Not all minds are safe to enter. Some, are better left broken...

It's an unspoken rule among the Psychonauts. One that may not be often spoken off, yet all agents end up following it to a T one way or another. Some, were lucky enough to hear that bit of advice from others and smart enough to listen to it... Others however, the unlucky ones, would end up finding out just how much truth is in this statement the hard way. Agent Ford Cruller belonged to neither group. In the decades he's lived the life of a Psychonaut he's entered brains of countless people, exposed their deepest secrets, repaired damage done to them, helped to tame their demons... He's witnessed many cases that others have written off as hopeless, too dangerous to handle and despite people around telling him to not take the risk he would always fulfill his duty.

No matter where the mission led him, no matter what dark corners of human psyche he had to venture into, he always pushed on, always persisted... And always came out on top. For over forty years of his service he's never met a challenge that proved to be too much, no enemy that proved too strong. Things were tough at times, but he never backed away, never refused to help a broken mind, never learned to follow the one rule all Psychonauts eventually had to learn.

But no matter how much he would resist, he was no exception.

His mission in Fairport started... ordinarily. The Armacham corporation was discovered to carry out illegal experiments on psychics by a F.E.A.R. unit sent on an operation into the city. There were no available agents in the Motherlobe and as such he was pulled from his assignment at the time to investigate and handle the situation, forcing him to leave his protege -a freshly baked young agent Sasha Nein- to handle a rogue psychic recently discovered to be terrorizing bars in Brazil. Missions like that were unfortunately nothing new and rarely anything near a pleasant experience, but regardless, they needed to be done.

With Psychonauts established as the world's one and only psychic organization and with all the desire to keep it that way, there were more then a couple attempts at using psychics without their knowledge. In the early days of the organization, countries all over the world would attempt creating their own agencies and train their own psychics, but with time, Psychonauts managed to put themselves in a very comfortable position, where they were able to remain completely independent of any external ruling body and yet an essential asset to maintaining peace for anyone who allies with them. It simply became more beneficial to let them handle the all things psychic.

That didn't stop everyone from tying though. Criminal syndicates seeking an edge over their rivals, misguided individuals longing for power or knowledge, terrorists looking for means of destruction, companies out on a misguided attempt to make a profit... No one knew exactly how many operations like that were being carried out, but Psychonauts were relentless in seeking them out and shutting down any and all attempts at those misguided uses of human mind. Still, no matter how many times they would put an end to them, no matter how many they made an example of those involved, more kept coming up. Countless people were hurt because of this. People used as lab rats, broken from the very foundations...

One of them was Alma Wade. A young girl with psychic potential unlike anything seen before, used like a tool by her own father, stripped of anything that made her human. Happiness, dignity, life, love... Until in the end, after years of pain and solitude, that young girl became a shell of a woman filled with nothing but hate and disdain for the world itself.

From the very moment Ford set a foot in the city, any preconceived notion of this being just an ordinary mission was gone. He could feel her psychic presence before he even entered the city and as he stepped inside, he felt far more then that. Memories and fragments of a shattered mind; bits and pieces she left behind as she was locked away. The power he could feel hiding behind every corner was unlike anything he's felt before, and it only kept growing as he started getting closer to the source of it all. She was not dead as the people who did this to her believed. There was no doubt in his mind as he descended into the Origin Facility that Alma Wade still lingered through her sheer psychic powers. Not only that, but she was also aware of his presence. The constant hallucinations and attempts to breach his mind alone were a proof of that, but he could outright feel her watching too. Both him and the F.E.A.R operative that accompanied him.

Together, they've breached the inner vault where Alma was being held inside of a giant psychic dispersion field running on tons of psyllium – mineral naturally negating psychic abilities. He was getting dizzy just being near the thing and even his companion, with the tank of a brain he had, was being influenced by it. Luckily for them, it also kept Alma relatively at bay. She was confined to her prison for as long as the field was active, at least for the time being. This is not to say she was anywhere near harmless though. He still had to actively keep her from breaching his mind, and on more then one occasion, both him and his companion were pulled into hallucinations she created. It all ended in death of Paxton Fettel, his companion's original target, leaving only Alma herself to be taken care of.

A task that would prove to be even more difficult then he could have anticipated. With her father still believing she was dead and seeking some semblance of forgiveness for the horror he's put her through, he opened her prison in hope of burying her body, subsequently disabling the dispersion field that held back his and Alma's abilities. What he saw inside of the vault however, were not the remains of a dead young woman... but the very alive Alma Wade herself. And she had neither desire, nor reasons to forgive him. They watched as upon the vault's opening, the man's flesh was turned to liquid, leaving only blood and bones as Alma left. And with her newfound freedom and powers unleashed, she did not waste time in making her desires known to him. She was lashing out. Angry at the world and people that hurt her, all she desired was to make everyone suffer just as she did.

With a concentrated assault of her full powers she almost immediately broke into his mind as if his defenses were made of paper. He just barely held her off, forced to inject himself with a dose of psitanium to push her back. It immediately dawned on him that as things are now, he had no hope of breaching her mind by himself. Maybe if he had a dozen veteran Psychonauts to help, but right now she was simply too powerful to be handled. To achieve that by himself he would need to first significantly weaken her powers...


"Wait for my signal before you strike..." Ford's silent friend nodded, stepping aside from the entrance into a large storage area. The Psychonaut want inside, cutting the darkness inside with a small ball of psychic energy hoovering over his head. She was there, hidden by shadows, yet not even hiding her presence. In his hand, Ford held a syringe containing a purple liquid – leftover liquid psitanium from his previous injection. If he wanted to succeed in what he was about to attempt, he would need all the power he could muster and doing that while keeping Alma from overwhelming his mind was going to be a challenge to say the least. The injection would hopefully be enough of a boost, but the time was not on his side.

A glowing green hand formed in a different side of the room, right over the lights switch. Soon, as the hand flipped the switch and disappeared, light returned to the room, first engulfing him and slowly moving to the rest of the area. And just as the last bit of darkness was dispersed, he saw her again. Right in the middle of the room, just a couple of meters away from him. What he saw was... sad. Her body was nothing but a collection of bones stitched together by a deathly pale skin. Her hair dripped with fresh blood of her most recent victims whose bodies laid in dark red puddles all around her. And her eyes... There were none. Just dark voids that swallowed light around them.

She looked like she was in pain... Shaking, gritting her teeth, panting... The things she must have endured... The torture of a loveless, lonely life; the pain of isolation... It would break anyone. She simply had the means to keep on going even after reaching her breaking point. If they had only found out about this sooner, before her prison became her coffin... She could have been so much more then what she is now; more then a rage fueled monster she is now... But this didn't have to be the end for her. If there was still a part of her, no matter how small, that didn't submit to the hate and anger that ruled over her mind it was his duty to bring it back to the surface.

But to do that, he first had to enter her mind.

He quickly injected himself with psitanium just as he felt her reaching into his mind, immediately rising additional walls over his psyche. With another one of her attempts failing, she shrieked loudly in anger, throwing the container stored in the area straight at him. Ford just barely managed to levitate himself out of harm's way, but was quickly met with large psychic wave that threw him straight towards a wall. Shielding himself from smashing against the concrete, he quickly realized his chances may not be as bleak as he believed initially. She was immensely powerful, ridiculously even, but even though he couldn't even hold a candle to her in terms of raw power, he had the benefit of training.

Where she could only throw her psychic energy around like a blunt tool, wildly attacking whatever came at her, he could focus it into a precise strike; shape it to serve the exact purpose he needed it for.

Immediately after safely resting beck on his feet he refocused his psychic shield into a blast of energy that shot straight at her. Alma couldn't raise a shield like he did, but her passive defenses were easily strong enough to withstand the attack without any harm coming her way. She still felt it though. The psi-blast struck her shoulder and she winced at the feeling, clearly not used to anything like that. In the end though, it only seemed to anger her further. Her response to the attack was quick and decisive. With a loud scream she sent another wave of energy to wreck havoc on all it touches. Windows were broken, walls cracked under the pressure and items flew through the air with enough force to shatter bones.

This time Ford was able to shield himself just in time to avoid being thrown away but was quickly forced to jump away as the area was filled with orange, shifting lights and a large, black tendril rose from the ground underneath him. It plunged itself straight at him, breaking right through his shield with ease just before he managed to jump away. Looking at the thing, he quickly realized what it is. A Nightmare. She was bringing figments of her twisted mind out into the real world, something not even he could manage to the extent she just did.

Another tendril appeared right next to him and as the wind around him twisted to push him into the air he formed a ball of energy right beneath his feet. He pushed himself off it, quickly ascending few meters up, escaping both the tendril and small whirlwind meant to keep him in place and fairing a psi-blast at the tendril in question. The blast ricocheted off it's target to hit the first tendril and then Alma, easily breaking the tendrils' projection into pieces. Alma was again unfazed, however Ford was quick to telekinetically grab an unstable fragment of the nightmare and send it flying straight at Alma.

The fragment exploded on contact, this time leaving a clear impact on Alma as she was almost pushed off her feet. Using the window of opportunity, Ford fired a psi-blast right at her, hoping her passive barrier was weakened enough for it to take effect.

It wasn't so easy however. The blast ended up missing it's mark entirely as he was suddenly hit from the side by a large crate that would have splattered him against the wall had he not caught it with his telekinetic hand. It still smashed straight into the wall, but he managed to just barely jump away from danger. He heard Alma's rage filled scream right before a wave of energy hit him right in the face. He was thrown back, but managed to regain his footing right in time to levitate himself away as a burst of flames covered the floor beneath him, outright melting through concrete. Ford responded in hind, lighting a wooden box on fire before throwing it right at her.

It did nothing to her, as he expected, but it did give him time to render his form invisible. She searched for him in frustration, blindly throwing wave after wave of psychic energy. Eventually, more of her nightmares started to appear. These ones took forms of ghosts, entering the reality through black rips in space. Ford revealed himself soon after, appearing behind her back and fairing a ricocheting blast of his psychic energy at the ghosts, turning each into a cloud of black mist. Just as Alma was preparing to strike at him again, he threw one of the nightmare's unstable fragments at her again. This time she stood her ground, almost unfazed, but that quickly changed as a dozen more psychic explosions hit her one after the other.

Still, while that definitely hurt her, it was not enough to bring her down. Not in the long run. She was staggered, just barely remaining on her feet. Her passive barrier was down though, and that's what Ford's been waiting for. A green orb formed in the palm of his hand just as her face was being twisted into an angry scowl. He quickly threw it right at her, watching hopefully as the orb reached it's target and exploded into green mist.

Alma's angry scowl almost immediately turned into pure... confusion. She completely lost her balance as her body refused to properly interpret her commands and she lost any control over her powers. Rolling on the ground and trying desperately to get back up, her powers flared up in completely uncontrollable way, throwing waves of force at random places, igniting fires around her, summoning her nightmares into the world... Ford tried to minimize the effectiveness of her powers but with the rush of power brought to him by the psitanium injection already running out, this was the only chance to end this. "Now!".

Immediately as he shouted, his companion run out of a hole that once housed a door, sprinting straight at Alma with a syringe in his hand. He jumped over waves of flames and weaved between strikes of randomly appearing Nightmares as if he knew when they would attack in advance. Had Ford not seen him in action beforehand, he would have simply assumed the man could see into the future.

He made his way to Alma within a mere moment as Ford cleared out the Nightmares that surrounded him with a few well placed psi-blasts. With surgical precision, he stabbed the syringe straight into her spinal core, pushing the yellow liquid it contained into her body. Both him and Ford backed away as she let out a blood-chilling scream but this time, nothing else happened. The orange lights that filled the room started to slowly disappear along with the Nightmares that made their way out of her mind. Silence filled the area as her body laid almost motionlessly on the ground, merely twitching in pain and anguish, her body not strong enough to move without her powers. Ford wasted no time, quickly flipping her over so he could see her face, twisted by sheer agony of her very existence and rage at having her powers locked away. A small wooden door emerged from his pocket, levitating towards her forehead. "Our bodies will be disabled while I'm in there." He spoke to his companion as the door landed on Alma's forehead, opening only to reveal a dark void behind them, a proof of just how horribly damaged her mind was. "Carry us out of here and call Psychonauts for backup."

He pulled a pair of protective shades from under his uniform and placed them over his eyes. As he started to send his astral projection into her mind, he stared deep inside the entrance to it. Among all this darkness, there was still light.

A small, but still existing flame of hope a part of her desperately held onto. Almost like a lighthouse in the sea of seemingly unending darkness, or a lone star in the vast void of space. He had to reach out to it. Help that flame of hope, not just so it doesn't extinguish, but so it grows. It was his duty after all…

If only he had known the price for her salvation...


It was... quiet. As Ford's astral projection manifested he quickly found himself choking on the heavy atmosphere as starless night surrounded him, only lit up by the red moon hanging above. Silence engulfed him along with the darkness, immediately putting him on high alert. Something was wrong with this place. Wrong on more levels then he could possibly imagine...

A ball of energy appeared above his head, lighting the area with green light. He quickly realized he stood on an island. The sea around it was completely still, almost like a lake and the ground under his feet seemed like little more then a pile of ashes. There was a single dead tree in the center of the small island with a swing hanging from one of the branches. Alma's own astral projection was there, attached to the tree with yellow crystallized chunks of psyllium. Unlike her real form, this projection wasn't just an eyeless pile of skin and bones. Save for the deathly pale skin, she looked just like a normal adult woman, an attractive one at that. Her eyes had a deep orange hue, almost red as she stared right at him with a face full of rage.

Despite the psyllium in her system, she was still aware of what went on within her mind, even if she couldn't do much about it. Ford could see that the crystals that held her in place were already starting to slowly crack in some places though. Time was yet again not on his side. With her eyes continuously following him as he searched the small island he could feel something sinister and... deeply disturbing, from deep underwater. It was clear to him that any and all answers he needed, he would find deep in the penetrable darkness below the island. Taking one more look at Alma, he formed a large ball of energy around himself and stepped into the water.

Before he even realized what was happening, the water surrounded his from all sides, weighting down on him like a thousand bags of sand and sending him plunging down like a sinking rock. He started to feel sick in the pit of his stomach as a bone chilling wave of dread washed over him. It took him great effort to get himself back under control and slow down his descend into the heart of darkness.

Soon, he felt something bump into his protective barrier. It was a body of a young man; his face, battered and scarred, twisted in unspeakable anguish as he clawed at the barrier. Acting on instinct, Ford quickly sent a psi-blast at him, only to suddenly feel as though he was surrounded. Refocusing some of his energy he created a bright light that lit up the waters around him... He saw hundreds more bodies. Man, woman, children... all horribly twisted by pain that emanated from them like a radio signal. It didn't take Ford long to figure out who there people were. Alma's victims. Those she believed responsible for her pain, no matter in how small part. People that died to her powers and were ultimately denied a chance leave the world, instead forced to suffer in the suffocating darkness like she did.

He recognized some of the people drifting there; some of her newest additions. Alma's sister – Alice- was there, still trying to fight back against the darkness in hope of returning to the surface and so was their father -Harlan. Many employees of Armacham who's files and bodies he's found scattered around as he ventured through the city of Fairport were there as well. Most he didn't recognize, but it was not hard to realize that some were stuck like this for years.

He had to put a stop to this. Alma couldn't be allowed to continue as she is now, else the whole world may get caught up in her quest for retribution.

Descending deeper and deeper into the abyss of Alma's mind, Ford cut through the darkness with the light of his psyche. He could still feel a strong pull downwards, but he continued to resist it, opting to carefully move down at his own pace, feeling that if he were to let the pull take him, he would not be coming back up.

Among the legion of people trapped by Alma, he finally started to see figments of Alma's imagination and bits of memories that drifted in the water. They were all just as twisted as the rest of her mind. Images of needles and electrodes, scientists in white coats and soldiers in heavy armor, splashes of blood and organs turned inside-out, monsters both real and imaginary... The deeper he went, the more sickened he was by what he was witnessing. Memories of the countless beatings and horrific experiments she was forced to endure since she was just a little girl… Memories of children ripped away from their screaming mother... He wished this wasn't real, that he could still believe a father couldn't possibly subject his own child to such a fate... Unfortunately he was already too old for that. He's already seen too much...

It felt like he was slowly descending for hours, all the while feeling Alma's chilling breath running down his spine as he became more and more aware of how close she was to breaking free of psyllium's effects. Every now and then he could feel a ripple echo through the water, signaling each milestone she made in freeing her mind. It terrified him to no end knowing she was closer and closer to catching up to him and that once he did, he would not be treated kindly for intruding on her mind, but he didn't let that fear guide him. His emotions and his powers were intertwined in more ways then one. Had he lost total control of either too easily, he would not be a Psychonaut.

Suddenly, as all of the figments and trapped souls disappeared, leaving only darkness to keep him company, he started to see something even deeper below. A faint glimmer of light. The first sight of any light since he started his descend. A welcome one to say the least. It was just a small glimmer, a match in an unending sea of darkness, but still he felt like a sailor watching a lighthouse after months of drifting aimlessly.

It didn't last long however. The light quickly disappeared from sight, covered by something else. Ford didn't know what it was but immediately went into high alert. The answer came to him quickly as he scanned the area using clairvoyance, but ultimately it proved to be not quick enough. Something reached out to him and grabbed the psychic bubble he closed himself in, a massive black hand that emerged straight from the sea floor. He could immediately feel as it is being crushed by it's iron grip as he was pulled down fast. Hundreds of red dots appeared all over the hand, shining with a hellish red color he knew all too well. It was a mass of Nightmares that combined into a larger form. There were hundreds of them in the hand alone, he dared not even guess how many waited where this came from.

Before the hand could drag him all the way down, Ford supercharged the bubble with massive amounts of energy. It's surface turned into spikes sharp like razors, cutting straight into the nightmares and freeing him as the hand released him from it's grip and jerked away. In several places where the spikes pierced the Nightmares he could see openings that formed glowing holes. He fired multiple psi-blasts at the openings but it did little to damage the Nightmare formation, only destroying a few that were already damaged by the spikes. There were hundreds waiting to take their place.

Ford could already see the sea floor as the hand swiped at him again. Telekinetically pushing himself and the bubble aside he avoided the attack by a hair. The hand then unexpectedly disappeared into the ground as he landed on the black mud that covered the sea floor. He looked around the area, allowing only the light of his powers to provide light. Fragments of long dead Nightmares rested there like stone statues, some as small as his fist, others tall as trees. Knowing the hand that just attacked him was still around and more then likely was going to appear again soon, he started to head through the forest of Nightmares in the direction of the faint light he saw before. Some of the stone statues started to come to live as he passed them, but they proved to be no problem on their own, allowing him to push on with relative ease.

As he continued to get closer he could tell that Alma was just a step away from freeing herself as powerful waves ripped through the water, carrying her rage-filled screams. He doubled his pace, struggling as his feet sunk into the mud underneath with each step. He noticed that among the remains of the Nightmares were also remains of Censors. Hardly a surprise considering the state of her mind.

It's been a long time since she has lost control over herself. With her mind overwhelmed by the feelings of pain and anger from such a young age her natural way of filtering her own thoughts simply disappeared, leaving these corrupted thoughts to rot her from the inside.

He could feel that his target was getting closer. Even as the forest of Nightmares started to become more and more thick, he could still see the light behind all of that growing ever so slightly brighter with each step forward. The forest eventually became thick enough that to continue on he had to break some of the statues. This further depleted his already limited time, but eventually, as yet another one of Alma's screams made it's way to him, he reached his target. There, at the very bottom of her mind's deepest and darkest part, was a small sphere, shining with faint, almost melancholic light. Dark, ebony tendrils were wrapped tightly around it, seemingly trying their best to snuff out the light as thick layers of mental cobwebs were left to grow. It didn't seem to belong here at all, not in the mind of someone like Alma. Despite the hint of sorrow and deep, burning pain he felt from from the sphere, it was without a doubt a happy memory for her. Or at least as happy as it ever could be for her.

Having cleared some of the mental cobwebs, Ford hesitantly, he reached his hand out to the bubble, carefully touching it's surface. It was… almost comforting in this dark pit. His fingers immediately fazed into the bubble, followed by the rest of his body. The coldness of the deep sea almost immediately gave way to a warm, gentle breeze and the darkness was replaced by sunlight dimmed only slightly by clouds hanging overhead. Around him was tall grass, dancing with the wind to form waves that went on for as far as he could see. It was a beautiful sight, yet undeniably sad in it's own, melancholic way. It was a lie. A beautiful one, but a lie nonetheless. A lie formed by a little girl hurt so deeply she created her own little world to hide from all the pain.

When he saw a tree standing tall on top of a hill with a swing hanging from one of the branches he quickly made the connection with the island on the surface. Unlike the tree above, this one was alive and covered in healthy green leaves, with birds resting on branches. It didn't hold his attention for long though. His attention quickly turned to the swing that hung from the tree… and the little girl that sat on it, lightly swinging back and forth. Black hair, red dress, pale skin… He's seen her before, running around the as he and the F.E.A.R. operative ventured through the city.

It was Alma. Or a part of her at least. A fragment of her psyche that has yet to succumb to the rage and madness.

She watched him as he slowly approached, fear growing in her expression with each step he made. He stopped just as it seemed she was ready to run away. In silence, they looked at each other as she started to somewhat calm down. Eventually, as she saw he made no move to approach her, she slightly opened her mouth. "W-Who are you?" She asked hesitantly, almost whispering. "Will you… take me away?"

"No." He answered, not missing a beat. "I'm here to free you. What happens after I do… Is your choice."

She crooked her head in slight confusion. "Choice?"

Before he could respond, he spotted two nightmares slowly fading into existence, morphing into a form of two man dressed in heavy combat gear; red eyes glimmered through their visors. Alma immediately tensed at their sight. "No… not again..." She seemed to shrink in fear as they got closer and Ford quickly made a move to dispose of them, but just as he was about to send a psi-blast to destroy them his arm was suddenly pierced by a black tendril. As he groaned in pain, he was pulled away from Alma and carried out of the sphere. The cold water was quick to take him into it's cold embrace, prompting him to reform his protective bubble. The tendril that took him was quickly cut off as his energy surged through the barrier, allowing him to fix the damage done to his astral projection and freeing him to analyze the situation. The ground was shaking violently underneath his feet as the hand that attacked him before reemerging from underground, except this time, it was just a part of something bigger.

Red, hellish light filled the water as a massive entity came into his view. It was an enormous mass of Nightmares shaped into a form of a man… and not just any man, but Alma's own father, Harlan Wade.

The giant towered over him like a skyscraper, even though it's legs were still underground. Opening it's eyes, it shone a deep red light on the area before groaning darkly at the sight of Ford, defiantly standing before it. With a wide move of tit's hand, the Nightmare swiped it's hand over the seafloor, forcing the psychonaut to defend himself with a shield. As the hand was passing over him, numerous small Nightmares clawed at him, almost breaking through the shield entirely. The energy spikes he formed around the shield had virtually no effect, on them either. The aura of the monstrosity was more then strong enough to simply keep the Nightmares that created it protected.

With his mental strength mostly depleted he had no way of harming it and even had he been at full power he doubted he could actually destroy this Nightmare on his own. The only one who could ultimately defeat it was Alma herself… unfortunately she seemed more intent on keeping her nightmares buried rather then fighting them… He would have to find a way to somehow change that mindset… to give her hope of defeating it…

As the giant prepared to strike again, his eyes slowly fell on the sphere behind him. The two Nightmares were standing over the young Alma, holding her by the arms. She struggled against their hold the best she could with a child's strength. It was naturally not enough. And yet, the two that were dragging her away, towards the edge of the sphere were quite clearly on edge, one with a hand hanging right over a taser while the other already had a baton in his hand, waiting for any excuse to use it. And the excuse came quickly as Alma's powers started to trigger through her fear and anxiety. Before she could do anything with them though, The metal baton smacked right in the head.

She fell on the ground with a scream he could make out even outside of the sphere. The other Nightmare already had his taser in hand, aimed at her as the one with the baton flipped a switch on his weapon, causing electric sparks to appear on the tip of it.

Summoning all of his strength, Ford pushed back against the giant as it sent it's fist down to squash him. A large, green hand formed to stop that of the giant but it only delayed it's attack. That was all Ford needed though. Just as one of the soldiers was smacking Alma with the stun baton as she laid on the ground, screaming and begging for the memory to stop, Ford summoned a levitation ball in front of him. Using it to move across the mud faster, he just barely avoided the giant Nightmare's hand and rushed into the sphere. This immediately got the attention of the two Nightmares standing over young Alma, who by now was curled into a ball, holding her head between her arms and crying out in pain. The taser was immediately fired at Ford, who after avoiding it with ease returned the favor with a super-powered psi-blast that outright vaporized the Nightmare.

The other one abandoned the task of beating the little girl into submission and instead rushed at him with the baton in hand. Ford was quick to dispatch it with a series of strikes with his psychic fists.

Alma started to come to it after a short while, noticing the lack of electric shocks spreading through her body. She looked at Ford as he slowly lowered himself to her level, wiping away the tears from her eyes. She winced away from the touch, unsure what his intentions were; afraid of any more pain. "Don't be afraid, child… I won't hurt you..." He gently run his hand over her head a few times before pulling her into a short hug. She didn't respond, merely standing still like a statue, almost ready to start running at the first sign of trouble.

Ford knew that if there was to be any hope of saving this mind, he had to get this young girl out of here. She's been stuck here for far too long, shoved away along with memories of pain and anger that slowly snuffed out the light of hope she embodied.

He felt her involuntarily press herself against him as the massive Nightmare outside smashed it's fist against the sphere, causing the whole thing to shake violently as cracks appeared on the sky that started to fade into darkness. Terrified, young Alma grabbed onto his uniform, shaking violently as more strikes continued to break down her sanctuary. Ford was quick to take action. He targeted the tendrils that held the sphere attached to the seafloor, breaking each with psi-blasts before reinforcing the sphere with his own power. He could feel as it slowly rises, but it was not enough and the little distance it managed to rise on it's own was quickly reduced to nothing as the giant grabbed the sphere and brought it back down, holding it there and slowly crushing with it's fingers.

Nightmares were reaching their hands through the sky; their eyes menacingly staring at them both. "Alma..." Ford started, holding the girl's head between his hands as she looked up at him with a fearful look in her eyes. "I can get you out of here, but I need you to trust me... The monsters outside are close... but I can fight them off. I can't do this on my own however, I'm too weak... Without your help, neither of us will be able to get out... If you can trust me... Even after every nightmare you lived through... Please, lend me you strength..." Momentarily forgetting the furious pounding from outside and the Nightmares reaching out to her, she looked closely at his face, analyzing his elderly face and his words.

After a while, just as the giant Nightmare was about to crush the sphere completely, she nodded her head. Her eyes closed and a bright light engulfed both her and Ford. In an instant, the sphere became covered in a spike riddled barrier, purging the lesser nightmares that held onto it and pushing away the giant.

Ford felt an incredible rush of power filing him. It was as if a dozen other psychonauts have been pushing all of their mental powers into him... It was inconceivable that so much power was in the hands of one little girl and that was only a small fragment of her. A mere tip of the mountain...

With a long, calming sigh, Ford gently kissed the girl's forehead before standing back on his feet. "Thank you... I'll see you outside." He turned towards the giant, now visible through the cracks in the sphere. "And..." As the sphere started to rise again, he took one more look at Alma's young form. "I promise... Things will be better..." With that said, he proceeded to rush towards the giant as it angrily growled, pulling it's legs from under the mud. It rose to it's full height, lifting one of it's legs over the sphere as it floated upwards with intent of crushing it, but just as it's foot was starting to fall down, Ford jumped right out of the sphere and using the power he received from Alma, formed a psychic projection around himself equally as large as the Nightmare giant.

As it grew to full size, Ford grabbed the Nightmare's foot as it descended and pushed it over to the ground. After a quick glance at the rising sphere and young Alma standing at the edge of it, for once with hope she represented showing in her eyes, he turned back to his opponent as it rose back to it's feet. It reared in rage as it looked at the sphere, already at the level of it's head. With it's eyes seething with blazing hot fury, it rushed at the sphere with it's arms stretched out to grab it, only to be stopped by Ford, who placed himself in front of it like a wall and smashed his fist against the Nightmare's face.

It took a step back as it received another punch, now prepared to counter it. It's black fist smashed into the side of Ford's construct but it did nothing more then push it back a little. Without a pause, Ford grabbed the extended arm and used it to push the Nightmare to the ground. He placed a leg against it's shoulder before it was able to get back up and ripped the arm right out of it's body.

Red light started to emit from the wound as the Nightmares forming the arm started to detach from each other. Before they were able to crawl their way back to the main body, a large pulse of energy spread over the seafloor, vaporizing them all. In the end it didn't matter tough. More Nightmares emerged from the ground as soon as the others were turned to dust, immediately forming a new arm for the giant as it rose to it's feet again, preparing to strike. Ford cursed under his breath. Fighting this thing wasn't going to get him anywhere even with the power boost he received. It ultimately didn't matter though. All that really mattered was making sure the young Alma was able to escape the clutches of the darkness and return to the surface.

Catching an incoming strike, Ford pushed the creature away yet again, striking it in the chest and kicking away with a leg. He focused more energy on accelerating the sphere as it continued its ascend. It was so close already… But that's when hell broke loose. Almost literally.

Alma broke free.

A hateful shriek filled the water, seething with venom that made his stomach twist into a knot as his heart froze in place. The Nightmare creature immediately lost all desire to fight and with a terrified scream crawled back underground. Even her own Nightmares were afraid of her…

The water all around him was suddenly painted with menacing orange light as the projection he created was burst like a bubble. In an instant, he found himself hopelessly pulled towards the bottom of the sea again, unable to resist. As he smashed against the seafloor, the air left his lungs, quickly replaced with cold water. He didn't even try to struggle though. All of his focus was quickly redirected to moving the sphere above surface. Luckily, it didn't seem like Alma realized what he's done quite yet. She was down there along with him, standing over his body more angry then he thought possible, but in her anger, completely focused on him.

Fire seemed spread around her, even though they were underwater, eventually reaching his body. It hurt more then he could describe, but his focus remained unshaken. Not even when she sunk her hand into his stomach, slowly ripping his astral projection to pieces did he show a sign of letting up and soon it was too late for her. The sphere has reentered the surface, now shining brightly upon the world around it as hope returned to it's place in Alma's mind. In one moment, the hate filled monster hell-bent or kicking him out of her mind was suddenly taken aback. She realized she is no longer the only voice in this mind, and she did not like it. Especially as the realization of exactly what he did came to her.

Turning her attention back to him, she only saw as despite the obvious pain he was in, he gently smiled. Enraged beyond what seemed possible, she grabbed him by the head; her nails digging into his skin. Pain shot through him again, more intense then before. Trying to let out a scream of agony as he felt his projection outright falling apart, he only saw his oppressor angrily glaring at him. It wasn't long before his astral projection gave in, contorting and shaking violently as he was forcefully ejected from Alma's mind and everything faded to black.

When he came to, he quickly realized he was not pushed back to his body. It wasn't just his projection that was damaged in Alma's assault, but also his mind. The sheer power she's been pushing onto his projection must have partly reached his mind, causing enough damage for his projection to become unable to enter. Opening his eyes, he found himself lying face down on a wooden floor he immediately recognized as his own corner of the collective unconscious. His gateway to the minds of others; those he cared about and those whose minds he entered in the past.

Rising to his feet he clutched his head, groaning in pain. He needed to reenter his own mind. Locate the damage done to him and get back the control of his own mind. The pain was tearing his head apart as he slowly moved through the wooden hallway, passing numerous doors that each represented his link to another mind in the collective unconscious. Alma's mind was in there too… He would return to it soon, after things in the real world were once calm and he regained his strengths. A bit of bacon would definitely help with that, he mused with a smile. The final door at the very end of the hallway that led to his mind were getting closer with each slow step as he dragged himself towards them. He was just a few steps away as he started to reach his hand out towards the knob… but then, the door suddenly swung wide open.

He found himself thrown back by a powerful shock wave that sent him flying all the way to the other end of the hallway, smashing against the wall.

His head suddenly exploded with pain. Unable to simply shrug it off, he grabbed his head with both hands and almost let out a scream. As he opened his eyes again, he saw fire spreading across the entire hallway, burning away the connections he made. He saw cracks appear on the floor, mirroring ones that he realized were appearing all over his body. Light started to escape his body as he managed to force himself to focus back in the entrance into his mind. The door have been blown wide open with scraps burning all around the entrance that now was surrounded in ominous orange glow… Alma was there, walking straight out of his mind, slowly approaching him as fire and destruction spread behind her.

Angry scowl spread on her face as she stared at him, warping in and out of existence, each time appearing closer and closer until she was just a step away. Standing over him, she grabbed him by the head and started to crush it in her hands. The cracks spreading through his body reached his head, only growing more painful as Alma did her best to break his mind apart. Behind her, the hallway was already shattered into pieces. Identities of others in the collective unconscious seeping into his own, unprotected mind, clashing and causing even more damage, covering up his own identity. He felt like a mirror about to break...

"No! Stop!" Suddenly, as he was starting to loose the hold on the last bits of his mind, Alma was pushed away from him, leaving his body to drop on the ground, unable to move. In the corner of his eye he saw the young Alma placing herself between him and her adult counterpart.

He wasn't sure what happened next. Everything started to fade into black as pieces of his mind drifted away from each other, leaving him stranded in the sea of his own psyche.

It was then that he realized what the unspoken rule of the psychonauts truly meant… Coming into Alma's mind alone was a mistake, the biggest one he's ever made… and as long as it meant she was saved in the end, one he would do all over again.


A year later…

"Alright cadets! Gather up in line, I want a full list of all members of this unit ASAP!" Coach Morceau Oleander booming voice sounded through the megaphone in his hand, immediately capturing the attention of the children gathered around the bus parked behind him. They all quickly said the final goodbyes to their parents… All save for her. Wearing her favorite red dress, Alma moved to step in line first, clutching a doll in her hand. Others soon joined, their parents looking from behind… She wished she could have that. She wished she could as much as remember her parents, but other then the last couple of months, she couldn't remember anything. It stung a little to see all the other children taking pleasure in something she didn't have, but she knew her grandpa was there for her at least. She could see him sitting inside of the bus, making her smile slightly.

Soon, all of the others formed a line behind her. The coach started to slowly move from one end of the line to the other wit h a menacing frown on his face, trying to install a sense of intimidation in them. It seemed to have worked on some of the others, but not really on her. It looked mostly ridiculous to her. She was only 9 from what Grandpa told her, and she was already almost as tall as the coach. "Athens Franke!" He called out, prompting a ginger haired girl to step ahead with her travel bag in hand. "What are you waiting for!? Move it cadet! Into the transport, we have an ETA of 1 hour and I'm not going to let go over that!" She jumped a bit and rushed into the bus. "Barge Chloe!" Coach said without missing a beat as he placed a check on the list he was holding.

Another girl stepped forward, wearing over her head and muttering something about 'primitive earthlings' as she passed by the coach. "Boole Dogen!" This time it was a boy. He frightfully run by the coach, almost tripping on his large feet. The tinfoil wrapped around his head didn't avert her attention. "Bubai Kitty!" Girl with heavy makeup stepped forth, typing on her phone without a care in the world. At least, until Oleander snatched the phone from her hand. "I believe I was clear about the phones last year miss Bubai and I regret to inform you that the rules didn't change. If you need to contact someone you still have to go to your commanding officer, which means me. Am I clear?" The girl only shrugged and kept on moving to the bus, pulling out a second phone from her pocket once the coach turned his eyes away from her. "Canola Maloof!" Nobody stepped out. "Canola! Don't pretend you're not here, I've already seen you before!" The boy in question to was suddenly pushed out of the line by a large boy who clearly didn't put much care into dental health. A screechy voice sounded from him, calling for the 'looser' to 'get his looser butt moving'.

"Cruller Alma!" Squeezing her doll a bit harder, she stepped forward. "So you're the girl, huh?" The coach looked over her, analyzing her with his eyes. She wasn't sure if she liked it. Especially when his lips twisted into a small smirk. "I'll be sure to keep an eye on you… Now move it! Go! Go! Go!" Slightly startled, she rushed into the bus. With a sigh, she started to climb her way inside, quickly focusing on her Grandpa in the driver's seat.

She smiled as she looked at him, happy to see him return the smile. His hand reached out to her head, ruffling her hair a bit. "How'ye doing there kiddo? Excited to meet some other psychic whippersnapper?" She only nodded in response, still smiling. He was such a nice old man… Though very weird. He acted differently almost every time she saw him outside of home, always taking on different jobs. It was as if he would just forget who he is at times… Still, she loved him no matter how bizarrely he acted. "C'mon, get in your sit. Make some friends and I'll ask that old nutjob from the Main Lodge to whip out some burgers for ye kids." With another nod, she moved to take a sit, choosing the first free one she came upon.

"Um… hi?" Turning to her right, she saw one of the boys sitting by the window. It was the one with tinfoil wrapped around his head. "I'm Dogen… W-Who are you?"

She looked at him in silence for a moment. There weren't many opportunities for her to talk with other children, but she cherished each and every one. This camp was her first opportunity to really get to know others her age and even though she was very inexperienced, she wanted to make the best of it. "H-Hi. I'm Alma." She didn't sound quite as loud or confident as she would have liked. Dogen didn't seem to mind. He actually didn't seem to know how to continue the conversation from there too… same as her. Silence fell over them as the rest of children entered the bus, none seemingly interested in talking to her.

Except for the one she particularly didn't want talking to her. "The hell is this?" As the voice left the tall boy's mouth, spit started hitting her face. His breath was as bad as the state of his teeth would indicate, dirty and crooked as they were. Her hand quickly moved to wipe the spit from her face, but as she did that, the rude boy snatched the doll from her other hand. "What are you, a baby? That's so stupid!"

She stared at him wide eyed. He took it…

"You must be some new level of stupid if you come to a camp for psychics with some dumb doll."

Her fingers twitched. It was hers…

"I'll do you a favor and get rid of it for you."

She saw smoke coming from the doll as he focused his mind on it. It was her baby…

"Trust me, you'll thank me for this. This camp isn't a place for stupid baby stuff."

The cocky grin on his face suddenly started to fade away as her eyes started to glow red. The air around him suddenly grew cold, snuffing out the small fire he managed to light up. She will kill him for this!

Suddenly a green hand formed in front of the boy's face, smacking him in the nose and taking the doll away from him. Her eyes immediately went back to normal once the hand passed the doll back to her. She hugged it tightly to her body, clinging to it for dear life. The little light provided by the stars and moon seemed to slowly disappear around her as the coldness wrapped its arms around her. She was shaking, rocking back and forth with the doll in her hands. She will not loose anything ever again…

Her breaths became short and rapid yet no air seemed to enter her lungs. It was as if she was sinking. Loosing herself in some place dark and lonely. A place that felt all too familiar. She would be safe there...

She felt something wrap around her back, something cold and… evil. The touch felt familiar too. It would protect her...

Looking ahead, she saw her own reflection in the darkness that seemed to surround her at all sides. Someone else slowly came into view… Something else… A monster devoid of eyes with skin tightly hugging thin bones and lips twisted by sinister joy. It's arms were draped over her, threatening to pull her into the darkness with her. Nothing would hurt her there…

"Alma!" She felt a sudden burst of warmth snap her away from the monster. The light returned to the world and she became aware of dozens of faces surrounding her. Concern and shock written on them… Grandpa was there too, his hands holding her shoulders. "Alma, what happened?" He asked softly, pulling her into embrace. She didn't answer. Didn't know how… All she knew was that as she cried against his shoulder, held by his warm arms, she could still feel the monster watching.

And she knew the nightmare didn't end for her. It was just the beginning...


Song of the day: Deuce - Nightmare