This scene takes place in The Sun and The Warrior, during the last chapter, Revelation.
DogDay experiences a tramatic nightmare, and Koa does her best to comfort him in the aftermath.
It was dark. Pitch black darkness all around.
It was quiet. So quiet that it was unsettling.
Red Smoke started to surround him.
It was then he could hear their screams.
They were faint at first, but they started to grow louder. More intense. More blood-curdling.
DogDay looked all around him. But he could see nothing through the smoke. Nothing but pitch blackness.
He ran in the direction of their screams. But every so often, he stopped. He didn't really know which way to go.
The screaming was everywhere.
He ran to his left.
"Hoppy?! Kickin'?!"
Louder screaming made him turn to his right.
"Crafty?! Bubba?! Picky?! Bobby?!"
But then a new scream made him freeze dead in his tracks.
It was her scream.
"ANGEL?!"
He ran straight ahead through the darkness. Through the thick smoke.
But then he stepped in something wet that made him slip and fall onto his stomach.
With a groan, he looked to his feet to see what he slipped in, but he started to tremble, as he saw his feet and his stomach were stained a familiar shade of crimson.
The very shade of blood.
He could even smell the irony, metallic smell of blood.
He looked forward ahead of him, and saw the mangled, exploded corpse of Hoppy Hopscotch not two feet in front of him.
He started to tremble harder.
Looking ahead, KickinChicken's mutilated corpse appeared out of nowhere from the smoke. It looked as if he were mauled to death.
He stood up, and slowly walked ahead, though the black ground he stood on started to flood with blood.
As he passed Kickin's corpse, another corpse appeared. It was unhealthily skinny. You could count every bone in its body. You could see the outlines of the bones even.
"Bobby," DogDay whispered sadly.
Beyond Bobby's corpse, was Bubba Bubbaphant's dismembered corpse. You could see where CatNap had slashed at him when he killed him. Three deep scratches were seen along Bubba's throat.
The blood DogDay was treading through was not above his ankles. The smell of it was growing stronger.
Just then, he saw the dismembered corpse of CraftyCorn. Again, you could she where the killing blow was delivered to her wrists on her arms, which were laying several feet from her torso. Only, these wounds were obviously self-inflicted.
DogDay's eyes started to flood with tears. It was getting harder to tread through the thick crimson lake of blood, which was now halfway up his shins.
Just then, he saw the hollowed-out corpse of PickyPiggy. Her flesh looked as fragile as dried leaves.
Another scream sounded. The familiar sound of Angel's screams when CatNap had injured her during his attack.
Then, there was a splashing sound nearby.
DogDay followed the direction the ripples in the blood, which was now above his knees, came from.
He didn't have to travel far though.
There, drowning in the pool of blood, was the severely mutilated corpse… of Angel.
"No… no… no no NO! ANGEL!"
He knelt down and scooped up Angel in his arms. Despite being drenched in blood, he could see she was covered in deep lacerations. She had also been eviscerated, as her insides were hanging from her abdomen. And her head was nearly severed from her neck.
"Angel," DogDay sobbed. "Please, no. Please no!"
"This is what happens to pathetic, trespassing heretics!" He heard CatNap hiss behind him.
"She was who you thought could 'save' you? She was the one you believed in? How foolish," CatNap growled closer.
By now, the blood had risen past his waist. Though he no longer paid any mind. He didn't care if he was in danger of drowning.
Angel was dead. His friends were dead. Nothing mattered anymore. He had no reason to go on.
Not anymore.
"I should kill you for all your defiance. But I'm feeling generous," CatNap growled sadistically, right in DogDay's ear.
"Instead, you will live with the knowledge of how you failed as a leader. How you failed to save your friends. How you failed to protect them. How you failed to protect your precious angel."
CatNap was circling him now in the blood. It was now nearly to his shoulders. DogDay looked to Angel's face, which was now nearly submerged in the blood. He lifted her slightly to bring her closer to his face, and he nuzzled her apologetically.
He then turned to the corpses of his fallen Critters. Their bodies were floating in the blood, but then they started to sink.
STAB
With that noise, he turned and saw CatNap. The fingers of the Prototype impaling his head through his mouth. Instead of raising his body up, the Prototype suddenly dragged his body down into the blood, causing a large splash, which splashed DogDay across the face. The ripples in the blood rode over Angel's face.
The next second, the blood rose high enough to completely conceal her body.
DogDay made no effort to lift her out of the blood.
Instead, he resigned himself to his fate.
"DogDay?"
He faintly heard Angel's voice.
He looked around. But saw nothing. Nothing but crimson smoke above the blood, which was now to his neck.
"DogDay?"
It was louder this time. As if she was right there. And he felt something soft touching his shoulder.
His strength renewed, he tried to struggle in the thick liquid, but he couldn't move. It was as if the blood had become a tar trap.
"ANGEL! HELP ME!" He called out.
"DogDay!"
He tried to follow her voice, but the blood was rising to his face now. He leaned his head back to keep his face above the surface a little longer, but it only lasted barely five seconds before he was completely submerged.
"DogDay!"
….
….
"DogDay!" Koa called out as she tried to shake DogDay awake, who did awake with a loud gasp.
You could compare it to him gasping for breath after being held under water for too long.
DogDay leaned back on his legs and held his hand to his chest, gasping for air.
"DogDay," Koa called again. She sat up in her bed, but her still healing injuries prevented her from making more moves.
Kissy, who was leaning against the far wall, stood up and carefully approached DogDay. Once she was by his side, she gently hugged him around his shoulders.
That seemed to help as DogDay started to calm down. Once his breathing was stable, he looked over to Kissy, and returned the hug.
"DogDay," Koa gently called out again.
DogDay tensed up, loosened his hold on Kissy, and slowly turned to Koa.
Koa would never forget the look on his face. It was a look of relief. Pain. Guilt.
DogDay started to tremble, and his eyes flooded with tears.
The next second, he had his arms wrapped around Koa's torso and he had his head pressed against her chest in a tight hug. And he had broken down into a sobbing fit.
Koa was surprised, but at the same time, she understood. DogDay had suffered a nightmare.
She wrapped her left arm around his head under his chin, her right arm around his shoulders, and she placed her head on top of his in comfort.
"Angel… Angel," he sobbed.
"I'm here," she whispered quietly in comfort. "I'm here."
"He's still tormenting me!" DogDay sobbed. "He's still hurting me!"
"Shh," Koa gently comforted. "It's okay. Let it out."
DogDay wailed loudly. He released all his pain. All his heartbreak. He held Angel close, and she reciprocated it.
DogDay cried. And cried. And cried.
He relived the nightmare again. Seeing his dead friends. Holding Angel's mutilated corpse in his hands. Drowning in blood.
Even witnessing CatNap's death.
After a while, he calmed down slightly. That was when he heard it and felt it.
Angel's heartbeat.
It was so soothing. So calming.
The very reminder that she was still alive. And she was comforting him.
He focused on her heart. He focused on her arms holding him. He felt her hand rubbing his back.
He couldn't remember the last time he felt this safe.
This comforted.
He closed his eyes, and this time, the nightmares stayed away.