Hollis couldn't believe his eyes. To see such a thing, it was pure slaughter!

The eight blades shot out in two separate directions; one side aimed for Ambrose, the other for Tic. The two had no time to think, and in an instant, they were both bombarded with the rapid, sharp weapons. Tic's body was thick enough that they didn't pierce too deeply, but the pain was unimaginable regardless. Ambrose, on the other hand, only barely remained standing as the blades sunk into his flesh and tore at his innards. Two lodged themselves deep in his stomach, one was planted within his left shoulder, and the last one had only grazed his right shoulder and passed him by. He stumbled as the pain radiated through him; his head was pounding in panic. He was beginning to fear that this battle was beyond him. He'd made a terrible mistake!

Seeing that they were subdued, the killer sprang onto Ambrose, though at the last minute, Tic grabbed him from behind. The killer twisted and turned rapidly, struggling to break from the grip, but Tic only held on tighter.

Not relenting, the killer ripped the blades that had been lodged in the large man's forearms free, flipped them, and aimed for his head. On instinct, Tic's grip weakened, and the killer dropped. Having spun round to face him, the copy swung, and Tic stepped back. This assault continued unrelenting.

Ambrose, watching on the sidelines, gave in. Gripping the weapons in his stomach, one-by-one, he yanked them free, wincing and groaning all the while. It's just...a little pain!

Grabbing up one of the knives that he had just removed, he lunged at the copy without any reluctance, his teeth gritted, and his eyes narrowed. The copy sensed the approaching blood lust but being too tangled up in his confrontation with Tic, narrowly escaped the oncoming attack. He grabbed Ambrose's outstretched arm and dragged him closer before delivering kick to one of the closing wounds, his toe sinking into the torn flesh. Detecting Tic's fist closing in at his back, he slashed it away with a knife, but Ambrose took this chance and cut at the killer's neck.

Damn it! The phony gasped between his teeth as a trickle of blood left the open wound. Seeing that the two had closed in on him, he slipped away from between them and was promptly enclosed by more of the glowing weapons.

"You're a real coward, aren't you?" Ambrose shouted as he stood his ground. "Tic, move it!"

Before either of them could take any further action, the blades swarmed them. Ambrose covered himself immediately and his back filled with a shower of green blades. Tic was left standing speechless. Not one of them aimed at him. As Tic recovered from his momentary shock, the killer turned his eyes on the large man. In one swift motion, the copy launched at the big man, but instead of giving a direct attack, two more blades shot out in that instant, making impact with his knees and sending him down. Tic groaned at the flaming hot pain that shot through his legs. As the massive man lie like a worm on the ground, the killer strode over with an air of leisure carelessness. Pulling out the black knife he had been using initially, he crouched above Tic, ready to draw the weapon across his thick neck. Before he made contact, a blast was set off in the distance and he fell forward, paused...then dropped to the side as he grabbed his waist.

Hollis grunted as he pulled back slightly. Right now, he was once again in the open. Having been hidden initially, he couldn't get a good enough shot of the killer from his hiding spot and had to move to this more conspicuous spot next to the fight.

But I couldn't let this go on! I had to do something!

The killer had stayed motionless for a time, but now, he turned his sights on Hollis.

The moment Ambrose saw this, he clambered to his feet, the blades remained stuck in his back, too far out of reach. He struggled, but managed to pull out his own long blade and charged the copy. Though his steps started clumsy, he gathered his bearings as the two went at it again.

"Get away!"

Ambrose's tone was clear, and Hollis heeded his command. Turning, he ran back to the tree he had started at. Still with his Desert Eagle, he opted to switch it out for a rifle, something to help close the gap of that distance between him and this phony. Climbing up the trunk, gripping the branches that reached out to him, he pulled himself as high as he could get, shielded by the leaves as he took aim. They were depending on him!

The killer drew back and the horde of blades shot out again. Despite their attempts to protect themselves, they were still overrun by the vicious tears of the knives. Tic managed to rip them out with fair ease due to his thick skin and muscle, but Ambrose, much smaller and slimmer than his companion, had a harder time dealing with the sting and burn of the blades embedded within him. They sunk in deeper and the pain was excruciating, but he continued on. If he didn't take care of this, more people would die. More of his friends would die. None of these people would die in vain!

Hollis is counting on you! Tic is counting on you! Fight through it, man! Keep going!

"You're an utter coward!" He screamed out as he swung for the neck, but his knife was deflected with ease. "You bastard! Show us who you are! We already know, so be a man—no, be a woman! If you believe in what you're doing, do it!"

The killer's brow perked at this. As he was distracted, Tic came up from behind and wrapped his large arms around the killer's smaller body. The copy gripped at the thick forearms enclosing him, but the struggle was futile. With a scoff, he said, "You believe you know who I am? How did you figure that out?"

"I'm no detective, but I put one, two, and three together and bam! I got an answer." His strained smile faded away and his tone went grim. "Do it. Give us your face, now."

A silence prolonged and it seemed the killer had no intention of listening. Then, he gave a little smirk. Without a word, those white, pixelated lights illuminated his form. Hollis watched from the tree in awe. He hadn't expected him to listen to such a request with ease. His heart pounded against his chest. He was finally going to see the monster behind all of this.

The lights dimmed down, and the form revealed was much smaller than the form of Ambrose the killer had been occupying. Tic's eyes widened in shock. Not having followed the clues as Hollis and Ambrose did, his reaction was much more animated than either of the two. Ambrose was actually quite subdued, unreadable really.

"Well," she said softly, her voice relaying not a hint of amusement, nor despair over her situation. "Was your guess right?"

"You're wrong there, Shyed." Ambrose's bottom lip twitched ever so slightly as he spoke the name. Again, she gave no reaction to this and simply stood like a doll in Tic's large arms, her meek form seemed to be dwarfed even further by the size of the man. Ambrose elaborated, "I knew it was you. It wasn't a simple guess."

"Oh? How?" Despite her blank, listless expression, her tone bore a sense of intrigue.

"It was all simple." He sneered, but the malevolence in his expression was beyond anything he'd displayed thus far. "You gave yourself away, Shyed. It was just pure sloppiness on your part. Though there are still some things I don't get."

"Why don't you explain my sloppiness first?"

"Sure, alright." He scoffed. "The first thing that actually tipped me off was your 'death'."

"Oh?" Her normally blank eyes widened.

"Yup. The killer was watching us when Terra...when Terra died." His demeanor faltered for a moment before returning to his grim, somewhat sadistic air. "The killer watched our reactions before fleeing. When you died, that wasn't the case. Why not? He was already in the castle waiting for us to leave, why not stay for a minute longer to see how we handled it like before? So, what was it? An illusory doll? A twisted pajama?"

"Former."

"I see." He scoffed before he continued. "Another thing, one of the biggest things..." His movements had stiffened as he reached under his jacket and pulled out that familiar black blade. Hollis's form shivered when he saw it.

"This," Ambrose said, "has to be yours." Shyed listened intently to Ambrose's every word, remaining totally unreadable. "This has never vanished, even when we were all outside. That means it has to be a creation from someone's mindspace. Tic certainly doesn't have things like this. He's a gun man, not a blade man. Veri doesn't have interest in simple weapons like this. He's a man of extravagance. You, though, this sort of gothic, wicked looking knife is more your style." He chuckled. "And that fighting is definitely more in line with someone light on their feet, which Tic most certainly is not, and the same goes for Veri. Now, the only thing we don't know is your motive. It's your turn now."

No one spoke, and it stayed this way for a while before the captive girl finally spoke up. "My motive?" She asked in a voice that vaguely mimicked naivety. "You came across my identity, yet you couldn't figure out my motive? Not why I was using your face or targeting Somnium?"

"I don't know, and your victims have been more than just Somnium." Ambrose's voice was low and raspy as his gaze narrowed further. Tic gulped, desperately wanting to throw in his own two cents, but fearing how Ambrose would react to someone breaking in on their...conversation.

Shyed continued, "My motive, if you are truly so desperate to know...is cleansing, so to speak."

"'Cleansing'?" Ambrose's face scrunched up, his brow raised before suddenly twisting, a breath escaping his lips.

"Personally, I am of the opinion that Somnium need to go extinct."

What the hell? Hollis's grip on the gun tightened, yet he felt as if he was about to drop it. She's Somnium isn't she? Why would she think something like that?

"What are you talking about?" The knife in his hand vibrated as he resisted the urge to flip it and swing. "What kind of motive is that? Were you planning on ending yourself after everyone else? Is this your 'perfect crime'?"

"No such thing," she reprimanded, her eyes glinted as she narrowed them. "Do you really think you're all so great? That you deserve to be freed from my judgement?"

"Judgement? You're calling this judgement?" Tic groaned as he resisted the urge to tighten his grip. Shyed felt this and made her body go limper.

"Let her finish, Tic." Ambrose attempted to play peacemaker, but the tone of his voice and his face were just as eerie as before.

"As I was saying," she continued, "Everyone here has a wonderful gift, an ability that could be used for good, for amazing things. And yet..." There was a flicker through her dark eyes before she went on. "You all use it for such perverted things. For awful, immature things. I may not be active on the forums, but that doesn't mean I don't keep an eye on all of you. Such horrible things are said on that forum. I've been taunted and complained about for my concerns over the ethics of what some of you people have done. Disgusting." Though the words she said carried such weight, her tone remained steady and flat, regardless of the anger that was slowly, fairly twisting her features.

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

Before she could say anymore, Ambrose cut in. "You need to remember one important thing, Shyed." Hearing this, she closed her mouth and listened. Ambrose smirked, a bead of sweater running down his cheek. "We're all immature because we are immature. Heh! Not many of us are above the age of thirty, so of course we're going to use our abilities for such inappropriate things. Of course we're not going to use it for life changing miraculous things. We're a bunch of immature kids!"

Shyed tried not to give any kind of reaction, but the blink of her eyes and the slight drop of her mouth told all. She was dumbfounded.

"I can't say much for the way they were talking about you, that was wrong of them, but you're taking the frustrations from that out on everyone else? I can only say, 'what the hell is wrong with you?!'" Ambrose attempted to stand, but the blades piercing his back kept him down, and he succumbed to the pain remaining hunched over. "Sure, we peep on people's dreams, on their thoughts. We see things that should be hidden from us just because we can. What we're all doing is wrong, but you murdered people! Even if it was for reasons you considered righteous, that doesn't change the horrendousness of your acts! What you've done is far worse than what we've done. You've stolen lives that will never come back! That's not going to change things for the better, Shyed. Are you really so stupid that you would think that?"

Silence returned. The two stared each other down, Tic standing awkwardly behind them, his grip remaining tight on the small girl.

Suddenly, she crossed her arms and bright green lights erupted behind her. Two knives darted out towards Ambrose who attempted to dodge, but the pain from the knives in his back remained and the two weapons pinned themselves in each of his shoulders. As this happened, the pixelated lights returned, and as they enveloped Shyed's form, she swung around in Tic's grasp, and by the time it vanished, her enlarged form pulled his arms up as her long, slender legs wrapped around his neck. With a rough lean, she pulled him back, his legs struggling to catch himself from the inevitable fall. She pulled his arms up higher and pulled harder, but Tic managed to catch himself and tossed her forward, her body landing with a thud in the grass.

The woman pushed herself up, her short, fluffy, white hair just as meticulously perfect as it had been before her fall. Ambrose pulled the knives from his shoulder as his eyes scanned the woman up and down. A secondary pajama?

Hollis gritted his teeth as he repositioned the gun. With her sitting on the ground like that, he could get a clean shot of her right then and there! With a steady hand, his body froze before a loud 'Bang' was set off and her body was shot down.

Ambrose grunted as he strained to stand tall. He flipped his long, scerated knife and approached Shyed as she struggled up. Drawing his blade back, in one swift motion he dropped it upon her neck. Strands of her white hair flew, but she ducked the swing and her leg shot out in the same movement, kicking Ambrose down. The pain present in his back erupted through his body as he made an attempt to catch himself and he landed with a low grunt.

Tic's fist flew at her and caught her cheek, then his second fist. She eventually freed herself from this cycle and—crouched beneath him—slashed his stomach which was found to be all muscle. The man winced but let out no sound and promptly grabbed the back of her head, slamming her to the ground with little mercy.

"Tic!" Ambrose called out as he found himself back on his feet. "Watch out!" He made a hasty motion highlighting the blades in his body. Tic flinched, understanding the situation he put himself in. Instead of releasing her and distancing himself, he tightened his grip on her body. "Go ahead and cut me up all you want. I can take it!"

"With pleasure." Though no one could see it, blades impaled Tic's waist, his abdomen took in blades over and over as they materialized directly in him. He grunted and moaned in agony as his flesh was torn repeatedly. As this happened, Shyed spoke casually, her body freed from the tight pin he had held her in. "You turned your back on Ambrose so quickly, I was incredibly disappointed. It tore me up. You proved just how heartless and cruel Somnium are."

"You talk like you're not one of us. Do you really think so highly of yourself that you feel the need to distance yourself? You're so weak!" Ambrose chuckled as he approached. Tossing his blade upright, he shouted, "Get her, Hollis!"

In one swipe, he lowered the blade to her neck, but she struck first. Though her arms were restrained the knives shot forth again. Ambrose was prepared to be hit, but the blades swept past him and went straight for the tree at his back. His heart sank when he realized...

There was a thud from behind him. Turning back, he saw Hollis's gun fall from the branches.

"You're equals you said. I don't believe that. Jealousy is impossible to avoid." Her eyes narrowed. "Then again, I don't really understand friendship. Was Terra a friend? I don't know. She was wholly obnoxious, yet I couldn't help but feel horribly jealous... Why was she so much better than me? She was, in a way, what I had wanted." She spit as she finished. Before she turned back, Ambrose's fist caught her face. Tic grunted as the force of the punch flooded his torn abdomen, but Ambrose continued.

Shyed struggled to free herself from Tic's grasp, but he held her tighter and tighter. She was hopelessly trapped.

"You bitch!" Ambrose grabbed her jaw and forced her face towards him. "You are heartless, you know that? You killed people—innocent people—and hope to pin the blame on me? Why me?!"

"You're the source of it all," she groaned as he squeezed her jaw. "You're the biggest problem! Childish, a true brainless imbecile! You're the one pushing all of these immature ideologies! And when Hollis came along, he made it so easy to get to you" She scoffed and spit at him. "If Somnium fall, it should be because of you!"

As Ambrose drew his arm back for another solid punch, a gunshot rang out leading to a sudden silence. Then, there came a second shot, then a third.

Ambrose and Tic didn't move, and neither did Shyed. In fact, Shyed's eyes were wide and then large gaping holes in her head steamed. After a moment of this, her head dropped, and her body went limp. From up in the tree, Hollis exhaled, his form still shivering as he gripped the gun in his hands. I didn't kill her, did I? Her neck is still intact, but...

The tall, sandy-haired youth dropped his arm before falling to the ground. After taking a second to gather himself, he shot back up and turned to the tree behind them. "Hollis!?"

The brunette jumped down from the branches and dashed towards the others. When the two met halfway, they simply stood and stared, as if they had no words to exchange. Hollis winced suddenly, his eyes going wide. "A-Ambrose! Your back..."

"Ah," the taller youth chuckled faintly, his right hand crossed over his stomach and rubbed his back as he did. "Right. Think you could...help me out?"

"But...Shyed?" As the point was brought up, Ambrose's narrowed eyes peered back at the form Tic dropped. She let out a groan, but didn't seem to have the strength to get up.

"You did good, Hollis...right?" His jovial sneer popped up. "Getting her that many times in the head, it'll probably take a bit for her chip to recover. I'm not some techno geek or anything, but if I understand, the signal was probably jammed from the amount of pain she was taking. Or something like that." He exhaled softly as he lifted his free hand and dropped it onto Hollis's shoulder. "She's out, basically."

"Good. I'm glad it worked out."

"Now!" Ambrose grabbed Hollis's shirt, his fingers pulling at the slits in his shoulder. "Are you hurt? Where'd you get hit?"

"Really? You have a bunch of knives in your back, but you're going to ask me how I'm doing?"

"Well, yeah." He chuckled as he ran his finger over the needle-thin slit. "I can handle this."

"So can I. Turn." Without giving Ambrose a chance to answer, he spun him back and, swallowing his shock at the sight, he grabbed the handle of one of the knives and yanked it out. The tall youth's breath hitched as the pain returned, but he said nothing.

Once Hollis finished, they returned to Shyed's side. Tic had wrapped her up in a thick rope and tied a blindfold over her eyes. "If she can't see us, she can't hit us with those damn blades..." Tic groaned as he rubbed his arms, the flashes of pain coming back to him.

"Good thinking, Tic. You're always a step ahead when it comes to...whatever this is."

"Subduing, you mean?"

"Yeah. You're real good with that, you know?" Ambrose chuckled as he dropped his hands on his hips.

"But what now?" Hollis's tone was flat, but his eyes darted between the three of them and his foot tapped impatiently. Ambrose sneered at the shorter boy's anxiety, then turned his sights to Shyed. "Did I tell you I had an idea?"

"Plenty of times, yeah."

"Well, let me tell you now, this is all being live streamed."

His two companions' jaws dropped, their eyes both bulging.

He didn't say anything about that!

"What d'ya think?" He stifled a laugh. "This was the best way to get proof, right? All raw, unedited proof. Hopefully, the whole world will see this and know exactly what's going on."

"Damn, Ambrose... I can't believe you."

"Really?"

"Nah, guess not. This sort of flashy thing is your style." Ambrose laughed, his cheeks flushing. Then, Tic joined in. Though weak, it was a triumphant laugh. Hollis watched the two of them, the atmosphere growing lighter by the second.

"Well," Ambrose halted his laughter, his voice breathy. "I'm going to head out and try to get in touch with the British authorities. Finally, this whole thing will be over with."

Tic and Hollis agreed.

Yeah, this whole thing is over with...

The killer had been caught. The murders were done with. It was all over.

But I'm still here...

Hollis sighed; his knees pulled up to his chest as the grass waved around him. Now that this was done, he needed to figure out how to wake up. Now that he had nothing to fear, he would have to do whatever he could to get out.

That sounds a little reversed, doesn't it?

"How's everything here?"

Glancing back from around the tree, Hollis watched as Ambrose strode over, his hands shoved deep into his pockets and a cocky smirk on his face. It'd been about two days since they confronted Shyed, and Ambrose live streamed her confessions. Ambrose hadn't come back after he left to report her, so there was a day where Hollis sat in his mindscape on his own. Now, he was stressing, his mind focused back to his original issue of leaving this place.

"How've you been, guy?" Ambrose's peculiar eyes narrowed as he dropped next to Hollis. "You've got...about eight days to do this. You ready for it?"

"I don't know what 'it' is, though." Hollis faced straight ahead and peered over to Ambrose from the corner of his eyes. "D'you have any tips on how to get out?"

"That, I do not. But I can try and help you out." His smile softened as he glanced to the shorter boy. "You remember what all I said?"

"You've said a lot."

"When you're out of here, I'll tell you my real name. When you're out, I'll let you see my real self." He glanced back to Hollis. "And we can hang out. Ya know, Noodle's still alive."

Hollis jolted up, his blue eyes widened, and his mouth dropped open like he was going to say something, but nothing came out. Ambrose chuckled. "His parents found him and got him help before anything severe could happen. He's recovering now, but I don't know his current condition." His eyes drooped but they recovered in no time. "I'm just glad he's alright. You know, Noodle's from Canada, so he could drop down to meet us. But first, of course, it'll just be the two of us!" There was a silence, as if Ambrose had expected Hollis to comment, but when he didn't, he went on. "Later, Tic and Noodle, the four of us can hang out if you're alright with...well, all of this!"

"Y...yeah, I guess." His tone was bleak, and he ran his hand over top of the other in repeated strokes. "You can make all the plans you like, but if I don't get down to actually doing something they'll just be plans and not much else."

Ambrose's smirk proceeded to turn itself into a sneer as a low chuckle accompanied it. The youth's eyes squinted as he stared at Hollis. "I'm already working on the 'doing', you know? At least from my end of things."

This vague response alluded Hollis completely, but he decided it best not to ask what he meant. Instead, he continued with his concerns. "Even if you're doing something, wouldn't it be pointless if I did nothing? I have no idea how I'm supposed to wake myself up from in here. That just doesn't seem possible. It's not like I'm sleeping, so I can't scare myself awake."

"Well, instead of scaring yourself awake, why not try and motivate yourself?" He leaned back as he went on. "I don't know anything about comas, but since you're still conscious like this, maybe it's really as simple as convincing yourself to wake up."

"I doubt comas are that simple."

"It's worth a shot though, isn't it?" He smirked, his gaze drifting over the horizon. "You can at least give it a shot. You know? I've heard of stories where someone is in a coma, and they just so happen to wake up when a loved one is with them. Coincidence?"

"I think so, yeah." His tone was flat, and his expression was just as flat. This combination warranted a good laugh from Ambrose. He fell back and with a soft thud as his back hit the ground. Hollis pretended not to notice, but he watched the younger man from his peripheral vision.

"I think that's the first tactic we should use. If that fails, what's the backup, Hollis?"

Hollis kept his lips sealed. He thought, and then he thought some more. He hadn't a single idea. "Sorry, but I have nothing."

"Well, alright. We'll go ahead and work with mine." His smirk had devolved into a soft smile, and his eyes narrowed gently. The light from the sun reflected off of his yellow-brown eyes as he turned to face the brunette. "I'll do what I can from the outside, and you make sure to do everything you can from in here."