KrakenKid

"No no no!"

I glanced behind me. They were closing in fast. My worst nightmare seemed to be coming true. The monsters behind me closed in, not stopping unless there was something or someone in their way. They cut down every Tide Changer they saw. No mercy was given.The halls seemed to have nothing of use, until I spotted the lever. "Please work!" I half whispered to myself and clicked it, looking to see what it did. A fake wall of TNT appeared, blocking the path from them, and me. Hope fluttered inside of me for a minute.

I didn't stop there. I raced up the stairs in a fleet of panic. An explosion caught my attention and I looked back once again.

The wall was no more. Nothing was stopping them from closing in.

Fear pulsed through me. This was strange. I was the KrakenKid, leader of the Tide Changers, and I create fear in others. Feeling this kind of fear for myself, it was just plain unnatural, especially this large amount in just one day.

I tried to block them off again, this time with a layer of lava blocks. It was one of the last things I could do. I was now stuck in my room, no where to flee. I was trapped. How could this be happening to me of all people?

Another explosion made my heart drop. They were now in my room. "Get away from me! Leave my home!" In a last desperate attempt to get them off my back, I threw C4 and pushed hard on the detonator.

But nothing happened.

They tried to corner me, but I backed up, using the true last resort, another wall of lava. I knew it would do nothing and soon would be gone, but what choice did I have at this point? I was now stuck on the balcony. My eyes searched everywhere but there was no where to go. If I tried to leave the caves, I would be caught by all the guards. Going back was nothing better. The two leaders blocked that way.

"Blooper.. Where are you?" My voice was barely audible.

The wall behind me 

The wall behind me disappeared  with a click and all my hopes sank. When I turned, I tried to reason with him, but nothing was of use. I screamed at him to leave but he just wouldn't listen. A sword sank into my stomach, and I stumbled back.

There was no more room left. I fell.

Sinking deeper and deeper, the seconds I had left were filled with my thoughts. They say when you're dying, everything slows down around you but your thoughts speed up. This was true. In my time of dying, I was filled with all sorts of thoughts, most of which were negative and of everything I did wrong.

I failed them all. Blooper, CannibalCrab, Darrel, and all the other Tide Changers.

My heart slowed, and time seemed like it was stopping as well. My thoughts however, sped at a million miles per second.

Was all this my fault? Was I too cocky or not a good enough leader?

More seconds past. I felt myself start to fade.

Did I deserve this?

And more.

My dreams will never come true.

A sudden realization came to me. Fear began to swell up, seizing my heart and mind.

I'm dying. I'm dying to that penguin. That stupid penguin killed me.

I hit the ground with a hard thud. The physical pain hurt like nothing else I had felt, but the mental pain was unbearable.

I lost everything. Troops, my best friends have left, my home is destroyed and

My son.

My son has been taken from me.

Is he okay?

Blooper... Cannibal... Darrel... Everyone...

Everything slowed. My heart began to stop.

I'm sorry I wasn't good enough.

I'm sorry I couldn't do more

I'm sorry I couldn't stop this

My breath stopped. My heart stopped beating. My thoughts began to stop at one simple line.

I'm... Sorry. For everything.

Everything faded. 

Nothing was left.

-----------------------------------

"KK! WAKE UP!"

"AAAA!"

The voice shocked me upright in my bed and I screamed. My instincts kicked in and I pulled out my HFG-9 Dragon, holding the trigger, ready to fire in seconds. When I stopped, it took a moment for it all to focus until I saw them. Three figures at the foot of my bed. I knew who they were too.

My two Illithid guards and the only person in the world who called me 'KK'.

"GAH!" I screamed loudly at the sudden presence. They all breathed in relief but for some reason, held a concerned face. "WHAT ARE YOU ALL DOING? WHAT TIME IS IT?" I demanded out of them, slipping the gun back into my pocket. "Uh..." The blue eyed girl glanced over at the nearby clock on one of my stands. "It's 2:53 in the morning." She answered simply. Her eyes locked back onto mine. I stared at them all in disbelief, my heart still pounding from when I woke up. "WHAT? 2:53 AM? WHAT ARE YOU ALL DOING HERE AT THIS TIME? I'M TRYING TO SLEEP HERE. OH, BY THE WAY, MOST OF THIS IS DIRECTED AT YOU TANITH!"

Tanith didn't waver. She looked me directly in the eye. For once, she was gravely serious. "KK, you were having a nightmare. A very bad one." I blinked and rubbed my eyes. "What?" I thought back, then remembered my whole dream. "Oh. That." I huffed, refusing to meet any of their gazes. "It's true boss. You were tossing and turning, not to mention you mumbling and even screamed once. We started to panic and that's when this once climbed through your window. Again."

I groaned. "Again?" I shook my head. "You gotta stop doing that Tanith. It's not exactly normal." Tanith's eyebrow raised. "Says the guy who lives in a giant shell." Despite the situation, I found humor in the comment and chuckled. "Touche."

"Anyways, back on the topic of you know what, I have a proposition for you." I couldn't help but feel curious at her words. "What?" I asked. "Feels Jam. I do owe you one." She pointed out.

"...."

I wasn't sure what to say. I don't think I've ever had a "Feels Jam" before and it just seemed strange to do it. However, it would feel nice to get something off my chest and I certainly wasn't going to do it to most of the people in the Conch Command. I need them all to fully respect me, and having a therapy session with one of them didn't really strike me as a way to do that. Tanith wasn't a Tide Changer. I didn't need to keep it from her and she was willing to do it.

I made my choice. "Guards. Go down with the other guards by Darrel. I'll come get you when I need to." They nodded and gave a "Yes my lord!" before leaving the two of us alone. I watched their heads disappear from sight before speaking.

"Alright. How do we do these "Feels Jams" or whatever you called it?"

As I was turning, I was swept off my feet. "WHOA THERE!" I exclaimed alarmed by the sudden movement. Tanith quickly yanked my body onto my own bed and pulled out some sort of yellow blanket. "What are you-?" She didn't answer. The hybrid was more focused and didn't seem to quite hear me. She swung the blanket so it was behind me before making it wrap around my kraken body like a cape would. In all this time, I was really confused.

"Okay. There is now a blanket on me for some reason?"

"Shh. I'm preparing the feels jam."

Once again, she took something out. A teddy bear was now stuffed in my arms. "A teddy bear? You're going all out huh?" She nodded before pausing for a moment. "Do you like Hot Coco?" I snorted. "Well who doesn't?" A cup of hot chocolate was now in my hands. "Just making sure." She shrugged. "Sometimes people don't like it."

Satisfied with her work, the snake person finally stopped and sat down besides me. Her body shifted to my direction, but her mouth didn't open. "So..." I started after moments of silence. "This is a feels jam?" I asked taking a sip of the provided drink. "Yes. At least it's the way I do it. Now, what did you dream about? Don't talk about anything you don't want to. I understand you might have some things you don't want to talk about."

I waited. Crap, how do I start these things? Do I just start talking? I glanced over at the serpent. She's waiting. What do I do? "I-. Had a bad dream?" I did my best to say. She nodded, stifling a laugh. "Do you want to talk about what happened?" She kept her voice light as if to nudge in the right direction.

I took another sip while thinking about, well, everything. Finally, it just sort of spilled out.

"I failed everyone." The words seemed to haunt my mind and soul to the core. Tanith kept nodding, not saying a word.

"A while ago something pretty important happened. I was supposed to protect everyone here and. I failed. It kinda hurt my pride and the memories weren't exactly pleasant. I-" The next part was a little more painful. "I was on the brink of death. I think that technically, I did die. The only reason I'm here today is because my son, Blooper, managed to get my heartbeat back. It's kinda weird to think about. I lost. I died. It's just strange you know?"

Tanith's eyes were much bigger than before. "KK... That's some heavy stuff there. Have you never told anyone about this?" I snorted. "How could I? These people depend on me to stay strong. If I fall, so could everyone else." The gravity of my situation started to become unbearable. I never quite thought of it like this.

"I mean," My thoughts began to scramble. "I could have doomed everyone If I just stayed dead! I-" My breath staggered. "Who am I kidding? It happened once, it could happen again! This time I might not come back! I could-" A voice stopped me. "KK! It's okay! These things happen and huge mistakes are the easiest to make. You already experienced it once and history doesn't like to repeat itself. For what I've seen, you've come so far. Your men respect you and though you might be the rock, there's a reason why it's you and not anyone else."

My heartbeat seemed to slow. Tanith kept going. "You're more sturdy than you think. It might always seem like you're going to fall apart but the fact that you haven't is amazing! You're a great leader KK, and that won't stop because of that one incident. It takes a lot more to make a good leader a bad one." Her hand rested on my shoulder and I couldn't help but finish off the drink given to me. The warm feeling passed through me and I honestly felt better. I guess drinks are important to feels jams.

I found myself smiling again. "Thanks Tanith. Sorry about my rambling and all that." She waved it off. "No problem. You needed to just talk it out. It works 90% of the time. Do you want to keep the blanket with you or..?"

"Huh? Oh yeah. Nah, it's fine." I used one hand to pull it off. As I did, the air appeared to be more chilly than I remembered. "Thank you!" She put the blanket away. "Do you want the bear back too?" I held it out. "Ah yes. That would be great." She took it off my hands. "It's kinda not mine. I borrowed it from a friend. You keep the Hot Chocolate." I nodded. "Anyways, I should get going. Remember what I said KK." She smiled warmly and began to leave.

As I turned, a though occurred to me. "Hey Tanith, how did you know I had a bad dream?"

But when I turned back around, she was gone. 

**********************************************************

Someone should stop me from making everyone have traumatic flash backs.... 

To be fair, for KrakenKid, dying had to have done some psychological damage to the poor guy so.... I can justify making this. This chapter was mainly off of the idea of this: Cody is seen having a night terror about killing KrakenKid, so what if it were swapped, KrakenKid have a night terror  about dying to Cody? The idea seemed plausible so I figured I could make it work.

In case you had no idea, Two Sides Of The Same Coin means this (According to Google at least):
"If two things are Two Sides Of The Same Coin, they are very closely related although seem different."
Now why would I choose such a thing for a chapter? Hmm...... Also, on the same topic:

Do you ever get the feeling of Déjà vu?

Anyways, I hope you liked this chapter! To give you a little hint to a future chapter, there will be one last person who suffers from nightmares of this event. It might be someone you least expect. Or most expect... Not really sure what you're thinking... Be sure to leave a comment on how I did and what you think! See ya!

--JustAnAtlantisWriter