The Collections House has never looked this way before. I mean, physically, it's the same, but the feeling it gives has changed. Before, there was a sense of mystery and discovery, and even magic. Now it's threatening. The roars have stopped, making an eerie silence. I don't know if the temporary absence of roars is a good thing or a bad thing.

"Guys, if we're going in there to find our secretive friend, then we'd all better be on the same page," I say nervously. "Everyone already knew that he had a secret, right?" Everyone nods.

"He'd get touchy sometimes," Cass agrees. "But I didn't think his secret would be so... so..." She gestures at the Collections House. We all look at the building for a moment. The silence is evil.

"I really wish I had my sword back," I say quietly.

"There's no time," Tarna replies. "Every second we spend out here is another second Rolly is in possible danger. Now, let's go." The doors are far too close, and we arrive within seconds. Cass is in the lead, and we all look at her to open the door. She stares at it and doesn't open it. Tarna sighs and grabs the handle. I expect something to scream, or sharp claws to blast from the doorframe. But the eerie silence holds. We all peak inside, and no one is there. No one but Rolly. He's standing in the middle of the room, back to us.

"Rolly," Tarna whispers. Rolly turns and looks pained to see us, but he makes no movement.

"I thought I told you to stay away," he sighs. "But I didn't really expect you to." He turns to face us completely. "Guys, you have to leave right now."

"Rolly, what's going on here?" Person asks, taking a step inside. "Why are you being so weird?" Rolly pulls out his sword, and Person hurriedly steps back outside. Rolly sheaths his sword.

"I have to do this. I promise, you can work everything out later. But right now, I need you to leave."

"You know we won't," Tarna says. "You can tell us everything, Rolly." Rolly's eyes are sad and serious.

"Allen told you everything, eventually. That didn't end well." We all gasp. Is Rolly a traitor, too?

"But Allen was evil," Cass protests. Rolly turns away from us.

"Who's to say I'm not, too?"

"Rolly, we know you aren't," I reply, scared. "You're one of us. You're a good guy." Rolly turns his head, and his eyes are angry and sad at the same time.

"Am I, Wrive? Am I really a good guy?" He takes a threatening step toward us. We all take a step back. And then Rolly drops his sword. And horror strikes. Rolly begins to grow. His fingers turn to claws, and his hair disappears, replaced by short horns. His eyes turn into inhuman eyes, just horrible little slits. His mouth sprouts fangs. And then, in Rolly's place, stands a horrible beast. It must be 7 feet tall, with claws and fangs and every other horrible detail.

"Don't come for me, no matter what you hear," the thing says. Its voice is like many voices, all deep and rasping. "No matter what you hear! But you came. You came, and now look at what you've done!" I back away from the doorframe in horror.

"You want to know my secret? Well, here it is, humans. Here it is," the Rolly-monster screeches. I look behind me and see the others running. I glance at the Rolly-monster again, and by now it's almost outside.

"Look at me, Tacking," he says quietly. "Look at me and run. And don't come back this time, no matter what you hear." And then, a scream fills the air, and I turn and run. The Rolly-monster screams horribly, and I run away, and tears are in my eyes. I remember human Rolly, standing in nothingness, surrounded by roars. But he was never surrounded by them. He was making the roars. Rolly is a monster.

The group sits in our old camp, wiping our eyes and thinking. Remembering. Remembering a human, a funny, kind human. One who was smart and loyal. A human named Rolly. Rolly's a monster. Was he always a monster? We might never know. But he's a creature, a hideous creature now.

"Why Rolly?" Cass whimpers. "Why was he that thing?" No one replies, and Cass returns to crying silent tears. Everything is different now. Not just different- wrong. Everything is wrong and terrible. I knew things would change when me and Cass became... together. But that was a good change, a happy change. A happy secret. Rolly's secret changed everything. It made us lose a friend, his secret caused tears, his secret was horrible. It changed everything, and now everything was horrible. Rolly betrayed us, and that made everything horrible.

***

Allen had been thinking. Thinking about plans and the past, about things that Wrive and the others didn't know, didn't understand. But the more Allen thought about it, the more he didn't understand either. The past didn't make sense, and that confused him. He had doubt, and that confused him. From day one, he had wanted to destroy Wrive and his pitiful friends. But things had to play out differently, so Wrive and his friends lived. And then there had been the rebellion. Ultra Tech had been raided, which was unheard of by itself. But what was more, it had actually almost ruined things. Almost. But instead, the raid simply tampered with things. It made them adjust. But the plan was still too powerful for Wrive to understand, much less thwart. Ultra Tech's victory was in reach. So why was there doubt? Ultra Tech would win. Wrive would die. It was going to happen. But Allen, in the back of his mind, didn't want it to happen. He didn't want something invincible to fight for, he wanted something worth fighting for. Allen didn't want Ultra Tech. But the helmet did.

The helmet was really his problem. First of all, it made him look like some creepy guy. And more importantly, it was the reason that Allen was constantly yelling at himself. Words that weren't his came out of his mouth, all because of the helmet. So he needed to take it off. Although Allen had already tried this, he reached up to take the helmet off. But a terrible headache hit, and his light black eyes bursted into a dark shade of black, the darkest color there is.

"Traitor!" he yelled at himself. "You try to take off my gift!"

"I don't want your 'gift,'" Allen responded, gritting his teeth.

"Oh, but you do! You just can't see it for some reason."

"Why don't you find someone else to possess?"

"Oh, dear servant, you aren't just something I would throw out. Anyway, all the other weaklings that serve me don't have what I- er, you do." Allen examined his fingers with a evil smile. "These very hands are a life-free guarantee!"

"So you just want a killing machine?"

"When you put it that way... yes, when you put it that way, it sounds perfect. But don't worry. I won't need your puny body much longer." Allen frowned. As usual, the helmet wasn't coming off. And it was right- soon, Wrive would have bigger problems than anything he'd faced before.

***

The world seems to be falling apart. Everyone seems to have something terrible happen. Allen was evil, Shiran got killed. Shawn has fevers lots of the time, and Person doesn't even remember his own name. And then there's Rolly. Rolly the monster. I close my eyes, but a few tears still escape. This isn't fair. We're the good guys! We're supposed to win! Instead, we're in the wilderness crying. It's not fair, and it's never been fair. It will never be fair. At some point, I fall asleep, with something roaring in the distance. Not fair. It's just not fair.