You are now Brandon. You and Alex walk the emmense labyrinth of his planet. The two of you search for his quest bed. The effort has been futile so far and you had to stop at the nearest town to rest the night before.
"We're looking for the bed that makes me god-tier right?" Alex asks breaking the silence of your search.
"So you've been reading the comic?" You question back.
"Yeah, I figured it would be helpful to know what we're trying to do here."
"We're currently trying to find how to get the Monado Aperture to work properly."
"But didn't you say that having me god-tier wouldn't solve the problem?"
"I did, but I didn't say it would do nothing."
"So we just get it to work at low power?"
"No! We get it to work at low power for now."
"That's why we're coming out to the giant maze that is my planet? To get an intended result from unsuccessful means?"
"Well that's not the only reason."
"Why else?"
"The team doesn't quite trust you with power, for good reason. I'm your friend so I'm going to give it to you straight. You're good with a sword and you would be a great part of the team if you would stop trying to set everything on fire. I think giving you a chance to experience real power might cause you to realize that there are other means to solve an issue than burning it down."
"I think fire is a perfectly reasonable solution to a problem."
"That's the point. You need to realize it's not. Have you heard the saying 'Don't burn your bridges once you've crossed them.'?"
"Yeah."
"Well the saying's right. You can't destroy your chances to go back. We already lost our way back home, you can't lose your way to go back anymore. If you burn your bridges now, there's nothing's left to use to go back. You can't ammend your mistakes.
"Well this conversation just got morbid."
"This game is morbid, Alex. Think about it. We've destroyed our home, destroyed our people. We're the last of the human race, and we're not hanging on a thread, we're hanging on a line of barbed wire."
"Why are you suddenly so depressing?"
"I've been in the dream bubble, I've talked to dead versions of ourselves, I see impending death and sadness. It's a little much on a person's mind."
"Is it really that bad of a situation?"
"Yes, it is. Do you know what it's like to know that it's your job to keep people alive? Your job to watch your friends die, then come face to face with it and win? It's painful."
"I didn't know it was that bad."
"You'll have your own hardships ahead too. A void player deals with the dark and lonely. I can't say I envy you."
The two of you arrive on a small hill, atop sits Alex's quest bed.
"So I need to die now?"
"Yeah. If you can't kill yourself I can always off you if you want."
"No, I'll kill myself. I'm planning to beat Nate to seppuku."
"Good luck. I'll be over here."
You watch as Alex sits on the edge of his bed and takes the blade of his sword through his stomach. You'd turn around to avoid seeing it, but you already saw it happen hours ago. He falls back into the quest bed, soaking the covers in blood from his half open torso. You smirk for a short moment when a Marco joke crosses your mind.
You watch as your little plan takes effect. An appearifier you brought fires up it makes a soft zapping sound as Alex appears in his Mage outfit. He looks at you then suddenly falls to his knees in pain. His skin turns grey and he screams in strange and unpronounceable words. He's gone grimdark!
"Alex!" You yell at him trying to think of what to do.
He responds in more incomprehensible noises.
"Alex! What happened?"
He stands up without a sound and reaches for his dead body. He picks up the Monado Aperture and holds it in his hands. To your surprise the blade of light comes out and he holds it in front of him with the smile of a madman. He swings the blade at you and the only words you can make out are "Monado Purge". You are filled with pain as you fall to the ground you begin to see a vision, but it immediately stops. The bastard ended your visions with that purge!
He goes for a slash and you dodge in time. You need to get out of here! You begin to run and get ahead a little, but he begins to catch up as you run out of breath. Damn your low stamina! You can't win. You need to go with your emergency plan. You quickly hit him in the gut then take his glasses. The fool's blind as a bat without them. You take the moment while his vision is blurred to lose him in the maze.
After hours of walking you finally find a town and have them point you to the gate that leads to his home. Once you get to his home you head through his second gate back to your house.
You need to gather the others. You need to stop him. Suddenly you stop in your tracks as an image fills your head. The team standing around a dead Alex. If you get the other's help, he'll die. You're gonna have to find some other way to stop him.
END OF CHAPTER 24