The Return of the Dream

"IT'S NOT FAIR!" The former Queen yelled into the vast emptiness that was the void.

"..." Raven simply stood there and said nothing.

"I would have ended all suffering!"

"To live is to suffer."

"SHUT UP! Is that all you have to say?! After all you've been through!? You lost everything! You should have been the first one to be by my side! Why did you reject me!?"

"Uniqueness, Choice, Emotion," Raven answered.

"What does that have to do with anything!?"

"In your perfect world, would Uniqueness, Choice, and Emotion be a thing of the past?"

"Of course, they would be! Who needs to be Unique when you're already perfect? Choice means free will, and free will brings suffering. I shall choose for you. As for emotion?" The Nasod giggled at the thought of more than one emotion. "Happiness! No need for other pesky emotions."

Raven nearly laughed at Antithese's childish explanation. "Even if I put aside the fact that you killed our friends, wiped out humanity and every other species in Elrios. I would still reject such a world. I lived such a life while under King Nasod." The man looked at his claw as he spoke. "I was modified to be the perfect weapon. My free will was stripped away when it was the most convenient. And being forced to feel between hateful rage and devastating sorrow every day was hellish."

Antithese pointed an accusatory finger in Raven's direction. "You just listed off an extreme example. I could have easily fixed that. I would have even given you Seris back and more."

Raven's temper flared up briefly, but he quickly calmed down. "Seris is gone; no matter what I do, nothing will change the fact, and again what you offer would be hellish. When the nasods put me into stasis, I was placed into an eternal dream. Everything was perfect because Seris was at my side." The man stared out off into the unending empty that they were in. "Nothing changed, no strife, no new ideas, and I felt nothing but happiness." Raven closed his eyes and shuttered at those broken memories. "In the back of my mind, I knew something was wrong, but I couldn't do anything about it. It was all suppressed, no matter how much I raged, cried, or begged. It felt like I was drowning. I refuse to live in such a world again."

The former Nasod Queen frowned and threw her arms up in frustration. "Fine! Do you have a better solution!?"

Raven shook his head. "No, but the current status quo is better than the alternatives."

Antithese wanted to rage and scream at the Human, but hearing that just made her sigh. "You say that, but you went and massacred the aristocracy during the demon invasion, hypocrite."

The man nods. "I never said I was better than you. I had toppled the government and created a power vacuum in my short-sightedness for revenge. My only regrets were killing in front of a child and never finding Owen." Raven brought his gaze back to the Nasod. "Tell me, Eve. Did you regret killing Elsword?"

Eve didn't even bother correcting the Human; it was pointless. "No. I sacrificed everything to bring about a new world, but if I had sacrificed Elsword." The former Queen thought back to the day when she woke up, and Elsword offered his hand to her in friendship. "I couldn't do it."

"Then what happened?" Something must have happened to push Eve down this path, and Raven wanted to know why.

"Do you know of the ancient Elrian Capital, Elrianode?" The Cyborg nodded. "Then I'll keep it short. Elsword was given a choice by Solace, El Master of the Sun. He could either restore the El and continue the cycle of the El lady needing a vessel, starting with Elesis. Or break such a vicious cycle and create a new world."

"But Elsword was a hard head, and he chose neither option." Raven interrupted

Eve for the first time and in a long time giggled earnestly. "Yes, he chose neither, and instead, he sacrificed himself. Elsword poured all his energy into the El, and all the El fragments around the world reunited into one... All except one, the Ruben El, the same one you used to beat me." The former Queen held no malice for the Human anymore; she only felt acceptance."After the El absorbed Elsword, I felt something inside me...Snapped."

The memories of that day made Eve's core flash bright red before turning blue once again. "Add, and I had planned on creating a world of our own, something similar to Elysion, but I had grander plans. Of course, I never told Add or anyone else about it, and I was hesitant about going through with it." Eve turned around and looked into the distance. "With Elsword gone, nothing held me back, I unleashed my code and the restored El energy for my own, and I became all-powerful!" Eve held her arms wide and laughed. "I BECAME ANTITHESE! HAHAHAHA! Using my newfound power, I killed that bastard Solace! And gave our friends an ultimatum: Join me or Die!"

Raven stood there unamused by her outburst. "And they chose the latter."

Eve's arms dropped, and her head lowered in shame. "Yes, they thought I was crazy, and rightfully so." The nasod took a calming breath. "They tried stopping me; Elesis and Aisha were the first to fall by my hand. Ain proved to be troublesome, so I shattered him and scattered his fragments across space and time."

"That actually kind of explains a lot, actually." Raven always wondered why he had holes in memories when trying to remember the priest; he wasn't human, to begin with. Eve continued with her gruesome explanation. "Ara fled, saying something about seeing her brother one last time." Raven had no idea who that was. " Rena seeing how bad the situation was, stayed behind, giving the others time to retreat..." Eve turned around and walked to Raven and stood in front of him with a blank expression on her face. " Her last words were about you. Rena regretted she couldn't show you the light."

That one hurt far more than it should have, another one to his mountain of failures. Raven felt his eyes tear up, but he pushed the feeling down for now. "What happened next?"

The former Queen shook her head and refused to speak more of it. "I will not deny my sins, but I shall not speak of them anymore. You should see and hear of what I did to Elrios. I'll see you in Hell, Raven." Eve spun on her heel and had her back facing Raven. " Or maybe not; it's never too late for redemption. Restoring Humanity could be a start or helping those stupid ponies you love so much." Even on the very brink, Eve still hated those Ponies. " Or maybe." she looked over her shoulder and looked at the Human. "Bringing back the Nasods?"

Raven sneered at the former Queen's audacity. After how much she and the rest of the race put him through?! "You must be joking." he deadpanned.

Eve looked away and back into the emptiness. "I wish I were, but you're the only one who could do it. I know Adam, and I left a bad impression on you."

"Understatement of the century." Raven interrupted Eve.

The Android continued as if nothing had happened. "And if I were given a second chance, I would do it all again." And the man was sure she would try killing him again if she had the chance. The little bitch was unrepentant, and some small part of him begrudgingly respected that."Regardless, my sins shouldn't condemn the entire race. It's the same with you, Raven; you've done horrible things. If the Ponies ever found out what you were really like, they would oppose you at every turn. And I'm not talking about the freaks with you right now." Raven frowned but said nothing because she was right. If those Alicorns found out what he did, they would become more than a thorn in his side. Worse yet, he told the kids about his time under Adam's mind control. It's not that he didn't trust them, maybe not Cozy Glow, but they might let something slip.

"Think about it, okay?" Raven found it strange; moments ago, they had tried to kill each other. Now they were having a casual conversation. Eve snickered, causing Raven to raise an eyebrow. "It's funny; Elsword believed in us to be better people. You were given a second chance, and I was offered friendship so both races may coexist. Now, look where we are! KEHEHEHEHHEHE!" She burst into laughter.

Raven stood there watching her before cracking a smile and laughing as well. "HAHAHAHAHHAHAHA!" In some twisted ironic way, Raven found this absolutely hilarious. They kept laughing for a few more seconds until they started fading away. Time grew short for both of them. "Hah, so this is it."

"Yes, time for judgment.." Eve bit the bottom of her lip and gave Raven one more glance. "Take care of Remy for me; I've treated him poorly, and tell him I'm sorry."

Raven nodded; he could agree to that; the poor drone needed to be cared for. "Goodbye, Eve"

Eve turned on her heels again and faced the Human one last time; she had tears running down her cheeks. The man was surprised; he was sure that Nasods couldn't cry. "Farewell, Raven Maxwell."

"Everypony look! He's waking up!" It was the first thing Raven heard as he regained consciousness; it sounded like Moon Charm. The man found himself standing up in front of Antithese's endoskeleton. "GAH!" The sight nearly gave the man a heart attack. It seems like the Valasia couldn't destroy everything, and as much as he hated it, he would provide Antithese with a proper burial. It was the least he could do.

The next thing he noticed was the El Crystal he held in his claw. It was jagged and could easily cut someone if not properly handled. Besides that, it was a beautiful turquoise that shinned brilliantly. Those within proximity would have a sense of calm wash over them. The first time he held it, it was after he and his men stole the crystal from Wally's airship. A time when he wanted to use the El Crystal to wipe out Humanity. Now, he was, and the crystal was Humanity's only chance.

Raven coughed and regretted it. His lungs felt like they were set on fire. He was sure he had broken ribs; thankfully, none of them punctured a lung. He looked at himself and found that his armor was in terrible condition. His pants were covered in holes and dirt. The upper right of his chest piece was missing, exposing his chest scar. His shoes had holes at the bottom of them, and all the black feathers on his armor were plucked. It would take a couple of hours before his armor would fully regenerate. Thankfully, besides the ribs, the locket healed most of his life-threatening injuries. Still, he would have Xuez check him out.

"Mister Maxwell, are you okay?" Raven looked around and found that he was surrounded at all sides by Changelings, Ponies, his charges, and gigantic merhorses?"What the fuck?" Most of them were at the very front near him. Raven was thankful that all of his charges came out of his ordeal unharmed, although Jade was still crying and trying to reach out to the Human. As for others, they were in considerably worse shape.

Some of her drones were patching up ambrosia; besides the cracks on her chitin, she looked perfectly fine. They weren't missing many, but Honeycomb hive had lost drones during the battle. Raven would ask for the exact number of losses they've suffered today, but he had brought his attention to others. The sea horses were licking each other's wounds; the worse they've suffered were cuts and burns. However, the golden one gave the Human a predatory look, which caused him to raise an eyebrow.

The other monster Ponies that arrived mainly were in the same condition, except Moondancer. The unicorn was on the ground clutching her head in pain. And Raven saw why. On the side of her horn was a massive crack that started at the tip and went down to the base. Doctor Cold Touch was doing his best to treat the wound, but it looked like it would take months for such a thing to heal.

"I..I did that to her." The man didn't know much about unicorns and never considered the fact such a thing could happen. But ignorance wasn't an excuse for what he did to that poor mare. He needed to find a way to fix this or an alternative because he was sure she couldn't perform magic in that condition. For now, he would swallow the guilty and address everypony... "Everypony?" The pony mannerisms were starting to rob off of him, and he didn't like it one bit.

Raven cleared his throat. " I would like to thank all of you!" It hurt, but he made sure that he was heard loud and clear throughout the valley. Raven lowered his head in thanks to all of them. Some of them found it awkward because they expected the Reaper to be big bad, and evil incarnate. The man brought his head up and gave the monster ponies his full undivided attention. "And I am incredibly grateful to you and your group. I am in your debt."

Raven said this to Vinyl Scratch, who was trying to play it off as cool but was blushing madly. The vampony adjusted her cracked shades and shrugged. "N-nuh, dude, it's cool...but I could go for new shades."

The Cyborg nodded; it would be a simple task; he just needed an alchemy table. "But I must ask, what brought you all out here?" This wasn't a coincidence, and he wanted to know why they all came out here.

"Pssh! Come on dude, like you wouldn't know! You're the dark lord that will bring about the great change!" Raven needed to find out who was spreading these baseless rumors. It was most likely Glave. "Last of his kind, a ghost from the past. One-eyed, tall, and wears all black! He will bring upon a paradise that will last, and those who were shunned will come for refuge!" The DJ stuck her tongue out as if she had eaten something sour. "Yuck, I'll stick with my day job, but that's how the old rhyme went."

"That sucked!"

Raven looked at Moon Charm for any answers, but she gave him an equally confused look and shrugged. Before he could tell any of them that these were baseless rumors, he felt something vibrate in his pocket. Raven stuck his sword into the ground and pulled out the red heart-shaped locket. It was violently shaking as if it was trying to release something. Curious, Raven tried opening it, and to his surprise, it did open. As he opened it, a rainbow shot out, and it was rocketing towards the sky.

The rainbow came in contact with the clouds; as soon as it, they were pushed aside. It only took seconds before clouds were cleared, leaving a beautiful blue sky, which allowed the sun to shine down upon the valley. The rainbow finally arched and came back down and made contact with the ground.

As cracks appeared on every stone surface, the entire valley began to shake. The stone finally gave away and revealed lush vegetation. The rivers and waterfalls were flowing with water again. The trees were released from their rocky prisons and swayed gently through the wind. Some of the trees had apples on them, and some of the bushes had berries. The flowers were beginning to bloom; birds flew by. Even the castle was no longer made of stone, it was made from pink-colored bricks, and each spire had blue flags on each point.

It was grass as far as they could see. In less than a minute, the stone valley became a paradise! Everypony was flabbergasted. They all fought an enemy, a near unbeatable foe, with everything stacked against them. But they pushed through, and they overcame the odds. And this was their reward, and it was beautiful. Some of Ambrosia's drones were tearing up or crying at the beautiful sight. Even the Queen herself had to wipe away a few tears.

The young members of the Black Crows had varying expressions. Oleander's jaw hung low, Xuez was crying, Cozy Glow looked away, trying not to look impressed but looked back occasionally. The twins were starstruck by the beauty; Amber and Moon Charm were jumping around in excitement, and Jade was no longer crying but giggling at the bright colors.

It was the same with the monster Ponies. Vinyl took her sunglasses off and was awed by the beauty. Cold Touch never took his hood off, but he was staring into the distance. Photo Finish had a bring grin on her face, showing off her fangs. "We have found Da Magick!" The first sister sighed sadly, most likely because all the stone was gone. The second sister was on the ground rolling all over the grass. Othrenia was a bit more reserved and watched everyone with a smile on her face. Monarch was flying around, making weird chirping sounds. Moondancer made the same expression as Oleander; her jaw hung low. The two sirens remained passive while Sonata dove into the nearby river and began splashing about.

Raven had no words to describe the beauty he had just witnessed. It reminded him of the time, he and the El search party visited Ruben to return the El. Even if the chase led to a dead-end, it would have been worth it. Then he heard someone calling his name. "Raven up here!" He looked around but didn't see any of the Ponies calling his name. And it seemed like no one could hear the voice. "To your right, silly!"

Over on a hill not too far away stood a teenage girl with blonde hair styled into a ponytail with a pink bow. She wore green overalls with a pink heart in the middle. Standing next to her were six ponies and a purple baby dragon. They all waved at the Human, and again no one noticed them. "Thank you, Raven Maxwell! The valley is your home now; treat it with care. And take care of your little ponies!" Soon enough, she and her ponies and dragon faded away.

"..." He didn't know what to say, he had many questions, but he had a good guess of who that was. It was Megan; the one Antithese was talking about. As much it pained to think of it, she and her little Ponies had passed away. "Huh?" Raven felt someone tap his leg; he looked down and saw Oleander with the same shocked expression.

"Raven! We're! We're! We're! We're! We're! We're!" She kept repeating the word as if she was trying to find the right one.

"You can do it." Raven encouraged her.

"We're in Dream Valley!"

[Raven VS Luna]

[Art by Redahfuhrerking

Author's Note

ALL RIGHT GOT ANOTHER CHAPTER OUT!!!! The Amazing artwork was made by Redahfuhrerking! Also, tell me what you think about the new chapter!

Thank you all for reading my story!