And the end is the beginning is the end.
Rapid Eye Movement.
It's taking everything I can to not completely break down over every shock, twist, and turn I've seen since I started this "dream". I shattered my love to ice, I made my wife disappear, and I find out that the only person in the world I know as the HWF, could easily be the embodiment of everything I hate in this world.
Not only that, but hell, I hate myself!
Isn't it nice to be me? With King of Violence a few days away, I should begin to focus...
Focus....

Focus.

*There...I like this better. Somehow, this all seems a bit more normal. Well, normal, if you consider the fact that I'm a hero, Tempest is an anti-hero, my exact body double listens to her faithfully...and now I'm stuck in a red room. Wasn't there some sort of movie scene involving a red room? There's a little black spot on the sun today....okay, now I'm getting too carried away. It's a big suprise to see that I'm in a red prision with all of them. Tyler Falcone, Raine, Jimmy Jett, Scott Smith, Cross, Jon Fuller, Gary Luger, Inferna, Havoc, Phoenix, Streak, Johnny Thunder, The Enigma, Jackson Blaze, and Night Stalker. All my King of Violence friends, brothers, partners, lovers, and enemies all in one prision. I look at Cross, and "The American Nightmare" shoots me a dirty look. It seems the only people in the room that are warm to me, are Falcone and Phoenix. It's nice to see some form of friends.*

Tyler Falcone: Hey Jon.

Phoenix: Let's bust out.

Jonathan Storm: Wait just one second, friends. We got some issues at hand. One, we don't know how to get out of here. Two, quite frankly, the two of you may be the only friends that I've got in this place, and three, I know for a fact that my soul's more jumbled up than anyone else in the world.

*I should feel bad. Come to think of it, I DO feel bad. Who am I trying to kid? Phoenix? Yeah...Darrin needs me at times like this. He's going to be let down eventually though. If it comes down to the two of us, I have to leave him behind. My prize is that honour...taking what is rightfully mine. Something I should've had for many months. Darrin knows this too...and he frowns. Falcone, on the other hand, walks off, with Raine and Jett following him.*

Phoenix: Jon...get out of here...I'd rather go down in flames for someone who matters to me than anyone else. Just promise me that you'll come back for me if you can.

Storm: Darrin...you're my best friend. Everyone's turned their back on me...I can assure you that I'll come back for you.

*And I run...never before has this happened. All of a sudden, they all go for me...everyone. I manage to nail a Showstopper on Havoc, and Phoenix is willing to make the save for me. We land The Hybrid on Streak, and he just pushes me out of this red room. I run, and I see Falcone, standing over bloody and lifeless bodies. Raine and Jett. I look at him, and kind of smile. He looks at me, and it's a cold stare. Slowly, his hand is extended, and I shake it. He grabs me roughly, and that stare I can tell is darker from under that mask.*

Falcone: Sell me out, and I can assure you that I'll finish the job that Tempest and "you" may start. In the meantime, clear your soul. I don't want you with any heavy burdens when you wake up.

So it is a dream! This is just one of those dreams where you have an epiphany when you wake up. Wow...I've learned so much...so much to know that I'm the solution to my problems. I'm the answer...and I've got to find...*

"Jonathan": Looking for me, bitchcakes? I knew you'd figure it out. We're too smart not to piece together this whole little mystery. Display some logic here, Jon, and just focus. Look at all of this! Do you think your envy could've made you this way? There's so much more than you understand, but you're blaming it on Tempest since it seems to be the problem at the time. You're an evil, ruthless tyrant, Jon...hell, that means me too. You're missing out on the point. You're beoming softer than the Pilsbury Doughboy, and quite frankly, it's making me sick. You want to win King of Violence? Drop the "scientific" shenanigans, get your hands dirty, and make some people bleed! Stop being a whiny, crying dirtbag, who needs everyone to do the work for him, and get out there and do it yourself. Stop being jealous of everyone and everything, and do something to make them jealous of us.

Storm: I can't be that person again! I'll never be that! Nobody cares I beat Sterling, won the Canadian Championship, or even that I exist! I'm not "The Next Big Thing" anymore...I'm just a failure...like so many others that came before me.

Tempest: And you will be forever with an attitude like THAT. Don't you see? We're here to help you! Loyalty to those that respect you is going to get you a ticket to obscurity. Go on...take what's yours...you deserve it.

*I see it there...a cape and crown. My throne awaits me...I can be the master of my domain again. Pause...guess who?*

Lance Sterling: Are you sure this is what you want? Do you want to shrug off all of these lessons that you've learned to be a King? Do you want to give up everything for the simple price of power?

Storm: Think about it Lance...I'll be free again...I won't be bound by anything. I'll have the confidence I lacked a few weeks ago return to me. I can be balanced in my own body...I can be me. Sterling, honestly...wouldn't I be better off back to normal?

Sterling: You'd be better off trying to succeed another way...you're smarter than all this, Jon...you really are.

Storm: I am, Lance...but I'm an opportunist...didn't you hear my doppleganger in The Body?

*And with a swift shot, the vision of Lance disintegrates. With that, the world around me changes...and with that, so do I. I haven't come undone...I've only begun to create my little world. Let's see what my cohorts think.*

"Jonathan": Bravo, my better half, bravo! Way to shrug off that conscience! Now you understand, and now let's observe your Brand New World.

*I see my mind...it is clear...I see nothing with haziness. I watch all the pieces slowly lock themeselves into place. No more doubts. I am a leader. I am a born leader, and a born champion. Nobody can take me down from that pedastal. Simply put, I am dominant. I am in control.

I see my heart. It is no longer dark and jaded. It is bright, and it has the capacity to feel. It is warm, and my relationship with Ashlee can be mended. I'm coming home, and I can see this. I can see in clarity. I can feel again. I can love, hate, and experience every emotion in its fullest. I am in control.

I see my body. It isn't filled with those who have tested me. Wounds have now atrophied. Scars are disappearing. I no longer look like the war-torn hero of yesteryear. I am altering myself, and shedding my old skin. Once again, I am whole, I am complete, and I will be a physical specimen again. I will fight harder, longer, and I will survive. I have all the tools, and I have the weaponry to make this possible now. I am in control.

I see my soul. The King of Violence members are still frozen. The room is checkered, as well as the floor. Slowly but surely, they all become my pawns. This is my world now, and they must adapt to survive. They must change, as I now have. Once again, I am back. No longer a wide-eyed rookie...and no longer a docile creature. I am Jonathan Storm...I am the man to fear in the HWF. I am Jonathan Storm, and I am your next King of Violence.

I am Jonathan Storm...and I am awake.

Rapid Eye Movement.

It's the part of sleep where your eyelids flutter and you begin to experience visions...visions that some people believe can be interpreted.

Some people think these visions are the byproduct of the brain having nothing better to do while the body rejuvenates itself.

Other people, intelligent or not, call them "dreams".

The end is now here. I am liberated and awake. The line has been erased, and I can be me again.

The dream is over. I have learned everything from it that I needed to, and I will apply that to my life.

The story...

...that's over too.

Or is it? After all, the end is the beginning, is the end...