If you missed the last chapter of REEF MOB, you can find it [url=https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/223103748/0/0]here[/url], or if you need to find a previous chapter, you can find them all in the [url=https://www.bungie.net/en/Forums/Post/218618986?sort=0&page=0]Table of Contents[/url]. Please give a bump or leave a comment if you enjoy this and any other chapter! ***  [i]“Tanis again is running circles around them out there!!! I tell you what, that is one lady who you pray you don’t meet down in the Impulse Division!” “You said it, Carlo, only two opponents remaining before she shuts out her fifth win in a row!!!”[/i] The gibbering idiots keep blabbing, but I bury their voices. [i]Might be a good idea to just shoot them, give the spectators something to really cheer about.[/i] Silence is all that greets me. I feel my lip curl into a sneer from the lack of response just as I feel my heart drop again. [i]Maybe I should just shoot the spectators then, too. Then hijack a ship from the Verge, kill them all single-handedly and take off. I could be a Pirate Queen, taking what I can from wherever I can reach –[/i] Silence is all that answers me. I grit my teeth and focus back on my opponents as they pitifully attempt to box me in. [i]Asteroid 16 will knock opponent two in the back since he’s not paying attention. He’ll spin, shots will go wide, distracting his teammate temporarily in 5 seconds – 4… 3… 2… Maybe I should miss on purpose, drag this out a little longer so I can find a more daring way to kill them – 1…[/i] No one answers me. With a sigh, I watch my opponents fumble just as I’d predicted they would, and with two quick shots it’s all over. The spectators go wild and the commentators devolve into even bigger blabbering idiots, but there’s only one voice I’m waiting to hear. [i]So why can’t I remember what it sounds like?[/i] *** The airlock seals shut behind me and I turn to see Rafe waiting, beaming with his arms wide open. “Magnificent as always, my dear!” he croons as he sweeps me into a hug. “Okay, okay, okay,” I say quickly, shoving him off. Rafe just keeps smiling though as he pulls out my winnings. I weigh it in my hand suspiciously, eyes narrowing at him. “Feels a little light.” “Yes, well,” Rafe begins slyly. “Have to account for your….growing tolerance.” I glare at him. “Don’t play with me, Rafe – “ “Oh I wouldn’t dream of it,” he says, feigning offense. “Addiction is certainly no game, my dear, we must ensure you’re getting your treatments regularly. Who knows what would happen were you to start to go into withdrawals…” I feel my heart thumping in my chest. [i]He’s got me, and he knows it,[/i] I think savagely, anger and fear welling up equally inside. But only silence answers me. [i]I….I need some help here.[/i] Only silence answers. I bite back the tears – what did I expect? Rafe sees my distress and seems to soften. “Ia, Ia,” he says gently, grasping my shoulder and looking me deep in the eye. “As long as I’ve known you, you’ve only ever wanted one thing – to make a name for yourself. You hear that?” He presses the comm next to the airlock and the post-game broadcast fills the corridor. I hear my name being chanted, hear them exalting my performance, hear them remembering me – [i]Is this what I always wanted? If so, why do I still feel so empty and confused?[/i] Rafe watches me shrewdly, finally taking my hand and placing an ether mask into it. “You just have to remember to keep taking your medicine,” he says compassionately. “That’s all that’s missing. Don’t forget what happened the last time you went too long without it.” I think back to Slumberland, to when I remember waking up – I remember the dead Fallen’s face, but…. [i]What happened before that?[/i] “Just take your medicine,” Rafe prods again, and I finally put the ether mask to my face. I feel the compulsion begin to subside as the chemicals shoot into my brain, and then – [i]Nothing else matters.[/i] “Good girl,” Rafe tells me soothingly. “Now go take a rest, you’ll need your strength back after a performance like that.” With the corridor swimming, I simply nod, rubbery legs carrying me away, feeling Rafe looking after me the whole time – But as soon as I’m out of his sight, I turn down a separate corridor, looking for my dealer. [i]More…[/i] I think blindly, moving through the industrial wasteland ringed with graffiti, dirt and who knows what else. [i]More…[/i] I turn down another corridor, single-mindedly focused on finding more ether – And then a scream reverberates through the corridor ahead of me, and I curiously push forward, turning to see where it’s coming from – Just ahead I stumble across an Awoken woman curled up on the ground beneath a hulking Fallen. He’s rasping his horrible, grating language at her, and she just keeps crying and cowering, as though she’s trying to melt into the deck and disappear – She’s just like any other of the ladies you’d see down here, dressed provocatively, haunting the same corridors, but there’s….something else… I stare closely at them, and in an instant another image forces itself into my mind – [i]The monster looms over the Awoken woman on the surface of the asteroid. “Run!!!” the woman screams to me as the monster leans down and seizes her, pulling her up violently – “Run!!!” she screams again with her last breath as the monster pulls her apart –[/i] “NO!!!” I shout and before I know it, I’m charging the Fallen and ramming my shoulder into its stomach. With a grunt it topples over, falling to the ground as I stand straight up, glaring murderously at the beast. “Leave!! Now!!!” I bark to the woman, and she bolts without a moment of hesitation. Before me, the Fallen rises back to its feet and snickers wickedly, rasping something. “Whatever, you ugly bug,” I snarl savagely. “Come at me!!!” It obliges and charges – I roll onto my back and kick up with my metal leg quickly, catching the beast in the stomach and flipping it over me – it crashes into a wall, but flips quickly, roaring in anger. It charges again and catches me, slamming me against the bulkhead – instinctively, I swipe at its mask, and knock it loose – The Fallen starts gasping and drops me, fingers quivering as they go for its mask, trying to fix it – I take its momentary distraction to sweep its legs out from under it, pin it to the ground, and shove my hand cannon into the small hollow in its thorax – The beast has only a half-second to scream as it realizes what’s happening – then I pull the trigger until the gun clicks empty. I fall back off the Fallen and sit on the deck, dropping the smoking pistol with a clang – heart pounding, I see the Fallen’s mask lying crooked on its face still, and impulsively seize it, bringing it to my face – I halt just before breathing in, as though I’m waiting for something – [i]Stop me….[/i] I put the mask closer to my face, praying in the silence that I hear something. [i]I’m not crazy, I know there’s supposed to be….something there….[/i] But only silence answers. I feel a shiver of terror, of complete and utter loneliness, as I cross my fingers and try one more time…. [i]Please stop me….I know you’re there….[/i] … But only silence answers. Tears fall freely down my cheeks as I sigh and fix the mask to my face, preparing to take a deep breath – “There you are.” Jumping from surprise, I turn toward the voice – and see a kind-faced, smiling Awoken woman, face wreathed in vivid red hair, watching me. Her eyes seem to grow sad as they meet mine, but she just broadens her smile and extends her hand. “I’ve been looking everywhere for you.” “Who….who are you?” “Don’t you remember?” At the question, I can’t hold it in anymore – I break down sobbing, tears pouring down my face as the woman kneels next to me, gathering me into a tight hug. “It’s going to be okay,” she keeps saying as she rubs my back, letting me get it all out. “It’s all going to be okay.”