Fate stared dumbfounded at his counterpart, and at the chain that now coiled itself around his wrist. This ‘part of him’ actually intended to gamble away his future and freedom with a game made for children, how could he make sense of it?

However, before he could collect himself, he felt a hard yank from the chain around his wrist as he slowly began to be dragged towards the edge of the platform! He, although still shocked, quickly managed to dig in his heels and give the chain a stern wrenching of his own.

Still, despite his attempts to hold his ground, Fate was being pulled toward the Witch, who was gradually rising into the sky, not even having questioned the ego’s childish wager for a moment…

Fate: “Ok, I get that I’m already pissed at you so you think that whatever you do next won’t make this sh*t worse, but…*ugh!*”

The Witch continued to rise farther and farther, increasing the strain on Fate’s arms. Angered, he proceeded to hurl a bolt of dark lightning at her, pushing himself even harder to gain ground as the attack connected with its target!

Fate: “This is making it...so much...f*cking worse!”

His counterpart let out a chuckle at his continued struggle as it casually paced back and forth, eyeing both Fate and the Witch with contempt…

‘Fate #2’: “Considering the contrast between the position you had me in, just a little bit before this, and my current one...I’m feeling quite comfortable, so I don’t see a need to change jack sh*t!~”

Fate’s toes were nearly over the edge of the platform, the skin on his feet felt as if it was blistering, and his strength continued to wax and wane as the Witch dragged him further and further, unperturbed by the numerous attacks that Fate was now launching at her every second to slow her!

Finally, Fate slipped, slamming against the edge of the red platform as he began to fall towards the black sea…
But before he could get too far, he felt something slam him into the base of the pole, as his steady advance towards the Witch instantly ceased, the tension on the chain releasing! Fate, clenched his eyes closed, expecting that the Witch had abandoned the simple art of ‘tug of war’ and simply decided to play ‘war’....but nothing happened…

Witch of Fate: “What is this supposed to be?!”

Fate suddenly heard the angry shouting of the Witch…

‘Fate #2’: “Hey, me, don’t be a dip and open your eyes already!”

Despite his hesitancy to trust his seemingly malevolent doppelganger, Fate acquiesced, slowly squinting his eyes open...only to find that there were no tricks, no traps, no Witch attempting to gouge his eyes out or worse...instead, he found the chain on his now extremely red arms, lowered into the water…

What might have been the final battle for control over his life and soul...was now brought to an abrupt and unceremonious halt.

Witch of Fate: “You, vile thing of the mortal mind, what trickery is…!”

‘Fate #2:’ “I didn’t trick you.~ The thing in your hand is proof that I haven’t stolen anything from you, right?~”

Fate found himself attempting to visualize the conversation between the two, while simultaneously attempting to remove a large black spike, which had stabbed through the chain, preventing him from falling earlier.

‘Fate #2’: “And look, you’ve kept him here longer than he needs to be, and I’ve already partially fractured his mental state, though the extent of the damage will only begin to become obvious once he leaves this place...and I’m kinda on my last leg, so…”

Witch of Fate: “So...you deceived me…”

Her voice grew colder and more distant as she spoke, returning to her seemingly regular self, once again, from anger…

Witch of Fate: “If this truly was his soul sea, he would not possess this much control...and he might have been able to put some force behind his feebly constructed attacks, even if it could not harm me…”

‘Fate #2’: Also, y’know...his soul would’ve cracked under the strain from you slamming it with the flaming purple b*tch-slaps that you’ve been throwing around like candy...and I wouldn’t be like this.~”

A moment of silence followed these words, as Fate was now able to free himself, tossing the black shard into the sea, and he began his cautious climb back to the top…

Witch of Fate: “To be able to fool the eyes of a god... even if only in part and at the cost of one’s self...is no small feat. But are you sure you are satisfied with this...?”

As he was finally able to haul himself over the ledge of the circular platform, Fate was finally able to see them. The Witch now stood over Fate’s cross-legged counterpart, who was slowly breaking apart…

-What's with this sudden turnaround!!!

The doppelganger looked at him with some strange sense of warmth and longing in its eyes before turning back to the Witch with a calm smile on its gradually crumbling face…

-What're you looking at me for, don't you dare use the face!

‘Fate #2’: “Let’s face it, he probably wouldn’t want me to stick around, even if I had a way to. Plus, you probably hate me as well, be honest.~”

-Don't be a puss, fight!!!

Fate looked at it with some strange twinges of sadness and self-loathing brewing in his chest, questioning why he felt even remotely sorry for this clone. But he found his attention drawn to something else...in the Witch’s hand...was a shining blue shard and the end of a broken chain…

‘Fate #2’: “And I serve no purpose...I guess what I’m trying to dramatically convey is that I’m tired as all hell and just want to let me get on with his life, while I turn to dust and fly off in that murky sea of crazy to sleep...maybe forever if I’m lucky.~”

It spoke so solemnly, it almost seemed like a complete turn around from its personality before. But just when Fate was about to resign himself to watch this sad scene of gods and ghosts from the past, he felt a strange tingling in his skull, followed by a playful voice...

2- Fate, it’s me, you!~ Listen very carefully to what I’m about to tell you because she’s gonna send you away soon since she has…‘oh so important, official god business!’ as it were, which is hecka lame!~

Fate instantly felt the sadness in his chest dry up like a desert...
...