EPISODE 25: DIVIDED WE FALL PART II: WHICH OF US DO YOU CHOOSE?

I struggled to carry all the food up the stairs without falling. I was determined to take it all up at once before Ayumi spotted me. Well…I was kind of successful.

Kind of you ask?

After going through all that suffering, I finally understood why the expression "Cos 90" sounded so tragic when used by a teacher to refer to the efforts of a student.

Those really annoying mes found a really convenient time to disappear. Zanyen was the only one left in the room. I sighed. I really couldn't believe how stupid I was to actually fall for a prank played on me by myself. They'd gotten rid of me so they could escape and I definitely didn't want to imagine what they were up to now.

"Where'd they go?!" I growled angrily.

Zanyen laughed.

"I believe they wish to enjoy the experience of being people instead of just mere attributes. This is a once in a lifetime chance for them you know, especially since humans tend to suppress certain attributes of their own being most of the time" Zanyen said with a smile.

His smile looked painful though.

"But you'd best be careful Zan. The longer we stay out of you, the more our own perceptions will be influenced until we become completely separate beings and if that happens, you'll never be able to utilize your full potential" Zanyen warned.

"Interesting, it's also a once in a lifetime experience for me. I get to beat myself up more than usual without actually feeling depressed!" I growled as I clenched my fist and leapt out of the window.

Zanyen sighed.

"Even as an almost empty shell, you're even more of a handful than any of your individual attributes. I guess I'll go read up in the Kirisawa Library then. Zan would never do it on his own and if there is anything I need to know that could help Zan deal with Zanfar, I'd like to get as much info as I can before we finally unite" Zanyen said as he stood up and left the room.

I landed smoothly on the ground and stared ahead. I saw one of me walking beside Ayumi and heh, from the happy expression on her face, I could tell, how was it put again in Buso Renkin, yeah, some serious strawberry talk was going on!

"Those beings sure know how to piss me off! I've never been this angry with myself! I'm pretty sure that must be my flirtatious side, Zanabana!" I growled angrily.

Ayumi was laughing as though she had just heard the funniest joke in the world. I was fuming seriously. I was just about to expose myself when a side vision made me chuckle gleefully.

"Thank God for my anger" I smiled slyly and hid myself, for Zansur had set a pitfall for Zanabana and he apparently hadn't noticed since he was busy flirting with my GF and by that I mean Guardian Force! Fortunately, Ayumi was temporarily distracted just as Zanabana fell into the pit and Zansur quickly took his place.

"Hey Ayu, I have a present for you" Zansur said as he presented her with a rose.

"Thank you Zan. I'll be sure to always treasure it" Ayumi promised.

Zansur turned to me and made a face.

"Yeah sure, looking smug now are we? Just wait till I teach thee a lesson. You really should recall the warning the Bible gives about a jealous man" I growled angrily. "I especially like how Sirach put it. I hope you recall Zansur!"

He simply stuck his tongue out at me while Ayu wasn't looking. I was about to walk out there and smack James Bond's Living Daylights out of his smug looking face when I noticed Zanlar on one of the trees holding a rope in his hand and preparing for an ambush. I smirked. Zansur hadn't noticed him yet.

"Zanlar, good job! I'll be the decoy!" I said with a thumb's up. "Hey hey, doesn't that make me Zanlar's wingman now?" I suddenly realized my own stupidity in thinking that.

In less than an instant, Zanlar swooped down like an eagle moving in for the kill. He cleared Zansur beautifully out of the way.

"Curses on thee! Zanlar!" Zansur yelled in anger but no one heard his pathetic cries of defeat save for me and I was sure to revel in the fact.

"Besides, you should stop spitting out Zanfar lines damn you!" I growled angrily. "Now this is just getting plain ridiculous and why doesn't Ayu notice anything?!"

I decided to give up on the venture. With the way they were taking one another out. None of them was ever going to have enough time to woo Ayu and I didn't want to be part of the circle of pain those mes were playing.

Hey, doesn't that make you just like Zanfar. Let your enemies take out one another and swoop in for the prize, nice philosophy.

Even if you say that, right now, this philosophy was definitely going to save me from needless pain and as they say, "you should take it while the taking's good."

I decided to search for Ai instead. I was pretty sure she could help me but when I found her, my anger knew no bounds. That gargantuan idiot Zanabana was freaking flirting with her and guess the lines he was spewing?!

Well, let me put this in dialogue format. I'm pretty sure it was quite a laugh:

Ai: Zan, do you have a fever or something?

Zanabana: Yes, an endless fever of love for you and I'm caught within the tempestuous waves!

Okay, so there, I'd just lost some man points. Even I had to admit that. If this was who I was whenever I attempted to sweet-talk Ayu, I definitely didn't want to witness it from a third-person perspective. It's no wonder I would willingly suppress Zanabana and right at that moment, I had no regrets whatsoever in doing so. In fact I'd do it over and over again!

I slapped my forehead. I recalled Zanyen's warning and realized that this was a symptom of what he talked about. Zanabana's focus was shifting from Ayu, my love interest and he was now considering "other alternatives", how do they put it, "testing the waters". Well I hope he gets swallowed up by the sea!

I decided to return to Ayu and ensure that I didn't steal her from myself! Now that just sounds weird. Fortunately, she was finally alone.

"AYUMI!" I called to her as I ran towards her panting heavily.

"Whoa Zan, slow down okay? I'm always around. I'm not going anywhere. I appreciate the fact that you're no longer mad at me. You don't have to prove anything" Ayumi said with a reassuring smile.

"Ayu, normally, I would tell you just how much you've misinterpreted the entire situation but this particular misinterpretation is one I think I can live with" I thought to myself.

"You've been acting like you've just seen a ghost" Ayumi said.

"Heh, when we've been fighting nightmares, who's scared of ghosts again?" I thought to myself.

How I wish I could tell my past self right now that the two forces are fundamentally different. Well, he is going to learn the hard way so why should I give him spoiler alerts? That's an entirely different story though.

"Zan, could you tell me what's going on now?" Ayumi asked me. "You've been acting kind of weird. It's almost as though you've been switching personalities" Ayumi said.

"Way to go Ayu! She already guessed it!" I thought with a look of great admiration in my eyes.

Then I sighed.

"Ayu, I've got a confession to make" I said.

Ayumi suddenly seemed alarmed. "Zan, I hope it's nothing grave" she said. She was starting to sound panicky.

"We-ell, it kinda depends on your perspective" I laughed nervously.

Ayumi gulped.

"I'd like to hear it, if you're willing to tell me" she asked.

Okay, so at this point, Xena Ayumi was now so "moe" I just couldn't help myself anymore. It was going to come out of my lips regardless of my will.

"Ayu...I'm sorry to have to tell you this but I'm...schizophrenic!" somehow, miraculously, these were the words that escaped my lips and I didn't even hear myself say them.

"Huh?! What do you mean by you're schizophrenic!" Ayumi roared.

"Ayumi, you know how in anime, we have some characters that are both "moe" and "yanderic" at the same time?" I said.

(Zan you idiot! Stop encouraging that kind of misleading imagination!)

"Yeah, so?" Ayumi was beginning to seem irritated.

"So in my case, I am a ramshackled collection of seven different personalities that despise one another" I sighed.

"What's that supposed to mean?!" Ayumi growled angrily.

I could see she was starting to think I was teasing her and I began to feel I had gone way overboard with that last statement. Just before I had sealed an almost irreparable damage, the ground split open and water burst forth.

"Huh?! What's happening?!" Ayumi exclaimed in horror.

"ACK! It smells like sewage!" I tried my best to shut off the stench by holding my breath.

The water flowed all around the Kirisawa gardens and began to spark with electricity just as Decay, the fifth evil soul surfaced from the ground in the form of a gigantic slithering serpent. Seated atop the head of Decay was Sloth, the sixth soul of evil second only to Lies himself; the devil.

"SLOTH! SO YOU ARE THE CAUSE OF ALL THIS!" I roared angrily.

"Fool, you speak as though you have me all figured out. Do you really wish to stand in my way?" Sloth mocked me.

Before I could move, six mes leapt before Ayu and I. Ayumi stared at all of us in shock. I slapped myself on the forehead.

"See Ayu, this was what I meant. Now you can imagine what my childhood was like even though we were all in the same body" I said with a straight face.

Ayumi growled at me as though she wanted to slap me.

"Explain yourself Zan and make sure I understand!" she roared angrily.

"It's good to see you again too, brute woman with the violent temper" Sloth said.

"Don't interfere! Don't you see I'm in the middle of an important conversation?!" Ayumi growled angrily at Sloth.

Sloth was forced to temporarily back away.

"Ayu, there are now seven mes excluding myself due to reasons I can only vaguely comprehend" I confessed.

"But I can only see six! Where is the last one?!" Ayumi growled angrily.

I felt my face heat up as my knees began to knock one another.

(Hey Zan, if you need a walking stick, I think there are some trees nearby).

Shut it! Don't interfere, future self!

"Um...uh, Ayu. H-h-how d-d-do I s-s-say this? I-I-I th-think he is...kinda...um...uh..." I stammered fearfully.

"Spill it!" Ayumi roared.

"I'm so sorry Ayu, he's flirting with Ai!" I suddenly blurted it out.

I began to suddenly hear the sound of knuckles cracking. The last time I had heard that sound with exactly the same volume and intensity was while watching Fist Of The North Star, Raoh Den Junai no Sho! And considering the fact that, about some five minutes later in the movie, Souther's ribs were in all his vital organs I must say I could hear Mozart's "Requiem" playing in the background.

"YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!" I found myself screaming.

"Allowing yerself ta be dominated by a gal. You sure are a weakling!" I heard Zansur say angrily.

"B-But sh-she's r-really s-scary" Zandambien argued.

"Hmmph! I don't expect you to hit a lady but allowing a lady to make a habit out of hitting you is equally pathetic so I agree with Zansur!" Zanbazorodambien took a stand.

"I very much prefer diplomacy to senseless fist fights. In every world, it is brutes that resort to violence even in the realm of the forces. The worst case scenario should be a debate don't you think?" Zanyen added.

"Shut it profiler! Don'tcha know words're even more brutal than 'em wounds?!" Zansur's language suddenly became twice as harsh.

"Nonsense talker! I have to agree with Zansur! When have you ever heard of a censored fight in an action movie?! But how many times do we hear about censored language?! Even in talk shows and talent shows!" Zanbazorodambien argued.

(Emma Emma Colette!- A new idea for another ep! Watch out! ;)

"At least if you are beating someone up, you can be straightforward about it!" Zanlar joked and laughed seriously.

"Fool! Some wounds are not always obvious! Be it with words or wounds, there is such a thing as internal bleeding!" Zanyen argued.

"I give up, I'm a lost cause" I sighed helplessly and dropped to the ground.

"Sloth, is it just me or have these idiots completely ignored our presence?" Decay asked.

"Decay, perhaps it is just your imagination after all, even their language is decaying now don't you think?" Sloth said.

"Fools! Who said we were trying to encourage you?!" all seven mes yelled together.

When they did, a faint aura enveloped them.

"What just happened to you guys? You're kinda glowing" I said.

"Crap! We actually agreed on something! No way are we going back into the same body Zandambien!" Zanbazorodambien said.

"My words to you Zansur!" Zanlar, Zanyen and Zanpuosang roared.

The glowing became partly stronger and partly weaker. It grew strong around Zanlar, Zanyen and Zanpuosang and weaker around Zandambien, Zanbazorodambien and Zanabana.

"Zanabana, why aren't you glowing as well?!" I roared angrily.

"Idiot! Do I have to fall for the same girl just cos you like her?! Think again moron! We be different entities this time!" Zanabana roared.

"Aah, so that's how you...damn you! Even if you decide to lay eyes on another girl, Ayu's sis is off limits ya hear me?!" I roared angrily at him.

"Crap, the more we argue like this, the more prone we are to taking sides and the more we debate, the more likely we are to come into agreement! This all started because those two idiots showed up! Let's just wipe them out and live the rest of our lives as septuplets!" Zansur declared.

"Actually, including me, that would make us octoplets! And what's with the BOF scenario?! Somehow, I can see where this is going and I don't like it!" I roared angrily.

"On that, I agree with you" the other mes said and the glowing became stronger and more evened out.

"Damn you!" Zansur roared angrily as he realized the trick I had played on them.

"Wow, apparently, as long as Sloth and Decay are around, I can easily sucker these...um...whatchamacallits into taking them out by teaming up with me. The quickest way to do this! Keeheheheh! I'm glad the splitting did not result in the appearance of a "nekomimi" me (cat ears me) or a "kuroi megane" me (Villainous glasses me). They'd have seen through this in an instant! Hey Sloth, Decay, you idiots, think you can handle eight of me cos I think as eight, we're far too awesome to even handle ourselves well!" I yelled at Sloth and Decay.

"You can say that again!" the rest of me exclaimed happily and the aura solidified.

"Damn you Zan!" the others yelled at me.

"This guy...what sort of a mind does he have?" Ayumi glared at me suspiciously.

"Art thou indeed conceited enough to consider thineself a challenge before me?! Dost thou desireth the shortest path off this mortal coil?!" Decay roared.

(LONG LIVE SHINING FORCE!!!)

"At least tell me that this isn't how Sloth speaks as well" I suddenly heard my stomach grumble in disgust.

"Unfortunately, even the incivility in my language does not date that far back" Sloth said.

"I see, of all the evil souls so far, you're obviously the most annoying nonsense talker!" I said with a straight face.

"And you're just going to stand there exchanging irrelevant words with him?! I take back everything good I ever said about you Zan, it's official, you're a moron!" Zanyen roared.

"WHAT HAPPENED TO REASON?!" I exclaimed in horror.

"It got corrupted by anger" Zanyen said coldly as he eyed Zansur angrily.

"What manner of creature did I fall in love with this time?" Ayumi slapped her forehead.

As we stood arguing, a massive wave of water swept us off our feet and carried us on a roller coaster ride through the Kirisawa gardens.

"You guys should cool your heads off a bit! Sheesh! To think you'd let sewage cripple your sense of duty!" Ai roared angrily.

"AI IS USING FOUL LANGUAGE!!!" I screamed in horror.

Ai took in a deep breath and glared at Decay.

"You should have noticed by now that your actions so far have been governed by indecisiveness and indifference! Zan, your seven yous..."

(Aah, so in the end, from a second person perspective, the classification of a species of identical beings with similar personalities is "Yous" or if I could say...YOUZA!!! Oops, looks like I've been infected as well. Sorry).

"They don't care about uniting with you and you don't care how they feel as long as they unite with you. Somehow, your personal agendas are more important to you than your responsibilities" Ai said. "So we meet again Decay! This time for sure, I will make sure this meeting of ours is the last!" Ai roared.

I could feel her fury.

In an instant, all the water around, both sewage and clean froze and to tell the truth, at that moment I wanted to whack Ai! I mean, seriously, DOST THOU KNOWETH IN THE DEPTH OF THY BEING WHAT IT FEELETH LIKE TO BE FROZEN IN SEWAGE?! ALL YOU CAN TASTE IS...well...a concentration of bacteria so concentrated you can taste the smell!

Ai didn't seem to care much. Her sigils, the twin ice blades appeared in their awakened form.

"She summoned her sigil in their awakened form without summoning them in their passive form!" Ayumi exclaimed in shock.

"I'm sorry this is the first time you've seen this Ayu" Ai said.

"Actually it's the second" I corrected her, "and it's my fourth time since I saw it the first time in a Dream and the second time in a Nightmare. That is a memory I definitely won't forget because it was the first day I ever saw Ayu in army camouflage so forgive me if I don't find talking about Bunnyos Extremos quite as traumatic as I used to" I said with a bored look on my face.

(And somehow, I feel the next thing that is about to occur is most likely going to be overkill.)

"I have to thank you Decay. After using my sigil in its partially awakened state the first time, I never felt the motivation to attempt it a second time since the last time I used it in its fully awakened state, I ended up creating a gravitational distortion" Ai said.

"A gravitational wha...? I lost you at that last line. Do we even know what we're talking about anymore?!" I exclaimed.

"Everyone seems to be under the impression that my ability is to control water or 'water bend' or something like that" Ai said.

"I believe that was painfully obvious! How else can you turn water into ice?!" I yelled.

"But turning water into ice is my fundamental ability. Since my health has been in bad condition for the past few years, dad took me to train a bit; the reason he and I were almost always not around. And in this short time, I've acquired most of the abilities I'd lost due to my lack of physical fortitude" Ai said.

"Your point being?" Decay asked.

(My point exactly.)

"My point being, the only reason I couldn't use my power the first time you attacked was..." Ai said.

"Ai! Seriously?! Did you really master control over your element?!" Ayumi exclaimed in shock.

Wait what?! We be doing incomplete sentences now?!

(You're way too slow, we've been doing them since book 1).

For reals?!

"My power is a wide range one. I only use it if I'm sure those around me can survive its pressure" Ai said.

"I KNEW IT! SHE DOESN'T MIND WIPING US OUT!!!" I screamed to myself.

"Zan, normally, we Dream knights fight using only our sigils. You know that right?" Ayumi said.

"Uh huh?" I nodded.

"But that is not the only way to fight as a Dream Knight. There are two other ways. One is mostly fundamental and hence we use it less. It's the ability to control the element of our affinity itself and that is why when I used to upgrade the Pyrogeysers, they'd flame on" Ayumi said.

"I think Ai intends to utilize her element itself" Ayumi said.

She seemed worried.

"And am I supposed to be scared?" Decay asked.

"I don't know" Ayumi answered bluntly but it appeared she really didn't know.

"Seriously?!" I exclaimed in shock.

"Zan, if you mastered Light, you could utilize it not just for attacks with your blade but you could actually master all its properties as well. Almost infinite speed, the ability to manipulate vision, the ability to blind your opponents, all of that. Before the age of five, all Ai knew how to do was freeze water. So she'd always be sure to carry a bit of water into battles in small gourds. When Ai was six, she had mastered vaporizing water and carrying it along into battle by maintaining it around her. She could condense, freeze or vaporize it as she pleased and if you can control all those states of water, chances are, you wouldn't lose a single drop of it, not even a molecule. Then when Ai was seven, her abilities suddenly skyrocketed. Initially, she could only move water around in its vaporized form and used to fight by condensing and freezing it around her sigil, but by the age of seven, she could actually move water! Even my mother who was a prodigy when it came to utilizing water for battle purposes was amazed. She said something once. Ai's ability isn't as fundamental as just moving water but I don't know what she meant by that" Ayumi said.

"If used the wrong way, I could destroy the planet in an instant" Ai said.

WHAAAAAAT?!

"I believe because of her passive and shy nature, Ai could suppress her true potential" Ayumi said. "But even I never hoped to see what would happen if Ai ever used her powers seriously" Ayumi said.

"BUNNYOS EXTREMOS! BECOME MY ONLY TRAUMA!!! AT LEAST YOU'RE NOT SO FEARSOME!" I found myself screaming.

"My fundamental ability is the mastery of water and its states. However, my secondary ability...is what causes the tides to rise!" Ai declared.

"Seriously?! The moon's gravitational pull?! Ai, I think I speak for all living creatures on earth when I say, I beg you. We don't have to worry about Zanfar if you're going to blow the earth out of orbit!" I screamed in fear.

"Ah, that so huh?" Ai sighed. "And I really felt I needed to punish Decay too. Well, I guess I'll..." Ai was about to say when Ayumi interrupted.

"Yes, dear sis, leave it to Zan and our new sigil, the Pyrostellis Luminares!" she said frantically.

"Sloth, doth thou comprehendeth the rubbish they've been uttering for the past half hour?" Decay asked.

"Meh, I believe they've been talking something of the moon's gravitational pull" Sloth said.

"Hey! You guys! You don't get to be humorous after all the harm you've caused!" I roared.

Before I could utter another word, the other mes were after the heads of Sloth and Decay.

They shattered the frozen ice binding them and charged towards the evil souls. I shattered the ice binding me as well.

"Ai is right, about a lot of things including the fact that I've suppressed myselves too much and not given them the needed time to shine. There is nothing wrong in being different and viewing the world from multiple angles. Heck, I know I wouldn't enjoy even anime if all the fight scenes were portrayed from the same angle. Truth is, this whole fiasco probably happened because deep within myself, the other aspects of my personalities were begging for a chance to surface and live as well. Live my life through my eyes and anything else I end up saying from now on might as well be Jor-el's final words to baby Kal'el. Thinking about it, I definitely have no intention of changing who I am any time soon, not even for Zanfar, not even for Ayu, but I guess finding balance could help me improve myself. There is no reason I can't enjoy myself while fulfilling my duties is there? So I guess in the end, even if they don't want to become a part of me now, I should at least fight with them" I smiled and charged towards the evil souls to back myselves up.

We all leapt into the air in unison as though posing like the Power Rangers while preparing ourselves for an awesome combo killing blow. Ayu watched us and shook her head in amusement.

"PYROSTELLIS!!!" we called as the power began to surge around our fists calling to our ultimate sigil yet.

"This doesn't look good Sloth! We might have to retreat!" Decay roared.

"It's too late for you! Take this, our ultimate move! LUMINOUS...!!!" we called but suddenly, it felt as though Zanfar's aura was watching us from behind and we ended up screaming....

"LUMINOUS DREEEAAAAAAMMMMM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

(LA TABLE DE DRUUUUUUAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

Okay, so at this juncture, I cannot resist the urge to comment. In defense of all anime fans, I say....JAPAN KOWAI!

(I don't think any of us need you to defend anime fans! Just go look at your track record for defense Ayzan Nightbane! Emma Colette in 'See You Around The Corner on 'Stories Of Legends' online!)

Okay, so I admit it. Since kindergarten, whenever I had to play defense, the goal keeper ended up playing both goalkeeper and defender. The one time we decided to play 'Courtroom', I ended up prosecuting the client I was supposed to defend so I must say my track record for defense has been really poor not to mention I'm so familiar with flying into the air from Ayu's punches that it almost seems like a natural occurrence.

(And sadly enough, that is the man our fate is entrusted to in this story. The human race is doomed).

SUNSET...

All eight of us sat outside. Defeated, feeling pathetic. We'd called out to the Pyrostellis Luminares but the Silver Dream came out instead. When Ayu called out to it as well, the Pyrogeysers came out instead.

"You fools are a waste of time! Your lives are not even a story worth telling!" Decay had bombarded us right before the duo disappeared.

It hurt for real. We had become so worthless in the eyes of the evil souls, attempting to defeat us was what they called 'Planning a war to capture a province you already own and is no threat to you'.

We lay in the grass, covered by sewage, the only physical proof of our current worth. Being split apart like this, our decisions always resulted in a debate amongst us that resulted in us interfering with ourselves in our own ventures. None of us cared what the other felt like. And to top it off, we didn't just consider ourselves trash, the others considered me calling myself 'sewage' a compliment. For a vessel that used to house them, they thought I was rather pathetic. And seeing how they all agreed on it so well that the Wall Of Personage had temporarily solidified to the extent that I almost couldn't see them any longer, I knew in spite of all their gimmicks, they really commonly held a grudge against me.

Ayu stared at me and at them. Somehow, she seemed able to differentiate amongst us. When I asked, "how are you able to tell that I'm me?" her answer was,

"Obviously, the emptiest one would be you since you're their vessel and currently, you're the one mostly devoid of any personality".

The proof of this is, even the story became quite messed up after we split apart don't you think?

"S-So...if you had to choose one of us...wh-who would it be?" I asked her with little confidence.

The other mes suddenly stopped what they were doing and turned to stare at us. They all drew closer in an instant.

"What are you up to now?" they glared at me.

"Nothing, just wondering which one of us Ayu likes the most" I muttered.

I had lost all of my self-confidence since the incident this afternoon.

"Obviously, she wouldn't like 'Fear'. It's such an abominable trait! And so is sorrow!" Zanbazorodambien roared.

"But it was I Zanlar with my humour who made her laugh. And Zanabana did too even if his jokes were sometimes a bit too extreme!" Zanlar defended himself and Zanabana.

"I won't deny that. But in battles, Zansur and I protected her many times! Don't forget it! Ayu would most likely prefer our strength over our humour!" Zanbazorodambien roared.

"But when you were fighting, did you always charge into battle without a plan? And when you were unsure of yourself, who helped you sort out your feelings. Wasn't it I Zanyen, your reason?!" Zanyen argued.

"We wouldn't need to sort out our feelings if 'Fear' and 'Sorrow' didn't exist!" Zansur roared.

"Probably not, but Zanbazorodambien, you surface a lot and it wasn't always when we were fighting. Sometimes when we fought, it was purely Zansur and when only Zansur fought, Zanfar often got involved, it was the same with Enslavement! I would remind you that the reason Ayu never admitted her feelings for us was because she feared you Zansur!" Zanyen roared. "Zanbazorodambien was often the one who forded Zanfar off and somehow, when we were all down he helped us up but he wouldn't have had the chance to surface if we didn't experience 'Fear' or 'Sorrow'!" Zanyen roared.

"But it still doesn't change the fact that none of us get along!" Zansur roared.

"Precisely but Zanbazorodambien, you are a combination of two attributes or haven't you realized it? Usually, you're just Zanbazorodambien, 'fearlessness', the one that has led us to make many stupid and reckless decisions. Have you not already realized that when you combine the feeling of defeat, fear from defeat, the pain from sorrow, the drive to never fail again from anger and experience from reason, you become the embodiment of the first soul of virtue, Courage?!" Zanyen roared.

"And what is Zanabana's use then huh?! Why do we even need flirtatiousness in the first place?!" Zansur roared.

"Interesting question. Ordinarily, Zanabana's actions are simply driven by hormones. But Zansur, even if that were the case, without his nature of desiring contact with the things around him, you would just be brute violence wouldn't you?! The only reason we can all justify our actions is because Zanabana was the one to choose what we should fight for! Courtship is human nature but beyond simple courtship, flirtatiousness or romance lies man's first sorrow since time took root, the Sorrow Of Loneliness! So if all of you would like to be brutes who would fight just for the sake of fighting, go ahead but there is no need for reason in an aimless mind!" Zanyen scolded Zansur.

"And the person in question is yet to answer us" I muttered.

"And what of him?!" Zansur pointed to me.

"You sure never quit do you? We were all feelings that were taught to him by experiences of life but without him, we wouldn't exist in the first place!" Zanyen yelled.

"Sheesh, can't I even win one argument against you? You're way too brutal with debates" Zansur finally gave up.

As we all stood talking, the maids approached us.

"Dinner is ready" they bowed respectfully.

"Dinner for eight. Interesting. I guess this is the first meal we're going to have as eight different people right? You know, if you guys no longer want to be a part of me, I won't force you to. You've just gotten a chance to live your own lives. I don't want to take that away from you" I said.

Zanpuosang began to cry.

"If we become a part of you, we will have to fight again. And we will have to face him...I don't want to. He's way too strong. He'll kill us" Zandambien said.

"I guess he might but truth is, we've survived this long regardless of this guy's hopelessness so I guess; he may truly be a hopeless helpless weakling who needs a girl to defend him and he can't do anything right. But even then, he's one lucky bastard! Resilient as a roach!" Zansur smirked.

I smiled.

"And truth be told, I know because I speak less. We've all experienced our share of suffering and it might be his fault but he has experienced all of ours so I guess he may be really strong" Zanpuosang said.

"I don't like how he tries to suppress us. He keeps forgetting us and thinks he's alone, he believes he looks at the world but doesn't see it. He's a walking paradox; a bundle of contradictions. If he can still say stuff like, 'the name's Zan, Xanbie' beyond being an idiot he's a moron. Most people would just shut up. But if his life is not going to be sucked up by this world's predictability and dreary routine, he might have interesting moments ahead of him I'd like to experience" Zanyen said.

The others nodded.

"So it's irrelevant to ask who Ayu likes most" Zanyen said.

"But we'd still like to know!" we said as we glared at Ayumi expectantly.

Hey you morons, isn't this the part where you give it up?!

"You guys are...plain heartless! In other words I'm just so useless I need you guys to help me lead a full life. Did I get it about right?" I glared at them.

They laughed.

"Even when everything we said is true, I'm surprised he still saw through it" Zanyen said and laughed even more.

"You guys" Ayumi said as she turned away.

"Guys, I think we made Ayu cry" I said plainly.

"I happened to be in love with a man. His name was Zan, just Zan, he had nothing else attached to his name. No name to tie him to a family but he was kind, brave, he was humorous and a hell of a lot annoying. I hated him sometimes, laughed with him sometimes, I even plainly forgot him. I'd push him away and he'd do the same. Sometimes we'd be angry at each other but we'd always end up laughing together. His laughter, his attempts to draw away when he was sad or afraid, his courage, all of these are a part of the man I've come to love. He's not perfect. In fact, he has great evil within himself and he knows it but even if I didn't have to rely on my feelings for him, I can earnestly say he is a good man and there isn't one thing about him I don't love. I dislike many things about him but I love him and if you're all a part of him, I guess I can say I love you all too" Ayumi said, a bit shyly.

Well, fortunately, I was all feeling mushy enough not to react at the time. If conditions were slightly different, I am a hundred percent sure we'd have fought again over Ayumi.

We left to eat dinner.

"I guess we've all decided then. After this meal, you guys, if Ayumi can say she loves us all and Zan can say he wants us all to experience life, we have a reason to fight but not him; we should all pull together within him and fight Zanfar with everything we've got. Zan, as impossible as it may seem, on our very selves we make this promise, to ensure that you become a Soul Of Virtue!" Zanyen declared.

"Just leave it to us!" Zanbazorodambien declared.

"Sure thing. Speaking with you all like this, I feel I fear Zanfar a bit less now" I said with a smile.

"Ouch, painfully honest aren't we?" Zansur said with a smirk. "This is just great. This guy's a laugh. He's pathetic! But because he has a long way to go, his life is way more interesting! This is way too good! So good even 'Anger' feels he can laugh!" Zansur said.

"We're taking all these feelings to him!" we roared.

MOMENTS LATER...

In the Dream World, close to the Mirror Gate, a dark energy began to ooze out! The energy, the malice was intense. It despised life and it's hatred for life petrified all life close to it, animals, plants and even air was not spared.

There was a great explosion as cracks appeared on the Mirror Gate. It darkened in colour to become a mirror that reflected a bottomless pit similar to the nature of a black hole.

"Pitiful fragments of my being! If contention with me is your desire, you will have a fulfilled wish soon enough and I promise you, you won't even have to wish upon a star!" Zanfar's sinister voice echoed throughout the World Of Dreams and Nightmares.

THE FOLLOWING MORNING...

1ST JANUARY, 2012

We, Ayu and I stood facing the two remaining souls of evil. They had sensed a change in the atmosphere since the previous night and came to challenge us once more.

"That was quite an ordeal wasn't it Ayu?" I asked her with a smirk.

"It was, but your power seems a bit different now and your presence appears to be more focused" Ayumi said.

"I guess I can still feel them...as though we are different entities. It's no coincidence I can't summon the Luminares without them and if Luminares can't exist, Pyrostellis can't either, even if our love is true" I said.

"Don't tell me...where are they? Your fragments?!" Sloth exclaimed.

"Where are they? That is quite an interesting question. After our meal the previous night, we were all forced into training by my dad. He always makes quite an appearance. Since we are originally the same person, we all had the same dream, that we fought the Nightmare King, the true wielder of the Nightbane and Guardian Of The Eternal Mirror Gate. Even 'Fear' and 'Sorrow' were made to hold blades and fight. My dad sure is a harsh instructor" I said.

"And he passed all that experience to me through the Pyrostellis Luminares" Ayumi glared at the two evil souls.

"So if you ask where they are, I guess I could say...I am them..." I said.

"They are us" Ayumi said.

"And yet neither of us is the other!" we said together.

Lines I wanted to say since the age of BOF IV!

(What are you now, Emma Colette?)

"Oh yeah, apparently you did us a favour Sloth. As the Wall Of Personage solidified, I met another Zan, and he was not a fragment. He said he'd defeated you once with a technique called the Luminous Blaze and he was sure to make sure we understood its significance" I said.

"Th-That cursed technique?! You didn't really?!" Sloth seemed fearful.

Even Decay was frightened.

"In the end, neither you nor Decay are strong. You only have as much dominion over our lives as we let you, but if I were to put it in a way an idiot once said it, even if you dominate us, there is still no point to your actions. You may be as strong and fearsome as a titan but mankind is as resilient as a cockroach (and you'd best respect the species!) There is no point in even trying to ask why I fight if what I fight for is what gives Zanfar life. In this situation, it becomes appropriate to say I do it because it's my choice!" I declared.

"Damn you Zan Nightbane! Even as a Demi-Dreamweaver you're still a nuisance!" Decay roared.

I sighed as the Luminares appeared in my hand. The Pyrostellis responded and appeared in Ayu's hand as well.

"Demi-Dreamweaver? Don't delude yourselves. I am not a Demi-Dreamweaver! When we even hold the Pyrostellis Luminares, can you still not understand? I am…" I declared.

"We are…!" Ayumi roared.

"THE DREAMWEAVER!!!" Ayumi roared as golden flames surrounded our new sigil.

"Damn you Zan! You'd go that far to foil Lord Zanfar's plans?!" Sloth roared.

"Heh, you finally guessed it didn't you. I told you once before. Even if Zanfar can predict my actions, that does not necessarily mean the outcome will be within his expectations. Do you now understand why I called myself the Human Dreamweaver?" I said.

"What do you mean Zan?" Ayumi thought to me.

"They can predict our actions Ayumi, but they cannot measure our conviction. They knew I'd give you a bit of my heart to save you but when I did, even I didn't realize what I had done till I was split apart. Reason could not measure it on its own but now we're together, our spirit is whole and we understand…I understand. Alone, I am a Demi-Dreamweaver but with you I am yet a Dreamweaver because I am complete. If Zanfar wants my power so bad, he would have to consume both of us but I pretty much doubt Zanfar truly understands the significance of love. You and I are different, our lives, our experiences, our culture, knowledge and history. If Zanfar consumes only me, he will have the power of a Demi-Dreamweaver. Yet, somehow, if he figures it out and consumes you too, even if he gains the powers of a Dreamweaver, he'd be fighting a complete human instead of two fragmented souls. In plain words, Zanfar will become a human and even if he were to attempt what he is planning now, he'd have a third party to face, the Ultimate Soul of Virtue, Truth who dwells within humanity and all other Souls Of Virtue that are attributes of Truth. From Zanfar's point of view, it would be like catching rabies from eating a rabid dog in addition to all the diseases of the organisms currently dwelling in the rabid dog. I tell you, it won't be pretty. And even if I were to say it out loud, I bet even Zanfar is yet to think of a plan to counter this. That is what Chaos meant when he said there is a way to defeat Zanfar but he would not tell us yet and why he appeared to be very interested in our feelings for each other" I thought to Ayumi.

"Wow, to think that guy could actually plan this far ahead, I'm impressed" Ayumi seemed surprised.

"But Zanfar seemed interested in becoming a human in the first place somehow" Ayumi thought to me.

"Heh, I very much doubt Zanfar understands how paradoxical the nature of humanity is" I laughed. "I guess it pays at times to be a bright student".

"You'd raise your sword against your kind! Even against your own self?!" Decay roared.

"Who said I was anything like you?! You were the ones that started calling me Zanfar in the first place! About raising my sword against myself…you're 24 hours too late to even attempt attacking me with those words. Your own foolish actions will ruin you!" I declared as the energy around the Pyrostellis became more focused.

The two souls of evil leapt back in fear.

(Now I have a question. If you can drop all these revelations in this book, haven't you ruined the final book already?)

The answer is, the final book is a whole different matter. No more spoilers!

"That technique he's about to use, it's similar to Zanfar's Raging Ultraviolet Attack" Sloth said.

Aah, nice. They stand there grading a tech that's preparing them for their demise.

"Let our sigils become one!" I declared as Ayumi and I clashed our blades together. They fused to become the Pyrostellis Luminares. A single sword, we could both hold and wield with ease…but…was it a sword any longer?!

Ayumi and I stared at our new sigil.

"Whe-e-e-ew….whew!" I whistled, impressed at the weapon lying in our hands.

"WHAT IN HEAVEN'S NAME IS THAT?!" Decay screamed in horror.

"If they mentioned Heaven, then they must be really scared and I must say for myself, if Pyrogeysers ever achieved this form, I would never have considered falling for you and risking the change. Well I guess it makes sense…" Ayumi said.

"This is the only logical way to fight with Pyrostellis Luminares!" I declared.

"PYROSTELLIS LUMINARES! CANNON MODE!" we roared.

"SACRE BLEU!!!" the evil souls screamed in horror.

"Computing energy requirements, computing potential strain. Computation completed; commencing neurone bonding, current maximum psychological compatibility at 62 percent, calculating potential backlash; adjusting Pyrostellis Luminares for optimization. Optimization completed…" our weapon spoke.

"It's adaptable and conscious!" Ayumi exclaimed in awe.

(I don't understand what its saying).

"Not to mention hi-spec!" I exclaimed happily.

Translation: Preparing to blow up everything I see as efficiently as possible.

"Pyrostellis Luminares fully loaded and ready for battle! SHOOT THE STARS!!!" our weapon ordered.

Ayumi and I raised the cannon, a humongous artefact which surprisingly seemed light to us. We placed it on our shoulders and aimed for the evil souls.

"How I wish you were in army camouflage now Ayu" I said.

"Too bad, maybe next time" Ayumi shrugged her shoulders.

"DUAL VERSION LUMINOUS BLAZE! HOSTS OF THE FIRMAMENT!!!" Ayumi and I roared as we fired a concentrated beam of energy focused on destroying Decay and Sloth and having the power of the stars themselves.

MEANWHILE…AT THE MIRROR GATE

Zanfar's roar broke the air as the remaining souls of evil, Sloth and Decay returned to the Mirror Gate.

"I am compelled to say…I am vaguely impressed" Zanfar muttered as…

IN THE KIRISAWA RESIDENCE

The wind blew the smoke left over as a result of the heat generated by our new awesome cannon.

"For making my little sis suffer, we were quite merciful" Ayumi growled as the Pyrostellis Luminares faded away.

I held one of the stones in my hand and Ayumi held the other.

"Somehow it all felt a bit too easy" I said.

"That is true but we can't leave them to roam the earth as it is" Ayumi said.

I threw the stone in my hand to her.

"Give this to your dad when he returns" I said.

"Sure. I guess you're returning to your Uncle's place right?" Ayumi asked me.

"Yeah, if anything happens, don't forget to call for me!" I waved to Ayumi.

She waved back.

"Sure, and thanks" she said.