MASS POST WARNING: GO BACK AND READ THE FIRST CHAPTER I POSTED, PLEASE. IT WILL SAY "THIS IS THE FIRST CHAPTER I POSTED."

I found that "Love the Way You Lie, pt. 2"was a good song for this chapter. Not the one featuring Rhianna. It's the one on Rhianna's album featuring Eminem; part two is almost as good as part one. The lyrics actually, inadvertently, really relate to this story, considering Angel. Both poems are straight from my brain, though, if you were wondering.

You sang me a lullaby

When my mother died

I cried and cried

You never lied

My dark, soothing lullaby

Chapter 28: Arc Symphony

This trauma plays on and on—an endless loop of misery. I matched up our souls, and the pieces fit perfectly. That's what we call Soulmates.

Dreams and memories can intermingle. You can lose sight of what's real.

In the dream, I saw that you weren't my Soulmate. Is that true, or was that just a ruse to keep me questioning myself?

Because… I don't want to lose you.

Kowai Yume...pt. 5

Amber was taken through a strange few 'weeks' of being a Persocom. Interacting with this version of 'Garrett' was very disconcerting. He was just as she remembered, which was a little saddening. As a whole, though, she was not able to actually do anything, but was a silent spectator in the whole business. It was a very strange, but detached feeling of involvement on her part. Sometimes, if she concentrated hard enough, she would be able to move one of her fingers or toes of her own free will. Other than that, Amber was powerless.

The first day he brought her to college was interesting, though.

Apparently Garrett had used the money he received from graduating highschool to buy a Persocom. So there she was, strolling with him to see his new dorm in LAU.

"Looks like this is it," said Garrett grandly, looking at the door before them. R-42 was displayed in silver letters on the bright red entrance. It had an electronic lock, one that could normally be opened using an RFID chip or an electronic key from a Persocom. "Would you please do the honors, milady?"

Giggling, Amber's eyes pulsed with a bright brown light. She had received his dormitory key shortly after he had registered for a room. When the door opened, Garrett held it open for her and walked in right behind her.

"It seems our roommates have not arrived yet," said Amber idly, looking around the spacious room. There were two bunk beds and a desk.

Even though she had little to no control over herself, Amber didn't mind. In a few ways, this place was nicer than reality. She didn't get bad dreams. When she closed her eyes to charge, there was only dark oblivion. Garrett was nice to her. He didn't care that she was a Persocom. The other day he had scolded a passerby for catcalling her when they were walking in downtown LA.

"Just because it's part of your 'culture'," Garrett had said, "doesn't make it 'right'."

He also had said, early on, that calling him 'Master' was unnecessary, which surprised even his parents.

"This is great!" announced Garrett, falling back onto the bottom bunk. "We've only got two other roommates, right? So you can have a bunk and no one will complain!"

"Ah, that's right," Amber said, nodding. "How nice." She sat beside him on the tiny bed, and when he sat upright again, she bumped shoulders with the boy playfully. "You can have the top bunk, though. I don't like heights."

"Fair enough," Garrett agreed. "Most people want the top bunk, though, and I happen to be one of those people."

Yeah, that was typical of most people. Many an argument had been started over having the top bunk as opposed to the bottom bunk.

"Glad you have me, then, right?"

"Always." A sudden thought came to him then. His face became mischievous. "Heh, you know what? Now, I can do this without my parents seeing."

Before she could really process it, Amber was lying on her back, staring up at a frisky-looking young man.

"Eh?"

His face immediately went to her neck. A few moments after that, he was planting gentle kisses up and down her artificial skin.

"Wh-what are you doing?" Alarmed, the girl managed to squeak this out. For the first time in weeks, Amber felt the control of her body return to her. Her face was now filled with concern and hurt. It had been a nice fantasy, up until then. But that's all it had been, a fantasy.

"No," said Amber, drawing away. "No, I can't."

She held her hands out, preventing him from going any further with his intentions. Confused, the young man at on the edge of the bed peered down at the sad-looking girl. She had held hands with him before, and even kissed him on the cheek. Now this was going too far? Well, maybe they had been going a little fast, but he was just playing around. He'd never had a human girlfriend before, so he had nothing much to go on right now.

"Why not?" he asked, wondering over the reason why he had been rejected.

Covering her face with her hands, Amber began to sob. "Because this isn't real."

Kowai Yume…pt. 6

"Wh-what're you doing?" asked Garrett, keeping the grip on the leash as tight as he could. The curious little beagle, Shelly, sniffed around the sidewalk and wagged his tail. He was still a puppy, so he was a bit small, but that aside, he wasn't very much interested in the antics of the two human-things he was used to. Right now he was the star of the walk, he believed, so he was minding his own puppy-business.

"I always do this," Amber hugged his free arm tighter. She was smiling, knowing full-well how she was affecting him right now. "I always hold your arm as we walk Shelly."

A distinct mushiness made his thoughts get all fuzzy and clouded. Garrett's grip on the leash faltered.

"P-please don't squeeze so tightly," he begged.

"Why nooooot?" asked Amber, disobeying him because it was only a request.

"…"

Now he really couldn't think. That ruthless attack had made his mind go blank. Without meaning to, he let go of the leash.

A second later, the puppy ran out into the street.

Just a second later, Amber chased after him.

Garrett reached out in futility, to stop them both.

While smashing on his breaks, the truck-driver smashed into the Persocom and animal. Within moments, the two bodies were thrown across the avenue, painting the asphalt with blood and synthetic fluid.

All around the massacre, the cars and other vehicles were stopping, forming a curious circle.

In that instant Garrett dropped to his knees and screamed. The image of her body lying there immobile was too horrific for him to utter anything intelligible. With shaking arms and legs he crawled toward the bodies. Even though they had traveled far, he couldn't bring himself to walk.

Reaching out, he continued to scream. Crying out, his teardrops fell.

Around him, the dimension began to shatter and fall away.

Kowai Yume…pt. 7

"Chii!"

With her petite fist, the blonde Persocom punched Fake!Hideki in the middle of his gut. Instantly the doppelganger collapsed in a U-shaped form on the floor, coughing up blood.

Jumping put the window, Chii soared into the sky and dissapeared.

After being trapped here for days, she finally had found the backdoor.

Kowai Yume…pt. 8

Hideki ran through downtown Tokyo, looking around him frantically. Maybe he should call someone. Mr. Takeda, maybe? There were Persocoms all around him, and not a human in sight. He probably would have asked them to help, but they all were female, and they all had the same hungry look as the Persocoms that were accosting him earlier.

A multitude of hands lunged at him, but Hideki struggled past them, continuing to run. He had been slowed down, somewhat, but he didn't dare to stop moving.

So asking a Persocom for help was a definite 'no.'

After running away for a few minutes more, Hideki saw a sliver of hope. In the distance, he saw one of those free public phones. They were a rarity in this day and age.

But. A sea of Persocom women were blocking off access to it.

Steeling his nerves and keeping a firm grip on the waistband of his pants, Hideki charged forward.

"Come and play with us," beckoned his pursuers. "Playyyy."

"Get away from meeee!" Hideki cried, reaching out for the phone booth. His mind raced to remember the Takedas' number. Wrenching open the door, he slipped inside, and locked it behind him. Only half a moment later, the hordes of Persocoms had caught up with him. Their greed filled eyes pierced through him like bullets as they banged on the phonebooth, incessantly inviting him to 'play.'

'What was it again?'

Fractures were spreading through the glass booth, despite it being, at least it was supposed to be, bulletproof.

As quickly as humanly possible, he dialed the first number that came to mind, hoping that it was correct.

However, the second he pressed the phone to his ear, Hideki dissapeared in a flash of light.

Kowai Yume…pt. 9

Chii glanced around at the glowing tiles floating before her, touching them lightly. Every touch set off a light pinging noise that echoed across the dim space. Each tile had a separate simulation running on them.

Her friends were trapped within these fake realities.

Not for long, though.

With glowing eyes, the petite Persocom reached out towards Hideki, who was running away from a huge crowd of women.

"Execute program," said Chii, shattering his window the second he stepped into the phonebooth.

Kowai Yume…pt. 10

Looking out on the shimmering landscape of silver that comprised the floor, Amber wiped her eyes and watched the flecks of blinding light rising from the ground. Around her she could see her memories floating by on rectangles of light. She saw the first time she stepped into Japan, the first time she saw a ballet recital, and even the first time she met Garrett.

Yes, the more she thought about it, the more she realized how ridiculous it all was. This reality she had been living in had been nothing but crap!

'Empty.'

In the distance there were three forms standing together. Without even trying, Amber was able to know who they were.

Starting to walk, she looked around her. Reaching out with her fists, she shattered the memories one by one. All those fantasies were incredibly naiive. Did she really wish for that type of world, or did she simply like the ideas they put in her mind?

'Worthless.'

A Persocom version of herself? A still-human Garrett? What derangement was that? Her guilt must have been a huge factor in it. It should have been her to have been transferred into another body that day. That's what she thought every day whenever she saw her legs. Just her legs had been switched out—how fortunate she was. Even if it made her feel less human, she often imagined how it made Garrett feel.

'Foolish!'

Storming past the glittering white windows, she grabbed hold of the ribbon around her neck. Walking past the replaying memories, Amber ripped off the red ribbon. As the windows broke apart, they dissolved into glowing shards of light. Running towards the figures in the distance, Amber didn't bother to wipe away the gathering tears.

Starting to sprint, Amber passed by the memories, the windows blurring by at this point.

With sparkling teardrops falling from her eyes, she jumped, reaching out to Hideki, Garrett, and Chii. As she fell into the arms of her real friends, Amber couldn't help but smiling.

"The Nightmare is over…" she whispered.

…

They had been close before, but what had happened? In that dream, his worst fears had played out so vividly; Garrett knew not what to do.

He sat on the chair near Amber's bed and watched the sleeping heiress breathe. Chuckling to himself, he wondered why he felt envious. These days he only needed to "breathe" if he needed to talk. Otherwise, it wasn't necessary for him. Who would have thought he would miss even breathing?

Before Garrett's first body died, his mind, memories, and personality was transferred into the body he has now. Incidentally, this transferred his very soul into the machine. The second the transfer was completed, his human body died. It was very much like the process they had used to transfer Sumomo into a new body. Like her, he had had trouble adjusting to a much different experience than he was used to. It had taken nearly two weeks for the new body to interpret all the data loaded into it, but when it was finished, Dr. Lee-Young was there to greet Garrett when he finally woke up.

The sensations were very similar, not exactly the same, but very very real. Looking at everything in an augmented reality was a bit distracting at first, but now he could not imagine life without it. Handy windows popping up when he wanted something—if he had an internet connection that is, was very convenient. To recall information was so much easier—as having the equivalent of a human's photographic memory was just too amazing. There were many more benefits, but the drawbacks were also apparent. He could no longer eat or enjoy foods—that was disappointing. People would treat him as less than human, which was infuriating.

Worst of it all: Amber seemed to lose all interest in him as a man.

So that was the whole icing on the miserable cake of bitterness that Fate had baked for him. Only right before he had 'died' Garrett finally had gained the courage to actually begin a romantic relationship with her. Even though they had formed a magical contract when they were still friends, he still could barely spit out his true feelings. Garrett had been so scared before, so unconfident, that it currently disgusted him. Now that he had a second chance, he thought, why not try to love her properly this time?

From the beginning, even when he was human, he wanted to protect her from the Mages threatening to cut out her heart, but, as that nightmare had shown, she was still afraid that he wasn't the same person she fell in love with. They never acted on their emotions because of this.

It had been a day since they escaped from that prison of nightmares. Much like before, Amber had exhausted herself, and was slumbering before him. It had taken a good bit of mana to shatter the false dimension that Yui had created, so it was understandable that she was tired. Likewise, Chii and Hideki must have been drained as well.

Garrett frowned nevertheless. Six months ago, she had stopped crying herself to sleep, from what he understood, but Amber was still hurt from what Angel had done to them. Yes, she had been like a sister to them both, and then she had to go and declare war on all of humankind.

Bringing down Elysium? That was beyond crazy—it was blasphemous.

However, it wasn't impossible.

Yggdrasil, the tree that grounded dimensions, wasn't indestructible. One could take it down if they really wanted to.

Due to Yuuko and her awful curse, it was realer than anything Garrett would ever see in his lifetime. The threat looming above them in another dimension made cold dread pervade his conscious thoughts. Apparently Ragnarök was an actual thing; one event that either would happen or be averted for all times, as he had researched.

Staring at Amber with unquenchable passion, Garrett sat and brooded over what seemed to be their unchanging destiny. She was the only one who had not been able to stay conscious when they awoke. Only thirty minutes after waking she had fallen back to sleep. Amber had not roused when he tried to wake her either. By the time the quartet woke up, Arata and Yui had already fled—most likely in fear of facing them in the real world. After all, their way of opening the gate was actually a lot less aggressive than the previous attempts of other contestants.

Garrett had suspected that she had retained some brain damage, but the hospital had said her brainwaves were perfectly fine. Her MRI had been fine as well. She wasn't in a true coma: she just needed time to rest.

That's why, sitting next to the hospital cot, wallowing in self-hatred, Garrett gasped upon seeing Amber's eyelids flutter open slightly. The heart monitor had picked up speed—her vitals adjusting to those more appropriate for one who was awake.

However, when she sat up, her eyes still looked clouded over, as if she were still dreaming.

Garrett was 0.25 seconds from saying something before her face broke into a delighted grin. Confused, he reconsidered what he wanted to say, and was .72 seconds away from saying something, but Amber looked so happy to see him that he could hardly speak. She rarely ended up looking at him like that anymore, and even when it did happen, it was when she thought he wasn't looking.

Almost like she was floating over to him, Amber moved towards the perplexed Persocom. Her hands caressed the side of his face, and ever so tenderly, her lips met with his own.

A familiar sensation spread throughout his system. All at once, the memories of their past kisses overwhelmed him, mixing with this current memory. Almost instinctively, he kissed her back, damn all the consequences.

He wanted to take this further. Nearly every part of his brain was screaming to go for it. All except one. His conscience, obviously.

All the pleasure he had felt—Garrett willed himself to fight against the softness of her lips and drew away, holding her gently by the shoulders at arm's length.

"Wait…Amber, just wait." Now the guilt was sinking in.

She said nothing, but looked at him strangely, inspecting his face. Blinking, she raised her hand. The fingertips touched his cheek lightly, leaving feathery tickles vibrating across his skin. Bringing her fingers down his face, Amber examined the way his face felt, tracing a path from his cheek to his lips.

Slowly, Garrett could see the cloudiness from before withdraw. The bliss from earlier was dissolving into shock.

"No…" whispered Amber, finally realizing that this was actually happening. This wasn't a dream, apparently.

It wasn't right. None of this was right.

Oh, he was a damned idiot!

Amber sniffed. Her eyes were wide and glossy now, brimming with water.

"Oh, no, Amber, it's—," He watched one diamond fall from her eyes, glimmering in the low light of the patient room. Another crystal teardrop fell. After a few seconds, even more tears were rolling down her tan cheeks. Whimpers, soft ones, were coming from the back of her throat.

No, this was entirely his fault. He shouldn't have given in. Maybe if he hadn't been so eager to respond to her in such a vulnerable state, this wouldn't have happened.

"I'm sorry…"

Without looking her in the eyes, he rose from his seat and turned to leave. Every inch of him was dripping guilt and dissatisfaction. Now that he thought about it, it was stupid of him to have waited by her bedside. As Garrett departed, his footsteps left cracks on her already broken heart.

...

Dr. Ravensdale stood over a glowing blue mass the shape of a brain. It was sitting on a large, metallic lazy susan—fresh off the assembly line. He had goggles on, and his gloved hands were primed to pick up the precious object. The only thing left to complete this finished positronic brain was an AI crystal.

For months had worked with prototypes. The results had been astounding. Even better than they had projected, actually. Now, all that was left to do was to install the OS into the brain and install the crystal, not quite in that order. It had to be blank, for what they were working on.

He had just installed the crystal when Dr. Lee-Young stumbled in with death looming over his entire being. The Korean-Japanese man was so sallow that someone could have mistaken him for a walking corpse.

"Handel…put down the brain and fire up the inscriber…" said Shawn, panting. He had ran here, from the looks of his disheveled clothes and lack of labcoat.

"What's wrong?" said Handel, who had holding the brain, placed it back onto the lazy susan. It was bound to be bad news. That look—that despairing look that Shawn was giving him was evidence enough.

Shaking his head, Dr. Lee-Young looked like he was about to cry.

"They fell off a cliff."

Handel's eyes widened. 'They'? The way his friend said it, the way he looked…

"Amber's in surgery—her legs were…never mind that. It's Garrett. He's in a cryogenics tube, being shipped here as we speak."

Dr. Ravensdale saw his friend's mouth move, but the words were sounding so far away.

"You mean he's—oh God…"

"Not yet, no, but he's on the edge," said Shawn. His eyes were steely—hardened with determination. "He's on the edge, but we can save him."

You rocked me to sleep that night

But it was only a dream

We never could cross that line

Our ledger was squeaky clean

But sometimes I have dreams of

When you did love me

You held me close when I cried

Although I said it was my desire

I woke up and continued to cry

Remembering the dream

Of when we became one and you loved me

Roughly, Roughly