESS! Please don't do this! Stop... stop it! STOP IT! NESS... I SWEAR TO MAGICANT... IF YOU HARM ONE HAIR ON HER HEAD... NESS! NO! NO! NO!I... NO, NESS, I SWEAR, I'LL FUCKING KILL YOU, NESS, I'LL KILL YOU!

With that, Ness stopped spinning.

...ah... clever... I'll give you that.

"And now you see what I mean... Mom was always there. Always. And not just her... they all were. But we..."

We were just too... short sighted to see it, weren't we? I truly am... an almighty idiot.

"And... I am as well. Look at me. I'm only 25 years old and I'm so powerful... I've taken so much from the Sanctuaries that I can't even grasp the true form of my own power. And in doing so, I lost everything along the way. I lost all my loved ones... and I lost myself.

So... what now? I... I don't think I can keep going on... and I don't think you can either.

"I've wondered for so long, whether I should live or not... but I think now... we know the answer. So... why don't we end things... where it all started?"

Ness dried his tears... and started spinning. When he emerged, he was at a grassy hill, with the night sky shining down on him. At the top was a rock with an eerie glow to it...

The meteorite... I can think of no better place.

With a heavy heart and mind, Ness walked up the hill. He could have ran or jumped, or even just teleported to the meteorite... but he wanted to remember everything... for the last time.

He passed his house... the house that he had so many memories of... good and bad... he passed the Minch household... the house that festered Pokey... his greatest regret. Ness couldn't be more thankful that Picky was able to get out of there.

He passed Liar X Agreate's place... where he first saw the Mani Mani Statue... the thing Ness hates so much... his nightmare took at as it's form...

You know... for the longest time, that statue... that's what I was because it's what you hated... what you feared. But then my form... it changed... I was many things... sometimes, Giygas... other times, Pokey... but now...

"Me."

Ness reached the top of the hill. The meteorite shone with its eerie light. He sat down next to it.

"I'm ready."

Shall we... do it together?

Ness nodded his head.

He quickly snapped his head towards the stars before two voices rang clear through the night sky.

"PSI Rockin Omega!" "PSI Rockin Omega!"

A psychedelic explosion shattered through Ness's mind... he could feel the pain... it hurts... and yet... it feel d. Ah... it was... sweet... e.

Ness felt himself be absorbed by the darkness... it would soon be all over...

And then it was. It was all over. Ness opened his eyes... wondering what he would see...

And he saw the meteorite.

He... wasn't... dead?

"What... what happened? Why... am I still..."

You're still alive... ? How... maybe we should try again...?"

Once again, they tried PSI Rockin.

Once again... Ness survived.

They tried Fire. Nothing. Freeze? Still alive. Thunder? Not even close.

Ness even tried Starstorm... but that didn't work either. He'd tried using everything all the same time...

When the dust settled, there was a crater far larger than the one the meteorite created... and at the centre of it, Ness... still standing and still alive.

"Why... why isn't anything working? Why... why can't I die? WHY CAN'T I DIE?!"

Ness started assaulting himself with all his PSI, and yet... nothing.

Ness... look at you.

"What?"

Look at yourself.

Ness did so... and he saw nothing particularly noteworthy. His body was fine. There wasn't anything wrong...

Until Ness realised that there should be something wrong — he should be battered and bloody from all that he'd done.

But it was as if... nothing had even touched him.

Ness drew his knife. He aimed very carefully... and plunged it into his heart.

At first, Ness wondered if he just completely missed his entire body... because he didn't feel anything. But then he looked down... and he saw the knife, sticking into him.

Ness... your body...

Ness looked at his chest and although there was blood, it was... disappearing? How? The wound begun to patch itself, and Ness felt his heart beating faster.

Then the knife shot out of his chest. What was happening?

Ness tried stabbing himself again. And again. And many more times. Each time, the wound would patch itself and if he left the knife in, it would be forcibly removed.

"What... what... I can't... I can't die! NO! Let me die! LET ME DIE!"

And after all of this, his nightmare started laughing madly.

Hahaha... hahaha! I think... I think... I get it... I know what's happening... and it's so funny... I don't even know why I'm laughing because this means... I can't die as well... but it's... so funny! Ness... the reason you can't kill yourself... is because you're too strong! All your training... all the power you've absorbed from the Sanctuaries... it's made you practically invincible! You can't die... not even by your hand!

He... couldn't die... he couldn't die? No, it can't be!

For the next month, Ness teleported all over the world, trying to find ways to kill himself. He threw himself off Pink Cloud. He survived. He tried going as high as he could into a thunderstorm at Deep Darkness. It merely tickled him. He dipped himself in the magma at Fire Spring. It felt like taking a hot bath.

No matter how hard he tried, like with everything else he attempted in his life, he failed. He couldn't even kill himself.

But Ness still kept trying. He spent close to a year desperately searching for a way to kill himself. He tried everything. He tried nothing. But the longer it went on, the more desperately he searched.

Ness, so desperately trying to kill himself, cared less and less about everything around him. He just wanted it to be over. He cared not if he lost control... as long as there was nothing left for him to control.

And for it... the world paid the price. Ness would burn the forests of Deep Darkness in his futile attempts. He destroyed the pyramids of Scaraba, hoping the ensuing debris would crush him. He used his telekinesis to create tidal waves at Summers, hoping that they would swallow him whole.

Ness didn't even have to will things anymore. If he saw something he could use to kill himself, as if by instinct, it would happen. And it would fail.

Ness... went insane. He... could only think about how he just wanted to end. He would give anything just... just to end it. And one day... he did come very close. It was his nightmare that suggested it.

What about the Phase Distorter?

Yes... nothing living would survive... if anything could grant Ness sweet release, this would be it!

So Ness stole the Phase Distorter. It was kept under maximum security by Andonuts Incorporated at Saturn Valley — but 'maximum security' didn't mean much to Ness. Maximum security was just a question to him, and the answer was PSI Rockin.

He took it and teleported it to Milky Well — Ness could teleport objects, but larger ones were harder so he went to this Sanctuary as it was the closest to Saturn Valley.

He went inside it... anything organic would be completely vaporised by it when if they attempted to back in time. Vaporised... such a brilliant word... exactly what Ness need right now.

He set the time coordinates for the exact same time he left — even Ness knew it was best not to mess with time too much. He saw what happened first hand.

Ready?

And when it activated... it was pain unlike anything else. This wasn't like being stabbed in the heart, which was short and sweet. Nor it was it like being blasted with PSI. It was something far worse.

Ness's clothes came out the best. Completely vaporised. Reduced to their constituting atoms.

Ness... was not so lucky.

He could... feel, feel his skin being burnt until it became plasma, before it was atomised. His nerves felt as if madly hacked away with a surgical knife. He could feel radiation seeping into his bones and the sickness that came from it. His organs felt as if they were being replaced one by one... no, not even replaced... they were just being teared out. He could feel his eyes being blinded before bursting from the pressure. He could feel himself... dying.

Ness... I... I'm so sorry... that I... can't be there... anymore.

The Phase Distorter stopped... and released its sole remaining occupant.

It was... Ness? No... what came out of there was so horrifically disfigured, that the Apple of Enlightenment wouldn't have even recognised him. What came out... no longer constituted as... Ness.

It was a decrepit skeleton, with skin desperately clinging on to what little they could, arranged in such a manner that merely gave the illusion of a resemblance to Ness.

And it shared one other similarity with Ness.

It was still alive. Even after all of that... Ness was still, though in the most basic definition of the word, alive.

Ness wanted to scream. But... he didn't have a mouth to. He was in this state of continual pain... still alive... and yet far too... weak to do anything.

Ness was absorbed by the darkness.

When Ness awoke once more... he had changed. The Sanctuary and his own powers had healed him. But unlike before where all of Ness's injures has been healed... this time, they failed. Some of his flesh had been restored, but not all of it... his bones were still very frail, but they now had some form to them.

And hey, at least Ness had a mouth now.

A single scream echoed though Milky Well.

Ness... never returned back to normal. His body never returned back to what it was before. And his mind was never the same... because his nightmare... was gone. He couldn't... hear it anymore.

It was dead.

Though Ness did regain his energy, he couldn't do anything. He felt every action drained him.

Ness didn't leave Milky Well, he was too weak to do... anything. For weeks, no, months, Ness did nothing lie there, desperately trying to stay awake for as long as he could.

Because it was infinitely better than being asleep. The nightmares... Ness started having his nightmares again... only they weren't about Giygas... or Pokey... but the thing he feared the most... the thing his nightmare was...

Himself.

Ness saw himself burning everything in his path... he saw an endless blizzard tear though an area, he saw death raining from the skies...he saw everyone... die. Everyone he cared about... all of them died... by his hands... and eventually... so did the world.

He saw himself painting the sky red... the seas were stained with blood... nothing in sight — save for one island and... a white ship. Over and over.

Ness could never forget it. Whenever he closed his eyes, they'd ignite and he see it all again. He wanted to end. But he was simultaneously too weak to do anything, and too strong to die from anything. The Phase Distorter no longer functioned anymore. And that was the only thing that came close to killing him.

Eventually, Ness was able to move again. He could even teleport and leave Milky Well. But Ness never did. He was scared... if he left... would he do all that? Would he stain the world?

And... could he avoid it all? Or was it inevitable... and the future would refuse to change...?

Ness didn't know. So he stayed. No one could enter the Sanctuary without Ness so no one could hurt Ness while he was in the Sanctuary. He was safe from everything outside.

But that also meant that Ness couldn't hurt anyone else, so long as he stayed inside the Sanctuary. So everyone... the world... was safe from him... wasn't it?

The nightmares never stopped. Ness tried everything. He tried not to sleep, but his lacking energy made this an impossible task. He tried telling himself that he couldn't hurt anyone as long as he stayed here, but he still couldn't convince himself. He... he remembered the teddy bear that Paula gave to him... for the nightmares. Every night, he held onto it for dear life.

But when he shut his eyes, everyone else was clinging for dear life instead.

And then... one day... Ness found hope. He remembered... something... a way... a way to control himself... to ensure that things... would remain the same. So his loved ones could live their lives.

Ness spent many weeks gathering his energy, before teleporting... for the last time. He emerged at an area with grassy cliffs, and a void of darkness beneath them.

The Cave of the Past.

Where... and when... the time happened.

When they... when he... killed Giygas.

From Giygas's death, the future had changed — or in this case, the present. Before, there was nothing here, save for the rubble of a Phase Distorter.

Now... there was the rubble from everything he had killed when he'd gone back. It created its own mountain.

But maybe... beneath it all of it... maybe, just maybe... there was hope.

Ness started removing the rubble as fast as he could. Just grabbing things felt like his bones were grinding together, because, they were — his joints had all been vaporised from the Phase Distorter. Lifting things felt like gravity had increased by a factor of a thousand. And putting them down felt like everything was being dislocated, over and over.

But Ness didn't care. If he found it... none of this mattered... everyone would be safe. It took him weeks to get through all the rubble... and everything he found in between.

Amongst it all, he found countless corpses with hair entangled in machinery. Eight legged bodies littered in between. Broken fuel pumps and miniature nuclear reactors that no longer functioned. Shells of Starmen, the familiar patterns on their mechanical bodies.

Ness even found pieces of glass from a dome, and a spider leg, that clamped to him whenever he got near to it... as if it recognised him.

But after so much time... Ness found it.

An orb... a large orb that he hadn't seen for 12 years... but it was still here...

And still functional. Ness approached it... the front of it started changing... morphing rapidly... until it took the form of a thirteen year old boy, with a slightly rounded face and who still had life in his purple eyes.

"Me..."

It was the Devil's Machine.

The orb glowed and emitted an eerie sound... before it slowly opened up. It was waiting for... him. For Ness.

"So... this is... this is how things end...I can't say... I meant for things to end this way."

"Dad... why couldn't it have worked... between you... and Mom. I'll never know... but I know that... you loved me and Tracy, even thought you were hardly there... and that love will always... last."

"Poo... you always called me Master Ness. As if... I was stronger than you. But in truth, you were always stronger than me. And you always will be. Because... you knew how to face things... rather than run away..."

"Tracy... you've become such a strong women. You've found success in your job and chose very well in Picky... I'm sorry I won't be there for your wedding... I regret... all the time I could have spent with you... but didn't... and now... I don't deserve to call you sister..."

"Jeff... I hate you so much... because I hate that you were everything I wasn't. But now... I'm glad you could be with your father and find something you were good at. You may have been timid during our journey... but now you're far braver than me... you may have envied me a lot during our time together, but now... I envy you."

"Picky... I'm so sorry. For failing you. And your brother. I want you to know that everything was my fault. No matter what anyone else says, it was all me. I was responsible for him joining Giygas. Hate me all you want, I beg you, please hate me... but please take care of Tracy."

"Buzz Buzz... I didn't know you for very long... but you said I was a boy with potential... I wonder though... is this what you thought I'd do with that potential? Did you think... that I'd be worse than the thing I was trying to stop?"

"Paula... I love you. I still do. Even though I don't deserve to. I'm sorry that I couldn't be the person you needed me to be. I'm sorry for being nothing but a weight in our relationship. I'm sorry I couldn't give you the life you deserved. I remembered that... you called me your destiny... but in truth, I think... you were mine..."

"Mom. Thank you... for everything. For being there. Always. When... when I was young... you said to be... a strong, thoughtful boy. I'm... I'm sorry I couldn't grow up to be that person."

Ness approached the Devil's Machine. He put a hand to the side of it... and as he did, he heard another sound... but the more Ness focused on it... the more he heard it... a voice... his voice.

"It hurts... doesn't it, Ness...?"

Ness... smiled.

"And... finally... to you, Giygas. The suffering you inflicted upon the world is immeasurable... and yet... so is the suffering you felt yourself... and now I know exactly what you mean... my friend..."

And Ness meant it. Finally, he understood Giygas's pain, he truly did... and he was ready to join him.

"To all my friends and family, I will always remember the smiles and tears we had... and the memories that we shared. Goodbye."

As the Devil's Machine closed upon Ness, his last complete thought was about how he felt... g o o d.

But it hurts.

A/N: (hey, guess what, incredibly long author note/rant so here's your warning.) And it is finished. I am so sorry for writing this, it was depressing — especially as a Naula shipper. So after twelve years of slowly losing his sanity, Ness seals himself in the Devil's Machine, to ensure he could never hurt anyone again... quite the downer... but it gets worse.

See, my head canon for this timeline is that Pokey finds Ness in the future and delighted over the thought of having his best friend by his side once more, he releases Ness and forces him to destroy the world, leaving only the Nowhere Islands as his playground — essentially making the thing Ness was trying to stop become reality.

You know... that's actually not a bad idea for a sequel to this... Huh. Don't worry, if I decide to do it, it'll be a long way down the line, cause Behind The Mask still needs finishing.

Speaking of which, I actually had a different ending originally — Ness would try to travel back in time to just after he beat Giygas and try to relive his life differently, but die from the Phase Distorter, with the life he could have had just out of his grasp.

Which one is sadder? Pick your poison, but I feel this is more conclusive and is more in like with the main inspiration of this entire story — which was, what if Ness went through the same stages that Giygas did, eventually becoming another Giygas altogether?

And hey, both characters:

1. Had a relatively normal life with people they loved.

2. Eventually left those people because of something that happened and denounced them because they saw it as a betrayal.

3. Left society before eventually returning, only to be reminded of their initial love for these people.

4. Gained immense amounts of power, suffered severe deformation and went insane.

5. Eventually sealed themselves inside the Devil's Machine in an attempt to control their power, and both are (well, I'd like to think this also happens to Ness), released by Pokey Minch, who time travels to get to them.

The other piece of inspiration was regarding Earthbound itself — my brother recently finished the game in June with me there to help him through the more esoteric parts, and it was here I realised a few things.

Well, firstly unrelated to the game but I realised my brother's taste in video games is very bad as he believes Undertale to be better than Earthbound. Okay — that's a joke, Undertale is a fine game, I just prefer Earthbound personally, okay... alright... so please put the pitchforks away. Then again, my brother also believes Mother 1 is a better game than Earthbound... for some somewhat justified reasons.

Back to the point, I realise that firstly Earthbound's a lot better than I give it credit for — I still believe Mother 3 to be better, but Earthbound is a lot better than I thought it was on my own play though. Second, Because I Love You is my favourite song in the game and those piano lessons have finally been worth it!

And lastly... the game... is really messed up. I mean, yeah, we all think the horror that is Giygas but it's not just that, think about all the stuff I mentioned at the beginning of this first part... all this stuff would seriously mess a child up for life if they saw it all. And of all the Chosen Four... I feel Ness is the most likely to crack since he saw the most stuff and after things are over, he doesn't really have much of a stable future (Poo's the crown prince, Jeff's a genius and Paula at least has experience with children so I imagine she'd find a job involving them)... and so he did.

So again, my apologies for making something so sad — especially as my first Earthbound fanfic, but I think it paid off, as I haven't seen any stories that really consider the long term impacts that the events of the game would have or the links between Ness and Giygas. Anyway, thank you for taking your time to read this and I hope you enjoyed reading this as much I enjoyed it — it really was a fun diversion from BTM!