72. The Quiet One

                                    

                                          
This isn't right. You're wandering down a cavernous, infinite hall. Pillars of wood stretched for the dark, steps muffled by the tatami mat. Wooden walls are lined with far away torches that flicker to a weakening flame. This is all wrong. You know where you are. Flames rupture high and blue. Voices laughed from the viscous, melting void above, like those jeering onlookers. You aren't supposed to be here– Something bad's going to– 
You stepped on glass shards, disturbing the body up ahead.
"...Just like last time, huh, traitor?" Cold accusations, contrasting violently with the blue flames erupting from him. "Should've listened to those thoughts."
"Kai, please, please don't–" You're backing away. A cynical laugh rattled his empty chest.
"You gonna give up on me? Leave me to die at your hands?"
"I didn't do this–!"
"Don't start."
Jay's cackle merged and crackled beside you, "I mean, Kai, what were we thinking? They were a lying–"
"I didn't!" Lightning struck above, spearing you silent.
"You didn't?" Earth crumbled beneath you, dragging you to a pit. "I think... justice hasn't been fair."
"You... killed my brother. Had a sword to Lloyd's neck, had him a bleeding mess– oh, now you suddenly remember? Yeah, yeah, you blocked that out completely. How tired and scared and unwell he was after all the shit you put him through– put us through! Do you really think we'll trust you? Though, I'm not surprised when you practically almost skinned my neck!" Torrents of water flooded down as you scampered up the muddy ditch– You tumbled down, drowning in an abyss. You swam up– Ice. A plane of clear ice meets your frantic clawing. 
A desperate scream, the air snuffed out of your lungs.
There's no one there.
"But I am." Everything fell, swept away by his voice. You're suspended. Floating by Lloyd... possessed once again. 
"W-wait, this..." You're lost. A warbled confusion and wrongness at seeing him, "This isn't right you, you–"
"The only problem is, you could do nothing."
"I tried. I tried–" Morro turned away with a hard-bitten laugh. "I did–!"
"No, no, you didn't." Hateful and envious greens that were for his enemy, bore into you. "They're still alive."
You're chasing again, catching him.
"Hah, you're pathetic. It's sad to witness what you've become." Restless winds howled, taking him from you, scathing and racking your skull as you fall; "I saved you, because I wanted the you that wasn't a fucking coward."
You will die with them.
Stygian forms undulated from the dark, splitting into your...
Friends.
Lifeless.
All your fears will be realized.
It's gone to black. You are gazing into an abyss. Your face. Your intact body. A cynical hissing, "How can you believe in them?"
"Because..." You found your voice clawed in that same line of thinking.
"Exactly. You're scared. This is going to end, just like last time."
"...you, you don't know that–"