For the first time in a while, Lukas' sleep was surprisingly uneventful. There were no voices, no strange visions... there was nothing but empty, peaceful darkness. Strangely enough, Lukas was still lucid despite all of the inactivity of his mind at the time. All of a sudden, an unsettling sensation began to run its way through his dreamless sleep. The feeling was similar to being in Zero's presence; freezing skin, mind full of doubts and regrets and that premonition of your end swiftly approaching. All Lukas could do was sit there and let everything happen... until those words pierced through the darkness and made it all fade away. "Hey there, Lukas." A male voice spoke from behind which suddenly made Lukas feel like he could move again. Quickly, Lukas turned his attention to the voice to see a young boy about his age with black hair and blue eyes along with a dark blue hoodie and black trousers. Lukas looked the boy up and down before he responded. "Who are you?" Lukas asked which immediately made the boy appear reluctant to answer.
"Oh, I see, you don't remember Laroxiam, do you?" The newcomer inquired as they put a hand to their chin. "Laroxiam? You mean that guy who was in my dreams before? Do you know him?" Lukas replied with another question. "Wow, you really don't remember. Is it perhaps your dreams which cause you to remember?" They pondered to themselves without lowering their voice. "Can't you just tell me who you are!?" Lukas demanded an answer as he was very clearly frustrated by this person who was giving him more questions that he would have to end up ignoring for the time being. "Answering you would probably cause more harm than good... after all, if you'd just be patient then all the answers will come forth on their own terms." The strange boy replied calmly before going back into a deep thinking process.
"Is it really that difficult to give me a straight answer that I'm specifically asking for?" Lukas rhetorically asked to display how irritated he was. "No, it isn't difficult whatsoever... but I'm thinking about what's best for you. It's best if you were reminded in your own time." The boy stated which only made Lukas more annoyed. At that point, Lukas couldn't even come up with a response to show his anger... so he just remained silent. Somehow, Lukas' silence spoke louder in the stranger's mind as they appeared to attempt to avoid eye contact before sighing. "Alright, fine. I'll tell you my old name... but only my old one, okay?" The stranger asked as they appeared to sympathise with Lukas slightly. "Well... I guess it's better than nothing." Lukas responded as he seemed disappointed although, he was less so than before. "It's Al." They simply said. "Great, that helps me out a lot." Lukas spoke sarcastically as he turned away.
"I don't even know why I'm asking you about anything, you're just some kind of alternate version of me that my mind came up with." Lukas stated as he shook his head. "Is that all we are to you? Just some kind of nightmare that you can try to ignore until we eventually fade away into nonexistence?" Al asked as he seemed furious all of a sudden. "Yes, that's what I think you are because that is exactly what you are." Lukas replied without turning to face him. Al's face was now covered by even more rage as he responded. "Well, maybe you actually deserved every bit of this punishment that has been forced upon you!" Al yelled as his voice began to sound like the extremely distorted one that had mocked Lukas earlier. "Where's Sapphire?" Lukas demanded an answer as he finally turned to face Al. "Who cares? If I could have it my way, she'd be rotting in the depths of whatever chaotic realm that she came from along with Emily... wherever she is." Al responded as his eyes began to glow yellow. "I don't care about whatever fictional life problems that you have, just get out of my head." Lukas requested as he put a hand to his face.
"Wow, that's funny. Laroxiam kept calling himself the fake one and I tried to convince him otherwise yet here you are denying the fact that either of us exist." Al said as his smile began to grow. With an annoyed sigh, Lukas placed his hand to his forehead. "Who even is Laroxiam? I keep hearing his name but nobody cares to explain anything about... well... anything that confuses me." Lukas stated as he was ignoring any and all things that Al said that didn't interest him. "Laroxiam is the sole reason as to why you're in this situation to begin with... that's what I would say if I wasn't a complete idiot like you." Al responded with needless aggression. With a disappointed look on his face, Lukas summoned forth his weapons and prepared to battle that stupid imagination in front of him. Al followed suit by making his own weapon manifest in his hand and what Lukas saw next left him completely confused.
The entirety of the surroundings turned to pure white much like The Multiverse as Al's weapon appeared in his hands and Lukas examined them closely. Al's blade was a black soul weapon that slightly resembled a rapier except that the blade had multiple large spikes jutting outwards and downwards towards the hilt. Lukas wasn't interested in the design of the blade, however... he was more shocked by the fact that after Al had a firm grip on his weapon, a second one appeared in his empty hand as well. "How can you wield two of those things!?" Lukas yelled to hopefully indirectly answer multiple questions at once. "The same way that you can... although, I suppose that you wouldn't remember how you can do that either." Al replied as his grin slowly grew until it looked like a large thin cut across his face.
"Why can't you just give me a straight answer!?" Lukas shouted as his rage quickly escalated. "Because the less I answer you, the more torment that you experience in the long run. I didn't think you deserved this at first but now I see that Laroxiam was right. Now I'm just wondering why I ever doubted him in the first place." Al answered Lukas as his thoughts slowly trailed off before coming back to him once more. "Why are you even bothering to interrogate me? Didn't you say that I was just some kind of vision that your mind created? Are you just lying to yourself even though, deep down, some part of you actually remembers me?" Al asked without giving Lukas a chance to respond to his previous statement. Lukas remained silent for a moment as he thought about Al's last statement and how it could be true... it seemed like everybody that he met knew him better than he knew himself. "S-Shut up and raise your damn weapons!" Lukas demanded as his hair slowly turned red.
"What's the matter, Lukas? Did I strike a nerve with that one?" Al rhetorically inquired as he tightly gripped his weapons and gave a slight laugh as Lukas began running towards him.