HUGS==> 

Some variant on the right or flight response occurs in your brain. You're torn between wanting to hug her, and wanting to maintain space so she's more comfortable. One supersedes the other, and you find yourself rushing forward to hug her. She goes rigid in your arms for a moment, and you panic, thinking maybe you did the wrong thing. But then her arms wrap around you with great force, and she shudders, crying into your shoulder. 

Antimony walks over, and Wren yanks her closer, hugging her as well.

Wren: Snffff.... Dude, I'm covered in snot... Sorry. 

YOU: You have nothing to apologize for. 

ASK WHAT'S WRONG==>

YOU: I know you might not really want to talk about it, but...

Wren: I don't ... I don't want to waste our time.

Sam: You're not, man. We can make time for you.

Wren: Uh...  Okay. Uh... I...

She starts hiccuping, and Alex puts a hand on her shoulder, a little uncomfortable.

Alex: Look. We'll just have a feelings jam, like we did that one time in the abandoned classroom, yeah?

Sam: What?

Tracy: You and Antimony were with the doctor then.

Sam: Oh, okay. Feelings jam. Yeah, this adventure nonsense can wait, who even cares. You're more important.

Wren clears her throat.

Wren: My grandpa is dead. I mean, he was terrible. But he was the... The closest thing I had to a parent. He... He bought me food, and I loved in his house, and I know he didn't love me, but he... He's dead. And I know that there's part of him in me, and I think I'll always be terrified of that. And I want... I want to go home. 

She smiles, still crying.

Wren: I mean, I love all of you so much. You're like my family. I mean, two of you are like my girlfriends, not my family, that'd be weird. I just... I don't want any of us to be hurt. I don't want to hurt anyone, even though we're gonna have to. And I don't like how we're being pushed toward some destiny full of blood and...

She sounds very, very quiet now.

Wren: i need all of us to just be okay.

She hugs you again, limply this time.

Antimony: Wren... We will, okay? We have each other's backs, and, you know... I would be paralyzed from the waist down if Tracy hadn't healed me. I would be dead if you hadn't caught me. I... I love you. I am not going to let anything hurt you. Or me. 

Wren: Yeah. Yeah, but, but Ryan.... He... Oh lord, he's probably what did all of this, isn't he?

She gestures vaguely at the wasteland around you.

YOU: We will figure that out. We will find him, and help him. 

Wren: Yeah...

Sam: Yeah, it's a lot like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

Tracy: Honey, very ,much not the time.

Wren: ... I'm listening.

Sam: We're in a situation we couldn't have ever predicted. We're kids, you know? Legally adults, yeah, but still kids. And... There are things wrong with us, sure, maybe we get greedy, maybe we're not stable emotionally, maybe we watch too much tv... And people are gonna try to pin the things that happen on our faults. But hey, screw them, seriously. We're kids. We're kids who wanted chocolate and got death traps. Our failing is because of that, because we were thrust into a seriously crappy situation, no matter how funny the songs the dwarfs sing are.

That almost made sense?

Sam: And Wren, hey, if it's any consolation at all, you're probably Charlie. Because you're good, you know? You are. You just wanna help people. That's all you want. And no matter how horrible your grandpa is, no matter how many years he faked polio and let your family starve, only to walk as soon as someone waved a piece of gold colored foil in front of him, you've got that. And you've got us. And you've got a golden ticket.

She giggles, and it kind of breaks your heart. Her voice is thick and raspy. 

Wren: Alright. Uh, Alex, I feel kind of bad, because all this affects you too.

Alex: I'm just glad he can't hurt you anymore. And Hastur can't hurt us anymore either. It sounds kind of insensitive, but I think that we can count this as a net positive.

Wren exhales slowly. She nods, making a face of deep thought.

Wren: Yeah... But grandpa is kind of hurting me from beyond the grave, you know? I guess I'll always be a little worried that he died as some sort of elaborate power move. Tricking me into caring about him.

Antimony: You do not really talk about this much with us. How long has he been hurting you?

Wren shakes her head.

Wren: A really long time.

You feel a strong need to hug her, or kiss her. You compromise by doing both.

Wren: Thanks Deen. What, uh, what should we do now?

What should you do now?

FINDING PRIVATE RYAN==>

YOU: Okay, so Ryan is almost certainly in that giant tower, right?

Alex: Yep. That's definitely his style. 

Wren: I guess enough of him is left that he's still a melodramatic baby. 

Antimony: Promising signs!  

You start walking towards the tower. The black sand is cool, and so is the air. You wonder if it would be hot out here during the day. You wonder if there is a "day" here. There must be, the moons must be reflecting something, or they wouldn't give off light. Or maybe they make light themselves, it's not impossible. The sand is in big dunes, which are pretty fun to climb, actually.  The weird glowing, flying worms flock around you.

Tracy: Rods. 

Alex: What?

YOU: An optical phenomenon. Elongated visual artifacts that can be found in photography and videos. Sometimes called skyfish. They talked a lot about it on a paranormal activity forum I used to frequent.

Wren rolls her eyes and smiles.

Wren: Antediluvianet. She was... Very active.

Tracy: ... Me too. Were you... Were you j_keel?

YOU: Yes! Were you footfoot? 

Tracy: Yeah...

It's like becoming friends times two. That's awesome.

YOU: Things like these must get into our world and breed there! That's how things like the... Like the Crawlers...

Wren: Don't go there, Deen...

YOU: I think my curiosity is outweighing that particular bit of baggage currently. Anyway, things like the Rods and Crawlers must be actual biological creatures, while things like that demon from the school dance are more like, you know, spiritual entities. Maybe still biological life, but on a different scale. It is probably the same with Apophis.

Alex: Yeah, that thing isn't god. You know, I don't think I can believe that it is.

YOU: I do not either. It is contrary to my faith, obviously, but all the same, it is likely just a much bigger organism. We would be perceived as gods by ants, if they could perceive us. He is no different.

Wren: Eh. I dunno. I mean, I'm not practicing like you, Alex. But it must be nice, you know, having some sort of faith to lean on.

Alex: Dude, we're Jewish. Our faith is based on arguing and grappling with God. It isn't easy at all, man. 

Wren: Yeah, but, y'know-

Sam interrupts.

Sam: Look, my views are basically thus: 

Sam: I'm gonna do right by whoever, you know? I mean, not Apophis, that's one ultimate power I won't be bowing down to anytime soon, but otherwise, I'm saving the world, you know? I think golden pampers and caviar await me no matter what. Some eternal retirement home is out there, waiting for me. Warm up the Jacuzzi, cause ya boy wants to get shriveled.

Alex: You have quite a way with words.

Sam: Yeah thanks

Alex: You frighten me.

You crest a hill, about half of the way to the tower. It's bigger than you'd imagined. There's also some rubble around it. It might actually be the wreckage of the green pyramid Nyarl had made his home in? The tower's spikes are huge, but there appears to be a door towards the front. No windows in....

Well, how do you get in? You'll have to walk the rest of the way, but you might as well plan now. You'd feel kind of silly just knocking, but what else can you do?

MUSCLE YOUR WAY IN==>

YOU: Guys , I am going to be honest: I think we should charge the door. Once we are closer, I mean.

Wren: Hmm... You, the murderhobo, want to be... Violent? So tell.

YOU: I am being serious! I think we all have a lot of aggression we need to work out, and it would make me feel less stupid than just... Knocking on the door politely and hoping we don't get iced! 

Sam: Yeah, I got a sword, Antimony's got that sweet iron cane, and you and Diana have your being really buff and not malnourishedness. Uh... Alex and Tracy are less... Physical.

Alex: That's true, yeah. No way around it.

Sam: I mean, you're great, but-

Alex: Nah, I'm kinda a loaf, I know.

Antimony: A loaf?

Wren: Okay, so yeah, attacking. Sounds great to me.

YOU: Hooray :3

You continue your trek through the desert, with little of note occuring, for about a half-hour, you would assume. Finally, your reach the foot of the tower.

Alex: It actually hurts to look at.

Tracy: Yeah. I guess you could say it's a real eyesore.

Sam: ...

Sam: What is wrong with you.

Tracy: :D

Sam: When we get back home I'm gonna propose to you. I'm not even joking. You think I am, but I'm not. You just said that without a hint of irony. I think I'm in love.

He said all of that in a monotone. As always, you're totally at a loss as to whether Sam is being sarcastic or not. Tracy continues to smile smugly. You're still unsure.

Wren: Alright, Sam, get that sword out. We kinda all gotta charge in unison, or this won't really work. Or look cool.

Antimony: That is also very important. 

Wren: Yeah it is. Anyway! Everyone, get ready to, like, fight or whatever. Who knows what's in that tower.

Alex: Besides Ryan. We know he's in that tower, I mean, look at it. It looks like the design on every T-shirt he's ever owned. Friggin metal fan.

Tracy: Metal is cool, Alex. His taste is not, however.

Wren: Okay, admittedly, Ryan is almost certainly in that tower, yes. However, other things might also be there, right? So, yeah, prepare to fight. 

You: Yeah >:D

You all charge the door in unison, breaking it down almost immediately. Your Seer powers act up again.

YOU: Everyone jump back! 

Everyone does, and in doing so, you avoid the demon thing barreling at you. It looks a lot like your old friend from the school dance, massive, with long hair covering it's face, but this one has weird bluish hair and is wearing a white robe. Some kind of Omen looking demon. It lurches back.

Omen Looking Demon: what are you things? humans? do humans live here?

YOU: Tell us where Ryan is!

Wren: And, uh, also those guys who used to rule around here.

It scratches it's head.

Omen Looking Demon: the previous rulers of this land escaped the mighty wrath of apophis, and entered the nearest world. cowards. and, uh... ryan? do you mean the apostate?

You nod.

Omen Looking Demon: my master. yes. he is my master. he is special to apophis, i think. and you must be Interlopers. im probably going to kill you, i do apologize for that.

You're all geared to fight, when suddenly, a figure descends the spiral staircase that rises up the tower. He's got long hair and a wild beard. His clothes are ragged and filthy, and a strange and hateful aura is around him. There's something wrong with his left eye as well, but he's still easy to recognize.

Ryan: You... You shouldn't be here.

What do you do? 

URGENT MESSAGE==>

You look at Ryan. Wow. A beard. You wonder if time in this world has somehow aligned with that of yours, because there's no way he grew a beard like that in any less than three months. It looks like he's gotten some muscle now, as well. There's something very off about his left eye... You shake your head.

YOU: Ryan, we have a very urgent situation at home! It looks like you have... Done a few bad things. But we need your help.

He laughs wildly, looking around in quick, paranoid spurts.

Ryan: You...  You were never supposed to find me. Everything was going to be...

He groans, burying his face in his hands.

Sam: (dude, ryan's losing it... also, uh, is he hot now, or is that just me)

Tracy: (yes, he is. to both. worst case scenario , we can negotiate a throuple situation to lure him home.)

Sam: (dude, learn the definition of "worst case scenario," we're leading with that ok)

Alex: Absolutely do not.

Ryan fixes your group with an insane look. You realize what was throwing you off before. His left eye is yellow. It has a very dilated pupil. Apophis.

Ryan: You were supposed to stay in Emerald Springs... I was going to keep Him busy. He had control over me to begin with, but I'd taken the steering wheel back. I was going to keep Him busy here, until you'd all died. He...

Ryan chokes suddenly, lurching forward. The demon walks towards him.

Ryan: No. Leave, Ingrid.

You're privately relieved to see the demon leave.

Wren: Ryan... What did you do?

Ryan: Here's your play by play. I... I fought the Oracle. 

Antimony: Did you-?

Ryan: Kill it? I doubt it. It's falling in the void somewhere. Which is probably worse. I thought... I thought I was helping us. I guess. I was.... It was Apophis, you know. I Awakened, interesting thing about Apostates. The rest of you... Your power is based in light. You get visions of the future, special gifts and skills. You heal. I get darkness. Just... So much. The voice of Apophis, constantly, in my head... I'm like a tuning fork for destruction. I came here, and just... Exploded. 

He gestures at the brutalist tower, with the boundless black desert just outside.

Ryan: This happens. I... 

Wren: Look. Apophis is breaking into our world. We might be operating on a tight schedule.

Ryan: What? He... He told me He wouldn't... Not until...

Alex: Dude, might be time to acknowledge the fact that the god of evil might not be entirely trustworthy. 

Ryan: You... You can't fight Him. You have to hide. Seriously. We... I used to think of light and darkness as two equal, opposing powers... It's not. The odds are impossibly stacked against you. Look... The... THE SKY... THE NIGHT SKY... Is filled with stars... Tiny pinpricks of light in an infinite, dark sky...

Something changes in his posture, and his left eye rolls horribly in his head. He speaks in a horrible, monotonous shriek.

Ryan(?):  AND IN ITS VANITY, MAN CLAIMS THAT YIN IS EQUAL TO YANG. AS IF ALL THE STARS DO NOT DIE. AS IF DARKNESS IS NOT THE NATURAL STATE OF THE UNIVERSE. YOU WILL ALL LIVE TO SEE TRUE DARKNESS, HEROES. 

He shudders miserably.

Sam: So, correct me if I'm hearing this wrong.

Sam: You recognized, rightfully, that we're in serious trouble. A fact that we are entirely aware of, I promise. You saw that the odds of our survival are stacked one hundred to one. And you thought, hey, I know just what to do. I'll switch teams. Make the odds 100 to 0.84 instead. Because, you know, that's incredibly stupid.

Wren: Ryan... We... We all care about you.

Antimony: Yeah, even me!

Wren: We love you, man. You're one of us. Dude, we want you to come home with us. We want you to help us fight Apophis, and we're willing to do whatever we have to, to help you. Because we want you to be okay.

She smiles weakly.

Wren: Today's just really sucked, Ryan. But seeing you has been... Seriously great. We want you to-

Ryan: I CAN'T! I destroyed this entire world! I can't be normal ever again! None of us can, don't you get it? This is all that's left for us! This story ends with you fighting ,e, and slaying me like the monster I've become!

He shouts with all the rage of a fantasy  villain, but he looks like a kicked dog. Wren recoils, and he looks right at her. 

Ryan: Ingrid... Keep them busy. 

The demon enters, and Ryan flees up the staircase!

Special move: Ryan doesn't want to do any of this! One time offer: plant a thought in his brain you think will cause him to relent! Provide exact wording!!!

~~

Ryan... my poor baby. what a loser. 

uh, generally id just put up a new part, but i can't really do that with a submission in this case! i, i need you

BE RYAN HARTLEY==>

Your name is Ryan Hartley, and you are a coward.

Right now you are running up a staircase, looking for the portal out of here. In the clamoring, selfish chaos of your mind, you have a plan. You are going to destroy the portal, trapping yourself and your friends here. Where you'll be safe. From Him. 

YOU: Well, close. I mean , I doubt I'm safe from Him anywhere. But we can buy some time.

You forgot about one thing, however. You, Ryan Hartley, are not the guy. You are not capable of being the guy.  You also left your friends downstairs, fighting a horrible demon. They may very well perish. For all your talk of protecting them, you have done little more than endangering them further. You. Ryan Hartley, are terrible.

YOU: I'm not that bad. They've fought demons before. They'll be fine. I instructed it not to kill them. 

... Can you hear me?

YOU: Yeah. Aren't narrators supposed to be objective?

You are capable of hearing the narration due to your powers as an Apostate, which put you in tune with higher beings. Despite this wonderful power, you chose to be a huge jerk and blow up a planet. You privately reflect on what an idiot you are.

YOU: No, I don't. I "privately reflect" on how I'm about to literally solve all of our problems. We'll be stuck here, but it'll be fine. Apophis gets to destroy their world, we live over here.

You suddenly realize that you are deceiving yourself. You cannot run from Apophis, He has dug his teeth into you. There is nowhere you can run from him. Not forever. The only question left is this: Will you fight like a man? Or will you perish like a dog?

YOU: ...

MYSTERIOUS VOICE==>

Suddenly, your train of thought pivots again, and you hear a voice, and it sounds like the inside of your head, somehow.

???:  RYAN. I am an omniscient being who has temporarily gained access to your mind. You will regret it if you don't help your friends. 

YOU: ...are you threatening me? 

???: They care about you, a LOT. You are NOT a monster. Sure, you've messed up, maybe even to catastrophic extents, but you are NOT a monster. You can do this, right now. 

YOU: Look, that is a nice sentiment, but I blew up a planet. I am, definably, a monster.

???: Ryan, I COMMAND you to LET GO of your self-pity and go and HELP YOUR FRIENDS RIGHT NOW.

You start to truly consider it, when another voice speaks up. You recognize this one.

RYAN. RYAN HARTLEY. DO NOT BE STUPID. I AM MORE POWERFUL THAN YOU CAN RIGHTLY UNDERSTAND, RYAN. YOU ARE INSECTS. YOU CANNOT LISTEN TO THESE MAUDLIN VOICES. THESE COWARDS WOULD SEE YOU SQUANDER THE GIFT I HAVE GIVEN YOU.

YOU: Wait... You need me, don't you? You've been weakened by those clones, that's why you need me, you need my strength!

LISTEN TO ME, RYAN HARTLEY. EVERYTHING YOU HAVE DONE HAS BEEN IN SERVICE TO ME, TO MY PLAN. BEFORE YOU WERE CONCEIVED, I WAS WAITING FOR YOUR BIRTH. YOU CANNOT RESIST ME. I AM HERE, IN YOUR HEAD. YOU ARE WEAK, RYAN HARTLEY, AND YOUR STRENGTH IS NOT YOUR OWN. YOUR FRIENDS DO NOT LOVE YOU, HOW COULD THEY? YOU HAVE BETRAYED THEM. YOU HAVE KILLED THEIR ALLIES, DESTROYED THIS WORLD, AND AIDED ME IN THE DESTRUCTION OF ALL THEY LOVE. THEY ARE WAITING FOR YOU TO LET YOUR GUARD DOWN. HEAR ME, RYAN HARTLEY. YOU WILL BE DESTROYED, AT THEIR HANDS.

You know that isn't true. You resolve to help your friends. You begin to descend the stairs, and-

YOU: No I don't! Let me think! 

THERE IS NOTHING TO THINK ABOUT, RYAN HARTLEY. I AM HERE, IN YOUR HEAD. I WILL USE YOU AS MY INSTRUMENT OF DESTRUCTION, WITH OR WITHOUT YOUR CONSENT.

YOU: Shut up! I said let me think! I want to help them, just please-

Your resolve slips. You know your friends care about you, and you know you have t-

RIDIULOUS. YOU KNOW NO SUCH THING. RYAN HARTLEY, YOU-

YOU: SHUT UP!!! All of you! None of you get to control me, I control me! I CONTROL ME! GET OUT OF MY HEAD, ALL OF YOU! NARRATORS, GODS, "OMNISCIENT BEINGS," ALL OF YOU! LEAVE ME ALONE!

YOU: My name is Ryan Hartley. I am a monster. I am irredeemable. And I'm going to help my friends anyway. Because I might as well. And I don't care what happens to me. Not anymore.

Huh.

You can't be Ryan anymore, because Ryan is too busy being Ryan. Select a character.

BE SAM==>

You're now Sam, although, of course, from Sam's perspective he's always been Sam. Were you to tell him that he was not, in fact, Sam, he'd probably accept that, actually. Weirder things have happened. Heck, weirder things have happened today. No use whining about it.

You are chill, man. You privately reflect on how chill you are. You are so chill that other people assume you're burying trauma deep, deep down inside of you, and that it'll all come out some day. Those people are wrong. The trauma isn't inside of you, your wonderful partner sucks all of that out of your brain with their magic powers. You've seen two people die today, not counting yourself, or that clone or whatever, and it barely fazed you. If Diana has a Mountain Dew, you'd ask her to pour one out for the dear departed, but she doesn't, so you won't. 

And you are going to propose to Tracy. That wasn't a bit. You have a ring in a little box, zipped into your back pocket. You love them. Or, you feel as close to that feeling towards them as you can imagine feeling towards anything. 

You're also fighting a demon. It'd be neat if things worked in real life how they do in video games, where you fight a certain kind of monster once, and it's really hard, but then afterward they're relegated to goomba status, but no. It is equally difficult every time.

This guy... Ingrid, you think emo hot Ryan called it, is a tough guy! You've stabbed him a couple times, but he's still kicking! And punching. Okay, he is both literally and metaphorically kicking, and you can't think of any metaphorical definition of punching, so he's just acting downright literal in that particular junction. Tracy is flitting around, doing their support player schtick, and Alex is making a valiant effort to appear helpful while not being used to mop the floor. Things are very hard for her, for some reason. The Oracle used to say it was because of her "MYTHIC ROLE." 

Diana and Antimony are fighting with their teeth and nails, as always, and Wren is obviously working out some aggression. She's punching him like crazy. He's lurching around, slapping them away like insects. Diana does her neat Seer thing, where she predicts where attacks will land, and she ducks and weaves out of the way. Antimony just attacks him with her cane. Suddenly, a voice rings out from the staircase.

Ryan: STOP!

Ryan's running down, a look of low level panic on his face. Ingrid stops immediately. Ryan looks even more unhinged than when he left.

Ingrid: what?

Ryan: Stop. Stop. Don't hurt them, please. 

He looks at you. Well, at Wren, more specifically. He mouths "I'm sorry." She smiles weakly.

Ingrid: oh. oh no. don't tell me they convinced you.

Ryan: I'm gonna help you guys. I'm sorry for... Everything. For vanishing, for killing the... For everything. I can. I can hear Apophis, still, I can't promise I'm not a...a... A TICKING TIME BOMB... But. I care about you.

Antimony: Oh, that is good.

Ingrid: hi. demon here. still going to get all of you, hi.

Oh yeah. How to deal with this immediate threat?