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Ao-ki woke up in her bed, panting after the horrific nightmare she had just escaped from. The nightmare was still very fresh in her mind, the agonising screams of her friends were still ringing in her ears and each time she blinked she swore she could still see the vivid images of her brutally attacking her friends without mercy while she begged her body to stop, with Lord Voidus being proud of her and calling her his "Dark Herald" over what she did.
She felt sick to her stomach after the nightmare, and even though she had tried to take a nap to ease her headache, the pounding in her forehead only felt worse.
"(Are you okay?)" The Meka Tower beeped in concern.
Ao-ki was still panting, and she made a conscious effort to slow her breathing down before answering the Meka Tower.
"No," Ao-ki admitted, wincing as she placed a hand on her throbbing head. "My head, it feels worse. With this headache, having a nightmare was the last thing I needed since I'm confident it only made things worse." She stiffened as a horrible thought crossed her mind, and she slowly trailed her hand down to rest between her forehead and eyes, and even though she knew by all means that it shouldn't be there anymore, that it was gone after her friends rescued her a few weeks ago, she could still feel the phantom presence of the symbol belonging to her Darkan self lurking just below the surface, and she resisted the sudden urge to claw at the area to get rid of the feeling completely and give her peace of mind.
She wouldn't become a Darkan again. She couldn't become a Darkan again! Not after everything her friends had gone through to try and bring her back to the normal Ao-ki!
But that horrible thought from her still-half-asleep brain returned with a vengeance, and she shivered.
Was her headache really just a headache? Or was it the earliest warning sign of her becoming a Darkan again and marking the beginning of the end?
...Was her nightmare a sign of what's to come?
Ao-ki didn't have an answer to either question, and she swallowed thickly. "I'm going to get a drink," she said, slowly getting out of her bed and trying to push her problems to the back of her mind.
"(Drink plenty of water to help ease your headache.)" The Meka Tower instructed worriedly.
She knew the Meka Tower was aware that something was wrong — they had known each other for too long for the Meka Tower to not notice — but she also knew that the Meka Tower wouldn't push her to talk about it, which she appreciated.
"I will," Ao-ki promised.
Her room was still dimly lit thanks to the Meka Tower wanting to make it easier for her to fall asleep, and she closed her eyes for just a moment as she opened the door to help her get used to the brightness outside of her room.
-----
"Ao-ki, what are you doing?"
"Stop, Ao-ki, please! This isn't you!"
-----
Ao-ki's eyes quickly snapped open, and she immediately regretted shaking her head to clear the images of Ikor and Riff from her mind, feeling dizzy as she leaned on the wall to support herself while she groaned in pain.
That... was a terrible idea.
"(Go back to bed.)" The Meka Tower — who was already worried about Ao-ki's wellbeing — grew even more worried after witnessing Ao-ki's dizzy spell. "(Please.)"
"I'm okay," Ao-ki did her best to reassure the Meka Tower. "I forgot I wasn't supposed to be doing any sudden movements. But I'll be fine getting a drink," she added, sensing the Meka Tower was about to tell her to forget about the drink and once again tell her to go back to bed.
"(...Fine.)" The Meka Tower beeped unhappily. "(But I'll be watching to make sure you're okay.)"
Ao-ki smiled gratefully. "Wouldn't expect anything less."
With the dizzy feeling gone, Ao-ki started making her way to the kitchen to get a drink. It was a long journey to the kitchen — she wouldn't be surprised if the Meka Tower decided to move it so that it ended up being closer to her room while she wasn't feeling well — and she walked past room after roo—
"Koga, attack!"
"Zefyr, keep it up!"
Ao-ki paused outside one of the training rooms when she heard Riff and Eron practicing, and without realising what she was doing, entered the training room.
Riff and Eron were stood opposite each other as they battled with Koga and Zefyr, intensely focused on their match until Ao-ki came in. They noticed Ao-ki's presence immediately and their Gormiti dematerialised as they looked at her., and instead of continuing their match, whose presence they immediately noticed before their Gormiti dematerialised. and although they were focused on their match, they noticed Ao-ki's presence immediately and their Gormiti dematerialised.
Riff's eyes lit up. "Ao-ki! Are you feeling better after your nap?"
Ao-ki noticed how happy her friends were to see her, and she felt bad disappointing them by revealing she wasn't feeling better at all. "Not really," she admitted. "I feel worse."
"What were you thinking coming here when you're very clearly not well?" Ikor scolded. "Go back to bed. I'll escort you myself if I have to."
"(That's what I've been saying!)" The Meka Tower loudly beeped.
Ikor noticed the beeping, and folded his arms as he raised a brow at Ao-ki. "Am I right in assuming the Meka Tower agrees with me?"
"Not that we aren't happy to see you or anything," Riff added before Ao-ki could answer Ikor's question. "But what are you doing here instead of, y'know, staying in bed recovering?"
"I left because I wanted a drink," Ao-ki explained, feeling the Meka Tower's stare boring into her as she left out the fact she had a nightmare. "But then I heard the commotion." She grinned. "Great job keeping on top of your training, everyone."
Eron grinned back. "We just want to be ready for the next time we face Lord Voidus or whoever else decides to stand in our way by being the best Heralds possible!"
-----
"My Dark Herald. I'm so proud of you."
-----
"They won't know what hit them!" Eron finished as Ao-ki winced.
Riff immediately noticed, and looked at Ao-ki in concern. "Hey, is everything okay?"
Ao-ki considered not saying anything, but she decided it would be best to come clean now about her nightmare. "I had a nightmare," she began. "And it was awful, and now I'm scared I'm losing control of my mind again, and I don't want to fight you guys or the Meka Tower because I don't want to hurt anyone again!"
Ao-ki didn't realise she had curled up on the floor until she felt a gentle hand on her shoulder, and she looked up at a sympathetic Trek.
"I'm sorry, Ao-ki. Sounds like you had a really bad dream." Trek's gaze became determined. "But we won't let Lord Voidus get into your mind again. We'll make sure of it."
"Yeah, he'll have to get through us first!" Riff added confidently, pounding his fist on his chest. "We won't let anything happen to you on our watch!"
Eron nodded. "There's no way we're letting that monster get away with it if he tries! He already failed once, so he'd be preeeeetty dumb to try again and fail again."
"If Lord Voidus ever attempts his mind manipulations again," Ikor spoke seriously. "We'll just have to adapt to whatever strategy he's trying to use. With all of us working together, we can guarantee he won't be successful."
"(We won't let him take you away from us again.)"
Maybe it was her sickness making her more emotional, but Ao-ki found she had tears in her eyes after hearing everyone's encouragement. "Thank you. All of you."
Eron waved a hand. "No problemo!" He tilted his head curiously. "What did the Meka Tower say, anyway?"
"'We won't let him take you away from us again'," Ao-ki revealed with a smile.
Ikor nodded approvingly. "That is a sentiment we can all agree with. The Meka Tower is indeed correct in saying it."
"Do you want to talk about the nightmare?" Riff asked gently as he helped Ao-ki up.
Ao-ki agreed, feeling ready to share her nightmare with everyone.
-----
It was just a normal day of training. Since it was a lovely day, they decided to do their training outside.
"Is that the best you can do, Riff?" Ikor taunted.
Riff smirked. "You know it's not. Saburo!"
Ao-ki watched as Saburo used his Flame Sword attack on Ikalos who narrowly avoided it by leaping away, but something felt... wrong. Less than a second later all she could feel was searing pain as her head felt like it was splitting open, and all of a sudden it wasn't her in control anymore. She could only watch helplessly as her hands moved to create a mass of Dark energy before sending it at Saburo.
Saburo dodged, and the real Ao-ki winced from inside her Darkan body at the smoking crater that formed in the ground from the Dark energy's impact. She didn't want to see what would've happened if the attack had managed to make contact with Saburo, but to her horror her body was charging up another attack.
The others stared in shock at the crater, and Ikor was the first to look away and notice something wrong. "Ao-ki, what are you doing?"
"Stop, Ao-ki, please!" Riff begged. "This isn't you!"
"Ao-ki!" Trek sounded horrified. "Why, Ao-ki?"
"Guys!" Eron gasped. "Ao-ki's gone all evil on us again! We must stop her!"
"Ao-ki, you know how much we love you!" Ikor started. "We believe in you. You can do this! Don't let Lord Voidus win!"
"Yeah!" Riff agreed. "We're a family, after all. We just have to use our bond to help the real you break through!"
"Exactly!" Eron exclaimed. "It worked last time, so it should work again now! Family, family, family!"
"Guys, I think it's working!" Trek spoke, voice filled with hope. "The symbol's flickering!"
She tried to tell her friends to run, that it wasn't working, that she still wasn't herself anymore, that if they stayed they would only get killed, but her body wouldn't listen to her.
It took only a second for the mass of Dark energy in her hands to shoot off. It took another second of agonising screams before everything went quiet.
With no one left to protect the Meka Tower, it wasn't long before the Meka Tower fell in a barrage of Dark energy attacks. She was devastated at what she had done to those she cared about despite her best efforts to stop it as her body stood in the remains of the destruction, and Lord Voidus moved to stand beside her.
"My Dark Herald," Lord Voidus said with a sinister grin. "I'm so proud of you."
-----
"...And that's when I woke up," Ao-ki finished. "My headache felt a lot worse and then a stray thought made me worry that my headache was a sign of me becoming a Darkan again, and since I couldn't get back to sleep, that's when I decided to get a drink and noticed your training."
Ikor frowned. "After that harrowing ordeal, it is no wonder you were unable to get back to sleep again. Thank you for trusting us with this information."
"Couldn't you have said it a bit less formal?" Riff teased, playfully nudging Ikor. "Like I dunno, 'thanks for talking about your nightmare' or something? By the way, Ao-ki," he addressed. "Thanks for talking about your nightmare."
Ikor huffed. "Ao-ki knew I meant exactly that."
Riff raised a brow. "Oh, really? And what does Ao-ki say?"
"I knew what Ikor meant," Ao-ki clarified.
"We all did," Trek chimed in. "But they're right," he added to Ao-ki. "We're very thankful you talked to us about it. We don't want you keeping your struggles to yourself."
"Yeah, we're here for you!" Eron exclaimed. "We can't help you through your problems if you don't talk about your problems, so we're really glad you told us so we can un-problem-fy your problem for you!"
"Thank you, guys," Ao-ki replied gratefully. "Talking about the nightmare definitely helped. I think I'll stay for a few minutes to watch you train," she added thoughtfully. "And then I'll go get that drink. I did promise Tower, after all. And since I've calmed down a lot, I'll try going to sleep again after." She touched the area between her forehead and eyes, and although her head was still throbbing, she could no longer feel the phantom sensation. "Yes, I will be okay."
Ikor was pleased. "That's great to hear."
"And since you're staying for a bit," Riff began smugly. "You can watch my victory over Eron."
"I was totally winning before Ao-ki showed up!" Eron protested. "I had him cornered!"
Ikor smirked. "Actually, I recall it being the other way around and Riff was the one cornering you. I was certain the victory was going to go to Riff."
Riff grinned, slinging an arm around Ikor's shoulder. "Thanks for sticking up for me."
"Don't get used to it."
Riff pouted. "Meanie. I'll get you for that once I win against Eron."
Ikor's smirk returned. "Then I welcome the competition."
"You're on!" Riff accepted confidently. "Prepare to be defeated like Eron!"
Trek frowned. "I'm pretty sure Eron was winning. He would've won if the match got to finish so he'll win this time, too."
Eron gestured emphatically at Trek. "See?! Trek gets it."
As her friends continued to argue in front of her, Ao-ki looked at them fondly.
Her headache suddenly didn't feel as bad anymore.