"I think we're gonna make it," Blumiere chimed. 

It had been a while since they encountered any real obstacles. In fact, there was nothing posing any challenges to the group anymore. Dark souls weren't even sitting on top of the wall and watching them. It was like everyone had been cleared out.

Mr. L led the way silently, refusing to look back at Dimentio. He couldn't help but feel slightly awkward. He wasn't being quiet because he was upset, although he did still feel slightly betrayed. He was primarily quiet because he wasn't quite sure what to say. 

Dimentio was silent as well. He stayed in the back, looking at his feet while he walked. He left his face mask off in an attempt to show that he wasn't the same person as before, but he couldn't help feeling exposed without it.

Blumiere was the only one who acted as if everything was bright and happy. He wouldn't stop talking about how close he thought they all were to the exit. He also talked about how wonderful it was for Mr. L to get his chance at life back. As he spoke, his tone was warm, but Mr. L could almost detect a small hint of jealousy. Not that he blamed the former count. If Mr. L were in his position, he would be boiling with jealousy. 

It did seem unfair that souls like Blumiere had to work in the maze. Sure, Count Bleck may have done some terrible things, but Blumiere wasn't the same person. Why punish someone who can't even remember their own crime? What good could come from that? There was no room for self-improvement because Blumiere couldn't even remember what he had done wrong. He wasn't anymore a danger to society as anyone else. 

"It's kinda suspicious, don't you think?" Blumiere chuckled. "I haven't seen a fellow dark soul in quite some time. You would think they'd be here."

Dimentio frowned, silently looking up at the wall. It DID seem rather odd that there weren't any souls assigned to this section. 

"Perhaps we've passed the worst of it-" Mr. L started when he turned a corner and stopped in his tracks.

There in front of him was the dimensional door.

He did it.

This journey, this whole ordeal, it was finally over.

The door seemed to almost glow. It looked majestic and beautiful. Mr. L couldn't recall the last time he had ever been filled with so much hope. 

There in front of him was his ticket home.

Though, there was a small catch.

There was something standing between him and his ticket home.

One D-man.

He stood in front of the door, gripping his black spear in his hands. He wore a rookie's uniform.

He wasn't Alex, though. He couldn't have been. His skin was black like ink. His eyes were empty and white. His hair was as dark as the midnight sky.

Blumiere cocked his head to the side. The D-man cocked his head back, mirroring Blumiere's movement.

"Um... Hello?" Mr. L asked. 

The D-man stayed silent.

The air suddenly felt cold.

Mr. L took a small breath, then stepped forward three paces. With each step he took, the D-man seemed to tense up more and more until the D-man finally pointed the tip of his spear at the man in green.

Mr. L flinched and put his hands up defensively, then squinted at the numbers on the D-man's nametag.

R-17.

"...Alex?" Mr. L asked.

The D-man's eyes remained empty. 

He swallowed before speaking, maintaining a soulless, emotionless expression.

"I am Shayde R-17. You are out of place. Allow me to escort you back to your stations."

His voice was cold. It sounded much different from the usual sweet and warm tone Alex's voice carried. 

As he spoke, his eyes were directed at Mr. L, but the man in green couldn't feel the connection. It was like Alex wasn't staring at him but through him instead. 

Mr. L remained silent, not quite sure what to feel. 

He wanted to feel angry. Angry at whoever did this to the kid he knew. Angry at himself for letting this happen. 

However, instead of feeling angry, he just felt shocked.

"Alex, we know it's you," Blumiere said from behind the man in green. "Time is running short. We need to aid Mr. L in his escape."

R-17 let out a slow breath, then tilted his head slightly so he could look back at Blumiere.

"My name... is Shayde R-17. You are out of place. Allow me to escort you back to your stations," he said, his tone slightly firmer than before.

"What in the worlds is he on about?" Dimentio asked, finally speaking up.

Mr. L felt his heart skip a beat in fear.

Did Alex not remember them?

"Come on, kid. It's us," Mr. L begged, reaching out to him. "Can't you remember-"

R-17 quickly raised his spear, gently pressing the sharp end to Mr. L's throat and cutting him off.

"I remember," he replied, his tone low and dark. "I remember everything. I remember how you manipulated me into helping you. I remember how you took advantage of my situation and my kind nature. I remember how you convinced me to break protocol and betray my queen."

"Ow!" Mr. L hissed, taking a step back and bringing a hand to his throat. The kid didn't cut too deep, but there was a small drop of blood forming from where the spear was pressed to his neck. 

"Alright, that's it," Blumiere breathed, drawing his sword and charging towards the D-man, only for the kid to step aside and grab the dark soul's arm, twisting it behind his back.

"OW!" Blumiere cried out. "S-stop that!! I command you to release me!!"

"Aww," R-17 emptily teased. "I'm sorry, but as a dark soul, you're in no position to command anything of me."

"Let him go!!" Dimentio cried out, sounding somewhat panicked. "Or else!"

It was an empty threat. Dimentio had no weapons or attacks. 

R-17 clicked his tongue, tightening his grip on Blumiere's wrist and shaking his head at Dimentio as if disappointed. "You're not threatening a guard, are you? Because that IS frowned upon down here. That kind of behavior is exactly what will get you thrown into the River of Twygz. I should have you reported just for failing to wear your uniforms correctly."

The former jester winced, his face expressing a small twinge of fear. Blumiere did the same.

The D-man let go of Blumiere's wrist and shoved him forward, making Blumiere fall on his face and drop his sword. He was about to reach out for it when R-17 kicked it away, smiling a smile that didn't fit his face. It was a cold and cruel smile. 

"You're annoying," R-17 breathed, pulling his spear back as if preparing for an attack. "Perhaps you should be taught a lesson. I would say this won't hurt a bit, but dark souls unfortunately can still feel pain, so that's rough for you, buddy."

Blumiere squeezed his eyes shut and curled up, not even bothering to try to fight back. It was sad to see the usually so bright and brave soul look so small. Dimentio couldn't stand the sight of him like that. It hurt to see the only dark soul who had never given up on living, even after death, finally give up on fighting. 

He couldn't allow it.

R-17 swung his spear forward when Dimentio quickly picked up Blumiere's sword and sprinted over to block the attack.

R-17 frowned, clearly not expecting the block. The frown quickly turned to an annoyed glare. He rolled his eyes, then pulled back, pointing the spear at Dimentio.

"L... get to the door," Dimentio breathed, taking the small golden key and tossing it to the man in green. 

Mr. L caught the small item, then looked down at it. He paused for a second, wondering where Dimentio could have gotten such an important item. He wasn't even aware the door had been locked.

Was Dimentio really going to let him escape right then and there?

Was this really the end? Did the story end with Mr. L leaving his companions all behind while they fought with one another?

Was he really going to leave things like that?

"GO!" Dimentio urged him.

Mr. L froze in place, looking back and forth from the key in his hand to Dimentio.

Then, he shook his head no.

"No?" Dimentio asked, when R-17 lunged forward, nearly stabbing him in his side. The former jester was able to jump out of harm's way just in time, but seeing that was too close for comfort for Mr. L. He couldn't let the journey end like that.

He didn't care how much time was left. He couldn't escape and spent his entire life wondering what happened to the three of them after he left. 

"I'm not leaving until you're all safe!" Mr. L exclaimed, pocketing the key and clenching his fists. 

"Are you SERIOUS?!" Dimentio cried out, dodging another attack. "We sacrificed EVERYTHING to get you to this door. We went against OUR QUEEN! And now you're telling me you don't wanna go?"

"Not until I know you'll be okay!!" Mr. L replied. "I can't leave while you're fighting!"

"We'll be FINE!" Dimentio exclaimed. "We won't hurt each other or anything-"

As if on cue, while attempting to block an attack with Blumiere's sword, Dimentio accidentally cut the side of R-17's face, making a small trail of black, inky liquid drip down.

Blumiere and Mr. L gasped while R-17 slowly brought a hand to the cut side of his face.

"Oh my Grambi, I'm so sorry!!" Dimentio frantically exclaimed, dropping the sword and bringing his hands to his mouth. "Alex?! I didn't mean it! Are you okay?!"

R-17 stayed silent, then slowly began to laugh.

As seconds passed, his laughter grew louder and louder.

"You can't hurt me," R-17 laughed, kneeling down and picking up the sword. He slowly slid the sharp blade across the tip of his index finger, making black liquid drip from the new wound. The black liquid painted the side of the silver blade.

Mr. L, Blumiere, and Dimentio all winced and shivered. R-17 didn't flinch, however.

He dropped the sword and stepped on the blade to prevent anyone else from picking it up. Then, he smiled.

"They fixed me," R-17 explained. "I can't feel pain. I can't feel anything."

Mr. L's eyes widened. He remembered hearing about that somewhere. Dark souls had their memories taken when they were killed. But shaydes... while they kept their memories, they lost their ability to feel.

What did Queen Jaydes do to him?!

Suddenly, escaping didn't matter to him so much. Instead, the man in green could only feel rage. Rage at the woman who took this teenager's ability to feel. She took his life away, just because he was too kind to turn away from someone who wanted help.

She forced dark souls to spend their afterlives in eternal labor while they couldn't even remember what their crimes were in the first place. It shouldn't have mattered what they did, they couldn't remember their crimes, so why were they still paying? They weren't the same.

"She won't get away with this..." Mr. L breathed, clenching and unclenching his fists. "She can't- she can't CHEAT like this! It's unfair! She can't get away with this!!"

"Aww, but she already has," R-17 teased, smiling. He looked rather unsettling with the black ink-like substance dripping down the side of his face. "Say, how does it feel to be powerless? How does it feel to lose? How does it feel to know that no one alive even cares?"

Mr. L shook his head, then stormed up to the kid, grasping his shoulder tightly and slapping him across the face. 

R-17 chuckled to himself. "Wow. Do you think trying to hurt me will change the fact that nobody cared about you? Your life had no meaning. You had no true allies. Everyone you considered a friend was just using you for a plan bigger than you. Everyone knows the story about the man in green. Heck, you're not even the real thing. Just a pathetic copy that no one cares about-"

"SHUT UP!!" Mr. L cried, letting go and stepping back. He squeezed his eyes shut and brought his hands to his ears, trying to shut the harsh words out. "SHUT UP, SHUT UP, SHUT UP!!!"

"Struck a nerve there, did I?" R-17 asked, smirking slightly. "Truth stings, doesn't it?"

Mr. L shook his head. 

He had spent so long trying to tune out the voice in his head that constantly said those exact words to him time after time. Hearing someone else say it though? It was much harder to ignore something someone else was saying.

R-17 grinned, then lunged for Mr. L when Blumiere got up and grabbed his spear, wrestling him for it.

"Enough, Alex! You cannot continue down this path! Not when you're meant to walk a path of light!" Blumiere exclaimed.

R-17's grip on the weapon tightened. "Oh, that's rich coming from Count Bleck, the one who sought to bring darkness to all the worlds. I'm only walking the path that's been paved for me. Dark, light, or somewhere in between, it doesn't matter what path I walk. This is the path the queen set me on, and I can not stray. And how many times must I say, my name is Shayde R-17."

Blumiere shook his head, refusing to let what R-17 was saying get to him. His grip tightened on the spear as well and he briefly looked at Mr. L.

They made brief eye contact, then Blumiere pulled the spear towards himself, making R-17 stumble forward, freeing the sword. Mr. L nodded, then slid over, grabbing the handle and lifting it up. 

He brought the handle down on R-17's head with just enough force to knock him out.

A second later, the teenager dropped his weapon and fell to the ground.