Dionysus felt a faint tug in his mind and made his way in that direction. Searching for the Otakus was a hard job... namely because they didn't want to be found. Of course, Guardians had that little built-in homing device that helped them to find their respective charges, but it was harder to pinpoint people that you did not guard. He had a duty as proxy for the Moderator to inform them of the Truth, or as in Susanne's case, try to beat it into them. Honestly, some people were sooo thick-headed! Once they all acknowledged the truth, they would all be that much closer to being able to go back to their "regular" lives. And Dionysus desperately wanted everything to end. He couldn't stand the way his Ce-ko's mind had been ravaged by this whole course of events. She could hardly remember her own past! It wasn't fair after all she had been through. Dionysus continued to trudge through the darkened Bishounen World and every step brought the same word into his thoughts.

Step. Baka.

Step. Baka.

Step. Baka.

Baka! Baka! Baka! Ore wa baka! Why did you leave her, Dion? Kuso...

Suddenly, a scream pierced through the air. Dionysus' head shot up and, like any good little soldier, he ran straight towards the sound.

P-kun was trying his damndest to wake the screaming Remy up, but when your Otaku is roughly a hundred times your height and weight, it made the job even more difficult. He shook his head from his position at the base of a tree where he had been thrown. Okay, so physical stuff wasn't gonna work... change of tactics...

"Remy! Wake up! Shimatta, wake up!" he yelled as loudly as he could. The girl continued to be plagued by whatever the dreams (nightmares?) were showing her. P-kun was about to leap onto Remy's stomach and jump up and down when a silver-haired man ran into the area. P-kun saw the crescent mark on the man's forehead and recognized him instantly. "Dionysus?!?"

Dionysus squinted and finally saw P-kun. "P-kun?" His eyes ran back and forth between the screaming girl and the frazzled Guardian. "What the hell's going on?"

"Oh, thank god you're here," P-kun started. "Wake her up!"

Dionysus nodded and grabbed Remy's shoulders, shaking her roughly. "Wake up, girl! Wake up!"

Remy shuddered and stopped screaming. Her eyes opened wearily and she gasped. "Oh, kami-sama... it's another one..." she mumbled. "Are you going to give me some Snapple too?"

P-kun came up. "Remy? Daijobou?"

Remy was a little bit startled. "P-kun?"

"Hai. What happened? Why were you screaming like that?"

"I... I... I don't want to talk about it," she said finally. She looked up at Dionysus, who was standing off to the side. "Ano... arigato for helping me..."

"Hey, no problem. We Guardians do this sort of stuff all the time."

"Guardian?" Remy looked at P-kun quizically, and he sighed.

"Yes, Dionysus here is a Guardian, just like me," P-kun answered. Then he leveled a look at Dionysus. "Though *technically* he shouldn't be here."

Dionysus slapped a hand across his face. "No... really? And I thought all this time I was supposed to be selling Avon. Don't bring it up. Roger is already all over me because of this."

"Excuse me? Girl needing back story here?" Remy asked. She was still a bit confused about everything.

Dionysus looked at her briefly, then did a double take. "You... you know..."

"Uh, know what?"

"You know the Truth... Great! I thought my job was going to be really hard. But, you're proof that not all the Otakus are close-minded."

"What are you ranting about, Dionysus?" P-kun interjected. "Explain yourself for those of us here who don't have a clue."

"Oh. Gomen. I'm here as a proxy for the Moderator. It's my duty to tell the Otakus the Truth so that this party can really get started. The sooner all the Otakus know the truth, the sooner we can all get back to our lives."

"Lives? But I thought we were fiction or something?" Remy said.

"Just because we were created, doesn't mean we don't have lives of our own. Think of all the other people out there who were written by Them. They don't even have an inkling of the Truth, yet they are happy. Just because we were created by something else, doesn't mean that we don't have a measure of free will in our lives."

"So, you're saying that some... seemingly omnipotent people created us, but we can still act on our own?"

"Yeah. It's a God complex thing. They can toy with our lives, but after they've created us, they pretty much leave us alone."

"Huh... that's what the book said."

"Book? What book?"

Remy went on to explain her adventures when arriving in Bishounen World, while Dionysus listened carefully. He had wondered where exactly she had learned the Truth, and now he had the answer. She obviously accepted her role in the Game without very many problems. She could be a wonderful asset...

"Uh, Dionysus?" P-kun repeated.

"Huh, nani?" Dionysus replied, startled out of his train of thought.

"I said, what are we going to do now? You came to tell Remy the Truth, but she already knows it. What should we do now?"

"Oh... well, if you don't mind, I was thinking of taking you back to the Mori."

"The Mori!?!" Remy yelped. "Where that wacko who attacked me was?!? Are you nuts?!?"

Dionysus frowned. Wacko... "Listen, Ce-ko isn't a ‘wacko.' She happens to be the only other Otaku here who accepts the Truth. She would be a formidable ally to you. She does have the ability to forgive, you know. If you want to be on the winning end, and get out of this screwed up world as soon as possible, you need to go to her."

Remy and P-kun looked at each other.

TBC...