Shrouded in darkness at the bottom of the sea, the King sat down on the cold sand below him, breathing heavily as if he had the world on his shoulders. His hands were covered in white calluses, his eyes shadowed with shame and loss. Beads of sweat dripped down his neck, staining his red jacket the color of old blood as he clenched his hands and lowered his head in defeat. The only sound was the littoral melody of the waves above him, lapping against what the King guessed could only be the seashore of a far off place. No matter how hard he tried, the only thing he could see in his mind was the face of the person who betrayed him. Always smiling. Always somehow content with the world around him. To the King, the World itself was now his enemy. He viewed reality as nothing more than a canvas that he could rip and tear all he liked. In a way, he was right. But the canvas was gone. There was nothing left to tear. Not on that canvas, anyway. 
	The King, still sulking, suddenly sensed that he was not alone anymore. He was sad that someone he considered a friend had stabbed him in the back, but it was all ok. He had another friend now; someone to help him out. His friend floated amongst the water around The King, staining the current a dark shade of red. Like a virus, it weaved through the deep sea, reaching towards the surface like a begging child, it’s arms stretched outwards. The King frowned in disapproval.“ Stop it.” he grunted, looking upwards for the first time. Albeit reluctantly, The Friend retreated slowly, sinking back down to the bedrock. If it were able to, it would leave all by itself, but the truth was that The Friend was now a part of The King. One could say that The Friend was now The King, or that The King had become The Friend. Either way, what was once two separate entities was now one force. A force that will lay dormant for a short while as it licks it’s wounds, before reemerging to seek something far more difficult to obtain than revenge : forgiveness.
	 Even though The Traitor had taken everything from him, he still longed for his friendship. That feeling was a part of himself he would kill if he had the power, but simply did not. He had, at long last, accepted that the forgiveness he sought was something he could never obtain. He and The Friend were not welcome in the World anymore. Where they were right now was another place entirely. They were at the bottom. The King longed for a place to call his own. A new playground to explore. There were so many other places to go, so many lives to taint. The only question that remained was where to go. The King thought about this as he climbed back into his Mech, which showed obvious signs of wear having just been thrown to the bottom of the sea. Still, it seemed operational, and that was the only thing that mattered now. The Friend and The King became one once again, The Friends presence within himself at long last forcing The King’s mouth into a tiny smile. Though the things he left behind were precious, he had a feeling things were going to be changing very, very soon. Whether that was a good or bad thing was completely up to him. “ You will accept me.” The King sputtered as he shook with excitement. “I’ll make your lips say “I’m sorry”, even if I have to move them myself.” The Mech started up again, making several rusty sounds as if it hadn’t seen action in years. Though The King’s hands were sore and weathered, he grasped the controls with a burning vigor. “ I’m gonna be your best friend again. It’ll be like it was before, Ness. Just you and me.”

CHAPTER 1 ~ Present Day, Polestar Preschool

	“ It’s your turn, Paula.” It was about five minutes past noon at Polestar Preschool, and the children were all bustling about, playing games, drawing pictures and the like. Huddled around a small plastic table were three children: two girls and a boy. Also seated next to the table was an older teen with blond hair that fell down to her elbows, a bright red ribbon tied on in the center. She had been looking out the window at the murky, grey sky, wishing she could be just about anywhere else. It wasn’t that she didn’t like kids; she loved them. She was around them all the time now, ever since she and her friends had defeated Giygas, the Universal Cosmic Destroyer about two months ago. Her mother Janet ran the preschool out of their very home, meaning that Paula was exposed to children almost every moment of the day. She wouldn’t mind sitting indoors playing Monopoly with the kids on a rainy afternoon normally, but today was different. When she got up that morning, she felt a sharp pain in her chest that refused to go away, and as the day went on, it started to get progressively worse, until she could barley stand without cringing. She had asked her friend Ness to come over that day so that he could try using some of his healing powers on her to see if that would help ease the tension, but so far he had yet to show. She was suddenly snapped back into reality when she heard the voice of the little girl seated next to her. “ You get the dice now.” She said firmly as she placed them into Paula’s hand. Paula nonchalantly threw them onto the game board with a sigh. A two and a six. “ Uh oh…you gotta go to jail now.” whispered the boy sitting across from her with a scared look on his face. Paula stood up slowly. “I’ll be right back, you three…if it gets to be my turn again, just roll for me, ok?” The children nodded slightly. Paula, using the wall as a crutch, hobbled towards the living room, hoping to get a hold of Ness by telephone. She knew that the best way to contact him was telepathically, but the pain in her lungs made PSI difficult to perform. Instead, she grasped the black receiver and carefully dialed his phone number.

	* 					*				*

	No more than five miles away, in a snow white house tucked behind the highlands of Onett, a young man was lying on his bedroom floor, staring up at the ceiling. His red baseball cap had fallen off and landed a few feet away from him when he first fell onto his back about half an hour ago. His collapse wasn’t out of exhaustion. Rather, it was out of boredom. It was a feeble attempt to break his recent trend of living. Eating, sleeping, watching TV when there was nothing else to do. After almost a year of trying to thwart the plans of Giygas with his three friends, Ness had hoped for a pleasant homecoming and a normal life. He got what he wanted, but things felt more complicated than when he had started his journey. His mother and sister were grateful to have him back at home, but both felt a little worried to see Ness so sad. The end of Ness’ journey, though the memory of it was hazy, had left him with more questions than answers. Giygas was dead
( assuming he was ever really ‘alive’ ), but his lackey, Pokey, had escaped somehow. This “happy ending” seemed full of holes in Ness’ mind. What was the Apple of Enlightenment? The Nightmare Rock? And what had become of his neighbor? The strain these thoughts put on Ness’ psyche was a powerful one, which caused him to frequently try and push these concepts aside.
	Collapsing on the floor seemed exciting to him after so much mediocrity. That was just the way Ness thought. Perhaps it was that after saving the Earth from destruction, few things seem fresh and interesting to you. He wondered out loud if his friends all felt the same way. “I wonder if Paula is this bored.” He mused. “I bet she’s babysitting those rug rats again. She does that way too much.” Ness felt that saying whatever came to his mind for a while would eventually spark some sort of revelation and give him something to do. “I wonder if she would want to do something later. Maybe I should go over to her house and see her.” The concept sounded very familiar. Very, very familiar. He sat up, putting his hands next to his sides. “Go visit her…go visit her? Was I gonna do that anyways?” He scratched his head absentmindedly at the thought. Before he could dive deeper into the idea, he felt a light tickle coming from his jean pocket. The receiver phone he had received last year from Apple Kid had become very useful in his everyday life. He hadn’t thought to ask Apple Kid if he wanted it back. Ness reached into his jeans and pulled out the vibrating phone. “…Hello?” he asked into the receiver, unsure of what sort of voice he would hear on the other end. “Ness?” the person asked. It sounded a lot like Paula, but she seemed out of breath and a little fatigued. “I thought you were coming to my house today. Remember?” she panted. 
“ You said you weren’t doing anything, so you would come over at noon. Are you doing something important, or just being lazy?” Her voice didn’t sound mean or bitter. It was as if she were just saying something that was common knowledge. 	
	Ness stood up slowly and re-placed his baseball cap on top of his tangled black hair. “…when did I say that?” he asked, genuinely confused. Paula just sighed. “It was yesterday. Less than 12 hours ago. If you come over here in the next five minutes, I’ll forgive you.” Unsure what he was earning forgiveness for, Ness agreed in a bored tone of voice. “I’m coming over now. I’ll be there soon.” He threw the phone back into his pocket and started towards the door, still unable to remember why Paula had asked him to come.

	* 					*				*

	Times had changed throughout Eagleland since Giygas’ defeat, and the secluded country of Winters was no exception. Though a heavy cold still hung in the air outside, inside of the Snow Wood Boarding Academy, the air was cold for a different reason. The varnished hallways of Snow wood were completely empty, every lantern blown out. Most of the house’s residents had retired for the evening to their respective rooms, save one soul, who remained restless. In Lab 12, a blond haired boy sat alone at one of the workstations, the moonlight splashing across the hard black tabletop. Since the end of his journey, Jeff Andounts had returned to his hometown of Winters in hopes of continuing his studies alongside his father and fellow scientist, Apple Kid. It was his father and Apple Kid who had played a pivotal role in the success of Jeff and his friend’s journey to the cave of the past. Though he knew he shouldn’t, he felt indebted to them. The two had been researching things Jeff had only dreamed of : but even with such an impressive accomplishment as saving humanity under his belt, the time Jeff spent with his father and colleague was scarce. Something about being around them felt wrong to Jeff, but at the same time, felt strangely necessary. Jeff had never been good at predicting anything 
( unlike his psychic friends, ) but even he sensed something about the future that made him uneasy. Though it was the dead of night and even the school night owl, Maxwell, had gone to sleep, Jeff got the urge to see his father. Though his father had never revered him as an exceptional scientist, or even an exceptional son, Jeff believed the strange sensation he felt could be eased if he could just see his father, if only for a minute. It was like homesickness, except Jeff wasn’t sure going “home” would make anything better.