ACCIDENTAL RECORDING.

1777, APRIL 06th, WEDNESDAY10:30 pm.

Noche glared at Raven, before walking past him to her previous body. He raised the umbrella to get it out of her way as she bent down and retrieved her choker. With the article of clothing in hand she walked over the Jackalope and handed it to him.

"Keep this safe."

He nodded. She spun to face Raven.

"Seriously – what the fuck are you doing here?"

"I wanted to make sure you were ok," Raven said.

"Ok? OK!" Noche laughed until it bordered on hysterical. "What does it matter to you?"

"That's not concerning at all... Well, seeing as how you're the only other corruption user in the world other than me, I wanted to make sure you didn't destroy the planet."

Noche flinched.

"You... Wouldn't actually destroy the world... Right Noche?"

"N-No."

"That's not very convincing."

"Jackalope, can we please kick him out!"

"Be My GuEsT – if you think you're strong enough."

Noche groaned.

"Life is precious. It's too important to be snuffed out."

"I know."

"All living creatures deserve to live."

Noche scoffed. "That's pretty funny coming from DeathTech's strongest warrior."

Raven flinched. "It's not like I have a choice."

"Well, if it comes to it, neither do I."

They were both silent for a moment.

"I wish it doesn't come to that."

"Wishing doesn't do shit," Noche glared.

She turned to face Jackalope.

"What's next?"

"NeXt Is ThE – trial of doubt."

"I doubt it'll be any better," Noche rolled her one eye. "So, how do I start this next one? Jump really high?"

"CoRrEcT."

Noche's one eye widened, before narrowing at Jackalope. She squinted at him for a few seconds. "You're serious?"

He nodded.

She frowned. "Sarcasm is wasted on you."

"I cAn NoT hElP iT – if you hit the nail on the head. Even if it was in spiteful jest. Did Galloway not warn you about going above the tree line?"

"Yeah, something, something, eldritch beings. Blah blah blah."

Jackalope shared a glance with Raven.

"WhAt InTeReSt Do – you hold in this girl again?"

"Starting to wonder that myself."

"Oh fuck off!"

"Relax Noche, we don't mean anything by it. Don't jump to conclusions," Raven said.

She raised her middle finger and scowled at him; he chuckled. Noche cracked her neck, bent her legs, and leapt into the air. She took off like a rocket and covered hundreds of feet in the span of a second.

Within a heartbeat, she was above the clouds. It still surprised her how much strength she had gained – how far she could go with a single jump. This was the kind of feeling she used to only experience in a dream. Yet this was her reality now. It was kinda nice.

Then the clouds started to move in unnatural ways. They came alive and swirled around her. Gravity was tugging on her, but an air current held her aloft, in fact, she was stuck in place.

"Ahh, this must be the supernatural something Galloway was talking about," she thought. "Wonder how it will kill me."

The clouds rushed in towards her body and Noche was hit with hurricane force. Instinctively she put up an energy barrier, but the wind seemed to ignore it and her augment. Each whipping of the gale sliced off a chunk of flesh as if she were struck by blades.

In the span of a few seconds, Noche was flayed alive. Blood and small chunks of meat rained from the sky. The blonde was dead before she fell past the clouds.

Noche awoke with a gasp – every inch of her skin still burning and sore from the millions of cuts.

"Wow! That was horrible!" She laughed. "Talk about a memorable way to go. Maybe I should make a death bingo and start filling it out. So far I got decapitation, heights, bleeding out, explosion, sharks, impaled, melted, electrocution, sliced to bits... Hmm, a few of those are basically the same thing. I need some more variety."

Noche chuckled to herself.

"I'm fine. Completely, and totally, fine. A picture of mental stability," she let out a long sigh. "Yeah! I'm gonna keep telling myself that until I believe it."

The blonde looked around; red skies filled the air around her and in the distance, beyond the diagonally moving dark gray clouds, was a dark red moon tainted with Creeps's face.

She sat under a long, thin tree with auburn orange leaves and was surrounded by yellow cat tails. Part of the tree's top was missing a chunk that made the gap look like an eye. Finally, one slender branch danced in the wind like it was a whip.

"Huh... This place is actually kinda tranquil in a creepy kind of way."

She picked up a cat's tail and watched it dance in the breeze. In the distance, whales flew in the sky upside-down. Oil floated out of their blowholes and drifted towards the ground. While her eyes lingered on the surreal sight a figure approached her.

"Can I sit here?"

She turned and her eye went wide. She let out a loud gasp while scooching backward a bit.

"Y-You can't be here! How!"

Jack Chandler tilted his head and smiled.

"Why can't I be?"

"You're dead!"

"And – why should death stop me?"

Noche's mouth fell open and closed multiple times. She was unable to come up with an answer. As she gapped like a fish Jack sat down next to her.

"So, you're here to sort some stuff out."

She sighed. "Yeah. That about sums it up."

"Maybe I can help?"

Noche curled her knees to her chest and wrapped her one arm around them. Hiding half of her face into herself she stared away from Jack and down on the ground.

"I guess... I... Don't feel comfortable opening up to people."

"That's ok. You don't have to talk if you don't want to. We can just sit here together."

Noche lifted her head and smiled, but then the smile faltered. This moment wouldn't last forever and she had a job to do. She needed to finish this training if she was going to have any hope of stopping Edward and Creeps. Noche took in a deep breath and let it out.

"My doubts. That's what I need to overcome. My doubts."

Jack inched closer to her and shed a gentle gaze upon her. He smiled and nodded for her to continue.

"I mean... I have so many. What if I had worked harder to Graduate? What if I never made a deal with Dia? What if I had kept a better eye on Cherries? What if I never tried to save Spark? What if I didn't bring you along with me?" She tightened her arm around her knees. "You died because of me!"

"It's ok Noche. I don't regret coming along with you."

"That's bullshit! If it wasn't for me, you would still be alive!" She shouted. "Why did you pull me away from Creeps! Why did you have to take my place? You could've just left me there! It would've been better if I was the one to die."

"No it wouldn't have!" Jack yelled.

Noche froze.

"I would do it again and again! Over and over and over because there is no other choice. I would never let Creeps hurt you. Because I love you."

A smile twitched on Noche's lips. She chuckled, then broke out into laughter. Tears fell down her face as she locked her single eye on Jack's.

"But don't you see? That's the same reason I didn't want you to get hurt."

"Noche. Even if you left me behind, I would've followed your group. I would've swapped places with you regardless," Jack said. "Not that any of that matters. What's done is done. We can't waste time worrying about stuff we can't change. It's in the past."

"But I—" she paused. "I miss you."

"And I miss you too."

They were both silent for a moment. Noche rested her forehead on her knees and focused on her breathing. Wind blew her hair aside as she sat still like that.

"Ok."

Jack placed his hand on her shoulder and patted it.

"Ok. It's done. I can't keep thinking about the past. I can't change it," she said. "But what if... What if I don't become strong enough to beat Creeps?"

"You either will or you won't."

Noche stared at him. "That's not very helpful."

"Well from my point of view there is no use worrying about it. Either you can beat Creeps or you can't. But fretting about it only decreases your odds of victory, so why bother?"

A smirk played across Noche's lips.

"Besides. If there's anyone who could beat that monster, it's you."

Her gaze fell sullen as she stared at the ground.

"But I'm," she paused, then continued in a whisper. "I'm scared."

"That's ok. You're not alone," Jack hugged her. "Even if I'm not with you in person. I'm with you in spirit. We'll beat that big creepy bastard together."

Noche wrapped her one arm around Jack and nodded. They stayed like that for an eternity.

"Check your phone recordings," he said.

The blonde perked an eyebrow, then did so. There was a video there that she was unaware of.

"When did this get here?"

"Play it," Jack smiled.

Noche did so. For a moment it was quiet and dark, but the timeline showed the video was playing.

"If you tell anyone I said that, I'll slaughter you."

A person chuckled. "Want some garbage?"

"Thank you," Noche's voice said. "Oh wow... This taste is so familiar. It's... Actually good?"

"You think so?" Jack's voice said. "Everyone out there hates it. Mary almost threw up. Seems like only you, I, and Boots likes it."

"It's an acquired taste."

As Noche listened to this recording the memory came back to her. This was shortly after she found out her parents were dead and her grandfather had purposefully destroyed his own mind. To think that moment was over two years ago – she couldn't believe it.

After a few minutes of listening and reminiscing there was light. The camera must've slipped out of her pocket for the recording was now displaying video. In it, Noche was showing Jack some basic defensive blocks. His face was tinted crimson.

"I-I don't know... This is a bit embarrassing."

"Dude, don't focus on it being weird. Here, just pretend the fluorescent lights are the sun and the cement is the grass."

Noche had forgotten she said that. She wanted to cheer him up by having him think about his dream of seeing the surface. Little good did that do – since he never got to see it. Her chest tightened as a dull hurt spread across it.

"There you go. Now, you take this arm and swing it to the side like this. Yeah, you got it. That's an inward block."

The blonde was mesmerized by the old video. She watched and watched, not daring to put it down, not wanting the memory to end. Still, it didn't last forever. It couldn't. Despite how much she'd want it to otherwise.

She smiled as Jack grew more flustered, then they kissed, and finally, he had a surprisingly grounded view about their blossoming relationship that she found to be very mature. Her heart ached as the video reached its conclusion.

Noche sighed. "Jack, I wish I could go back and change things. I wish you were still alive."

She looked up; he was gone. Noche sat alone by the tree. The blonde lowered her phone and frowned. Was that really even him or was it a phantasm of this surreal realm? Did it matter? Jack was gone. He's been gone since the moment she left DeathTech.

The blonde stood up. "Doubt. My doubts are holding me back. I can't change them. Plus if I keep worrying about them I'd only be distracting myself. Risking failure."

She took in a deep breath and closed her single eye.

"I have to accept what's done is done," she said. "I don't need to like it. But I can't waste time lingering on the results. I need to move on."

Noche opened her one eye.

"I have fucked up. I will continue to fuck up. There will be times were I fuck up so hard I can't change it... That is a part of life. Best I can do is try to do better next time."

The blonde let out a deep breath and turned to stare where Jack was standing a moment ago. He was still gone. As much as she wanted to change that, she couldn't.

Yet thinking about what she could've done differently, what she could've done better, how she could've altered his fate, none of these would fix her mistakes. It would just waste her time.

Noche relaxed her muscles and let it go. The doubt, the indecision, the worry. It was all a hindrance, holding her back, so she let it fade away. She needed to clear her mind if she was going to make a difference.

A door appeared before the blonde. She stood still for a moment, taking in the world around her, turning to stare once again where Jack was a moment ago. Then she turned to the door and made her way out.