Interlude: The Abyss

I was standing, in a dark, empty space. I had no memory of how I got here, I just suddenly was. I remember terrible pain, and then being here, no recollection of the transaction from the point of not being here to being here.

My surroundings were... dark. If I hadn't known better, I would have believed I was in space. But that's impossible. Even if I were in space, that doesn't explain why I was standing on something solid. Something solid, yet non-existent. There was nothing beneath my feet, yet that nothing was solid. Frowning, I took a step forwards. My foot landed on the same non-existent floor that I had been standing on. Still frowning, I took another couple of cautious steps.

After the fifth step, the floor decided that being non-existent, it shouldn't be holding me up as it is, and... became non-existent. Now with no floor supporting me, I fell, though I didn't feel scared or any such emotion. I just felt confused. Below me, a large body of water came into view, and started to get closer by the second. I braced myself, believing I was going to experience pain. I did. I would compare it to smashing into a cement surface, but considering the fact that I have never fallen from a great height onto a cement surface, I won't.

Whispers filled the air, telling me to awaken.

I slowly sunk through the water, which was just hot enough to be comfortable. I shut my eyes, ignoring the fact that I seemed to be able to breath. Mysteries aren't my area of expertise, and this whole experience was just one big mystery after the other. I heaved a sigh, and opened my eyes; just in time to see myself leave the water. Huh, floating water. Haven't seen anything like it for a long time. Only one that I can even remember was in the original Quake. Grunting, I looked down...

I sat up with a gasp, breathing heavily. I was lying in the middle of a bright room. All around me, were tall statues. Getting to my feet, a walked over to the closest one and examined it. Didn't look like anyone I know, or anyone that I've ever seen. Ancient warriors, by the looks of their armour. Ancient Gods, maybe? No... A closer look revealed the statue closest to me to have a face exactly alike that of Jade's. Like I said before, one big mystery after the other.

Taking a look around, I spied a door. Ignoring the feeling that something was wrong, I made for the door. Just as I touched the door handle, and axe embedded itself into the wall besides me. Spinning around, I watched as the statues moved towards me, steps causing mini earthquakes. This presented me with a choice. Fight the seven odd statues, or run.

I picked the coward's way. I yanked open the door, jumped through, and slammed it shut. A long spear ripped through whatever material the door was made off and stopped, inches from my neck. I gulped, taking a step away from the long, pointy stick.

The very air whispered for me to wake up.

Another step, and I fell up. Yes, upwards, almost as if gravity had decided to work in reverse. How lucky for me that I landed on my feet, having flipped what should have been upside down. I stumbled a bit when I landed, but I was otherwise fine. The door above me (or was that below me?) splintered and out came one of the statues. I didn't wait for it to decide to use the crossbow it was holding, and ran in a random direction, so long as it led away from the menacing statues.

I eventually came to a round door, one that looked warm and inviting. I walked towards it, but something fell in front of me. Something white. I stumbled back, and flinched when another white thing landed behind me. The two sides we quickly blocked off in the same manner. There was a bright flash of light.

I opened my eyes, and slowly sat up, observing my surroundings. It looked like I was in a hall of mirrors. All along the walls, were mirrors. Climbing to my feet, I moved to the closest mirror and looked at it. I saw my reflection. Inside the mirror was me, as a human, but with my current body standing behind the human one. A voice started speaking, coming from nowhere.

They tell of the Lizard. One who was once human, and will be forced to fight.

Yeah, and I tell of a strange disembodied voice. One that should shut up. Shaking my head, I moved to the next mirror. The reflection had nothing to do with me, instead it showed a trench-coat clad girl...woman... whatever. She looks around the same age as me, but I'm no good at reading peoples ages. But I did know who she was. I didn't have that episode of pain a while ago just to forget her name. It was Maggie. The voice spoke up again.

They tell of the Savior. One who will be forced to make a choice.

"They also tell of the one who should shut up." I spoke aloud.

Sighing, I moved to the next mirror, and peered at it. Another girl; another one from my vision. The cat-girl. I moved on, not giving the voice a chance to start its annoying rambling. Next mirror, yet another girl, and last one from my vision, the depressed one. Well, at least from what I gathered when I saw her back in the reactor. Again, I moved on, preferring not to listen to some loud voice blabber on.

Almost every mirror I looked at had someone within it. I stopped to listen to a couple of the vague descriptions, but they didn't tell me much. Such as, why was one girl labeled 'The Punished', why was one man called 'The Driver' and another 'The Warrior'? What did we all have in common?

I stopped and stared at the last mirror, and raised an eyebrow ridge. Unlike the others, this one was completely clouded ever by some kind black mist. I reached out a touched the glass surface, and recoiled in pain. The glass with hot, very hot.

They tell of the Destroyer. She, who will risk all, and will destroy all. She, who will do anything, so long as her will is fulfilled. She, whose power, is unmatched. The coming end.

That was a little more descriptive than usual. And makes her out to be evil. No, wait, it quite blatantly told me that she was evil.

At that point, the walls twisted around, and I found myself in the exact opposite of that place that I had started in. Opposite, as in it was white, as opposed to black, and that the floor was visible. It was a large round disk, with a picture of me. The picture had me cut, bleeding, but looking... cheerful, much more cheerful then I've ever felt so far whilst in this body. Even though I was still in this body in the picture, there was something right about it.

A familiar voice whispered to me, begging me to wake up.

I was torn from my musings by sudden arrival of what looked like an egg. True, it was about half my size, but I'm sure it was an egg of some kind. I looked up and watched, fascinated, as another dozen eggs fell from nowhere and landed all around me. For a moment, all was still, before a loud cracking filled the air. I watched as the eggs cracked, and then crumbled, turning to dust, leaving about thirteen... me's?

Ok, I've joked about having a mini-me during science, when the topic was asexual reproduction, but jeez, thirteen of them? The idea of only having one was scary for my class-mates, but this much scares even me. Over a dozen me, and they were all eying me hungrily. One of them charged at me, swiping his claws at me. Grunting, I side-stepped the attack and pulled Talon free, slicing at the mini-me's back. Blood came pouring from his back, and he stumbled to the ground.

The rest of the group hesitated, before charging at me, all claws and teeth bared. Except one, I barely had time to notice. One of me stayed back, watching with interest. I couldn't think on it for long, since the rest of me had reached me and were attacking. Their claws and teeth were a lot sharper then mine, causing me to focus on killing each of them with a single attack, otherwise my back was open. They didn't seem to have any intelligence though, thus didn't learn that charging in a single file line was just a fancy way to commit suicide. They were killed quickly. I slashed the last one across the stomach and stepped back as he fell to the ground. I looked at him as he gasped though. He managed to roll onto his back and looked at me, tears coming from his eyes. He continued to gasp, moving his mouth, trying to speak.

"Da...Da...Daddy... Why?"

Did he just call me 'daddy'? What the hell? I knelt down beside him and watched, as he looked at me, pain and... betrayal, were evident in his eyes. He died, quickly. The light left his eyes and he breathed his last. I turned to the one who had stayed out of the fight, glaring as he sniggered. Unlike the others, this one showed signs of intelligence, as he unsheathed a pair of katana. He charged at me with a yell, swinging the two swords at me. I spun out of the way of his attack, and sliced at him with Talon. My gunblade sliced though his neck, decapitating him. I swallowed, looking at the head that had landed in such a way that it was facing me. There was no blood though. Slowly, the head changed into my own human head. I took a step back, swallowing down the bile that had risen into my throat. The head stared at me, hazel eyes ablaze with hatred. Slowly, the mouth opened, and uttered a single word.

"Murderer."

I took another step back. An inky blackness started to come out of the head's mouth. The blackness swallowed all that it touched. It devoured the floor at my feet and I fell, swallowed by the darkness.

I landed inside a café, or some such place. Chairs, tables, food, people eating the food. Hot dogs in particular. I hissed as I pulled myself to my feet yet again. There was something familiar about the place. I tried to recall, but decided better of it when everyone in the vicinity started to panic at my appearance. Obviously a bi-pedal lizard appearing from out of nowhere wasn't a familiar occurrence.

I awaited Spike's mental reply, scoffing at what I had just thought, but none came. I checked my mind for the lizard within, but couldn't find the presence that had made my mind his home. He was gone... but where? No time to find out, the people who had previously been so panicked were now pulling out various weapons. I scooped Talon from the floor and watched for any sudden movements.

A loud, echoing footstep made me turn around. There, 7 feet away, was a most terrifying creature. It looked vaguely human, but all the humanity was ironed out, leaving this hellish creature, which pulled out a sword that put Cloud's sword to shame in terms of size. That has to be the single most missive sword I've ever seen. His hilt alone was half the size of the Buster Sword, so picture the rest of the weapon, which was about five times bigger. How the hell can anyone lift that thing?

The creature stepped closer, another thundering footstep. And another. Soon, it was only a couple of steps away from me, and it chose that moment to swing its sword at me. I swung my own weapon to counter it, but deep down, I knew it was futile. The heavy sword hit my gunblade, and the world around me shattered.

I found myself facing the mirror that was clouded over again, only the smoke was leaving the mirror. My brief hope that this meant I'd finally see the person in the mirror turned to horror when the smoke destroyed all that it touched, leaving a void. It wasn't white, it wasn't black, it wasn't any colour, but it was there, or to be more accurate, it wasn't. It was nothing. A foul laughter came from nowhere, and a deep instinct within me yelled at me to run. Not about to argue with my instincts, I turned and ran. I ran, and the smoke followed, coming after me, tendrils reaching out to grab me. I spotted a bright light and made for it, somehow knowing that it was safety. I put all my energy into running, pushing myself harder and harder. When one of the statues from earlier got in my way, I did a baseball slide between its legs, the sword that the statue was holding stabbing into the ground just after I'd already passed.

The very walls were shouting now, telling me to awaken from my slumber.

I knew what it meant now.

I dived through the hole from which the light was coming from, just as the smoke managed to catch up with me.

I woke up with a gasp, retching. I didn't look at my surroundings, for I knew where I was. The only place I would be, after being taken out by a Turk. Hojo's lab. I looked up, and sighed in relief when I saw Cloud and the others.

'Welcome back to the land of the living.'