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I advise that you reread what Shah said to Daniel and Uraku at the end of Chapter 1 before starting this. I added Shah's dialogue after I posted the first chapter, so you may have missed it...or perhaps a refresher could help :3.

Chapter 2: The Evil Within

Daniel had awakened around two in the morning the next day. He was covered by a snoring tiger and the ceiling of the dark cavern. Well, he didn't really awaken...he just couldn't sleep, and decided to get up at two. Shah's words were burnt into his mind, and he couldn't come to terms with what he was supposed to be. And yet...after he thinks about the life he's lived...he notices the strengthening lust for violence. He didn't even care if the violence was inflicted on himself sometimes...it in fact aroused him. What kind of sick, twisted, vile person was he becoming?

He couldn't stay with Uraku. The tiger's life was in danger as long as he was around him now. He'll never get the chance to finish what he wanted to say to the tiger before Shah interrupted. He slowly got up to his feet, stealth guiding him away from the cave without making a sound, even in the fallen leaves. He looked back again and again, his heart tearing apart as he saw the sleeping tiger disappear in the distance. His heart was burdened heavily at the thought of losing the one he loved...but he either had to lose him this way, or lose him in death. "Good bye...Uraku." Daniel shed his tears as he began running. Each stomp on the ground alerted Daniel to how much further he was getting from his love, and yet how much safer Uraku was...and so was his world. Without Daniel around Uraku, the tiger would live to save their world as Shah had predicted. How Daniel was supposed to save the world in the book as an evil man...he didn't have a clue.

"Daniel...don't do this." Somebody was talking to him in his head. The voice sounded exactly like his own...and it wasn't just himself thinking. Somebody was speaking to him from another plane of existence...or something. Daniel shook his head, yelling loudly, "I have to!" The tears were leaving a trail of despair behind him, each leaf feeling crushed under the weight of Daniel's burden as he let out the emotion he needed help carrying. The fallen leaves were there to support the male's sorrow, and take their share of his grief as he ran and ran.

"Daniel...you're overreacting...grow up and think, moron!" There it was again...his own voice urging him to reconsider running. Daniel held his hands on his head, screaming at the top of his lungs as he made it out of the woods and back onto the road. He needed to put this evil in its place...He couldn't let himself live free if he would have the desire to shed innocent blood. "You will NOT hurt any others anymore...do you hear me!" Daniel made his way toward the nearby police station. He had to turn himself in...he had to prevent his evil self from being loosed on a world not ready for more tyranny than it already has. What if the end of the world...was him? What if Uraku was to save the world by slaying the evil Daniel?

"Evil is not what you think it is, fool..." Daniel kept running, hearing the voice in his mind going on and on about something...not listening to it anymore as his gaze fixated on the large building he recognized as the local police department. He smiled as he got close...he was going insane. He didn't know right from left...good from bad...here from there. Nothing made sense...his mind was twisted with despair and regret. He wanted it all to end...and the sweet hands of justice would do him in to save him from this suffering.

He barged open the front doors, stumbling forward and flailing his arms as he rushed to the main desk. He looked up to see the startled woman behind the bulletproof pane window, cops all around rushing at Daniel. Daniel looked at one of the cops who almost had his hand on his arm and forgot the importance of looking ahead at just the wrong time. He rammed his head into the bulletproof pane, and he was knocked out cold.

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"Daniel...we need to talk."

Daniel opened his eyes, looking around to see nothing but waves of gray, wild sand surrounding him. He was floating in the air, his body feeling the familiar feel of gravity, but he was easily floating. He looked around him, wondering if this was purgatory. Perhaps he had ended it after all. He jumped back as he laid his eyes on...himself. The Daniel he looked at was perfectly similar to himself, but a black aura emanated from his body. The other Daniel was shrouded with an evil aura it seemed...symbolizing Daniel's evil form. They two of them stared at each other, the evil Daniel sharing an odd expression. He was showing...concern.

"Daniel...stand up. I need to show you something." Evil Daniel held out his hand, smiling at Daniel to offer a sort of comfort. Daniel had nothing to lose now, and decided to take the hand of his darker half to see where they would go. Evil Daniel sighed. "Listen...I'm about to show you what true evil is...and once we are done...I guarantee you'll accept what you are...what I am." The gray sand around them began forming images around them. Outlines of trees and rocks surrounded them, and beneath their feet a river was being formed. Soon color and substance began taking root in the scene they were levitating in. The world became a dense rainforest. The smells and sounds were absent...only the sights making their presence known. Evil Daniel tugged on Daniel's hand, pointing him down to the scene he wanted examined. A jaguar was ravaging a baby gorilla for dinner, the sight of the gore making Daniel want to vomit. He normally felt okay...or excited by this, but this time he was utterly disgusted. "Daniel...where is the evil in this scene?" Daniel pointed at the jaguar without a second to spare. "And why is that jaguar evil?" Evil Daniel waited for a response.

"Because he is killing an innocent gorilla." Answered Daniel. Evil Daniel shook his head, chuckling a bit. "Daniel...this scene has no evil. This is your first lesson. You cannot tie evil to the simple shedding of blood. This jaguar is doing what it must do to live on, and as sick as nature is, he's forced to kill to eat. If he showed any pity for these animals, he would starve to death...an end much more gruesome than a swift crushing of the jugular. This is something simple for most to understand, and why even members of PETA don't interfere with these acts of nature. Animals sometimes just have to kill each other for sustenance."

Daniel nodded. His evil counterpart had a good point...and he's heard this said before. He still thought it was horrible though...and this didn't help him come to terms with his own evilness at all. "Now...let's take a look at somebody you might know from history class." The world began to shift around wildly.

The scene became a large gathering of soldiers. They all faced in the same direction as one man seemed to be giving a speech. It didn't take long for Daniel to figure out where he was. On each of the soldiers' shoulders he saw that infamous symbol...the circular array of four backwards sevens...the symbol used to show the intensity of one's hate against a group of people. "Nazis..." Daniel muttered, feeling a repulsion wash over him. He was obviously not alive during the Second World War, but he heard stories of the sickening things these evil humans did to the Jews. Mustard gas...pointless work...starvation. They all deserved to burn in hell for their treachery.

And there he was...the one who ran the whole show. Adolf Hitler...

"Daniel...do you know why Hitler did what he did?" Evil Daniel looked at Daniel with a serious expression. Daniel was firm in his response. "Because he had a heart of true evil. He loved to cause suffering and death. His heart was filled with desire for destruction." Evil Daniel shrugged. "Well, you're right about one thing...his heart was full of evil. However, you have to think deeper...what was his main goal? What did he want out of all of this suffering and pain?" Daniel stood there, thinking back to his history classes where he listened to Adolf Hitler's speeches dubbed in English. The answer hit him and he recited what he remembered. "Hitler wanted to create a master race, a pure race of Aryans. He wanted to make the world perfect." Evil Daniel nodded, looking at the silent, yet loud through hand gestures, Hitler. "You must understand that when he set out on this quest...he had intentions to bring the world to a better place. He may have been wrong...but if you consider what he truly believed, he would have been going for perfection in possibly the only logical way...by force."

Daniel scratched his head, looking over at Evil Daniel with a gaze of confusion. "I don't understand...how is this supposed to help me?" Evil Daniel gently pushed Daniel onto his butt, standing in front of him to give his speech.

"Daniel, good and evil isn't different in their ends...but in their means. Both sides have the same goal in mind. We both want to create a utopia. Our methods in achieving this end differ so greatly that we have waged war on each other about which way is right since the dawn of time. My alignment, evil, is the quick answer to the world's problems. True evil forces its shame and guilt into submission to achieve the ultimate goal of a Utopia. If Hitler's conquest had continued without the interference of the U.S., then by now, the world could have been a peaceful world full of agreement and friendship. In essence...what true evil achieves in the end...is righteousness."

"There is another type of evil, the evil which you and I are destined to face together. This other evil uses our means of achieving a Utopia, but the end result is preplanned to be suffering. It hungers for suffering and destruction for its own sake, a sickening twist of what true evil is. These misinterpretations have fed the war between good and evil and raised the death tolls to unimaginable numbers. Daniel...you heard what Nick said that day in speech class. Drayak had most of the world under his rule, and he made them into slaves. True evil would purge the world of the inferior and the ill-willed to create the perfect lineage of people to live on and better the world."

"Right and wrong must not be differentiated by good and evil...but rather by how the one in question wants their world to become in the end. Daniel...think of what Shah said, and tell me what you want to happen."

Daniel was dazed for a moment, unable to quickly respond as his evil counterpart's words turned everything he knew into mush. Everything was starting to make some sort of clear sense, and he could almost accept himself. If Daniel truly wanted to bring peace to the world at the end...does it really matter how he does it?

Daniel looked up at his evil self, smiling a bit as he responded. "I want to help Uraku save Earth from whatever tragedy is awaiting us, and then I want to go with him back to his world and save his world...and then I want to live happily with Uraku forever..." Evil Daniel nodded approvingly. "Daniel...that is exactly what I want." Daniel's grinned with such joy to hear those words. His good and evil sides were on the same page, but he needed to have some questions answered before he could fully accept what he was.

"How do you explain the bloodlust I felt in school that day after Nick and I had that little disagreement? I wanted to kill so many people out of rage. Surely that's the wrong kind of evil, is it not?" The other snickered, scratching behind his head as he looked a little ashamed. "Well...to be honest, most people don't feel that way when they're mad. This is just a little kink I developed to help get over our fear of blood. Remember how the sight of blood made you vomit as a kid? Well...I forced us to get aroused by it. This bloodlust is sickening, but it helps. And think about that bat...ooh, that bat." Daniel started to feel sick as the memories came flooding back. "Oh...sorry, I forgot it was only my kink. Anyway, you actually inflicted suffering upon that creature...or rather I did. However, given the circumstances, the being was seen as a threat to achieving a Utopia. It had to be done, and trying to reason with it like good would do just seemed...pointless. We never acted on our desire to burn down the school. There's no harm in thinking about causing pointless havoc among the innocent so long as you don't act on those thoughts."

Daniel nodded to his evil self, very pleased with the answer. He had one last question...

"What about Shah? The way he spoke about the evil in me...or rather...the way he spoke about you made you seem so much worse than Drayak." Evil Daniel approached Daniel, placing a gentle hand on his shoulder as he smiled comfortably down to the good side of himself. "The fake evil simply wants others to suffer for suffering's sake. It will toy with all who oppose it by giving others a false hope. Drayak is holding back his true power to bring out the false hope in all whom he enslaves, giving them a reason to live on and suffer rather than die. True evil such as myself...we don't typically toy around. If true evil wants someone dead, they don't hide their strength to toy with their hopes and dreams. We do what we can to dispose of them quickly and effectively. This reminds me...I have one last thing that is very important to tell you."

"Daniel...without your side...the good side...I will eventually become this fake evil. When true evil gets too much blood to taste, the lust for more destruction can blind him. Adolf Hitler did end up becoming like this...hence the work camps. Some righteous people who know everything I said to you already also know about this. This is why you grew up learning to be a 'good boy'. Although I dislike the good means of achieving a Utopia due to the long inefficient process it requires...it's a guaranteed method to work in the long run."

"This is where you come in. Daniel, I know you're about to accept me as your evil side, but do not let me take control of your heart more often just because of this. You always resisted me when I tried to take hold of your desires and bend them to my own, and it has kept me in check all this time. You must continue to resist me...but whenever all hope seems lost, and you don't know what to do next...release your inner darkness. It will always come with the risk of us becoming the filthy evil that I currently detest...but in the face of death, I'd rather become a monster. I fear death that much, Daniel...don't you?"

Daniel nodded. He indeed was afraid of death. But if his evil counterpart was afraid, then something didn't add up. "Wait...if you're afraid of death, then why did you want to rescue everybody from Qurrah despite the obvious danger?" Evil Daniel knelt down, still holding Daniel's shoulder as he looked into his eyes. "Because I loved Uraku...I didn't care what happened to the others...I just wanted Uraku to be safe..." Evil Daniel shed a tear, Daniel doing the same as they both now knew a similar feeling they had. They both loved Uraku...and they would face their greatest fear in order to save him...hell...even to just be with him. They had grown out of their lusty desires for everything that moved, and found the one they wanted to share their lives with.

Daniel and his evil counterpart stood up, Daniel holding out his hand. Evil Daniel took Daniel's hand in his own as they both shook. Daniel had accepted his evil side now...his true evil side. The comfort of knowing what he truly was gave him his sanity back. The world around him began to fade away, the two Daniels joining together slowly before the world became a pitch black.

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Daniel opened his eyes to see a cinderblock directly in front of him. The first thing he noticed on the cinderblock was a series of tick marks, seven marks of five and two extra marks symbolizing the number thirty-seven. He reached out to touch the tick marks, feeling the dull grooves in the tough cement. He turned onto his back as he felt the partially soft surface beneath him and the pillow cradling his head. He thought back to the last thing he saw before his encounter with...himself.

"Aw crap..." Daniel sat up in the bed he was in, looking to his left to see what he knew he would see. The series of vertical iron bars that prevented him from leaving the small room told him where he was. He had no neighbors, although that could have been a good thing considering where he was.

Daniel remained calm. Something about knowing what he truly was helped him stay cool in a rough time like this. He had someone he could count on to make things right if shit hit the fan...at least he hoped. Daniel knew he needed to try and sort this out on his own before he let his other side do it for him. He was already in enough trouble as it is.

For now, he would wait. He couldn't do anything as long as he was locked up in jail. At least he still had his book with him. Perhaps it was time to check up on the gang inside. Daniel opened up "Paws of Fire", and began to read from the point where Uraku left the book.