"Don't Make Me Remember"

Hallway after hallway. That's all that existed in this place. It was a maze as Doctor had mentioned, and nothing more. The longer we ran the more hopeless I felt, and somewhere deep inside I knew time was running out.

"You have an hour to find me and save your friend. One hour and nothing more". Doctor's words swam through my mind as I pushed myself forward, Creed and I running side by side as we tried to forget how painful it was.

"If you succeed you are free to go, if you lose, well, we'll see"… What did he mean by that? What would he do to Eve? Or did he mean us? I had no idea what Doctor was doing to her, but I knew it couldn't be good. From the sounds of it he was powering this machine off Eve, and for all I knew it was slowly killing her piece by piece.

The hallway slowly wrapped around itself, the curves sending us this way and that as we tried our best to feel our way through the dark. It wasn't until moments later that everything exploded with light and I felt something grab my by the back of my coat, wrenching me backwards and away from Creed who continued to run onwards.

I fell hard, back into darkness. My body ached from the impact, the side of my face pressed against the cold floor as my fingers pressed against the surface to make sure it was real.

I shook myself mentally as I slowly opened my eyes to the faded darkness, the shapes around me barely coming into focus as I squinted. I took in a deep breath before pushing myself up into a sitting position, looking around slowly, trying to make something out.

My eyes forced themselves shut again as the room exploded with light and sound, my hands dropping Hades and clamping over my ears as I tried to keep it all out. I gritted my teeth against the vibrations of it, feeling it pass through me like some kind of sonic wave.

I yelped as someone grabbed the back of my coat collar again and yanked me up from the floor and to my feet, my hands falling from my ears and the sound colliding with my eardrums.

I whipped around, pulling my hands up only to remember that I had dropped Hades to the floor. I moved to retrieve it when a fist collided hard with my cheekbone, sending me reeling to the side.

I choked as I stumbled backwards, my eyes searching the blinding light but to no avail. The fist came again, slamming into the other side of my face and sending me back to the ground.

And then, just as suddenly as all the chaos had begun, it was snuffed out like a weakened flame. Darkness settled again, almost comforting as I sat there, pulling my knees up to my chest as I searched the void with my watering eyes.

I tried to stay silent. Breathing as quietly as I could, waiting for my attacker to give themselves away with a footfall or a sudden breath. But nothing came. I felt a chill rise up my spine, shaking me as I waited. And waited.

I pushed myself forward silently, sliding across the floor on hand and knee, to where I knew I had dropped Hades. I reached out into the darkness, refusing to be afraid, until my fingers closed around the cold metal I knew was my gun.

I bit my lip as a foot slammed down on my hand, splinters of pain shooting up into my wrist as they ground their heel hard on my fingers. But I refused to release the gun, even if it meant breaking each and every finger of my hand.

I jerked back slightly, as far as my outstretched arm would let me go, as cold metal pressed itself against the side of my head and the sound of a gun cocking echoed in the silence.

"Don't move." A familiar voice ordered, their tone filled with the hint of a smirk as it had always been, but refusing to rise above cold.

My breath came in a shallow momentum as I tried my best to stay stationary, my fingers painfully fixed around Hades and the barrel of their gun against my head.

"Pathetic." They spat the word out as though it tasted bad. "Just pathetic."

I had no response to this, just silence. I couldn't move, I could barely think, all that was left was silence. I took in a shuddering breath, feeling it move through my body and up into his gun, forcing a dark laugh to come from him.

"Are you afraid?" He asked, pressing the gun harder. "You were always afraid."

Words! Where were they?? All I wanted to do was scream at him, throw every insult I had at him, but every part of me was frozen to the floor as though time had ceased for me. I wanted to hurt him. I wanted to shoot him. But I couldn't remember how.

"No one's coming to save you, they never were," He spoke again, taunting me as his foot released my aching hand and weapon. "You'll have to fight your way out of this."

My weight fell off my hands and back onto my legs as I knelt there, nothing else mattering but the weapon in my possession. I had to shoot him. I had to finally kill him, but how? He was always faster than me, always stronger, always smarter. He had always had the upper hand.

But things had changed in the last thirteen years. I had changed. I had grown up, I had learned things I thought beyond my capacity, and he had died.

"Are you just going to sit there like the fool I know you are?" His voice taunted me again as his gun slid from the side of my head until it was under my chin, lifting my face upwards.

The darkness slowly began to lift, only to be replaced by an unfocused gray. His features fell in muted, grayed colors as he watched me with his dangerous eyes and I with mine. His gun was glinting beneath my chin as it fell cold against my skin.

His eyes seemed unable to pull away from mine as he stared down at me-studied me. He looked just the same as he always had. His hair fall around his lined face, his mouth in a constant frown, and his clothes baggy and concealing.

I took in another shaky breath as my mind contemplated what I was seeing. This couldn't be real, this couldn't be true.

"You've changed," He smirked, but something behind his eyes betrayed him slightly. "All grown up now."

I felt my sight lower into a glare as he spoke to me as if he cared. What had he expected? Had he expected me to stay a helpless child for the rest of my abandoned life?

"I wondered if you'd survive without me," He spoke softly. "You were so pathe-"

"Shut up." I growled from somewhere deep in my chest.

"What?" He practically hissed, the gun pressing against my throat now.

"You're dead." I shot back, my eyes focusing on his as I felt the pupils narrow. "You're not real."

"Is this real?" He pulled the gun back and shot, searing pain shooting through my shoulder as the sound erupted inside my head.

My free hand flew up and clenched my shoulder, trying to my best to stop the flow of blood that I could feel against my skin. I glared up at him and lifted Hades, my arm screaming in protest as I forced my injured shoulder to work.

"You died!" I yelled, my anger getting the best of me as we aimed at one another. "You died, Zagine!"

"But did I die inside your mind?" He asked as he moved forward, the muzzle of his gun brushing against my forehead as I glared up at him. "Did you forget me?"

I let my breath out slowly, before my eyes fell away from his face. I hadn't forgotten him. I had never allowed myself to forget him.

"You-" I began quiet before my eyes rose back to his face and my voice rose in volume. "You ruined EVERYTHING!"

I pulled the trigger three times, my eyes clamped shut as the bullets exploded in the silence and I heard his body fall back with a loud thump. My arm fell limply to the ground, Hades clattering with it.

Silence fell around me as I knelt there, my eyes staring downward into nothingness as I breathed slowly and calmly. But the silence didn't last for long. My eyes wandered upwards as I heard him shifting where he had fallen, his body somehow rising back to its feet, his shirt now stained with blood like it had been that day.

This couldn't be real. He was dead. He was dead. How was this happening!?

And then the rain began, soaking through our clothes and deep into my skin. Just like that day… Just like…

"Go get us something to eat," He gently pushed me towards the sliding glass doors of the grocery store as he slipped some bills into my hand. "I'll be waiting for you out here."

I turned and looked at him as his eyes looked warily out into the downpour of rain, his mind elsewhere. I felt a chill run up my spine, but I blamed it on the rain. I blamed it on something normal…

I had only been inside for a few minutes when every head in the store raised at once, the sound of three gunshots cracking through the air light a whip. I took in a sharp intake of breath at the sound, knowing exactly where it had come from as the cashier shoved the paper bag of food into my small arms.

I ran out the door and skid on the wet pavement before turning to see him sitting against the wall, everything seeming to be normal. I walked slowly towards him as the sound of his labored breathing reached my ears and the sight of his gun in his hand came into view.

"W-What happened?" I asked as I stood there, just beyond the protection of the overhand, rain running down my skin as I stared at him.

Now that I was closer I could see the three circular holes in his shirt and the blood that was slowly making its way through. His eyes found me and he smiled, a genuine smile, for the first time since I had met him.

"It's okay," He said softly as my fingers lost their grip on the bag of groceries and they fell to the ground, the contents tumbling out into the rain.

It wasn't that I had grown to like Zagine, or even respect him, but I had told myself once that I would be the one to kill him-that I would be the one to pull the trigger. But now…now he was dying and I was standing here empty handed. Maybe part of me did care-part of me was terrified. If he left-if he was gone, then I was alone.

"N-No," I shook my head slowly, unable to take my eyes off him. "You can't-"

"You'll be fine, Train," He said calmly before raising his hand with his gun in it and pushing it towards me. "Take this and you'll be fine."

I reached out and gingerly took it from his fingers…they felt like ice. The weapon was heavy in my hands, pulling them towards the ground as I tried to keep my grip on its slippery, blood stained handle.

"Learn how to use it," He instructed, back to teaching me. "Learn how it works and learn how to protect yourself. You're the only one you have to count on, Train. You can't trust anyone else-they'll just hurt you."

"Zagine…" My voice was weak as I tried to fight back the tears that were already coming. "You can't-"

"Listen to me!" He said sternly as I choked on the cold air. "You'll be fine if you learn to protect yourself. Rely on no one, Train; rely on no one but yourself."

And with that he seemed to lose whatever strength he had managed to hold onto. His body fell limp against the wall, his eyes rolling into the back of his head as they closed and the last of his breath escape into the rainy day.

"No! No, no, no, no, NO!" I screamed as I rushed forward and fell to my knees beside him. "You can't leave me! You can't leave me!"

I couldn't touch him, I couldn't fall against him. I couldn't do anything for him now… I pushed myself to my feet as I stumbled back, grief taking over as my hands gripped tightly to his gun before raising it in the air and pulling the trigger until it fell empty, screaming as hard as I could.

I flinched as something brought my consciousness crashing back to reality. My eyes refocused and flickered over to where he was lying, blood pooling beneath him.

I stood slowly, my body feeling weak as it shook-as though it were cold. I took in a deep, unassuring breath, before closing the space between his body and me. The toes of my shoes sent ripples through the deepening puddle of blood as I stared down at him, feeling nothing inside as I watched his life spill away. What could I do?

I knelt down slowly, as though life had been thrown into slow motion, my hand reaching out towards his shoulder until my fingers could feel the fabric of his shirt between them. With the strength I had I slowly pushed him over onto his back, trying my hardest not to look at his face, but it seems I was forced to.

It all happened in a matter of seconds. There was a blur of movement and suddenly I was rigid with his gun pressed against the center of my neck. His eyes bore into mine as he smirked, every part of him very much so alive though he was covered in his own blood.

"Pathetic." His words carved into me as an explosion of sound sent me deaf.

Pain seared through my neck as his gun fired off, blood spraying the wall behind me as I choked, finding it impossible to breathe. He lowered the gun slowly before watching me, my hand slowly rising and wrapping around the injury, my mind refusing to believe it was real.

I gasped for air, but it wouldn't come. I choked, I coughed, but the blood wouldn't stop coming. With one last raking gasp for breath I felt the world tilt and I was falling backwards.

I heard the sound as I slammed into the hard ground, Hades slipping from my fingers and clattering to the ground. My fingers tightened around my neck as I stared up at the darkness above me, my vision blurring.

I heard calm footsteps and suddenly he filled my vision, his eyes on me again as blood flowed down the sides of my necks. I blinked slowly, watching him with weak eyes as the pain pulsed through me.

"You'll never change," He shook his head slowly as he re-holstered his gun. "You'll never change."

Darkness took over as I felt my head fall to the side, blood pooling beneath me as the cold seeped into every part of me. I heard him shift above me, but I didn't have the strength to open my eyes and look at him. I could barely feel my body.

I felt so cold…

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

Hey everyone, how're you? I'm doing pretty well here, though I think I'm getting sick. Go figure…right before Thanksgiving. Ah well, I've had worse, plus on Wednesday I finally get to go home so I'm super psyched for that!! It doesn't take much to excite me… X3

So how did everyone enjoy the latest chapter? I hope you liked it. I know there wasn't much of Creed in it, or anyone but Train for that matter (he is my fav. character after all!), but I needed to build a bit of Train before I move on to others.

The story will continue to get darker from here on. Lately I've been writing a lot of dark stuff, so it's sort of affecting this story as well. Train's little fiasco with Zagine was the beginning of that. Eventually we'll run into who's really running this whole show, finding Eve and Adam, etc. etc. etc…blah blah blah lol.

A side note, I hope you all remember Zagine. He's in both the manga and the show, though he has a slightly bigger part in the mangas. For those of you who don't know: he's from Train's past and is in fact the assassin who killed Train's parents, but he had no idea they had a kid (he has issues with killing kids). So instead of killing Train he basically kidnapped him and forced Train to work his ass off. Zagine always told him you can't count on anyone, you have to learn to count on yourself and to protect yourself (hence the forcing Train to work his butt off). In the long run someone shot Zagine, you're never really told who. Train gets a bit miffed because he'd always sworn HE would be the one to kill Zagine…that and Zagine's death meant Train was once again alone in the world.

SO anyways…I figured I should explain Zagine a bit of anyone doesn't know who he is. He's basically why Train joined Chronos, inadvertently. This isn't the last chapter of the story, obviously, but it's playing off a part in the shows ending where Zagine shows up in Trains mind. Creed will be back in the next chapter as will Sven, AND Doctor. So many people… Eve will probably be in the chapter after that, along with Adam and the real Eden (the one Eve is stuck in in the show).

ANYWAYS, this is my last update until after the 26th or so. I went for a different chapter title, hope that's ok. I hope you enjoyed!