Haru - His Nightmare

((Better to read playing this halfway through: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=02w3IBKxkBQ))

"D-damnit...I gotta...keep going..."

Haru continued forward. How did he arrived into this mist-filled hallway? How was it that the only light seemed to be focused around him, unable to see beyond the darkness in front of his eyes. His whole body was hurting, his head buzzing and his vision getting blurry. Skoll wasn't around to protect him, taken possibly by this damn town just like how Ignis took Audrey the time before...

He was alone..alone in this rusted hallway...

He took a step forward only to feel pain crossing through him. He was barefoot, and every step seemed to feel like if the floor was coated with glass shard, making his soles bleed. he moved another step with the same result following. As he moved forward, he received more pain upwards; The hallways coated with fine wires, almost invisible through the fog and darkness, slicing his skin with every inch and making it bleed..

A a wire cut through, Haru bite upon his lip, muffling the screams. drops of his blood continued to touch the shard-filled pavement, leaving a trail of crimson red behind him. This hall felt endless, in fact, it pretty much seemed to be. There was no light at the end, just more darkness...it was then when he started to hear voices...or rather, his own voice...

[I]"Don't you see where you are?..."[/I]

"Huh?" Haru wanted to say something back but a big sharp had just impaled itself unto his foot, interrupting himself with a scream of agony, crouching by the sheer pain.

"They were right you know...All this foolish heroism...this dream of yours...pointless..."

"W-who are you?" Haru asked, containing himself as he crossed another line. The imitator responded, [I]"Who else? You're the only one in this room, so I must be you, and you're me...deep down you know this..."[/I]

"That's not tr-aaaaaaahgggg!!" Another interruption. this time the wires were much closer together, cutting through meant also getting a nasty slice across his chest in the process, but it all looked fruitless, the boy seemed to be going nowhere

[I]"What are you trying to prove, Haru? Do you think you can beat him? That you can rescue her?"[/I]

"I gotta try..."

[I]"Do you? Do you have to deny it so greatly. That deep down you know you failed. You were warned by your family, by the dangers you faced, but you refused. Why is that? Why are you risking so much for a girl you barely know?"[/I]

[I]"Do you have feelings for her? The heroic knight needing to rescue her princess...heh, how selfish..."[/I]

"That's not it..." Haru kept moving, each step harder than the next, all while the voice continued to taunt him.

[I]"Or was it because of your father? the brave fool who left to die in the battlefield..does play hero makes you feel closer to dear ol' daddy? That you can forget he will never come back?[/I]

"S-shut up..."

[I]"Or was it to prove them wrong? You wanted to rub that title over their faces. Your brother, your sisters, your mother and everyone in your family that continue to doubt you..."[/I]

Another set of close wires, this time having no choice but to get them off by hand. like a blade it pierces through his hand, letting the flow of blood drop down in order to advance. IT never end, he was stuck in this place forever...yet...he didn't feel the urge to stop...

[I]"...This doesn't have to be this way...there's another way-"[/I]

"Don't want to hear it"

[I]"You can always just turn back..."[/I]

"I said no!"

[I]"You can be the hero somewhere else, Haru...just live that fantasy. and deny everything...no pain...no sorrow...don't risk it all for someone who doesn't matters..."[/I]

"She is my friend!!"

Another step, another stab. His breathing started to become heavier. He was barely walking more than just wobbling forward with pure determination. His hand holding on to the wall, trying to keep his balance. It became worse however; The room now felt hotter, small wisps of fire just loathing through the air, burning every time one managed to reach his skin. Yet..he continued forward...

[I]"Continuing this fool's errand will not lead you to a solution. Not her, not Skoll...you are trapped here...forever...facing the reality you hate...unless you turn back...back to that delusion..."[/I]

"AAAAAHG!!" Haru's energies failed him, dropping down to his hands and knees, the sharp glass harming said parts while the small embers continued to float near. He tried to get up, but couldn't...there was so much he could struggle without Skoll, without any magic to shield him from this nightmare...

"...I..."

[I]"Yes?"[/I]

"...I can't...go on..."

[I]"You finally understand?"[/I]

"...I can't deny it..." Haru looked down, having no power to even lift his head. "I'm a failure...I know deep down...things are not how I dreamed...I felt that it was all pointless..."

"Still...I can't go back..."

Suddenly, the voice was surprised to see the boy gaining a new strength. And his march forward continued, immense pain and all.

[I]"Then why? WHY!?"[I]

"...I need to save her..."

[I]"What could make her so important!?[/I]

"She...believed in me..."

[I]"What?"[/I]

Haru continued forward, his face showing his determination, making the pain almost invisible. "Audrey was the first one to have faith me. She is my friend, nothing beyond that, but...isn't that what a friend does? Have faith...and I have faith in her..."

The voice seemed upset, it started to feel less like Haru, and more like someone else he knew. Like the one who he followed into the town...

[I]"Faith? FAITH!? She allowed herself to be taken...deep down she is just like you...a wretched worm wanting to be tormented, to be taken as property because she knows she is useless..."[/I]

"I don't believe it..."

[I]"You IDIOT! You colossal IDIOT!! How can you know when the facts lay in front of you. She doesn't want you, she doesn't want ANYONE. How can you possibly believe there's salvation for her?!"[/I]

The amount of wires increased. The shards seemed pointier, the embers surrounded him everytime they could. However he persevered and said:

"Her smile..."

[I]"WHAT!?"[/I]

"When we first met...she was so shy...we fought this heartless...and while things didn't go as expected...she persevered...she slayed the lizard...and when she realized what she did...she smiled..."

The wires were now a wall at this point, Haru crossed through despite the pain, even while grunting in pain. Everything was being thrown at him.

"She smiled...with such sincerity. Like she hadn't for a while...a long while. she felt she could do it...that she could go on despite anything...yes...deep down she is afraid...she may feel useless...but I know she can...I believe in her...like she did with me..."

The voice roared back. No longer as Haru's echo, but as the man behind the inclusion. Slowly but surely, the embers seemed to be no more, the wires becoming less and less and the floor feeling safer to stand. The red-haired boy heard faint noises, cracking slowly manifesting on the walls with each new step. The illusion was breaking...

"I know she can do great things. Despite her shortcomings...despite her fears, doubts...I have faith she can build her own path...away from you..."

"Same with me...I may be the biggest screw up around...I'm unlucky...I'm clumsy...At times selfish to prove things wrong...but her smile...the smiles of all my friends...and the people around me...its symbol enough that something good I'm doing in this world..."

"All those smiles...they are something I'm willing to fight through hell for!!..."

[I]Ghyaaaahh!!"[/I] The voice distorted, going high and low pitch in its rage. The cracking noises became louder and louder until, like a huge mirror, everything shattered.

Haru looked down at himself. His clothes and footwear were fine, her scars and wounds gone, and he was now inside a simple hallway with a door at the end, much less rusted than the one he enter with.

He knew from the previous trials this wasn't over. And that more nightmares awaited him deeper inside the town and the illusionist would try more to keep him, and everyone close to Audrey, away from her.

However a deep breath was all it took to focus. Haru put his hand on the doorknob and twisted it. The door opened and he passed through knowing despite all his doubts about this plan...himself...He knew there was one thing he could cling on...

Faith