History of Animus

[savedbyasong]

December, Year One

Shion arrived at the beginning of December during an event where many residents of the tower were in their own and other peoples nightmare worlds. He was lost and confused and many of the other residents that he met were equally lost and confused. But he felt that if the worlds had ended then they should work together to make this new world a better one for everyone.

The first big issue for Shion was how broken everything seemed, that the worlds had ended seemed impossible but so did forests that were larger than the space allowed for, so were aquariums without glass. So were many things... He quickly figured out the computers and network and was delighted by the library. He met Yosuke who taught him about different worlds, he tried to learn everything and keep quiet about how very little he knew. He learned about Christmas (sort of) from France. He soon worked out that though there were many people from many places none of them came from a world anything like his.

January, Year 1

Just as Shion was getting used to the idea that his world was destroyed and he was in a weird tower beyond the worlds the monsters attacked, the tower shrank to one room. Shion ran, hid and tried to fight. He was rescued from a giant parasite bee by Roxas but was later killed. This was his first death but as waking up from death was not something he was expecting or used to he did not realise it, assuming he had somehow been rescued and healed.

He was not so lucky with his next death, which came just a week afterwards. He met the Grand Highblood who he had already spoken to in the cafeteria in December, they got into a debate about equality, Shion had strong opinions about how if the worlds had ended such things as hierarchies and people seeing themselves as better than others had no place. Grand Highblood had strong opinions about how Shion should shut up and die and so killed him. Death wasn't real and Shion was not sure how or why.

Another important event in January was his meeting with Xion. Though it seemed like an insignificant thing at the time just a girl in a coat with a hood sitting on floor twenty her legs dangling off the tower. He sat with her and they spoke briefly, he told her the little he knew and she asked after some friends, most of whom Shion had never seen. But it was the first meeting with the girl who would eventually become one of his most important people.

February, Year 1

As February began Shion woke up to a teddy bear (which he named Lysander) and a promise of games. The first of which was the Midnight Game. He was taken to an elevator with some other residents and given some paper and a candle. The game was odd, a ritual, Shion was panicked and afraid but a troll named Signless helped him through it.

He was brought back to the tower. About two weeks later he met a boy named Leon who seemed friendly but proceeded to attack him and carve his heart out. Shion died, returned and before his mind even began to try and process that he was taken once more with other residents to the elevator and to an odd apartment where they were instructed to do another ritual, this time with the teddy bears, and to play hide and seek. They were given a phone and instructions that they had to post to the network (of which only one post, that of the game, was visible or active) every three hours.

Shion didn't understand the game, but after speaking to Nina and Mimio he did as he was told and hid. For ten hours. Through screams and exploding lights. Still and silent, he made a post three hours in, and then another three hours. He briefly spoke to Signless in hour five and Aqua in hour seven. In hour eight the teddy bear found him and left. He stayed silent and still and hidden. In hour ten he was found again and the bear touched him and drained him of life, in a way that was very similar to a parasite bees poison.

March, Year 1

Everything that had happened, everything that should not have been able to happen and the trauma of dying three times in two months when dying and returning should not be possible at all came crashing down on Shion in March. He returned from Hitori Kakurenbo (creepy hide and seek) proceeded to have a break down. He did see Xion again though, she was injured and he helped her with her injury, helping her calmed him down.

March was important because March was when he met Reno, his roommate. Reno arrived and Shion helped him understand the tower (like Shion understood the tower, but helping people was better than screaming wordlessly in panic). Not soon after they met there was an experiment where their collar fluid was changed, both Reno and Shion had orange collars but they got switched to Violet rendering them barely able to move. Reno was a lot less freaked out about this than Shion and tried to keep Shion calm.

Shion calmed enough that once his collar got back to normal he was able to go about his life in the tower. He had a job in the library and also helped out in the infirmary as much as possible to try and help people.

Willow threw a friendship party at the end of March and Shion attended. It was his first ever party and he mostly stood at the side but he had fun.

April, Year 1

April started off on a bad foot when Reno left his diary/report book half out of his trunk and Shion, who had very little understanding of private thought or what a diary was or why you would write down what you didn't want anyone to find out read it. Reno was angry and Shion was confused at why Reno would do the things that he had just read about. The argument ended with Reno asking if Shion even knew how to hate.

Shion felt bad but was unsure how to fix things between him and Reno. During that time he met Xue'Kol who was an odd friend, but became a close friend and someone who Shion was always glad to see.
Reno was avoiding him and Shion gave him space. But when Reno did not return to their room for a few days he got worried and began looking for him. He found him in the cathedral being attacked by an archraven. Shion distracted the archraven, drawing it off Reno long enough for Reno to escape, he then helped Reno who was injured.

The next day whilst Reno was doing research Shion showed Reno the tower guide that had been written and Reno learned that death was not real, after learning that Shion had died four times he told Shion he was going to train him.

He met some other people, learned more disturbing facts, made sushi with Mimio and helped Xion find books to distract herself with when she was upset. At the end of the month a second Reno turned up. Sometime during April a question appeared on the network asking what they were most afraid of. Shion, like everyone, felt compelled to answer truthfully, his answer disappeared after her wrote it and he wondered if it was a weird dream. His answer

May, Year 1

The month it all crashed down.

Not that it was really up to begin with.

Shion was taken with a number of other residents to an elevator and from their to a labyrinth where they were informed that they were to fight each other to the death over eight days until only one person was left. They were told that the experiment was being broadcast to the tower. they blacked out and appeared in the labyrinth with a rucksack with nutrition bars and water

To everyone's surprise including Shion's he lasted two days. He was scared by a dragon like person who was more interested in scaring him than killing him. He met Dave who calmed him somewhat, they lost one another and Shion had a brief run in with Leon (who had killed him in February) eventually he found Ven and they stuck together, they got attacked by Richtofen but managed to escape. He was sponsored both anonymously and not. Xion sponsored him as did Mimio and Eleanor, giving him food and water as well as healing.

The second day he spent with Ven who eventually turned on him and killed him. Instead of waking up in his bedroom in the tower he woke up in a room chained to the wall by the neck. This was his punishment

It lasted six days, during that time Shion did not sleep or eat or drink (nor did his body feel the need to). It was broadcast on the network, after the labyrinth was over on the eighth day and someone won (England) he and the others who had died and were being punished were returned to the residential levels.

Shion was, for want of a better word, broken. Completely. He was numb. If he couldn't save Nezumi, if he had caused such pain to him, what was the point of anything? He hadn't been strong enough, or smart enough to save him. He had been the cause of such pain.

He was at the very edge of a very steep cliff and Reno kept him hanging on. Reno tried to convince him that the Nezumi hadn't been real, that not everything in the multiverse was Shion's fault. He didn't quite convince him, but by being there he kept Shion stable, stopped him spinning into the darkness that threatened to consume him.

He couldn't convince Shion that the Nezumi had not been real though, he had died and returned many times, but so had Shion. He already knew that death held no real meaning here. For over a weak Shion did not leave his room, he barely ate when Reno brought food to him and barely spoke.

Reno disappeared though and Shion was worried, worried enough to leave his room and look for him. He ended up in the library, he had not been clever enough to save Rat, so he decided to try and learn everything. He found Xue'Kol (or rather she found him) and spoke to a person who was not Reno for the first time since the punishment. Reno found him and worried about him, he tried to convince Shion to return to his room as it was getting late and Shion hadn't even remembered to put shoes on before leaving. Eventually he got desperate and carried Shion to a different floor and dropped him in the swimming pool- luckily the shallow end.

It broke Shion's stubbornness, but made him think that he was becoming a burden to his roommate. Reno however had a plan, he stuck a note to Shion's head telling him to turn up to the meadow for training, he tested him and announced that he was stepping up his training. He had invited Xion as well and sent Shion to run laps with her and though their conversation was stilted and awkward it was the second conversation Shion managed since his punishment with someone who was not Reno.

Shion became Reno's shadow for the rest of May, he did as Reno told him but not much else. He felt nothing much except numbness and muted rage. Until the end of May when they went for their collar check. The weight on the back of his collar caused him to flashback to being chained, all the anger at Rat being hurt that had been hidden under despair for a month rushed back and he went berserk.

As he had been pulled from his world before he goes properly berserk in canon this was the first time it had ever happened. It took everyone, himself included by surprise. He fought the retrieval units and lashed out at Reno when he tried to stop him. He was killed.

When he woke Reno was waiting. Reno who had had enough of Shion's moping. He yelled at Shion, telling him that he had cried enough, that he was weak, that he had to man up and face what he had done. That Shion was not capable of control. It was close enough to his punishment to hurt hard. The numbness that Shion had been feeling was gone and Reno's words tore at him. So similar to Nezumi's words. Shion was a burden, he caused everyone difficulty.

Reno yelled at him, telling him some of the things he had been through and eventually told him to "grow up and accept this". This being a pin. The symbol of the Turks. Shion wasn't sure what it was obviously but Reno explained. "It's an offer. And a promise. I'm offering you a way to make something of yourself... whether good or bad, that's up to you. You've got a choice now- Either take it... Or I'm writing you off."

Shion took it, not fully understanding but knowing enough, that he had to do better and that Reno was offering him a chance. Then he cried, properly cried for the first time since the punishment Reno sent him to wash up, calling him rookie.

Shion didn't know it at the time, but he had just gained himself a family.

June, Year 2

People were taken for another game, Shion was not one of the people this time. But the tower had no food or power. One morning Reno gathered Shion for training and they went to find Xion.

They found her, she had just discovered that Axel was gone and was very upset. They spoke to her and Reno made the decision to give her a pin as well. Their little family was growing.

Shion also found his ecology coming in useful whilst foraging for food. Then he met a girl called Tara who had died and came back, but instead of returning whole she was still injured.

As there was no power and no retrieval units in the infirmary Shion took it upon himself to try and make the infirmary functional so that people could get medical care. He met Hojo who he was relieved to hear was a biologist and knew what he was doing. He also met Ventus, who was not the one who had killed him though it was an odd feeling to be around someone who looked identical to one who had murdered you.

Despite the power outage and the fact that their captors seemed preoccupied with whatever game was being played new people still arrived and Shion tried his best to help them and answer questions. He also met a bunch of other Turk's who were all from Reno's world.

There was an attempt to infiltrate the lower levels of the tower, Xion and Shion tried to follow Reno but he ordered them to stay. They were both stubborn but did as they were told. Whilst he was gone Xion got into a fight with Vanitas, though Shion was really not that useful at protecting her they began sharing a bed, alternating which rooms they slept in.

Reno died in the infiltration and both Shion and Xion were angry about that fact. They told him what had happened with Vanitas. Reno announced they were taking a day off and having a vacation, Shion and Xion had no idea what that meant but they had a day making a pack of playing cards (and teaching Shion what a moogle was) and then being beaten at poker by Reno as he was the only one who knew how to play.

July, Year 2

Shion disappeared from the tower and ended up in his dead world for two weeks, wandering the destroyed universe where not even the sun or stars burned. The only person left.

Returning to a tower full or horror was a relief just to be around people again. Shion had no choice but to continue, now he had to live for everyone who hadn't on his world. His attitude shifted, if this was truly all that was left he had to make it work. He had to work harder and so he threw himself into training. Not in the desperate way he had after his punishment but tried his hardest to become better to survive this place that was the only place left. There were lots of pushups in Shion's future.

Tower wise there was a council as everyone met up to discuss ways they could stop the administrators doing awful things. Xion stood up and said that the couple of times that the lower levels had been infiltrated everyone had died and they had to do things differently, her speaking gave Shion the strength to speak when they were discussing collars and he explained how the version of Nezumi who had been killed in his punishment had wore no collar.

People fell unconscious at the end of July for a few days, Xion was caught up in this. Shion learned that Hojo who had been helping him in the infirmary was Hojo from Reno's world. He got angry with himself for not realising as he had left Hojo alone with people, including Chihiro. Reno gave him the job of keeping an eye on Hojo, but Hojo disappeared not long after.

August, Year 2

August began with more training, namely other!Reno teaching him how to swim also meeting Elena who managed to terrify him. He also sat with Equius to protect him from whatever Equius was afraid of. So things bumbled along as normal (new normal, the normal of being in a horror tower full of monsters) until a space whale attacked.

Shion found Elena and Xion and they fought together, this led to Elena accepting them both as new Turk recruits and not thinking that Reno had lost his mind in taking them on. They survived the whale attack and the tower was remade. Reno disappeared during this time.

About ten days later Vanitas came to the tower (a different one than the one who had been there before), he attacked Xion and Shion tried to save her by running full on into Vanitas. He was killed. When he was resurrected he could see, just barely whilst half asleep a retrieval unit haloed in bright white light.

September, Year 2

Shion laid low for a couple of days, doing his job, training, spending time with Xion. Unfortunately Jin annoyed Jason who turned him into a monster in the library, Shion was killed by him bringing his death count to eight. This time he could look around but not move, there was a retrieval unit on his left and someone just out of vision on his right. When he woke up his left arm was numb for a while.

He grew closer to his roommate Elian, and they gained a fourth roommate. Reno returned. He gave Shion the task of learning more and documenting it after Shion told him about dying and the odd things that had happened.

A little while after Reno returned he was body swapped with Ganondorf. Ganondorf tried to pretend that he was Reno but messed up pretty quickly leading to Shion panicking. He soon learned that Reno was not the only one affected and it was another tower experiment.

He joined the attempt to try and fix things planning ways to find the vials of liquid that seemed to have been used to swap people and distract retrieval units. He and Elena searched the infirmary. He managed to find Reno and learn who it was that was in Reno's body. He helped measure all the syringes to help swap people back. They beat Jason's scheme, the first time that they had been able to stop the awful things that happened.

Shion continued working, as Jason had stopped the food again he wrote a guide of the edible plants of the forest floor to try and help people be able to forage without poisoning themselves.

Shion's elation didn't last long, Reno and Xion went missing. They had been kidnapped by Ganondorf who had hurt them. Shion found out from Elena and Xion, then he had taken Elena's gun from her trunk and went to find Ganondorf in a rage, because he had hurt his family. It went as well as you would expect, bullets did nothing and Ganondorf used a hand of blood to deposit Shion on a floor full of bugs and monsters, just as the monsters closed on Shion he moved him again. dropping him on Reno.

Shion was still angry but Reno would not give him spare bullets or let him continue his attempt at revenge. Eventually the fight went out of Shion and he realised what he had done. He was upset that he had angered Reno.

October, Year 2

Shion apologised to Elena for stealing her gun and using all the bullets. She wasn't happy at all but she forgave him and then told him she would teach him how to use the gun properly.

Then one day Shion woke up in an odd wasp costume, they had to collect candy to avoid their costumes crushing them. If they died they came back as monstrous versions of what they were dressed as. Shion helped Xion collect candy. He also gave candy to people who were struggling.

He met a book throwing resident dressed as a giant mouse in the library. This is relevant for later.

He also met Sephiroth this month, Sephiroth recognised the badge he was wearing and the second time they met he attacked Shion after Shion annoyed him, Shion escaped and realised he knew who this was and was surprised he had survived the encounter.

Shion's candy collecting game came to an end when he was caught by Richtofen who had been turned into a zombie, he turned Shion who became a zombie for a day before eventually being crushed by his costume and returning mutated. This time when he was being brought back he was able to look with his eyes but not move, he was on a metal table--a retrieval unit to the right of him. To the left were two more retrieval units handling various tools, as well as Jason, who was working on something inside of Shion's body outside of his range of vision.

November, Year 2

He came back to normal and was gifted a brain in a jar from the administrators. He went to train and found Nezumi, he learned that it had been Nezumi in the mouse costume. They talked, Nezumi scorned him, they argued, Nezumi claimed that Shion had not changed and Shion told him he knew nothing if he thought that. Nezumi called Shion an imposter and tried to leave, Shion grabbed him. They argued more and then kissed. Reno had the worst timing. Reno and Xion tried to convince Nezumi that even if Shion wasn't his Shion he was a Shion and he needed all the friends and allies he could get. Nezumi was not convinced.

Reno began trying to convince Shion that Nezumi was not healthy for him, Shion steadfastly ignored him. It was one thing he and Reno never saw eye to eye on.

All the translators in the tower went haywire that month rendering Shion unable to talk to anyone. Well except Nezumi but Nezumi was avoiding him and then Nezumi disappeared.

Files went up on the network that showed that Ruana had been an experiment, she woke up and spoke to people, she claimed it to have been a mistake, probably by Riki.

December, Year 2

Shion started the month helping those who were new, one of those he met was Hojo who had returned. When Hojo asked about the infirmary and suggested opening a clinic Shion agreed because of the task Reno had given him of keeping an eye on Hojo. They set up a clinic in one of the lounges, Chaos, Ishtar and Chihiro helped them. Their efforts were just in time because that month people began getting sick with a flu virus. Some were more serious than others and it soon came apparant that this was another experiment. Xion was one of the ones who got sick as was Reno.

As a random note Shion learned what a vampire was this month. They also gained Ienzo as a roommate and Shion shared his notes on all the experiments and things they had learned about the tower with him. There was no heat in the tower this month which made the illness worse, it got very cold. Shion spent a lot of time helping people and making them move so they didn't freeze.

Of course being around ill people trying to help them meant that Shion got ill as well. Reno had mentioned that Riku had said something to him after the debacle with Ganondorf. Shion sensed that it had upset Reno so he went snooping- Reno had given him permission to read his journal for research purposes.

However what Shion found shook him, it turned out that when Ganondorf had kidnapped Xion he hadn't killed Reno, instead he had brainwashed him. Reno had been working for Ganondorf ever since.

Shion went to find him and heard Ganondorf and Reno talking, their conversation confirmed his fears. Shion attacked Ganondorf who threw him across the room, Ganondorf then commanded Reno to make sure Shion didn't eavesdrop again, Reno obeyed. Shion realised that Reno had betrayed them, betrayed Xion. Shion attacked Reno, Reno broke through the brainwashing enough to let Shion kill him, hoping it would break Ganonforf's hold on him.

Shion killed Reno, it was the first time he had ever killed anyone and it hit him incredibly hard. More so because it was Reno, his friend, his teacher. Someone who had stood by him and helped him so much. He had killed him...

Ganondorf then made things better (a word which here means so much worse). He told Shion that Reno had thought of him as a son, that Shion was a traitor, that if he were capable of this who else could he kill? Xion? He told him Reno would never be the same again, he had killed more than just his body.

"No matter what horrors are committed in this tower, nothing shall be worse than your crime. No matter what misery you witness in this tower, no one shall be sadder than you."

Unable to process what he had done and unwilling to think any more Shion jumped off the tower. He knew death wasn't real, but he didn't want to be around, didn't want to think or remember.

He saw Jason again and this time could move his head. When he woke up he hid for a day and thought about anything that wasn't what he had done to Reno. He thought about Jason and coming back from death. He wrote up his notes. He decided to experiment.

Over the next two days he died twice more, for science. The first time he was able to move his head more, Jason noticed his consciousness and spoke to him, telling him it was interesting. The second time he could move fully but was held down. Jason spoke to him again. This time when he woke up his whole body was numb. And Reno was waiting for him.

He pinned him, refusing to let Shion run away. He told Shion that he had saved him, that he had been brainwashed and Shion had broken the hold. When Shion calmed down he realised he was numb, he began writing down his findings, Reno shouted at him for killing himself for science and told him that it was the sort of thing Hojo would do. That made Shion pause and remember what Ganondorf had said. He wondered if this tower was making him into some kind of monster. Reno tried to get him to talk about what was upsetting him but Shion couldn't.

Shion lay low for the rest of the month, Xion tried to chear him up. He found that he couldn't bring himself to train, it reminded him harshly of what he was capable of.
Reno and Elena decided to get married, though Shion didn't really understand why he was happy for them. However Sephiroth upset Reno by reminding him that it was all going to end in tears. Reno thought they probably shouldn't marry after all, as they might disappear. Shion pointed out that in his world death was final and people still married. He pointed out that many things happened unexpectedly. "If we hadn't been brought here, I would have never met you or Xion. We never asked for this but it's what we got... You can't not do things, you can't wait until this goes away to get on with life. Because this is our life now."

January, Year 2

The heat returned, people got better. Siira returned, Shion reported to her all that had happened in the six months she had been gone. He checked on people, helped new people. Confessed to Elena that he had killed Reno- as it turned out Reno hadn't told her about his brainwashing adventure.

Then things got weird, some people seemed to grow overnight, looking older, claiming they had been in the tower five years, ten years, in some cases over a hundred years. Chihiro was one of them and Shion was surprised to see his friend ten years older, male and yet still knowing who Shion was, not a Chihiro from a different world.

Nezumi returned, he and Shion watched Hamlet played out by singing lions and Nezumi was as stubborn as ever. Then there was lots of wedding preparation. Xion made a post to ask for help off people for the wedding. She was visited by Ruana, Shion found Xion in the library just afterwards and Xion told him what had happened. An attempt to help Reno bake a wedding cake turned into a flour fight. Things were better than December.

The day before the wedding a man named Mello who was new made a network post calling them all crazy and asking why they were doing things like getting married when they should be focusing on escaping. This upset Reno who tore up a bunch of the decorations he was working on and bolted. Shion had a go at Mello, telling him that he had no idea about anything, he told him all the ways they had tried to escape and how it was hopeless. He felt a bit bad, but Mello had upset Reno.

Then the wedding happened. Shion was best man, Reno and Axel swapped at the alter to confuse and enrage Elena. Ruana and Zo turned up but caused no trouble, the trouble was caused by Ganondorf who crashed the wedding, Xion shouted at him, he was chased off but Reno fled.

February, Year 2

February started with Shion and Equius exploring the machine room to try and work out what the machine did and failing at discovering it's purpose and also at staying alive. This time Shion could move and make noise, though not form words. Jason was amused and asked if he was trying to set a record. He began training again, Elena's lecture having helped settle his mind.

Then a bunch of people from a different place came. All from the same world. They did not arrive in dormitories, they did not have collars. They were from a place called Hinoto-Ri.

The administrators had a question and answer session.

Things Shion learned

-There is not a holy grail in the tower but several lesser grails that had been classed as sentient beings in need of saving. (He had no idea what a grail was or why it was important)

- Riki made machines that help Zo pull people's souls in to save them. Sometimes Zo misses and that's how the monsters appear. They are often warped

- The experiments are done because they find them interesting.

- There was no ghost, but an echo of the past seen in the present in a room where no one should have been but Jason found interesting for punishment

- The administrators were trying to find a way to reverse the end of the worlds but were so far unsuccessful

- If you go too far from the tower you die

- There was a side effect of the tower that made it difficult to kill them but if they removed the collars or went outside they could die for real. This was science rather than magic

- The visitors didn't need collars because their worlds were not destroyed.

- If their worlds were restored Dax would personally send them all back.

- Doc disappeared from the tower to end up in Hinoto-Ri to return as a visitor a few days later. The explanation for this was time paradox.

- Nyarlathotep was a person who the visitors had been looking for. He had been in the tower but disappeared. It might be possible if a being was powerful enough that they could move to another world even if all the worlds connected to their own were destroyed.

-Powers don't work on some floors because it is too dangerous or there are unexpected anomalies. Riki makes the floors.

- There are things Riki is not allowed to speak about

- The visitors put a strain on the tower

- The planet they were on was called earth, like many planets.

- The Ruana on the network who seemed child like seemed to be different than Ruana herself

- Jason was surprised that people claimed to have spoken to Ruana

- Jason could provide body parts if people requested them.

- The bubble doesn't know it's popped

- Jason doesn't descriminate based on age

- Knowing how they all work is important to Jason

- They didn't know how long the visitors would be there.

- When a world dies they just pull the first person they can reach in time

- The visitors could die permanantly

- The administrators are human

- Ruana sleeps when she is not in charge

- Sometimes they lose track of people and they disappear from the tower

- It would not be feasible to send them to Hinoto-Ri

- The barriers were not broken, it was more as if the visitors had gotten through a window that the administrators did not know was there

- The worlds are dead because of a virus that goes from place to place

- Death isn't really death, it is just their bodies needing to be repaired

- There are disruption fields that stop the tower from being destroyed or the walls from being broken.

- It would be possible for them to quarantine or restrain some of the population but they are under orders not to

- Jason takes solace in knowing Ruana would rather play games with the residents than the other administrators.

- The graves were Riki's interpretation of Dax's request that the residents had some memorial of those who had disappeared

- The tower of souls recieved its name long before the administrators were born

- Even lacking a collar animals could be brought back from death

The month continued, Shion and Xion spared and it was adorable. Reno disappeared for a short time. Ienzo was effected by Ruana's Halloween event and played music to Shion, putting him under the effects of Ruana's game. Shion became trusting of him completely and allowed him to sedate him and murder him. This time as well as numbness Shion forgot what room Rat lived in.

Ruana was up to games again and Xion got caught up in them this time, she turned up in Shion's room injured. Shion helped her, she slept in Reno's bed.. Reno reappeared to find Xion in his bed. They reported what had happened.

He was only back for three days when he disappeared forever, this time his name vanished and a grave appeared in the graveyard. He was gone for good.

A fog took over the tower and stepping into it brought voices from your old world, accusing voices. Shion mostly managed to avoid it. Some people infiltrated the administrative areas and discovered that they were souls, just souls being put into recycled bodies. The visitors went home, Ruana ate Dax for betraying her. The entire tower was Not Okay.

March, Year 2

Shion met John who had recorded the soul extraction process, he watched it feeling the despair creep back upon him.

Then Shion ended up trapped in Ganondorf's dark world when he cursed parts of the tower. Chaos told him that the magic felt like Ganondorf's and Shion was angry, he found Xion but they got seperated, he found Elena. During this he got taunted by Richtofen who was helping Ganondorf and got attacked by birds. He and Ishtar fought skeletons that could paralyse you with a look and ended in a maze. He fought a version of himself.

When he returned from Dark world he learned that Nezumi was gone for good, he was filled with anger towards the tower but had no way to channel it, he ended up breaking down in tears on Chihiro instead.

He tried to rally, met his new roommate and made pie for Chihiro's birthday.

Half way through the month it began raining, inside. Shion scrambled to save his research, finding that the lockers in the sauna were waterproof where trunks in their rooms were not. Shion was not sure why this was happening, but all signs pointed to Zo being in charge that month and he wondered if it was boredom. After the rain came scorching heat and thunder storms, then blowly Autumn winds that blew you off your feet and then snow. Indoor snow.

After things calmed down Shion joined Ishtar's attempt at educating the tower. As there were many children and people from worlds were education had not been widespread. He taught Ecology, he also attempted to learn literature off Tohko but it was a bit of a disastor... He learned a bit of history from Tohko's world and found it interesting, but then Tohko tasked him as homework to read some chapters from the book "The Master and Margarita" and explain why Bulgakov chose to write about religion and whether it helped or hurt his satire. She also asked him to write a story for her.

Neither task was one Shion could do, and the first one was so similar to the questions asked in his punishment that he broke down completely. Tohko tried to calm him and he managed to write a sentance of story, she asked that he just read the chapters for next time. There was no next time though, Shion could do many things but facing those particular memories was not something he was up to and he did not want to be a burden to Tohko by breaking on her every session.

Knowing Elena's birthday was at the beginning of April and figuring they might have no food as it was a Jason month he made pie in advance.

April, Year 2

He and Elena met at Reno's grave and he gave her some stale pie for her birthday. Xion and him went foraging for food and had a feast of nuts and berries. A few days later he got a letter He found Elena's grave and then went to gather food. He lost his calm though and started punching a tree. Hei tried to stop him and he attacked him, feeling awful about it afterwards even if Hei beat him pretty easily. Riku found him and offered to help him and try and control the darkness inside him. Shion accepted, because it was beginning to scare him. Riku told him to go to the hedge maze when he was ready.

Before he did so the tower distracted them again, this time by taking residents and turning them into drones, some mindlessly obedient, some who could talk and scream at the unfairness yet still had to do the administrators whim and some that were physically changed but whose minds were still their own. Xion was taken and turned into a mish mash doll creature that couldn't speak. Shion stayed near her to try and protect her. Equius was also changed and Hei, Despite knowing if was an experiment Shion tried to get through to Hei, to talk to him. Hei killed him. This time Shion forgot what order the administrators control the tower in.

May, Year 2

Everyone became back to normal, Shion and Xion sat on floor twenty taking comfort in a moment of quiet. It was learned that those that seemed to have been only physically changed had actually been spying for the administrators, the brainwashing had just been more thourough.

A few weeks into May though Shion decided to go and find Riku. Mazes were hard but he got there, Riku quizzed him on what was upsetting him, Shion told him about Xion and about how Hei had killed him and how he felt guilty for pushing him. Riku told him to talk to Hei and began quizzing him on his anger. Lessons had begun.

He spent most of the month trying to help Xion and not knowing how to, he found Hei and apologised, they went to find Xion to help chear her up. Hei disappeared not long afterwards.

Weird rumours began being written on the walls, people began believing them. It was very odd, some where silly, some were more serious like the food being poisoned. Shion began believing the food was poisoned and went about trying to stop people from dying of food.

The rumours stopped and it came to the one year anniversary since Shion had been given the Turk badge by Reno. He and Xion had a picnic at Reno's grave. Xion also got a cat. She also began helping place mircrochips that were part of a message Dax had given some residents before he died. She had told Shion about them.

There was a mascerade hoasted by a group called Pandora. Shion participated. There was a message on the back of the invitations.

Remember this: There will come a time when everything around you seems to be not what you thought it was, and you won't know what to believe about anything at all. At that time, look for something that is still true.

June, Year 3

The time came. As the month ticked over there was an announcement. Glamour system failure and finally they saw their new world for what it was.

The tower was a harsh metal construct, everything was metal and foil, all the things they thought they saw were illusions. Most so their bodies. For they were not bodies at all, just metal frames, filled with fluid matched their collar colours, inside them was a soul- the only part of them that was real.

They were just souls. Their bodies were gone along with their worlds. Shion and Xion had been sleeping in Xion's bed when it all happened and woke up in a pod of purple liquid. They went to find their friends as it slowly dawned on them that this was not another experiment it was the result of the chips. It was reality.

Cue panic. But not from Shion. Shion for once didn't freak out. Because finally everything made sense. Science wasn't broken, it was just more advanced then he had knowledge of. Floors didn't float in the air, it was an illusion. They were finally seeing what was real.

Xion said something odd when they were talking to Asch and later she told Shion about her history, who and what she was.

Glamour systems came back on. But they knew now. They knew what was reality. They learned that because of what had happened the tower only had a year of power left. A year before they would all cease to exist.

Ruana was in charge and soon they were thrown into another game. This time there were resdients turned into monsters, but only at night time. They did not remember being monsters and the only way to stop them was to figure it out and kill them whilst they were human.

Shion was killed early on by the screaming monster. When he was being revived he was conscious and could speak though Jason ignored him. He forgot that Dax was dead.

The residents made a barricade. Xion had a stone mask that Link gave her, meaning she could disappear and reappear. It was hard to keep track of her. Shion fought a little but mostly concentrated on helping the injured.

Xion died whilst with Riku, Shion was furious and attacked Riku losing control again. They fought and Riku forced him asleep. Shion avoided Riku after that. When he woke up he tried for normal, went on patrol and was killed by the crying monster. This time he forgot the name of his mums bakery.

The next morning he and Xion met in the cafeteria, he comforted Xion, she asked if he was alright and he lied and said yes, he did not tell her he had also died.

July, Year 3

Shion took a week long trip to his dead world. Lonliness was not good for him. When he returned he saw that Sephiroth had posted to the network and suggested a collar checkup boycott. Shion warned that there would be consequences and that those with purple spectrum collars could lost control of their powers. He had reworked the order of administrator control from his notes and said that if they were to do it this month would be best, there would be fewer consequences from Dax than any other administrator.

Xion replied explaining it was Zo next and John replied telling him that Ruana had eaten Dax and did not sugar coat the news at all. Shion panicked. How had he forgotten something so big? Shion forgot nothing and this was not just a fact. It was an experience. Something he had witnessed. Dax was dead the grief hit him as fresh as it had when it had first happened. Xion came to find him in the library and calmed him down.

He spent a good week rereading all his notes, trying to find anything else that he had forgotten. One night Xion disappeared from where she was sleeping next to Shion, he tried to find her and eventually found her back in the room, she was terrified and bleeding. She told him she had got taken to the first floor and there had been monsters. She was burning up and Shion realised her wounds were infected. She had a light on her collar and she told him Riki had put it there, to attract monsters. She also told him that she had gone down to the administrator levels. Shion told her off but relented when she began to cry. He told her that telling each other things went both ways and that Reno would probably bash their heads together. He told her that no information was worth her being hurt. But she countered that if they did not figure out how to escape in a year they would all be hurt.

Shion didn't take part in the boycott. But at the end of the month he woke up during a time suspension, where time seemed frozen, they couldn't be seen by retrieval units, Shion guessed because they had been programmed to understand the residents to be frozen at this time. He also came to himself at one point realising he was in a medical library, with books in disaray and some of them were covered in blood. He couldn't move his body, it moved on it's own and it was sorting the books. Shion realised that if they had this much control, could freeze their very perception of time it was no wonder they were getting no where. The administrators were all powerful.

There was another plan to try and infiltrate the administrative areas. This time Shion and Xion were going together, except Shion found the distraction that Ganondorf's team had set up and he was killed by Kiryu. This time when Jason injected him to make him black out it didn't fully work and he drifted for a while half conscious. He forgot the colour of Rat's eyes.

August, Year 3

Shion struggled to sleep, it was too dangerous. The administrators could take his memories, could stop time. He worried all the time. He pinned down the memory he had lost this time. He had never written down the colour of Rat's eyes, he knew they were beautiful but...

Jason posted to the network and asked if there was a way to make the tower safe would people want to say. Shion answered saying there were people he would not want to leave.

A man named Diarmuid also contacted him on the network to explain that Hei had asked that he look after him and Xion. Shion was quite defensive about his and Xion's ability to look after each other, to say otherwise would be disrespectful to Reno the one who taught them. Diarmuid told him he had his memories of Reno and Elena and that that was important. Shion explained that there memories were not safe and asked to meet up in person as he did not trust the network.

Xion had made a picture of what Jason looked like without the glamour. Shion told her how brave she was. He also told her about Diarmuid and brought Diarmuid to meet her. She was very suspicious and didn't want to trust him, she had been hurt too many times.

Shion recieved a blue rat in his trunk, every time he looked at it it seemed to have died in a more horrific way.

Shadows came into the tower, Shadows that looked like people from home but who told them how awful they were, who tried to keep them apart from the friends they had made in the tower. They could be beaten back though, with friends, the more people around you the less the shadows could get to you. Exposure to shadows made their collar colours paler and if they went clear they died.

Shion and Xion stuck together, though Xion had some bad experiences when she was alone and so did Shion. They mostly stayed together and chased off each others shadows and those of their friends. They also helped Sehiroth, because no one deserved to die from lack of friends. Not even him.

The collar boycotts and infiltration hadn't been for nothing. Some residents had collar fluid and science equipment. Teams were set up to research the fluid. Shion volunteered and became an assistant scientist under Sertoria who was team leader. They were researching the blue fluid, Xion was a bodyguard for his team. He and Diarmuid also talked about anger.

Shion threw himself into research. Finally it seemed like they were getting somewhere!

September, Year 3

Shion followed Diarmuid's advice and spoke to Waver, despite being intimidated by the older scientist.

Then Reno returned. Both Shion and Xion were in shock as he had been gone seven months. There was so much to tell him, and where to even start? They held off though and he asked them to not tell anyone of his return yet in case Ganondorf or someone found out.

Reno laid low for a few days. On the seventh of September Shion turned eighteen. Reno and Xion tried to make a cake for him, he loved it even as disastrous as it was. Reno got Shion drunk.

Two days later Shion briefed Reno on all that had happened. He tried to keep it factual, without letting his emotions get hold of him. Reno flipped completely he left the room and Shion ran after him trying to calm him down Reno continued raging, pushing Shion away. Reno told him that if nothing was real their souls could just be copies, what did it make them?

Shion said that their memories and experiences made them people, he was quite defensive about it now that he knew Xion's truth. Realising he couldn't stop Reno he went to get back up, in the form of Xion. Between them they pinned Reno down, Shion yelled at Reno and told him to practice what he taught, to listen to them because they had information and Xion had been tortured to get it. Xion hadn't realised Shion had guessed. They managed to get Reno calm, Xion told them what had happened in the administrative areas.

Then Elena returned. Shion reported to her too but more carefully. More new arrivals came including Kanda, a boy who looked so much like Nezumi it was painful.

Riki had a question and answer at the dorm levels, they were interrupted by explosions. Debris rained and everyone ran into dorms to hide, they ended up locked inside dorm rooms for a week unable to leave.

Shion was hit in the head by the debris and was injured. He ended up in room 5-16, Elena was with him, he managed to talk to Xion and Reno who were next door. He tried to convince them he was fine but Elena told them he was injured.

He was concussed and thought Kanda was Rat. The next day they started hearing weird things, caused by psychoradiation. The third day Elena called out, trying to get help. She lost her voice. Shion got angry and Isamu and Hidetoshi calmed him. On day five there were screams and sounds from the room Xion and Reno were in, he heard their screams and unable to help them was overwhelmed by anger. Isamu and Kanda tried to stop him, Kanda grabbed the back of Shion's neck which caused him to panic, Allen knocked him out.

October, Year 3

Shion avoided the bath party, took a shower and tried not to think about how he had lost control. He had regained his arm band from No. 6. He wore it, to remember and because it had a picture of his mum under his contacts. Even if it was fake. He slept for a long time, Reno stuck a note on his head to tell him to meet him. Shion did so and Reno told him he was upping his training. Shion told him he had messed up, Reno told him they might need to look for help elsewhere to help Shion stay in control.

He then asked him if he would officially become his son. Shion accepted (after crying and confusion) Shion and Xion talked about being official siblings and how they might want to find somewhere nice to go when (not if) they defeated the administrators. Shion still felt he would want to go home, he still had to rescue Safu, and he couldn't leave Rat. But how could he leave Xion? His family?

Reno and him spoke about getting Diarmuid's help with control. Reno also told Shion he would make a good inteligence gatherer. He also told Shion that he thought his problem was himself, Shion didn't have enough confidence in himself and relied on others too much. Shion knew this to be true.

Reno, Diarmuid and Shion began operation teach Shion control. Diarmuid had asked around and it seemed the best way was to learn his emotions, understand them and then learn to swap them.

He told Shion that they would get no where if Shion blamed himself and tried to make Shion promise he wouldn't. Shion didn't want to lie, but did not know if he would be capable of not blaming himself.. He got upset. Diarmuid waned him that it would only get harder and Shion said that if things were not hard they probably wouldn't be worth doing. Pain was proof that they were human. Diarmuid tasked him with thinking about what he felt and why he felt it and writing it down.

There was another collecting candy game, no costumes this year though. Only certain people could see the candy. The candy remained real even when the glamour glitched. Shion was fascinated and science happened. Sometimes he stopped percieving the candy. he could always see candy in peoples bowls, so could Xion even though she could not see the candy around the tower. The compulsion to take part and play was on him but he also was enthused just by how interesting it was.

Reno tried to not take part and began feeling awful Shion gave him candy and when Reno protested that he didn't want to give in to her Shion told him that Reno wasn't, Shion was. Reno told him it was the difference between being human and being someone's toy, Shion wondered if he was falling back into the trap of being obedient. Reno told him to take the candy away and Shion took it and dumped it in Reno's bowl.

After the collecting was done with there were riddles by strange shadow children. Shon was not able to answer the riddles leading to tricks, him feeling like his blood was boiling. The third day that he failed he was held down and molton chocolate was poured over him. This time when he was revived he had forgotten why his world was mostly wasteland.

November, Year 3

Losing memories was terrifying. Shion started another set of notes, this was to write down everything that he could remember about everyone he knew. He knew that written things were useless when the glamour went out but if he wrote things down and showed others... someone would remember if he forgot. He became obsessed with trying to write things down like how it felt to hug Reno and how soft Xion's face was. The exact tone of voice Xue'Kol used when she was teasing him. Things that were impossible to describe.

Asch made it worse by letting Shion hypothesise on the idea that the administrators could wipe their memories, they could have already learned everything before and almost escaped, it could be impossible because they would never be allowed to beat them.

Collar research continued, Setoria had disappeared and so Shion became team leader. He felt inadequate and frustrated that he couldn't figure things out. At the information sharing party Minato suggested asking one of the other scientists to compare notes. Shion said he would consider asking Waver.

His death at the hands of the shadow children had hit him hard because he hadn't been smart enough, and the collar research was hard, he began doubting his abilities in the one area he was normally good at.

He and Reno spoke, Shion told Reno not to blame himself for Shion's death count because if it hadn't been for Reno he would have died more like a hundred and nineteen times. Reno realised that Shion struggled to see fault in him and made him talk about Nezumi. He told Shion that Nezumi's eyes were grey. He also tried to convince Shion that he could have survived because he was bright, that Nezumi was not a hero. Shion was not convinced and told Reno that he still relied on people to survive even now. Reno tried to convince Shion that Nezumi was dangerous and abusive but Shion snapped at him and told him not to say such things, he had met Nezumi once he could not make judgements on him.

Because the Blue research team had suffered the most losses due to people disappearing Doc gave Minato a file for Shion to help things go smoothly. Shion was hard at work all month researching, as time was getting short.

However he did take a break for Xion's birthday during which he discovered that Reno had fell foul of fairy rings and ended up with wolf ears. He would have been mad at the faries but the ears were cute. He made Xion an ice cream cake for her birthday. They had an actual Turk meeting afterwards and Shion was put in charge of a team consisting of him, Asch and Xion.

He then ended up in his dead world for a week or so.

December, year 3

When Shion returned people were meeting, because there had been a carnival and people had had visions after another explosion. Shion learned off Reno that Elena was also gone, but her name was still on her door. Minato found him and they agreed to meet to catch up on research.

Shion got back to work. Elena returned. They succeeded in unlocking the part of the collar fluid that controlled powers, therefore meaning they could make a new fluid that gave everyone their real powers back rather than an illusionary copy.

On the fifteenth all the lights came on a rift in reality appeared and there was a message:

"Good morning, everyone. I'm sorry for waking you, and for the little power issue, but--well, sometimes you have to make a little bit of a mess to get everything cleaned up, right? I'm R-037, which means I'm a retrieval unit. You can call me Aria. I've been helping gather a few like-minded--that is to say, minded at all--retrieval units and worker units. We've got some autonomy and access you don't, so we want to help you all out.

What just happened is we've eliminated all administrative surveillance of your areas of the Tower. No one downstairs can see or hear you. This is only temporary, though, and, well, you know Jason, right? He's gonna be mad. I'm not sure what he's gonna do, but I think between you guys and us we can fight back! You guys need a place to go where they can't see you, though--so we're going to be working on that right now. We needed to cut off the admin access so we could work on it, but that's obviously going to attract attention.

So, guys, we need your help. Keep Jason from interfering as much as you can. You'll find that with what we did to the electronics in the Tower, he'll be a little easier to handle. Still, he's dangerous, so be careful! Just--give us as much time as you can. We'll help, of course! I'm sure you've noticed, but retrieval units are quite reliable in a fight."

The Turks (who had renamed themselves as Ragnarok) rallied. Shion was afraid but he was also a Turk, he knew he should be able to handle this. He told Xion he would make sure nothing happened to her, she told him not to make promises he couldn't keep he said he would do his best- he was prepared to die for her, had died for her in the past.

As the glamour was glitching they began grabbing real weapons off monsters that dropped them. Shion came up with a system of tying ribbons to the real weapons so they could be distinguished when glamour came back on. It wasn't a perfect system, he knew there was too many variables but it worked as long as they kept checking. He went over maps with Reno. He helped Diarmuid with weapons distribution and made sure everyone had emergency rations. Under Diarmuid's orders he was practicing finding good things about himself and he thought that thinking about variables and making sure everything was covered was something he could be proud of.

The next day plague doctors spilled from the abyss, they ignored people with orange collars, and those with orange collars were the only ones who could harm them. Aria reminded them about collar checkups and told them she had been the one handling them for a while, the infirmary was like a fortress.

Shion fought the plague doctors when he had to, protecting Archer from them at one point. He also ran supplies to the infirmary. The distractions worked and Aria made a new floor, a hidden floor that the administrators couldn't see.

January, Year 3

New month. There was a repeated menu in the cafeteria, that had never happened before. Shion's collar fluid had been switched with the new formula, he had no powers to return but he believed it had worked, it was a step to figuring out how to return their souls to their bodies, and restore their worlds. There was still much work to do and he spoke to Waver again, they discussed the nature of souls and what that could mean. Even though many worlds counted different things as a soul they seemed to be the same thing here, so they would probably need to convert them back.

People had died during the distraction, as Reno was the leader of Ragnorok he took it hard. Elena asked people to help find him, Shion did so- taking a set of spare clothes as Reno had not gotten changed after the battle. Reno told him that it didn't matter as it was all illusion, that collar fluid was not blood. Shion told him that it was in some ways more important as it was what protected their souls. Reno broke down and Shion told him he shouldn't hide, that family meant they didn't need to hide their pain.

"We're just a group of broken people banding together right?"

He continued researching, becoming more aware of how little time was left. It didn't help that on every network there was a counter, counting down to power outage.

Sephiroth and Ganondorf kidnapped Ryoji and forced his death god powers to activate, he also kidnapped Diarmuid, Lancer, Yukiko and Patrick using them to activate Ryoji's powers, he then turned them on their friends. Waver had killed Diarmuid to end it. Reno had tried to find out what had happened and gave Shion the notes. Reading how his friends had been hurt filled Shion with rage, as he began to hunt for Sephiroth and Ganondorf though Diarmuid found him and managed to calm him. For the first time Shion was able to calm from immense rage. Shion said it would be easier to have no emotions but Diarmuid told him not to think like that.

There was a Ragnarok meeting the next day. Shion and Reno spoke about how little time they had. Reno told him that he should try and live a little, in case it all went wrong. Shion was his kid it wasn't right if he went out too innocent. Shion argued that he wasn't innocent and that his life had been good even if not as exciting as Reno's. Though Reno spoke like the end was inevitable Shion didn't believe it, or more he had promised Xion they would escape and return to their worlds, he owed it to her to fight his hardest until the end.
Reno made a speach about what Ragnorok was all about. Choice. Something they did not have much of in the tower. It was something they could all agree to fight for.

Near the end of the month there was another explosion, this one even more violent. It ripped up the staircase and exposed the spine of the tower itself. The power began fluctuating wildly, everything kept going offline. It got worse, the tower didn't seem to be repairing itself. Eventually Riki made an announcement.

"You can all guess the explosions did something. What they actually did is damage the power core that runs through the Tower. We're gonna run out faster than expected unless that can be fixed and we get a bit of a recharge. I can repair it, but not without extra power--so I need your help. I need volunteers--willing volunteers, don't go shoving people you don't like down the elevator shaft to help out--to let me hook them up to a machine that can provide some extra power to the Tower. Won't kill you, won't suck you up and make you part of the Tower, nothing crazy like that. I can't tell you all the exact effects since I've never done it before, but I know anyone who agrees to help out will end up pretty exhausted for a while. If you don't help out here, there's two options: first option, everyone dies here. Second option, you all get sent back to your dead worlds, wandering around those alone for eternity, since you can't die there. Not good options.

You've helped me out in the past, so I'm trusting you guys to help out again. But here's some information for you, too: after the damage done to my Tower, I've managed to trace the explosions. They're Jason's fault--trying to create chaos and infighting, I'd guess. I'll let the boss know, too, so maybe something'll happen there. 'Course, wouldn't've been able to figure it out at all had you not drawn him out last month and given me a good look at his signatures, so thanks for that, too.

Anyone who wants to help out, come to the elevator on floor one at noon today. It'll take the rest of the week."

Shion and Xion decided to do it, to lend their energy. Reno guessed and was scared for them. He told Elena who told Shion she supported their decision.

They were hooked up to a machine and fell asleep. They began having nightmares which got worse as time went on. Then they woke up, in some kind of void. The void was pitch black, the only lights came from their souls. They felt a pull, leading them.

He found Xion, they wandered together. Eventually they all found a mirror they were compelled to touch it, and as they did the possibilities of ever possible future burst into their minds at once.

February, Year 3

They returned to the tower, were let off the machine. The memories from the mirror faded, not gone completely but hazy half remembered with only flashes of clarity. They were hit with absolute exhaustion that faded over the month. Sometimes he found himself back in the void, just disappearing from reality and ending up in the void, returning sometimes seconds, sometimes hours later.

Nightmares were nothing unusual for Shion so he did not think too much about a dream of a bear ripping his heart out, however overnight all his feelings for his friends and family had disappeared, being replaced with anger and hate. He had a tag on him saying "A bear stole my heart. Will you find it for me?" He didn't notice the tag himself but a boy named Ira did.

Reno had also lost his heart, they found each other and argued. Shion told Reno he was a useless teacher and a coward Reno told Shion he was a helpless nutjob and he didn't need him as a Turk or a son. Shion told him if he was fired then he didn't need to witness Reno's pathetic attempts at baking.

Two days later he woke up with all his feelings back, he felt guilty at what he had said, Reno's words echoed around his head and though he knew Reno would not have meant them same as he hadn't meant what he said he still thought there was truth to them. He also realised he had missed Reno's birthday, he made him cupcakes with an apology/birthday note.

As he was leaving the room he checked the terminals and saw Ruana's latest game, it was a game of predators and prey, in the labyrinth that still haunted Shion's nightmares.

He broke down and Reno found him on the floor next to his bed. They spoke, Reno realised that the labyrinth had been a turning point for Shion, Shion apologised for being an awful son, Reno apologised, there was crying.

Shion didn't want to watch. But Xion and Elena were in there so watch he did. People died. Jason died, killed by Zelda and Asche under the orders of Ruana because Jason had betrayed her. Jason could not hurt them anymore.

Shion went to the hidden floor where people gathered after escaping the labyrinth with help from Aria. Elena had been killed but Xion was alive and injured. He stitched up her injuries and let her talk.

Even though Elena had died when she came back she was injured, because Jason was dead and therefore was not the one returning them.

Reno gave him a handwritten book full of stories from his homeworld.

March, Year 3

Some people moved rooms, as many people had disappeared Zo had merged rooms so no one got lonely. Reno ended up back in Shion's room.

Diarmuid and Waver got married (sort of) and Shion made cake. Celtic knots are hard to ice! Waver was grumpy and threatened to throw Reno into the cake, Reno told Shion to distract him.

Diarmuid said that Waver was awkward because bonds made it easier for the tower to hurt them. Shion said that the administrators would be the ones who would cry in the end. But then got control on his anger.

Shion, Diarmuid and Reno met for more lessons. Shion had notes on feelings. Some were normal statements, some attempts an analysing his feelings, some random statements like the fact Xion's hair was soft and that made him happy. Some was bad poetry, some had been written after nightmares and were words on top of words, written in the dark so he didn't have to see. He also had some written when he had lost his heart, he kept them but marked them as an anomoly.

He spoke a little bit about his nightmares, his punishment but as well as Rat it was Xion, Reno, his family here that were hurt. Diarmuid told him that figuring things through like this would make him stronger. Shion said he didn't feel stronger, it just hurt.

People began getting sick, Shion tried to help like he had last time. He was confused though- Jason was dead and Zo was not someone who normally hurt them. Xion and Reno were part of a team that managed to get more information by hacking.

People got sicker and sicker, the power failed, the glamour failed. Zo's voice was heard. "This place is too dangerous. It's too dangerous. This place doesn't save anyone at all." The reality of the tower cracked in half, Shion was one of those caught up in the twisting and found himself away from the tower, on the dead planet, the tower in the distance. It felt like his body was too big for him and could fall apart. Though they looked like wireframes, those that had the new collar fluid had an outline of themselves within the wireframe.

They got to the city that surrounded the city. It was dead, the bodies like those on their own dead worlds. He found Xion and they travelled back to the tower together, they got to the city. Xion was exhausted and something in Shion made him keep going, carrying Xion when she needed to rest. They explored and found some water. They finally got back to the tower, but not everyone Patrick died and never returned.

Not that Shion found out for a while because just as they got back to the tower he ended up on another dead world. His own this time.

April, Year 3

Shion spent the entirity of this month on his dead world

May, Year 3

He was on his dead world until the 21st of May. He did not take it too well but he stayed sane somehow. Because he needed to, if he wasn't too late his friends would need him.

Xion told him that she had made her mind up, when (not if) they restored the worlds she was going to go home, despite everything. Shion was proud of her.
Then with ten days left on the clock one morning Zo and Aria (who no one had seen in a while) burst of the elevator injured. They claimed they would not let them hurt everyone anymore and monsters were after them. Everyone helped build barricades and fight and flee up the tower to the hidden floor, trying to slow the monsters down.

Shion helped make barricades and then ran with Lancer. They got through the maze and finally to the hidden floor.

The second block of the tower was swarming with retrival units, Aria was injured. People rallied and planned and helped the injured. He and Reno spoke in a quiet moment, Shion told him he thought he would be terrified but he felt more numb. Reno said it had been the same when meteor was falling, the end of the world was a massive thing.

Shion told Reno that though he did not know how he would cope without him and Xion and his friends he was going back, he had to rescue Safu and help Nezumi. He was afraid of being alone though, because the futures he had seen in the mirror were as numerable as they were vague but he could not remember one where Nezumi stayed with him. Reno told him he would never be alone as those he loved would always be with him, and then realised he should apply that to his own life.

People began getting notes written in blood, Shion didn't but Xion did. Shion wondered if they put them all together there would be a message or if Ruana was getting desperate. Then a few days later a message carved into the wall. I Found You

Shion however hadn't been on the hidden floor but on his way, the tower rippled. Something was moving. When he got to floor 101 the power and glamour were off. But Reno was there and so was unglamoured Riki.

Shion rushed to help Reno. Riki sent spikes that injured him but he kept going. Xion burst out of the hidden floor. A wireframe, but his little sister. Her keyblade appearing in her hand before she threw it at Riki. Leave my family alone. Shion stood despite the pain and echoed her demand, to be spiked once more, dying. His twentieth death.

June, The End

When he woke up he was in a cell, there was a timer in the middle He had been paralysed for an hour and the timer read 4 hours. Counting down.

He called out for Xion and Reno. Xion answered, she told him she had done something crazy but they had pushed Riki out of the tower. She had hurt her knee though landing wrong. She was several cells down from Shion and he remote first aided her. He told her that it seemed every time she went and did amazing things he died before he could be useful.

She hadn't realised he had died, in all the confusion. She begged him not to die anymore because they might have no chances left. They made a promise, hands on the glass of their cells that they would not die any more.

Diarmuid also filled him in on what was doing on, including that some people were missing. He checked that Shion was keeping calm and told him to save strength. They tried to find ways out of the cells. Shion said that maybe the power would fail gradually, the glamour was already out so maybe non essential things would fail first. It would not be much time but it might be enough.

Then as the timer hit zero, power failed. The cells opened but the door seemed welded shut. No one had powers. They were trappped. Until a rip appeared, a rip in space. They went through, there was no other choice.

They ended up on dead worlds, not their own though. Other peoples, the people who were not in the cells.

Shion, Xion, Waver, Diarmuid and Lancer ended up on Gaia, Midgar. Reno's world. They found Reno. Shion told him that Xion killed Riki. Reno pointed out that even though they were travelling they were in wireframes, more than just souls. He showed them a warehouse with weapons and bandages- so they could deal with Xion's ankle properly.

One portal closed, another opened. This time Xion and Shion ended up in a dead world identical to Xion's dead world. On a clocktower was Namine. Shion carried Xion up the stairs on his back. With each person they found they felt stronger, peoples powers came back.

A final portal opened. It led to the silent machine room, lit only by the lights of the retrival units souls and Zo's glowing eyes. Everyone's powers returned real. There was a pressure in the room like someone was trying to crush it.

Aria spoke: "The power's out--obviously. There's only enough life support left for some of the levels of the Tower, so you can't go upstairs. The elevators aren't working anyway. But listen, it's time. Those of you who can fight, you have to go with Zo and do something about Ruana. Those of you who can't or don't feel like you'll survive, we need to figure out what we're going to do. It's now or never--we have to take control of the Tower and you need to figure out what you're going to do to try and save your worlds. Really, it's okay if you don't want to fight. At this point, there's no way she'd restore any of your bodies even if there was any power that would let her do it. Remember, people who are willing to fight Ruana with Zo, and people who will brainstorm a way to end all of this, stay here with us."

Shion knew his greater skills lay with thinking rather than fighting. So stayed with Aria to figure out a way to save the worlds.

And try to find a way they did. They discussed options, figured that like the portals they could use the connections they had made here to spread a virus of their own (or an antivirus) through the worlds to restore them. Or a way to reset their souls. Or to switch the barriers that held them. The only thing Shion argued against was sending them back in time, erasing their memories, he thought forging people to forget was as bad as what had been done in this place.

Ruana was defeated by the fighters. The tower went a brilliant white. They ended up in a void, with the machine. Ruana was floating held by Zo. He told them they had not much time, to tell him what to do.

Zo could use the machine as they instructed, he could even save Aria. But not himself. Goodbyes were hard, saying goodbye to Xion was almost impossible. Zo climbed up on the machine, they began to be pulled away. Their last impression was a dying world being torn assunder by a crying child, that child was put to sleep and they went back to where they belonged.