Away From Reality Part 1: Agony (Part 5: The Coldness of Summer)

After a long day:

It was the beginning of the night when the sky became darker than it was in the afternoon. We stopped at a lake, and decided to stay the night there so we could get some water and rest. “It is killing me what I know about Rikku. I want to tell Suki so badly the truth, but i’m worried she wouldn’t understand.” Yuni was at the edge of the lake. The others were resting in the tents already because it was getting late.

“Well, it is haunting me too. Somethings just have to be left hidden from other people. This is our story and we decide how to write it out, a tragedy, a drama, a whatever. ” I looked at the strange tree in the middle of the lake. All the other trees were on land, but this one was in the lake.

“Yes, you are right Tyler. Life is a big book the person gets to write by themselves. Every decision, every plot twist, every death, every romance.” Yuni stared into my eyes, and I stared into hers.

“The author of your life is always going to be you,” I informed Yuni. “The twinkle in her eyes revealed its smile before it came.” (Morgan)

“Only the author decides what is going to happen and what direction the story goes on.” We kept on referring life as some type of story, some type of book. Sometimes I felt like I was even in a story, but I knew that was my own.

“But, first the author needs something big to talk about. Something that would leave the readers hooked onto the powerful plot line.”

“The story also needs some unpredictable parts in it.” She ran into the lake to where the tree was because the water wasn’t deep at all. “Like, doing that for an example.”

“Hey, get back here!” I commanded. So, I went into the lake knowing it was the only way to get Yuni out of there.

“You gotta catch me!” She shaked her butt at me and stuck her tongue out. Yuni made a L with her fingers.

“Ha ha, very funny!” I ran up to her, but Yuni ran away before I could catch her in my arms.

“Yes, it is.” Yuni was being a smart aleck, but I was still madly with Yuni. Then I charged again when she was busy doing a wacky dance. We went back to staring into each other's eyes.

“Got ya, Yuni.”

“You did, Tyler.” She hugged me and pressed her head close to my chest. I wondered, did she like me too?

“Do I get a reward or something?” I questioned. I could hear my heart racing and Yuni’s was also. The reward I needed was Yuni’s love. She was perfect and amazing.

“Of course you do.” Yuni got off of my chest and back to staring into my blue eyes. Then she kissed me on the lips. “That is it.” That was by far the best reward I got in my life. So, I kissed her back.

“And, that is your reward.”

“For what?” There was nothing Yuni didn’t deserve besides all the bad stuff people could get.

“You got accepted to go on the journey.” I stroked Yuni’s cheek. And, she stroked mine also. This was all I wanted ever since I first saw her; I could die happy right then because I knew Yuni loved me back.

“Yes, I did.” She then kissed me back.

“That is for revenge for kissing me.” Yuni always loved to joke around, and then she loved me more than jokes.

“Our stories are together now.” But, when we looked over we saw Kirami staring at us, probably in awe.

“What the...” Kirami was shocked that YUNI and I were together now. Then I saw something behind Kirami.

“Kirami, look out!” I warned him. Yuni saw it too and backed away from it. It was Andrea-Rikku. “We have to get Suki out of the tents!” We all ran because Suki was in danger. MARKA was here, and nowhere was safe. The tents weren’t that far away, so we got to them in a matter of seconds.

“Suki, wake up!” Yuni yelled when she put her head in the red tent which Chun supplied us along with blankets.

“Why?” She rubbed her eyes when she got up.

“Trust us, this place is not safe.” Any second Andrea-Rikku would come and kill us all without mercy. So, Yuni pulled Suki out of the tent, and carried her. I noted, Yuni was stronger than I thought she was. Juneflower came seconds late, and Yuni put Suki on her dragon’s back. Then she motioned her dragon to come with her.

“Do you see her?”

“Where are you, you little b*stards.” We outran Andrea-Rikku, and were safe, at least for then.

“That was close.” I was still running, and so was Yuni and Kirami. Like usual Kirami didn’t say anything about the matter. He was a silent angel sent from Basil to watch over us.

“You think?” Yuni questioned. Suki was trying to sleep, but couldn’t with all the noise we were making. Then she finally went into a deep, deep sleep.

“Where are we going now?” I hoped that we could get a little rest before we had to continue on the journey because my feet hurt like heck.

“The rest of the journey we have to take. It is not safe to rest anywhere.” That was the answer I didn’t want to hear come from Yuni’s mouth. But, it was still the answer and what we had to do.

“Okay.” I tried to not sound annoyed or disappointed, but I sounded like both of those things. One thing was going on in my head, that was that Yuni loved me.

“Why isn’t it safe?” We woke up Suki with our little conversion we had. Suki’s eyes pierced my soul with it crawling through me to search for an answer.

“It’s nothing, Suki.” We all continued to walk and act like nothing had happened.

“Yuni, stop hiding stuff from me! I am eight, and I am old enough to know these things.” Suki didn’t buy Yuni’s lie at all. Well, Yuni’s lie made her more mad. “First, you leave my sister for dead. Now you keep on lying to me just because I am a kid.” She jumped off Juneflower, and walked away from us.

“What are you doing?” I asked.

“If you won’t tell me, I am just going to go back there and figure it out.” Suki was walking the opposite direction until she stopped and glared at something. She ran to the left to where she was staring at.

“Wait up Suki!” Yuni and I shouted at the same time. Suki didn’t say anything, so we went to where Suki was running to. At this time, I really hated walking. Then we saw what Suki found, a well filled with golden dust.

“Isn’t this the dust that Luka had?” Suki questioned while touching the magic.

“Oh my god, it is!” Yuni got out a little bag she brought along and filled it up with the dust. “This could save Rikku.”

“Yeah, it can.”

“Yuni, I can save her.” Suki sketched out her hand so she could get the big of dust. And, Yuni gave it to her without questioning her actions.

“Yes, you can, Suki.” Suki hugged Yuni, and put the bag in her pocket. A little of the dust fell out and stained her black dress she had on.

“Did somebody say my name?” Andrea-Rikku flew to where we were at. “Yes, little pests did. Lucky that I am the terminator.” She once again laughed that menacing laugh.

“Wait for the right time.” Yuni put her hand on Suki’s right shoulder. “This is a one chance only thing.” Suki nodded her head and took a deep breath.

“Aren’t you going to fight me like real warriors?” Andrea-Rikku egged us on with insults.

“Yes,” I answered. I knew if we were fighting that would make Suki have the chance to put the magical dust on her mother’s body. Kirami got out his sword, and Yuni summoned her staff.

“Time to die.” She landed onto the ground because she was flying up in the sky.

“No, time to live.” Suki pretended to be a part of the fight by pulling out her axe.

“Every living thing is stupid. Mona is who you worship, but you should worship MARKA! We are the end.” I never really understood why people joined MARKA if everybody knew that it was totally evil, but I knew that the evil people joined but there was good people in there also. It puzzled me. “MARKA!”

“Polo,” Suki joked. The old tale of Marco Polo was now MARKA polo.

“You would take back what you said to offend the MARKA!” Rage was in Andrea-Rikku’s voice. Poor Rikku, I thought, she was trapped all this time inside her own body. So, to get Rikku back, we started to attack Andrea-Rikku.

“Die!” But, she wouldn’t die that easily. Suki was trying not to been seen by Andrea-Rikku when she was attacking and hurting us. But, then she poured all the dust from the bag onto Andrea-Rikku.

“Give my sister back!” All the black muck dropped out of Rikku’s damaged body.

“I’m back! I’m back! I am myself.” The first thing Rikku did was hug her own daughter. “You’re fine.”

“Yes, I am fine big sis!” Suki hugged her mother back. The two couldn’t get their hands off of each other.

“You are so strong, Suki. You’re the strongest person I’ve ever seen.” We all knew that Rikku meant emotionally strong because she was physically stronger than her daughter.

“You are too.” Rikku kissed Suki on the forehead. “I’m too old for that.”

“I know!” When I realized Rikku was going on the journey with us, I was really glad. She could protect Suki from anything. But, when we looked back at the well it had disappeared along with the stain on Suki’s dress. Rikku was wearing a white sleeveless v-neck, blue shorts, and a pearl necklace with blood on it. The blood on her necklace vanished when the well did.

“Guys, we have to check on Juneflower!” Yuni reminded us. So, we ran to see if the dragon was alright. But, when we got there Juneflower wasn’t there. “Let me summon her.” Nothing happened.

“What happened to Juneflower?” Suki asked. Well, the price to have a life was to lose another soul, and that was what happened. Juneflower was gone.

“No, no, NO!” Yuni kept raising her hand, but nothing came but the wind. “This can’t be.”

“Yuni, some things just have to happen.” Rikku comforted Yuni like she usually did.

“He was mine ever since I was five.” Tears went down Yuni’s face. She had just lost a great companion. “First Kenzie then Andrea and now Juneflower.”

“Do you want to stay here for a little while?” Rikku didn’t want anybody to be hurt.

“We must continue on with our journey. I must toughen up if I go against Envy.” She wiped away her tears, and went walking down the path to fate. So, the rest of us went down with her.

“Yuni, are you sure that you can keep on going like this?” Rikku was the closest to Yuni, mentally and physically. I was the second in line for the mentally close.

“I can keep on going. Like the ancient people of the world said, keep calm and carry on.” Yuni couldn’t stop or slow down or just walk; she was too focused on defending Envy.

“You aren’t a machine, Yuni, you need to stop sometime.” Rikku tried to stop Yuni because she had to relax. For Pete’s sake it was around hundred degrees outside and she didn’t get any sleep in a long time.

 

“Here is the Starlight lake guys.”:

Yuni pointed her finger at a large mass of clear water. Luckily, there was a bridge over it, so we could cross that. But, the lake was beautiful just like Yuni was. It glimmered in the daylight and had plant-like things in it.

“So, how much longer to our destination, and what is our destination?” Rikku asked. She was holding her little daughter in her arms.

“Our destination is Eve City. And, um, about four more hours.” Wait a minute, I wanted to say, you didn’t tell me we were going to Eve City to kill Envy. “It is where Envy hangs out most of the time.”

“Wait, that is why you were so shocked when you figured out I was from Eve City because that is where we are going.” I was putting the pieces together for everything that was being thrown at me.

“What! You’re from Eve City.” Kirami was shocked when he figured out I was from Eve City because nobody told him that. Nobody told Kirami anything about everything that was going on. “And, you knew about this?”

“Well, everybody but you knew about it.” Yuni told her friend the truth; even Andrea knew about me being from Eve City.

“How could you hide this from me?” Kirami was very mad about the fact we were hiding a big secret from him. “How is that possible?”

“I got sucked into Envy, and that was how I traveled a thousand years into the future.” Kirami said nothing else. He just went quiet again for the whole way.

“You know ,to brighten the mood I could tell you at night all of these plants light up, and it is supposed to be one of the most stunning sights in the world. People from all over come here to see them get lit up.” Okay, I didn’t care how unmanly it was, I wanted to see those plants get lit up ever since Yuni told me they could.

“Can we see it?” I knew that the answer was most likely a no, but I still wanted to see the plants light up the night sky.

“Sadly no. We have a quest to do that is more important than the most breathtaking sight in the whole freaking world.” Yuni went on the bridge, and it made a creaking sound. It was old so it made the annoying sound of creaking. “Come on guys!” She signaled us to come onto the bridge with her.

“We’re coming.” Rikku was still holding Suki and Kirami wouldn’t open his mouth. They both rushed on the bridge to catch up with Yuni and I. Then I looked at the lake wishing that we could see the lighting of the plants. The lights would boom on and millions would be watching in wonder.

“So, have you ever watch the plants being lit up?” I asked the group. All of them shook their heads to heads to answer my question. None of them seen the event for some reason, and I wanted to know why. But, I knew Kirami would stay silent and the girls would say they were always busy, so I didn’t ask. The rest of the group wanted this journey to be over with because they did not know I was going to disappear at the end of it.

“But, I want to go,” Suki said. Following it was a yawn; she was tired and Suki was also very young. It made me shocked that Suki was going on this quest with us with Rikku, Kirami, Yuni, or any of the others caring. The world has changed.

“Suki, we can go when we can, but right now we can’t.” Rikku was more tired than Suki. There were tons of circles under her eyes and she wouldn’t stop yawning. We needed to stop because they needed their rest, but I knew we must keep on going on foot.

“We are almost there, don’t worry.” Yuni reassured all of us, including herself. Then I felt like this quest was way overrated because if we could fly we would have been done with it already. The journey was easy, and we only ran into Andrea-Rikku on the way. But, this journey was to kill Envy, so I still went.

“Alright,” Suki jumped out of Rikku’s arms and sketched. “Let’s defeat Envy once and for all!” She ran way ahead of us like she wasn’t tired whatsoever. We catched up some time later.

“Look, it is the end of the bridge. Maybe we could rest somewhere.” Rikku was about to faint out of exhaustion.

“No, we have to keep going.” Yuni wasn’t giving Rikku a break even after she got processed by Andrea.

“Okay, Yuni.” Rikku fought to keep her eyes open, so she leaned on Kirami. Kirami acted like wasn’t there trying to sleep on his shoulder.

“Alright then. Next stop is Eve City.”

“We hadn’t even stopped ever since the lake,” I reminded Yuni.

“Yes, that is the point. We are not stopping until we reach Eve City and clean out the trash, got that people?” There was something strange going on with Yuni. One moment she is this fun girl and the next she was dead serious.

Hours later of walking non stop:

Two guys blocked our path to continue onward with our important journey. They had lots of armour, and they also had guns. “May we ask who you people are?” They both said are the same time.

“I am Yuni. A person trying to continue onwards so she can continue her quest.” Even Yuni was tired; all of the group needed to be awake if we were going to fight Envy, my father. The guard didn’t move out of our way, idiots.

“Do you know there are strong MARKA behind us. Many that enter do not come out.” Yuni tried to push her way through the idiots, but they stopped her and pushed her back.

“Yes, I do.” She summoned her staff once again, and all of us brought out our weapons of choice.

“You have been warned.” They moved out of our way so we could continue our journey. So, we all went by them and walked on, but when I turned around, I couldn’t see them.

“Do you know where those guys went?” I questioned while keeping an eye out for any MARKA.

“Probably on a break or something, nothing to worry about.” I didn’t believe what Yuni said. And, then I saw something move in a tree above us. A chipmunk went out and in again in just seconds. BOOM! Then a tree fell from behind to reveal two guys in armour hung.

“Nothing to worry about, huh?” Footsteps were everywhere my ear heard followed by an insidious laughter.

“Anybody want to play?” A Dark Priest jumped out with a chainsaw with blood all over it. The blades went in a circling motion along with the actual saw. Then three more Dark Priests jumped out; Andrea being one of them.

“Didn’t we destroy Andrea?” Suki asked.

“I guess not.”More Dark Priests came out of the trees, so we ran for our lives because there was a small opening. Hundreds of Dark Priests were after us, wanting something else to kill.

“Guys, we have to go faster.” Our legs were hurting, but we cared more about our lives than pleasure.

“We are going as fast as we can!” Rikku was holding Suki’s hand so she wouldn’t fall behind.

“They are coming closer!” I yelled. These things were super fast; faster than anybody that I knew. But, then all of the Dark Priests disappeared to god knows where.“That was way too close.”

“I thought we killed Andrea!” Yuni was panting along with the others and I.

“All of us did,” Rikku answered. She fell onto the ground and made a force field. “I am going to sleep.” Luckily, all of us were in the force field, so we could all fall asleep even though the sun was out.

Back on Nightmare Lane:

The kid was there, watching me. Its eyes stared at me without a single blink. “You again.” I hated the ghost that kept following me; it scared and annoyed the living crap out of me.

“Tyler, you decided to go through with this.” The ghost kid seemed shocked about the fact I was doing this.

“As I said before I care about the majority!” I was also annoyed that he kept putting me in the same sky blue room as usual. Blue meant many things, but it doesn’t mean you have to make a room like that.

“By the way, don’t call me ‘you’ call me by my name.” He stayed there; still staring at me and his eyes didn’t blink.

“Well, what is your name?”

“We are almost out of time.” That was when the kid finally blinked and acted like somebody with paranoia.

“I asked you about your name, you.” I wished that the ghost kid would disappear, but that would mean I would have to go too. Then I remembered the image of somebody reaching out for my vanishing hand. Their fingers tried to touch mine, but the person couldn’t even get me.

“It is Markl Lenson, but just call by Mark.” He started to fade away. “See you next time you sleep.”

“Wait, why do you always have to go?” I tried to grab the annoying ghost’s hand but I couldn’t. There was no way I could grab onto him. “I need you to tell me more about stuff.” I needed to know what these visions were because they were freaking me out.

“I can’t talk to you about my visions, Tyler, it is illegal for the space time to tell you.” How did he know I wanted to know more about my visions, I wondered. It was weird and it reminded me of Luka.

“Can you at least give me a small clue?” I was longing for any clue about those haunting visions, and why they were there. The one that really hit me was the one of Si stalking Andrea when she was alive.

“Not the smallest of the world. All I could give you is this, and this is my hope of Envy’s death.” He was almost completely gone, and I wanted him to stay. Maybe I could have found a way to get him to the better place.

“Please don’t go, Mark!” It was killing me that this was taking such a long time. Waiting for something you want to just go away forever.

“I’m not planning on staying awake much longer.” He then disappeared, and that moment was when I woke up. The only other person awake was Kirami, and he wouldn’t say anything to me but a frown. So, somehow the girls all woke up at the same exact time.

“We have to go. Gosh, it is mourning again we must of slept for an entire day.” Yuni got up, and the force field went down.

“Yeah, all of us are good and rested.” Rikku no longer had the bags under her eyes, and Suki was alright. They were ready to go and so was Kirami, Yuni, and I; we were going to finish the quest today.

“What are we waiting for. Let’s go.” Everybody was happier since we were allowed to go to sleep, but I was hungry because we didn’t pack anything but weapons. All of our stomachs were yelling for food, yet we ignored their screams for help because we only had a couple more miles to go until the grand finale.

“We’re coming.” But, then something grabbed onto Kirami’s leg and pulled him away.

“Kirami!” All of us went to where Kirami was caught and saw a lady that was the exact opposite of Yuni. Her hair was short and curly, her skin black as night, and the lady’s eyes were a milky black.

“So, you are the people that figured out I was lying all these years.”

“What do you mean?” We didn’t know anything about this mysterious women who randomly appeared out of nowhere.

“You figured out what Envy really was because a sphere Yuni’s mom and dad made. Well, truth is for the Final Aeon I used to murder the dumbldorians tricking them it was to kill Envy.”

“What, you jerk! You killed my parents.” Yuni went running at her and knocked her onto the ground. This action made the woman upset, and she grew fours times our size into a giant. “Who are you?”

“Only the person you were named after, Yunidfgkgc. Truth is that i’m actually normal, and Tyler’s dad...well is basically Envy.” One of my major secrets had been told by impossible to say her name. At least, she hadn’t told them that I knew this because my mouth went down in shock.

“That’s impossible.” Yuni was on Yunidfgkgc’s huge shoulder; trapped because she was on top of her.

“It is possible. Go ask Andrea and she would know everything.” The giant raised her hand, and tried to get Yuni out of her shoulder.

“She’s dead,” Rikku shouted. The yell was so loud that it made my ears ring; it wasn’t pleasant to have your ears ringing like bells.

“Well, good for me.” She then tried to squish us by stopping on our puny bodies. This girl wanted a fight, and we would give her one. So, I started to climb up Yuni blah blah’s leg, and so did the others.

“Why would you do that?” Suki questioned. She was too young to understand Yuni blah blah’s ways of doing things. Yuni blah blah tried to shake us off her leg, but we stayed on. She then turned back to normal size knowing there was no way to escape death when Yuni got her staff. Her hands went up when we surrounded her with all our weapons.

“Don’t kill me,” Yuni blah blah pleaded. But, Kirami stabbed her with his sword. Blah’s body went limp and fell on the ground when Kirami pulled out his sword. Blood was spreading all over the grass. Yet, the thing that disgusted me the most was that Suki watched Kirami kill Blah.

“We have to go!” All of us ran from the site, and we left blah’s body for MARKA to have fun with. The two guards were to her left; swinging by their necks in the mid-summer breeze.

This was it, this was the end:

We arrived at Eve City after hours of walking and fighting MARKA creatures. The place was in ruins, but I could still see the remains of the stadium, the UnDead studio, and my old house. This place had sand all over it; I could sense Envy was here. “Yuni, I want to tell you something.”

“What is it, Tyler?”

“If we ever get separated whistle, okay? Do you know how to whistle?” But, I knew this wouldn’t matter for I was going to disappear, but there was always a possibility of separation. Yuni then whistled, and it was the most perfect whistle I ever heard.

“Andrea had that strategy too. I used to do it all the time when I was a little kid around Suki’s age.” She looked at the ruins of Eve City, the ruins of the old me. “It must be horrible looking at this. All the people you knew and loved got killed in one day.”

“Yes, it makes me get all these memories.” Crybaby, that word couldn’t escape my head whenever I eyes saw the ruins. The horrible memories came all at once, and it was unbearable. I wanted to cry, but that would have just made me more like a crybaby. “Let’s find Envy.” But, then Envy came out from the middle of the city. The monster was my dad.

“You know you have to murder your dad?” Yuni didn’t want me to do such a horrible thing to my father, but I wanted to rip his guts out and eat them while he was alive screaming. All I would do was call him a crybaby.

“Yeah, so let’s just do it.” Envy was going closer to us, and we needed to get the others because we went wandering off by our own. They weren’t that far away so we got to them in seconds.

“Envy is coming. Remember we enter in the monster by going in the mouth, guys.” We all got ready to fight the sly murderer. Yuni, Suki, Rikku, Kirami, and I were all together, and it was not going to stay that way for long.

“This is what we all been waiting for.” That moment I realized the only thing Envy did on this journey was kill an entire village while MARKA killed almost everything. But, I still had to defeat Envy with the others, and save MARKA for somebody else to destroy.

“Here he comes.”

 

 

 

Done