Memory Lane

34. Open sesame

34. Open sesame

"come on, a little more...yes, finally. The gateway is opened!!!" Superego delivered the final blow which caused the entire wall to come tumbling down and bury he and Fred under a layer of blue powder. Superego emerged to discover a yellow glowing wave area that represented the Conscious realm and everything that had led Superego to his ultimate goal. Fred soon tunnelled his way out of the rubble and stood up in awe at the golden portal behind them.

"Fred. We finally meet. I can tell you have gotten stronger from your time in the Subconscious" Superego acknowledged without looking back.

"I am not letting you cross that threshold" Fred held two energy balls in his hands, ready to use them.

"see if you can stop me!!" Superego finally lunged back and punched Fred back. He was about to jump into the Conscious realm, but Fred grabbed onto his leg and dragged him back, throwing him further away and enraging him.

"face it, Fred. Your life has been a meaningless slog amounting to nothing. With me in charge, I can make everything better" Superego faked a gleeful smile to make Fred look bad about his predicament.

"you're insane!!" Fred replied.

"what else is new?" Superego told Fred, then charged at him again to continue their battle. Back inside the Memory Palace, Silhouette had managed to outdo the last dark soldiers and had turned his attention to finally getting rid of Persona once and for all.

"you cannot escape me, shadow!!" Persona stepped down the hallways of the second floor, before Silhouette popped out from beneath him.

"no, but maybe she can" Silhouette pointed up across the floor tiles.

"what?" Persona looked back up to see Anima lunge and stab him with a spear.

"great to have you. Did you get Ego?" Silhouette rested by Anima.

"not exactly" Anima responded.

"for now, he can wait. We have bigger problems to take care of" Silhouette creeped up the wall before he and Anima prepared to face the final showdown against Persona. After malicious swings and clawing through the air, Persona was finally brought down as Silhouette battered his shadow blue and Anima relentlessly subjected his real body to indescribable pain. Eventually, the gray fog of his body dissipated, leaving only his white mask behind, which Anima stamped on to break and end Persona's curse of existing in the mindscape.

"good to see we finally tied up loose ends" Silhouette felt great pride, but Anima was already out the door to go help Fred fight Superego, with Silhouette quickly following suit. As Silhouette wafted out of the building, the structural damage taken from the fighting proved too great for the walls to bare. In a split second, the entire palace came crashing down into un unrecognizable heap of black and white. This distraction was not enough to keep the shadow from his task of helping Fred get out of the Subconscious.

"give in!!" Superego punched, kicked, and elbowed his way through Fred to the point where he was under Superego's shoe.

"never!!!" Fred said defiantly as Anima and Silhouette arrived.

"your little friends can't help you Fred. I will breach the barrier, and when I do, I will turn your mind and your life into a living hell!!!" Superego looked up to blast the two others away with energy, then back down to Fred.

"when will you learn?!. I have one, you have failed once again. You let your emotions get the better of you and now look. Humbled under my foot" Superego continued.

"at least I care" Fred said.

"that's the problem. You care too much. I certainly do not care if you and your helpers die" Superego pushed his foot even harder into Fred's chest.

"you've made one mistake" Fred said with a desperate gasp of air.

"and what would that be?" Superego took some of the pressure off Fred's chest so he could hear a response.

"jabbering on more than my in-laws" Fred provided a clean diversion, where Anima and Silhouette were able to fight Superego. However, the dark being managed to kick away both heroes to where Fred was standing. It was fortunate that beings of the mindscape had a relatively high rate of durability.

"clever, but where will your pride land you next?" Superego dusted himself off while his enemies gathered again.

"sir" a voice called out from on top of the rubble.

"Ego. You have returned once more and failed me yet again. No matter, you still have a chance to redeem yourself. Crush these pests and together we will be unstoppable!!!" Superego turned to find the source of the voice and coalesce his minion into one final job. Ego had managed to heal his most serious wounds from his fight with Anima, but his presence sent his opponents on edge in a standoff.

"what then?" Ego begged to differ.

"what did you just say?" Superego became angrily surprised.

"what then?. Do we stay in this toxic relationship forever, or will you let me go?" Ego shouted at his creator.

"I will give you whatever you want, just help me" Superego bargained.

"shake on it?" Ego walked over and held out his hand. Superego indeed shook Ego's hand, but his minion's other hand came out from underneath him with an energy beam that scolded Superego's front and caused him to howl in pain.

"TRAITOR!!!" Superego grabbed Ego and threw him accidently through the barrier to the Conscious realm.

"NO!!" Fred held out his arm and was filled with shock.

"wait, no!!. this isn't how it was meant to be. LET ME PASS!!!" Superego suddenly realized his mistake and rushed to the wall, where he was blocked from entering the Conscious realm.