Author's Note: Hey guys! I have decided to keep going, in thanks to some awesome ideas from Player2PressStart, AnimeGirl9894, and BlueScarlet465! Thanks so much for that quick help and response! :D Oh and I'm still switching between moods/situations, so I apologize if this seems confusing still. :S I also apologize if this ending isn't as good as it could be, as I was stuck on it for a while. :\ Anyways, let's get into the chapter...

Mordecai ran. He couldn't do anything else. The force inside him had nearly driven him to ending a friend's life, something he could barely comprehend. He pushed himself to keep going, trying to get as far away from the park as possible, but eventually he had to stop at a street corner to gather himself. He felt his cheek where Skips had punched him multiple times: it was slightly swollen. In his mouth, he could taste blood. His eyes stung from the potion that had hit him point-blank in the face.

He peered to his left, spotting a nearby store. He walked up to the window to assess the damage, removing his red hood. Within the mirror, something startling happened.

"Are you hurt?" Damien asked, his red eyes glowing in the glass.

He began to talk to the reflection, "No, I'm fine..."

"You don't look like it. Why don't we-"

The bird shot "himself" a stern look, "Shut it. I don't need to listen to you, not after what just happened."

"Ah, but you do. You don't remember Walks, or should I say, Skips, do you?"

Mordecai tried to think, but was too exhausted to form a coherent thought. He simply replied, "No."

"Well, let me tell you about our...checkered past."

About twenty minutes later, Damien was finished with his version of Skips' story. Mordecai was shocked, to say the least.

"So, let me get this straight: Your name is Damien, Skips sold you out to escape Death's grandfather, and he wanted this girl you both liked named Lydia for himself? He sounds like he betrayed you."

Damien calmly answered, "Yes, he did."

"Then, on top of that, you were tortured for hundreds of years in Death's realm? But...why did I find you on the way to fight Death? Shouldn't you of been, ya know, dead?"

Damien spat, "After a while, Death's father decided I apparently wasn't worth his time or resources, so I was discarded there, left to rot..." he chuckled, "I guess fate was on my side for you to find me, Mordecai."

"Well, I gotta admit, if I hadn't of found you, I probably couldn't of saved Margaret." he reluctantly agreed.

Damien smiled, "See? We're not so different, you and I." He lowered his voice, "Well, except for a few...loose ends and...certain ambitions..."

"Huh? What'd you say?"

"Oh, nothing you need to be concerned about. Now, we need to keep moving, wouldn't you agree?"

Mordecai looked up and down the deserted street, "Good idea..."

The next morning, Skips had woken up, a sickening feeling in the pit of his stomach as he obviously didn't sleep well. He looked out the window to see the sun, which was shining through the barren trees with no gray clouds in the sky, giving him a small glimmer of hope. He walked out to the park steps, joining everyone else.

Benson spoke, "Nice of you to join us, Skips. Did that extra hour of sleep help?"

Skips was looking off into the distance, but glanced back to his employer, "Huh? Oh sure, it helped, Benson. Thanks."

Benson focused back down to his clipboard, "Glad to hear that. Now, we've got a lot to do today. Muscle Man and Fives, you need to push the leaves out of the gutters. Margaret, I need you go pick up some coffee and donuts at the coffee shop. Skips, I'm gonna give you something easy for now; I need you to work on the cart, as there's something wrong with one of the back tires. Finally...hmm...Thomas, I'm gonna pair you with Rigby today, as otherwise he'd be working alone, and I guess you're better than no one. You two will be cleaning out the fountain. So, do we all understand our tasks?"

Everyone nodded.

Benson grinned, walking past them up the stairs, "Good. Get going, people. I'll be inside my office if you need me."

After Margaret and Skips left, Muscle Man laughed, raising his hand, "Hey Fives? I bet we can get done faster than these two slackers!" Even though High Five Ghost didn't really like how Mitch was treating Thomas and Rigby right now, he gave in, giving Mitch a high-five in return.

Thomas ignored them, "Come on Rigby, let's get going. These guys aren't worth our time..."

The goat and raccoon walked over and picked up the hose, but Rigby was struggling to lug his part over to the fountain.

Thomas grabbed the rest of it from him, "Here Rigby, I'll take it for ya."

A few minutes passed, with complete silence between them. Rigby stared into the water for a while, thinking. He glanced up to Thomas and awkwardly spoke, "So...Skips was acting kinda funny this morning. Do you know why?"

Thomas quickly replied, "Huh? Oh, yeah...maybe he's tired, I dunno..."

The raccoon may not be the sharpest knife in the drawer, but he felt something was up, "Are ya sure? 'Cause if it has anything to do with Mordecai, I-"

The boy cut him off, "Trust me, Rigby, everything's fine. Mordecai has nothing to do with it, I swear."

Rigby sighed, "Yeah, I guess you're right. Sorry, Thomas, it's just in the back of my head, like, a lot. I'm-I'm glad you guys and Eileen are here for me. I mean, without you guys I'd-"

Thomas put a hand on Rigby's shoulder, "I get it, dude, it's cool..." he paused, wanting to change the subject, "Hey, when we're done, you wanna play some games or something?"

Rigby smiled a bit, "Yeah, that'd be nice, man."

Over at the shop, Margaret came in, giving off the ring she was so used to hearing from the inside.

Eileen looked up from cleaning a table, happy to see her friend, "Hi, Margaret!"

Margaret waved, "Hey, Eileen. Can I get coffee and donuts for everyone in the park, please?"

"Sure! I'll have that out in a few minutes." she smiled.

While Margaret was waiting for the food, she leaned against the counter. It felt weird to not be working here. She looked over at the table where Mordecai and Rigby usually sat, thinking back to all the conversations her and Mordecai had, sitting across from each other. She chuckled at how nervous he used to be, grinning to herself, while also thinking of how she blind she was to not see that Mordecai liked her so much.

Eileen walked up, "Hey, Margaret, what's so funny?"

The mole startled the robin, "Oh! Geez, Eileen, you scared me. I was just, um, thinking about old times."

Eileen looked over to the table then back to her friend, "Hmm. Do you miss being here?"

"Well, kinda. I mean, I loved working with you, but after a while, I felt I needed to move on to get an education and make some money." Margaret frowned, "You know how that's turned out..."

"Yeah. I'm sorry you've gotta go through this, Margaret. I'm here for you, though, so don't forget to stop by." she laughed, trying to lighten the mood.

The robin chuckled, "Thanks, Eileen, I won't."

"So, how's the park?"

"It's great! I love how I can be outside, where it's calm and surrounded by nature, not cramped in this shop with costumers yelling for their food, or stuck in a classroom stressed over schoolwork," she looked down to Eileen, "no offense..."

Eileen smiled, "None taken. This place can get pretty crazy at times."

"Yeah, I know that for a fact!" she laughed. "Well, how are you and Rigby getting along? Are you moved in completely?"

Eileen sat on a nearby stool, "Pretty much. Lots of boxes and junk cluttered everywhere, plus I have to get him motivated to help out sometimes, but we're good. I'm kinda glad he wanted to move in with me, as I think it shows that he cares about our relationship."

Margaret smiled, "Aw, that's sweet. It's nice to hear things are working out for you both. I-"

DING!

Eileen hopped off stool, "Oh! The food and coffee is ready." She went back and grabbed the coffee, setting the cups on top of the two boxes of donuts, "Here ya go, Margaret. Enjoy!"

"Thanks, Eileen. I'd stay and chat, but I'd better get back to the park, everyone's probably starving!" She walked up the steps then turned around and backed up out of the shop, "I'll see ya later, okay?"

Margaret headed back to the park, going inside the house. She saw Thomas and Rigby playing a game and walked up to them, "Hi guys. You want a donut or coffee?"

Rigby grinned, "Yeah, sure Margaret." He guzzled down the coffee and scarfed down the donut, but heard a noise on the TV. "Aw, what? I died?!"

"Yeah, man. You ran into a snail...again." Thomas pointed out, taking a sip of coffee.

Margaret chuckled, then went upstairs but was stopped by Pops, who'd poked his big head out of his room, "Oh my, do I smell donuts?"

Margaret smiled, "Yeah. You want one?"

Pops giggled, happily walking over to take a pastry, "I adore donuts! Thank you ever so much, Margaret."

"You're welcome, Pops."

In his office, Benson was staring out of his window at Skips' house. He felt terrible for his longtime friend having to face, to him, an obviously insane Mordecai in a fight like that. Even worse, he had no idea on Earth of how to save the avian from the evil controlling him and corrupting his mind. The only thing the manager could do was to try to maintain some level of normalcy by having everyone continue their jobs, even with Mordecai's safety and well-being on their minds, as the park still needed to function to bring in a profit. On a good note, he was glad to have Margaret here, as she seemed optimistic and determined, even when the stakes were high, and was a good worker, so far, to boot.

The robin went up to his door. She knocked, "Hey Benson, I'm back. I got donuts and coffee like you asked me to."

He walked past his desk, paperwork strewn across it, unlocked the door, then took a cup, "Thanks, Margaret. Don't forget Skips, though. He probably needs some coffee more than the rest of us..."

"Oh. Yeah, you're right. I'll go see him now."

Margaret went down the steps, but stopped when some leaves fell in front of her. She looked up to see Muscle Man and Fives on the roof, "Hey guys, watch out with the leaves, please? Do either of you want a donut or coffee?"

Fives shook his head, "Sorry about that, Margaret! We'll get one later!"

The avian headed over to Skips' house, knocking on his door. She didn't get a response, so she knocked harder, "Skips? You in there?"

He finally cracked the door, "Yeah, what'd you need? I'm busy."

"Oh, well, I just brought over some coffee and donuts and I-"

The yeti cut her off, grabbing a few donuts and a cup then slammed the door.

Margaret was surprised and confused. She walked off in a huff, 'God, what's his problem? I figure he'd be happy to see me coming with food...'

Inside, Skips hastily downed the drink and pastries, then went back to his task at hand. He sat down in the middle of his room, finishing his meditation. After clearing his mind, he started to stand up and head into the garage to fix the golf cart, but his foot slid against the hardwood floor, causing him to grab onto the end of his bed. He looked down to what he'd nearly slipped on, and was surprised at what was still there.

He skipped over to his phone, dialing the number as fast as he could, 'Pick up, pick up...'

The man answered, "Hello?"

"Samson, it's me. I need your help."

"Skips? What'd you need?"

"Well, you're good with technology, right?"

"Yeah, I am a technomancer, after all. What's wrong, you sound frantic?"

The yeti took a deep breath, "I-I was attacked last night."

Techmo was shocked, "What?! By who?"

"An 'old friend' of mine named Damien. But, he was controlling Mordecai's body. He ran off, but some of his blood was left behind. I don't have the ability to track him, and I was wondering if you do?"

"Yeah, I do. I'll be over as soon as I can...I've gotta finish up some work first, though."

"Thanks, Samson. I knew I could count on you." Skips sighed in relief, hanging up the phone.

On the other side of the city, Mordecai was completely drained of energy. He'd taken short breaks, but had essentially been walking all night, for no apparent reason other than doing what Damien told him to do. With his legs aching, he continued to aimlessly wander along the pavement. Coming upon a row of houses, he stopped and leaned against a white picket fence, lowering his head while trying to catch his breath.

"Wait. Why not rest here, Mordecai?" Damien suggested in an unusually concerned tone, "Give your wounds a chance to heal?"

"What? Why are you so worried about me all of a sudden?" Mordecai suddenly snapped at the knight.

Damien remained calm, "There is no need for such hostility with me, my friend. Despite what you think, I don't feel joy from your suffering," he explained, "I simply do what needs to be done."

Mordecai sat down, propped against the fence. He glanced over at the sunrise along the rooftops, "What is that suppose to mean?"

"I'm here to assist you, that is all. But, obstacles block our progress. They keep us from our goals..." He paused, letting a vision of Margaret smiling at the blue jay seep in, "This is what you value most, correct? The robin?"

Mordecai sighed, he was starving, tired, and hurt.

The last thing he wanted to do was think of her.

He put his head in his hands, "I guess. I-I mean, I just want to go back to her, have things be normal again."

"That could be a possibility, but only if we keep working together. Can I trust you to help me, help you?"

The avian closed his eyes, smirking sarcastically, "I don't have much of a choice, do I?"

The knight chuckled, "No, I suppose you do not..."