"...........ohhhhh, this was a mistake." Ryker muttered.

"This... this was a mistake." he said.

"Yeah, no, you... you can't be here any longer." he commented.

"I will not allow you to stay in this horrible place any longer." he insisted, the other side of him starting to show some physical appearance on his features.

"They're not helping you, they're making you worse." he said further, before going over to Eke and sitting down beside him.

"God damn it all, and I thought they were honestly going to help you." he growled, venom in his tone.

"What kind of hellhole IS this place?"

Ryker looked towards Eke, surprise and shock in his eyes.

"You... you WANT to talk to him?" he asked.

"Are... are you sure?" he asked further.

Eke made it apparent that he wasn't fooling around with this, so Ryker just sighed.

"....very well, then." was all he said.

He then leaned his head down, and was engulfed in a black mist for a brief second, before sitting back up and looking at Eke, his eyes that recognizable red.

"...yes?" he asked.

"........." Ryker was silent for a moment, before covering his eyes with his hand... and chuckling.

It was low at first, but then it grew, louder and louder, until he was almost outright laughing.

"So. You want to go back to the way you were, do you?" he asked.

"That's a mighty vague wording." he said, a smirk playing out on his face.

"I'll bet if I concentrated hard enough, I could rewind time. Back to before you and Ryker-boy even met." he told him. "If you two never met, then you wouldn't become this." he went on.

"...probably." he then mumbled.

"Or, I can rip this side of your personality out of you... taking random memories with it, of course." he continued.

"Tell me. Are you willing to sacrifice your relationship with Ryker to go back to 'the old you'?" he asked, staring right into Eke's eyes.

The demon just laughed ominously.

"You expect a demon to give you a solution without a hitch?" he asked.

"I don't think so." he said, shaking his finger.

"That being said, you DO have a way to beat me at my own game." he then told him.

"I can yank out what you don't want in there... but the fact of the matter, is that I'm not technically the one that exacts the toll of your memories." he explained. "The shroud within you does. And it will try and exact the most precious of tolls." he said.

"So you need to be stronger. You need to have an iron grip on those memories of Ry-guy." he continued.

"Simply put... if you care enough about him.... and if you have a tight enough grip on those memories and friendship... then you come out of this deal scot free." he summarized.

"You feel me?"

The demon just cracked his fingers.

"All right then." he said.

"If you're sure about this." he told him.

"The first thing I'm going to do is... perform some strategic mind-wiping." he said.

"We need the right people to forget about the little incident that got you in here." he explained.

"Plus, it's fun to mess with the memories of mortals on this plane." he snickered darkly.

"Then we get you out of here... and I perform the removal." he told him further.

"Last chance to back out. You SURE you got the will to hang onto what you have with Ry-guy?"

"Oh, he knows." the demon responded.

"All right then, here we go!" he exclaimed, before there was an ominous pulse of... something... that emanated from the demon, rippling outwards for a few seconds.

He was then silent and still, before standing up.

"Let's go." he told him.

"We can just walk out, everyone should be passed out." he said, before snapping his fingers, and causing the power to the place to flicker and short for a few seconds.

"And now any records... physical and electronic... have been erased." he informed Eke.

"It's like you never attacked that sap, and nobody knows you were even here."

The demon just crossed his arms over his chest as Eke said what he did.

"Mmhmm." he said.

"I'd let him back out, but I need to build up my power for this." he told him.

"But he hears you." he then said.

"...believe me, he hears you." he mumbled.

"Remember, it's not my fault if you end up being too weak to hang onto your connection with Ry-Guy."

The demon just laughed out loud at what Eke had said and done.

"Ahhh, you're a brash one." he said, following.

"I LIKE that." he told Eke.

"Someone like YOU would make a valuable asset for me." he continued, before pausing.

"But my host's mental stability is somewhat crucial for me, so it's worth more to acquiesce to your wish." he then assured Eke.

"Just be warned... it's gonna be painful."

The demon just laughed again, before Ryker's body seemed to collapse forward. When it did, a shadow seemed to rise up from the body, revealing a dark demonic form with glowing red eyes.

"VERY WELL." he said, his voice now booming, and it seemed to be coming from all around.

"IT SHALL BE DONE." he told Eke.

With that, a clawed shadow hand shot forward, and it seemed to go right into Eke's chest. Eke then felt like his heart was being grabbed... before the hand started to withdraw, taking... something... with it.

However, Eke could also feel his memories of Ryker starting to get a trad bit fuzzy... his other side was trying to take its toll with it.

The demon just continued to laugh darkly, and almost maniacally, when Eke heard a voice.

"....pay me my toll..." a primal voice told him.

"Give me your sweet memories." it said.

"Forget about the demon-host... he's caused you this pain..." it went on.

"I wouldn't exist without HIM..."