So here in this corner we have my mandatory, celebratory 'I finally beat the last game in the series' oneshot. Takes place after The Great Juju Challenge.

Over just the last few years of my life, I had accomplished so much. I had saved the village, saved the entire world even from complete chaos and destruction time and time again. Now I had even earned the favor of the Moon Juju goddess and brought both honor and respect back to my tribe. My tribe loved me and other than doing the occasional chore for Jibolba, I didn't have a care in the world. I spent my days horsing around with Lok, practicing my abilities or getting in to trouble for doing something that I really should know not to. Now that things had calmed down I had a nice, easy life ahead of me.

So WHY was I so anxious all the time?

At first I attributed this constant paranoia I had to the fact that I had been through quite a lot. Having the fate of the world resting on your shoulders tended to stress you out rather quickly, especially when your whole life you had been informed that somebody else would have to deal with it, not you.

That thought calmed me down...for a bit. Still I found myself ...not so much as worrying as...i was constantly thinking. My mind was a mess and I found it harder and harder to focus on anything as the days went on, turning in to months and then almost a year after the challenge. At first it had not been a big issue, as only I really noticed myself searching around for enemies that I had thought I had seen, but were never really there. The only things that the others noticed was how I was always in a worse mood when I had these flashbacks to the monsters that I would fight. They would ask me what was wrong but I could never explain it to them. I couldn't even explain it to myself really.

One day Jibolba had approached me, asking if I was OK and if I needed anybody to talk to. I could see just how worried for me he was. Honestly I did not know how to feel about that, but in the end I decided that I was grateful. Jibolba was like the parent he never had and he genuinely cared for me. I couldn't bring myself to tell him what was wrong. It would only worry him more and I knew he would never be able to understand what was going through my mind, much less help me.

Lok seemed to notice that I was not myself these days as well, but he was always to self absorbed to actually say anything about it or really care for that matter. Honestly I wouldn't have been shocked if he was happy with the way I was now. He always had been extremely jealous that it had ended up being me who was the 'Mighty warrior' and not him. I couldn't blame him though. Its literally how he was raised.

Even with the peace that I now have in my life, I still find myself quite busy. My need for adventure is greater than ever before and I am constantly looking for ways to state my ever growing hunger. Lok often joins me on my quest for excitement because he knows how it feels as well. He even agrees with me that the more dangerous the activity, the better we feel in the end. We may not be the closest friends ever, but we have a mutual understanding for each other.

As I spend my days entertaining Lok and myself, I find that the only time that I have to truly rest and think is at night while I lay in my hammock, waiting to fall asleep. It is the only time where I can let my mind go and not be plagued by the annoyance of seeing strange creatures that are not actually there in the corner of my eyes. Instead I have time to think about WHY it always leaves me in such a fowl mood when I turn to face the monsters only to find that it was my imagination. It leaves me time to ponder the reason I always have this sense of impending doom looming in the back of my mind. Thinking about the past adventures I had gone on and what they had left me with was oddly comforting in their own way.

That's how it started. I would lay there in bed, going over the whole story in my head from the day that the village had been turned in to sheep, to the very last round in the proving grounds against the Black Mist tribe. So many memories. They made me laugh at the hilarity of the situation, or a comment that Lok had made. They made me shudder and pull my covers up closer to my face at the sheer terror that some of the memories instilled in me. Some of them simply made me grind my teeth together in anger and frustration. When I reached the end of the story, I would start back at the beginning. My journey became my bedtime story that I played over and over again in my head.

Even while I went over everything that had happened, I still found myself jumpy and constantly on the look out for anything that could be deemed as a threat. Was I nervous? Was I living in constant fear of attack? No, I was simply bored. It took me such a long time to realize that though, and it came to me one night while I had been going over my story in my head, and my brain got caught on one of the most important yet annoying figures in my story.

Tlaloc.

Even just saying the man's name sent shivers down my spine. He is a man that I figured I would most likely never completely understand, even if I really did wish to see things from his point of view. I figured even if I did see from his point of view, it wouldn't make any difference. Still, he intrigued me, and for the longest time I could not think why on earth I would find him the slightest bit interesting. I pondered over it for day and night for so long, going over every aspect of Tlaloc that I could imagine and nothing came to mind, why this man did not invoke pure hatred in me, like he should, but instead left me with a sort of...longing. This disturbed me. What could I ever find desirable in a man like Tlaloc?

It was then that instead of going through my story in my head, I began to pick through it, replaying every word that he had said to me in my head again and again. His voice in my head lulling me to sleep on many occasions. Certain things that he would say to me never failed to make me squeeze my eyes just a little tighter and really focus on the way that he had said it. The way he had called me 'boy' on numerous occasions. The way he would threaten me was almost enough to make me scoff and laugh a little. How confident he sounded always made me want to knock the bastard down a peg, yet I knew he had reason to sound so confident. At times it seemed that I had beaten him for good, but he always came back one way or another. Honestly it was rather impressive, but I would never let him know that.

My mind drifted over the last time that I had seen him during the Great Juju Challenge. That had been over a year and a half ago, yet his words still rang clearly in my mind. Tlaloc, being a former Pupanunu tribesman, had formed a temporary truce with me, saying that this challenge was above anything that we may have had between us. My mind went over those few words again and again. Simply the way he said that sent an excited tingle down my spine that I really could not explain. Promises, Promises.

Honestly I will admit that I thought about Tlaloc, a man more than 3 times my age, far more than any growing by my age actually should, but I became obsessed with the thought of him when I finally figured out why I had been feeling the way that I had been. Everything I had been through, every single adventure and exciting journey I had been through, was because of him. I owed everything that I had to Tlaloc because in one way or another he was the cause of all the excitement in my life. If it had not been for him, I would still be some pathetic shaman's assistant, not a mighty warrior and a savior of worlds. Tlaloc would be back, and I was sure he would have more adventures in store for me when he did finally return for his revenge.

I wasn't really sure how this would help me with my already anxious mindset, but it did make me feel much better about my future and what it would hold for me. I knew that I should have been ashamed to see Tlaloc again, but really I couldn't help myself. I longed for the adventure that I had grown so accustomed to and he was the key to that.

I smiled and pulled my covers up over me, getting the best sleep that I had in quite some time that night. Tlaloc would return and bring me what I desired so badly. It was only a matter of time.

Just a short little thing in celebration of completing one of my life goals. I will most likely write a full length fic about Tlaloc and Tak someday...