The Universe Will Die Without You

by The-EverLasting-Ash

It’s so different without you... sometimes it’s frightening. AU JeffxNess, JeffxTony, Other pairings in the future. Novelized version of Jeff's point of view in the game. Not completely canon, Paula's 8 yrs old. Dark themes Shonen-Ai/slash

22. The Sound Stone

A/N: Thanks to DanMat6288, Shiro and Fubuki, Red, Konoha's Kage, Lea, and Dream for reviewing chapter 21!

To be honest, this is the first time I actually had to think, hard as I was writing. It was weird because while I had plans for this chapter, they kept changing because I wanted something I could be decently proud of. I was so excited about how this chapter was originally going to end, but as I wrote it, I was having a hard time focusing on how important it had to be in order to get to that special point. (My ideas didn't seem to sum up to that at first) I kinda felt like I was losing my touch in the process of this chapter. So I kept looking though it, thinking what could I add to make this chapter so much better that I could at least be proud enough to put it up? I learned, again, that I can't really seem to force my dull ideas to work, if one doesn't seem to work well enough, I have to change it. That's exactly what happened with this chapter. Another problem I was having was that, I knew how things would go emotionally through this part in the story but what and how was my big problem. Like originally I wanted someone to get stuck, but how? I wanted to get this chapter done before I have to go back to my last stretch of school work (I get out Dec. 9th wooooot!) So as an end result, this chapter doesn't end the way I had originally planned it to. But in actuality, I'm extremely pleased as to how this one turned out. I can't say exactly why, but I guess in that sense alone, this chapter means a lot to me. I hope I didn't screw anything up DX

Also, I want to thank/apologize to a good friend and reviewer of mine, Dreaminginferno for putting up with my writers block. I kept texting her every time I had different ideas, but I couldn't tell her any of them… ;A; And just thanks for being a trooper and encouraging me to keep writing especially and helping me think things through. xD

Anyways, enjoy this new chapter hopefully x)

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Sometime, 199X,

Tuesdays were my days at the park. Mother would always bring something to read while you were by her side, Picky; and while I loved going to the park to wander around aimlessly while daydreaming, something peculiar started happening there.

I didn't know when I started paying attention to this, but for the past few weeks, I started to spot a lonely man, sitting in the same spot under the same tree on a hill top overlooking not only the park but the school that was nearby as well. At first glance, he looked homeless, which could have been possible at the time. His shoulder length dark-dark hair draping lazily around his face made him look like a lonelier figure. And you could see the faint facial hair growing back on his chin and his lips as he would deepen his frown.

All he would do was stare out into the distance, aimlessly and depressed. No one even spoke to him.

I've seen a dog visit him once, and at first I thought he ignored the dog, but as it nosed his hand, he was a bit startled out of his reverie. I was astounded how long it took him to register the dog before his eyes, as he would slowly bring his hand to the dogs head and stroke behind its ears. I had been passing along at the time as I saw this.

And for some reason, when his eyes seemed to meet mine, I became afraid. Afraid of something I couldn't understand. And as I looked away, I ran away from him.

Though nonetheless, when I looked back to him in the distance, he was back to being alone again, staring off like he always did.

For some reason, I wanted to say hi. So I decided, the next Tuesday, I would. And so I did.

Heart stammering slightly, I was intimidated by his presence as I walked up to him on that hill top. Up close, he really did look weak and frail. His black jacket was old, dirty and reeked of a stale stench. His red and black stripped hole-infested shirt didn't help lighten up his appearance either. But despite all that, he seemed decently young, at least sometime in his early thirties…

At first he didn't even notice me. I had to say hi, louder than I had wanted to. And with that he finally looked towards me.

Right then I felt afraid again… why did I feel this way? Picky, that's something I'm still trying to figure out as I write this before heading off by myself, I hope I find out soon.

Anyways, he was slightly cross eyed when he looked at me with those dark gray eyes of his. You could just see the bags under them sinking to the ground. Before I might have wanted, he looked away again. He said absolutely nothing.

God, there's so much I need to tell you about this particular man… I feel as if I'll meet him again someday. I hope you never do. Shit, dad is calling me, so I have to close this one up. My handwriting is becoming shakier.

"… reminds me of something I think I'm happy to forget…" I heard his voice mumble behind me as I walked away.

I feel as if this very man is hunting me down.

I seriously think this man is out to kill me.

…He's out to kill me.

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The Universe Will Die Without You

Chapter 22 The Sound Stone

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Neither of us spoke a word as we continued our way through down town Fourside. I had tagged along behind Ness, who had looked seemingly lost and possibly shattered. And instead of feeling either mad or apathetic towards him, I was rather panicked, in an apologetic way. I wanted to tell him I was sorry.

As we stood on a block corner, waiting for the walk signal to appear, I glanced over to Ness, whom was looking slightly away from me into the distance, as he almost swayed back and forth. I was starting to become suspicious. Ever since I fell unconscious and that Kato had started traveling with us, he's been acting... stressed? Tired? A cough escaped his lips. I frowned.

Nonetheless his voice was starting to sound more and more hoarse than usual.

I didn't know how to approach him then, so I kept myself away and distant. Maybe he'd get over it? My mind wandered back to that very awkward moment.

Why did she kiss me anyways? Did she think that it would make her feel better? Or did she do it for a reason I didn't understand? I didn't know, but the feeling of her cherry chap stick pressured against my own chipped lips lingered. I wasn't sure if I liked the feeling of it or not; the after taste had finally started to fade but not in my memories. My stomach was flopping uncomfortably as we started walking across the street. As I spotted the wave of people that approached us, I didn't know why, but I braced myself as we descended through the crowd, as I felt someone roughly bump shoulders with me. My glasses fell crooked as I stumbled slightly, almost tripping over the curb. Ness looked back at me, eyes dull and uncaring as to how I felt. I didn't know why but I took the moment to look back at him.

I think neither of us cared how the passerby's looked at us like we were crazy as we stared at each other. Ness's frown eventually deepened, as he brought a hand to his nose before turning his back to continue on. I cocked my head at him. Now he was just plain depressed… I thought.

After I truly thought that we were going to be silent with each other for the next week, he actually croaked something quietly.

"I'm sorry…" My eyebrow perked up.

"What?" Ness was silent after that.

"… It hurts to speak right now…" He managed to say. I finally walked up beside him, glancing over, even though he turned his head away from me again. Why was he doing that still?

"Maybe you need more rest than all of us… take it easy for tonight, ok?" I asked. Ness was unresponsive. I sighed through my nose. "If I may ask… where's Paula and…" Ness coughed.

"They told me they'd meet us at the hotel," He replied. My mouth curved down. If he let Kato and Paula off by themselves… then did that mean…?

"Do you trust him? You don't have to speak it, a head nod is good enough," I told him. Ness took a moment before he nodded yes. I kinda frowned at this. He couldn't possibly trust him more than he trusted me, right?

"… I don't hate you, Jeff, ok? Just… never mind," He started. My mouth curved down.

"Never mind?" I said.

"Yeah."

…

"What the hell does that mean?" I asked. Ness seemed to flinch slightly.

"I don't know…" I furrowed my eyebrows.

"Ness, it's a simple yes or no question, do you trust me or do you not?" I asked, aware that my voice was starting to rise. Ness bit his lip. I think from that gesture, I kind of startled him. So I backed off slightly.

"I remember what you said on the bus a while back that you weren't sure. But it's been like what? It was a while back," I said. However, Ness looked down and frowned. I sucked my lips in.

"You saw, didn't you?"

"…Yeah…" I sighed.

"Great. Just great. Just forget what you saw, and we'll continue on, won't we?" I told him, starting to take the lead. However, about five more steps I looked back, to find Ness standing still, just staring at me.

Staring back with this pained look on his face. Something tugged at my heart strings. I cocked my head.

"Ness, I really don't feel like fighting. It wasn't intentional, just know that, ok?" I spoke softer than usual. However, Ness's lips parted slightly.

"That's all you can tell me?" Ness asked. I wanted to growl in frustration.

"Ness… Remember when I told you something that no one else knows before? What else could you possibly want to hear from me?" I said, emphasizing my point. Ness again said nothing, as he kept staring at me, eyes open but almost dazed as his body would slowly sway back and forth. It started to make me wonder though… what exactly did he want to hear from me? To be honest, I wasn't sure if this conversation was going to go into any logical sense whatsoever. But as soon as I saw a motorcycle speeding up in the distance behind Ness, it soon didn't matter as it honked its horn, speeding up on the side walk. Apparently Ness's senses weren't clicking in. My eyes widened as the motor cycle approached us quickly. There was only one thing that went through my mind right then.

I think the realization finally clicked into Ness as I practically lunged myself towards him, quickly grabbing his entire torso with my arms to fling ourselves against the wall, just in time, getting out of the motorcycle's path. It zoomed by, the passenger laughing hysterically. Asshole.

Ness exhaled as we were in an awkward pause; arm slung across Ness's chest like a seat belt. Random people looking at us from afar. It had finally dawned on me that I had practically pinned Ness under part of my body weight against the brick wall. When Ness finally looked up at me with slightly flushed cheeks, I backed away. But Ness still stayed in the same position. His eyes still looked confused.

"Jeff? … What just happened? Did we… did you-"

"Look Ness, I don't know. We probably weren't going to get hit… but I couldn't not… you know! It's the same thing with Venus!" I told him, before turning around to put a hand on my forehead.

"Hey, are you two alright?" Someone asked us.

"Yeah… we're fine, thanks" Ness said before coughing. I flinched slightly.

"Ness, let's go to the hotel right away. Get a hold of Paula and Kato so you can go to bed and rest. Your coughing is worrying me…" I told him. Ness finally frowned.

"Oh… now you're worried," Ness said to me in an awkward tone. I furrowed my eyebrows. By this time, the guy had left.

"I've been worried about you since you've been coughing like crazy. You weren't like this before Kato joined-"

"Stop blaming him! You don't get along with new people period! Just give him a chance!" Ness said.

"Why should I?!" I asked. Ness looked enraged.

"Because I told you to!" Ness replied. "Besides… uhhh… why did you…" Ness cleared his throat. What?

"Ness… you're making no sense right now. Let's just go to the hotel and go get some rest," I said. "I don't want you getting sick." Ness's cheeks were blown out as if he wanted to protest but he didn't seem to object otherwise.

After the next block, Ness cocked his head at me.

"… Did you save me for the same reason that you saved Venus?" He asked in an awkward voice. I frowned.

"What?" I asked. "What do you mean by that? You could have easily dodged that." Ness bit his lip.

"… I don't know…" I frowned at this.

"Well Ness, I don't know either. All I know was that I just didn't want either of you hurt, nonetheless killed. Isn't that a good enough response?"

"I… guess so." I shook my head.

We were deadly silent on the way back after that.

---

As we entered the hotel, Paula and Kato were both casually hanging out in the lobby. And as soon as Paula spotted the two of us, she got up to greet us.

"Hey there you two are… what happened? You two seem quiet…" She said. Neither of us really said anything as we both glanced opposite ways. Kato walked up to us but he said nothing. My eyes slightly looked over to Ness, whom was rubbing his nose.

"Oh nothing, we were just… just got caught up in the evening crowd of traffic, that's all…" Ness said as if everything was jolly well. I sighed. There was a small pause until Paula lightly clapped her hands together.

"Alright. So who's sleeping with who tonight?" Paula asked. It was right then that everyone glanced at each other awkwardly. Oh god I thought… I looked up to Kato, whom had his eyes closed. I bit my lip as Ness sighed.

"Yeah… Paula? Why don't you and Jeff share the king sized bedroom tonight? Kato and I will be fine… we'll figure something out," Ness said, rubbing the back of his neck, closing his eyes as he brought his arm to caress his nose again. Paula cocked her head.

"You sure that's ok Ness?" She asked. Ness seemed to turn a cold shoulder against me, but shivered in the process.

"Yeah, positive. I'm exhausted so let's go to bed now…" He said; signaling Kato to go with him to their room as he took the key from Paula and handed her the king sized key. Ness turned to look at me and then looked away quickly.

"Good night Jeff…" He said before coughing as he and Kato walked away, Kato looking at me with a strange expression. Both Paula and I watched them ascend up the stairs.

"Jeff, what happened?" Paula asked. I bit my lip, as I scratched the back of my neck. I sighed.

"I don't know Paula… I really don't know."

---

Everything awkward had gone up to a whole different level, I thought as we finally settled into our rooms. Paula and I entered the king sized bedroom while Ness and Kato were somehow going to figure something out about their twin sized room. Somehow the more I thought of that, the more guilty I felt as I set my things down on my side of the bed. I looked towards the bathroom, in which had been occupied by Paula. I sighed.

At least it's just the two of us, which meant there wouldn't be much drama, I thought. I started to think about Ness again.

He's really acting strange right now… I thought. Not overly upset or moody but just… weird. He didn't seem like himself, I thought, thinking back to what had just happened. I felt my stomach flop uncomfortably.

… Was it really my fault? I was starting to wonder how and if he was affected by that kiss… I was glad we didn't go in depth in that subject but…

"Did you save me for the same reason that you saved Venus?" What did he mean by that? I barely saved him; it was easily dodge-able. He wouldn't' have made sure I would have pushed him out of the way on purpose… would he? But as soon as I thought of that, Paula exited out of the bathroom, dressed in her pink plaid pajamas holding Mr. Ziggy in her arms.

"Do you need to take a bath too, Jeff?" Paula asked. I shook my head, going through my stuff.

"Naahh, take your time Paula," I replied. Paula nodded as she put Mr. Ziggy on the floor before going back into the bathroom. I looked over to Mr. Ziggy, whom was looking at me almost cross eyed. I raised an eyebrow at him as he cocked his head towards me… how did he do that?

As soon as I spotted my small suitcase, I almost felt something lift off my shoulders. And as much as I wanted to smile, I didn't, but I grabbed the suitcase and rubbed my fingers along its black leathery skin. I wondered if I was going to be using this baby anytime soon? I set the suitcase down as I did the same with my bag, all before some of the contents started falling out of it. I rolled my eyes, bringing my hands down to put my things back, before my hand reached a certain small paper booklet… I bit my lip when I realized what it was.

I opened the booklet, and surely I was looking at fine cursive handwriting with small equations and hand drawn diagrams scribbled on each of the pages, the top entitled "Sky Walker Project." I had forgotten that I had picked up da-… I mean Dr. Andonut's notes as well…

I could have all the answers to everything right here as well, I thought. For some reason, I felt like hiding my bag behind my suitcase, fearing that someone might dig into my bag to find the other small handwritten booklet I had been carrying around without permission. God I felt so sneaky…

I sat on the edge of our bed, quickly forgetting about what happened, just flipping through the pages for a sign… anything that could have been a clue… a sign.

…

For some reason, when the bathroom door opened, I jumped suddenly, quickly putting the small booklet under my pillow. When I looked up again, Paula was giving me this blank stare, as if she suspected something.

"… Are you alright?" She asked.

"Yes-yes, I'm fine! It's just that was quick! Ehheh… I'm not doing anything… weird, haha-ha…" I said, rubbing the back of my neck, gulping. Paula took a moment to study me. Shit, I forgot she could read my mind, I thought. But instead she just smiled and giggled.

"You're really funny when you freak out… don't do it so much, Ness will get over whatever happened," She smiled. "Let's just get some sleep now." I frowned slightly as she picked up Mr. Ziggy and crawled in right beside me. Paula yawned before pulling up the covers to her chin. But before she turned the light out, she looked up at me, noticing my awkward state.

"Jeff, what's wrong? Aren't you happy you aren't sleeping in the hospital tonight? And if what happened at the theater is bothering you too much… it's ok, you did what you had to do. I can't judge you for that," She told me. I looked over to her and smiled little, but then I sighed, bringing my hands together on my lap as I pulled my covers up.

"Besides, don't you want to brush your teeth… or anything?" She asked. I hummed.

"Not really…" I replied.

"…Eww." I took my glasses off and set them on my night stand before rubbing my eyes. And then for a moment, there was complete silence between the two of us.

"So what happened?" She asked. I sighed.

"Yeah… it really freaked me out. That whole Venus deal… she made it worse when I went back to get my stuff. Look… I don't really want to talk about what happened, but let's just say she did something I didn't expect her to…" Paula cocked her head.

"What could she have done? Kiss you?" She said. And as she said that, my head lowered.

"Oh… oh wow, she kissed you?" She asked. I was unresponsive for a moment but I finally nodded. Paula formed a "wow" on her lips.

"I have a feeling though… she did it in a way that wasn't supposed to be sexually advantaging to you," She said. I frowned.

"What do you know about… you're like what? Eight-nine years old? How do you know so much?" I asked her. Paula had an apathetic look on her.

"Uhhh… I had a good pre-school teacher? I don't know," She said. I snorted.

"Well… I think Ness saw… it…" I drew my knees to my chest at the uncomfortable confession. "I didn't know he returned to find me…" I muttered. Paula seemed to observe me slightly.

"Yeah, he told us he wanted to make sure you didn't get into any trouble, so he went to go find you, even though you had just left," She replied. I frowned, resting my chin on my knees.

"Well… I really wish he hadn't come looking for me… I really didn't need him seeing that… just wrecks our friendship even more…" I barely mumbled the last part of that sentence, feeling my insides constricting. After a minute of pause, Paula had entered an untouched topic. She almost had a devilish smile upon her cheery face.

"Jeff, you've been hiding this for a long time now, you know that right?" She asked. My eyebrows perked up immediately.

"Wh-what?" I asked. She didn't seriously think… Paula giggled. I could feel my cheeks redden.

"What? I have no idea what you mean," I grumbled, crossing my arms. She giggled harder then. My jaw dropped slightly. She sighed.

"Cummon Jeff, just admit it already, you can't hide it from me anyways. Besides, I really think it's cute," She said. My face must have turned magenta then.

"That I- WHAT? That I…" My lip twitched slightly. I could tell, even without my glasses on that she narrowed her eyes at me and smiled. Oh god…

"So when did you start thinking of him like this anyways?" She finally said. I sighed uncomfortably.

"God damn it…" I muttered grumpily, flushing like crazy into my knees. Paula hummed.

"If it makes you uncomfortable… we can drop it if you want-" I shook my head, closing my eyes.

"No… s'fine," I sighed. "I'm just… I shouldn't be shocked that you saw right through me, you always do…" I said, leaning back on the bed rest.

"Yeah… you should be careful, just in case if I ever learn all of your secrets," She added. My heart skipped a beat right then. I drew my knees to my chest again, resting my chin on them and closing my eyes.

"So…? When did you start thinking of Ness like this?" She asked. I grumbled.

"Ahhh… I don't know Paula… Maybe when I told him something personal to me… he didn't freak out like I thought he would…" I replied becoming quieter at the tail end of that sentence.

"What did he do?" She asked. Did she really have to ask for all the details?

"I don't know… he hugged me. Made me feel pathetic like I do now, but it made me feel much better. And I don't know… all of this happened while you were with Monotoli, you know that right?" I asked. Paula nodded smiling. I knew she wanted to hear more. I sighed.

"This was when I had to take Ness to the hospital you know? When he got really hurt from that… thing. And after I told him about… something and he hugged me, I got him flowers. Gahh I don't know Paula… I gave him the flowers and…"

"Aaand?" I hid my apple red cheeks into my knees.

"Cute… Ness was cute when he smiled, okay…?" I mumbled angrily. Paula let off an "aww" which embarrassed me further.

"Well… it doesn't really matter; I keep screwing our friendship up…" I said, scratching my head. By the way… you don't think it's strange?" I asked.

"Strange? You love who you love," She smiled. I bit my lip.

"I can't say it's love Paula… it's just a stupid little crush I have… it'll fade off eventually," I replied. "Besides, I feel it fading already… which is a good thing…" Paula hummed at me again. She almost sounded disappointed.

"I dunno, you seem really protective of him at times," She said. I frowned.

"Like when?" I asked. Paula stroked Mr. Ziggy's head.

"Well especially when we were at that hostel, remember? You wouldn't let Demetri get away with what he was doing… and I heard from Ness you went to Pokey to question him about his motives. I dunno if it's just me, but it seems like you really don't want anyone else with dirty fingers touching Ness in any way…" I buried my face again.

"That was before you got kidnapped… and after. But I was being protective of you too Paula, they had their eyes on both of you…" I said. She smiled. I sighed.

"So... will you ever ask him out or anything?" She asked. My eyebrow shot up.

"Now what makes you think that I even have the option and time for that?" I asked.

"Haha… why so negative? What kind of signs have you gotten from him? How far have you gotten?" She asked. I pondered this for a good minute.

"Well… I've definitely made him to where he can't speak proper English to me anymore… is that a bad thing?" I asked. Paula laughed.

"Probably not. Ness doesn't know what he's talking about sixty percent of the time," She replied. I couldn't help but chuckle at this.

"Haha…" The next thing that came to my mind was the moment in his bedroom. And as soon as the memory of that particular moment started making my lips tingle, I shivered slightly. Paula paid very close attention to this.

"Is it something worth telling?" She asked in a very interested voice. I bit my lip.

"Uhhhh…"

"Saaay it," She said. I shivered again.

"I… I think we might have almost… you know," I told her in a quiet voice. Paula gasped slightly. I instantly glanced away from her.

"Really?" Paula said smiling. "When did this happen?" She asked suddenly interested. I kept myself from growling in frustration.

"When we were at his house… the first night we were there… sometime before dinner," I replied. Paula bit her lip.

"You know, it was written all over your face that you had something on Ness when we were in Tracy's room… no wonder Ness was so quiet afterwards…" She said in a more serious tone. I hummed.

"I don't think he trusts me Paula… I can't get him to trust me enough, and it's really bothering me… and I mean as a friend, or even just an entity," I said. Paula cocked her head.

"Do you trust him going out by himself too?" She asked. I kind of opened my eyes more at this. I finally sighed.

"Not really… there's too many people and things out to get him… I don't like seeing people I care about getting hurt." Mr. Ziggy by this time had crawled up to me to plant his nose on my feet.

"Besides, he's always so moody… I can only imagine what he's going through… even though I'm not entirely sure…" I said. "But I mean, he has two loving parent's still waiting for him…" It was around this time that Mr. Ziggy had jumped down off the bed. Paula formed sort of a crooked smile.

"He's a pouty one, isn't he?" She said.

"Well yeah… I mean, I understand that he doesn't want to do any of this and just go home and be babied by his mother all the time… but I dunno. I would have thought that these… sanctuaries would make him a stronger person. They only seem to be making him weaker… at least to me…" I said. Paula looked as if she wanted to protest to this, but she held it back and found a calmer approach.

"I think what's happening with him is that, each step closer we make, the more it dawns on him that he's doing this for… pretty much everything. And we're practically doing the same thing. Have you even thought of that yet? Just look around you," She told me. And so I did.

"This entire world… maybe the state of being will be destroyed, who knows. We don't even know… all we know is that something will happen and we're the only ones that can stop it so far…" She said. I sighed.

"Why do we know so little? We need to know more about what we're facing… all I know so far is that there a thing called Giygas and that puke-face Pokey is working for him basically…" I replied. I closed my eyes.

"I wonder if Ness knows more than us… or more than he think he knows…?" I asked.

"He probably does to some extent. We can't let Ness give up on himself though, we need to push forward, and we can't leave anyone behind, especially Ness," Paula said. I frowned to myself.

"Paula… why do I keep wrecking our friendship? It's hard enough for me to communicate to him… I don't even know if he even wants me around anymore…" I said.

"What? Of course he still wants you around! Jeff, Ness cares for you a lot. More than you think actually," She said. I frowned.

"Really? Why don't I believe you?" I asked. She hummed.

"When you were unconscious the previous night, Ness was pretty scared... he kept saying sorry Jeff," She said. I raised my head.

"He… kept saying sorry? Sorry for what?" I asked.

"Believe it or not, I kind of hear the exact same stuff from Ness… especially through telepathy. You both worry about if the other hates you two or not," She laughed. I raised an eyebrow. It was right then that we both heard a big belated sneeze coming from my side of the bed. The both of us jumped slightly, as I peered over my bed to look down.

Sure enough, Mr. Ziggy was nosing around in my stuff. I put my glasses on to clear up my vision and as I could see again, the little Mr. Saturn looked up to me in a guilty fashion. I eyed my bag as my eyebrows perked up slightly. Poking out of my bag was Ness's yo-yo, which I had held onto… to fix. Why exactly did I want to do that again? I guess it was obvious why now… I reached down and picked it up, as one of its sides popped off and fell to the ground. And before I could reach it, Paula had picked it up herself.

"Is this yours?" Paula asked me. I bit my lip as I received the yo-yo from her. When my eyes averted from hers towards the ground she read my mind.

"It's Ness's yo-yo, isn't it?" She tried not giggling. I blew out my cheeks.

"Well… it was broken on his floor! I thought maybe… he'd like it fixed or something. It's not like a, 'Hey Ness, I fixed your yo-yo, let's go make-out or something' kind of thing… I just… you know!" I felt my cheeks go hot again. Paula laughed, I bet at me. I crossed my arms and pouted.

"Why is that funny to you? Both you and Ness laugh whenever I get pouty you know that?" I asked. She snorted, all until she gasped.

"Fix it now! Right now, I'll help you!" She said, jumping to conclusions as she picked up my bag for me. I was so happy nothing fell out as she dug out my small red tool box and plopped it on our bed. My eyebrow perked up.

"Why now?" I asked.

"Why not now?" She exclaimed with a big grin on her face. "Besides… I'm sure Ness wouldn't mind if you fixed it now," She said in a suggestive tone. God I must have looked like a tomato to her by now.

"Shut uuup…" I growled, hiding my face under my palms as she laughed at me. I snorted.

"Hmmm fine… but if he hates me more for it, I'm blaming you," I told her. She cocked her head.

"Why would he hate you for fixing something of his?" She asked. I sighed.

"It wouldn't be about the fixing… it would be the fact that I took one of his belongings without his permission…" She rolled her eyes.

"Trust me Jeff… he'll appreciate this, I promise." I scratched my head.

"Humph… okay, I guess we should get this done before it's too late… we need to sleep too," I said.

Paula had the biggest, cheesiest grin I had ever seen on her face that night…

---

About an hour later, Paula, rather than help me really was fiddling with Mr. Ziggy's bow as she lied on her stomach at the foot of the bed. I was still silently fiddling with the damn thing, even though I had finally figured out how to fix it.

"So Jeff? What do you think of Kato so far?" She asked me.

"Hmmm… don't trust him, don't think I will anytime soon," I replied simply. Paula 'awwed.'

"I'm sure he isn't that bad… he's probably just not your kind of person I guess," She replied. "But he's here to help us, remember that."

"Hmph, he should tell us that his real name is Poo rather than Kato," I said, still fiddling with my tools and the yo-yo.

"Maybe he's shy of his real name? Besides… isn't that the name of a prince?" She asked. I snorted.

"Poo? A prince? Please… who would name a prince Poo?" I asked. Paula shook her head.

"Well, maybe in his culture it means something more royal…" Both of us were silent for a moment, thinking about the possibilities, all until Paula slightly snickered.

"See how silly it is? Besides… even if it did mean something better, why would he want us to call himself Kato instead?" I asked.

"Hmm… I don't know, maybe since he's not in charge of us or anything, he wants us to call himself a name that has less status than his real name. Some languages are like that kinda…" I rolled my eyes.

"I dunno… I think this Kato guy is all an act… I'm just waiting for him to snap someday… besides, he's the one that helped me get into the hospital faster-"

"Yes, but he's also the one that prevented you from drowning," She replied. I pondered this slightly.

"… If you had fallen, you could have been killed…" Ness spoke into my mind. It finally clicked to my brain… the feeling of water surrounding and consuming me. I shivered violently.

"Oh god, I nearly forgot they build bridges to cross deep water..." I shivered, grabbing my shoulders. Paula frowned slightly.

"Don't go hating him just yet… be thankful he was there. Even if he's kind of quiet right now, he did save you," She said. I shook my head, picking back up where I left off.

"Hey Paula?" I asked.

"Yeah?"

"… Why do you think Kato has one black eye and one white eye? It's been bugging me ever since I saw him that night…" I said, thinking back to the white eye and the black pupil, almost like the eye of an eagle.

"Hmmm when I look into that left eye, I see energy and strength… I don't think he was born like Ness and I but rather… he forced the concept of PSI into his body instead… that's what I see," She replied.

"Huh… so you're saying that he was capable of learning PSI? I thought you had to be born with it… makes me wonder if I should have learned it myself," I said, as I finally fastened the other half of the yo-yo.

"We all have our strengths and weaknesses. I bet you can do things that none of us can do, Jeff. Like… I couldn't fix that yo-yo, I would have ended up buying myself a new one," She said. I frowned.

"I know technically he would have been better off getting another one but… I think this one means something personal to him. So it's the least I can do for being a jerk to him for today…" I said. Paula smiled at me.

"That's so sweet of you Jeff. You might act like a stubborn bull at times, but you're really soft underneath those glasses of yours," She smiled. I gulped slightly. My voice hitched slightly.

"Here… try seeing how this works," I told her, handing her the yo-yo. Paula glanced over the red yo-yo before giving it a fling. And to both of our amazement, the yo-yo flung right back up when she told it to. Good as new, I thought.

"Jeff, you did a good job with this, it feels smooth…" She almost said in awe. "One more question… how long would this have originally taken you to fix?" I bit my lip just then, feeling another flush.

"… Probably half of the time I spent…" I replied. Paula smiled at me as she wound the yo-yo back up.

"He'll love this. Make sure to tell him you're sorry, and I'm sure he'll understand," She smiled at me. My face lightened up after she said that, as I received the yo-yo from her.

"Thanks…" I said.

"Now, let's go to sleep," She said, crawling into bed. I yawned.

"Yeah… good idea. Night."

"Night."

---

I had been sitting on the couch, pen and notebook in hand as mom and dad came in, arms holding paper bags of groceries. My dad had been grinning all day that day. I always liked it when he was happy. It meant that everyone else was happy and that it would be a good day. It was around four thirty at the time, and my dad and mom started fixing up the house and preparing food. Was there a party? I finally walked into the kitchen, only until dad shoved right by me.

"Porky, go get dressed into something nicer up there, don't expect to be a part of this party looking like that," Dad grunted. At this time, you were in bed sound asleep Picky, and you were for most of the night.

"Your father scored a huge promotion at his work today, so he's invited all of his workmates- or should I say employees for the big celebration. So go dress into something nice honey, go, go, now! I'm sure you and our next door neighbor's son and you can get along and play in your room for the time being," She told me. Did she mean our new ones? So I was sent upstairs and I got into something that looked 'nice.' It was really uncomfortable though, my 'nicer' clothes were becoming too tight for me.

At that point, I wanted to stay in my room, away from everything. You could tell me if I was afraid or not. But sooner or later, it really didn't matter.

"Porky, get down here! Come meet your next door neighbors!" Dad yelled up the stairs. I shivered slightly. Eventually figuring that it was a better idea to do what I was told, I opened the door to go downstairs.

Immediately I noticed how crowded it had gotten, people a good 2-3 feet higher than me, eating, drinking, talking amongst themselves. I hoped this was the only night; I started to feel unwelcome in the depths of my own house.

"He's just a little shy is all," Mom said. When I finally saw that our next door neighbors were here, along with Ness and his younger sister Tracy, I became shy.

"There, there he is!" My mom said, as she practically dragged me up to bat. I almost immediately looked away from the four of them.

"This is my son Pokey, he's a very sweet boy! I'm sure the three of you will get along just perfectly!" Mom said, very mom like. I looked at both of their parents. They looked very typical, but in a good way. Their father bent down to Ness's level.

"Can you say hi, Ness? He's your next door neighbor, maybe the two of you can play," He cooed in Ness's ear. Their mother did the same with Tracy.

"But dad, I've met Pokey," He replied.

"Oh I see. Well that's good then, maybe the two of you can get to know each other more tonight," He smiled, standing up as he ruffled Ness's black hair. Ness's face scrunched up as his father moved on. However, when Tracy went to follow their mom, so did Ness.

When figuring out that my mom had left herself, I looked around me at the multiple people in the living room.

I went back up to my room as soon as I could.

---

As I started to stir from my sleep, the first thing my mind could register were familiar voices, talking in the room, while I could hear the patter of footsteps from higher and lower levels of the hotel. As soon as I could feel something stirring under the covers next to my face, I could feel something smooth and relatively warm touch my nose. In response, I wrinkled mine, grumbling something illegible about Mr. Ziggy, who I was sure had wanted to sneeze on me any moment. I blindly reached over to the night stand next to me to find my glasses. Lying on my back, I applied them onto my face, blinking a couple times, only to yelp in surprise.

Kato, whom was standing right beside my bed, was staring right down at me, with his usual blank but kind of cold stare. A small shiver ran up my spine.

"Wh-what the hell?!" Was all my mind could make my mouth speak. It took a moment, but Kato eventually formed a small smile on his lips, as he chuckled.

"Well good morning to you too," He said in a happy tone. And right before I could say anything, Mr. Ziggy's nose had started to practically rub against my cheek. I gasped slightly.

"Why are you here?" I asked. Kato took one last look at me in the eye, flashing me a small, almost taunting smile.

"To wake you up, why else?" He said before turning away. "Ness, Paula, he's awoken! Might I add, in a very pleasant mood," He snickered slightly. I rolled my eyes, as I kept staring at the ceiling, all until a certain small creature crawled onto my chest and soon enough I was looking up to a giant nose. My eyes widened.

"No-nono, you aren't sneezing on me!" I said, quickly grabbing the creature who flinched wildly in my hands as I held him arms distance facing away from me. Soon enough, he let off a violent sneeze. I ended up accidentally dropping him back on the bed; Mr. Ziggy slightly struggling to get back up.

"Good morning Jeff. It's a good thing you're in a good mood this morning!" Paula smiled, almost hinting me on. Oh god, I forgot about that. I straightened my glasses.

"I need… tea… coffee… but preferably tea," I said, feeling my eyes sag a bit.

"Actually, we were all thinking of going down to the little restaurant in the hotel for some breakfast. We'll all wait out here for you to get ready," She said as Kato held the door open. I yawned.

"Hmmm alright, just give me a moment," I told them as I picked up my bag and walked towards the bathroom door. I paused as I noticed the door was closed for just a moment until it opened, revealing Ness with his yellow and indigo stripped shirt. However he didn't wear his hat. He rubbed his nose before averting his eyes from me. He smiled, almost embarrassingly.

"Morning Jeff, sorry I was your guy's bathroom," He said.

"Naw, it's cool," I said, keeping note of how he looked today. I hated to say it but… did he seem a little pale? He was dressed in his usual attire, but he lacked his hat for some reason.

"Your voice," I said. Ness gave me a skeptical glance.

"Oh, it'll go away soon, it's just a small cough," He smiled as he got out of my way. I kind of frowned. Does he really not notice how unhealthy he's sounding lately? I thought.

"Well if you say so…" I replied unsure, closing the door behind me.

I decided to wear my black tie like a regular tie around my neck rather than a bow tie. I was getting sick of tying the thing around my neck, why was I even wearing it still? I sighed, looking at myself in the mirror, not really expecting much. I wondered what would happen today? I could only assume we'd go to the museum if anything. For some reason, I rubbed my freckled nose at the nook to my forehead. And when I looked down, I spotted a small gray rock. I raised an eyebrow. Why would there be a rock in the bathroom? As soon as I thought about putting the rock in my pocket to throw out later, there was a set of quick knocking at the door. I frowned raising my eyebrows as I opened the door.

Ness's worried face greeted me as he did a gesture with his hands.

"Jeff, have you seen my sound stone? It looks like just an ordinary rock-" I held out the rock to him. I watched as Ness's shoulders dropped three whole inches as he sighed.

"Oh good, thank you…" He said, bringing the rock to his forehead while closing his eyes as he started to walk out of the room.

"You almost ready Jeff?"

"Yeah, almost," I said, ruffling my hair as I straightened my glasses one last time before I exited the hotel room.

---

When we all traveled down to the small restaurant down below, it was more like a small café than a restaurant, and it didn't seem as formal as I thought it would be. We ended up with a round table next to a round window. Ness decided to quickly claim the seat next to the window while I waited for someone else to go in, but then Paula had offered the next seat to me. So I obliged to the offer and scooted next to Ness while Paula took the seat next to me. I guess she didn't want me to worry about sitting next to Kato… or something. The waitress came by with the menu and got our drink orders, all the while flashing each of us curious looks, especially towards Kato.

"Just water for me please," Kato told the waitress calmly and politely.

"May I have some orange juice please?" Paula asked as the waitress nodded and smiled. Then her eyes met mine.

"Ummm, some chamomile tea would be great, thank you," I told her. And as she looked towards Ness, Ness was already making weird tears into his napkin.

"Can I have a pepsi, please?" He asked in his scratchy voice. I raised an eyebrow and objected before she could write it down.

"Ness, you need to build up some strength, soda does nothing for you. Get something else like juice or milk," I told him. Ness simply closed his eyes.

"Well I don't want juice or milk, I want a soda," He replied. I sighed.

"Get him an orange juice please," I told the waitress as she nodded.

"I'll get those drinks up right away," She said as she walked away. Ness's jaw dropped slightly.

"Jeeeff, why did you do that?" He asked slightly annoyed. Before I could explain myself, Paula butted in.

"Ness, be healthier with your food and drink choices. You need to build your strength for today, that's what Jeff's point is," She smiled to Ness. I mumbled, "yeah." Ness let off a stubborn sigh.

"Fine fine… I'm still getting waffles and scrambled eggs," He said, before putting a hand to his chest. Paula thumbed through the menu.

"I think I'm going to get some oatmeal and a bowl of fruit," She said. I sighed.

"Hmmm… bagel sandwich sounds good to me right now… and a muffin," I said.

"What are you getting, Kato?" Paula asked. Kato closed his eyes and breathed in.

"Water," He replied, smiling. Paula frowned.

"What? No, you have to be hungry from traveling, get something…" Paula said. Kato hummed.

"My colon can't handle your culture's food, it's impossible. Though I could use some fruit…" He said, scratching his chin.

"At least you eat fruit in your culture, right…?" Paula asked. Kato smiled.

"As long as there's no preservatives, I'm fine," He said. I snorted slightly.

"Is there anything you would like to add, Jeff?" Kato asked.

"Aha, no, I'm cool with that," I told him honestly. Kato nodded.

"Very well then," He said, nodding. As we finally got our drinks, and as the lady left, Paula took a sip of her orange juice.

"So… what are we doing today?" She asked Ness, whom was just stirring his orange juice with his straw disappointed.

"I wanna know what's at that museum, remember? Besides, I think there's another sanctuary nearby, remember?" Ness said, as he looked to me.

"That's… why you said you felt safe there, right?" I asked him, sipping my tea. Ness nodded. I didn't know if Paula and Kato caught onto what we meant but soon after we received our food. That was rather quick, I thought.

"Enjoy your breakfast you four," She smiled, walking away. I checked the clock, which had read ten thirty am, as I took a bite out of my cinnamon covered banana nut muffin.

It was relatively quiet amongst us as we nibbled on our food, and as I took another bite of my pretty decent sandwich, a twinge of guilt arose in me realizing that yet again this was technically a free meal. Just where did Ness keep getting all this money from anyways? Kato spent his time slowly chewing one of the grapes on the table, and I could have sworn his face showed a hint of disgust. I wondered why? Could he really not handle our culture's food? I took one last sip of my tea before the waitress came back with the bill. Ness told her thanks as he took his orange juice to drink it.

"So… whenever you guys are ready, we shoul-" He was cut off by his own coughing and hacking right then. All three of us looked at him with concern as he kept coughing. Kato immediately handed him his water as I stopped the waitress.

"I'm sorry, could you get us some hot water and honey, please?" I told her as I wanted to pat Ness's back. However, I pulled back as Ness practically swatted my hand away.

"Don't touch me!-" He managed to say before he started choking again. I listened, but I looked at him, while frowning. And as the waitress came back with the hot water and took the bill back, I handed the water to Ness.

"Drink this, it should clear up your throat more," I told him as I handed him the hot mug. Ness obliged, but flinched slightly, probably from the feeling of hot water touching his lips. I looked at him feeling sorta bad. But soon enough he put the mug down sighing.

"Well… that was interesting…" He said.

"Did it help at all?" Paula asked. Ness took a moment to clear his throat.

"I don't know… maybe," He replied. Kato was still silent.

"But never mind that, we should get going," Ness said standing up. Paula and I stood up but in a different fashion.

"Are you sure? Do you even feel up to it?" Paula asked him. Ness snorted.

"What? Of course I am! I'm not going to let some stupid little cold get in my way," Ness said as he pushed his chair in. I shook my head.

"Don't force yourself, Ness, your breathing has been awfully labored lately," I told him. Ness frowned.

"Why would I do that?" He asked. I shrugged.

"I know you're excited about getting to the sanctuary today, but I'm just saying don't overdo it," I told him. He cocked his head, furrowing his eyebrows at me.

"Fine fine, I won't," He said, rolling his eyes. I frowned at him. You better not, I thought.

"So… shall we get going then?" Kato said. I wanted to object, but then Ness spoke up.

"Ummm… yeah, I have the signature from Venus, let's go…" He said, voice trailing off slightly.

So we went back to our rooms, grabbed what we needed and then headed off to the museum.

---

I didn't like the fact that we were relatively quiet on the way there. Even though it was really easy for me to handle such quietness, it was just way too quiet for my liking and the fact that we were off to do possibly more fighting was irritating… not for me personally. I was really happy though that I could finally carry my new beloved 'hyper beam' with me. I kind of smiled at that thought.

I had the sinking feeling that Ness wanted to avoid me today as much as possible, which I guess was a good thing, from what happened the previous night. I immediately scratched my forehead, trying to hide and get rid of my slight blush. When Paula looked up at me, I quickly glanced away. And instead, I just decided to lay my eyes on Kato's back. I frowned slightly…

God, everything has just been so awkward since he's joined along… I thought.

Eventually, we ended up at the intersection where the museum was; all we had to do was cross the street. As we waited, horse carrier passed us by, which had drawn Ness and Paula's attention. And as it attracted my own, my eyes somehow ended up looking to the opposite side of the street to my left side. Immediately I noticed a man, leaning against the wall. He had a dark gray jacket on and a black t-shirt. I didn't really know what to think of him at first as he was faced to us… until the more I looked at him, the more I realized…

… Was he looking at me? I tilted my head as I stared back at the darker looking man. I recoiled slightly.

His eyes were locked. Right onto my own… But rather than looking serious… why did they look so stunned? I immediately broke eye contact, turning my head towards the museum. Maybe he reacted to my own eyes? I shivered slightly. Surely he just reacted to my own eyesight… right?

"Jeff, hurry before the light switches!" Paula told me, knocking me out of my trance. I quickly looked back, only to find the man to be gone.

"Y-Yeah, coming," I replied. Soon enough we made it to the museum.

---

"I can't believe this museum is more expensive than the one in Summers…" Ness spoke softly before coughing in his arm.

"It's not like it's a huge dent in your money savings, Ness," Paula replied. Ness stuck his hand to his chest again. He was doing that a lot lately… all before he sneezed.

"Bless you," I told him. Ness was unresponsive, but nodded his head at the very least.

"I don't see him anywhere, do you guys?" Kato asked. Paula shook her head.

"Should we split up and find him, and gather clues?" Paula asked the group. Ness shrugged while Kato nodded.

"I'll scan the next room over," Kato said as he made his way.

"Check in that general direction Jeff, please?" Paula asked me. I sighed.

---

After I had checked the two main rooms, I had nearly given up to go find the others, all until I walked into a room filled with ancient artifacts. But rather than finding anyone that I wanted to, I froze in place.

There standing in front of what looked like a bunch of bones was Orange Kid, dressed in his orange turtle neck and white lab like coat with a note book. He seemed focused, scribbling a few notes down as his narrow glasses would shine. He even wore an orange knit hat that had a small stem sticking from the top of it. How cute, I thought sarcastically. Before I could either decide to go walk right up to him and punch him right across the face or walk away, he turned his head and glanced at me, hazel eyes adjusting their sights on me as he adjusted his glasses on his nose.

"Why… hello there, Mr. Andonuts," He said in a calm tone. I kept silent, all the while frowning at him. He tilted his head.

"What? Surprised to see me? We've only met twice," He spoke. So he did know we were at Paula's house, I thought. I wasn't expecting my voice to be as cold as it came out to be.

"Wh… what are you doing?" I asked. He chuckled.

"Just some research Andonuts, what else?" He smiled. I furrowed my eyebrows.

"May I ask what you're researching?" I asked. He smiled.

"Sure, why not?" He said, as if he was waiting for some sort of response. I assumed he took my question too literal, just to tease me for it. I rolled my eyes.

"What are you researching?" Orange kid sighed as a couple of girls passed by, laying their eyes on him before they moved on.

"What I've been researching for a while now actually, I'm just trying to find a way to un-boil eggs really. It's basically for fun though," He smiled. I narrowed his eyes at him. Un-boiling eggs? So Paula's dad was serious? If he was doing that, was there any specific reason why he would want to un-boil eggs?

"Don't worry Andonuts, it's not like I'd chase you four down to egg you guys or anything… it's nothing like that," He snickered. I was silent for a moment, deciphering his sentence. Wait…

"You're up to something…" I told him. Orange kid smiled.

"Hmmm?"

"Kato joined us only yesterday. How did you find out it was the four of us now?" I asked. It was interesting, how his expression almost turned into a sneer.

"Well I've seen the four of you in this museum so I could only assume that he was with you three," He said.

"This is the first time I've seen you here today, nonetheless I checked every room twice except for this one… besides I don't care if what you said is true, you're up to something. The fact that you tried confiscating the Sky Runner… that you knew we were in Paula's house without even seeing us… the fact that you're here right now, doing research nonetheless… what are you doing?" I asked. Orange kid sighed, bringing one of his fingers to play with his long red-headed bangs.

"It's not nice of you to accuse you know… hence, what do you know about me?" He asked. I paused.

"Are you… trying to trail the conversation a different way?" I asked. Orange kid finally took this chance to look me straight in the eye.

"What… do you know about me?" He asked, narrowing his eyes and smirking. I crossed my arms.

"Huh… I should ask you the same thing," I replied. Orange kid closed his eyes, leaning back up.

"The answer is, I really don't know. I don't even know if you're really Jeff Andonuts, like you claim you are… but if you are him… I could say I know some things about you, but how do I know they're legit?" He said.

"And I can only assume I can't force the truth on you if you won't accept it," I replied. He chuckled.

"This is very true. So tell me… Jeff, how's the Sky Runner?" All I could do for some odd reason was just wait there, arms crossed as if I wanted him to continue.

"You know, with your arms crossed, you're telling me you're uncomfortable," He smiled. I narrowed my eyes at him as he looked down at me, flashing me a taunting smile.

"Jeff, we found him…" Kato spoke as he approached me from behind Orange kid. Both of us were shaken out of the tense moment as Kato barged in. And for a moment, I was almost glad… but curious at the same time.

It looked as if Kato had glared ever so slightly down at Orange Kid as he walked by, and yes, Kato was in fact just slightly taller than Orange Kid was, even if Orange Kid may have been older than him. At first, Orange Kid paid no mind but as soon as he actually looked at him instead of glanced, something… maybe fear? Something came over Orange Kid's expression as he looked away immediately. It was about then I looked up to Kato, who had finally looked at me and pointed the direction we needed to go with his head. And so we went, I took one last glance at Orange Kid, who glared at me. I could only glare back.

How did Kato do that? I thought, glancing back at him one last time as he focused on his work before turning the corner.

"He seemed pretty creepy, didn't he?" Kato asked. I looked up to Kato, who had been looking forward. I could only nod.

"How'd you make him shut up like that?" I asked. As soon as we saw Paula and Ness, who was coughing in the distance he shrugged.

"Who knows," He replied. "But never mind him, we need to get our mission done for today." I frowned. That was random…

As we caught up to Ness and Paula, they had been talking to the same man guarding the door. As Ness held up what seemed to be the signature to the man, he almost seemingly snatched it away, inspecting it immediately by practically shoving his nose into the parchment to make sure it was legit. I frowned at him, especially as he looked at Ness again, raising an eyebrow.

"How'd you get this?" He asked.

"I… got it for you?" Ness replied. The man raised an eyebrow at him.

"You must really be interested about what's under there, aren't you?" He asked. Ness stayed quiet for a moment, all until Kato butted in.

"We believe what you have behind the door can benefit us on our quest," He told him. The man tilted his head, giving Kato a very strange expression.

"Well… haha… how can I refuse to a bunch of kids that went out of their ways to get this for me… fine come inside," He said, opening the door behind him.

The hall way was dark and narrow but the end of the tunnel had a door, and as he opened it, I was expecting to be looking at something as great as the Mani Mani stature but…

Before he turned on the dim light, the first thing I thought was that there was a strange sewage stench to the air. For some reason, I braced myself all until he turned the lights on.

There in the middle of the room was a man hole, uncovered with a metal latter leading down to its depths. All four of us circled around the man hole, looking down into its dark depths. The man started snickering.

"Isn't it interesting?" He asked. Paula winced, covering her nose.

"It smells down there…" She said. I looked over to Ness, whom looked at the hole almost blankly.

"Yeah… it is actually. Thanks, this just might have been what I've been looking for," Ness told him, smiling. The man chuckled.

"I'm glad, there's something interesting about down there. It's almost like a civilization down there all together." He smiled.

"Really now?" I asked. The man chuckled.

"Why yes, which is why you should be careful. Are you trying to find someone important?" He asked. We all looked at each other. All of us shook our heads before the man started to laugh again as he walked out the door.

"Well… even if you four are just here to cause mischief, don't tell anyone I let you four here… be careful down there," He smiled before leaving the room. And as soon as he was gone, we just stood there, staring down into the man hole.

"I… I don't know Ness, are you sure you're up to this?" She asked. I took a good look at Ness right then, seeing his expression almost twitch after she said that. I didn't miss how he balled up his fists.

"Well… this is the only chance we have… we have to take it," He said in his slightly hoarse voice.

"You ready then?" Kato asked. It took a moment but eventually Ness nodded.

"Let's get this over with…" He said, before sneezing. I frowned.

He didn't seem ready to do anything… I thought.

---

When we got down the ladder, I was surprised it was actually bright enough to see, but only dimly. Basically the sewers were exactly what I imagined them to be; it was a long stretch of a polluted man mad river, with sidewalks on the edges of the tunnel. All of us except for Kato strangely closed our nostrils.

"So… where to, Ness?" Kato asked. Ness scanned the area about.

"Uhh…" Ness started to cough again. Looking down into the tunnel… I saw nothing. I looked the other way but… it seemed to be the same thing.

"I see doors… do you think we should try them?" Paula asked. Ness cleared his throat.

"We could try… let's go this way first…" Ness said pointing to the right of us. And so we went…

Did he really know where he was going though? I listened into Ness and Paula's small conversation.

"Just follow the notes… do you still have your sound stone with you?" Paula asked Ness. Ness dug into his pocket and held his forehead. He exhaled.

"Good… as long as you have that, we can do this… you can leave most of the fighting up to us…" Paula told Ness. Ness was unresponsive.

---

It was relatively silent between the four of us, and for about a half an hour, it seemed like we were taking circles and making no progress. I looked at the walls, covered in graffiti. Somehow, I felt as if I didn't belong here… apparently, Ness did. I glanced at Ness again, whose eyes were focused, but aimless… did that make any sense? We had opened a couple doors but each had some sort of habitat for the homeless. Eventually after ten more minutes Ness stopped. He was speechless, staring down into the sewers. The three of us looked at each other, all until Ness started choking on his own coughs again. I frowned.

"Ness…" Was all I could say. Eventually, Kato put a hand on Ness's shoulder. After what seemed like a small pause, Ness rubbed his nose.

"Thanks Kato…" Ness replied, even though his voice still sounded hoarse. Kato was silent.

"So… what now? We haven't run into it yet… and we can't continue through the whole tunnel either way from the sidewalks…" I mentioned. Ness rubbed his forehead and caressed his eyelids.

"Then there's no other choice…" He spoke in slight annoyance. Ness walked over to the nearest ladder and climbed down. Into the sewer water.

"Ness, what? You're going through the sewers themselves? You don't even know what's down there!" I told him. However, Ness chose to ignore me and continued down. And when he was down there, all of the gunk and sewage had reached his middle chest. Ness looked like he shivered.

"But Ness… that looks too deep for me…" Paula mentioned. Ness bit his lip.

"Someone will have to carry you then… this is pretty dense and thick…" He said. I closed my eyes.

"Are you even sure this is the only way to get there?" I asked. Ness took a moment to absorb his surroundings before he responded.

"Even not… this is the only option I can think of. We'll be okay… if we all stay as close to each other as possible…" He said. Paula was squeezing her nose by then.

"Can you even smell this Ness? It's disgusting!" I added. Ness looked bugged that I asked that question.

"Honestly Jeff, no I can't smell this very well… my nose is so plugged up I can't smell a thing," He replied, before sneezing again. I put a hand on my hip.

"Bless you- how… how deep is that?" I asked feeling myself shiver. Ness rolled his eyes but smiled.

"Shallow enough for you to walk in, Jeff. Now seriously, get in," He told me. I frowned, eventually getting in behind him. And as soon as my ankle touched that polluted water, I shivered.

So cold…

This couldn't be good for any of us… I thought. When I got in all the way, I held in my stomach… my breakfast, which had been digesting still. For god's sake, anything could have been in this mess… nonetheless, I would have panicked if this was something I had to rely on swimming techniques to bypass.

"I can hold Paula-"

"No Ness, let me," Kato replied, kneeling down to Paula's level. Ness mumbled something as Kato scooted down into the murky waters, all the while giving Paula a piggy back ride.

"The faster we go, the better Ness," Kato told him. I shivered.

"Ness, you know how you called me crazy yesterday? Well I could say the same for you right now… you aren't-"

"I'm not turning back Jeff… Kato's right. Let's just get this over with…" Ness spoke all the while giving off a violent shiver. I could only shiver myself, the icy chills running up my skink kept me from speaking another word.

I supposed that's what Ness wanted all along... I thought grumpily to myself…

---

God was this miserable and long, I kept thinking to myself. And the more we went down that long tunnel, the more paranoid I felt about this entire situation. Just the fact that Ness was in horrible condition made this voyage a thousand times worse. And when I thought that I had hypothermia, Ness had weakly pointed to a nearby ladder.

"There… we need to go there…" He spoke, before almost toppling over, as both Kato and I rushed our hands to his shoulders to keep him steady on his feet.

"Are you positive this is the right way?" Paula asked on top of Kato. Ness nodded, before shivering violently and letting off a violent sneeze. I furrowed my eyebrows.

"Let's get you out of here," I told him, as I climbed the ladder first to offer a hand to him. Surprisingly, Ness grabbed my hand, rather tightly with a shiver as I dragged him out of the muck. Kato let me grab Paula's hand as well as Kato followed after. The three of us looked at each other in disgust while Ness held his shoulders and shivered.

"How close are we again, Ness?" Paula asked. Ness blinked slowly before weakly pointing to what seemed to be like a small black tunnel.

"It's… right there," Ness croaked. Right when Ness said that, Kato braced himself swiftly.

"Is there something right there?" Paula asked a little frightened. It happened fairly quickly, but not as fast as Kato's reaction time.

A giant rat, the size of a bear, rushed towards us, but as Kato drew his blade to slash the creature across the face. The creature wailed in pain as it swung its tail around to hit Kato, in which had missed. Kato stepped back as the four of us looked at the giant, zombie like creature. Paula covered her nose.

"He smells rotten…" She said. I grunted.

"Probably not as rotten as someone else we've had to fight," I replied, holding out my beloved Hyper Beam.

"Despite the fact that we're in a pretty cold place, don't you think your freezing abilities could work well on him? He seems similar to those undead monsters back in Threed," I told her. Paula responded.

"Good call Jeff, just stay back on this one Ness, we'll take care of this creature," She told him. And as she used her PSI Freeze tactic, I finally fired my hyper beam. The gun worked very well, as it was able to fire the green laser between the rat's eyes. It looked dazed to say the least. Awesome… but why did it feel like this enemy was easier than all the rest? I looked back to Ness, whom kept staring blankly at the rat that had quailed with Kato and Paula.

"Ness…?" I asked. Ness was gripping his chest with both of his hands now, knuckles becoming white as he squeezed his sewer, soaked stripped t-shirt, as he had staggered breaths. He looked awfully pale.

"Watch out!" Paula yelled at us as I saw the rat approach the two of us. I responded quickly as I fired my hyper beam once more at the pitiful beast, putting myself in front of Ness. The creature finally spoke.

"Why hasn't the chosen one said a word? Isn't this our fight… fight me. Fight me, I will only allow… the chosen one to fight me… fight me… take this spot from me," The rat spoke, as its jaw oozed blood and sewage. All of us finally laid eyes on Ness, whom had taken a couple shaky hands to his forehead. I let my guard down.

"What… what's happening to me? I can't… where… where am I…?" Ness muttered. Paula gasped.

"Ness! Ness, we're close, hang in there! Your sound stone! Use your sound stone! Don't let your powers take control of you!" She finally said. I looked at her in disbelief.

His powers… taking over him? The rat chuckled, as it stumbled slightly.

"Your powers are taking over you? Hahahahahah… that's just too bad. I'll just have to attack you before you can release it!" It hissed as it launched towards Ness. I quickly jumped in front to shoot it in the eyes again while Kato and Paula both attacked from different angles, Kato managing to slice into its rotting back while Paula aimed her freeze attack right where Kato had slashed it. The rat wailed in pain as I managed to fire another laser where Paula and Kato had inflicted the most damage. But as the creature shook its dizzy head, it started to launch towards Ness again.

"Now I have you!" It screeched. Then right as we tried to attack the weak pitiful creature once more, something happened that shocked the living daylights out of me. Literally.

Ness wailed, grasping his bangs and forehead tightly before he shivered violently. Then my eyesight was nothing but white light, and as quick as it was, it really affected my eyesight as I could see dots dance right before my eyes. I squeezed them shut, feeling my eyes tear up as I wailed. But I wasn't the only one wailing, the monster seemed to be taking this very harshly as it practically screamed.

"Ness! Jeff! Kato! Hang in there, we defeated him!" She told us. Apparently she wasn't effected by Ness's blinding flash, but it soon didn't matter as she let of a negative gasp.

"Oh no…"

Oh no, was all I heard before the entire underground started to rumble. Rushing water. Rushing water from where!? I opened my eyes again, and to my horror I saw rushing water, coming from multiple pipes as I was pushed violently by one of the rushing currents. I was nothing compared to the power of its force as I was pushed down to one of the off branches of the sewer lines, it swept me off my feet like I was nothing. The first thing I thought of was to quickly grab my glasses, as I shoved them in one of my pockets. The second thing I thought of was panic. The lack of swimming skills dawned on me again as I took in as many breaths above water as I could.

When I turned my head, the last thing I saw was Ness, eyes squeezed shut tightly, just briefly until my head was emerged under the sewage surface. I reached a hand out wildly while the other gripped my pocket and glasses tightly.

A hand. I felt another hand reach out for me. It slipped twice, but eventually we grasped each other firmly… and held on tight.

All until two different currents broke our contact apart, separating us to who knew where…

---

That night, I had taken the opportunity when father wasn't looking to sneak upstairs away from the party. Or at least to just get out of these dreadfully 'nice' clothes. But as soon as got up the third step, I heard mother's voice approaching the stair way. I quickly got right back down as mom passed by, walking upstairs, probably to check on you, Picky. I leaned against the wall.

"Hi there little fella. You should go play with that other boy, he's got no one else to play with," One man told me as he ruffled my hair as he passed me by. I took another look around me.

He was right, the only other kids that came to the party were two other girls, one younger and a few years older than me as they were all playing with Ness's sister I thought. When I looked to the back of the room to where the couch was, I saw him.

He had been standing by the window, looking up to the night sky. I tapped his shoulder. Ness turned his head and looked at me, almost as if he had woken up from a deep sleep. There was a small pause.

"What do you see?" I asked him. Ness shrugged.

"Just the stars," He replied. "Aren't they cool?" I took a moment to look up at the night sky.

"How can you see them well enough from in here? Let's go outside to get a better view," I told him. Ness at first looked unsure but when I promised him he would be just fine he seemed to nod with a smile. So when we were sure that no one was looking, we snuck around to the garage door and snuck out. As much as I would have wanted to take him outside just for the sole purpose to please him, the real reason why I wanted out was to just get away from that dreaded party.

But all of those troubles seemed to go away as the two of us just stood outside on the side of the house, staring up at the starry sky. Ness eventually shivered. So did I.

But neither of us seemed to care for some reason for the longest moment.

"I see three starts in a row up there," I told him.

"Can you see Sirius?" He asked me.

"Sirius?"

"Yeah. Sirius's nose," Ness told me, as he pointed up into the sky. "It's the really bright star that's close to Orion's Belt."

"What's that?"

"It's the three stars in a row," He told me. So I found Orion's Belt again and looked closely around.

"I see it…" I told him.

"Isn't it cool?" Ness asked. Obviously, he was into stars, I thought.

"Yeah… it's really cool... brrrr, it's so cool I'm shivering," I told him. Ness laughed lightly.

"Me too… but I kinda like it."

"Ness, Ness where are you?" We heard his mom holler outside in the back yard.

"Uh oh, mom's worried about me. Maybe we should go back inside," Ness told me. I nodded, feeling my stomach turn slightly.

"Yeah, good idea."

---

When I finally came to, the smell of rotten sewage was the first thing I could register. I blinked slightly, taking note of my blind sight. But I felt lucky for some reason, especially when I could finally feel my hands and at least my knees. I could feel the slimy metal between my fingertips and the feeling of thing glass and cheap tape keeping it together. The last moments I could recall was holding onto Ness's hand tightly for dear life. I wanted to breathe, but the air, the cold; everything was making me nauseous again. It was just like when I got wasted from that cake I thought. I just hope I wouldn't have to deal with any brutal men at this point, I thought. I wanted to keep in my vomit, but soon enough my stomach took over myself as I flipped over quickly to let it all out.

As soon as I was done, I took the time to wipe my glasses the best I could possibly manage to put them against my face and blinked.

I stared straight into the exit of the sewage pipe- dark, narrow and creepy, I thought, as mucky water sludge out of it. God it smelled almost as bad as Master Belch. Almost.

I used the edge of the cement pipe to support myself up on my feet without slipping. I turned around me to find that this location I was at was near a pretty polluted area around the beach. But I had happened to be near a junk yard as well, spotting the multiple heaps of metal, cars and old appliances. As bad as I felt then, I couldn't help but stare.

Oh god, it was a gold mine, I thought. No no no, you need to go find Ness and the others, I thought to myself. After taking a couple more steps closer to the fence that bound me from it that said, No Trespassing, I started to think to myself, If only I was as smart as my… I froze in place, realizing exactly what I had just thought. I clutched my head in embarrassment and anger.

"No, why would I ever want to be like him?!" I ranted to myself. For another moment, I came to another realization. My eyes widened, as I patted myself. I cursed in realization that my hyper beam wasn't on me. When I dug out my knife, I sighed, frowning.

"Well I guess it's just you and me again…" I told my knife as I stuck it back into my pocket, looking down. My eyebrows popped up.

It shouldn't have stricken me interesting but stuck in the wet water and sludge I spotted a small gray rock. A small, ordinary gray rock… I thought. I took another good look at the ground around me.

Surprisingly… this was the only actual smooth gray rock around… and I hated to say it, but it looked very similar to Ness's sound stone. I scratched my head, eventually sighing in defeat. It most likely wasn't Ness's sound stone, but how could I tell? I picked up the small, smooth gray rock, rubbing my dirty sludgy fingers across its soft but stone like surface before sticking it in my pocket to stand up and walk along the fence, taking glances inside the junk yard. I snorted.

I needed to take a bath big time, I thought, before looking over across the fence, almost freezing in place.

Inside the fence in the distance sitting by itself was a taxi, and despite the fact it looked as if it was repaired somehow, it looked exactly like the one that tried to attack me that one night. Something in my chest felt heavy the more I looked at it, even as silent as it was, seeing it in the light almost frightened me somehow. I didn't realize until then how I was forming a phobia to taxi cars… huh. As soon as I could feel the shiver up my spine, I continued on and out of there. Rather quickly if you could ask me.

---

Eventually, I ended up out into the streets after minutes and minutes of walking. But just where was I going? I really didn't know… I was somewhere in the slums again. The more I thought about, the more I worried again… I brought my hand to my chin.

Where was everyone? They could have ended up anywhere… oh god the more I thought about it, the more troubling it became. It was extremely possible that all four of us were separated in those sewers… and just thinking about Paula out by herself again was frightening enough. I could only pray that I would receive some sort of telepathic message from her… I wanted to rely on that…

Then I started to think of worse things. What if one of the pipes led to somewhere deadly? What if, on the way down a pipe someone got caught on something and ended up drowning? I shivered violently. I thought back at the time I held on to Ness... was it Ness's hand I held onto? I knew he was there… somewhere besides me, I thought.

He was on my left side, I thought… I had been going left from my own pipe I thought so… I thought possibly the more left I went, I'd eventually run into Ness…

…Right?

"Don't let your powers take control of you!" Paula's voice run in my memory. The realization clicked finally, as to how serious this could get.

Ness… something was definitely wrong with him. But it got worse than I had ever imagined it to be… Just how did his powers overtake him like that? Nonetheless… a certain memory of when Ness and I were in the hostel came rushing back to me.

"Please Jeff... it's not amazing to me. It's frightening..." He spoke in a hushed tone in my mind. I opened my eyes to this…

This could go way out of hand if I or someone couldn't find him… oh god the possibilities were endless!

"What to do-…" I spoke quickly to myself.

"So... will you ever ask him out or anything?" Paula said in my memories. I slapped my head. Shut up Paula… not at a time like this! After clearing my hollow swimming head from the small pain of the sudden pressure, I observed my surroundings again, and it took a moment but I finally realized where I was.

"This… road," I thought out loud. It was the same road that led to the wall… where that sanctuary was…

Moments of the rainy night popped into my head as it played back the moment I found Ness leaning against that graffiti written wall.

"You left me…" He mumbled into my memories. It was right then that I had a feeling of urgency pass through my system as I picked up my pace into a jog, until running down to that end of the wall.

---

"Jeff… Jeff! Can you hear me? Jeff…" A voice in my head rung as I emerged closer and closer to the section of the wall. I closed my eyes.

"Paula… Paula where are you?" I asked in my mind. There was a small pause, at first I feared she wouldn't respond.

"I'm near the bridge to the desert Jeff, where are you?" She spoke.

"I'm nearing the outside of the sanctuary again… but I'm all by myself. I'm trying to find anyone that's nearer to my location," I told her. "Are you alright?" I asked, noticing I started to speak out loud as I passed by a couple of poorer residents, noting more and more graffiti showing up on the brick wall.

"Yeah… I'm fine. My head hurts, and I smell horrible, but I'm fine. You have to hurry though, try finding Ness as soon as you can; I got a hold of Kato, he's closer to me. If you can find Ness that would be great…" She told me. I frowned, almost nervously.

"Where is he Paula? Do you know?!" I asked. Another pause as I finally approached that area of the wall in which I did not belong in. I held my chest. Why did I always feel like this whenever I approached a sanctuary location? You better be there, I thought…

"I haven't been able to contact him yet… it really worries me. Jeff… I think his new sickness is making him weak enough for his PSI abilities to take over him!-"

"I don't understand! Does it take control of his consciousness too or what?!" I asked her. There was a small pause.

"Jeff, it's just like if you made an all mighty powerful machine and you somehow lost control of it, that's what Ness is going through right now… we don't know why yet, but this is at least the third time it's happened to him! Now just hold on, I'll contact you later and I'll meet up with Kato somewhere and I'll try getting him to respond to me!" She told me, as I approached that certain spot, stopping in my tracks. I grunted as she must have disconnected with me. However, as soon as I looked up to that certain spot on the great wall of graffiti, I froze; hearing the sound of thunder in the distance…

Someone else. Someone else was sitting in that exact same spot, I thought. And as much as that would seem normal, something didn't seem right… was it because that this wasn't my place? I thought this was only Ness's place…

He had his head hung low, his dark hair concealing his bearded face. For a moment… I could have sworn the man was dead…

But nonetheless, it was that same man I saw across the street near the museum. But why was he sitting around Ness's place? I didn't know why, but I gulped as I saw the man's eye's flutter open. My heart stammered for some reason…

Without even fully thinking, I turned around quickly, walking at a good pace away from that area. I clutched my chest as let off a staggered breath. Who did he remind me of…

I closed my eyes…

For some reason, I started to run.

---

I was sure I was at least a few blocks away before I could finally slow down to a stop, gasping for breath before shivering. I held myself up by putting my hands on my knees. Sooner or later, I felt a rain drop on my hand. I guessed it was going to rain soon. I looked up.

Half of the sky was sunny while the other was dark and gloomy, I thought, still breathing heavily as I felt another rain drop on my cheek. I flinched as Paula's voice rang in my head again.

"Jeff, are you still there?" Paula spoke. I paused for a moment.

"Jeff? Jeff?" She kept asking desperately as I thought back at the wall.

"Yeah… I'm still here, Paula," I spoke.

"Jeff, you sound bothered, what happened?" She asked.

"Nothing… nothing worth telling. So, any luck?" I asked. I heard her grunt.

"I… could only get Ness's response for a brief moment. But he couldn't speak logically… he sounds really bad-"

"Paula, what did he say?" I asked accidentally cutting her off.

"He just kept asking where his sound stone was in a scared voice… Jeff we have to find him, this could turn out really bad," She said. I opened my eyes for a moment, digging into my pocket.

"I… might have it with me Paula, but I don't know, I can't tell it apart from other rocks. But I mean, I saw it this morning, it looks identical to it. I'm just surprised if it is the right rock it traveled with me rather than sinking in the process," I replied, looking at the small gray stone. Paula gasped.

"Jeff… as long as you have that, I think we might be able to find him. That sound stone is extremely important," She added.

"Does it give him his powers or something?" I asked.

"No, no Jeff, it's important because it… it reminds him of who he is, rather than what his role is. It's hard to explain, but it plays a song to him. None of us know what the song sounds like, only he does. But according to him, each time we go to a sanctuary, he remembers something important-"

"… He has amnesia?" I asked. I… he didn't seem to have amnesia…

"No no, it's nothing like that… I'll explain things later. Just, have it out right now. I think with that, there's a possibility that you can find him!" She said. I frowned, starting to pace again, fearing that I would be followed for some dumb reason.

"Paula, where should I head now?" I asked. Paula paused.

"How should I know? Go find a place that's high up so you can get a good view on the city. I'll contact you again if I have any decent news," She said before disconnecting again.

"Paula? Paula? Damn it…" I swore. I closed my eyes.

The only high place that was actually high was the roof of the Monotoli building… I don't have time to get all the way up there and come back down, I ranted in my mind.

Damn it, Ness, you better be close somewhere!

---

I wasn't sure how long, but I had just about scanned just about every section of the ghetto. I eventually ran into the other sewage pipe that I suspected Ness to float out of, at first excited that he might have been around the graffiti covered pipe, but no. I growled in frustration, putting the small rock on my forehead.

"How the hell does this thing work?" I ranted out loud, even though it was useless. I ran back out into the street again, I was practically next to the polluted beach. I looked ahead of me, spotting the junk yard in the distance and the edge of it outside of the fence where I had emerged from. Then I looked again.

The other side of the small path that was outside of the fence to the junkyard, there seemed to be a flat hill top. Thought it didn't really seem all that high, I didn't know why I headed that direction.

For some reason… I just had an itchy feeling…

---

The sky at that point was part golden from the sun and part dark and gray from the storm. The first thing I noticed when I passed the junkyard that made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up was that, the taxi I saw before was nowhere in sight. I shivered, feeling a couple more raindrops. Feeling almost as if a rush of anxiety came over me, I started running up the small incline to the top. However, as I got up there, my knees seemed to give way, but before I knew it, I tripped. Over some railway…

My chin hit the railroad painfully as I felt the sound stone fall out of my hand and my glasses flew off my face and clanked next to my nose. A few dots seemed to sparkle in front of my eyes as I hissed from the stinging sensation in my jaw. God, now I was getting clumsy, I thought. Hearing another thunder in the distance, I remembered the urgency of the situation; forcing myself up onto my feet, as I put my glasses on. I blinked twice.

My eyes widened. My heart skipped a beat as I fell still.

That same man… I thought.

The man was turned away from me, kneeling up from the ground as he held what looked to be a small rock in his hand. He seemed to examine it while he faced away from me. I gulped slightly. So I wasn't going crazy… was he following me this entire time? Why?! My voice trembled as my fists started to shake.

"Wh-who are you…?" I asked, taking a step back. The man was unresponsive, back still turned against me, but his head slightly turned, as if he wanted to face me but didn't really feel like it. His messy dark, dirty looking hair covered his eyes from the side. I bit my lip. He was really starting to frighten me now…

All we did then was just stand there. Motionless. I furrowed my eyebrows, inhaling furiously.

"I asked you a question! Who are you and why are you following me! And why… why do I get the feeling that I've… I…" I couldn't finish my sentence as my voice became too weak. The man paused for a moment, before, walking away from me. I became enraged.

"Where do you think you're going, I want answers!" My voice shook. My voice couldn't vocalize what I was thinking at that moment… but rather what it was feeling.

"You…" He barely mumbled. I tilted me head. …Me?

He bent down, and slowly picked up, what happened to be an iron bar of some sort. It didn't register to me then that the railroads we stood on seemed to be still under some construction. And as soon as he picked it up, I was shocked out of my socks.

Instantly, he swung the iron bar around towards me quickly, as my brief reflex barely dodged his attack. I stepped back, gasping as he lunged towards me, swinging the other direction. I yelped, as the iron bar swung around and hit the corner of my shoulder. Grasping it as it seared pain, I gasped as he swung another time, aiming towards my head. Ducking just in time, I lunged out of the way, running a good five meters away before turning around to look at his next motives. Holy shit was all I could think at that horrific moment. It was the only way I could describe it.

As I saw the man try to figure out how to approach me, I could finally focus on his eyes again.

Gray. Dull. But burning with an angry determined passion, as he charged at me again. It finally triggered in my mind how utterly screwed I was right then. Running away out of his way, I dug through my pockets in a panic. Holy shit, why did my hyper beam have to go missing so soon? The man roared in frustration as he quickly but clumsily took another swing.

Heart pounding and tears started seeping out of the corners of my eyes, I could only do what my instinct told me to at that point. As he swung at me again, I sung across his face with my knife to counter him. The man hissed, standing back as he dropped the iron bar, grabbing his face with the hand I believed held the sound stone. At that part I was shaken up.

As much as I would have liked to, to Pokey, I've never actually had to cut anyone… As he quickly recovered, I noticed the iron bar still on the ground. I quickly lunged forward, picking up the iron bar as he grabbed the back of my shirt- I threw the bar away as far as I could. Stupid me, why didn't I swing the bar around and hit him in the ribs? The man yanked me up as I got a glimpse of his angry eyes and that now bleeding slash across his nose and face.

Smash.

The intensity of his punch across my cheek bone and nose was shattering, feeling myself fly backwards all until he brought another fist and hit me in the Adam's Apple and then another in the stomach. My eyes, forced as open as they could go from the intensity of his blows, I trembled, choking while tasting the tangy metal flavor of my blood trickling from my nose. My glasses were on the brink of falling off my face, but it really didn't matter as my eyesight was going in and out of focus before me anyways. Soon enough, I could taste the salt from my own tears and snot.

I was surprised that there was a pause of mercy, as I prayed for my body to cooperate and let me run. Run… But all I could do was stand, bent over as I started crying. I heard a few staggered, almost forced breaths escape from him.

What was wrong with this man? I desperately started thinking to myself shivering as I looked up at the man, now silhouetted by the golden sunlight. There was a small pause as he glared down at me, nostrils flared, eyes wide like an enraged bull. I gritted my teeth, holding my knife with a shaky hand. Still, he didn't move. I took this opportunity to attempt standing all the way up, stumbling in the process as I shakily held up my knife towards him with both hands. I glared back.

And for just a moment, I could have sworn that I saw fear in his eyes. Was that my eyes playing in motion right there?

But his weakness… what was his weakness…

Maybe he had none. Or maybe it belonged in an area I had never explored or ever will explore. Soon enough, the man took another swing towards me. Feeling my adrenaline kick in, I dodged out of his way again. That seemed to be the best thing I could even do was dodge. Another swing made me evoke a swing of my own, missing him as he was able to swing the iron bar around to my ribs.

Smash.

There went my ribs, I thought, biting my lips hard enough for them to bleed as I painfully and weakly waved my knife at him. It seemed to momentarily stop all together as he managed to grip my right wrist with the knife tightly. I winced, shutting my eyes tightly as I held the spot he hit against my ribs. The more he squeezed my wrist, the more my hand was forced to let go.

My knife pathetically fell to the railroad with a small clank, almost immediately before a foot stomped just barely lower to where he punched me in the stomach. And finally I fell on my back. He had finally knocked me down. Eyes quickly wandering to my right, I saw the sound stone, trickled in blood, clatter right next to me.

I gasped for the last bit of air I was expected to breath- before I was sure he was going to beat me to a bloody pulp and kill me in the process. When I opened my eyes, I saw an iron bar headed towards my face. I dodged, barely missing it as I heard it hammer with a metallic clank against the ground next to me. He held up the iron bar again, over his head. I widened my eyes up at his own open, insane, almost crossed eyes.

"…Jeff?" The man suddenly paused, blinking as he turned his head slowly. My eyes widened again, turning my head towards the small weak voice. I relied on my now crooked glasses and my disappearing eye sight just then. It seemed dead silent by then.

There, standing at the edge of the hill looking right back at us with this bewildered, confused look was Ness.