I walked down the street, Lorraine ran after me, she grabbed my shoulder, “Please calm down Steve.”

I grunted, “Do you have any idea how much you just hurt me?” Quickly, I shook her off me and she landed on her buttocks. “Leave me alone.”

She just sat there, and I continued walking down the street of Brickton. When I saw Funk in the distance, I charged up ice energy and transformed into Eris’s form. He walked over, “Hello buddy.”

“Buddy? You dare to call me a buddy?”

He tilted his head, “What do you mean?”

I came closer and punched him in his gut with ice energy. “That is for creating friction in my marriage.”

I tried to punch him again, but he blocked the blow. “Well, you are the one who cheated!”

“I did not cheat, I murdered Khione! Your lies are causing problems between me and Lorraine!”

We started trading blows, in my mind, people ran towards the command center to stand by. Funk spawned two dark blades, “Come get some, you asshole!”

“Me an asshole!?”

“You are a fucking sneaky bastard, you are hiding things from me, you are trying to ruin my marriage, and I am just trying to be friends with you.” Funk charged at me, I jumped backwards and switched places with Eris, she spawned a bow and fired a shot, right in Funk’s left hand, blood splattered around.

He jumped towards Eris and I took her place, I spawned a red blade and blocked his incoming attack. Captain enforced my strike and I slammed down my sword and shattered his black blade. Then I kicked him away, “Come on, stop holding back.”

Funk panted, “I am not going to fight you on full strength, unless you give me no other option.”

“Fine, then I know what to do.”

I charged at Funk, and he shot a dark energy beam at me, I let Angel spawn behind him, out of me, and took his place. Teleporting without using energy, then I wrapped tentacles around Funk’s legs. I started slamming him down left and right like a cartoon character. After a few times, I slammed him against a wall.

I threw ice over the floor, and let Khione take my place. She slid towards Funk and punched him a few times. He grunted while chuckling, “So, that is what you did to her.”

Khione kept punching, but Funk did not even respond to the blows. Khione pulled her fist back, I send silver energy into her, the others also started sending energy into her fist. All of us yelled as we launched our attack at Funk, but someone grabbed Khione’s fist. I took Khione’s place while in Eris’s form and looked at Abby.

“That is enough, Steve, he is done with fighting.”

I pulled my fist away. “He deserved that.”

Abby looked at Funk, who slowly got up and spit a lot of blood on the ground, his shell had been broken quite badly.

He sighed, “I thought Steve had cheated and told Lory before Steve got home.”

Abby started laughing, “Oh my god, Steve, cheating!?”

She looked at me, “Did you actually cheat on Lory?”

“No, I did not, I killed a god. Lorraine told me I cannot ambush a god, instead I used a sneak attack. Khione thought she was about to get lucky, and then I killed her.”

Abby looked at Funk, “See, he only killed her.”

Funk pointed at her, “He just told you he killed someone, and you are like, oh sure that is more plausible.”

Abby shrugged, “It is Steve, what else do you expect?”

Abby shook her head, “What are you even doing, Funk? Meddling in his marriage? Just because you are lonely and not feeling too well, does not mean you should ruin someone's marriage. Steve is your friend, your brother in arms, and you screwed him over.”

Funk gasped, “You are taking his side? He absorbed Khione, or ate her, whatever the fuck we call it.”

Abby looked at me, “Did you indeed absorb Khione?”

“Yes, how else can I kill a god?” I let Khione step out of me.

Abby looked at her, “You are dead, how are you here?”

Khione sighed, “I am assimilated into Steve’s soul and brain, I think he has like a secret chamber, he actively tries to ignore that fact, and acts as if we never mentioned it. As long as I am near him, I can wander around a bit if he lets me. Yes, he killed me, I kind of asked for it. I still have my memories, and my own feelings. But, I also have new quirks.”

Abby nodded, “I understand, you are dead, assimilated into Steve, but he is allowing you some freedom.” Abby touched Khione, “Your soul is intact, your memories are intact, your core has been altered a bit to be compatible with Steve. Either she is real, or Steve has insane control over his energy.”

I sighed, “Just let us be,” Khione and I started walking towards the exit of Brickton

Khione stepped inside of me and continued working on her snow room. After a while, I came to a large lake with a small pier. It would be great to catch some fish. There were no people around at this moment. I sat down on the pier, and I exhaled. Everyone started stepping out of me. Eris and Captain sat down next to me, both on the other side of me, and Khione sat down in front of me.

The others were all nearby. Eris rubbed over my back, “Look, I am sorry for my temper tantrum.”

Captain nodded, “I am sorry for letting Lory in. I thought she would understand.”

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Khione looked at me, she shrugged, “I have no clue what to say. I am all new to this. You asked me to try to gain trust. Thus, I am trying my best.”

I hung my head, “Why does Lory think I am evil?”

Angel walked over with a set of cards, “We are not evil. We are just, special. Do you mind if I play some card games with Agent and J?”

I shook my head, Thanos got up, “Count me in Angel!”

I just looked at the moving water as the day slowly started to pass. Eris had put her head on my shoulder, Captain as well. Khione had laid down on her back and looked at the stars. “Steve?”

“Yes?”

“Are we ever going to visit my home again? I do have a child I want to see again.”

“Of course Khione, I promise you, wherever your home is, we will visit it one day.”

Eris spoke up, “It is my home too.”

On the other side of the water, I saw a woman dive into the water. I let out a deep sigh, “She is a normal human, all alone, in the dark.”

Khione chuckled, “What is that I am hearing Steve, interested in gaining a new form? Was I not enough for you?”

I tried to shrug, “It depends on what Lory thinks of me, if they think I am evil, I might as well act evil. You deserved it Khione but that woman, she just looks, good to add to the collection.”

I looked at J and the others playing a board game on the pier, laughing and having fun. “Eris?”

“Yes?”

“You are real, right?”

“Of course, I am real. Captain, Khione and the others too.”

Khione smiled at me, “I am very real. Even if you made me a leaf on your Steve tree.”

Captain spoke up, “I always felt as if I have been chasing something, the power to keep that devil in check. Never being able to grasp it. Which is why I let you, Steve, take over, in the hopes you could find a normal human happy life. It is what our creator wanted. I never knew, that what I was looking for was inside of me. You made this possible Steve,” he waved around us, all of us were having fun.

The woman swam our way, she climbed the pier. “Hello there, what are you guys doing here?” Brown, long hair is pulled back to reveal a chiseled, anguished face. Darting brown eyes, set delicately within her sockets.

“Oh, we are just, chilling, what about you?”

“I am swimming, my name is Rose, what about you guys?”

I introduced everyone. Rose sat down next to Khione. “You are quite a big gang of people.”

Khione smiled, “We are all connected to each other.”

“Rose?”

“Yes, can I confide in you, even if you are a stranger?”

Rose leaned back on two hands, “I have always been alone, I am still managing to survive the end of the world. If a group of strangers wants to confide in me, then please, do so.”

“Thanks, Rose. People think, we are fake. As in, these are all people that live inside of me. I am married, but my wife thinks they are fake. What do you think?”

Rose smiled at Khione, “Are you interested in a swim? And as for your question Steve, if you think they are real, and if they feel real to you. Then your wife should try to see your point of view, it is, of course, going to be hard on her, and you. Is there something else?”

“Yes, I absorb people.”

Khione got up and undressed, “Like me, but it was my own fault.”

Rose looked around, “All of them?”

Eris raised her hand. Rose chuckled, “Oh no, what did I do, coming here, you have an appetite for woman. Hey, you are just you, who cares who or what you are. You look like a fun bunch.” Rose jumped into the water and Khione followed her.

Khione and Rose started swimming in the water, Thanos walked over, “Hey Steve?”

“Yes?”

“Are we going to sleep here? In the outside world?”

Eris got up, “Like a sleepover party, as long as we don’t use too much energy we can just stay separate.”

I smiled, “Sure, set up all the tents.”

Thanos handed me a pack of cards, “You are feeling down boss, why don’t the commanders play some cards?”

Eris started shuffling the cards, “Are we playing poker?”

Captain chuckled, “I am up for some poker.” We played poker for a while, we saw Thanos and J working together to set up all the tents. Rose came over and Khione followed her.

Rose smiled, “Can I join your campsite?”

Khione smiled at her, “We would love to have you have here.”

Khione looked at me, I nodded, “Of course, she is welcome.” The sun is going down.

Eris looked at me, “Can we talk in private?”

“Of course,” I looked at Captain, “Don’t you fucking dare to look at my cards.”

He chuckled, “I would never do that.”

Eris looked at me as we found a private spot, “I am not used anymore to sleeping here, I have been in that mirror for a very long time, inside a cocoon. Can we work on making friends out of the other people in the dark mirrors? Regardless of what Lory thinks of us?”

I nodded, “That is the plan, once we have camped here for a while.”

Eris smiled, “Do you mind, sharing a tent with me?”

“Not in that manner, I am just, a bit scared to sleep in the wild after all this time.”

I hugged Eris, “That is no problem at all. I am thinking, we can stay here for a while. Lory will come find us, eventually.”

We walked back to the tents. I looked around, “Did anyone see Captain check out my cards?”

Agent shook his head. Angel laughed, “He tried too, but I shot a beam at him.”

Captain grumbled, “You are a goody two shoes.”

Eris laughed, “How about we go to sleep after this card game?”

J yawned, “I am turning in already, or am I?” I nodded, “goodnight J!” He smiled as he prepared to take a walk, “This is fun, we can stay here for a while, how about we organize a BBQ soon?” Everyone cheered, even Rose.