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Dave raised an eyebrow. What, the notion of telling Jean about her imaginary lion sister? Hard to imagine that being deeply important, but sure. He glanced at Shadow. The last of his shields was shimmering out of existence. He was back to looking like his usual timid self, but at least he...

My kids. They deserve a life. I'll do anything it takes for them. I'll keep them safe. They're all I live for. I don't care. Jean. That's what I'm going back to at home. Dave stepped back, closed his eyes and took a deep breath. The buzzing in his brain began to calm, slowly. Jean...

Dave bared his teeth and lunged in for a Crunch. "Anything," he snarled, heart racing. "I'll do anything it takes for them, I don't care. I'll keep them safe." Yeah, look how that fucking went last time. A tendril of shadows snaked its way around his lungs. "They're all I live for."

Yet you still fight. Radiance burst bright and golden from his chest, and Fugu's attack shattered a barrier. "Yeah. Yeah, I still fight, because they deserve a life." He glanced off to where Shadow was, under a pair of shields. For once, the other Mightyena didn't look quite so pathetic and...

And there it was, Fugu pulling out her sword again. Shadow actually smiled a little as he stepped aside. Adrenaline pumped through Dave's veins as she charged, and he charged too, Shadows curling around his feet. "My kids," he began with a heaving snarl as he tackled her. "Every day I'm trying...

Dave's gaze snapped back to Fugu, his heart thumping. Goddamn it, the one moment he forgot to not look at him. "No. No, he didn't say anything. He's just sort of staring at me. Does that half the time." In his peripheral vision, Shadow's eyes were still fixed intently on him. The knot in Dave's...

"I mean, no, not really." Dave exhaled, looking away, and then realized that had been completely ambiguous and he'd have to clarify what he'd meant. I came to pay you back for the fucking fight. That's all. A breath. "As in, the state of the world, no, plenty of people sure seem to manage to...

Dave raised an eyebrow. "Well, my world is full of humans and it's sure not a paradise, so definitely leaning away from there being something special about us." So instead, what, everyone was just so fucked up by distortions that an average-ass human who's not affected could just pull them away...

Dave blinked. "Huh." It was hard to picture a world like Cibus just regressing into a postapocalyptic wasteland. How long ago was all this again? He knew better than to ask Fugu her age. "And then, what, the Omen Heroes just fixed everything?"

Was she calling him old? He couldn't even really protest, now that he was somehow in his fucking forties. God. "What, so Cibus was some kind of lawless hell within living memory? What happened?"

Oh, Lord, she was going to try to make him talk about feelings anyway. Dave sighed, sitting down on his haunches. "Cibus is the kind of universe my universe's cartoons take place in. Friendly authority figures all the way up, everyone gets along, tangible forces of hope and goodness and love...

"I mean, sure. People are hoping we'll retain something we learned here on a subconscious level, or whatever. Which is all well and good, but not exactly helpful when the problem is less the forgetting and more just what you're going back to to begin with." Off to the side, Shadow looked slowly...

"Well, uh, thanks for before. It helped." He thought fleetingly again of just going in for an attack and getting to the fight part, but without the hormonal rush of a threat or challenge, the idea just felt dumb and vaguely uncomfortable. He sensed Shadow congealing into existence somewhere...

Dave stepped into the therapy offices for the third time, raising a paw briefly to the receptionist. "Here for Fugu." He'd made that second appointment, in the end. Brisa would've never let him hear the end of it if he hadn't. Who knew if it'd accomplish anything, but at least Fugu'd get her...

Dave had no interest in talking. He wanted to just get out of here, but that wasn't going to accomplish fucking anything at this point. He sat and faced Fugu. "Fine. Talk." <><><><><>

Slowly, the Blacklight receded from his brain, and Shadow stopped shivering altogether before melting away into the air beneath his paws. Dave was alone with Fugu, again. This entire thing'd been fucking dumb. He stood, eyes still closed, breathing through his nose, for a moment, wondering if...

Dave crumpled to the floor. The Blacklight still pulsed through him, threatening to burst, and he couldn't find the motivation to get up again. Words echoed back at him, a series of pathetic deflections of the obvious, and all he could feel was deep loathing and disgust. For a moment he...

Fugu barreled into him with an Aqua Jet that left him seeing stars and then struck with her blade. Dave lost his balance, stumbling. The Blacklight was seeping through his tissues, spreading with every beat of his heart and ragged breath he took. He was so fucking exhausted. "It's all true, I...

Even that brief moment of concentration was cut short before it could clear the cold fog in his head too much. Fugu broke through, blade flashing, and his pulse pounded in his throat, and he had no time to think. "I don't fucking know! Shit about my dead kids, or Soda, or that I don't want to...

Fugu's eyes bored into him from the other side of the remaining shield. A flash of anger rose within him but drowned in a sickening surge of Blacklight-tinged memories. "He doesn't go away," Dave snarled. "No matter what I do. Reappears when I drink, if anything." That was... "Shit. Fuck!"...