AoN: Countdown to Madness

A Scary Place

Warning: This chapter will contain slight bloodshed. Viewer discretion is advised.

Josh was ready now.

    The pieces are in place, the stage is set. Now all that's left is to prepare for his final resolution. He still silently wondered what he'd do once he finally faced Jack, but it was all but an afterthought at this point. This all started because of him, and now he had to finish it.

    Try as they might, Nightmare and the others failed to sway him the other way. He knew he had to do something instead of laying around in ignorance. To hell with it! He refused to let Jack win and let himself disappear from his life.

You'll need something sharp., Wouldn't want to get your hands messy, after all.

"I still don't know if I'll actually kill him.", he didn't bother lowering his voice.

Then take it just-in-case. If anything, it'll get a good reaction out of him, right?

"I don't need anything sharp.", he said darkly, "If I decide to, I'll do it with my bare hands. I have a capable body, after all."

One that you barely used this entire time., he was at the hall to the arcade room at this point.

"That doesn't mean a thing to me. All that matters is that I..."

    He trailed off, but not because he didn't know what to say next. He didn't even glower at the lanky form floating in front of him. He didn't say anything, he simply gazed at the apparition with a bored expression. He was tired of it, everyone trying to change him. He wanted it to stop because none of them could do it.

"I came to warn you.", Mari said in that same wistful voice.

"Let me guess: I'll lose myself? Go crazy? You're not the first one to say that, y'know."

The phantom seemed to slump slightly, "They care about you, y'know. They really do, and they don't want to see you go down this path."

"I know, but...", Josh sighed, "What else can I do? You and the other phantoms can't leave this place and the Nightmares will be eye candy in the daytime!"

He clenched his first, "I can't let it go that easily. You were able to endure years of heartache and madness, but me? It was basically my life— and the Nightmares changed that."

If it were possible, Mari's gaze would've softened, "Then you're really doing this... Just don't forget that there are others like you, who've lost so much."

He nodded, "Of course. I just feel like I need to finish my story, at least then I can..."

    He stopped again, not needing to say more. The two of them came to understand what the other wanted. Mari, who looked for the truth behind what seems so simple. Josh, who wishes to end the feud that led him to where he is now.

Josh walked past Mari, knowing he wasn't going to be stopped. The phantom didn't speak, his thoughts going as to what will happen next. He wants to stop Josh, but he knows it isn't his place to do so. They only knew each other for a few days, yet they already have a sort of bond growing.

The hall darkened slightly, "He's really going to do it..."

"His mind is made up.", Mari stated, "I don't think any of us can stop him."

"Maybe not us, but there's still someone else."

~~*~~

Jack knew what was coming.