A Different Kind of Paradise

Chapter VI: Justice

Something was very wrong.  Gabe didn’t understand it; he had walked through these halls on the way to club hundreds of times, why did they seem so weird?  Why was everything so hazy?  Where was everyone?  Wasn’t he…

“Gabe you’re here!”  A familiar voice interrupted his thoughts.  Gabe looked up and was surprised to see his friend Marcus.

“Marcus?”  Gabe asked confused.  He looked around, and realized that he had made his way to the club room in the basement.  “How did I get here?”  He pondered, again to be interrupted by Marcus.

“C’mon!  Let’s go meet the others.”   Marcus grabbed Gabe and pulled him, it actually hurt his arm.

Sure enough, each of Gabe’s old friends were there: Marcus, Amanda, Jeanne, and Nero.  “Nero?”  Gabe said to himself, his head began to hurt; something about this didn’t make sense, but what?

“We missed you Gabe.”

“That was awesome what you did!”

“You’re the coolest.”

His friends’ praise was just making Gabe’s head hurt more.  “Wait.”  He said, his voice trembling.

“I can’t wait to play you’re amazing game Gabe.”

“Will you teach me to be as cool as you?”

“STOP!”  Gabe screamed.  Immediately all of his friends stopped.  “I… I need some air.  I don’t feel good.”

“But…”  Jeanne began, pulling Gabe back.  Only to be thrown off.

“I said leave me alone!”  Gabe was feeling a mix of scared and angry.  “What’s wrong with you?”

There was nothing but silence for a few moments.  Gabe turned to leave when he heard a voice that made him stop in his tracks.  “Gabey?  What’s wrong?”

Gabe was stunned by what he just heard.  “It can’t be.  No one called me that except for…”  He turned around and realized that the weirdest thing was yet to come.  All of Gabe’s friends had parted to reveal someone Gabe never expected to see again.  “Beatrice.”  He concluded, dumbstruck.

It couldn’t be her, but everything matched perfectly: Her blonde hair, her blue eyes, her slender figure, her flower bracelet.  Gabe wanted to believe it, but knew it was impossible.  He stood in shock as Beatrice moved towards him and ran her fingers through his hair like she used to.  “It’s so good to see you again.”

Soon after Beatrice started stroking Gabe’s hair, he grabbed her arm to stop her.  “You’re not Beatrice.”  He said.

Beatrice pulled back her hand, offended.  “Of course it’s me.  Don’t you remember?”

“I remember putting flowers on Beatrice’s grave.”  Gabe said, glaring at the doppelganger.

“I came back.”  The fake Beatrice reached out for Gabe’s hand.  “I came back because I love you, and I know you love me.”

“Who are you?”  Gabe asked, pulling his hand away.  He began to notice that the room they were in started to look distorted somehow.

“You said you loved me.”  Beatrice said, advancing towards Gabe.

Gabe began backing away, but when he reached what should have been the door he just found a solid wall.

“Gabe what’s wrong with you?”  Beatrice began to tear up, and become irritated at the same time.  “Why don’t you love me?  You’re supposed to love me!”

“Get away from me!”  Gabe yelled in fear, swinging his arm at the fake Beatrice.

Eventually the Beatrice clone became infuriated and ran forward, pinning Gabe to the wall.  “I SAID LOVE…”

“THAT’S ENOUGH!!”  A familiar dark voice echoed.  Gabe looked to the corner that was covered in darkness where the shout came from; from it emerged someone he was amazed he forgot about.  It was Danny, but he wasn’t wearing his glasses, and his eyes were glowing with an eerie icy blue.  “That will suffice Beatrice.”

The pseudo Beatrice, now horrified, released his grip on Gabe and slowly retreated.  After an evil chuckle the fake Danny began walking towards Gabe, every step he made was unsettling in every way.  His soulless eyes never leaving Gabe’s he said “good help is so hard to find.  Of course I don’t have to tell you that.”  His chuckling grew into a light laugh, despite its soft volume, it was still disturbing.  “Don’t you miss all of this?  What would you do to have another one of these days?”

“Danny?”  Gabe asked, frightened.  “DANNY!”  He gasped as a flood of memories rushed into his head: he remembered the machine, waking up, the party, and he jumped in shock when he saw himself raging from Danny’s point of view.  “Danny” he said, dismayed, after his memories recollected.  He looked at the imposter standing next to him and stated a realization.  “This is a dream, I’m not really a human, I’m still in Equestria.”  He sighed after the last part.

The fake Danny began his manic chuckle before he began.  “A dream?  This is no mere dream.  But since you’ve figured it out.”  His voice got even darker.  “I might as well pull back the curtain,” the room began rumbling.  “And show you the picture!”  He began to laugh like a maniac and glow with an ominous light as the walls, floor and ceiling began to crumble.

Gabe desperately dodged, hoping not to be hit by any of the debris from the destruction of the familiar game room.  He eventually fell to the ground and covered his head.  When the rumbling and psychotic laughter stopped, and Gabe looked up, he reeled in horror at what he saw.

Where the dream Danny stood was now a massive demonic beast.  The monster was at least 9 feet tall, with two white feathered wings, it was covered in white fur and wore tattered violet tunic from the waist down, his arms and chest were well built, and he had long spikes on his forearms.  Finally; his head was that of a vicious wolf, with the same cold blue eyes.  He chuckled, revealing his fangs and with the sly, dark voice that had been haunting Gabe for too long, said “hello, friend.”

Gabriel screamed in horror at what he was looking at, he tried to back away; but again found nothing but solid wall.  He looked around to see he was in a large, dark circular room with a blue mist covering the ground.  “Who, or wh-what are you?!”

The monster began walking towards Gabe with a steady stride, when the torn cloth around his legs parted with each step it was revealed that his legs were lupine as well.  When he reached Gabe he offered him a clawed hand to help him up.  After another chuckle he said “My name” he paused as a horribly twisted grin came across his face. “Is Justice.  And I want to help you.”

Gabe did nothing but push himself further against the wall.  “Y-you.”  He stammered “Y-you’re the voice I’ve been hearing.”

Realizing Gabriel wasn’t interested in his kindness; Justice put his hand away and responded “true, I have been trying to get in contact with you, but until now I’ve had little success.”

“What are you?”  Gabe asked, still frightened.  “Are you some monster from this world?”

“In a way.”  Justice replied.  “Perhaps I should start at the beginning.”  For effect, he snapped his fingers and the scene changed, not with an earthquake like last time, but everything just spun around and during the spin became their destination.

What Gabe saw made his chest ache; it was Danny, on the ground, holding his gut as an army of other students stood around laughing at him.   This was before he got glasses, so there was nothing keeping his tears from falling straight to the ground.

The image continued, but the echoing sound of mocking laughter was muted.  Justice stepped in, laughing, and began his story.  “Daniel has always been pathetic.  So naïve, so full of moronic ideals, thought that everybody would love him because he was this young, well-spirited kid.  It was fun to watch his dream burn.”  On cue the whole scene burst into flames for the next transition.  “Do you know how it feels to watch as all of the ideals you held in your heart are destroyed by the heartlessness of others?  What it feels like to have your world of fantasy and wild hopes taken away from you?  To feel alone in the world without any one to turn to?”

The flames subsided and Gabriel and Justice were right outside a small washroom with Danny staring into a large mirror with a dark scowl on his face.  “Daniel does” Justice whispered into Gabe’s ear.  “And he knows what it means to feel pain.”

Danny began to breathe shallowly and convulse slightly, shrugging his shoulders and clenching his fists.

“He knows what it’s like to lose what means most to him.”  Justice continued.  “He knows what it means to be alone in a cold, dark world.”

Danny grabbed his head and yelled in pain.  “He knows that when you experience all of that, it drives you insane!”  Justice continued, his voice becoming more and more excited from watching Danny’s predicament.

With anger in his eyes, Danny glared at the reflection of himself with his hand tightly balled into a fist.  “And it gives you a lust for revenge!”  Justice concluded as Danny threw his fist foreword at the mirror.

A few moments of silence passed before Danny pulled his fist away from the undamaged mirror, collapsed onto the sink and began to sob.

Gabe’s heart sunk as he watched Danny collapse, he had been through so much, and Gabe respected none of that.  Justice’s snickering pulled Gabe out of his thoughts.

“It’s too bad that he was far too weak to exact the vengeance he desired.”

Gabe looked on as a blue mist started to come off of the crying Danny.

“And if he couldn’t express his anger...”  Justice started as the mist began to take shape.

Gabe watched as Danny cringed in pain as more and more mist came out of his back and took form.  The torso took shape, two arms spread themselves wide, a canine head solidified and two huge wings ripped from its back.  The cloud solidified to form Justice, his eyes flashed as he sneered at Gabriel before he finished his sentence.  “He made something that could.”  The entire location changed again as once again Justice laughed like a psychopath.  But instead of fire or earthquakes, everything began to melt away, most noticeably when the floor beneath Danny turned into a semi-liquid state and Danny sunk through.

Gabe dove down to try to help the dream Danny, but when he reached the floor he found himself back in the room Justice introduced himself in.  He turned around and saw Justice; he was sitting in an elaborate throne in the center of the room.  “You” Gabe started.  “Y-you’re the darkness in Danny’s heart?”

“Correct my friend.”  Justice started with a smirk.  “All of his anger, hatred, jealousy and pride; he thought that by focusing these emotions into me, he would be immune to their influence.”  He chuckled again before getting off of his throne.  “The best laid plans; amirite?  At first I was just a creature of his imagination, but the unique energy of this world has given me a true means of existence.”

Gabe just stared, still in shock over what was happening.  “But…”  He began.  “You said you tried to contact me before, what was so different about…?  Oh.”  He answered his own question.

Justice’s laugh added insult to injury.  “Indeed.  By reminding him of his old pains, you awoke the darkness in his heart; and in this special case, brought it back from the edge of oblivion.”

“Well that’s… just… perfect.”  Gabe said, struggling not to swear; dismayed by the fact that his actions had done far more damage than he could have anticipated.  A few moments passed, he looked up at the monster and after shaking his head asked.  “What do you want?”

“I want what my name suggests.”  Justice replied immediately.   “I want justice.  I want to make humanity suffer for their sins.  To make them pay for their greed and arrogance.  But first things first…”  He paused, both eyes on Gabriel.  “I need to get out of here.”

Gabe’s eyes shifted back and forth, not quite sure what Justice meant.  “…And where is…?  Um, what?”

“Although I have separated from Danny’s mental manipulation, I am still confined to the inner reaches of the darkness of his mind.”  Justice answered.   “So I need you to help release me.”

Gabe was thinking about what Justice was saying, putting the pieces together.  “I don’t like where this is going.”

Justice started laughing at Gabriel, he stopped before continuing.  “It’ll be easy.  Just do what you did this evening, make Danny burn.  As he suffers, he will grow weak, and I will become stronger.  Soon with enough of it I will be free.”

Gabe just scoffed at Justice; hurting Danny was the second biggest mistake he had ever made, and seeing that it unleashed a demon did nothing to help.  Now this freak wanted him to do it again, consciously.  “Why would I help you?!  You just told me you want to hurt people for no reason!  Give me one good reason I’d ever want to do anything for you.”

Justice just stared at Gabe; soon a fanged grin creeped across his face, and he licked his lips with a long pointed tongue.  “Because I have a way to give you what you want more than anything: I can get you home.”

Those five words made Gabriel stop in his tracks.  He then shook his head, realizing he was dealing with a monster that was nothing more than hatred and rage incarnate.   “How can I trust you?”  Gabe accused.

“I have been nothing but brutally honest so far, why would I lie now?”  Justice snapped back.

“How would you return us?  Did Danny imagine you had the power to warp between worlds?”  Gabe continued his interrogation.

Justice tsk’ed his teeth as he wagged his finger back and forth.  “No, no, no.  That kind of information carries a heavy cost.” He tapped his finger against his chin.  “Hmm. As does freedom, perhaps we could trade these two items as they are of equal value.”

Gabe let out a sigh, looked to the ground and shook his head.  His choice was clear.  “No.”  He said flatly.  “I’m not going to abuse my friend so that you can murder innocent people!  So the answer is NO!”

Not surprised by the response, Justice just inspected his claws and sighed.  “I see” he began “you just don’t understand the stakes.”

Now Gabe was scared, he had expected a much bigger reaction from Justice.  He imagined something made of purified cruelty would react with a bit more anger, what was Justice really thinking?  “S-stakes?”  He stuttered.

Justice looked up; showing Gabe his twisted smile and horrifying blue eyes.  Suddenly he was gone and Gabe heard “you see my friend” Gabe looked around desperately, but saw nothing.  But suddenly from right behind him came Justice’s voice again “if you don’t side with me.”  Gabe suddenly felt what must have been Justice’s clawed hand grabbing the back of his neck, he felt himself be lifted into the air, Gabe’s struggles were useless against Justice’s demonic grip.   He stopped struggling for long enough for Justice to finish his thought.  “You will remain a pony” a short pause. “FOREVER!!”

At that word Gabe screamed at the top of his lungs as his whole body was filled with excruciating pain, he had felt this pain before and realized exactly what Justice was doing to him: Justice was polymorphing him into a pony.  As his bones contracted to a smaller frame and his limbs all turned to equine legs, tears of pain came rolling from Gabe’s eyes as even they began to change.  Feeling how painful this transformation was Gabe realized why he had blacked out the last time; and that since Justice controlled this dream world, would not grant Gabe that privilege.   When the nightmarish transformation ended Gabe just whimpered as he was dropped to the ground.

If Gabe had the strength to move he would have jumped when Justice’s wolf-like foot stomped in front of him.  He saw Justice reach down and place an extremely sharp claw under his chin and lifted up his head to force him to look into his eyes.  “I know you will accept my offer because you’re a human.  And I know that humans will do anything, especially if it means hurting others, to get what they want.”  Justice took his hand away, causing Gabe’s head to hit the ground with a thud.

Gabe realized that the ground beneath him was slowly melting, and that he was sinking through it.  With what little strength he had he started to struggle, and saw Justice take his seat back on his throne, snickering at Gabe’s predicament.  “I know what’s in your heart boy.”  He spat the last word.  “Nothing but the profound, you claim to be faithful and pure-hearted but in you is what’s in all humans: anger, greed, and fraud.”

At the last word, Gabe was finally pulled into the semi-liquid floor.  He was surrounded by nothing but darkness as Justice’s horrifying laugh echoed from every direction.

Gabe screamed as he awoke, immediately sitting up in his bed, panting and covered in sweat.  He looked outside at the night sky, and after catching his breath said “what have I done?”