Elements of Heroism: Season 5

by Bahamut0

Episode 22: Inner Demons

For the past few days, Shadow had been feeling strange. Whenever he started to think about Starlight, a voice would gnaw at his mind. But the scary part was, it was Shadow's own voice. "I gotta get to the bottom of this." Shadow headed to Burst's house, and knocked on the door.

"Shadow?" Burst asked as he answered the door. "What're you doing here?"

Shadow sighed. "Hey, Burst? Have you ever...heard your own voice going off in your head?" He then gripped his arm. "Saying you're weak? Especially...after you screw up something really, really badly?"

"Shadow. I'm pretty familiar with what you're talking about." Burst said with a sage nod as he shifted into his nightmare form. "Facing that voice is what gained me this power. I made peace with my darkness, and faced my inner demons. And I'd say you need to face yours."

Shadow blinked. "So...will I get a form like yours."

"No." Burst said as he shook his head. "I got this form because my dark side decided to strike in what I consider as my greatest moment of weakness. But where you've been mostly at peace with yours, you've been shaken to your core by your solo mission. And what you consider as your greatest failure. Unlike mine when it was something that hit me all at once? Yours has been slowly amassing and slowly eating away at you." Burst returned to his regular form. "And you need to face it. Before it consumes all of you."

Shadow nodded. "Alright. ....How do I do that? Some sort of spell to make me fight it in the real world?"

"No Shadow." Burst said with a sigh. "You're going to have to fight within yourself. At the core of your being. And fair warning? It's going to be the most difficult battle you'll ever fight. Your dark side will try to break you. Try to get you to agree with it and call you weak. And it'll either try to place all the blame solely on you, or someone else. But never forget one thing."

Shadow scratched his head. "What's that?"

"That it's a part of you. And it only has as much power as you give it. THAT'S what determines how strong it." Burst said sternly. "Close your eyes, and picture the entrance to your core."

Shadow nodded, and took a deep breath as he pictured the core of his being. A doorway appeared before him, and Shadow stepped through. As he walked through, Shadow found himself back in Starlight's village. However, it was empty. "Weird." Shadow thought out loud. "But I guess it makes sense that I'd wind up here. Now to find my dark side. Where is it?"

"Closer than you think." A voice chuckled out from all around Shadow. Shadow looked down at his...well, shadow, and saw it starting to form its own body. Pale yellow eyes and a sneer greeted him as his dark side fully manifested. "Good to finally talk to you. I'm your replacement."

Shadow was confused. "Replacement? What're you talking about?!"

"Isn't it obivous?" Dark Side said with a chuckle. "You're so pitifully weak. You've barely seen any action. You've got no "Big Hero" moments to speak of like your brothers and your friends. And last but not least..." A malicious smile crept across Dark Side's face. "You failed to save her." Shadow's eyes went wide with horror when he saw a crying and chained Starlight at the center of town!

Shadow immediately dashed towards Starlight! "STARLIGHT!" Shadow was only a few feet away when the blade of a spear blocked his way! Shadow saw his dark side pointing a spear at him! A dark version of his own Duelist Arm. "Out of my way!" Shadow summoned his Duelist Arm, and slashed at his dark side!

"No can do." Shadow's dark side sneered. "You failed her!" He then caught an opening in Shadow's stance, and slashed Shadow across the chest! "You've done enough to hurt her already." Shadow's dark side then kept at his attacks! Slashing at Shadow while he was still shaking off the first attack! "It's because of you she's alone now! Because of you that she's hurting so much! If only you hadn't decided to tag along with the girls!" The sneer on the dark side's face only grew as he further spat words to wound Shadow just as much as the slashes on his body! "It's all your fault she ran away." Shadow's dark side then stood in front of Starlight. "And I won't let you hurt her any more than you have." Shadow groaned as he tried to raise himself to his feet. His dark side sneered at his efforts. "Look how weak you are. How did you ever become an Element of Heroism? You can't even get to your feet!" The mocking laughter of Shadow's dark side rang throughout the whole village.

Shadow had never felt so badly beaten in his life. However, he came to a realization as he rose to his feet. "You're right."

"I...beg your pardon?" Shadow's dark side asked in confusion.

Shadow chuckled. "You're right. It IS my fault that Starlight blames me for essentially ruining her life. But you know what? It's not ALL my fault." Shadow looked his dark side in the eye, and smiled. "Because I can't save someone who doesn't want to be saved or admit they're wrong. Don't get me wrong. It still hurts me that I couldn't have helped Starlight in the way I wanted to. But it's better than making no effort at all. And I can't fault myself for her not wanting to admit she's wrong. That's something she's got to do for herself." Shadow then raised his Duelist Arm! "And don't forget! You're part of who I am! When you blame me, you're blaming yourself too!" Shadow's dark side was so stunned at this revelation he didn't even notice Shadow flying right at him! "And it's about time that we own up to it!" Shadow then pierced through his dark side! "It's not just me to blame for what happened. We're to blame for it. Me for failing to save Starlight at the village, and you for faulting me alone for that failure. But you know what? I'll still carry that blame. For both of us. And do what I can to make it right." Shadow's dark side slowly faded away, and merged with him.

Back in the real world, Burst watched as Shadow slowly opened his eyes. "So? How do you feel?"

"A bit less guilty, and a lot more whole." Shadow said with a small smile. "And now, I think I'll be able to face Starlight when I see her again." Shadow then put a hand over his heart. "And something tells me that'll be pretty soon..."

Comments

[Bahamut0]

8545992
Next chapter's up!

[Sornos]

no WAY!

[ArcticAce01]

8547665
Another great chapter! Shadow finally facing his inner demons and is now ready to face/Talk to starlight when he sees her once again and all the development between him and starlight will finally lead up to both of them getting together