Chapter 182

Mind Over Matter Part 1

When I became aware of my surroundings again, I found myself underwater. Blinking a couple of times, looking around, wondering where I was and how I got here. It wasn't long before I realized the answers to my own questions. Tu Chi knocked me out with a spell that put me to sleep, and I found myself in the pool where I would activate the toxin's powers, meaning that I was now inside of my head. But for some reason, something seemed different.

The water seemed darker than usual and making it somewhat difficult to see my way around, and I didn't see any sign of that shark thing either.

"I wonder if it's somewhere deeper in the water?" I thought to myself. "Then again, I probably shouldn't be wondering so much about it. If I'm inside of my head right now, there's only one place where I need to go."

I gazed up towards the surface, and sure enough, I saw something shining in the shape of a rectangle. Knowing where it would lead, I swam up towards it until I burst from the surface. As I expected, I found myself in the room where the strange woman resided, but this time, the room was vastly different than before.

Instead of the blue and green color scheme like before, the room had changed colors again, now having a scheme of black and green. The furniture and the appliances around it had all become distorted and twisted in shape as if someone molded them to be that way. The fish tank that was there had grown to double its original size with the fishes still in it. Even the fishes were looking and acting differently from the last time I saw them.

The green one had grown even bigger than before, and I was large enough to swallow up the other two if it wanted. The black one remained the same size and was still swimming about healthy as a horse. But then, I saw the blue one, and I saw that it wasn't doing so hot. It looked like it had shrunk in size and looked malnourished like it hadn't been eating fo3r a long time and was swimming close to the surface. Based on what I knew from when I was living with Aquadia when I was little when a fish is swimming that way, it was a sign that they were having trouble breathing, which meant that it wouldn't be long until it passed.

"What the heck happened here? Why does this room look so weird?" I thought. "I mean, it was weird before, but this is ridiculous!"

"Well, well, well. Look who came back," a voice spoke out. "I was wondering when you were going to come back."

I immediately turned around, searching around to see where the voice came from, knowing who it was. Then I looked up from the ceiling and flinched in surprise while taking a step back. The woman who resided in the room had suddenly appeared, staring at me with bewitching and mischievous eyes while standing on the ceiling. And just like the past few instances, she had grown and changed slightly. She appeared to be curvier, her hair had gotten longer, and each of her eyes was now different colors of green and black. Even her dress had changed, the colors now green and black with barely any blue to be seen.

"Do you like the changes in this place?" the woman asked as she walked across the ceiling, onto the wall, and then onto the floor. "I thought the place could use some redecorating, so I've tweaked some things a bit to my liking. I've even made a few changes to myself." She then twirled around, making her dress flare and swirl. "What do you think? Don't I look beautiful?"

"Sorry, but I have no opinion on that," I spoke curtly.

"Aww, what's the matter? You seem cranky," the woman spoke. "Is there an enemy giving you trouble? Did you want me to give you some power as usual, so we can crush our enemies?"

"Actually, the exact opposite, lady," I said while clenching my fists. "The only enemy I see is the one standing before me, so I'm gonna quit with the chit-chat and cut to the chase." I pointed a finger at her. "I want you out of my body! Right now!"

The woman seemed to act surprised. "Oh? And why would you want me to leave?" she asked innocently. "I thought that you wanted power, so I've graciously been giving it to you, and now you're telling me to leave without so much as an explanation? How rude."

"You want an explanation? How about the fact that this power turned me into a berserk-crazed monster, and I ended up hurting my friends in the process?!" I snapped in anger. "That should be more than enough of an explanation! This power of yours is taking me over and controlling my life, so you need to get out!"

"Come now, Willy. Be reasonable. There's no need to be hasty," said the woman. "Besides, if it weren't for my power, you'd be a dead man, right now. If anything, you should be grateful for my help."

"Grateful? Grateful?! You expect me to feel grateful after making me lose my sense of reason and almost kill my friends?!" I demanded. "And how about the fact that you "help" almost got me killed, too?!"

"Willy, stop. You're completely overreacting," the woman spoke aloofly. "If you must look at the glass half empty, then why don't you also look at it half full? This power, the toxin, it's made life better for you. I've made life better for you. You now have the power to grow stronger than you ever thought possible, and there's no one else that you really need. Not that pretend family, Fairy Tail, not those Strauss siblings, and frankly, not even Finn."

I could feel the veins visibly popping on my forehead."What did you just say?" I spoke in a low snarl.

"You and I both know, I think you've heard me," the woman spoke with a teasing. "Would you rather have me repeat myself, or would you rather have me say something different? For example, maybe get rid of your so-called family since I'll be all you need?"

"You better watch yourself before you tick me off!" I snapped. "I'm not going to ask you again! Get out of my body, or else I'm going to have to make you!"

The woman then sighed. "Oh dearie me. What a shame. Here I thought we were starting to get along," she mused, feigning disappointment. "But if that's how it must be, then so be it. However, I thought I should warn you..." A malevolent smile stretched her cheeks. "You won't be able to get rid of me so easily."

"We'll see about that!" I huffed as I cracked my knuckles. "Keep up that confidence, and it'll cost you!"

The woman then chuckled. "Hey, Mr. Pot, have you met kettle?" she scoffed. "But if we're going to do this, how about I make things a bit more... comfortable?"

She then snapped her fingers, and the room suddenly began to expand the spreading further away from each other until they vanished from view. I was now standing in a strange and spacious landscape with the furniture disappearing and everything else in the room.

I was a bit taken aback, wondering how she could change the shape of the area, but I refocused, telling myself that this wasn't the time to worry about this. I clenched my fists, letting my magic surge through them as I took my stance. Then I shot straight towards her and swung, aiming straight for her face, but then, the woman flashed a sadistic grin and clenched her fist as well. When she did, her hand exploded with water and countered me by swinging it. Our fists collided with incredible force, creating a tremendous shockwave of power. As I jumped back, I couldn't help but feel shocked, recognizing the attack she used.

"That attack... No! It couldn't be! There's no way she could have..." I thought.

The woman let out a throaty chuckle as she tore off her dress, revealing her legs underneath them. Then, while raising one leg, water shrouded her foot, and she launched herself toward me, swinging it with a kick. I quickly countered by swinging with a kick of my own, making our legs collide, creating another shockwave. As we were locked in a stalemate for a few seconds, we pushed each other away, and I conjured a pair of shurikens from my hands and flung them, only for the woman to straighten out her hand and create a sword of water to deflect them with ease. She then held out her hands, conjured a pair of swords, and shot forward, slashing towards me at an incredible speed. I dodged and parried the attacks while conjuring a pair of swords of my own. Our swords clashed and collided, their sounds of clinging filling the air until we once again reached a stalemate, our swords locked together. We stayed that way for a few seconds or so until the woman pushed my swords away and gave me a sharp knee to my gut, sending me skidding back from the force. As I managed to stop myself, I took a deep breath chuffing my cheeks, and unleashed a breath attack. But then, the woman began to chuff her cheeks as well and unleashed a mighty blast of water from her mouth too. Our attacks collided in a mighty explosion of water, causing it to rain down everywhere.

As I stood there in disbelief, my suspicions being confirmed, the woman let out a laugh as she wiped her mouth.

"What's wrong, dear Willy? You seem rather surprised."

"You bastard! How are you able to copy my magic?!" I demanded.

"Well, I would have thought you'd already knew since it was implied that last time we spoke," said the woman. "I know how you think, your thoughts, your feelings, how you fight, and even how your magic works. So naturally, I can do what you do just as well, even all of your best spells. However, the only difference is that your attacks are weak compared to mine!"

"Is that so?! Then how about this then?!" I roared.

I clenched my fist, focusing all of my magic power. Then, as the water enveloped my body, I tightened my muscles, coiled my legs, and launched myself at the woman going full throttle.

"DRAGON SLAYER ART! AQUA LOTUS: SHARK SURGE FIST!"

With a mighty lunge, the water surrounding my body changed into a shark as I swung my fist with all my strength, connecting it square into her gut and leaving a tremendous explosion of water in my wake. I felt her go flying from my attack, hitting the ground with an earth-shaking boom. At first, it felt pretty good nailing her, but that soon changed when the smoke cleared. Much to my surprise, the woman stood up completely unharmed, cracking her neck and popping her shoulder.

"What the hell?!" I couldn't help but exclaim.

The woman then smirked. "Not bad. That attack actually felt a bit unpleasant, but..." a sinister glint flashed in her eyes as she looked at me. "It's not enough to beat me. "

At that moment, she seemed to disappear and then reappear right in front of my face, catching me by surprise. I jumped back in surprise and tried to attack, but suddenly, my legs stayed rooted to the spot as something seemed to wrap around them. I looked down and saw that both of my legs were sinking into the ground. I struggled and pulled as I tried to pull myself out, but I couldn't.

"Damn it! What the hell is this?!" I yelled as I struggled.

"In hate, you sought to hurt me, and you're even going so far as to drive me out," I heard the woman say. "But all you've done was make me stronger. Stronger than you can ever imagine. Why don't I show you?"

As I started sinking deeper into the ground, I summoned my wings and tried to fly away, but I continued to sink. My body now waist-deep into the ground. At this point, I started to panic a bit as I tried to claw my way out, but it was no use.

"No! Stop this! Let me go!" I cried as I was now up to my neck. "Let me out of here!"

But the woman just laughed as she watched me sink. All I could do was sink deeper until the darkness obscured my vision, and I was swallowed up completely.

I then opened my eyes, finding myself standing in the outside world, standing by the shore of the ocean, the waves just rolling over my feet.

"What the... Where am I?" I wondered while looking around. "How did I make it back outside?"

At first, I was puzzled, but then as I looked down, I saw my reflection in the water and was surprised with what I saw. Staring back at me was a little, younger version of me. It wasn't long before I realized that I had turned into a child.

"Wh-What?! I'm a kid again?!" I thought. "What's going on here? Am I still inside of my head?"

Then, I heard a voice.

"Willy! There you are! Staring at the ocean as usual, huh?"

At that moment, I felt my heart stop inside of my chest upon recognizing the voice. A voice that was feminine and one that I've only heard back when I was a kid. But it couldn't have been her. Not her. I slowly turned around, and when I saw who it was, I felt my body freeze up in shock.

Standing before me was a young woman with brown hair that matched mine in color and just went past her shoulders, wearing a simple dress. The moment I saw her, my eyes began filling up with tears as my heart filled with joy.

It was my mother.

Immediately, I ran straight towards her and tackled her straight into her lap, embracing her in a hug as tight as I could.

"Mama! It's you! I can't believe it's you!" I sobbed. "You're alive! You're okay!"

"Of course I'm okay," replied my mother. "Is something the matter, squirt? You seem upset."

I pulled away from her while wiping my tears. "Why would I be upset?! I'm fine! Great even!" I said while looking up at her. "You have no idea how much I missed you!"

"What's going on here?" asked another voice. "Something wrong with you, son?"

I looked up, and I saw another familiar face. He was a tall young man who was a bit taller than my Mom, had short black hair, and wore simple clothing.

This man was my father.

"Papa! You're here, too!" I cried happily as I rushed straight towards him. "You have no idea how happy I am to see you!"

"Whoa. You okay there, Willy?" asked my father. "You're acting a bit weird."

"I know, right? You sure you're not sick or something?" asked my mother as she felt my head. "Maybe you should go home and lie down. We did have a long day today."

"Don't worry, I'm fine! In fact, I'm the happiest I've ever been in a long time!" I said. "In fact, I've wanted to see you for so long! I've got so much to tell you both! Can we both go somewhere where we can talk?"

"Well, since we're going home anyway, I don't see why not," smiled my father. "Besides, we gotta get ready for another day of fishing lessons."

"That's right! And you and I have got some swimming practice to catch up on!" said my mother with a thumbs up. "Tomorrow, I'm going to teach you something that I know you're going to love!"

They each took one of my hands, and the three of us started walking away from the shore. I couldn't help but feel so happy that I was bubbling with excitement. However, that didn't last very long as the hands belonging to my parents left my hands, and the scenery around me quickly changed while going dark.

My eyes then snapped open as I found myself lying on my back in bed, staring up at the ceiling. Before I could react, my mother burst into the room, rushing straight over to me.

"Willy! Get up! Now! We have to go!" she spoke urgently.

Before I could ask what was going on, my mother pulled me out of bed and quickly walked out of my room and towards the back of the house. The two of us ran out of the house, and I was welcomed to the sight of the horror that awaited outside. Fire blazed everywhere, and people were screaming in terror as they tried to flee with their lives.

It was then that I realized what was going on. This was the day. The day when I lost everything.

My mother ran as fast as she could while carrying me until we were in the forest. It was then that my mom put me into a hole in a tree.

"Listen, Willy. I'll lead those bad men away from you, so they don't hurt you, okay?" my mother spoke. "Stay quiet, and don't make a sound until I say it's safe."

"But Mama!" I protested, knowing full well what was going to happen. "You can't!"

But my mother wrapped me in a hug, squeezing tightly. "It'll be okay. I promise," she whispered kindly. "And also, I want you to know that I love you, and I always will."

She then covered up the opening with some dead bushes and then ran off, leaving me behind.

"Damn it all!" I screamed in thought. "It's happening all over again!"

I came out from my hiding place, pushing the bushes out of the way, and started running back towards the village.

"I have to stop her! I have to stop her no matter what!" I continued to tell myself. "Then, my mother won't have to die! I'll be able to see her again! And everything will go back to normal!"

But once again, the scenery changed, and I found myself standing before a tree. In front of it was my mother, who was as bloody and lifeless as when I last saw her. All I could do was stare, my eyes were wide with horror, and my heart wrung with sadness and despair once more.

"No... Not again. Not again," I murmured as I fell to my hands and knees while tears overflowed from my eyes. "Damn it... Damn it all! I couldn't do anything!"

Then, I heard two more familiar voices.

"Young Willy, I'm afraid that your foster father, Finn, has passed away."

"Willy, you know as well as I do that there was nothing I could do nor could I have done when it came to Finn. You know that. And believe me, I wanted more than anything to save him, but it was already too late."

Those voices were my memories of Jura and Tu Chi telling me about Finn dying. As I remembered those times, I could still remember how crushed I was when I found out. Not only that, but I started remembering Momon and Éclair, Momon for giving up his life to free Éclair, the girl herself of whom I was forced to kill to stop the phoenix. Those instances made me wracked with guilt as I continued to sit on my knees in despair.

"It's all my fault. It's all my fault!" I yelled as I slammed my fist to the floor. "None of them wouldn't have had to die if it wasn't for me! They'd still be alive!"

"Why bother blaming yourself?" asked a voice. "After all, it's like I've been telling you right from the start."

I looked up to find that the woman had mysteriously reappeared before me, and I found myself back in the landscape we were in before.

"You didn't kill your parents. You didn't kill Finn. You didn't even kill Éclair and Momon," the woman went on. "The world took them away from you. It, along with the people who live in it, takes everything we love. Satoshi murdered your parents out of jealousy, Finn was killed because that mistress woman wanted him dead, and Éclair and Momon were forced to die because of a foolish prince's own greed. Every single human in the world can't be trusted and only care about themselves. The only things you can trust are yourself and me."

She then held out her hand to me.

"Join with me, Willy. Make our connection to each other permanent," the woman continued. "Together, no one will be able to stand in our way. No one will be able to stop us. No one will be able to hurt you ever again. And most all, everything we've ever wanted will be ours. All you need to do is let me in."

I stared up at the woman and then at her hand. At this point, I was so desperate and guilt-ridden that I didn't care what happened to me at this point. All I wanted was to escape this pain and sorrow.

I then slowly reached out towards her hand, ready to take it and sell my soul, but then a hand grabbed hold of my wrist, stopping me just before I grabbed it.

"Now, hold on a minute there. Don't go making a bad decision just because you're at your lowest," said a male's voice. "Besides, it's not like you to give up so easily."

I looked up towards who the hand belonged to, and I couldn't believe my eyes. A man with short orange hair now stood before me, his eyes filled with a warm kindness that was the same from long ago back when he was still alive.

When I saw him, I could feel a smaller glimmer of light up in me as I murmured his name in shock.

"F-Finn!"

The man in question smiled. "It's been a long time, Willy. Good to see you again."

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