Sunnyscythe, Raven, and Wally continued frolicking through the seemingly endless forest as twilight dawned and the sky turned to pink, then red, then dark. It had been a good day for all of them (Well, not so much for Wally...). Sunnyscythe and Raven had made two new friends, and had fun doing it. Wally, however, didn't consider Sunnyscythe and Raven as "friends", but more as sadistic children who needed a third wheel to partake in their horrible merriment, which was exactly what they were.
Strangely, Wally was the slightest bit comfortable with this.
Earlier on in their prancing, however, Wally had realized that they actually made good conversational partners. Though simplistic in responses, Sunny and Raven had discussed with Wally the topics of everything from battling techniques and the nature of people to how old each of them were. (Wally was the oldest, the second oldest being Raven, and the youngest being Sunny.)
Wally had also realized that, although he realized this from the second he layed eyes on them, that he shouldn't be with them. He decided that he shouldn't get on their bad side to avoid another "playtime", so turning back wasn't an option for him. And although he was beginning to warm up to his captors and being with them felt so wrong that it was somehow right, Wally needed another way out. Maybe if he could come up with some kind of excuse...
Before Wally could finish his thought, the frolicking going on in the background on Sunny and Raven's part came to an abrupt halt as Sunnyscythe, who was located in front of Wally and Raven, stopped cold in his tracks.
Daddy's mad. thought Sunnyscythe.
Both Raven and Wally sensed Sunnyscythe's distress, as well as an eerie air that unsettled all three of the "friends".
Sunnyscythe began to silently weep.
He sped off deeper into the forest.
Raven and Wally looked at each other, then followed Sunny, sensing imminent danger upon every footstep.
"Do you ever get the feeling that something is going terribly wrong with the world?" asked Raven, turning her head towards Wally as the both of them ran after Sunnyscythe.
"I'm getting that a lot more, nowadays..." said Wally.
Raven and Wally saw Sunnyscythe turn a corner through some grass. They followed.
What they saw next was a shock to them all, except Sunnyscythe.
Fantasma floated above a patch of grass, a very faint shadowy aura surrounding him. His arms were outstretched. His eyes lacked the usual red pupil in each, instead looking like Sunnyscythe's: hollow and lifeless. The third eye in the middle of his chest was opened, the iris a deep blood red that was all the more unsettling. The crescent moon illuminated the scene.
"You..." whispered Raven.
"Who...?" whispered Wally.
Sunnyscythe was still silent, but he was looking up at Fantasma, now, tears still in his eyes, in total awe.
Fantasma's gaze directed to Sunnyscythe.
"My son," Fantasma said in a stoic voice, "You're just in time. And you brought friends?"
Raven's eyes began to tear. She pointed a finger at Fantasma.
"That's the bad man who taught me how to do playtime, Sunnyscythe." said Raven, her voice beginning to tremble, "I wished and wished with all my might to learn how to play better with people, to learn how to make people play my way. But he made me forget. He made me play too hard."
Sunnyscythe suddenly realized the relevance in Raven's speech: She had wished for the ability to have people play with her, for she was lonely and had no one to play with herself, and, in addition, she wished for the ability to make people play with her. But Fantasma, always finding a loophole in everything, had given her a dark, evil power: the power to mutilate innocents using sheer mindpower. And he made Raven forget he had done the thing at all, like it had never happened, as, Sunny realized, he had done to him.
How Sunnyscythe realized all this was completely beyond him. He just... knew. Just as he knew that Fantasma, this monster (which Sunnyscythe half-admired), was his very own father.
Wally suddenly understood, too, his heart rate rising, his gash pulsating.
Today, thought Wally, Was not a good day to go outside...
Well of course it wasn't, you bozo. thought Wally again.
"The stars are aligning." continued Fantasma, ignoring Raven even though he knew that she was telling the truth, "The moon and darkness are finally working together. And it's all for you, Sunnyscythe..."
"What do you mean?" asked Sunnyscythe, who began to cry more.
"I mean," said Fantasma, "That everything is going as planned. And it's all for you, it's all for you!"
"What's all for me?!" asked Sunnyscythe, scared and confused, "Daddy, you're scaring me!"
"Good!" exclaimed Fantasma, "Embrace the fear! You'll need to, eventually! But that doesn't matter, because the time has come, the time has come!"
"Sunny doesn't want you here!" said Raven, practically reading Sunny's mind, "Leave him alone!"
"It will all be worth it, girl," said Fantasma, "For it's already started! Now wish for it, my son, wish for it!"
"Wish for what?!" yelled Sunnyscythe.
"Make a wish!" said Fantasma, "Just make a wish!"
"I wish-" screamed Sunnyscythe.
He didn't finish. That was all Fantasma needed.
The light of the moon shone harder, as if it was trying to burn a hole into the ground. A fierce, loud wind kicked up.
"Good!" yelled Fantasma, "Now, son, I need you to do something else for me!"
"What is it?!" screamed Sunnyscythe, tears streaming down his face and being blown into the air by the wind.
"I need you to join me!!" yelled Fantasma, "Come towards me, son! I need you to pledge your allegiance to me!"
Sunnyscythe, as in a trance, slowly walked into the light of the moon.
"No!" screamed Wally, breaking his awed silence, "No, you leave him alone!"
"This doesn't concern you!" said Fantasma, directing his gaze to Wally, "This concerns me and my son only! It is for the best!"
"Raven!" said Wally, suddenly formulation a plan, "Raven, I need you do playtime, OK?"
"I... Can't..." said Raven, violently weeping.
"Just do it!!" screamed Wally.
Raven let out a distressed, trembling cry as her eyes closed tight.
Fantasma's third eye shed tears of blood. The pupils to his regular eyes slowly faded back into place.
After a few more seconds, Fantasma dropped to the floor with a thud. Wally ran to Sunnyscythe and pulled him back a few feet so that he was next to Raven.
"That's enough!" yelled Wally to Raven.
Raven, though not wanting to stop, though begging herself to continue, slowly opened her eyes as the strain on Fantasma lessened.
Fanstasma sat up, the light of the moon gradually dying down.
"You... brats!!" yelled Fantasma, "You've ruined everything! You are obviously not any kind of friends to my son! If you were, you'd know that this was necessary for him! It's all for him!"
The three friends now stood awestruck, lost for words.
"No matter." said Fantasma, "I will be back, and then you'll see that I know what's right for my son..."
And at that, Fantasma disappeared into the night as the moonlight became dim.
Seconds later, Sunnyscythe, Raven, and Wally walked back through the grass patch and into the forest from whence they came.