NEVE spluttered awake, clutching at her throat.

She was suffocating, choking on the darkness of The Obscurity—

She forced herself to breathe—breathe, dammit—and take in her surroundings.

But there was only darkness.

Neve clamped her eyes shut, a familiar panic welling up in her chest - it was how she felt when The Obscurity was stuffing itself inside of her.

But right now, that wasn't happening.

Slowly, she opened her eyes to the darkness but forced herself to deal with it and listen to the sounds that were suddenly becoming comprehensible.

She heard footsteps stomping around, resounding in her head.

Did she even have a head? She felt her head—of course she did. But it was just the one—the body—she’d created inside her actual head. She couldn’t feel the connection with her true mind—she couldn’t even control the surroundings of her mind anymore.

The Obscurity had taken over.

Now Neve was just a body inside her head that she had no control over.

She wanted to cry, but what good would it do? She wouldn’t even really be crying.

So you still exist?

Neve froze.

I was just… so happy for once. Everything’s going my way, you see. But you’re still here. I shouldn’t be surprised, really. This is your body… was your body.

Fear had already set in, anger hot on its heels at The Obscurity’s last comment.

I think I might even miss you. I mean, you and I are so alike. Rejected and lonely and spiteful. In fact, it’s not like you really have to disappear… just go away for a while.

Clanging began to sound, but Neve immediately knew it wasn’t from outside—the real world. It was in Neve’s—The Obscurity’s—head. The clanging grew closer and closer, and Neve drifted in different directions, trying to find where it was coming from. Her heart beat along with the slamming of the metal.

Faster.

Harder.

Neve hugged herself, head whipping this way and that as the clash of metal filled her ears.

And stopped.

She let a breath out before wandering to the left, and bumping into a metallic surface. She stretched her arms out and felt the same cool surface on both sides. Her eyes widened as the realization dawned on her: The Obscurity had literally trapped her.

Neve didn’t know how it was possible, but she felt even smaller than before.

It took everything in The Obscurity not to free her essence right then and there. She stood on hard, blackened ground in front of the spherical barrier that encapsulated her barrier. Despite her desire to be one again, she couldn’t bring herself to shatter it quite yet.

If she did that, Neve’s body would surely be destroyed.

She wasn’t sure why she cared. Could it be that she actually actually cared about Neve? Or were those last dredges of Neve causing trouble? Both ideas seemed impossible to The Obscurity… but the matter of the fact was, she now had a big problem—

She had to find a way to become her true self again without destroying Neve. A groan escaped her lips as she sat on the ground, staring into the dim sky. There was only one thing she could do, and she really didn’t want to do it.

In order to set her plan in motion, The Obscurity had to separate herself from Neve right at the moment she destroyed the barrier. She didn’t know if it would work—a second too early could sabotage her plans, and a second too late would kill Neve for good—but for some reason, she couldn’t bear not to try.

She stood up and pressed her hand to the wall of thick and clear creation, gazing at the darkness swirling inside. Then she forced the horde of creation and darkness she had around the massive barrier. It went like water over it, forming another sphere. The barrier didn’t break or burst so much as be absorbed into the mass she’d gathered around it, pure darkness filtering into the grayish lot.

The Obscurity didn’t say goodbye to Neve. After all, she’d be back very soon, and she’d be able to say hello to everyone.

She severed herself from Neve’s body.