"Hey hey hey, calm down okay! Remember, I said it was safe, remember!" Ethon frantically tries to calm Saif down as he bursted out in confusion. Saif takes deep breaths, trying to not break his composure. "You are right man, I need to calm down. Sorry about that." Saif says apologetically while trying to calm down. Ethon assures him that it was fine and he shouldn't have said it so lightly when it was with him. Saif takes a look again at the ticket and his face folds in anger. He says in a sinister voice, "Listen man, one more thing. If I so much as see the mention of Redacted, I will stop at nothing till the inside of his throat meets the air. So make him as far from me as possible." Ethon, understanding how Saif feels about Redacted, as he was the one who hated him the most after all. After what he did.
Ethon assures him that he won't see or hear or Redacted as long as he is here, "Don't worry bro, I promise you won't see him again. And I am- I am sorry you had to see him in the first place. I promise you on everything that I am that I didn't know he was going to meet you at the door. I thought you wouldn't have arrived except later, and only knew you arrived by the commotion you caused." Ethon quickly adds, "I am sorry man. It's all my fault. I shouldn't have taken my eyes off of him, not even for those few minutes. And you were so loud and angry that the entire place heard you that I then came. Not that I blame you or anything for your reaction at all. Honestly, if I felt what you felt, I would have also-... ." Saif stops Ethon from continuing, as this topic was a sensitive one. Flashes of a time long ago, and the person Redacted stole from Saif flash before his eyes. Ethon apologises again for reminding Saif. Saif doesn't take it personally at all and assures him that it's okay, but to be more careful next time, as it still hurts.
As they head back to Saif's family, Ethon calls someone and orders for Redacted leave, but he is then told that he has already left, saying that, 'He did what he got there to do. So there was no more to be done.', which boiled both Saif's and Ethon's bloods to steam. As they calmed themselves down and reached Saif's family, they all ran straight to Saif, checking up on him and apologising even more for what they had done. They looked like they have been destroying themselves ever since he left with Ethon. Saif, now calmer and more understanding of his situation, assures them he is fine and says, "Hey hey, you don't need to apologise anymore, I am fine now. After Ethon explained everything, it became clear to me, so I am better now, and I am-." Saif hesitated for a moment, "I am ready to enter Purgatory again." His family, relieved, now smiling and happy that he is finally going to be better, celebrate and cheer and all hug him tight, and so does he.
Ethon then adds, "Such a beautiful family moment. Oh, someone please get me some tissues as my eyes can't take it anymore." Everyone bursts into laughter at that, as everyone now is finally in a better mood after it all worked out. As they finally head towards the entrance, flashes of how it all looked that first day he came here went through his eyes again. Because of that, he didn't concentrate on what's around him, and he went through everything quickly as he hadn't paid any attention to the process at all, as all that occupied his mind was going inside again. Those things were Ethon excuses himself as he has other things to take care of before Saif enters, Saif giving the ticket to the gate guards and putting on them the premium VIP pass bracelets, Him going past every checkpoint. It all was a daze to him, and he only snapped back to reality when he was standing face to face again in front of that damn vault door.
It was a huge 20 meter circular vault door, more fortified than any bank vault door ever. The hall it was in was big, filled with so many people going past them and walking around like it was an amusement park. They were enjoying the stalls installed that offer food or the many gift shops, and there were offers to some areas inside, and preparation to some exciting and adrenaline inducing areas and rides and so many other things. His family were even enjoying themselves and the things around them, and even were trying to hype Saif up and make him less scared too, but all of that wasn't clear to Saif's eyes, as all he could see the entire time where those 10,000 people again, and him standing in the middle of that crowd once again. He slowly looked up at the door, everything hidden inside flashing before his eyes again, as he is reminded of 3 years of pain and torture. His breathing gets heavier as more and more images go through his mind, every last one more horrible than the last. He hyper ventilates, and he can't take standing near that door anymore and was preparing to run! Until. He hears those footsteps again of a person not wearing shoes. The sound feels so loud, and mutes all other sounds of the crowd around him, even his loud heartbeat and breathing. He looks to the direction of the sound and sees a white figure take the corner and disappearing in it as soon as he looked. "Another hallucination." That's all he could think to himself before he felt himself vibrating around, and when he snapped back to reality, he found that his father was shaking him.
"Saif! Saif! SAIF! Talk to me Saif!" His dad yelled worriedly. Saif, finally back to reality replies back, "I am alright, I am alright dad. Sorry, I just zoned out for a bit." He looks at his siblings and to his mother, which she then says, "No, you are not alright! You looked dead the entire time we were in here!" Saif, surprised at what he was hearing, asks, "I looked dead?" His father answered, "You didn't hear any of it? We have been talking to you the entire time joking about it trying to cheer you up." He then starts to remember how he was so out of it to the point that he was literally functioning on autopilot this entire time. "I knew this was a bad idea! He looked like his soul was leaving his body when he looked at that door!" His mother screamed and protested, "Let's just leave, there must be another way!" Saif, feeling even more horrible about what he has been doing to them says to them all, "Listen, everyone, I know I will not be the most, well, in my best state when that door opens and we head inside. I want to be better. For you and me. So I am willing to do this, so please, if I try to leave, keep me in there longer. I need this, I need to be better. I need to move on from this hell that still holds me." Saif's thoughts aren't organised, as is the state of his mind, but he genuinely and sincerely wanted to get better, and he wanted their help to do it.
His family, looking at him with absolute sympathy, and embraced him again, and he embraced them back. That's all they needed to do to be assured that everything was going to be okay. A sound came from large speakers all around the area, the same ones from long ago, which made the memories more vivid. But the voice that came out was the voice of Ethon, which calmed Saif down a bit. As everyone in the hall is looking up at the speakers as the place goes silent, Ethon says, "Everyone, kindly please exit the entrance area as a special guest of ours needs total solitude at this moment, thank you." Everyone, confused then suddenly gets moved and maneuvered to be escorted out of the hall, by again, body guards that appeared to come out of nowhere. As Saif and his family are watching all of this unfold, someone taps Saif's shoulder, and when Saif looked, it was none other than Isaac.
When Saif saw his face, all he could say was, "You knew about all of this for so long and held it from me you bastard." They both laugh at that and hug each other. "It's good to see you again brother." Saif says as Isaac then replies, "Same here man." When they let go of each other, Isaac quickly gets back into business and says, "Well, we can catch up later, as I need to take away your family so you don't use them to escape." Saif acts like he is offended and says, "How could you ever say that I would use my family as a sympathetic strategy to make anyone who tries to force me inside feel so bad that they won't take me away from my 'Mommy' and 'Daddy' and make me go inside." They both laugh at that one and then Isaac starts to round them up and says, "Well, everyone, follow me." Saif catches Isaac by the shoulder and asks, "Will they be back?" His family also adds that they can't leave him to do this alone. Isaac then assures all of them and says, "Don't worry, you will all be reunited again, but just after he goes inside alone without having anything around him to use." Saif, understanding they aren't taking any chances with him adds, "Tell Ethon when you see him that it was a bit dramatic to make everyone need to exit the hall just for me." Isaac then gives him a look that says, 'Nope, I think that is more than necessary to be done when it's you we are talking about', and all Saif can give back was a look of 'Okay, fine fine, I get it already'. Saif's family looked very hesitant about leaving him as they walked away with Isaac, as so did he, but they all knew it had to be done. But them going away didn't stop them from giving Saif encouraging words like 'You got this' and 'You can do this' and 'There is nothing you can't overcome' and 'You are stronger than the fear that holds you', which all genuinely touched Saif.