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Chapter 21: Negotiations

"You know, I tried so hard to get you to see me when we first met." At first, I was startled, because I couldn't see him. In fact, all I could see was the people in front of me, still staring down, watching me from above. I tried to speak, but nothing came. So instead,I thought, "What if he's in my mind?" which he responded to immediately, confirming this theory. "Exactly! Well, sort of. You see, we're the same person. The only thing is, I live in your mind, keeping you safe from the outside world where rules are kept. But now that we're here, where rules don't apply, I have been building you. Our past setbacks are nothing, and you have the ability to do something amazing." He finished that with a grim smile, I couldn't see it, though I could feel it. "Why are you here?" I thought. "I just told you, I'm here as your consciousness, your great mind... I'm the beast inside of you." as he said beast, i could see as my eyes grew redder. I couldn't tell why he was putting me in a comatose state, but I used it, and asked another question: "Why do I have these powers?" There was no response for a long time. In fact, as my question ended, the comatose state was lifted, as though he was trying not to answer. I don't know if he was mad or just thinking, though he never answered.

    We had been driving for a few days now, and the people I was with took me in pretty quickly. They gave me more backstory, telling me about the great powers the Reaper had. Originally, he was known as Copycat, a man who could take and copy the strengths and powers of other foes. He had been a great man back in Cerual, a place now covered in dust, but originally the great practice grounds for Supers. "There were a couple others there, but I think he killed most of them... The only ones I don't think he got were the Grounder, and some sort of twins, but one of the twins would keep disappearing, very odd," said Stasha, as I now know. We talked more about the man inside me, and I learned that he used his ability to battle the great Scattler king, who died to the fatal blow of his throat being slit. It was the first time he felt the power that The Scattler king had, and he decided to keep it. "What happened after that?" I asked. There was a second of silence before she said, "He became the Reaper." the sentence was one I felt I knew, and for a long time, had been waiting to hear. I waited for something else to happen, but nothing came, leaving me a little sad, feeling something was missing from the story. They were packing up a again, pushing everything back into the busses. I quickly stood up, and fell right back down, unconscious.

    "I see you learned how we got our powers," he said. This time, I could see him. He was built just like me, though he wore a more darkened suit, with the scars over his face. "They went ahead and told you my story, but they didn't tell you it all, did they?" I was confused, so I questioned him. "What do you mean?" and before i could even finish, he answered, simply with a name. And as he said it, a grim smile krept over his face. "...Peter..."