I wake up in a bright room, surrounded by nothing but a blinding white light. I squint and look around, confused as to where I was.

The light slowly begins to fade and as it does, the sound of laughter and joyful cheers starts to get louder, and I am soon standing in a park.

I look around again, seeing children running around playing games, fathers standing around by the grills as they make food for their families, and mothers sitting on the benches under the gazebo. One of the women in particular was looking right at me, smiling a soft smile.

I immediately recognized that smile, and began to tear up, as it was one I hadn't seen in so long. I begin to run towards her and attempt calling out to her, but someone took the words right from my mouth.

"Mom!" A little boy exclaims. I stop and see the small freckled boy, running past me.

He jumps into her arms and she hugs him back.

"Hi, darling. Why aren't you playing with your siblings?" She asks, brushing the curly hair out of his face.

I remember this. I must be dreaming. Dreaming of a moment I had with my mom a long, long time ago.

"They're mean. I don't wanna play with them anymore." The little boy huffs, crossing his arms.

"John, they're your siblings. I'm sure they mean well." She calmly says.

"I'm sure they don't." He mutters under his breath.

"My dear, you know that they love you." She reminds.

"That's the problem. Martha pushed me and said it was because she loved me. But it was just mean!" He pouts.

My mom gently places her hand under younger me's chin, lifting his head so his face would meet hers. "Maybe it was because she loved you. She could have been protecting you from that frisbee your brothers are throwing around."

"But-"

"Remember, my love. Whatever is done for love.."

The little boy sighs. "Occurs beyond good and bad, I know, I know."

She smiles and kisses his forehead. "Don't worry, I'll talk to your sister about this later. But why don't you go have fun rather than sit here upset about it?" She asks.

He nods excitedly and hops off her lap, running right back past me. I smile fondly at the woman, and she seems to look up and notice me. "I love you, John." She says to me.

I breathe out, wanting nothing but to hug her. "I love you, too, Mom."

Before I could run towards her, though, the image fades away, and I hear a slight melody in the background.

I stir awake, the melody still playing. I look down to see I was in a chair, locked in by some gadgets around my arms and legs. I frown and try to pull myself out of the constraints, but find no success.

"You're only going to hurt yourself." A voice says softly.

I look up and see Cyclone sitting in the circle I saw earlier. He was facing away from me, the music box open on the ground next to him, playing the tune I was hearing before. I glance around the circle and see the seven gems sitting in the smaller circles. I then look back to Cyclone, and see his hair is down now.

"I'm still here, did you not make the wish yet?" I ask, huffing slightly. "What are you waiting for? You could have easily done away with me while I was knocked out."

"I'm not sacrificing you, John." He says, and I stop struggling.

"How the hell do you know my name?" I ask. He doesn't answer at first, and I scoff. "Well? Answer me, dammit!"

"I know a lot more than your name. I know your favorite color, I know your favorite animal, I know your favorite shows to rewatch." He starts. "I know you also lost your mother. I know you also want her back. But I also know that you don't want me to do this."

My heart drops. It couldn't be.. There was no way I wouldn't have.. I mean, this couldn't have gone on this long without my noticing.. My expression softens from a glare to a sad look.

"Alex?" I ask, my voice barely above a whisper.

He sits there quietly, and I see him nod.

"You... you're.." I start, not being able to quite form a sentence. "But I- you knew... why?"

"I need to do this, John. I have to bring them back." He says.

I shake my head. "You know you can't, though."

He turns around, his tear-filled eyes piercing mine. "No, no I need you to tell me to do it. I was going to while you were out, so I didn't have to fight you on this. But I couldn't. Your voice was stuck in my head, telling me over and over that you wouldn't forgive me if I did this." He stands, walking towards me. "Please, please just tell me you'll forgive me."

I look up at him with a sympathetic look. "Alex, you can't-"

"No! No more can't." He stops walking towards me and holds himself, and in that moment I want nothing more than to hug him. "I could bring them all back. My mom, my brother. I could bring your mom back, too! I'm doing this for us!"

He wipes away his tears, though it was no use as they just kept coming. He looks over at me, sadly smiling. "I'm just worried that if I do this, I'll lose you in the process. So please. Please promise me I won't lose you if I bring them back."

"I'm not making that promise. We don't know what's going to happen if you bring them back. What if you wish they never died? That could change everything, and make it so we never even met."

He shakes his head. "No, no no that wouldn't happen. I know it wouldn't. Why don't you see this could work?"

"Because it won't. It's not the way the universe intended it. Tempting fate like this never works out well, you know this. Alex, please," I beg. "Please don't do this."

He looks down at the music box, the melody now taunting the two of us. He slowly walks over, and picks it up. "Maybe.. Maybe you're right. Maybe I am a villain."

I shake my head. "No. I'm sorry for using that word, you're not a villain, you're just deeply hurt. And misguided." I attempt to assure him. "I never should have said that, I see that now."

"But you're right. I've hurt people, I hurt you. Just to get this box." He says. "If I don't bring them back, I may just lose you anyway. And then I'll have no one."

"Alex, you're not going to lose me. Not if you don't make that wish." I tell him. "I promise, if you put the box down, let me out of this chair, you won't lose me. But I can't make that promise if you continue."

He looks over at me, steadying his breath. He then looks back down at the box in his hands. "I just.. I miss them so much.." He says, his voice breaking.

"I know, I understand, believe me I do." I say. "There was a time in my life where I would have done the same as you had I known about the box. I would have done anything to bring her back."

He wipes his face again, still looking at the box. "What changed?" He quietly asks.

"You came into my life." I say.

There was a moment of silence as he processed my response. I decide to stay quiet, to give him the time to think. I didn't want him to use the box by any means, but it had to be his choice. There's only so much I could do, he had to do the rest.

Alex reaches down and presses a button on the bottom of the chair. My restraints click and then release, and my arms and legs are suddenly free again. I quickly jump up and pull Alex into a hug, knocking the box out of his hand.

He wraps his arms around me tightly and I cradle his head, holding him close to me. "I'm not going anywhere, I promise. I promise, I'm here."

"I'm sorry, I'm so so sorry for everything." He says, repeating his words over and over.

"Shh, it's okay, it's over now." I assure him, kissing the top of his head. "I love you, I always will."

"I love you, too." He says, gently pulling away and looking up at me. I offer a small smile.

"See? You haven't lost me, and you won't lose me." I say.

He nods slightly, his breath unsteady. "I know.. I'm going to make sure of that." He says before reaching down and grabbing the box.

I raise an eyebrow at his actions, confused as to what he was doing with the box. Maybe he was going to destroy it?

He takes a couple steps back, winding the box up as he did. "Everything is going to be alright, John, we're going to be happier than ever now." He was smiling while he said it, but something about his tone was a bit unsettling.

By the time I realized what he was doing, it was too late. As I reach for the box, he slams it down on the pedestal, a bright light flashing and bathing the entire room in the seven colors. I see Alex vanish from sight and before I could do anything..

There was nothing. 

1607 Words

I was gonna end it at the happy part and then I thought "nah, they want it continued"