This story contains major spoilers. Do not read on without playing the game OFF.

We met when we were children. It was the same, bleary day my mother had informed me that I was to wed a man I'd never met in my life. The words "batter" and "handsome" came from my dear mother's mouth, but I would have none of it.

I ran from home to the empty park, hiding inside a worn pedalo. I vowed to live as a hobo and to never marry and many other ridiculous things. I'd even prepared myself a bundle of precious items I would take with me on my travels.

That's when I heard it. Crack! Shwoom. Crack! The sounds repeated themselves consistently, a constant of sanity in the whirlwind that was my mind. I fell asleep inside that pedalo, listening to the lullaby of what may have been metal against rubber.

Once I had awoke, I found myself soaked to the bone and shivering next to a warm fire. Someone had stolen me from the rain and placed me in their monochromatic home, wrapped in a blanket that seemed to be made of clouds.

I remember two cats laying just a few feet away from me, entwined in their slumber, and a young woman strewn upon a rocking chair. A man in a strange toad mask stepped up to me and smiled with his eyes as he kindled the fire before picking the young girl up and carrying her into the other room.

Never had I ever felt so at peace, so welcome in the world of my father's creation. Despite the strangeness of the figures- they certainly were not one of mother's Elsen- I felt safe with them. This place would become my home someday, that I knew.

Time passed slowly here, giving me time to contemplate my actions. What would mother think of such a disobedient child, running from home at the mere thought of marriage? I wanted to find true love, not be wedded to a man that would think me another treat upon his dessert plate.

My father worried me the most, however. Who knew how he would react... it was not often he got mad, but he was a force to be reckoned with when he was. He'd probably lock her up forever. Or whip her. Or-

"You dropped this."

In front of me stood a pair of fit legs, wearing the uniform of a baseball player. I looked up to find a handsome man my age standing before me, holding my necklace in his hand. I felt my face flush deeply, but made no move to retrieve it. The man stepped behind me and placed the necklace at my chest, easily fastening it for me.

"Now your beauty is complete, my queen."

I would never know that man's name. I would only know him as The Batter. My love.

We ruled the zones gracefully after our time had come, inspiring hope and love in all the Elsen. Our land prospered and grew, giving home to the many refugees of Zone 0. I even gave him a child named Hugo. He has his eyes.

Then came the spectres. They were small, at first, and sparse. Nothing our Guardians could not handle. Then they grew. And grew. And grew. The more they grew, the sicker Hugo became. The Batter was forced to go out and fight great battles with the spectres, leaving me to protect our son.

A few days after his final strife, a cat named Valerie came to my court. I recognized him from the day I had met my love and welcomed him in. He told me what had happened to him.

I felt the corruption flow through my veins as quickly as the cat's words registered in my mind. The land around me became blackened with my every step and my subjects cowered in a feeling unknown to them: fear.

In my grief, I locked Hugo in a room to keep his illness at bay and banished all from my court. There, I prayed. I prayed a god, any god, to bring my lover back. My kingdom was withering beneath me, and all I could think about was the precious thing that had been taken from me.

When I recieved word that The Batter had somehow returned, my heart soared. I watched his progress through the clouds, growing sorrowful with each spectre he mercilessly purified.

This was not my husband.

After defeating my final guardian, the puppet that was once my lover came to me.

He should not have come here, I said.

He came to purify this land of corruption, he said.

For the first time in our lives, we fought. I'd never seen my husband battle before, but I knew this mannequin to be nothing but the shell of a man I had once held dear.

We locked eyes for a moment and I faltered in my attack. I couldn't kill him... I love him... But that did not mean the same for him. Crack. Thump. Gasp.

He has your eyes, I said.

They are full of fear, he said.

As my body faded from my kingdom, my necklace fell from my neck. The very last thing I saw was his fingers gently pick it up and hold it in his palm. Whether or not he remembered, I will not know.

Would you like some tea, love?