Also these are mostly first drafts with no edits. They're not great. [spoiler][b][u]Acro[/u][/b] "Ember!" Acro runs through a strange forest of maroon leaves and violet flowers in search of his companion. Through the brush to his left, he catches glimpses of an astral beast keeping pace and hears another catching up behind him. He turns and extends a hand to blast the beast, but nothing happens. A root rises to trip him and he crawls backwards as the beast stalks forward and paces around him, the other emerging to join it. Acro notices these beasts have been changed. Their pale bodies are sickly thin and their faces bloom into five flower-like petals lined with rows of thorny teeth as they hiss at him. Acro also notices their hissing is not directed at him, but at a single glowing white flower between his legs. Thinking quickly, he plucks the flower and holds it towards the closest beast and it shies away. Then he notices a small fox sitting upon a fallen log watching them. Acro begins to call for his friend, but notices Embers face beginning to split like the twisted beasts before fleeing into the forest. "No..." Acros shoulders slump, then he chases after the fox, "Ember! Come back, I can help you!" [b][u]Watson[/u][/b] "Come, Watson!" Holmes calls from in front of a large metal door, "Hold them off as I disable the locking mechanisms!" A horde of moaning zombies shambles forward and Watson raises Excalibur. After a few bloody minutes of slashing, the undead are defeated. "I believe that was the last of them," Watson says between breaths. When he receives no response he turns to his friend and finds him staring at the bodies in disbelief. Watson turns back to find not zombies, but normal people. He takes a step back and looks to the blood on his gauntlets. He feels a cold hand upon his shoulder and Nil whispers in his ear, "[i]Murderer...[/i]" Watson spins and slashes at the witch, but sees only Holmes standing there, eyes wide, then his head falls from his body as it begins to snow. Watson drops his sword and falls to his knees. A light from above reflects off his armor as a glowing white flower descends. Watson opens his hands and the flower glides into them. He closes his fist around the flower and reaches for Excalibur, then stands. [b][u]Veggie[/u][/b] Pain. Veggie awakens gasping for air, but he is floating in a bacta tank with no mask. He sees blurry figures watching him, taking notes, and hears them talking about experiments. He is drowning, but his regeneration is keeping him from dying. He bang on the glass repeatedly, but is unable to escape. Finally, the world goes dark as he passes out. Pain. Veggie awakens again gasping for air, but this time he is lying upon a table surrounded by doctors in fill body suits. He reaches out to grab one and finds his arm has been removed. He sees the same for the other and looks down to see his legs missing aswell. He screams and the room shakes, then a doctor injects something into his neck and he falls asleep. The cycle continues. He wakes up in excruciating pain, doctors performing new horrifying experiments upon him, then he falls unconscious. Pain. Veggie awakens gasping for air, but this time is different. The pain fades away and he is alone in a hospital bed. Beside him, in a vase upon a table, a single glowing white flower. [b][u]Ringleader[/u][/b] A crashing vertibird explodes off to Rings left, showering his power armor with dirt and shrapnel. Looking across the battlefield, he sees the trenches scarring the land and countless bodies of Brotherhood and Super Mutant alike in the no man's land between them. "Elder..." a voice rasps from below. Ring kneels beside his friend Spartan, a shard of metal protruding from his armor, "...I...I've failed." "No," Ring squeezes his hand, "I've failed, brother. I've failed you all." He feels Spartans grip loosen as he passes and Ring takes his tags. Gripping the hilt of his odachi, he rises and activates the ethereal blade. He looks to the soldiers around him, then to the army of mutants charging from the other side of the field. He grips his odachi with both hands and shouts, "Ad Victoriam!" Then leaps out of the trench. The fight is long and bloody and the mutants are winning. The sound of vertibird rotors fills him with hope until he looks up to see the Enclave symbol and hears the whistle of payloads being deployed. When he comes to, he is surrounded by bodies. He slams his fist into the earth and roars, then something catches his eye. A white flower glowing among the carnage. He removes his helmet and picks it with a power armored hand to examine it. Ring stands and looks around once more, "None of this is real..." [b][u]Aku[/u][/b] Aku stands upon a slab of stone floating in an endless void. He calls out for his allies, even his old enemy Watson, but something else answers, a familiar cruel laugh. "[i]Envyyyyyy," the voice of Speaker calls as Deep roots creep over the edges, "you would betray usssss?[/i]" Aku scoffs, "The Speaker is dead and the Deep slumbers. Your tricks do not fool me, witch!" He reaches out with his consciousness and feels something unfamiliar and alien. The roots wither away and the platform disintegrates. A red, slit eye opens in the dark, so immense it fills his sight, and a new voice responds in his mind, "[i]Ahhhh, you wish to know me?[/i]" Aku is overcome with intense, primal fear. He wants to run, he wants to close his eyes, he wants to pull his consciousness back, but the entity holds it tight. "[i]By all means[i]," the voice vibrates within his skull, "[i][b]Come and see![/i][/b]" Aku screams within the void. [b][u]Holmes[/u][/b] "Enjoying your tea, my dear?" Nil smiles and moves a black pawn across the board. "Oh yes, it's quite good, thank you." Holmes responds by moving a white knight piece. "I must say, this is not what I expected to find here." The conversation continues as they make their moves and trade pieces. "Were you expecting me to rise from my throne and fight your little band of adventurers to the death?" Nil leans back, "That isn't really my style." "Hmm, no, but deceptions and misdirections are," Holmes steeples his fingers, "now that you've mentioned it, where are my allies?" "They're resting after su-" "No," Holmes interjects, "I believe they are in their own traps." "What makes you say that?" Nils Queen takes his knight, "Check." "A civil conversation over tea and a game of wits? Clearly a distraction, and I'm sorry to say I cannot play your game anymore." Holmes takes her Queen, "Checkmate." He takes another sip of tea. "Enjoying your tea, my dear?" Nil asks with a smile and moves a black pawn across the board. "Oh yes, it's quite good, thank you." Holmes reaches for his Knight and briefly hesitates as he notices his Queen glowing slightly, its head styled as a white flower. [b][u]Lee[/u][/b] Upon a slab of stone floating in an endless void, Lee sits, eyes closed and praying. Speaker laughs as Deep roots creep over the edges and slowly work their way towards him. Lee ignores all of this and continues to pray. "Come, Charles!" Speaker teases, "Embrace me!" Lee continues to praying until the form of Speaker himself rises over the edge and shouts in his face, "[i][b]EMBRACE THE DEEP![/i][/b]" His eyes suddenly open, glowing with bright white light that burns the Nightmare. "No," Lee's body begins to glow and he levitates, "You are not Speaker and this is not the Deep. This is all just a bad dream, and it's time to end it." He and the white flowers glow brighter and brighter until the Nightmare is burned away.[/spoiler]