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Into the Darkness
“So Danny’s got you doing what now? Two-v-two?”
“Three-v-three. He fills the lobby, I clean it up.”
“And how’s that going?”
Matt shifted in his custom-made ultralight. He was still getting used to it after months of the temporary rehab chair.
“Haven’t lost yet. Danny talks too much in chat, though. Half his callouts are wrong. The other half are late.”
Kyle grinned. “But you keep playing with him.”
“He taught me everything I know. Don’t tell him I said that.”
“I’m bound by confidentiality. You two play a lot?”
“Once a week. Fridays. Danny picks the maps, I run the strategy.”
“Good. Let’s talk about control then.”
“Smooth.”
“I thought so. You like things you can manage, Matt. You find the system, you run it. Nightmares, PT, the game. You identify what you can control and you lock it down. And you’re good at it.”
“And?”
“What do you do when you can’t?”
“Depends.”
“No it doesn’t. You endure. Every time. If there’s no system, no way to win, you take the hit and wait.”
“That’s called dealing with it.”
“That’s called surviving it. There’s a difference.”
“Not from where I’m sitting.”
“Enduring something isn’t the same as facing it. Enduring is running out the clock. And some of this doesn’t have a clock, Matt.”
Matt’s hands pressed flat against his thighs.
“Tell me about Final Fantasy IV.”
“We’ve done this.”
“Humor me. Cecil and Kain. What happens to them?”
“They fight Golbez. Cecil becomes a Paladin. Kain gets mind-controlled about four times. You already know this.”
“I do. What I want to know is why Cecil makes it and Kain doesn’t.”
He already knew where Kyle was going.
“Cecil’s the protagonist. He gets the arc.”
“Come on, Matt. You can do better than that.”
He didn’t want to go there.
“Cecil goes to Mount Ordeals. Fights his dark self. Changes class. Kain doesn’t get the same opportunity.”
“Doesn’t get it, or doesn’t take it?”
He didn’t want to talk about this.
“Because the game gives Kain chances,” Kyle said. “He breaks free more than once. Comes back, swears he’s done, he’s with the party now. And each time—”
“He falls again. I know the game, Kyle.”
“So why does he keep falling?”
He didn’t want to think about it.
“Because the game needs dramatic tension.”
“Try again.”
He didn’t want to say it out loud.
“Because he’s weak.”
“Is he? He’s one of the strongest in the party. He keeps fighting. He never gives up. He endures everything Golbez throws at him. Sound like anyone?”
“Don’t.”
“Kain’s problem isn’t weakness. His problem is he keeps fighting the same fight. He never stops to look at what’s actually controlling him. He just white-knuckles through it and hopes it sticks. What about Cecil?”
“I already told you. He fights his dark side on the mountain.”
“Right. He changes. Kain doesn’t. And it’s not because Kain doesn’t try hard enough. It’s because trying harder was never the answer.”
“So what, I just roll over? That’s the answer?”
“Nobody said roll over. But you know how Kain’s story goes, Matt. You want to keep going the way you’re going, that’s where you end up.”
His fingers dug into his legs.
“You know, for someone who loves this game, you really suck at following its lessons.”
“Screw you, Kyle.”
“There’s the fire. Same time next week, Matt.”
Matt released the brakes and drove for the door. His shoulders burned from how hard he pushed the rims. The elevator bay felt farther than it should.
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