Act III. Part VII.

"If you know this much you can tell me what happens in the next few months that changed you this much and I can prevent it?" Ryu asked with a shaky voice.

"It won't make that much of a difference even if I tell you." He whispered under his breath. "I couldn't even remain Ryu, and remain unscathed. Although it was a bad decision to make, it was what was needed. Looking at you and talking to you here reminds me of all the weakness that makes me not regret the decision I made." The first one answered as he raised his head to glare at Ryu.

"What do you mean? Physically or mentally?" Ryu asked with a confused expression.

"In all sense of 'I couldn't remain Ryu'. I needed to become one—" The first one paused mid-sentence. "But that's not important Ryu, you don't need to know about any of that. Because I will be going back in your place."

"Where does that leave me? To go back to whatever future, you've messed up?!" Ryu shouted.

"It doesn't matter where you end up!" The first one shouted back, "Why is it that you decide to be willful at the wrong times? If you go back you are bound to make the same decisions I made then, but if I go back, I can fix everything, and I mean everything." He said as he moved closer to Ryu.

"Tell me what decisions you made so that I can change them. Please." Ryu begged.

"There's too much to tell you, Ryu, the gods aren't existences to play with, Ulric isn't someone you can handle! You really want your pride to be the reason you end up like me? Without hope, unable to do anything?!" He yelled out.

Ryu turned away and took a look around the train and stopped to look out the window across from him. "The reason you can't get off this train is because you're dead, isn't it?"

Once again, the train's vibrations became the only thing one could hear...

The first one's expression immediately changed and moved away from Ryu. "How did you know?" He asked as he clasped his hands.

"This is your loop and you made the train the heart of it. When you told me you could see It falling apart, I started thinking about why. And your behavior gave it away, you were too nonchalant so much that it bothered me. It was just a hunch that I started to disregard but your words confirmed it."

The first one let out a loud sigh and moved back to lean against the chair. "I haven't died, yet at least. There was this big fight, and I got injured pretty badly trying to save a child from the monsters they praised as gods. I was bleeding out, desperately gasping for air and I screamed until my voice gave out." He said as he laughed with teary eyes. "Before 'it' could finish me off, I went into this loop." He said shakily.

"How long have you been here?" Ryu asked as he turned to face him.

"Over a month maybe, I stopped counting. I lost all hope and planned to just stay here, away from everything happening outside, the responsibility, the blame, and the horror. And that's my point C." He chuckled as tears ran down his face.

"Do you really think if you go in my place it won't end up like that?" Ryu asked as he turned to look away again.

"Of course, if I go back to before any of these ugly events started rearing their heads, I can nip them in the bud. I'll get Toshiko and Mila to help me as well. We'll quickly be able to become gods and come back for you. So please let me."

"I'd be a fool to say I'd make different decisions because innately we're still the same person. I just didn't think after all that resolving and training, I'd spend the rest of my life in a train," Ryu said as his eyes became watery. The first one quickly grabbed him and hugged him. "Maybe one day I'll—"

"Be able to truly enjoy life." The first one finished. "I know that wish, I've been saying it all my life but nothing has ever come out of it. I promise you once everything is settled, I will come back." He said still hugging Ryu.

"You can go," Ryu whispered.

The first one pulled back and looked at Ryu with an excited expression. Ryu wiped the tears off his face with a smile.

[A few minutes later]

The train began to slow down.

"I assume it's coming to a stop?" Ryu asked.

"Yup, and soon everything will be set right." The first one said ecstatically, as he jumped to his feet.

The train speed continuously decreased. The first one took a glance at the door that was in the middle of the cart. He then turned to his right and beyond the cart's windows was a blank white space.

"I will make a way for you to live the life that you were supposed to have." He said standing next to Ryu in the back.

The first one took one step at a time towards the doors, and because his footsteps were the only sound Ryu watched his feet. He couldn't bear it and just dropped his head. He reached into his pocket and pulled out the gold coin. He stared at it and put it back into his pocket.

"What happened to the other Ryu's coin? The one at the station." He asked with his head still down.

"Is that really important?" The first one asked and let out a laugh as he came to a stop, without turning to face Ryu.

"If the train was the only exit to the loop, what happened to the other Ryu's? Why we're their bodies just-"

Before Ryu could finish the first one started to run, but he was hurled back to the end of the cart, falling onto his back.

"I thought you didn't know how to use the authority!" He shouted as he got up, and rubbed his chin.

"You killed them, didn't you? You aren't Ryu, not anymore." Ryu said with an angry expression.

Ryu ran towards the first one who was by the emergency exit of the train and jumped into the air with a fist, but he didn't hit anything and just ended up swiping the air. He then turned around to look at the front of the cart and the first one was there.

Who then bowed, and started to run towards the middle of the cart. Ryu was in a panic and turned to the door behind him, and held the emergency escape handlebar with two hands.

"Please work." Said Ryu as he closed his eyes.

The cart then flipped upside down. The first one fell to the floor, no, the ceiling of the train.

"I'm tired of being nice." The first one said with an angry expression, as he raised his head to face Ryu.

The first one stood to his feet perfectly, while Ryu held the handlebar of the door. "How are you do—" Ryu asked, dumbstruck.

The cart turned horizontally, and the first one started to fall in the direction of Ryu, quickly reducing the distance. But as this happened Ryu could see everything unfold before him slowly. As The first one fell, he quickly pulled out his coin which he flicked into the air with his thumb and let free fall.

Ryu panicked and for some reason he kept his eyes on the coin and not on the person, trying to figure out what to do. And he was right to. The coin then moved to his left side and started to expand. It strangely started to take the shape of a dagger. The first one quickly grabbed it, and the blade gleamed in Ryu's face. It was then in an instant the first one was directly above him. And all he could see was his reflection in the dagger.

The first one pushed down the dagger but Ryu moved out of its path letting go of the handlebar. The cart then went back to normal and only the first one dropped with the knife left stuck in the door.

Ryu turned to it, pulled it, and raised it as the first one came back groggily got up. But before he could do anything it slipped from his hands and the sound it made when it hit the ground was a dull thud but a light chink. It had turned back into a coin.

Ryu panicked once again and raised his head to look for the first one who was in front of him but not as close as he was when he fell. Surprisingly he wasn't running toward the open door, he was running towards Ryu.

The first one jumped into the air as he ran toward Ryu and didn't punch him but slapped him with the back of his hand. Sending Ryu to hit his head against one of the train's windows, but he remained on his feet.

"Why didn't I do that in the beginning?" The first shouted. "It seems the influence of this place allowed you to use your authority. By being inside the product of my authority. Huh." He said, completely out of breath.