190: Change Of Heart -Crystal-

A fireball narrowly missed my head as Nick, Saba and Carl began their battle with Bob. Saba played defense, deflecting weapons and holding Bob's power back as best she could. Nick pulled long distance with his fireballs, which gave off so much heat they melted an entire set of plate armor to the ground. Carl stayed inside with close quarters combat. Even with all this, Bob still held his ground. He avoided the fireballs with grace while blocking Carl's attacks and still getting some attacks in, even though most of them never hit. Saba would levitate an item in the way of them.

I heard a young girl scream as she was nearly burnt to a crisp by one of Nick's stray flames. I rushed over and pulled her away as the fight moved in her direction, "Are you alright?"

The girl clinged to me as her eyes watered with tears. These people had been through so much for no reason; no reason at all. I felt more hatred toward the thing that had killed my closest friend, putting people through so much for such a petty reason.

"Here, let me take her. You go get the rest. If we don't get them out of here . . . ", I turned to hand the girl to a man.

"Yeah, let's just get these guys outside." I turned to go help some more children trapped under the dead bodies of teachers and fellow students.

"My name's Andrew." He rushed to bring the girl outside and as he turned away, I could swear there were tears in his eyes.

The fighting continued as Andrew and I worked to get the children outside, but with only the two of us it was slow.

"BEN! Ben, where are you?" What if he didn't make it?

"I'm at the Door of the Dead!", his voice made me breathe a sigh of relief, "He came from the door, maybe there's a way to send him back. Keep getting the people out! Get Will to help."

Will! I searched, only to spot him trying to pull someone out of a pile of the dead, "Will! Are you alright?"

"I'm fine. Kelly's in here! I guess she came inside when she saw what happened at the door." I watched him pull the young Taxi driver from the pile of bodies.

Andrew walked over to him and Will's face went white as a sheet, "But . . . you died."

"Yeah, I was dead for a long time, but I'm alive now. Let's get these people out of here."

We all nodded in unison and rushed off to help others as Saba was slammed into the wall so hard that the ground shook.

Bob was winning.

Christmas Special: Future -Ben-

(Well, I haven't posted anything in a while but I was busy with a few other things. Until a couple of days ago when I realized what day was fast approaching. So, in honor of Christmas I am going to give everyone a little sneak peek into the future of all the characters in the blog. So I present what could happen . . . if . . .)

"I miss John."

Crystal looked out from my porch at the snow covered lawn. Nick stood behind her, his arms protecting her from the cold. Nick smiled gently and kissed the back of her head.

"I do too. He was a great man. He gave a lot for us all. So did Ben."

Crystal smiled and turned, "You did too. I'm just glad you weren't taken away from me like they were."

She leaned in and just as they were about to kiss, a light flashed over them. Turning, Crystal and Nick looked out at the approaching car.

"Patrick is here!"

Crystal slipped out of Nick’s arms and smiled widely as she bounded down the steps.

"Patrick! You made it!"

The car slowly came to a stop. Nick turned to the door and called in, "Johnathon! Benjamin! Patrick is here!"

Down the steps the children leaped, running out to the car and in to the arms of Patrick as he got out of the car. Behind them came Saba, who stopped in the door and smiled at Nick, "You interrupted our game of Soul Caliber. I was winning."

"I guess you'll have to win another time.", Patrick said as he carried the two boys over his shoulders in to the house. In all the time that had past Patrick hadn't aged, not at all. He still had this presence about him, except it had long since become more benevolent.

Patrick set the children down and looked at Nick, "Are you ready?"

Crystal walked up to Nick and grasped his hand, "Do you have to? You go every Christmas."

Nick smiled and leaned in to kiss her, "I have to. One day he'll come out of it. I just know it."

Crystal returned the kiss and then pulled away, "Patrick, have you heard from Carl or Vincent?"

"They said they would be here for dinner, so I'd expect them to be here very soon."

"And Will?"

"What about me?" Through the door he walked, a large smile on his face and two massive presents under his arms. He set the presents down and hugged both Saba and Crystal.

"Boy, do I have tales for you guys."

That was Will, always telling tales and catching every one’s attention. He and Patrick had decided to bury the hatchet, especially after he found out the truth.

Will turned to Patrick and shook his hand, "Have a good drive. Give him my regards."

And with that, Patrick and Nick slipped in to the car and drove off.

A few hours had passed when they finally pulled in to the driveway of The Bernauw Mental Institution. Nick and Patrick walked up to the doors, waving at an orderly as they passed. The two didn't talk much, this was very hard for both of them. No one enjoyed seeing John like this.

Possessed, only his will holding it inside. Protecting us all.

They could hear John's rants as they approached the door. The door they never opened, just listened through.

After seven years, the rants hadn't changed.

"They tell me things, then I eat them. O' Dorothy, Dorothy!"

"Merry Christmas, John.", Nick whispered.

I looked through the window at him and wished I'd taken his place. He'd have been better dead. Like me.

109: Not To Be Underestimated -Jay-

Searching the hospital was exhausting and when I'd found him, I would have figured it'd have been light outside. Instead, the moon still shone high in the sky. Did I say found him? I meant he found me.

"Things have taken an unexpected turn. Saba was supposed to be with you."

I turned and stared at the wrinkled old man. He didn't look like much. In fact I didn't even need my gun. I went to put the gun away when the old man raised a hand. I didn't know who Saba was but I wasn't going to ask.

"Well, at least that hasn't changed. You are here to end me. That's too bad, because you are in a precarious position."

"I don't see it that way." I kept my hand on my gun.

"While you were busy finding me, I cast a few spells. Karma spells. Want to know what they are?", his old eyes shined with a youthful excitement.

The longer he talks the better of a position I would have.

"Sure.", I couldn't keep the boredom out of my voice.

"Karma is a unifying energy around a person that's linked directly to how his friends feel about him. See, if they don't like you, then the spell will be stronger. If they do like you, then the spell will do barely anything. It's brilliant if I do say so myself. I designed it only two weeks ago."

If he was telling the truth then the spells he cast are going to tear me apart. My friends hated me, and I don't blame them. An image of the Snake Goddess flashed in my mind as I inched my way closer and closer.

"Huh?", the old man looked confused, but then he quickly pulled his composure together, "After what you did to your friends I doubt you'd live if you ran in to them."

Something was wrong. The old man had looked as if he'd expected something to happen and it didn't. I moved closer and watched as Nick got a worried look on his face.

"You did try to kill them, right? Maybe I cast the spell wrong. Oh well, I guess it's back to old fashion fireballs." He raised his hands above his head and I leaped at him.

He jumped back with surprising agility for an old man, and tossed the newly formed flame towards me. I hit the ground so it passed over me as he began to form another. This was no good, I couldn't get close at this rate. I rolled as another hit the ground where I was and watched the burned floor smoke.

Quickly I pulled myself to my feet and ran to the nearest thing I could use for cover. I felt the heat from the fireballs as I ducked behind a nurse’s desk.

"I am definitely getting old if I failed on such a simple karma spell."

Swiftly, I stood and aimed the pistol where Nick had been standing and fired off a few rounds. The bullets hit what seemed to be a wall of air, and flew back to where they came with pinpoint accuracy. I dived behind the desk again cursing my misfortune. Everything I threw at him was being tossed aside easily. That gave me an idea.

I turned, put my feet against the desk and pushed with all my might. The desk lifted from the ground and flew at Nick. He didn't even look surprised as it flew at him. I quickly got to my feet and followed behind the desk, which by now had been stopped by the wall. He thought I was weak. He thought I was going to be an easy pushover. I'll show him I'm not to be underestimated. Spinning around the desk, I pulled my gun up and pressed it against Nick’s head.

"And I'm not even a threat.", I pulled the trigger and felt blood splash on my face as my bullet flew through Nick’s skull.