For some of you, this is the first (or only) book in the series you've read. But for others, this is the second or third. Those of you in this group are familiar with my special patented tactic for stalling. It's called...the bonus chapter. *ominous thunder*

Window to the Past

BONUS CHAPTER: The Real Problem

There. The chapter was up. I leaned back from my laptop, sighing. That chapter was physically draining. It was strange. "Man...that was..." I couldn't finish the sentence so I just let it go with a sigh.

"What's up?" Chaos asked, looking up from a notepad he had been jotting down ideas on.

I turned to look at him. "I'm just a bit disappointed with my latest chapter, that's all."

"What, the neurotoxin one?" Chaos asked. "Why'd you be disappointed in that one?"

"Well...there's some inaccuracies," I said quietly. Receiving an expectant look from Chaos, I continued. "The computer voice, for one thing. Some of the things it said seem off to me."

Another expectant look.

I sighed. "Like...it announced a sixth of a percent increase in facility-wide neurotoxin pressure. I don't really think a difference that small would be announced every time it happens."

"Well, that depends," Chaos reasoned. "How potent is the neurotoxin? At what ratio of neurotoxin to air would it kill you? If it was low, an announcement every sixth isn't that bad."

Giving a small nod, I reluctantly agreed. "Yeah, but there's that phrase I used, too. 'Facility-wide neurotoxin pressure'. I feel like there's a better way to write that," I said, giving the chapter another look. "Computers have a very specific vocabulary when they're talking. And I don't think 'facility-wide neurotoxin pressure' is part of it. I just feel like I'm going to get flack from programmers, or whatever."

"So what are you trying to say?" Chaos asked.

"I'm just not happy with that chapter, that's all," I shrugged. After a bit of silence, I noticed the notepad in front of Chaos. "What're you doing there?"

Chaos gave his notepad a look. "Ideas. My story's been on hiatus for a while, so I want to finish it off."

I gave another small nod. "I guess I haven't really helped with that, huh?"

"Well, yes, writing all three for that amount of time did nothing to bring it out of its stasis," said Chaos.

Another long silence. I turned back to my laptop, and read through 'Bite the Bullet' again, looking for any sort of typos or plot holes that needed thinking through. After reading the last 'THUNK' of the chapter, I heard a voice behind me.

"You're terrible, you know that?"

Giving a short yelp, I jumped up from my seat and turned around to face whoever was behind me. Honestly, I shouldn't have been surprised to see Chaos looking at the screen behind me. My fear was slowly replaced by annoyance. "Uh...wh-what?"

Unfortunately, I'm a bit less lyrical than usual when I'm recovering from a heart attack.

"You're terrible. Those cliffhangers are just cruel."

After making sure my heart wasn't going to implode, I smiled. "Well, I've developed a penchant for those things. They're fun to write with, not to read."

"So why do you use them?" Chaos asked.

"I just told you!" I looked back at him, my smile growing wider. "They're fun to write with!"

"But not to read," he finished, taking off his cap and brushing it a bit, before placing it back on his head. "But why do you use them if you know the misery it causes the audience?"

"Schadenfreude," I explained. "Taking joy from others' pain. That, and they keep the reader engaged."

"Mmm," Chaos said dismissively. "So...did David get out?"

I shook my head. "Tsk, tsk, tsk. You should know better than to ask something like that. You'll have to wait, like everyone else."

"What, I don't get any sort of 'Author's Brother Early Access'?" he asked.

My smile faded. I knew what he meant. But...what he said irked me.

Chaos must've noticed. "Sorry, that just came out."

I nodded. "I know, it's alright. But...try to be more careful with what you say, okay?"

"It'll work out, Cameron," Chaos comforted, trying to cheer me up. "You know how the stories end, right? They end well, don't they?"

"Yeah, they do," I admitted. "I just miss my family and stuff. Sometimes I just want to...rush it, you know? Just get the story over with so I can just go home."

Oops.

"Cameron..." Chaos said lowly.

"But I won't!" I said quickly, trying to amend my mistake. "I'm not going to rush it! I promise!"

Chaos let out a breath of air. "It's a bit of a sensitive topic, Cameron. I overreacted a bit."

"...I'm sorry, Chaos."

"You have nothing to say sorry to," he returned. "You only made the same mistake I did."

Another long silence. This one, however, seemed a lot more awkward. I knew I'd made a mistake, but I didn't know why.

"Chaos?"

"Mmm," he mumbled through the writing of his notepad, signalling me to go on.

"Why, exactly, is that a sensitive topic?"

I heard the sound of a writing pencil stop.

Oh, no.

"Cameron," he said in a low, measured tone. "You say you want the story to end because you can go home. Right?"

"I...I guess."

"That's your end. That's where the story ends for you. You go back to Earth and you live the rest of your life the way a real person like you would. Same with the three main characters of your story."

"What do you mean?" I asked carefully, unsure of where this was headed.

"Your three main characters. Cece, Coran, and Kylie. You found out that they're real, didn't you?" Chaos asked, not looking up from his desk. "Firsthand, in Canon Fodder. When-"

"I know!" I yelled, interrupting him. Realizing how loud I'd just sounded, I quieted down. "Sorry."

"The stories end with them going home, too," Chaos continued, giving no sign he had heard my apology. "That's their happily ever after. That's your happily ever after. But what about the characters of your story? What happens to them once you finish? Once you stop writing?"

I was silent. I'd never really thought about this before.

"Those stories are the only place they exist. Even Luigi and Kolorado, canon characters. The things you've written never happened to the real ones. So the laws of fiction invent a clone. They don't exist anywhere else. Not even in other fanfictions, because those take the same laws that canon characters do. So what happens, Cameron, to these characters once their world ceases to develop?"

Again, I didn't say a word. I was beginning to get an idea of what he was getting at.

"What separates real from fiction is that unless it's written or seen, nothing in fiction happens," Chaos said, bitterness creeping into his voice as he stood up from his desk. "On Earth, you can say goodbye to someone for a week, and when you next see them they have a broken arm. That doesn't happen in fiction. If someone gets a broken arm, there's a purpose. Somewhere down the line, that broken arm is going to help or hinder them beyond something like not being able to write with your dominant hand for a few months.

"In any sort of story, nothing happens unless it's written about. The world has no history until the reader knows about it. The character has no concrete figure until it's explained. Relationships don't develop, people don't die or give birth, fights don't break out, nobody cooks or eats or sleeps, nothing happens unless the author thinks it should.

"So I ask you, Cameron. In a world so heavily dependant on the creator...what happens when the creator looks away? What happens when he stops creating? When he stops developing, writing, talking?"

At this point, I couldn't even look at Chaos anymore. I felt tears well up in my eyes as I realized what he was saying.

"It stops. Everything stops. You and your mains can live happily ever after. But the characters don't have a happily ever after to live."

"What about epilogues, though?" I ask desparately. "What about when the author says how their lives turned out?"

Chaos shook his head. "What about the secondary characters not included in the epilogue? What about the main character's kids? Their kids? What happens after the epilogue takes place?...It's inevitable, Cameron. And you get to escape it because you're real."

"But...you're an author!" I protest. "You're real, too, aren't you?"

"I'm not real," he spat. "Your brother is. I'm simply his persona. When he stops writing, when he abandons this account, I share the same fate as everyone else. I'll be frozen, forgotten. But you, Cameron. Your life goes on. It only stops when you do. And I don't think you realize how lucky you are to have that privilege."

He's right, I thought as I buried my head in my hands. I don't.

There was a very long silence. Neither of us moved for what felt like a decade.

"I'm sorry, Cameron," Chaos finally broke the taciturnity. "I went a bit overboard."

"No, no, I get it," I said. My voice came out muffled through the sleeves of my hoodie. "I kind of feel like I deserved that, too."

"...Did you write about this? About you being in the story?" he asked.

"Yeah," I said, lifting my head up. "But I called myself Multikirby."

"But you aren't Multikirby," Chaos finished. "I knew Multikirby, and you aren't him."

"Wait...Multikirby was a persona?" I asked, turning around to face him.

Chaos nodded. "Yes. He was yours, wasn't he?"

"He was," I confirmed. "But...if you're here...then where's Multikirby now?"

Chaos blinked. "You don't know? He disappeared the moment you came here. I haven't seen him since."

I rested my head in my hands, wiping a stray tear from my eye. "Did he just...cease to exist?"

"I certainly hope not," Chaos stated.

Giving a small nod to show my agreement, I turned back to the laptop to start the next chapter. As I typed, I listened to Chaos mumbling to himself.

"You want me to what? No, I can't do that! You're insane!"

I smiled. It was common practice of both of us to speak the dialogue while we were writing. I looked down at my hands, reflecting on what Chaos had said. If these worlds really ended once the story was finished...

I made up my mind. These stories weren't going to end anytime soon.

No, bonus chapters aren't patented. You can use them if you want to, I guess.