A/N: Oh. My god. I cannot even begin to say just how incredibly sorry I am for the huge, and I mean HUGE, delay in updating the story and omg its been like 6 months omg. I apologize profusely for no updating but I'm telling you guys I am ready to get back into gear on this thing and not let you guys down anymore.

SO. This chapter isn't all that long unfortunately especially after so long, but it has been sitting in my files for a while and has been needing some fixing up and a little added to it, but at the moment its all I got for you guys. But it's got alot going on and I hope you guys like it!

I READ EVERY SINGLE ONE OF YOUR GUYS' REVIEWS AND I LOVE EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM EVEN THOUGH HALF OF THEM TALK ABOUT HOW I HAVENT UPDATED /SOBS

The next update will hopefully be sometime in the next week or so and the story is reaching its end too, probably another 3-5 chapters and that's it!

I hope you all enjoy this chapter & until next time!

Amalgamating Flesh & Pixels

Chapter 11:

Maybe I Already Was.

I didn't get much sleep last night, something to be expected right? I got maybe a total of 3 hours' worth of sleep before my alarm clock went off. I went to school and ordered groceries before heading home. I ended up having to toss a few Credit Cards away too because the owners had cancelled them out, which always sucks. Even though I didn't sleep for long I felt as though I had been sleeping for a week (in an uncomfortable position too since my back was killing me for falling asleep on the floor again).

I had homework to do, but, of course, I had no plans on actually doing it. I tossed my backpack off somewhere in the living room area as soon as I walked through the front door before jogging up the steps to my room. I plopped myself down in front of my laptop and putting on the headset, checking the board before going online.

Some of the topics piqued my interest as I scrolled through them. There were a few talking about weird things happening inside the game which was to be expected, but what really got me were the posts about things happening outside the game. I remember there being a lot of news about the number of people becoming comatose recently. Everyone was already pointing fingers at The Game and saying it was the cause, which really is kinda the truth.

I took into note how everyone was talking about the weird glitches going around what with the weird horses kidnapping avatars and players acting strange. Stuff I already knew, but the significant amount of people complaining was certainly new.

I checked my inbox as well. One new message from Bunny.

From: Spring-Time-Flowers [Bunnymund]

Subject: Bad news

Message:

Tooth's sister is in a coma…

We have to figure out how to end this soon.

I sat back for a moment to let the message sink in. I couldn't even begin to fathom how Tooth must be feeling. I checked to see when the message was sent; 4 hours ago.

I checked to see if anyone was on at all. No one was.

I tapped my fingers furiously on my knee before coming to the conclusion that I was going to roam around. I thought it was strange how none of them were online, wasn't there usually at least one of them online? I didn't dwell on it much before I flipped the visor down and signed into The Game.

I flew to towns and cities asking every person I came across if they had any kind of inkling as to what was going on. It didn't really help, they just retold me information I already knew. I decided to try out the smaller villages seeing as how nothing has really happened in the cities yet.

A few players were telling me how they thought they saw a couple of the black horses going into the nearby forests heading South. It wasn't much, but it was something at least. I headed to where they described and figured I was heading into the right direction because the further I went the weirder everything looked. The trees looked like they were dying and even the grass was taking a yellowish look. I stopped in a tiny clearing in the trees and scouted the area. The area was desolate. There weren't even any monsters living in the area it was that bad.

I considered the thought of sending the guys a message telling how I might have found something, but I remembered none of them were online and who knows when they'd actually read the message. I decided to regardless.

I hastily typed up a group message and sent it. I flew around a bit more tying to see if I could some kind of opening to some kind of evil lair, but to no avail. I landed on a tree branch and almost figured that the area really was useless and was just a bare location in The Game when I heard the sound of hooves coming in my direction.

I immediately got into a defensive position when I thought of something. I don't know if they already knew I was around or not but I hid in the trees anyway. I sat back and waited and the black horses sped passed me without a second glance. I followed closely to keep up but far enough away to not be seen (hopefully).

They eventually came to a hole in the ground. They didn't slow down even a little bit and flew right into it. Now that was just way too weird to not automatically assume it lead to Pitch's Lair. I walked closer to get a better look down into the hole, staff poised at my side. Pitch black. Figures.

I was stumped. A large part of me wanted to go down into the hole and do some recon. What I was gonna do once I found out if it really was Pitch's Lair or not I had no idea. From what I've heard this guy was a menace, though I was still a little hazy as to how this whole thing started. But at the same time it felt like this would have been the final showdown. You don't go into the final showdown unprepared and without backup! That just doesn't happen.

I noticed that the hole was actually starting to get smaller. Clutching at my hair, I began to pace back and forth laying out the pros and cons of whatever was about to happen. The hole was getting to the size where I knew I wouldn't be able to fit.

"Aw, what the hell." I jumped inside.

I landed on my ass once I got to the bottom. I bit my sweatshirt sleeve so I wouldn't yell out and let out a pained grunt instead. Slowly getting to my feet I used my staff as leverage. It was dark down here and I couldn't see a damn thing. I looked up from where I fell and there wasn't anything showing some kind of opening. This is probably why Bunny could never find out where this place was. The holes would open and close in different areas all the time. Feeling around for the wall or anything really I walked in the direction I assumed was forward until I found a faded light and moved that way.

I crouched down once I got the end of the tunnel and peeked around the corner, taking a quick sweep of the place. Everything was black or different shades of black and grey. This guy obviously didn't get many guests. I looked around for anyone or anything before moving forward. I wasn't sure if I should continue or not, but really considering the fact that my way in is no longer available I figured this was the best choice at the moment.

The place was huge. From the tunnel I entered through the room became a huge tower that continued down into levels when I peeked over the edge (that had no railing, mind you). Not to mention there were endless staircases that seemed to be going nowhere and everywhere all at once. There were pointed, black, decaying branch-like cages hanging from every ceiling, some bigger than others. And it smelled too. Like, not really, but you could definitely tell something died in here.

I noticed there was something moving in the cages and I flew up to get a better look. I almost gagged as I moved closer to them. The god awful smell intensified tenfold when I reached the side of one and when I looked inside the cages I realized why. They were players. I covered my nose and mouth with the hem of my sweatshirt before taking a better look. They looked exhausted and were leaning on the cage bars to keep themselves upright. The way they looked made me cringe. It was kinda disgusting to look at them and it made me feel incredibly bad. Their skin was a pasty grey color with other parts of their body turning black, almost as if their skin itself was decaying with their cheeks hollowed out; their iris' were a sickly yellow along with the sclera. They were just basically drained of any color and life that they had. And the smell. The smell was the worst of all. The whole place reeked of rot and death and being up here was borderline unbearable.

They all turned their heads (or at least tried to) to look at me when they finally noticed I was there. All of a sudden there was fear in all of their eyes and tried to use whatever energy they had left to crawl to the opposite side of the cage from where I was hanging. They started to scream in fear too. Well, it really wasn't screaming I just assumed it was because it was scared mumbles due to how tired they were, but there was definitely fear in those scared mumbles. Next thing I knew everyone else from all the other cages look over to see what was going on and they start letting out their own droll of mumbles and groans and quite frankly, it was terrifying. The sounds that were emitting from their mouths didn't sound human and with all of them doing it all at once and the looks they were giving put me on the edge of petrified.

I let go of the cage and floated a good distant away from them and stared up at all the cages. I looked down and realized there were more down on the lower levels too. They were all scared of… me. But I didn't even do anything. Now if that didn't set off some kind of warning bell then I don't know what will.

All of a sudden there was a dark laugh from below me. I quickly turned around, staff at my ready.

"Well, what a nice surprise. Though, I hope you aren't so much a stray dog that you understand that barging into someone else's home is rude." Pitch snickered as he paced around the floor he was standing on, the one I was on just a few minutes ago.

"Yeah, well, you would know, wouldn't you?" I said back with disdain. I felt like I might have the upper hand if this turned into something serious. He does have territorial advantage, but who knows, I like to think I have just as much a chance at winning as he does. Gotta stay optimistic. There was a beeping sound. It must have just been me since Pitch didn't seem fazed. My MP was starting to run low.

What did I say to myself before all of this? No one goes into the final showdown without being prepared? Yeah, let's take that optimism and chuck it out a window.

"Why, don't you come down here, Jack? Your MP must be getting low by now." Wow, what a jerk off. Regrettably, I did just that. "Why can't we just talk? Besides I'm sure we both have some kind of idea as to what would happen if this escalated into something… violent, hm?" He said with an all-knowing smirk that immediately put me in a bad mood.

I didn't point my staff at him anymore. He was right though. I was already low on MP and being an MP-based class, I wouldn't be able to do much damage if we did get into some kind of tussle. "We don't really have anything to talk about outside of the whole 'placing players into comas' thing." I said.

"Yes, that. Don't you like it? I'd hope you have at least appreciated the thought put into it. Or has it just flown over your head?" He asked as he began to pace the floor, hands clasped behind his back. It seemed like a genuine question, but at the same time it didn't and that confused me. Why would I know?

He must've taken my silence as an answer because he continued, "That's a shame. I thought we had a real connection, but I see I was wrong. Or just that you aren't as smart as I made you out to be. I guess all you really do is steal money from other hardworking people and mooch off of whatever you can get your hands on." He said as he started to walk away from me. There was something behind this and I knew it too, but for some reason it riled me up regardless.

"How do you know that?" I asked tersely taking a few steps toward him.

"Oh, I've had my eye on you." He turned around to face me with a solemn look. "When Manny contacted you years ago, I've kept you on watch and with the Guardians asking you to join them I knew I had to keep an even closer," he was suddenly in front of me, making me stumble back in fright, "eye on you." The whole time his eyes never tore away from me. It was unnerving to say the least. Those yellow eyes staring, unblinking…

I cleared my throat nervously and began to pace around myself, anything to get away from him, and asked, "So, uh, what are you planning on doing once you've conquered a virtual world? Steal the copyrights and shut it down? Make yourself some money? There isn't much you could do." I said kicking at some cracked concrete on the floor, shoving my hands into my pockets, hoping to some higher being he played the role of Dumb Evil Villain #1 and tell me his whole plot.

He let out another chuckled, I knew that he knew I was trying to change the subject, "Oh, Jack. Don't play coy with me." He started moving towards me again. "Besides, why are you wasting your time here, with me, when there seems to be something much more important and sinister happening out there?" He must have been referring to Tooth's sister going into a coma, he had to!

"What did you do to-!" I stopped mid sentence when I turned to glare at him and saw that he was right there in my face.

He grabbed me by the throat, his long slender fingernails digging into the soft flesh there, and I immediately wanted to be as far from him as possible because not only did he reek of dead everything, but the sensation that the touch sent through my body is something that I don't ever want to live through again. His smoldering yellow eyes just bore into mine and there wasn't a single nerve in my body that would let me remove my gaze. All around me began to blur and I couldn't focus on anything but Pitch. Suddenly he blew into my face, a black smog that flew straight into my mouth and nostrils burning my insides all the way down. It gathered around my head and my vision began to go fuzzy and dark around the edges. I felt my eyes roll into the back of my head and I gagged and gasped helplessly and kept involuntarily inhaling the smoke with each fight for fresh air. My body was convulsing horribly and there was little to absolutely no energy left within me and I wanted more than anything to collapse and I would have if it weren't for the strong grip Pitch had on me.

My grip on my staff was slight and the next thing I knew, I felt my body hurl backwards effectively knocking the wind out of my already oxygen deprived lungs. I could've sworn I heard whispers, but with the wind blowing my ears it was hard to tell. At that moment I thought I was going to die.

Maybe I already was.