//------------------------------// // Loss // Story: On the Corner of Straight and Narrow // by Tatsurou //------------------------------// Sam's plan to get inside Max via his mouth by coating the Desoto in corn dog coating had worked like a charm. It was unfortunate, in his opinion, that the only ones he was able to convince to come with him was Paperwaite and Dr. Norrington. He had hoped to at least recruit Sybil - her wide variety of job experience would have been invaluable - but she was out of communication. According to Bluster Blaster, she had gone to Vegas with Bosco. Sam had chosen not to question that. While he hadn't seen Trixie, Jane had managed to assure him - in the brief communication she was able to get through the etheric interference the Max-Beast was generating - that she was just fine and completely safe. The fact that the Max spores had been watching over her had convinced Sam that this was accurate. Unfortunately, they were on a very tight schedule. They had just under an hour before Agent Superball would be forced to take nuclear action against the Max Beast. Sam was glad Trixie had not heard about that. Beyond that, as far as Sam knew, Max had no living will...so there was no telling what would happen to Trixie if they lost him. As they fell out of the Desoto, Sam and Paperwaite landed in an area that looked like a kitchen. "Well, here we are in Max's stomach," Sam said as he shook himself out. "Ruminate!" a Max spore proclaimed. "Ruminate! Trespassers will be digested!" "Daddy?" Sam looked up at the source of the voice. "Trixie?" The trunk of the Desoto popped open, and Trixie fell out, landing in Sam's arms. "W-where are we?" she asked in confusion. "We are inside the Beast's stomach," Norrington explained. "Due to the massive amount of psychic energy contained within, it is represented metaphorically rather than literally." Trixie tilted her head. "How'd you know what Trixie was going to ask?" she demanded. "The increased psychic energy of the region has drastically increased my perceptive qualities," Norrington replied. "And before you ask, no I can't read your mind. Just your face. So no need to try to think rude things at me. And there I was reading you being Max's daughter." Trixie leaned up to Sam. "He's good," she whispered. "We need to get up to the brain," Paperwaite pointed out. "The only way to save him is to locate the Dark Dimension energy he's absorbed and purge it with the Cthulic Powered Robot." "Err..." Sam began. "You...do have the robot, don't you?" Norrington asked sharply. "Of course I...don't," Sam admitted. "But would a spell weave based on the Cthulic Powered Robot's energies work?" Norrington shrugged his tentacles. "Of course. That's what makes it work in the first place. But how would-" "Trixie, please tell me you have a new spell form you hadn't noticed before," Sam begged. Trixie blinked, looking into her mind. "...power of destruction?" she asked in confusion. "Yes!" Sam proclaimed, pumping his fist. "Trixie was in my inventory while I was carrying the Cthulic Powered Robot. That wasn't just momentary exposure to it, it was prolonged exposure, so her mind absorbed the full nature of its energies. And if she can draw on the psychic energies of the environment, she should be able to power the spell and save Max." He glanced towards Norrington. "Right?" Norrington waved his tentacles about dismissively. "It's absolutely insane and preposterous!" he proclaimed. "But it just might work," Paperwaite offered. "First, we need to find the way to the brain-" Sam began. "Should we try the elevator?" Trixie suggested, pointing. Turning, Sam saw that there was, indeed, an elevator up to Max's brain. "But how do we activate it?" he asked. "We need to get him a rush of endorphins or something," Paperwaite offered. Following that thought, Sam dumped a jar of espresso from his inventory into a food processor on the 'kitchen' counter. Briefly, Max's entire body shook, and the elevator glowed green as globules began flowing upward. The trio quickly took the elevator upward. Entering Max's brain, they found it resembled a living room. In one corner was a massive, pulsating, red pustule racing with electricity, next to an unusually plain door. "Here is the problem!" Paperwaite proclaimed, pointing to the pustule. "Great galloping Golgi in lipstick on a Vespa with a leather bound day planner!" Sam called in shock. "It's a massive tumor!" "It's teeming with dark energy," Norrington pointed out. "Once we've removed it, your friend should pop right round to normal again. Assuming that's what you really want-" Trixie got right up in Norrington's face, her horn glowing. "Trixie. Wants. Her Daddy. Back!" she hissed. "Fair enough, fair enough," Norrington replied hastily. "But the tumor is covered with the electricity of the brain synapses," Paperwaite pointed out. "If we don't calm Max's brain down, the neural charge will feedback along the spell weave and fry Trixie's mind before she can do anything!" "Would that be through this door?" Trixie asked, using her magic to open the door. As the door swung open, a monochromatic fey British gentleman stepped out looking irritable. "What in blazes?" he demanded. "I know Max's powers were keyed to stop anyone from opening the door to the primary brain..." He paused as he saw Trixie's magical aura surrounding the doorknob. "Oh, it's you. The rule breaker. I should have known." "What are you doing in Daddy's brain?" Trixie demanded angrily. "In Max's brain?" the being asked, laughing. "I am Max's Brain!" Trixie immediately hopped onto his back and began scrambling over him. "What-get off me!" he commanded angrily. "What do you think you're doing?" "Finding your off switch so Trixie can remove the tumor," Trixie pointed out. "Not his entire brain," he pointed out. "Just his Superego." "Oh," Trixie replied, dropping down. "Can you turn down the neural activity so Trixie can remove the tumor?" Max's Superego brushed himself off. "Why would I want to do that? Do you know how hard I've worked for this?" "What?" Sam demanded. "But if we don't, the military's going to nuke Max!" "So much the better!" the Superego replied. "Better to go up in the fiery destructive apocalypse he always wanted to cause than to be stuck in this creature of pure Id who will never listen to me! Bring it to an end!" "What's so bad about Max?" Sam demanded defensively as Trixie started to whimper. "What's so bad-?" the Superego began. "He has no taste for the higher arts! He is a barbarian, caring only for his own needs! He is a sociopath incapable of love!" "But..." Trixie interrupted. "But Daddy...loves Trixie..." she whimpered. "No he doesn't!" Superego snapped. "What he 'loves' is the chaos, destruction, and awkwardness you cause. You amuse him, like any other shiny thing he's ever found. When you cease to amuse him, he'll move on to some other shiny thing, like he always has before!" "No!" Trixie proclaimed. "Daddy loves me! I know he does-" "Has he ever said it?" the Superego countered cruelly. "Has he ever once in all your interactions looked you in the eye and told you he loves you?" Trixie flinched back as if hit. "But...but he...but..." Her eyes began to water as she seemed to collapse in on herself. The Superego rocked back as Sam's fist collided with his cheek. "Don't you ever talk that way to Trixie!" he snarled. "I don't care if you are part of Max...you don't get to make her cry! Max loves Trixie! I know he does!" "Then prove it," the Superego replied, gesturing around at the brain. "Find me one trace of a loving thought for Trixie anywhere in this monstrous brain, and I'll recant. I'll open the folds and let you purge the tumor, returning Max to normal without his psychic powers." He chuckled. "But I know you won't." Angrily, Sam stalked over to a shelf of audio-books on vinyl. "I don't have to look far," he replied. Reaching up, he grabbed the record labeled 'Hush Little Pony'. "This will say it all." "What?' Superego demanded. "That ditty he butchered a classic song into to make her sleep? You really think-" He paused as Sam poured out three records. "...there's only supposed to be one." Equally confused, Sam examined the records. "This first one's labeled 'Hush Little Pony'...but these other two are labeled 'Last Will: Brain Copy' and 'Last Will: Sam's Copy'. What gives?" "A...will?" the Superego asked in shock. Curious, Sam placed the 'Brain Copy' on the nearby phonograph, playing the recording. There was the sound of someone banging a microphone. "Hey, is this...is this thing on?" Max's voice echoed from it. "I really hope this works. I really only have one chance to record this. Can't even face up to the fact I'm doing this - feels like I'm going soft - so I won't even remember it exists once I've finished." Superego gasped. "That...that's how I didn't know about it? He purged his own memory of recording that deep in his psyche...out of shame?" Max's voice continued. "Sam, if you're hearing this, then somehow our adventures have led to you examining my brain, whether because I've turned into a massive monstrosity of some sort and you're wandering around inside me...or because I'm dead and you need to harvest my brain for answers. It doesn't seem like it was all that long ago that those two fates would have sounded cool to me...but not now. If you're hearing this, you can consider this my Last Will and Testament. If you're inside my brain, there should be a second copy you can take out with you to play for Jane and the lawyers." Nodding, Sam placed the 'Sam's Copy' into his inventory. "Either way...this means I'm likely dead...or will be soon," Max's voice continued. "I need to ask you to do something for me. Take care of Trixie for me." "Huh?" the Superego demanded. Trixie's ears fell flat, her eyes watering. "She needs someone to take care of her," Max's voice continued. "She...she can't be left alone again. Promise me, Sam." Sam saluted his little buddy. "I promised her already, Max...and I promise you, too." There was a moment of silence. "To help you take care of her," Max continued, "I've been setting aside a trust fund for her, with money from our savings, selling off various trophies as collectible memorabilia, and embezzling from the National Budget. It's in a Swiss bank account, account number S1E6-S3E5. The password is Mylittlepony, all one word, first letter capitalized, and My in italics. Don't ask me how I managed that, even Jane doesn't know." The record was silent for a while longer, and then Max's voice returned, thick with emotion. "Trixie...on the one hand, I hope you never hear this, because if you do, it means that I'm going to be leaving you...and I don't want to leave you alone. But at the same time, if it is played...I hope you do hear it. Because I'm going to say here something that...I'll probably never be able to say aloud. "Trixie...I love you. Daddy loves his little pony..." Everyone gasped as the record trailed to completion, with Trixie bursting into tears. "D-d-d-daddy," she wailed. The Superego staggered back. "What...it's not possible...how can..." His eyes widened as the memory of creating that brain file returned to the entirety of Max's brain as the Max Beast burst into tears. "What have I done?" he began to sing. "What have I done...how could things-" "Lament later!" Sam demanded. "Save Max now!" "Right!" the Superego replied. "I still have the mana-weave from when Max briefly held the Cthulic Powered Robot. As soon as I've got you all to safety, I'll fix this. For now, all of you get out of here!" "But how?" Sam demanded. "The tear ducts!" the Superego proclaimed, blasting the tendrils that were blocking the path. "He'll cry you out! Hurry!" The Superego shoved them all into the duct. "It'll just be five minutes!" "Nuclear impact in four minutes," a robotic voice proclaimed for somewhere. As Superego began to force the duct closed, Trixie's eyes widened. "No!" she screamed. "I can't...I can't lose Daddy!" The image of her Cutie Mark suddenly flared brightly in both her eyes, and she shoved past the Superego, accidentally kicking the duct closed in the process. "Trixie, no!" Sam screamed as the ducts flushed them out of the body. Trixie raced up to the tumor. "I'll save you, Daddy!" she proclaimed, charging her horn. Reaching deep into her mind, she drew on all the power in the environment she could hold, and released the Power of Destruction copied from the Cthulic Powered Robot. As the beam hit the tumor, the neural current arced back along the spell weave. Trixie screamed as it plunged into her body, but she held on. Her body began to glow. There wasn't enough power to purge the dark dimension energy and destroy the tumor...so she used the feedback channel to suck the dark dimension energy into her own body through the spell weave to amplify her own power. As everything started to go white, her entire body glowed brightly, and she whispered, "I love you, Daddy." Outside, Sam looked up in fear as the nuclear missile impacted the Max Beast. Without warning, a geyser of pure magic erupted, consuming the Max Beast, the nuclear missile, and - because some things happen whether they need to or not - Skunkape and Girl Stinky somehow. Sam could only stare as that geyser consumed and obliterated all he held dear. In that one flash of light, his little buddy, his niece...everything that made his life worth living, gone in a flash. He did the only thing he could do. Taking his hat from his head, he placed it over his heart, lifted his head to the sky...and howled his grief to the uncaring moon.