Wholly Undead

Though pieces of Jack"s soul were continuously bathed in the Light, he could just barely make out geometric shapes in the Light, where he now resided.

He thought back to earlier, wondering if this was another dream.

*******

[Hu... Uh?]

Some part of Jack could hear distant talking...

[...]

"Jack... Why did you leave me...? You know I took you as my husband, but you left... You didn"t even say bye."

He could hear, but didn"t understand exactly.

[Who"s... Who"s Jack?]

The tattered pieces of a golden orb were strung throughout the place of Light. As he was bored in this place, he continued to listen to the voice that was talking, while making comment, [So tired...]

"...To be honest, what I really love is knowledge and power... And then you just had to came... looked straight at my form."

[Knowledge and power...? Who"s talking? Who"s there? What"s a who? I just want to sleep... What is sleep?] The tattered pieces flickered in the plane of Light, surrounding the nexus that was Jack"s connection.

"...Why did you touch me...? ...Now he has joined Jakahn..."

The golden tatters stirred a bit, but showed no other movements, [Touch... What is touch? Touch is good? So many questions... Do I know questions?]

The tattered orbed stirred more while it could hear the voice continue, [Hmmmm? This sound... It sounds... Sad? What"s sad? Am I sad? Is she sad? Who"s she?]

"...I"m your consort. It was a lot to take in."

[Con... Sort? Why does this pain me? I remember pain. Lots of pain. Is that why I am so tired? Just want to let go...]

The golden flakes drifting in the Light shuddered, as it heard silver bell laughter.

[Such sweet sounds... Laughter? I remember laughing! Laughing is when you"re happy, but why does this sound sad too? So much sadness...]

"...Which I don"t know how you do it, but I believe you..."

[You believe in me? Don"t people believe in G.o.ds? Am I a G.o.d? I slightly remember being called a G.o.d...?]

A few pieces of the tattered remains of the golden orb floated into each other, and were absorbed into a large chunk, that then formed a shard of gold. The remains of the orb could hear better now.

"I ask again... Why did you leave me? I know you did this for power... I"m not a fool... But... WHY DID LEAVE ME! I WANT TO DIE AGAIN WITH YOU! HOW DO I LIVE IN A WORLD THAT"S WITHOUT YOU, d.a.m.n IT. WHY COULDN"T...! WHY COULDN"T WE HAVE DIED TOGETHER!"

[I left...? For power? Died... Died again.... I died...]

"d.a.m.n YOU! Why... Why did you promise..."

The golden remains stirred anxiously over the sounds of sobbing.

"Why did you promise to marry me... I"m not even truly your wife! You lied to me! You told me the truth then, but only to know it was a lie later!"

[Wife...? Con... Sort? Consort. My wife. Crying? No... Can"t be. Ugh... Just want to sleep, so sleepy.]

"YOU ASKED ME LAST TIME! YOU ASKED ME WHAT DO I WANT OF YOU! WELL, d.a.m.n IT! I WANT YOU BACK! I WANT YOUR SORRY LYING BONES BACK! IF YOU ARE REALLY WHAT LUCIUS SAYS, THEN YOU CAN DO IT! DO IT FOR ME!"

[Lying? Me lie? I lied to my wife? Never! Don"t cry!]

"...I want you back... ...I just want you back...."

The many small pieces of the shattered and tattered orb forcibly attracted to each other, as it now formed a misshapened golden orb that suspended in the Light. It was only the size of a cherry, instead of the normal size of an ostrich egg.

The Orb struggled to vocalize its thoughts, and finally in a broken voice it spoke the name that came to mind. The name is loved. The name of the one it didn"t want to cry, "Les... Lie...?"

"Huh?!"

[She... She heard me! Who was me again?]

"Jack?"

[Right! My name... My name is Jack. Jack b.o.n.e.reaper! I need to call her again!]

"Les... Lie..."

"Jack!?"

"Jack!? Are you there? Are you in another form? Are you like a banshee too????"

[Ack! I don"t think so.... What happened to me.]

"....No...."

"Then what is it? Come back to your body, so we can talk! d.a.m.n it you had me worried!"

[I know I can"t leave right... now... hmmmmmm... Must talk more.]

"I... Can"t... Right... Now..."

"Why?"

"I... Mm... Sorry..."

"Well... As long as you come back right now, I won"t be mad any more... Just hurry up. Why can"t you come back?"

[Her voice... I must do more...!] Jack pulled more pieces of himself surrounding his misshapened golden orb. Bits and Pieces of him that were shredded flowed back to the orb to reform it. While this misshapened golden orb wasn"t very pretty, and could just barely count as a soul... If it had the strength of a thin piece of plastic, it now had the strength of steel. It seemed that being directly quenched in the Holy Light provided an unexpected boon.

"Don"t... Cry... Any... more..."

"Alright... I can do that... But... Can I see you? What"s going on?"

[What happened? I... I was trying to get stronger... Oh... Soul Dispersion...!]

"I... Was... Foolish... My... Soul... Is... Broken..."

"What???"

"My... Soul... Is... One... With... The... Light... It... Wasn"t... Strong... Enough..."

"Oh, my Creator...! But... How are you still talking! Where are you talking from!?"

[I can"t hear her, as well as I want... I have to make her come to me, so she can hear me.]

"From... The... Light... Walk... To... The... Light..."

Jack floated to a dark spot that was made known in the Light. It was an inversion of light being cast on it, as much as it looked like the beloved face of Leslie was shining in the darkness.

"Can you... Hear me... Better?"

"Kinda... When can you come back?"

[That"s a d.a.m.n good question.] Jack sensed around him... There is a lot of me everywhere... I really screwed up this time... Haaaa~]

"When I collect.... All the pieces... Of my soul back..."

"...Just... Just as long as you can come back, I don"t care if it takes another thousand years... Just do it!"

[Of course, I will do it... Hmmmm, I wonder if I can bone with my soul like this...] Jack wondered, and this shook it off, he heard a slight sniffle.

"I will... Just... Don"t cry... Again... I"m sorry..."

"...Did you seriously come back from beyond the dead, because I cried?"

[d.a.m.n right! I"m a lot of things, but I"ll make sure my woman sheds no tears! I still have to marry her!!!]

"Yes... I don"t want... My woman... To cry... I... didn"t lie... I will marry you..."

"Alright! I"ll keep my tears to myself, just hurry up! Bad things are happening in the kingdom, and We need you. I don"t want you to be away, and then come back at the last second and save us like a hero... You"re not a hero! You"re my villain!"

[Villain? Haha! Fine, of course I am! It"s the only way I know how!]

"Yes... Your villain... Always and forever... I love... You..."

"I love you too, you selfish b.a.s.t.a.r.d..." Leslie giggled.

[Ah, her giggles... It sings to me. How I wish to be free to hold her... To look at her... Hmmm? The light... It"s hurting her!]

"I can... Tell the Light is... Hurting you... Go back... I will work... On my side... As well..."

"You better! Hump."

[She"s leaving? I need to let her know I"m still here for her!]

"Whenever... You need me... Call to me... From a place.... With Light... I will... Answer you..."

"Jack... One last thing..."

"....Yes...?"

"Did you... Did you hear everything I said before you... Ummmm... Woke up...?"

[I heard most of it... Though, I doubt I will remember must... I need to stay conscious! Feeling so tired. Better answer truthfully!]

"....Yes...."

"You friggin bonehead! You"re supposed to lie about that!"

[What did I say wrong??? Well... I live for her, unlive... I"ll just leave it as live for now... I don"t even know what I am at the moment.]

"I live... Again... Because of... Your tears... My precious... Honey Ghost..."

"AUGH! What kind of endearment is that! I"m a banshee, not a d.a.m.n ghost!"

[I thought Honey Ghost was good... Well...]

"...Is Bony... Hands... Better...?"

"Jack... I love you, but you"re a nerd."

[What did I say?]

*******

Jack was left alone within the Light above the s.p.a.ce that was his throne. He could see around him, [I think I prefer villain better than nerd, but if Leslie likes that better, I won"t stop her. Creator help anyone else that says it though!]

After his brief reminiscing, he observed his surroundings in the light. He was able to see and hear in the same way he could within his skeletal form. This made it easy to move along.

He could see far away from his golden bits, bobs, sc.r.a.pes, and flakes that should be his soul floating away from his in a circle, with him at the epicenter.

[I really, really screw up here.] Jack commented again.

[I should have ducked out earlier than I did, but it felt d.a.m.n good!] after a few minutes of pondering Jack thought some more, [No... This is just me being stupid. I should of know there is no free lunch. Haaa~ I should have talked this over with them, and then maybe get some help? I"m sure that Tux could have figured out how to make a stronger soul... I just didn"t want to bother anyone... Didn"t want to let them down, ya know...]

Jack felt morose, [I shouldn"t have taken the risk... I really let Leslie down! d.a.m.n it, I even knew better!]

Jack complained, as he probed his form. As he continuously tried, it felt he could move parts of him, but he couldn"t move from his spot.

[How the c.r.a.p do I move like this? How do blobs move? Wait? Hmmmmmm Blobs do move! Amoebas! I"ll just phantom foot my way to victory...!]

[....]

[I think I just hit rock bottom... I can"t even right now... Phantom foot my way to victory... I"ve thought a lot of things, but I think that is rock bot... No... This is below the rock... Best not to think about it!]

Jack tossed the thought train out the window of his mind, as he manipulated a part of his soul to lurch out, and cling to the Light around him. Even though he could pa.s.s through the light, he could also grab onto the Light. It was a very weird feeling.

After a bit of struggling, Jack had moved one inch in the Light!

[I guess I am a G.o.dly amoeba! This just can"t be right... Got to stay focused! Leslie! Emily! Leslie! Emily!] Jack continued to chant in his mind.

He had made it next to several small flakes, and globs of his soul. He stretched out his golden feelers to make contact with them. After some struggling, Jack was able to pull them into himself, and enlarged slightly.

[Oh wow! I feel like a bit of the haze I"m in is better.] Jack looked around again, and this time he could see further into the plane of Light. He could see parts of his soul a long way from him.

[Ah c.r.a.p! This is going to take forever.] Jack began to move to the next closest batch now that he took all the pieces in this spot. He never questioned how he was existing in the Light, when earlier it had torn him apart.

Jack continued his slow, tedious, and extremely boring task of collecting his soul bits. He mused along the way wondering if this could be called a form of training. He looked back to where he was coming from, and could see a long wiggly tether dangling up into the Light like some time of fishing line. He knew this was his soul tether.

[If I can collect my bits back together, I could attach back to the tether, and get out of this place! No one can ever know what I did here! I mean choking on a noddle was a c.r.a.p way to go... But near dying like this... This is the meggenius equivalent of dying on the toilet.] With more zeal in his realization, he turned back to get all the bits in the north side first, and then make a large circle.

It felt like eternity to Jack when he got the last piece of his soul in the north. Some flakes were floating off further, as he tried to get them. He turned and started making his way to the west side.

As he was traveling he heard something in the Light.

[Hmmm? Who"s calling me? The G.o.d-King Amoeba? I mean... The G.o.d-King of Deagoth!] Jack mentally frowned.