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Interlude 8: Ain't No Mountain

" But when you touch me like this And you hold me like that I just have to admit That it's all coming back to me When I touch you like this And I hold you like that It's so hard to believe but It's all coming back to me (It's all coming back, it's all coming back to me now)"

It's all coming back to me now

Celine Dion

1989

Written by Jim Steinman

Rocky Rose

It is an empty vessel... a hollow shell.

Emptiness... nothingness...

With nothing behind... and nothing ahead...

It merely lived in an empty existence of the present where its actions were driven by the orders of a man obsessed with perfection.

Was it male... or was it female...?

Was it mortal... or god...?

Was it perfect... or just another imperfect specimen...?

It could not tell...

It simply existed.

It felt no pain... It did not know what pain was. It had no recollection of what sensation the word 'pain' was related to. It simply knew that to inflict it upon others was desirable... No... not 'desirable'... that implied it wanted something... but it could not want... for it was hollow... It had nothing to fill... it had no memory of ever missing something or coveting an object.

It simply followed the orders of Randall Belford.

Not out of some sense of respect or because he held authority over it... It followed... simply because that was what it was meant to do.

It felt nothing from that sensation...

No need to truly follow... no sense of accomplishment from meeting Belford's goals... not even a drive to see it accomplished. It merely did...

It felt nothing for its given tasks... In fact, it really did not see at all.

It merely existed.

"But what is existence when you are blind?"

It found that voice alien...

Who spoke...?

In the absolute darkness, a girl manifested in front of its eyes. She was an ursine... Brown fur covered her entire body and her form was hugged by a long, sea foam green dress. Sparkling, emerald green eyes shone even in the lack of light in the darkness.

It watched as the girl bent down towards it and smiled benignly.

"How can you exist in this dump?" she asked, waving at the abject emptiness around her. "Put some more life into it, won't you?" The girl stood up, closing her paws into fists and pumping them into the air. "Come on! Live some! There's a whole world outside of these walls!"

Walls...? What walls...?

The inky blackness peeled away from where they stood and suddenly, it was standing within a courtyard of some sort... High, metal walls rose all around the rectangular plot of land. There were featureless figures moving in odd angles across the field... They were hitting other figures... They all seemed to look like generic, white splotches shaped like men or women. None of them wore clothes... then again, none of them had any defining genitals.

Beyond the walls... there was nothing but more darkness... While there was light... it wasn't clear where the light came from.

What was this place...?

"You should know," the girl giggled. "You trained here for most of your life..."

That it did...

It... it was known as the Emerald Crown... rather... a training yard in the Emerald Crown...

So those figures... they were training...?

The ursine girl smiled at her. "Doing drills, that's right. You should remember all their moves."

Of course it did... It used those techniques to defeat the opponents Belford sent against it... An overhand throw... A sliding kick... double cross-slash... Defensive techniques said to double up both offense and defence...

Yes... it remembered all those attacks.

"Remember what your father always said about them?"

It had no father.

The girl sighed and rubbed the bridge of her muzzle just where it met her eyebrows. "Ah... Right... Too soon. Well... Do you remember what a very important person once said about those attacks? About being like the earth?"

Yes... yes it did recall that memory.

A man told it once... "Fight like the earth. Be like a rock. Strong and firm, you absorb the strength of your opponent, draw strength from the earth that supports you and push back against your foe, forcing them back. The earth never strikes first. The earth defends."

"Don't suppose you remember who told you that, do you?" the girl asked.

It's... father...?

The girl grinned brightly. "That's right!" she exclaimed, clapping her paws together. "You remember what he looks like?"

It... It did not...

"Come on, it's not that hard." She poked its nose. "Think hard on his words. Listen to his voice. Picture his muzzle moving... and it should be easy from there!"

It did... It ran its father's words over and over again in its head...

Fight like the earth...

Be like a rock...

It could imagine a pair of lips slowly twisting and turning with every syllable pronounced... It was slightly greyed around the edges... but most of the fur was brown...

Strong and firm... you absorb the strength of your opponent, draw strength from the earth that supports you... and push back_against your foe... forcing them back..._

Like a painting being dynamically drawn right before its eyes, the muzzle slowly expanded to encompass a cold, stern face... an ursine face... A strong, muscular build followed afterwards... The familiar face of... of...

"You know him," the girl urged. "Come on! He's your dad!"

...

Conway Earthsire...

His name was Conway Earthsire...

The girl let out a squeal of delight. "That's right!" She swept her arms out wide. "And you remember what happened here on that day?"

It did...

It was training under her father's watchful gaze... The training was painful... and tiresome... Pain... It now recalled what pain was... Some part of it realised that it was inflicting such pain onto others... Was it right...? What was right...? Did it have a recollection of what was right?

"Focus!" the girl snapped, clicking her fingers in front of its face. "What happened here?"

It... It turned its gaze away from the field despite its father's orders...

... and on the wall... Yes... On the wall...

Poking his head out from over the wall... was a small, white-furred ursine... with black splotches all over his features. At first... it recalled thinking the little boy was a Dalmatian... but its sharp eyes realised it was a bear...

It waved at the odd young ursine.

Its father's eyes blazed suddenly as he caught the gaze of the boy. "Intruders! Men! Seize them!"

The scene was absorbed back into the darkness...

... and it realised that was a memory...

_Its_memory...

What had happened to the rest of its memories...?

"Gee... I don't know..." the girl mused, somehow surviving the recall of the darkness. She clicked her fingers with a grin. "Let's go find out... Hmmm... Let's go with this memory! The day you and Sooty first met!"

Sooty...? Who was this 'Sooty'?

"You'll see," she giggled in an almost taunting voice.

The darkness vanished... and suddenly it was standing alone in a heavily lavished room that looked befitting a princess... There were rich, silk tapestries flowing from the walls and a four-poster bed with all its draping lined with gold. Thick, fluffy rugs that looked terribly expensive covered the hard, marble floors. Exotic paintings of faraway lands big enough to fit entire walls hung around the room, barely fitting a quarter of each wall.

Oddly enough... there were no windows.

A creak made it turn towards one of its walls... where one of the wooden panels slid open...

That same spotted boy poked his head out and broke into a grin at it.

"Hi there!"

Hello...

The boy stood up. He was dressed in grubby, dirty overalls that looked like they were covered in some sort of black substance... soot? His paws looked heavily callused with the leathery pads big, developed and thick. His body was quite lean as well, building towards a strong physique.

"My name Is Luke!" the boy announced proudly, sticking out his paw at it. "You must be a -"

"Ah-ah-ah!" the girl exclaimed, covering the boy's muzzle. "We can't tell her her name! She has to figure it out for herself!"

Luke frowned and pulled the girl's paws away from his lips. "But you just told her she was a girl!"

The girl slapped her forehead. "D'oh!"

It stared on impassively as the two turned back towards her.

"Do you remember me?" Luke asked.

It shook its head.

"Awww..." the little boy looked really disappointed... Then his face brightened. "Oh! I know! Maybe this'll let you remember!"

Suddenly the scene changed in a blur of colours and flashes.

It was suddenly standing in the middle of a flat, grassy plane. It was the middle of the night and the silvery moon shone high above them. The boy, Luke, turned to it with a big smile on his face.

"Remember this place?"

It did not.

Luke grabbed its wrist and pulled it through the grassy fields. Their movement disturbed the slumbering fireflies. A storm of the dancing bugs erupted from the tall grass, sweeping around them and dancing between each of them in mesmerising patterns. The small, glowing bugs swarmed around it and Luke, illuminating his face.

A strange sensation filled it...

... admiration...

... a sense of appreciation for beauty...

As opposed to the darkness it had been wallowing in for what seemed like forever... this miracle of nature... it was breathtaking...

"Do you remember now?" Luke asked, turning his head over his shoulder even if they didn't stop running.

It shook its head.

It had no recollection of an event like this...

Luke stopped running and crossed his arms against his chest, looking utterly disappointed. "Awww... but this was such a great moment for you and me... I remember looking back at you and seeing this look of joy on your face. It was like you had never seen this before... I asked you what was wrong and you don't me this was the first time you'd been out here." Luke grinned. "Then I made fun of you because this place is right outside Gaesham and you'd never been there." He pointed at the left side of his face. "Then you punched me."

It did not remember any of that...

Luke frowned again. "Hmm... This is tricky... She's not remembering much..."

The girl stepped in and stared at it with her eyes narrowed and a small smile on her muzzle. "Maybe... maybe not... Don't you see, Luke? She's not recalling the events... but she's making new memories... I think that's what's more important."

"So?" the young ursine asked. "What should we do?"

Rubbing her chin, the girl said, "We should keep going... Who knows? She might remember something and remember what it means to be mortal again."

Luke grinned. "How about we go to when we met a second time!?"

The girl clicked her fingers with a grin and the scene changed back to the world of the courtyard... Once again, countless people were doing drills around here... but the white shapes had started to form small, defining features. He could see one of them was a wolf... or at least a canine... Others were feline, equine... Their bodies were still completely white and featureless... but they were coming to shape...

"You are not performing as well as you should be today," Conway stated, his eyes narrowed and a frown creasing his muzzle. "Focus, girl! Focus!"

Strangely... it did focus... but it was not focusing on the drills...

Its eyes were drawn to the far wall where Luke peeked over bashfully, watching it... It felt an odd sense of... pride fill it... Like it was determined to impress Luke... So it began to do the drills it remembered so well... Yes... It knew these drills... but it was not doing them for its father's sake... it was doing it for Luke...

Reinvigorated, it fought harder and harder...

Fighting for something...

What was that thing?

"Great!" the girl exclaimed, clapping her paws together. "We're making progress!"

Luke jumped down from the wall and hurried towards her. "Yay! What should we do next!?"

A paw landed on its shoulder and it turned to look at Conway who was smiling down at her gently. "Why don't you give me some time with my daughter?" he asked gently. "I have a lot to answer for..."

Did Conway do something to it in the past...?

"Don't take too long!" the girl said, winking at the grizzled old bear. "We'll be preparing the next scene!"

"I won't take long."

The girl and Luke vanished as the scene around them crumbled and they were left in the eternal blackness again... Only it and Conway remained. However, amidst the darkness, there was a small, ornately shaped, metal table and two seats. Conway pulled one of the seats and offered it. Not knowing what else to do, it simply sat down on the offered seat as Conway sat opposite to it.

The table was suddenly populated by some odd biscuits on a crystal plate and a tea set... They looked like chocolate covered biscuits of some sort...

"Would you like some?" Conway asked, presenting the plate to her.

It shook its head.

It had no desire for anything so it was impossible to 'like' anything...

"Have a try," Conway insisted. "They were your favourite."

It found it impossible to have a favourite of anything... Again, it was empty... hollow. How could it have anything...? Anything it gained with be forgotten and erased the second later... However, it had no desire to resist Conway either. That was impossible as well.

So it simply picked up a biscuit and bit into it.

It was surprised...

It was more than simply a rectangular biscuit covered by chocolate... It was actually two biscuits connected by a creamy, mint centre and smothered in light, milk chocolate. The bitter-sweet taste of the chocolate was complemented by the sharp flavour of the mint. It was like one moment, it was floating in a warm ocean before a bolt of lightning struck the waters...

It was... beautiful...?

Of the two adjectives it could muster... it only knew beauty and surprise...

... perhaps there was another word to describe it...

"Delicious?" Conway offered.

What did... 'Delicious' mean...?

Conway smiled at it lovingly. "It means something is appealing to your tastes."

Indeed... The biscuit was... delicious...

"How about some tea?" Conway offered, pouring some of the reddish tea into a crystal cup for it. "They go very well with the biscuits."

It tried the combination...

A scene was painted in its head...

The calm, blue ocean... warm... The delicate touch of the milk chocolate...

... a sharp bolt of lightning that heralded a storm... the sharp contrast of the mint...

... then eye of a storm as the tea... the warming embrace of the tea...

... and finally, the amalgamation of all three... A beautiful harmony of flavours... The tea tasted... flowery... It reminded it of roses but still held a bitter tang that formed a brilliant bridge between the chocolate and the mint...

Suddenly... it was a beautiful painting of beauty and calmness... mixed with sharpness and ferocity...

It was... beautiful...

"Would you say it was perfect?" Conway asked.

...

What was... 'perfect'...?

"It means that something has reached the peak of its development. That it is a prime example of its kind."

Yes... Then it was perfect.

The taste... it was completely and utterly perfect.

Conway gently took away its cup of tea and produced... It looked like a mug of melted chocolate with a floating, white pillow on top of it and fluffy, cloud-like mound with odd contours dusted with bits of chocolate...

"This is hot chocolate," Conway explained with a chuckle. "That is a marshmallow..." He pointed at the white pillow-like object. "And that is whipped cream." He indicated the mound. "Try it with the biscuit."

That it did...

Suddenly, it was a whole different story...

There was a... sweetness in the concoction that turned the duet of bitter-sweet and mint into a triad of bitter, sweet and mint. There was a definition of the three... and the trinity of flavours were more defined now. In its mind, it picture the three flavours dancing in perfect tandem with one another... There was no one-after-the-other sequence of events...

... it was a balance of all three.

Perfect...

"But wasn't the other combination perfect too?" Conway asked.

It was... but that was incorrect.

This was perfect...

But then again... How could it be sure...?

What if there was another combination that would surpass this one...?

Would that be perfect too?

Conway smiled at it and reached over, grasping its paw gently... A paw... It had a paw...

Slowly, its eyes were drawn from the connection that it shared with Conway... and noticed that it possessed brown fur... and an ursine build. Its body was distinctly female... and it... no... she was quite well built. Muscular and lead but not losing any of its femineity...

"You're learning, my girl," Conway said proudly. "I know this may not mean much to you now... but know that I am always very proud of you. I may not have been able to express it then... but even if my body and mind could not comprehend it... you always held my heart... my soul... and my love. I only wanted you to be strong... I was stupid to believe you weren't strong enough on your own... But now... I see that you never needed my help."

Conway bent over and kissed her forehead. "I love you, Rose."

Rose...

That was her name...

Rose...

Yes... Rose... Earthsire...

But... no... That did not feel right...

She had another name...

What was it...?

"Rocky!"

"Hey, Rocky!"

"Over here, Rocky!"

"Yo! Rocky!"

She spun around...

Standing in front of her... arrayed in front of her... were a host of people that she knew she recognised... but couldn't quite put a name too... There was a bronze dragon... a little pudgy but who looked incredibly proud. A big, muscular wolf that looked quite... feral... Yet, he held a bright, child-like innocence to him. A tall, athletic vixen with a broad, easy grin leaned on the big wolf, her eyes filled with mirth and wisdom at the same time. There was a young doe who looked quite pretty and bashful but whose eyes were sharp and calculating. A cougar with an easy smile but whose face and posture held constant worry... A brown wolf with silvery hair that had an easy stance but looked like he was trying to puff out his chest a little in the presence of the last individual...

... a cocky, black-furred wolf with golden hair and piercing sapphire-blue eyes.

Rose... Rocky... She stepped up to the last wolf... regarding it... She knew she should remember him... His name was on the periphery of her vision...

What was it...?

It was on the tip of her tongue...

"Got milk?"

SMACK!

She slapped him...

... but she was grinning...

She was happy...

Because she remembered...

She remembered him!

Jacob Reaper!

How could she forget him and his cocky attitude!?

Relief washed over her and she immediately threw her arms around Jacob, hugging him tightly and feeling tears well up in her eyes. The crowd around her cheered and each and everyone one of them huddled around her, laughing and patting her back.

_"So you remember now?"_Jacob asked with a grin.

"How could I forget?" Rocky laughed, pulling away and grinning. "But hey, if I ever forget again, be sure to remind me, okay?"

"Yes ma'am."

Rocky raised her fist to punish him for that... but... You know what...

It wasn't necessary...

She didn't have to punish him...

... there was no need...

Why?

Because I remembered everything...

I remembered who I was... I knew who I was...

I was Rocky Groundwater... formerly Rose Earthsire... and the Elemental Lord of Earth.

I lowered my paw and looked past Jacob.

Standing a few feet away was Norton Manx...

There were two other people I needed to address before I was ready to step out of my shell...

I patted the memory of Jacob on the shoulder and pulled away from the group.

Standing in front of Norton... I bowed my head. "I'm sorry..."

Norton smiled gently at me... and placed a paw on my shoulder. "There's no need... It was my fault as well... I was too focused on redeeming myself that I never saw what was ahead of me. I just kept on making up for the past... I never thought about what I could do to rebuild the future... You actually freed me, Rocky."

I locked gazes with him. "How...?"

He smiled at me. "I made a deal with the renegade over there," he pointed at Jacob. "When I was satisfied with what I had done... He would break my Seal... He would free my son who lay trapped in my Seal..." The mole looked up at the blackened sky. "I got to see him, you know... One last time..."

My heart broke...

Norton's Seal was his son...?

Then again... Jacob freed him...

But wait... if he's here...?

Norton winked at me. "Yeah... When Belford took the second Seal in my, the Seal blocking your present memories, I had fused somewhat with that Seal. This me..." He patted his chest. "Is a fragment of who I am... Just a bit of my soul. Enough that I can be here to help you. Same thing with Conway over there..."

I glanced to where Norton pointed. Conway... my father, stood amongst the crowd.

"We're all here... a part of your soul."

"But Jacob and the others...?"

Norton shrugged. "I'm not sure what it is... It might be something about their Brand or just a fragment of your memory of them. But I know they aren't the same as Conway and I. They aren't fragments given to you because of the Seals. They're something... more." He smiled at me again and took my paw, gently guiding me back towards the crowd. "But now... I think there's one last person you need to talk to..."

The gathered memories all pulled to the sides...

Standing at the back of the group... were two people...

Two ursines...

One girl... and one boy...

I smiled at the girl and headed over to her.

"I guess you're staying as you, huh?" the girl asked.

I nodded slowly. "I'm sorry... But I am me... You are part of me... part of my past... but who I am now... It's not going to just change because I suddenly remembered you."

She grinned at me and winked. "Good! Because if you said otherwise, I'd totally beat you to a pulp!"

That made me laugh. I remembered what it was like to be Rose Earthsire... That carefree attitude I had developed as I had snuck out with Luke... All those times after training when I had free time, I would spend with Luke. Flirting the law and disobeying my father filled me with such... thrill that I developed a carelessness that became me.

Luke and I made such a great pair...

It's little wonder I fell in love with him...

Rose began to fade from view, grinning broadly. "Hey!" she cried. "When you get the chance, don't forget to smack Jacob for calling you a girl!"

I laughed and waved at her vanishing appearance. "I won't forget."

As the last vestiges of her vanished into myself... I turned to the little boy.

He smiled up at me and held out his paw. "Wanna watch something?"

I took his paw and smiled. "Sure."

The instant our fingers touched, we were suddenly back in Soot's lounge room. I was sitting down and watching the final episode of Starboy. I felt tears running down my face as I watched Black die at Malice's paws. It always touched me... and I always thought that the love the two shared... it was too precious to just die like that.

An arm wrapped around my shoulder and I turned to a fully grown Luke smiling at me, his fur as fluffy and as dirty as ever. He leaned over... and kissed me. The touch of his lips against mine... it sent shivers down my spine and my tears flowed freely.

As he pulled away, he grinned and wiped the tear away from my cheek. "Girls don't cry."

I smiled back and just held him in my arms...

BAM!

The door suddenly sprang open... and Soot's father came rushing inside. "Sooty! Rose! Get out of here now!"

No... Not this memory...

Anything but this memory...!

Luke stood up, his big, muscular form never ceasing to impress me. He had such big arms too. Comes from working at the mines.

"Dad! What's wrong!?"

"Conway found out!"

My heart plummeted and I instantly grabbed Luke's paw. "Come on! We've got to get out of here!"

"But, my dad -!"

"Get out of here you two!" Luke's father shouted. "I'll hold them off as long as I can!"

I pulled him out of the small house... and took him through the streets of Graesham... I could see his tears as he left his father... As we pulled far enough away from the house that it was hidden from view by the other houses -

BOOOM!

... his home exploded into flames.

"Dad!" he cried.

He fell to his knees... and knowing that we couldn't stop but I couldn't just leave him... I knelt in front of him, cupping his muzzle in my paws.

"Don't let his sacrifice be in vain, Sooty," I said gently. "We've got to get out of here..."

He took my paws in his, holding them tightly. "Okay... But... you gotta promise me one thing..."

"Anything..." The answer was instinctive... but I meant every letter of it.

He suddenly grinned up at me. "Our first kid, even if it's a girl, we name it after him."

I had to laugh at that... We always had plans of getting married and having kids. The constant debate between us would always be what our kids would be called. Now... he had one up on me.

I pulled him to his feet. "Deal."

"Stop right there!"

We spun... and a horde of MODD soldiers blocked us.

Most of them... I recognised... They were people I had trained with for so long... I didn't want to kill them... but... I had to escape... I had to escape with Luke.

"I'm sorry..." I whispered...

The rest was a blur...

There was blood... rocks cleaving through the earth and a desperate flight through the streets of Graesham. Tears were flowing freely from my eyes as Luke slowly began pulling me instead of me pulling him... I was weakening... and slowly... ever so slowly... I felt myself slipping out of reality...

... and back into the darkness of the world inside my memory...

"Come on, Rose!"

Just like back then... I closed my eyes... recalled how we had gotten to this position...

... I couldn't believe I had forgotten...

Strangely... in our desperate flight from my father... That was the time I felt most loved by Luke...

"Rose! No!"

I laughed softly...

"Rose...?" he asked... Such beautiful eyes...

Smiling... I rubbed his cheek with my thumb... Those stains on his fur... I often wondered what it would be like to see him with clean fur for once... but I realised... He wouldn't be my Sooty otherwise...

"You're so beautiful... Never change, Luke..."

"I won't. Because you'll be right there to tell me when I am changing. Right? Right!?"

See that there? That's love...

... And with that love in my heart... I got up slowly...

"Help me up..."

I remembered thinking about the odds of the two of us coming together... and then again, I remembered the odds of Black and Malice actually becoming a couple. At the start of the adventure, it seemed so improbably. Hell, there were even some bits of conjecture in the forums that the two were gay because there were hints that they had some romantic affections for one another.

But in the end...

... they did end up together...

"Rose, come on," Luke urged, tugging at my paw. "We have to keep moving!"

I smiled at him... and he read my mind.

"No..." he said, shaking his head slowly. "No! Rose, you already used up enough of your power to help us escape! You can't! You'll die!"

"Probably. But you'll live, Sooty."

He clenched my paw in his, tears forming in his eyes. "No... Please no... I... I..."

"Yes?"

He looked so desperate... and I felt so loved...

That was what drove me that day to make sure he would live...

"Rose... I can't go on without you... I... I need you... I..."

I smiled again and quickly caught him in an embrace. Our hearts pounded against our chests like they were yearning to burst out of our flesh and come together as one.

I angled my muzzle towards his round ears and whispered... "I love you."

I felt his heart stop for a second... I smiled and gently pushed him away... Quickly gathering my strength, I summoned the earth from the ground around our feet and encased him in a large, capsule of rock. I left a large enough hole that I could see his face. He pleaded me to stop, calling out my name but I barely heard him.

Who would have guessed he would turn out to be my lieutenant as Rocky Groundwater...?

Fate is funny like that...

But you know what...?

Love brought us together... and love would bring us together again...

My legs were starting to give way and my paws were feeling numb. A chill ran through me. All I could hear was pounding of my own heart in my ears. I summoned my remaining strength for a third time and threw a punch at Luke's capsule. The bullet of rock shot into the distant horizon... Hopefully towards the nearest settlement... or at least close enough that he'll be able to make his way there.

I smiled as the little, black speck vanished into the distance...

At least he would be safe... My last gift to him...

"Rose! Rose Earthsire!"

I turned slowly at the sound of my own name. MODD had caught up with me, forming an impenetrable barricade in front of me. I knew that I had no hope of outrunning them. Nor could I overpower them. I saw my father standing at the forefront of the army... a proud, brown-furred bear...

I took a deep breath... Luke's scent still lingered in the air. I smiled... and lifted my muzzle to the sky, spreading my arms wide. My heart felt so light... Luke had my heart... and when I sent him away to be free, he took it with him.

Now... All that was left was to ensure that no one followed him.

I poured the last vestiges of my power into my Seal... and once I was on the brink of unconsciousness, I filled my Seal with what remained of my conscious self. Everything that I was... I put into my Seal...

"Rose! No!"

I closed my eyes... and smiled as Rose Earthsire faded from existence...

... darkness enclosed me again...

...

I love you Luke... Now... and forever...

...

...

Back in the darkness...

I sat in the inky blackness... waiting...

Tears were flowing from my eyes, down my cheeks...

I had done all I could...

I knew who I was now... I knew who I loved...

... but... I couldn't break out of this prison...

This powerful mental prison that Belford put me in...

I just... I just needed the key...

Something...

Anything...

Please... someone... help me...

Then... like the gods had finally decided to listen to me...

A small speck of light appeared in the darkness...

I found the strength in my body... and I pulled myself to my feet. I reached for the light...

... and found my fingers brushing against familiar, soft, fluffy fur...

I blinked...

A tear rolled off my muzzle...

...

... and landed directly on Soot's cheek...

He lay beneath me, a gentle smile on his features and his eyes filled with happiness.

I hovered above him... the landscape around us was devastated... There were large spires of rock and shards of crystal scattered everywhere... Jacob along with Joanna, Taylor and Rex stood a few feet away, looking dumbstruck and both saddened...

Why were they sad...?

I was back in my body... right...?

A gentle paw pressed against my cheek... and I looked down, knocking another tear onto Soot's fur...

I watched in awe as my tear actually washed away the black soot on his fur!

Amazing... my tears could wash away the soot...

...

"Just like the ending of Starboy, huh?"

I locked gazes with Luke... Soot...

The end of...?

Then I saw it...

Earthborn... sticking out of his chest...

_Earthborn..._in my grasp...

...

No... No!

This couldn't be happening!

No!

"Luke!" I pleaded, seizing the back of his head with my free paw. "No! You can't die! Luke! Please!"

He smiled at me, slowly closing his eyes. "I... I love you... Rocky..."

No!

I threw back my head and let out a pained cry...

All that love I had for him... everything...

It just all shattered...

I... How could... How could I go on...?

He was my hope... my future...?

"How pitiful."

That voice!

Belford stood at the lip of a crater that had formed at some point in the past.

"You were to be the key to my success," Belford sighed, shaking his head sadly. "People would have flocked to us after learning you had obtained perfection and transcended these mortal coils... Sad that you would fight perfection and prefer to return to a meaningless life of pain and suffering."

All my pain... all my loss... it turned to anger and hatred...

This man... this monster had... he was...

He was to blame!

Belford!

"No matter..." Belford said, shaking his head and lifting his arms wide. "I have what I want from you. Your participation allowed for countless souls to give themselves to me. I am now strong enough to spread my perfection across the whole world! Those unwilling to join will have their memories robbed of them and they will be part of a universal, perfect body! We shall be god!"

I gently rested Luke on the ground. I stood up, leaving one half of Earthborn in Luke as I spun towards Belford. I sensed Jacob and his team rise up beside me...

...

"Then prepare for the apocalypse, 'god'."