FSE

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NOT QUITE HOME

Killing comes so easily to my kind. To us predators. It's like... a muscle reflex. Unthinking. Natural. As simple as the flow of the river.

So why can't I do this? Why can't I do what was so easy? End a life?

Because it's...because...

...

...

...

...life sucks and then you die. This is essentially the philosophy most of us believed here. There's no such thing as "old age" because everyone is on the menu. And I'm the king of the swingers, the "jungle VIP", the top banana the-I think you get the point, let's move on.

I imagine that a lot of people thought I was sick when I first took power. But if they did...they kept their mouth shut. OH how they kept their mouth shut. And if they DID speak up, it was too late, they were halfway down my throat.

Thanks to the magic I commanded over my home, nobody ever escaped from my clutches.

But, ironically, this proved to be my undoing. Because I had decided to go out on the town with my wife. I caressed her cheek slightly as I pulled up to a gas station on the edge of the enormous city, the towers rising up into the heavens as a dark flurry of clouds began to slowly move in.

"I have to use the bathroom." She says, nervously biting her lip.

For a long, long time I had no penchant whatsoever for going easy on prey-types. THEN I met this one. She wasn't any taur, nor a lamia, nor a demon of some kind. No half-breed. Pure bunny.

Her eyes. It was her eyes. They melted me. They were...just...I could look into them all day and just caress her long hair as we lie in bed. My son thinks it's a little...weird. And he doesn't always approve of what I do, but he'll understand, perhaps, when he's older...

And you know, I started to just...go away. Get out of the palace. Sneak out with her in disguise, go out on the town and just get CRAZY with her. We once woke up in a motel wearing nothing but masks...and sleeping next to some other couple I'd never seen before. Go figure.

And Eta feels I'm the best damn thing in the world. She wanted a better future than living in the gutter. I went out looking for dinner. I found something a million times better. Now there might be more ahead than the usual routine. I get tired of having to put down rebellions and ruling over things. Really tired, sometimes. And it's been so nice to just...get away...

"You sure you don't want me to walk you there?" I ask her.

"Baby, I'm a big girl." She insists, giving me a butterfly kiss before she heads out of the car and over to the bathroom door in the side of the station. I get out and head to the main door, opening it up and looking around.

Okay...odd. There's...there's just a counter and a register and an old jukebox. Hmm. I look over at the jukebox, at what's playing.

Interesting. "Don't fear the reaper". Ha-ha-ha. A song about the upside of Death. I plan to live well into old age though. PHBBBT to you, Grim Reaper. And it's not like any hero is strong enough to kill me off.

"So, what brings YOU here, sssssir?"

I blink and turn my head. My eyes widen. It's a snake. Blue, long locks. Piercing eyes. A large, fanged grin. He's wearing a dark blue jacket and is standing by the register, his three-digited, clawed hands gripping the top.

"I need some gas. How much further do we have to stay on this road before we hit the highway out of here?"

I'm in the mood to try goin' out of my city. I've never actually BEEN out of it, to tell you the truth. But a peek can't hurt. A nice, relaxing vacation. Just a few days out...

"Passin' on through? Funny...Most people who come through here, well, they don't tend to rush off. There's always a reason for them to stick around...or a reason FINDS THEM." He adds softly. His voice is very gentle, kind, but...he looks at me with what seems to be a mixture of sorrow and disgust. Does he not know who I am? Maybe I should...

"Just passin' through. Look, here's sixty bucks for the gas." I say, giving him some money. I'm not hungry anyhow, and snakes don't taste like chicken. They taste like freakin' snake. I head outside and-

"AAAAAAHHH!!!"

What the hell?!? She's...she's being pulled away into some car. It takes off down the road, and she calls out, screaming angrily. "GET OFF ME, YOU MOTHERF-"

The rest of her yells are shut off as she's stuffed into the car by some thing I can't recognize. It's too damn furry, it's body seems to be one blackened silhouette...are there...HORNS atop it's head?

The car vanishes into the distance. I kick the ground angrily. "DAMN it! Where are they going?"

"...you'd better hurry." The snake says softly, arms folded as he leans by the doorway. "I don't know what that thing would do to her, but that car's slower than yours. You speed, you can make it, sir."

I don't have time to argue with him. I leap back in my car. The engine revs. It drives up the road after the other car. I drive faster and faster, the whole world is becoming a dark blur as night begins to fall around me. Soon the moon is hanging overhead as the car finally comes to a stop...

Because I have to stop it. What I see frightens the shit out of me.

A Pikachu. A Pikachu is standing there, eyes looking up furiously at me. It wears goggles over it's head, it's slightly nubby clawed paws twitching, mouth leering open and....

How can it be so HUGE, it's...it's three stories high! I stop the car, I get out as IT looks down at me.

"...YOU?" I ask, confused. It can't be. None of the units are that big, they...this has to be some sick-

"Your girlfriend ain't here, sicko." He whispers. "You're ALLLMOST there. ALLLLMOST reached her, you child-killer."

"Shut up." I snarl. My pride rises up. "I won't be judged by YOU, you stupid Pikachu!"

"Oh, it's not MY job to judge...it's THAT." The pikachu whispers, pointing down the road.

And like that, he's gone. Something else is there, at the end of the road. A town. It's empty...barren. A cold, chilling mist fills my lungs as I step forward. I can feel faint rain falling down through the mist, tiny puddles below my feet. I'd be lying if I said it didn't disturb me, this...this thing I laughingly call a place.

I continue to step through the mist. I'm doing this for her. I'm doing this for her. I'm...

...

...

...

...why the hell can't I do this?

"I can't give any more." I mumble out. "I just...can't."

"It's so easy to remember the things we lose...but so hard to remember the things we take. And try as you might to deny it, "my liege", the fact remains...you have TAKEN...more than you've GIVEN."

...

...

...

... I think back to when I first met her. Her husband was a mob boss. He was actually a big threat to my power. Getting bigger. But...he was stupid. He kept sending his goons after me when he thought I was vulnerable.

Foolish. I kept eating them all. But Eta was worried. "Sneaking around like this is MUCH different than actually dealing with him." She told me. "If he knows about what we're doing, he'll hunt us down himself. And he's got magic..."

"Give me some credit, Eta-babe. I know how he operates. He's too much like me. He won't stand a chance against the real thing too."

"But how am I going to live if I do take off with you? It's easy to get used to being rich, but I've always hated being poor. He's kept me poor for five years now. I want what I had back...I want love and security and-"

"We won't be hurting for cash, you know that. I'm king, remember? Only the best for you."

I kissed her paw delicately. "I promise. I just gotta deal with one more problem, this dumb person's been speaking up in public against me, and he's strong enough to make my own guards get beaten up. He needs to be taught a lesson. I can't have any would-be heroes disrupting my rule."

"Just one more problem?" She asked, giggling.

"Just one more problem. Trust me."

"You know I do, Big V. You know I do."

...

...

...

... I walk towards an enormous grocery store. I can smell blood. This place gives me the goddamn creeps. I notice a sign that says "Closed" on the side of the door next to a-

Next...to her beautiful blue dress. Which is now stained purple with her blood. Oh no oh no oh NO OH NO...

"Dammit, NO!" I scream, rushing for the dress, I fondle it in my hands, on the verge of tears when I realize that...

There's a bloody trail leading...inside. I hold my fist up and knock the door in. "Hang on, I'm coming, Eta-babe-"

"SCHWAAAAALLLL!!!" A disturbing, sickening wail. Something lunges at me. It's the color of rotting body and diseased blood and it looks like forms squished together in a mishappen chimera of a man. I punch it's head and begin to kick it's derelict body over and over, but-

"NO!"

I turn my head to see...why...why is Eta wearing the outfit of a nurse? White coat...cap to match...

"Get away! You've already killed him, isn't that enough?" She demands, shoving me away, trying to wrap up the thing's head in gauze.

"You need to get away from that monster." I insist.

She wheels on me. She looks distraught and sickened. "Oh, there's MONSTERS here, Big V, but that's not one of them...not even close!" She says, a furious look on her face as she glares at me. "Look at you! You...you murder and eat and twist! You hold an entire city of innocents under your grip and reward savagery over civility! You've got no respect for a life that has no fangs or claws!"

"You're talking crazy." I say, now rather disturbed by this sudden attitude change. "We need ot get out of here."

"There's no getting out of "here"." She says, frowning. "We created this reality by our actions. And they're waiting. ALL of them."

"What are you talking about?" I demand to know. "WHO?"

"Our victims. ALL our victims." She says, gently patting the thing on the ground on the head.

"You wouldn't HAVE victims, honey. You didn't do anything." I insist, shaking my head.

She looks so mournful as she hangs her head. "I know...that's why I now have to do this. I HAVE to!" She screams, rushing off into the mist. I try to chase after her, but something lurches out of the darkness and I gasp in horror. No...it can't be. A fox...all too familiar...with such deep blue eyes...is form has grown ridiculously huge, his muscles bulging in form, his mouth forever open in an enormous maw filled with huge fangs, dripping with blood, as muscular veins popping out on his arms and legs. He rushes at me, claws slamming at me as I rush away from him, heading through the mist, trying to escape...

"Help! AAAH! HELP!"

Screaming. Who is it?

"Eta?" I gasp.

No, it's not her...it's a grey-furred being with brown hair hanging down in thick locks from the top of his head. He's been tied to a large wooden cross and struggles uselessly as a disgusting undead Pikachu horde begins to stagger towards him, eager to feed. I rush forward and use my legs to sweep them all away, tearing the thing down from the cross.

"Thank you." He gasps out, holding his chest.

"Don't mention it." I insisted, nodding my head. "You got a name, young one?"

"Ahinahina." He says, scratching his head. "I'm sorry I couldn't just break down myself, but the bonds are magic, and I'm not too good with magic usually."

"What are you doing here?" I ask, confused.

"I don't... know." He mumbled. "I mean, one moment I was with my brother and my family and everything was fine. There was this...this SIREN I heard, and then it all went dark and..." He shivered. "Cold...and then I was tied up to this thing! Oh, where are they?" He murmured sadly. "What's happening?"

"Calm down. You're not the only one this is happening to. I'm looking for somebody and this is turning out to be one sick, strange mess. Just stick with me, we'll be fine." I insisted. We headed down the road, walking past a long fence as it overlooked a pond. For a moment I thought a tentacle snaked out...I tried not to focus on it.

"You don't have any guns on you?" He asked.

"Nope." I said. "I can just eat anybody that comes across us again."

He frowns slightly. "That was quick of you. We might not encounter a monster."

"Well, if we don't, then fine, but keep your eyes peeled. Maybe we'll find your family." I told him as we continued to walk along the fence. I ran my hands along it, rattling it slightly before wisely deciding to stop. I didn't want to attract more attention to myself, now did I?

...

...

...

... "So, you've lost a friend? A girlfriend, maybe? Or something?"

"Or something. Her full name's Eta Parsons."

"How long have you two been together?" Ahinahina asks, looking interested.

"Not long enough-hold it." I sniff the air. "Something's in front of us."

Wwe look out into the mist and see the shapes of...oh crap. Giant Pikachu. TWO of them. Dammit. "Let's get off the streets until those bastards are away." I whisper, slinking off the street to a building that's to our right. "This ought to...wait." I look up at the building. It's a hospital. "The last time I saw my Eta, she was wearing a nurse's outfit...she must be in HERE..." I say as we sneak inside the door.

...

...

...

...how has it come to this? Who's to blame?

"I didn't want any of this when I started out. This LIFE. Eating others. Enslaving the city. Manipulating everything."

"Oh no. Don't...play...the blame game. I think you liked the power. The killing. The BLOOD-STAINED PROFITS." He snaps. "At one point, it might not have been your dream, but you turned it into your own nightmare. The door was opened up for you by another...but YOU'RE the one who stepped through it when you could have turned around, "my liege"..."

...

...

...

... "Jeez, and I thought it was bad OUTSIDE." I mumble. The entire hospital is filled with darkened hallways, cracked walls and floors that are covered with dirt and grime. There's...there's something else too. I see, out of the corner of my eye, eyes within the mirror, glowing brightly. But when I turn to look at them, they vanish.

"You SURE your girlfriend is in this god-forsaken dump?" Ahinahina asks sadly.

"I'm not sure of anything around here." I admit. "All I know is that she was wearing a nurse's suit before she took off and she kept talking about needing to help somebody." I say as I walk through the hallways. "And this seems to be the place she'd go if-"

"You hear that?" Ahinahina asks, his right ear shooting up. He puts a hand to it and concentrates. "Somebody's...moaning."

"Above us." I gasp, hearing the cry. "It's her!" I gasp.

"Noooooo!" She's sobbing. "NOOOOO."

"ETA!" I yell, rushing up the nearby staircase. I'm leaping from step to step "Hold on, I'm coming!"

"Look, sir, maybe we should turn back, I think-"

"Oh no." I gasp.

"I tried to make it all better." Eta sobs as she stands over mutilated, desecrated bodies on operating tables rusted solid. There are no features to identify what they once were...only slabs of flesh in the shape of once sentient forms. "But...it's too late. Too late." She whimpers, her paws covering her face.

"C'mon, let's go." I insist.

"Something's wrong here." Ahinahina says softly, his eyes narrowing.

"You THINK?" I snap. "C'mon, let's leave these monsters."

"MONSTERS?" She turns on me again.

"These aren't monsters." Ahinahina remarks, shaking his head.

"What are you talking about?!" I demand to know.

"He knows. He understands...and he SEES...don't you?" She asks softly, sadly. "You need to see the truth. Look around you, honey. Please. See the truth."

Ahinahina approaches a table with a cloth. He pulls it back.

"...no." He whispers, looking down at a yellow Pikachu, a red-scaled dragon and a bunny girl. Tears well up in his eyes. "Jesus, NO..." He sobs.

"...oh...SHIT." I gasp. Suddenly I see. I remember. I GET it.

"It was YOU." Ahinahina whispers darkly, turning on me, his eyes becoming dark slits. "It was YOU."

I remember all of it.

...

...

...

...he'd been speaking out, denouncing me. Calling me a coward. Manipulating monster. Insisting that I was a sick being who deserved death. He insulted my legacy and everything I'd made in this town, and he was still hurling insults at me even after I'd approached him in the square, people standing far away from him and his two helpers.

"You CANNOT build a prosperous and truly good city on the bones of innocent lives!"

"Shut up. You will not judge me."

"I am a PREDATOR, same as you! I have a right to judge another predator. If I don't, then WHO, king? WHO?" He demanded.

"You keep hurting us! Hunting us down at night! You think I wouldn't eventually REMEMBER what you did? Going after me when I was a child?!?" The Pikachu snarled.

"Your system is sick. Any system that fails to recognize the value of life, any system that would deny somebody the right to pursue happiness, is OBSOLETE! Like you!" The bunny girl yelled. "We prey-types are people with rights! You ignore all that so you can fill your stomach, you sick, twisted, mother-"

Eating them is too good for them. They don't' DESERVE to become one with me. I give the order and the guns belch fire into their bodies over and over and-

A punch sends a guard flying into me and I stumble to the ground, breaking my tooth. A form, furry and clawed, is standing there, screaming in fury at me. "COWARD!" He snarls.

I pull out a vial from my cloak and toss it...fire covers his body and he vanishes into ashes that blow away in the wind...

...

...

...

...how could he be standing here before me?

"I've been waiting for you." Ahinahina says softly as he curls his claws. "You KNOW who I am, don't you?"

"Child, really, I'm sorry for what happened to you, but I could not let you live."

"Couldn't...or WOULDN'T." He asks as Eta curls up behind me, looking accusingly at me.

I hold my arms up. "It's never personal, I'm just trying to keep order in my city, it was nothing personal! I'm just...I just need to keep things in order. I need to eat, that's why I rule the way I do."

"Need...to...EAT?" Ahinahina snarls furiously. He then shakes his head, his voice becoming a soft whisper. "No, little taur. They were NOT just potential meals. They were family. A loving, caring, HAPPY family." His fangs flash, eyes narrowed in hatred. " MY FAMILY!!!"

He then spits on the ground. "But what the fuck would YOU know about family? Your son, if he's not careful, is gonna follow in your sadistic footsteps if he's not careful...thinking that murdering sentient beings to satisfy your hunger is an acceptable way of life!"

"It's tradition-"

"Tradition? Slavery was a tradition. Child labor was a tradition. FUCKING RAPE could be a tradition. They'd still be disgusting! Repugnant!" Ahinahina roars like a lion. Suddenly I feel fear. Total and utter fear rising up through my body, gripping me tightly and filling me with it's venom.

"Tell me something, how did it feel, little taur?" He asks coldly. "How did it feel when you first took an innocent being in your tiny hands and stuffed it in your mouth? How did it feel when you tried to absorb it's soul into what you laughingly now call your spirit? One that's SICK and DECAYED?!"

"I..."

"Did it feel like destiny...or a curse?" He whispers.

"...I...I..."

"Or maybe both. Like a junkie who gets addicted on the first high!" He remarks, walking around the room, waving a hand in the air. "You keep on wantin' to stop, but you never really are able to, always needing more...no matter WHAT it takes."

"..." I don't honestly know what to say.

"Vore is an ADDICTION, king." He says calmly. "It's an infestation. And your consumption of souls makes it worse. You think you can REALLY keep them under control? You're taking in other existences into your own. You honestly think that one day, they wouldn't overpower you? RIP YOU APART from the inside?"

"Stop...stop it.""

"Don't be afraid. You're already dying inside, the infection of Vore eats away at the host...always nibbling away...nibbling. And if you insist it's YOUR problem, YOU can deal with it, tell me this...if it's your problem...why are so many others dead and I alive? Doesn't seem fair, does it?" He asked.

"LIFE'S not fair!" I snap.

"Because people like you don't play by the rules." Ahinahina says dismissively. "I know you took in the little one. But that doesn't make you a good guy. Villains can do good things. They can "pet the dog". But they're still heartless towards anybody who's not THEM most of the time. You have an addiction, a sickness, and you'd pass it to your son." He then points at Eta. "And the addiction of Vore, the sickening reality of GLUTTONY is a lot like GREED, too ." He hisses.

"Leave her out of this. She's done nothing." I say, growling slightly.

"Nothing?" He asks softly. "You're right. She has done nothing. Nothing but take pleasure in all the wealth and power and security that comes from killers and monsters. She did nothing but ignore the dark reality around her, too mesmerized by the shiny palaces and flashy jewelry. You're absolutely right...she's done nothing." Ahinahina spoke softly. "But..."

His voice becomes gently. "You're wrong in one way, little one." He told the bunny girl. "It's not too late for you two." He says. "You can rectify the past. Make things right. But the choice must come from you. As a member of the Covenant, I am offering you a chance, an opportunity to make amends. I can tell YOU don't get it, king...but little rabbit...you know what needs to be done to cure your disease for good, don't' you?" He asks, looking down at her.

"...you're...you're right." She mumbles, getting up. "It's NOT too late, Vee-baby...for either of us." She kisses me deeply on the lips, holding me tightly. "Goodbye." She whispers softly before she walks towards Ahinahina. "Alright...I'm ready. Cure me." She says, hanging her head.

He nods in appreciation of such willing submission and caresses her head before he leans forward, embracing her in a hug. I see his clawed hand work it's way in through her back, claws tightly digging in, tearing easily through flesh. Her body shudders, but his other hand holds her tightly to his, and she hugs him back, his soft fur comforting her.

He croons all the while as he slowly draws her intestines out through her back, long and thick, like bloated fleshy tubes. He places them within his mouth and slurps them down like spaghetti, but she doesn't fall. Somehow she remains alive as his hand moves back into her, now pulling out her liver. He takes the organ in his mouth and chews slowly to savor the taste as the flesh slides down his throat.

One by one he removes organ after organ as they deposit themselves within his gut, the blood spilling out from her back. Finally, the heart. He holds it up and tilts his head back, allowing his tongue to wrap around it and take it in all the way. He swallows it whole, gulping the still-beating organ down as Eta quivers. How...how is she still alive?

And then he smiles sweetly at her and his claws brush her cheek. He kisses her deeply, and they embrace like lovers. I could see how his tongue enters her mouth, deeper...deeper...I can hear her moaning lustfully...and then she begins to drain, right before my eyes. He's sucking her inside out. Her chest sinks inward very slowly, then her stomach and hips, her legs and arms...and then all that's left is her skin, which he slurps into his mouth. He places his hand on his now-bulging stomach and rubs it slightly before he holds up his hands and a small ball of light forms. It twinkles, then vanishes from sight.

"She's cured." He says gently, nodding firmly.

"Why...why..." I whisper, falling to my knees. No...no, this can't be. We were...there was so much I hadn't done...so much we hadn't seen yet. She was supposed to be alive, she...

No...Eta, no, baby...

"Why?"

"If you really have to ask "why"...you're either in the ultimate state of denial...or you haven't been paying attention." Ahinahina says, shaking his head. "Well? Which is it?"

"Go to HELL!" I snarl, rushing forward.

He grabs my arm and lifts me up like I'm a toy. How the HELL can he be so strong!? His grip...it's like somebody is crushing my arm between two trains that are being pressed together...

"No, I'm not going there. And you needn't go there either." Ahinahina says, dropping me and stepping back, arms folding. "Your lover made the right choice. You can too."

"You call that a CHOICE?" I snarl.

"It is." He says softly. "A choice for salvation. Forgiveness." He explains. "You have the same opportunity to make things right. You've taken in a lot of souls into your body, but you can't take them with you where you're going, and you know it. But if you ever want to reach where they're headed...well...you know, deep down, what you need to do." He says, tossing me a knife.

I hold the knife in my hands, turning it's cold, steel handle over. "...Eta...I'm so sorry." I whisper. What do I have left now that she's gone? So many of my dreams are up in smoke, but...I have to get back home.

"Outta the way. I'm going back to the city." I snap, holding the knife up, angry tears filling my eyes.

"Little taur, think about it. Going back? Isn't that what brought you to this place? Going back to where you always start? Never stepping out of your past filled with cruelty and wanton gluttony? Maybe it's time...to move FORWARD." He says gently.

"NO!" I scream, rushing out of the hall. "Leave me alone!" I scream as the walls begin to peel away, but Ahinahina's standing there at the end of the light that this hallway has become, a dark, fleshy tunnel that surges out to ensnare me with it's claws...

"You've ALWAYS been alone, little taur. Your kind is in the minority. You're in a sheltered, controlled little bubble and you need to break out." He says calmly as I rush by him, reaching the outside of the building...

"It's just you...and your sins." He says, standing in front of me.

"STOP!" I wail. "No more! No..." I fall to my knees. "No more..."

...

...

...

...well...I can't put it off any more.

"It's up to you to make things right. Just like all those bad things you've done was up to you. And the sad thing is...it was easier to do what was bad, rather than what was right. This is a hard choice. But that's what makes it worthwhile." He says. "You always knew you were going to die someday. It's natural. It's part of Life." He tells me, placing a clawed hand on my shoulder. "You knew you couldn't hold onto what you had. Not a bit of it. Nothing you stole or took could be yours forever. But this way...you have a chance to make amends."

"...I know it doesn't mean much...but I'm truly sorry for what I did to you...and to your family." I weep.

He shakes his head. "You crossed the line for being able to apologize for the things you've done LONG before you killed my family. You know that, don't you?" He says.

"...yeah. I know." I mumble. I raise the knife to my chest. "You'd better step back. This is gonna be bloody."

I cut into my heart. The knife stabs into me like I'm slicing through water, not flesh. It feels like a thousand gusts of wind are blowing out of my body as I see light rise up around me, vanishing into tiny twinkles that fade away, and Ahinahina lifts me up.

Every organ he removes and swallows, one at a time, taking the flesh into his maw. He looks at me not with hatred, but acceptance. He's glad I've made the right choice. And then he pulls me close. His body feels so soft...so warm and gentle, like a blanket. His lips find my own and he kisses deeply. It feels...

Oh, it's wonderful. I can feel his tongue entering me, his lips so tender, so sweet. I can feel his tongue moving around, I feel a beautiful, luxurious warmth filling my body, replacing what was taken. It tastes so damn good, his lips...I can feel the inner flesh of my body melting away, turning into a warm liquid. I can feel myself being sucked into his mouth.

My body is now a fleshy sac, lying in his belly's pit. I'm so weak...so tired... But I feel so happy, so peaceful. I can feel a gentle tickling at my form and I understand I'm to die now. I accept it...

...

...

...

...I awaken in front of a large, large plain. There's many others here, looking...confused. "What's going on?" One of them murmurs, rubbing her furry, black and white head.

"Where...are we?" A Renamon asks another Renamon as a human blinks, pointing at the end of the plain.

"I think...we need to walk." He says.

I can feel a gentle, heavenly breeze. It's coming from the farthest end of the plain...where that human is pointing.

It may take years, but...I think we've got lots of time.

"Let's get moving." A black-formed being says, his halo shining slightly, his rainbow-colored horns brightly glowing as he holds up a large box of water bottles. "You've got a LONG way to go before you can relax, but you'll get there. They always do." He insists kindly.

I begin to walk.

"You'll be home, soon." The plushie tells us, giving me a water bottle.

Home...

Soon...I'll be home...