Cloud's eyes widened in shock as his gaze darted past me and towards the shadows of the forest, but I didn't turn around. I already knew that it was coming. And I found it easier to believe him now that I saw that terrified look in his eyes. His fear was very real. He drew away from me but didn't let go of my hand.

"Run," he whispered in a hoarse voice. "We need to run!"

He tried to pull me with him, but I didn't move.

"No we don't," I said with a reassuring smile. I knew what was coming, and I was not afraid.

"Yes we do." He tugged at me hand again, but I planted my feet firmly into the ground.

"Melody, we don't have time for this now. This isn't just a pack of wolves, this is..."

"Something bigger. Something evil," I helped him out.

And something just as fake.

"You have no idea," he said, his voice filled with panic. "Please, Melody, run!"

But I didn't, and I had to give him credit for not turning around and running himself that very moment. Instead, he sank to his knees before me and clasped my hand between his, looking up at me with wide-eyed terror that must have been absolutely abysmal, to leave even somebody as eloquent as him utterly speechless.

"Please..."

"Why are you so afraid?" I asked gently. "If we're already dead, there's nothing left that they can take from us."

None of this matters.

I leaned forward and kissed him lightly on his forehead, and then I turned around to face the beast, just as it tore through the thicket and came to stand right before us.

It was bigger than an ADM, and darker than anything I had ever seen. An infinite void incarnate, except for its six eyes that were glowing red against the blackness. Six eyes on three faces, three heads stared down at me, and they all growled, with a low sound that reverberated through my body, scraped over my bones like blades flaying my flesh, and spread through the forest around us like a surge of doom, swallowing up everything in an aural equivalent of absolute darkness.

There was only us now, and the beast. Behind me, I could hear Cloud whisper my new name as I took a step towards it.

"Look at you, you silly thing," I said, feeling a certain amusement, "You're not even finished yet."

The black, texture-less surface was flickering for a second, and the voxels of the simulation shuffled around as the three-headed creature seemed to try to decide what to do with me. Just like the wolves before it, it had no idea what to do, now that I wasn't afraid any longer. I took another step towards it.

"I think," I continued to talk to it in a soothing voice, as if it was a real animal, while I slowly drew closer, "that whoever created you, forgot to give you something very important."

I came to stand right in front of it. It lowered its three heads down to fix me with its three pairs of red eyes, and snarled furiously. I could feel its hot breath waft across my skin, drawn and expulsed by rhythmic growls. Arguably, it felt very real. But so had everything else. Even the teeth of the wolves, or the touch of the terrified man behind me. But I had no doubt about it anymore. It was a simulation.

"They gave you the purpose of the hunt. But not the means to kill."

I stretched out my hand towards the central head of the creature and touched it right between its eyes. The beast, not knowing what was happening to it, began to yowl. And the black surface underneath my hand began to swirl, darkness seeping through my fingers as if it was melting under my touch. The blackness began to spread and surround me, as along with the creature, the world around us came apart at the seams. Behind me I heard Cloud gasp. The forest disappeared, the six red eyes dimmed, and finally everything went dark.

The soft sound of tiny waves splashing against something echoed through the empty, black space we found ourselves in.

"Where... where are we?" Cloud asked, confused.

I could hear his voice close beside me, but this time, it wasn't just an imagined whisper.

"In the maze," I replied.

"You've been here before?" he asked, disbelief in his voice.

"Yes."

"What is this place?"

I smiled as I found him asking the same questions I had had about the forest.

"I don't really know. All I know is that it's a maze."

"So where do we go from here?"

"Technically," I said, "It doesn't much matter which way you go."

"...just to get somewhere..." he quoted back.

"So we only need to walk long enough."

I could feel him smile next to me in the darkness, and he took my hand. It was warm, even in this cold place.

"But all jokes aside, there actually is a direction we should follow," I said.

I put a hand on his shoulder, and turned him so we would face the faint light in the distance. And so we began to walk.

~ ~ ~

"What the-"

"What are they doing?"

"I don't know. I don't understand. This doesn't make any sense."

The voices echoing through the room were frantic, confused, and upset.

"They somehow managed to break out and now-"

"Where are they?"

"I cannot really tell, it's..."

"I think she's doing it again! I can't believe this. Pull her out! RIGHT NOW!"

I could feel a sharp pain at the back of my neck, and a searing heat spread through my body. I tried to scream, but my body did not obey.

"He's with her," somebody said.

"What? How did they both manage to - nevermind. Get him out, too."

When I opened my eyes and tried to see who was speaking, I was greeted with a harsh white light, and winced in pain. As my eyes slowly adjusted to the brightness, the room around me began to take shape. Sluggishly I turned my head to the side, and I saw what looked like a bird of prey, but as my vision cleared, I realized that it was a person, dressed in white, and wearing one of those white, beaked masks over their face. The scientist bent over a lifeless body who was strapped to some kind of chair. When I recognized who it was, I screamed again, but there was no sound.

"Cloud!" My voice was hoarse, his name barely a whisper on my lips. "Cloud! Wake up!"

I struggled against my restraints, despite the dull feeling of weakness that had taken hold of my body. My limbs felt like my veins were filled with lead, except for when I moved, then it felt more like I was on fire. I called his name again, louder this time.

A masked face appeared right in front of me. It was horrific, with black bulging eyes that reflected absolutely nothing, and hoses everywhere around the beak-like protrusion. The voice coming out from underneath was distorted, but filled with audible disdain.

"Good grief, sedate her already," the scientist snorted. "What a troublemaker. I sincerely hope this will be worth all the effort."

A feeling like liquid lightning spread through my body, and the last thing on my lips was Cloud's name, before the light disappeared and darkness swallowed everything once more.