Broken Wings

~14~

There was a spark.

No, not one you would see, like from a roaring fire, but a noise.

In the darkness, he could hear it ever so quietly. Someone was talking, but he couldn't quite make out who.

He listened carefully, just barely hearing each word. Some were jumbled, but he eventually put them together...

"You know I never wanted this!"

"Oh please, your friends always killed you first before, now was your moment for revenge! You know it was what you wanted."

"No, it wasn't! You know I never wanted to kill them! I NEVER wanted to end the lives of my friends!

"I've looked through your memories, and I know just as well as you that ending their pitiful lives was the only thing that would satisfy you."

"Get out of my head."

"Huh? I helped you succeed, made it so you were never caught!"

"I said get out of my head! I don't know who you are, but leave me alone at least! After what you did, I... I need to grieve..."

"Ugh, you really don't understand do you? They can't be dead Yknow! Or did the fact that you're a humanoid cat slip your mind?"

"They... they aren't dead?"

"Not yet they aren't, but soon they will be! I've already started packing your bags, and the flights have been booked, courtesy of yours truly!"

"How the... are you saying that you're...? This makes no sense!"

"Ever since you touched your book, you let me in! I have full control! Even of the real you! Almost..."

"Why... Why would you make me do this..."

"It's too bad, you even promised the bird he'd get his 'revenga'. Looks like that didn't go too well!"

"They already died in this sick game, don't bring this into reality!"

"Oh, but we have to! Otherwise, this'd all be for nothing! First stop, Phoenix himself!"

"You're sick..."

Phoenix...

He remembered, though he could only hear, he remembered. Phoenix, that was him. He was Phoe!

It was then that the memories came flooding back...

"Haze!"

He called out, but there was no response. The darkness was so close, creeping in, and it seemed to swallow up his voice.

"I'm not letting you do this."

"Oh really?"

"Look, if you're really going to ruin my life, at least show yourself."

"Fine, fine..."

There was light, so blinding that Phoenix had to blink. He could only feel his eyes so far, all the rest was just inky blackness. Then, he felt his wing- no, hand? He had hands again?

Phoenix couldn't move his arm, but he could move his fingers just barely. This would take him a little bit to get used to again.

He could see now, standing on a platform of white right in front of him, a human-like cat stood, facing a human.

"Who am I? That's not important right now. The only thing that matters, is that now I'm you!"

The man facing Haze, was easily recognizeable. Phoenix had seen his friend's actual face plenty of times, and realized how taunting it must feel for Haze to be staring at himself.

The human Haze grinned at the cat, who glared back.

"Why do you look like me?!"

"Because right now, I am you. If you take a closer look you'd realize that you've been taking a lot of naps in the real world. Of course, not to say that this world isn't real."

"I don't want this, you know that..."

"Oh? Really? I thought you wanted to see me! Oh well, maybe another time."

Then, everything in front of him faded to black once more...

~~~

I hope you're all as excited as I am for the last chapter! It's the longest of them all, and it's gonna be epic! I wonder what Haze is going to do about this...?

Thanks for reading! ♡

- Alice W.