Wilson's POV
Trying to fall into sleep was an odd feeling for me. True, my death has lasted all but a few days, but I hadn't had to sleep a single time during that... I thought. I wasn't sure. I didn't remember much about being dead, but the things I did remember I didn't want to talk about. I was always cold. I was always empty. I remembered feeling lost, being a soul without a body, and heartbroken. My entire life, I hoped to die for a good cause. I hoped that I would go out with a bang, accomplishing something great.
But... I didn't want to die so young.
It was so sudden that I didn't even understand it myself. WX's voice still ringed in my ears, the very last thing I heard in those last moments. "DODGE!"
I didn't know why I didn't. I remember being totally paralyzed, watching her flame-wreathed claws descend. I had blocked, but not ran, and wood does not hold up against fire.
Seconds after I had been hit, I was still aware. I didn't hear anything, and I couldn't feel anything, but I was still able to see. Maybe I had died on impact and those few moments were before my spirit was taken. (I didn't like to believe this, however. Despite the clear evidence supporting otherwise, I couldn't come up with any plausible answer as to what a soul was. I had always been a firm believer of nothing after death. Humans were nothing more than a series of electrical signals in their brain, nothing that could be held in a supposed ball of pure energy. I stood by this idea for my entire life, which is another reason why the sensation of being dead caught me off guard so badly).
I remembered looking down and seeing... myself. But it didn't look like me. The Dragonfly's attack had borderline eviscerated my body, and blood from the gaping holes pumped onto the sand for only a few seconds before slowing to a trickle. I knew that was the moment my heart had stopped beating.
And yet, I had been aware enough to see my friends' reactions. I had seen Webber tapping into some force beyond my knowledge in order to kill the Dragonfly in a single, devastating move. And... it terrified me. He had appeared feral like that once before, when we were fighting the Goose, but this wasn't him at all. His eyes were different, hatred and malice glowing in the white orbs where passion and determination usually rested. He was different.
And I was there when WX had buried me, the robot collapsing beside the grave afterward and hanging his head in pain. I knew this is something he would never share with me or Webber, which is why I never brought it up to him.
But most importantly, the one thing that really stuck with me, was Webber's reaction. He had written in the mud, referring to himself as my son. Things seemed to swell up in my memory as I watched him write this, until I found myself silently crying.
It was after that event that things became... fuzzy at best. I remembered some sort of red beast, and I remembered chains around my wrists, but nothing else. Words bounced emptily in my mind, making little sense to me without the context. The only one that really stood out to me was five.
Finally finding sleep was a blessing. Webber had been particularly clingy to me, but I found I didn't mind. It seemed as if I was seeing a different side, the side opposite of that that had come out during the fight with the Dragonfly. That day, he was not a battle-scarred warrior or a child trying to pretend that he was much older than he really was; he was just a little kid. He was a lost, scared little boy, who wanted nothing more than someplace to call home and someone to call family.
The fact that I had been that family to him was still baffling. My mind was still reeling from the entire scene. When we had begun to settle in for bed, Webber had wasted no time in coming up to me and falling asleep in a ball with his head on my lap. I mindlessly scratched around his whiskers in my own attempts to sleep.
When I opened my eyes again, it was completely black. Immediately, terror swamped my system as warnings about the darkness crowded in. I glanced down at my hands, however, to find that I could see them perfectly fine. A quick glance over the rest of myself revealed the same thing. It wasn't dark, I was just in a black void. When I took an uneasy step back, my feet splashed as if I was standing in an inch of water.
"There you are."
I let out a yelp of fear at the voice. I felt as if I had heard it before, but I couldn't figure out where. The memory felt distant.
"Don't be afraid," the voice purred softly. I felt a claw gently run over my chin, not sharp enough to cut it but enough to force my chin upward. Eyes met mine, glowing red without any corporeal form for them to cling to. My breath immediately caught in my throat, and I found myself instinctively shaking.
"You are doing well in your quest," it continued. "I watched you defeat the Dragonfly."
"Who are you?" I managed. The question took the rest of the breath from my lungs and moisture from my mouth.
It was quiet for a long, long moment. The silence lasted for so long that I thought it had left. However, finally, a whisper sounded in my ear. "Nightmare," it said. "You may call me... Nightmare."
"Nightmare," I repeated. 'Nightmare' chuckled at the shaking of my voice.
"Why are you still afraid? You now know my name. We are no longer strangers, are we?"
"I can't see you," I said hoarsely.
"Many cannot."
I took another step back as the eyes blinked at me. "What do you want from me?"
"Blood for blood, scientist. If you have not guessed already, I was the one given the job of bringing you back."
"Y-You?" I stuttered.
"Of course. I am the only creature in this world capable of such powerful magic, after all."
I nodded slowly, trying to make sense of my sluggish thoughts. "I see..."
"However, doing so has upset a delicate balance. This world is always on the very edge of destruction, you see. One mishap, one wrong step, and the world would unravel. Therefore, in order to keep this balance, the trade must be completed."
"...okay." I tried to think of what this creature, a creature apparently capable of great enough power to bring someone back from the dead, could possibly want from me. Its voice dropped, as if its words held a great weight.
"I revived you before They could consume your soul, the unfortunate end for many of the world's victims. However, you were here just long enough for Them to get a taste of your soul, and now they demand a sacrifice to satiate their hunger."
My hands began to tingle. I looked down and saw an ugly black fluid clinging to the tips of my fingers and crawling up my hand. I cried out again and tried to shake it off, but the fluid held fast.
"They want a powerful soul. They want... a soul so strong it is closer to two souls, that have long since been fused together by time and circumstance. To make up for losing the soul of the Gentleman Scientist, they want the soul of the Indigestible."
I heard that name before. It was a title, one that I knew well. When the name of its owner finally came to my mind, I felt the blood drain out of my face. "Webber," I whispered.
"I am too weak right now to stave their hunger. You must complete the deal, Scientist."
"I never agreed to that!" I cried. "I-I can't do that! I-I have to refuse."
Nightmare's entire mood seemed to change. The eyes narrowed and two sharp rows of teeth appeared bared in a snarl. I tried to step back, but hundreds of cold, slimy bodies were beginning to press in and forced me to face their master. When it spoke, its voice turned the blood in my veins to ice. "You are not allowed to refuse. They demand a soul greater than the one they lost, and that is the only one."
"No!" I shouted. I tried to ignore the way that my voice pitched with terror. "If the price for me being brought back is Webber's life, then just take me again."
"That is not an option." The black fluid was almost at my elbows now, and I could feel my vision pressing at the edges. "You will bring us the soul of the Indigestible!" It roared.
"No!"
I could almost feel the eyes of the beast staring through my soul. It felt like those eyes were stripping away everything and reading me from the inside. After a long moment, in where I could feel my heart progressively getting close to pounding out of my chest, Nightmare seemed to relax slightly.
"Fine. I know what you truly want, and I will give it to you if you provide this. You want freedom. I am a generous creature, and I can do this for you. You mission to defeat the beasts that call themselves the Giants will be completely forgotten. I will free you and your robotic companion without the need for the trophies of the Giants."
The black muck had reached my shoulders and was now beginning to gather on my chest. I opened my mouth, but I wasn't sure what to say. I did desperately want to escape, but...
"Can I call you papa?"
I had to say no.
"I can't," I choked.
"Yes you can," Nightmare purred. "I am promising you everything you want. Without this, the world will fall into pieces."
Falling asleep in a ball beside me, purring.
"I would rather let the world fall apart," I growled.
It felt like cold tendrils were trying to crawl through my veins. The colderI became, the more I began to see from Nightmare's side.
"I can see the gears turning in your mind. What are you thinking?"
I shook my head. "I don't..."
"You have nothing to lose and everything to gain."
The liquid had reached my face now, quickly covering my mouth and crawling towards my eyes. Some part of my mind, the emotional part, was screaming at me to continue to deny, to scream and shout and attack the demon for even suggesting such a thing. However... there was something else that bit at the back of my mind, as if there was some greater force beginning to control the words coming from my mouth.
"Okay," I whispered in the last few seconds before it completely took over my vision. "I'll do it."
