Ray's POV

She was lying face down in a pool of blood. When did that get there? When did she get there? She, I could sacrifice her to get my life back, was that right? Sacrifice her on the altar of my happiness. That was what she did, that was what she did to me, why not return the favor. She wasn't dead, she wasn't dead yet, I could tell. She was holding on, for some strange reason. What reason did she have to hang on to life, huh? Huh? There was nothing for her… nothing for me, nothing in this world.

I would not fall to despair, though. There was something I could do. I could-

"Quit stalling and just do it already. We don't have forever." The shadow voice said. I tilted my head towards it. "Steal her away."

I floated gently over to her, she was so delicate… so small… and yet, she was so important, she was my only way back, regardless of what I did, how I got there, she was the only way back. She was it, she was all I had. I held her close to my chest, she was warm. The blood on her stained my body, too, but somehow, it didn't seem to diminish any of the blood on her.

She was so small, so small. I could crush her, I could just crush her little body up against me and then I could be free, could be free. But, would that kill her? Would I even kill her? Could I? In this place, did death even exist? Maybe that was the test, if I would try to kill her, I would lose, and she would survive and I would be lost, I would die, be low and knocked down, into the darkness and shadow forever, and that other, that other voice would win, would win, would beat me. A battle of wits, a battle of wills. We were fighting for our lives. I looked down at her. She was only partially conscious. I was probably only partially conscious, too.

I looked over my shoulder, there it was… there was the solid shadow, looking over my shoulder. I didn't know what it was doing there. I… I couldn't see its eyes, but I could feel its eyes, if it had eyes, I could feel it glinting at me. I could feel it. Why was it glinting at me? Why was it looking at me like that? It was waiting for me to do something, that was it.

"This is…" Emerald sputtered up some blood. "This isn't good." That was the understatement of the century. Hearing her voice, something stirred in me, something was going on. Something was wrong.

"I know." I responded, a voice deep inside me answered her. All of this was from the shadow, I knew it was the shadow, I knew it I knew it. That night, that night, was it last night? Was it only last night that it happened, or was it a while ago? I didn't know. Time meant nothing. Space meant nothing. Emerald's sisters… could they be behind this, no, no, I couldn't let myself get distracted.

That night, I flew and the sky was black, and the eyes, there were eyes glowing in the dark, bright blue eyes glowing at me, and then the shadows rushed at me, and I started falling, and I fell on the beach. I, I was on my back and twitching and there was a shadow inside me, fog all around. The forest was inside me, I was the forest and I was this too. I was, I was…

I was Ray, and this was not where either of us belonged. That shadow was causing all the trouble, that was my shadow, forced upon me. It was twisted and inverted, but it was mine. I had to stop thinking like this, it was messing with my head. I was letting it corrupt me further. I took a deep breath and tried to remember things logically.

The night Strider woke me up and told me we had to run away, I got up, got Emerald on my back, and flew. And, as I flew over the ocean, the sky and sea turned pitch black, and I felt multiple presences. I saw two bright blue eyes and the air turned incredibly cold. I started to freak out, despite myself, and then felt a rush of wind. A shadow form of myself flew at me and took residence in my mind, and it had been corrupting me ever since. I bet a similar thing was happening to Emerald, although I did not see her shadow. I saw mine, though, and I could take care of it right now.

"Ray…?" I heard her voice, small and weak. The shadow had its claws around her, and it looked like she was weakening.

"Get off of her. You are no longer welcome." I said.

"Oh?" The shadow turned its head sharply towards me. "Seems you've regained consciousness. Good job." I raised an eyebrow. Was that it? Did I do the trial? Was that horrible night just an elaborate plan from the old coot? If that was the case, I had a thing or two to say to him, most of which I would say with my claws. I didn't care if it was some sort of, I didn't know, weird teaching moment?

"Well?" I asked, after a moment. All it said was good job, but did not move. I still held Emerald to my body. I quickly let go of her. She didn't expect that, and so made an unceremonious splash into the blood. None of it had faded, the buildings and the forest and the blood were all still there. I just snapped out of whatever stupor I had been in.

"Well what?" The shadow asked. It did not seem to know what I was talking about.

"Well, I passed the test, didn't I?" I asked. In the back of my mind, I could hear Emerald coughing.

"Test?"

"The… the trial of affliction." I said. "I passed, didn't I?"

"What? You just temporarily regained your consciousness. It will slip away again. There is no test, there is only submission." Its voice… seeped into my mind a little, and it made me twitch. I… no, I couldn't go down this road again!

"No." I said.

"Uh, Ray…" Emerald called over to me, and then threw my head over to look at her. She was standing in the midst of an army of blood… clones… of Emerald? It was the same as the Rayquaza in front of me. They looked aggressive, and they were approaching Emerald.

"Tell him the price. Tell him. Now." The clones all said in a sort of screaming, droning voice that hurt my ears, hurt her ears, too.

"The… price?" I asked. Emerald's eyes went wide and looked around her. She was not in her right mind right now, I could tell.

"Tell. Him." The words were long and distorted, it could bend metal, and it seemed to come from everywhere. They seemed to know what they were talking about. I wondered why they didn't just, you know, tell me themselves. Maybe they wanted to make her tell me herself, so I'd hear it from her mouth?

"If I send you back I lose all my magic! All of it! Forever!" She cried out, and there seemed to be dark streaks going down her face.

"I see… and here I thought there was some reason about the balance of the world or something. No, it's purely just you, huh?"

"Everything I ever worked for…" She was crying, now.

"You see, she doesn't care about you, you are only a means to an end. It doesn't matter that you were going to get married… it doesn't matter that you had a life and kingdom to run… she cares about herself, and only herself. There is no good in such a person. Steal away her life, and your life will be yours again."

"Shut up!" I backed up as Emerald sprang up and punched the shadow in the nose. It reeled backwards, stunned. I was stunned to, at her sudden action. She was really having all sorts of mood swings, huh? Wasn't she crying just a second ago, and then before that she just looked dead. There were a million blood clones of her, and none of them were trying to stop her, but were instead lurching towards me. I whipped my tail at them and they dropped into the lake from which they came.

They were surrounding us. There was… only submission? That, I refused to believe that! I whipped around to the shadow of myself.

"Emerald, hop on." I said, and positioned myself so that she could jump on my back, which she did. She surprisingly light and gentle, more so than usual. I appreciated it. I could feel her dread, and I wanted to watch it burn. I flew forward and smashed into the shadow, swiping at the shadow, swinging at the clones. I didn't want to bite the clones because they were made of blood, it would taste bad… or, a worse prospect, it would taste good due to some corruption. So I could only use my body like a whip, and claws. That was better than what Emerald could do, though. She couldn't do anything, and if she sent me home, she never would, huh?

I flew up and away, up and away, and the forest leaned into us, grew overhead in order to block. It didn't want us to leave. This was not a test. We were not meant to pass.

"I have an idea. A beacon to guide us home." Emerald said, and within a few moments, she began to glow, and then I began to glow. She was using what magic she had. There was a glow in the ground, and all the blood began to drain down into it. "Down there, full speed!"

"What?!"

"It's the only way out, it's showing us the way." Emerald urged. I didn't know why, but I listened to her. If she was wrong, I was going to be so mad in the afterlife. I dived, and the shadow dived after me, trying to get there too. It was a race, I guessed, and I would not lose. But what exactly would the winner get? Their spot in the world? Her spot in the world, she just wanted her spot in the world and so did I, that was something we all wanted.

"Here goes nothing." I mumbled under my breath, my own kind of secret prayer. And then I slammed into the damp, red ground….

Have an awesome day!