Remington was still deeply considering Zexich's explanations.

  “Okay, what about bipolar disorder?” Remington asked.

  “Bipolar disorder is characterized and depending on which type a person has, by episodes of extreme high energy or manic states lasting anywhere from a few hours to a few days, and in some cases weeks, then followed by episodes of extreme low energy or depressive states that can last days, weeks or even months. In Lux's case he may get an idea in his mind of something he must accomplish, no matter how much it makes sense to anyone else, then he will go into a period of high energy mania. During this time he may become very focused on this task, and work very hard towards accomplishing it. It doesn't even matter how productive he is or what he happens to be focused on. He could get a lot of things accomplished, or he may start a million different tasks and never finish any of them. He may feel energized, euphoric, invincible, and impulsive. Once the mania episode has run its course, something may set off the low energy state. It could be anything from an intense traumatic event, to a minor inconvenience such as breaking pencil lead when trying to write something. Either way it will trigger the depressive state, where he may feel sad, depressed, tired, lethargic, hopeless, or fatigued. He may sleep excessively, or try to sleep excessively but end up in an insomniac state. These episodes usually happen repetitively and are sometimes unpredictable, but they can happen in a pattern. I would guess that when Lux broke into the venue as an active shooter, he was most likely in a manic episode.” Zexich thoroughly explained.

  “That does seem a lot like how he was behaving.” Remington said, still looking contemplative.

  “Now I have a question for you.” Zexich said seriously.

  “Uh…what?” Remington was suddenly nervous.

  “In this letter Lux wrote that he saw Vezaias, and that some day he would return. Do you think this is actually possible?” Zexich asked seriously.

  “Uh! Well…..not unless you recreate him again, and I doubt that you will.” Remington looked very unhappy now.

  “I meant without my help.” Zexich said seriously.

  “I doubt it. Lux saw someone in the room with us that I couldn’t see. He must have been hallucinating, and it couldn't have been Vezaias. I have been having a hard time accepting that he is dead. I still feel like he is hovering over me, or watching me no matter how much I try and convince myself that this is impossible because he is dead. I really wanted to see him. I wanted to make sure he was really dead. Maybe then I can stop obsessing over this possibility." Remington said solemnly. Zexich looked contemplative now.

  “Come with me.” Zexich turned to walk away. Remington quickly followed him. He walked Remington over to the area of the laboratory where the cooling chambers were. He found and pulled open a certain chamber and slid out the table where there was a body laying underneath a white sheet. Remington was suddenly overwhelmed with despair. He cautiously reached out and pulled the sheet down uncovering the body. There lay Vezaias looking very dead, white as the sheet that covered him, eyes half lidded, mouth parted, haphazardly cleaned of the blood that had covered his face, with a devastating wound that sliced through his neck and into his collar, nearly severing his head from his body. Remington cringed as the sight nearly crushed him. He immediately began to cry and hid his face into the back of his elbow. Zexich let him cry.

  “He's never coming back!” Remington sobbed.

  “Perhaps it is for the best.” Zexich said mildly.

  “It doesn't feel like it is for the best!” Remington snapped looking at Zexich angrily for a moment then retracting back into despair against the back of his elbow. Zexich was quiet and let him cry more. It was a while before he spoke.

  “Would you like to go to the bedroom?” Zexich asked finally.

  “No. I want to stay here with him.” Remington said firmly through his tears.

  “Very well.” Zexich then left the laboratory.

  Remington cried for a while before he shifted to look at Vezaias face. Seeing him dead again for the second time was even more horrible than the first time. He also couldn't help but be filled with desire. He cupped the back of Vezaias's head, brushing his hair lovingly and pulling himself closer until his lips pressed against the cold dry dead flesh of Vezaias’s open mouth. It was such a morbid desire to want to kiss him, or even more-so to do everything he would do if he were still alive. Vezaias’s body was already too stiff with rigor mortis to interact with very much. He tried to intertwine their fingers but this didn't work. He resorted to running his hand up and down Vezaias’s dead body, feeling the dead swollen corpse with a sickening pleasure.

  “I can't believe you are never coming back, Zay.” Remington mumbled. “I'm just suffocating without you.” He laid his head against Vezaias's shoulder now, resting one arm over his dead body. “I will be with you again soon. I cannot survive very long without you.” He began to cry again for a long time until he fell asleep. He woke in the void. He wandered over to the terminal looking very unhappy and stood in a daze.

  “Zay…..I miss you so much.” He mumbled. “You are dead. I saw you. Was I just getting my hopes up?” Remington sighed. Suddenly a screen dropped down and began to play a memory. It was a very short clip of Vezaias.

  “Don't be stupid Rem.”

  Remington looked relieved and smiled.

  “I'm trying. I just need something solid from you. I've just been ditched here with your list of chores. Could you help me out a bit? I'm really struggling.” Remington said feeling more rambunctious now.

  “You. Need. Too. Chill. You. Are. Doing. Great.” It was literally snippets cut out one word at a time and edited together like a sloppy ransom note.

  “I don't feel like I am doing great. We are communicating through a projector screen. The fuck? What is going on? How are you doing this? What the fuck am I supposed to be doing?” Remington was getting excited now.

  “I. Am. With. You. Rem.” All snippets. “We. Are. A. Team.” Remington looked emotional now. “Relax.”

  “I am trying. Do you know what happened? Lux killed himself. I think it was my fault.” Remington said solemnly.

  “I. Told. Him. To. Do. It.” Remington looked struck now.

  This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

  “But why?! You did all of this stuff! Trapping people! Telling me to kill Ava! Now Lux is dead! You haven't explained any of this to me! What the fuck is going on?!” Remington snapped angrily. The screen that dropped down began to retract from above.

  “Wait! Don't leave! I'm sorry!” Remington panicked. “No, please don't leave me!!”

  “Relax Rem!” He heard from behind him. He jerked to see Vezaias standing near the terminal not far away. He quickly ran the short distance to throw his arms around Vezaias's neck but fell through him as if he was made of air and collapsed to the floor. He lay on the ground for a moment as if he were defeated.

  “You're not really here.” Remington cringed choking on this as it was like a cruel joke.

  “Of course I'm not really here, Rem. I'm dead, and you’re fucking insane.” Vezaias mused with a mild laugh.

  “I’m not insane! I just desperately want you to actually be here!” Remington snapped.

  “Rem, you are talking to an imaginary version of your dead boyfriend, in a projected visualization of the inside of your mind, just after making out with his corpse!” Vezaias laughed harder. “I'd say that's pretty insane! Like morbidly next level insane Remington!” Vezaias was very amused now.

  “Ugh….it's not insane at all! I am suffocating without you!! I'm desperate for you to come back!!!” Remington cringed and began to cry.

  “What’s even more insane is that fact that you don't believe any of that is insane. It's perfectly reasonable isn't it?” Vezaias said, now standing over Remington and looking down lovingly at him.

  “So if you're really not here, then where are you? Am I just imagining that you are here?” Remington said, turning over and propping himself up with his arms, and looking at Vezaias very unhappily.

  “I am absolutely not going to explain anything to you. Do you know why?” Vezaias enticed smoothly.

  “No I don't know why! Are you going to explain that to me?!” Remington snapped.

  “Because Rem, if you know what is going on then how the fuck do you think you are going to lie about it to these people? Do you really think you could just look at that Emotional Manipulator in the face if you know these things and fool him into believing that you don't! Use your brain!” Vezaias snapped back at him. Remington was quiet. So there was a reason Vezaias kept these things secret. His plan was much more elaborate than he knew.

  “The less you know the better. I will only give you information that you need to know for the immediate future, with as little detail as possible.” Vezaias said.

  “Fine. Is there anything that you can tell me that I need to know about now? Anything at all.” Remington pressed.

  “You need to gain as much trust back as you can. They nearly killed you on the spot after the battle ended. Skyler is the only one who defended your life. Not surprising at all. You need to get close to my brother. Try and detach him from that floral headed bastard. We need him on our side. I don't care what you have to do to get his loyalty. Do you understand?” Vezaias pressed. Remington nodded.

  “What about Lux?” Remington asked.

  “I want them to recreate him. Make sure that happens. You are going to continue where you left off with him. That's all I can tell you.” Vezaias instructed. Remington nodded again.

  “Are you going to come back?” Remington asked solemnly. Vezaias was quiet.

  “Maybe, maybe not. Why would I want to spoil the ending for you?” Vezaias cooed. “Just keep up the good work Rem.”

  “Remington!!!”

  Remington popped his head up from his spot sleeping against Vezaias's dead flesh. He looked around in bewilderment until he saw Demetri looking at him very seriously.

  “Ugh, sorry.” Remington mumbled rubbing his good eye of lingering sleep, and looking very self conscious.

  “You are coming to the briefing today.” It sounded like an order, not a request.

  “Sure, I'd love to. Thanks for asking.” Remington said flatly. Demetri scowled at him in irritation.

  “Do you want to be there when we vote on your life?” Demetri said seriously. Remington scoffed.

  “Just kill me.”

  “Or Lux's life.” Demetri continued. Remington was quiet. “That's what I thought. Come with me.” Remington got up slowly putting a hand on his face as it was throbbing intensely still. He followed Demetri through a portal to the office. “Sit down.” Demetri said, showing Remington to an empty chair. Remington sat and held his face in his hand and was quiet. He did look at the office desk that nobody sat behind. This gave Remington a twinge of guilt now as Maxwell would have been sitting there. Most of the members were already in the room. Remington cautiously looked around, seeing everyone, most of whom were actively avoiding looking at him. Skyler did make it a point to acknowledge him very solemnly, and eventually Ava too. The meeting didn't start right away as it seemed like nobody was willing to assume the role as director. Finally someone spoke.

  “It seems as though we are most in need at this moment, of a leader. Since our current leader doesn't seem as if he will return right away, it is very unfortunately necessary to vote for someone to take his place however as temporary as we all wish it to be.” Zexich announced. This caused Demetri to quickly sink into despair as he sat on the table against the wall. Soon he was sobbing into his hands. Skyler quickly went to console him. Remington was crumbling inside and feeling very responsible for this situation. It was a few minutes before Zexich would continue.

  “I feel this time we should all nominate someone we feel would be best to assume the position. You cannot vote for yourself. Whoever has the most votes will be the new temporary leader.” Zexich said, then he prepared slips of paper and pens for everyone, everyone except Remington who was not allowed to vote on anything. Zexich collected the votes and counted them.

  “It seems we have a tie for our leader, between Sigil and Demetri” Zexich said seriously. “We will have to decide on a tie breaker.”

  “Don't bother. I will concede to Sigil. I appreciate everyone who voted and trusted me enough to lead our group, but I do not want the position. Sigil has better leadership skills than I do, and I feel that with Maxwell gone, it would compromise my ability to make the right decisions as we move forward. I do not want to jeopardize our future because of my poor coping skills in this situation.” Demetri said very solemnly. Everyone was quiet for a moment. Remington was soaking in turmoil now.

  “Sigil, do you accept the position?” Zexich asked, trying to hide his enthusiasm. Sigil took a deep breath.

  “If that is what you ask of me, I will accept.” Sigil said seriously, and then headed for the desk to sit down. Zexich could not hide his satisfaction now as Sigil took a seat at the desk and opened the computer.

  “It will take some work after going through the computer system with Demetri, we found that Maxwell has completely wrecked all of the operations. He has milk changed in the ordering form as 'moo juice', and for the life of me that's not all he has messed with, I can barely understand half of this gibberish.” Sigil said flatly. Though it was a painful moment, it was also humorous and everyone started to laugh at this. Remington also found this amusing but couldn't bring himself to laugh about it.

  “I will actively work on this, and be more prepared for tomorrow. For now I do believe we have a few other things to decide. First, I do not think we must vote on this, but I do want to bring up the subject. Our member Rocks…” Sigil paused. “…..he will be recreated. If anyone has an objection to this please speak up now.” Everyone was silent. It felt as if everyone was staring at Remington as if he would be the only one to object. He kept his eyes fixated on the floor.

  “Next we must vote on something very serious. All of you are already aware in general of the confrontation that directly resulted in the death of our member Rocks, and the seizure of our leader Maxwell, as well as the death of Vezaias. We now must vote on what to do with who was also partially responsible for this situation. Remington killed Rocks and was following orders from Vezaias to do so, among other offences. We have more detailed information now, about what exactly happened for those of you who were not present at the conflict, after which we will vote on whether Remington should be put to death for his offenses, or any other punishment that might be voted upon.” Sigil said with much authority. Remington shifted nervously but continued to stare at the floor.

  “I will pass this off to Zexich as he has a compilation of information on the subject.” Sigil said.