Timeline Crisis?! Working with the Past Cures?! We'll fight Again and Again!! #3

Chapter 14: Demise

There was nothing else to do but wait.

But with every passing hour was agony. Jikan's words continued to echoed inside Ace's head every time he so much as bothered to close his tired eyes.
I won't fail like Raven and Terran did...I play a bit differently.... I can't wait for the fun I'll have in playing with my other self, or the past cures, or even seeing the timelines crumble into one with the present cures begging for mercy.....Once that's all done I'll make sure to marry Lillian to become a king....Then finish her off afterward, making my takeover of the timelines even better!!

He had not heard a single word from Akemi's cell, it frightened him on how quiet it was. He had no idea how much time had even passed. Was it hours? Days? Months? Even those thoughts drove him insane. Ace had to shake his head multiple times to shove those thoughts away. He had to have faith. He had to trust they would all be fine.

"I'm fine, it's going to be okay!" he repeated over and over. The energy ring holding him captive quivered softly to his voice. That's when he heard a familiar voice. It was soft at first and Ace paid it no mind but it grew louder and stronger. It tugged the back of his mind until finally the voice turned into a scream.

It was the kind of scream that made anyone's blood run cold. It pierced the brain and ignited some primeval pathway. Adrenaline surged through Ace's veins, fight or flight, stand or run. It awakened his paternal and maternal instincts. There's no one capable of making that sound except Sora.

Ace pulled at the energy ring. Miraculously, the energy ring shattered and he took off running, knowing it might be a trap, knowing Jikan-Senshi could attack him at any moment, but he couldn't help himself. There's another high-pitched cry, this time his name.

"Papa!! Papa!!'

''Sora!!'' Ace shouted back, so she would know he was near. So Jikan would know he was near, and hopefully the ex-king who allowed himself to be kidnapped and managed to escape will be enough to pull the attention from her. "Sora! I'm coming!"

Ace broke into the clearing of the chamber, breathless and exhausted. He looks up to see Sora tied to a web with chains on her arms and legs, tears in her eyes. She had somehow reverted to her teen years, but Ace paid no attention and focused on reaching her. She had just enough time to call out one more time before Jikan's arm entered her body.

It seemed like time slowed and as quickly froze at the events happening before him. His heart stopped as his eyes strained out of focus, his jaw went slack. Slowly....he inched his eyes upwards. Jikan-Senshi dislodged his arm from Sora. Her face. She still had tears in her eyes, but her face was contorted in bewilderment. Ace never felt his knees collapse under him as he let out rapid gasps. Sora landed on the ground with such force that sent tremors through Ace with each impact. He extended one hand as if he would so much be able to touch her.

She had already bleed to death and hadn't moved. Ace continued to let out shrilled gasps, clenching and unclenching his fists, and yelled like a wounded animal. His cries resounded and Jikan-Senshi wiped his hand, a smile reaching his cheekbones.

Around where he lay, black vines of mutated ivy had formed a kind of pod or shell, all woven together in a tabgld mess. Ace did not panic; instead he'd felt only a kind of calming acceptance, as if it were the most natural thing in the world. He gathered his knees closer to himself. Sora was dead. The only thing that had kept him going was gone. She was his reason he could go on.

Only the vines and plants seemed to promise any kind of real and permanent safety to him. Many of the plants' toxic alkaloids of berries and leaves were bitter-----nature's weapon of slf-protection. He too felt a kind of deep bittrness growing in himself, a bitternesshe'd never quite felt before, and he did not hate it. This was what happened to a person when happiness proved itself to be flawed: He found ways to guard himself, protect himself. He became as bitter as the vines, the plants, the poison itself.

And what was so bad about that? Ace thought in his cocoon. Wasn't that natural? Happiness filled a person up. And when it was gone, and left an empty hole. Something had to take it's place. Bitterness was the urge toward survival in the face of danger. Just as alkaloid. Happiness would not disappoint him again.

"Who am I to disagree? Some of them want to use you. Some of them want to be used to you. Sweet dreams are made of this."

His sin was his focus: He had asked for too much for himself. It was wrong to have thought he could take his satisfactory life and add more happiness to it without distorting the balance of everything and ruining what he already had.

Ace looked at the vines and cocoon he had made for himself. He was truly all alone. Quietly he sobbed, curling into a ball, not caring if the vines warped or distorted even further, even if they engulfed everything before they were done. They continued to shift and change as his tears and anger fused into one.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

"You...bastard..." Akemi coughed out. She had black circles under her eyes and had trouble breathing. "Doing...something...like that..." she slumped in a daze.
"But I had too, you know?" Jikan-Senshi let out a laugh. He circled the feeble Akemi as he thought of his new creation and couldn't stop laughing. "A new obstacle in their path. It proves how cunning I truly am...." his eyes glowed murky green.

"I can't wait for the next phase to begin. My successor shall be born...soon."

"Successor?!" Akemi yelled. "Haven't you done enough?!"

"Not enough." Jikan felt his whole body overflow. "There's a reason...why I'm like this..."

"Are you sure you weren't just born that way?" Akemi sneered and Jikan lost his smile and was covered by a look of pity

"I was cursed. Doomed to exile in my timline. If I want my curse to end I'll have to pass it on. Of course only someone who----"

Footsteps. Firm and loud. Jikan sighed before crossing his arms. "Your little friends are here...I have no use for you any longer."
As suddenly as the footsteps appeared Jikan-Senshi vanished in thin air.

"Akemi!!" Dynasty, Serpent, and Armor called in joy and shock.

"Everyone!" Akemi cried out, happy to see her best friends. Dynasty sliced the energy ring as Serpent embraced her in a hug.
"We're so happy to see you! For a second we had no idea where we were!" Serpent started to cry. "We woke up not far from here and we could hear your voice!"

"Ah...." Akemi gasped. "Your crushing me..."
"Sorry!" Serpent pulled away. "We have a lot of explaining to do."

Akemi waved her hand dismissively and her face tightened. "No. You don't. Because I do."

The trio stared at her in confusion as Akemi reached for her bracelet still suspended in air. "We're about to have company." She pointed at the open gate which was slowly being surrounded and covered by the black vines. The group huddled together and narrowed their eyes but they never quite noticed that they were being turned to stone until it was too late.