Chapter 41: Me and I

"Ugh!" groans Aayn, suffering through a powerful headache, he puts his hand on his head and backs off the scope of the sniper. He looks at his arms and sees cuffs connected to chains.

". . . How did you get out? I buried you!" exclaims Aayn.

". . . Why don't you go back to the edge and jump off?" snarks Aayn to Aayn, holding the other side of the chains by his hand.

"Shut up," Aayn grabs a silenced handgun and fires a bullet at Aayn, the bullet just goes through and Aayn evaporates into nothing.

"Ugh!" he struggles again.

"It's from the explosion, I am weakened," he pants.

"We have always been weak, nothing new really," remarks Aayn from behind.

Aayn turns around and swings at nothing.

"Why don't you just go back to falling?" he hears in his head.

Breathing heavily, Aayn walks to a soft space with his weakened body and sits down, he palms his face and looks down. He looks up and sees himself again, holding the chains connected to his cuffs.

"I am no longer your slave," says Aayn.

"You still are and will always be, you tried to lock me up but failed, and here I am," responds Aayn, playing with the chains he is holding.

"Let's go back to the fall," he says, rustling the chains.

"Why should I go back?" asks Aayn, looking at himself.

The other Aayn who's on his feet, says nothing as they stare at each other.

"You kept on getting interrupted, and when you rejected long enough, this curseful existence put a huge fucking platform under you to force me to stop from falling," says Aayn.

"Then we go to the edge now and jump off again and continue our fall. We can make it now, no?" asks Aayn.

". . . You can go back to the fall after I am satisfied,"

"Satisfied with what? And how long will it take?"

Aayn smiles, "Maybe an eternity, who knows?"

"That thing made me this beast," says Aayn.

The Aayn sitting down chuckles causing the other Aayn to tilt his head in confusion.

"We were always so. That thing merely woke me up to different and beautiful parts and tastes other than you. Don't act all high and mighty. You want to drag us to fall while knowing what is at the bottom. You are as much a beast as I am, just a different kind,"

". . . You believe pilots?" asks Aayn.

"Am I supposed to believe you?" counters Aayn.

. . .

"So," says Aayn, standing up and facing Aayn, facing each other as if they are reflections, "Behave and go back in, enjoy the show,"

". . . Why not kill me?" asks Aayn.

. . .

"Why lock me up? Just get rid of me completely. I am just a part of you, after all," says Aayn.

. . .

Aayn smirks.

"You want to keep falling as well," remarks Aayn.

Aayn shrugs, "You are right, maybe I do,"

Aayn smiles and puffs up, thinking he won him over.

Thump!

Argh!

"But goodness, I have found new and more fun ways to keep falling. So, I guess I will kill you, thanks for the suggestion!" exclaims Aayn, as he chokes Aayn.

"I will take all control," he says.

"I will enjoy the feast," he continues.

Gak!

Aayn struggles as he falls back to the ground while being choked by Aayn.

"I will bury their bones," says Aayn.

"I ─ I wonder if this existence will put another fucking platform to stop your fall again. Enjoy being your slave," are the last words that Aayn manages to utter before disappearing.

He looks at his shaking, cuffed hands. He blinks and finds that the cuffs have disappeared, then blinks again and finds them back on. But this time, the other side of the chains is connected to himself, he blinks again, and they disappear.

"Ah, much better. As it should be, he shouldn't be the one holding those,"

"Oh, well. Even if there is another platform, I guess I'll just enjoy the ride for now," he smiles.

"Ooh, I can think more clearly now. The ways that I will torture all of them in, I feel inspired," he says, looking up.

"It will be a blood bath, a massacre! I can't wait to reach the Castle and the rope," he exclaims, touching his face.

"But until Zahtan is done here and takes me there, I guess I will have to do with you," he continues, looking at the sniper.

He hugs himself, "Oh, the excitement! And to think that all I wanted was that lame fall!" he says as he gets up and walks slowly towards the sniper looking at the view.

"I wonder how much more is there for me to discover," murmurs Aayn, blushing.

Gripping the sniper with his shaky hands and looking though the scope, he finds Neo again, this time getting ready to depart from the lake.

"Bang!" he says as he smiles.