It's been about a couple months since then. Much has happened in that short month. It's taken me that long to start to act normal instead of a depressed version of me. I couldn't help being sad and blame myself for Gaara's death. I acted normal now though I didn't feel it. It wasn't just that I lost Gaara after promising him to protect him. What if it were Tyler or Midna or anyone else? Gaara would go back to normal but if it was one of them what would I do. I was helpless to save him. It was more the fact that I had started to believe Vex.
I felt terrible that he died but I knew he would go back to normal when I left. I actually started to watch the show and found out that Naruto ends up setting him straight for me. What really bothered me was I had finally realized that I was not as strong as I believed I was. It was starting to be just like it used to be. I didn't believe in myself any more though I pretended otherwise. What would I have done if it was Tyler or Midna or Aaron instead of Gaara? Any one of them can be hurt from me working with the organization. I can't stop Tyler or Aaron because they both are working for them as well, but there was still Midna… Over the past year of having her be with me she has become closer to me than any one I have ever know, except for Tyler that is. The fact that she was literally connected to me did have something to do with it though.
I had become a full time member of the organization and slowly stopped letting Midna come along with me for fear she might be hurt. I still let her help because she would chew my ass out soon as she found out I was leaving her behind.
"I thought I told you, where ever you go I go too! What is it? Do you not trust me or somthing?"
She would say in front of Alex as I was about to leave on a mission. It wasn't that I didn't trust her… I just didn't trust myself to always be there, but I couldn't bring myself to tell her the really reason so I didn't say anything.
Killing Manifest has become second nature to me. Even the new leaders I have encountered seem to go down pretty easily. They were never as clever or as strong as Zephon was and none even came close to being anywhere near as evil as Vex. I also learned that this job could be boring as all fuck. Lots of stories I didn't even have to do any fighting at all. Most stories out there were love stories or mysteries. I would just have to find who wasn't supposed to be there and kill the Manifest leader. It went on like this for a little while until one day when I was called for another mission.
"So you wanna go explore more of Hogwarts today?"
Tyler asked as we both left school. We had not been teamed up for a while and didn't get to hang out at often as we would like. One thing we liked to do is look around the castle while we waited for a mission. It was full of things from other stories and the magical nature of the castle made exploring extremely fun…and dangerous. There was always something that we could look at though we probably shouldn't, like a little glowing ball that turned Tyler into a purple giraffe or the candy that gave me two tongs.
"Sure. Let's go look that room we found. I still think there are some good things we might have missed in there."
I said referring to room we had gotten lost in for about two days because it was that massive. It was filled to the top with magical artifacts. We found an ally and opened a portal to Hogwarts. The halls where quite as usual, only a few people went where we were heading because it was a hidden passage we had found thanks to Tyler's newest weapon…a wand. He had his trusty Key-Blade still and replaced his P90 with the wand and his other new weapon was a light saber from Star Wars. He wasn't very good at casting any spells but could open magical enchantments. We walked until we made it to a rounded wall. It looked as if a giant ball had smashed into it and left a perfect indentation. Tyler raised his wand and spoke the magic word that appeared on his Marauders map.
"Dragon fruit."
The wall opened up into a tunnel. Inside was the room full of treasures…ok well it was a bunch of broken junk from the Harry Potter world but it was still cool. We walked a ways not stopping off to look at the crap that had been piled nears the entrance. It was mostly just stuff like broken wands or tattered text books. But further in were things like giant statures that would move if you tried to touch them and some where there was a dwarf that refused to leave his home at Hogwarts. We looked around and found a few of the more important things from the Harry Potter world like the chess set from the first movie or the mirror of Erased. We wondered what else we would find if we kept going.
"Hey check it out Stuart."
Tyler said as he pointed to a shiny orb that seemed to be made of glass. It glistened in the candle light with an odd glow. It s looked quite normal but somehow seemed to beg for attention.
"…Ooooo shiny…"
I said as I walked up to the seemingly empty sphere of crystal. It was about four feet in diameter. Though it was hidden from afar, when I got close enough I found on the top of it was a carving. The smooth glass had a strange symbol carved into the lid. I looked at it intently but could not decipher what it was.
"What is this thing?"
I asked as I examined it closely. It was as if it was drawing me into it. My curiosity continued to grow.
"I wonder if there's anything in it."
Tyler quarried though you could see right through the orb. There was obviously nothing inside of it but he moved me out of the way and grabbed the lid. He grunted as he pulled at it but it wouldn't budge. The crystal just didn't want to move from the spot. He couldn't even manage to roll it or lift it up.
"What the hell is that stuff?"
Tyler panted as he fell back onto the ground breathless. Even with his immense strength he could not open it. I looked at it more curious than ever. I knew there was nothing inside of it but for some reason I had to open it. But if Tyler with his nearly limitless strength couldn't open it then there would be no way I could. I tried to think of a plan on opening it but came up with nothing. I began to get frustrated.
"Piece a junk."
I grumbled giving it a light tap with my foot. With no warning the entire thing shattered into dust. I looked dumb struck at it not knowing what I did.
"Good job artard you broke it. Now what are we supposed to do? You better hope Ricky doesn't find out about this."
Tyler grumbled. I looked down in fo-shame and said
"…I'm not an artard."
But looking down at the shattered glass made me realize that there was more to it. I brushed away the shiny fragments and saw a dark staircase under a trap door.
"Hey Tyler give me a light."
I said to Tyler as I stepped into the new hidden room. Tyler flicked his wrist and his hand caught on fire. It illuminated the staircase but did not reach the end.
"I'll give you a dollar if you go first."
Tyler mumbled as I peered into the inky blackness that seemed to reach out at us. The tunnel gave off the smell of decay along with a sense of evil. Now you might think we would have learned our lesson to think about what we are doing before we do it… you're wrong. Instead of just leaving the evil tunnel alone we started too descended into it. Further and further we walked into the darkness with no sign of the end. I was in front and Tyler in back witch didn't make much sense seeing is he was our light source. It seemed to go on and on but it finally opened up into another gigantic room though this one was empty except for a large object that lay huddled in the middle of the room. It was much too dark to see what it was but Tyler quickly found a solution to that. His flames exploded outward to the walls hitting each torch that lined the wall and ceiling. The room had now shown its true size. It looked like an enclosed coliseum.
"Woe…dude that is so awesome!"
Tyler said as the object that still lay huddled in a pile was reviled. It was the skeleton of a massive dragon. Clumps of dried out flesh still clung to the pearly white bone except for its wings that had retained most of its leathery skin. It was both marvelous and monstrous at the same time. We both stood in awe. I began to walk towards its head that was the size of a VW bug. Its jaws were speared wide open revealing a podium inside of it. As I got closer I realized that there was something else lying on the podium. It was a worn out looking book with a faded black cover that was now brownish. The writing on it though gray was very clear to my eyes. I read it out loud so Tyler could hear it too.
"The Beginning and the End"
There was no author on the book. I got closer to it and felt a strange urge to open it, so I did, not picking it up however. I just flipped open the first page with a quick flick. I didn't trust random things lying inside a skeleton of a dragon mouth. Inside was a short paragraph that read as such.
"The story of the Manifest will become lost in time so I have left this short explanation to what really happened… It all started with two twins. One was a boy and the other a girl. They were the musses for a simple writer. Their attitudes resembled those of Yin and Yang, one for power and one for wisdom. Den the strong and stubborn one was extremely powerful had the power to manipulate the story and create characters within the story that would drive the story along. He hated the humans who made the story because he was forced to stay within them and move from each story helping the writers from inside never to know freedom. Nigeb the kind and wise one had the power to leave the story and enter the human world to give inspiration with her great beauty. She loved the human's and their stories. They created such magical places she would always say. Nigeb fell in love with a human writer. They eventually had a child but this just angered Den even more to see her happy and outside of the story that he was imprisoned in. He despised how he was to be kept inside of the story while Nigeb was free to come and go as she pleased not seeing his own gift to change his world to suit him. His jealousy grew so strong that he eventually began obsessing on how to escape his story prison. Den and Nigeb never saw eye to eye but now he hated her as much as he hated the humans she so adored. Many years had passed with Nigeb trying to help create a world that would please Den but all Den did was grow stronger, though still lacked the ability to leave. Nigeb knew that she must stop Den because his malice would destroy the humans if he was to ever escape. So she confronted him in hopes to calm him, but instead he turned on her. He tried to take her power along with her life but was only partially successful. He had mixed his power with a little of hers. He could not leave himself but what he could do was create characters who would eventually be able to leave once they were alive long enough. The confrontation had left her injured and dieing. She had to do something so she gave her power to her child in hopes he would someday become strong enough to destroy Den. She told him he must keep this power and never let Den take it, and that he would have to stop Den one day. She then died in the arms of her son who was now of age. He knew he was no match for Den but he knew he must try. After a short battle he lost the fight and was cursed by Den creating and even stronger bond between him and the Manifest. He lost his ability to fight so he was forced to stop his attempts to kill Den. He married and had his children and his children's children continue with the fight, until the secret of the power was shared with others to aid in the fight of Den's children. Eventually the power and the origins will be lost to the main blood line but the fight must never end until Den is no more. Though it has been said that one day a direct descendent of me shall emerge and bring destruction to the entire human race. He must be stopped…"
I read it over once again in my head but was still not sure what to think about it. Tyler had listen intently and looked up set but I knew better. His thinking face made him look like he was in pain or constipated take your pick. It was only the first page of the massive book so I picked it up and turned the page but was forced to jump to the ceiling and drop the book. It fell to the ground with a thud. My spider sense had saved me from getting turned into a Stuart roast. Somehow, the dragon's skeleton had shot flames out at me. The seemingly dead dragon wasn't so dead after all. I looked at Tyler who had stopped the tail from sending him across the room by grabbing hold of it. It was flinging him around but he seemed to have a good grip on it. Tyler let go so he landed on his ass a little ways away from the dragon. It charged for him, he got his key blade out not fearing the fire it spewed at him. It came with its mouth open wide ready to bite down on him when I leaped off the ceiling onto its head. It slammed into the ground and stopped it dead in its tracks. The head instead of breaking dug deep into the ground.
'It's got a pretty hard head'
I thought as I jumped off the massive skull. It rose from the ground belching flames. I landed next to Tyler with a light puff of dust under me
(get ready for a bad joke people…I mean really bad)
"Hey NUMBSKULL, looks like it's got a BONE to pick with us…hehe"
I chuckled as I pulled my shimmering blade out. I knew I was saying a terrible joke but I didn't care. Up until you read this the only person who would hear it would be Tyler.
(an even worse retort)
"You know what Stuart? You aren't very HEUMOROUS."
Tyler said going along with my stupid bone jokes. I took a moment to think about how lame we would sound if anyone knew what we were saying.
"No stop, don't hurt him!"
A somewhat familiar voice yelled out making time go back to normal. The voice seemed to be different than its usual timid nature though. I whipped around and saw the pail red headed boy running at us. His long tattered coat along with red and gray scarf dragged behind him.
"Hey Alex, What's up? Could you hold on a sec while Tyler and I finish this?"
I said as I turned back to the dragon. It stood its ground growling.
"No, please don't hurt him!"
Alex repeated, pulling my arm down. I looked at Alex as he ran to the dragon. Its empty sockets where fixed upon him. I wasn't sure what to do but watched in horror as it lunged for him pinning him to the ground. I rushed to save him but stopped in mid air just in time to see it nuzzling Alex and him laughing.
"Who's a good boy? Yes you are. Yes you are."
Alex giggled as he pet the skull on the snout. This caused me to forget to land the jump. I came crashing down in a heap. I was dazed for a moment before I saw Alex walking towards me.
"You two shouldn't be down here. What if Ricky caught you? You could be kicked out of the Organization forever."
Alex said as the dragon snarled at me. I looked up not sure what to say.
"Wha?"
I mumbled scratching the back of my head looking at Tyler who had the same "What?" look on his face.
"No one is supposed to be down here. It was hidden for a reason. I keep telling you guys to stop looking around this place."
Alex whispered as if not wanting to be heard. It was kinda suspicious though.
"Wait what are you doing down here then?"
Tyler said as he walked closer to the dragon. It did nothing but watch me closely as if waiting for me to do something wrong.
"Um…."
Alex couldn't seem to form words but I put the pieces together.
"Wait, you're down here to see the dragon, aren't you?"
I said as I looked at the massive dragon skeleton that loomed over us. It seems that I was right. Alex walked over to the decomposing skeleton and hugged its face. He looked as if he was about to be sent to his death when he said
"You won't tell anyone about Ickis will you?"
His eyes fought back tears. Alex looked as if he was hoping we wouldn't ask this question I looked at the dragon and exclaimed,
"Ickis…? You mean that thing is your pet?"
Alex got an odd smile as if remembering something nice.
"Yeah kinda… He's my friend, but if anyone found out about him they would take him away…you're not gonna tell anyone are you?"
Alex said as it lifted him on its head and gave him a little ride. It looked almost cute the way Alex played with it. It seemed to act like it was his puppy.
"Don't worry we won't tell anyone. I couldn't even think of separating friends, but what is this place."
I said as I looked around the basically empty room. Neither of us really cared too much about the Organizations rules and didn't see why Alex shouldn't be able to keep Ickis. I was still fascinated with the book and wanted to know more but it had been covered in rubble and Alex had rushed us out any ways.
"I don't really know. It was the only thing that was down here when I was looking for a place to keep Ickis. I shouldn't even know about this room but since no one goes down here I thought it would be a good place to hide him. Let's go ok?"
Alex said as he led us out. The next day I was met with a big surprise. Tyler had gotten a mission over night and was still in some story with Aaron. This made the day extra boring at school. All I could think about is what I would do next in my free time. I soon found myself leaving school along. I got to the exit and there he was. Alex all dressed up in his civvies. He looked like a normal kid. I almost didn't recognize him without his coat and scarf on.
"Stuart I got a treat for you."
Alex said as I approached him. Alex had become more open with me especially after what happened the day before He was a good kid, just really shy witch made him stick out to much. Tyler, Aaron, Midna and I are the only people who don't treat him like dirt though he was a little odd. Even the "great leader" as Ricky calls him talks down to Alex. It is mainly because he never could seem to get the hang of fighting and always messed up, so he was put in charge of assigning me my missions. He would call for me in the castle normally whenever a story he was assigned became infested. We walked off into a dark ally and opened the portal to the headquarters.
"So what's this treat you got for me?"
I asked as I walked into the briefing room. GLaDOS's screen was covered up so I couldn't see what the mission specs were.
"Hello Stuart…d d d did you have fun at school?"
GLaDOS asked as I tried to look under the tarp. I ignored her at the moment because she had failed to give me any cake for fifty missions straight. I ignoring what she said irritated her and she came back with her normal threat.
"Fine than do not answer me. I will make sure that everyone eats you cake before you get back then. And then you shall receive none so ha. You wouldn't like that would you?"
I rolled my eyes and listened to Alex who laughed.
"It's a new mission. You're gonna wanna tell Midna about this one."
Alex said to me as I thought it over. I had promised Midna that I wouldn't leave her out of anything "exciting" as she put it. The way Alex was talking she would defiantly wanna come. She made the decision for me.
"You called…oh hey Alex so we going on a new mission?"
Midna said with a smile. Her orange hair brightened up the somewhat dark room with its glow.
"Yeah he has a surprise for us he says."
I told Midna who changed into imp form and started to float in mid air. She leaned back as if lying down in a hammock slowly rocking back and forth.
"Oo I love surprises. 'Gasp' Did she finally get us the cake?"
"No… and she says she is gonna make sure that we don't get any... It's a new mission."
I said as I drooped down in a sad slouch.
"What is it? Let me see."
Midna said as she tried to lift the veil on the screen.
"What do you think you are doing? That is my personal space you are invading. How would you like it if I lifted your vale to your screen…you wouldn't like it would you? No you would not."
GLaDOS said as Midna ignored her as well and looked under it. She came out with a big grin and floated down to me.
"Oo this should be really fun. You're going to be very happy Stuart."
I looked suspiciously at the screen as Alex took the curtain down. He had a big smile on. As I read the title of the story I was to enter I got a huge smile. I looked at Alex who had a grin of satisfaction on his face.
"Devil May Cry 4, how did you get that?"
I had been so busy with school and "work" that I had completely forgotten this was coming out.
"I knew you love this game. When I heard it got any sign of Manifest activity I got it as fast as I could so you could get a first look at it. It was only a small amount of Manifest but still I insisted that someone check it out."
Alex said as he handed me the game case. I looked with the enthusiasm of a fan girl.
"Well what are we waiting for let's get started!"
I said forgetting how sad I have been for a while as I half listened to the mission briefing. I was really excited to be the first person to "play" the new Devil May Cry game. I hadn't gotten to research it too much and didn't really know what would happen so it was sure to be very interesting.
"It's gonna be dangerous there. Are you sure you wanna come with me?"
I said to Midna. I knew it wouldn't make any difference today it would be dangerous but I hoped it might make Midna not wanna go.
"I'm sure, let's go babe!"
She said as I was attempting to turn the game on, but it was not working. I paused a moment and realized what it was.
"GLaDOS…"
I sighed as I tapped my foot. She was stopping the game from starting. She was a kooky robot that was for sure. It always seemed like she had e few wires crossed.
"First you must apologize for hurting my feelings…"
She demanded as I continued to push the start button repeatedly. I stopped knowing I had to and spoke.
"I am sorry for hurting your feelings…"
I half apologized rolling my eyes. The screen went from a red angry face to a green happy one.
"Apology acknowledged….possessing…. accepted… your cake privilege has been reinstated. Your party shall be waiting for you when you return…Have fun and avoid dieing please."
She said cheerfully as I sighed and pushed the start button.
"Are you sure you think you should come?"
I asked still worried about Midna, who looked at me with irritation,
"Stuart stop, just stop! I told I am going with you. Now stop being a butt and lets go."
Midna told for the forty second time.
"But I don't want you to get hurt."
I whispered to myself as the game started and I pulled us in. We landed on top of an old fashion building. I could hear a girl singing a rather sad sounding song in the distance. Midna tapped my shoulders. I looked at what she was pointing at. It was a guy with silvery white hair running into a swarm of Demons. I started to grin because I knew Midna would be fine here as long as it was just normal demons.
"There he is… wait why is he wearing blue?"
I thought to out loud as we rushed to meet up with him. He was running to the church looking building in the center of town.
"Maybe it's his water trench coat like Link has…"
Midna suggested. As I got closer I realized that the guy was much younger than Dante and in fact was the new main character Nero. I had forgotten that he Dante wasn't the main character in this game witch irritated me a little. I wondered when I would meet up with Dante. I also was curious about this new guy
"What do you say we introduce ourselves?"
Midna said as we leaped from the building. Nero didn't know what to make of us, until he saw us killing the Marionettes. I sliced my way through a couple of the demonic creatures before I realized Nero was wearing a cast on his right arm.
'Wow I wonder what happened'
It was over quit fast but Nero didn't stop to say hi.
"Later"
Was all Nero said before rushing off to the main building of the city. We followed him until we ended up at the church like thing. There were tones of people in white hoods. We stood in back so we didn't draw attention to ourselves.
'If they pull out a burning cross I am gonna be very upset.'
I thought to myself but I was just being paranoid.
"She's got a nice voice."
Midna commented casually as the girl stopped singing. She was very gifted but I didn't think the song fit the game I was in.
"Yeah I know…I wonder what's going on."
I whispered to Midna. This place did seem very familiar but I had only seen the teaser trailer for the game and had no idea what was going on.
"So what's gonna happen Stuart?"
Midna asked me as the old man who looked slightly like the Sith lord and the Pope put together (Yes I know there the same person XD) started to patrol on about Dante's father Sparda.
'There a bunch of Devil worshiper's lol'
I thought to myself… and yes I do thing lol sometimes…. Yes I am that lazy.
"Well knowing Devil May Cry there should be something really cool, happening right about…now!"
I said as absolutely nothing happened. I looked around then scratched my head before the ceiling crashed and in came the guy I was really looking forward to seeing. I started to move forward to reintroduce myself to him but before I knew it Dante pulled a gun and shot the old man in the face. The entire room burst into a panic.
"What the fuck just happened!"
I muttered cocking my head to the side. The guards were cut down one by one as they charged Dante. I knew it was Dante because I didn't sense any Manifest inside of him, but why was he killing little old men.
"I know the guy looked like the Sith lord but what the fuck?"
I said as I looked around at the people rushing out to safety. I had to find out what was going on the only way I could think of. I was ready to be the hero once again and gave myself a little intro in my head.
'It's show time, boys and girls!'
'I wish I had my own theme song right now.'