187: Fear Of Ham -Christina-

"Well, I did not expect you to drop in."

"Bob?"

My dragon and I had crashed through several walls, and now stood in a large room with a pool of red liquid in the middle. The dragon had not survived the crash, but I got through with only a few bruises. Standing in the middle of the pool was Bob, waist deep in the fluid.

"Bob, what are you doing here?" I staggered to my feet, feeling exhaustion take hold.

"Did everyone seriously think that the Abhorians could unite together and start a war? They're barbarians; they don't have the intelligence to do anything like that."

I fell to my knees. The crash had hurt me more than I'd realized, "We have to get out of here, Bob. I need medical attention."

"No, that wouldn't be possible."

"What? I could die, Bob. Please, help me get out of here."

"The answer is no. Just die so I don't have to deal with your whining." Bob cupped his hands in the fluid and poured it over his head.

"Why? Why won't you help me? We're allies."

"Allies?", Bob scoffed, "You must have hit harder than it looked. I'm not your ally, I'm your enemy."

"That's impossible! Why?" I tried to stand again, only to fail.

"At the academy, I was weak. No one feared me, so my power never left the confines of my mind and when it did, the opponent always got the upper hand somehow. I tried everything and failed. I was given the lowest scores and put into the lower tier because I never showed my true potential."

"You left because you were weak?" I finally was able to get to my feet, but had to lean against the wall.

"I left because it wasn't fair. I pleaded with the teachers to give me a chance to use my powers to the fullest, but they never gave in. They told me that if my power did not activate than the fault was mine. I did not accept that, and I vowed to take my revenge."

"You're a filthy traitor, and a weakling." I was breathing heavily but slowly the pain in my head began to subside.

Bob laughed, "The system is flawed. The people with out abilities are executed when they reach nineteen, and the weakest of us are sent to the mines. There is no equality in the system, it's the strong survive and the weak are forgotten. I would gladly become a traitor to that."

"So, why the villages? Why the human settlements?" I had to keep him distracted till my head was clear enough for me to find a way out, or I was recovered enough to kill the bastard.

"I don't discriminate. Instead of allowing only the strong to survive, I'm just going to kill everything. First the Gods, then the human settlements, and finally the Sprites; none of them will survive."

"You're sick." My knees buckled and I almost fell to the floor again, "How are you controlling the Abhorians?"

"I'm the God of Fear, Christina. When I'm in the presence of these Abhorians, things change. My ability becomes supercharged. These creatures allow me to do things I'd never thought possible. I can show you, tell me . . . what do you fear most?"

Immediately, Mardockt surfaced in my thoughts. I felt goosebumps on my arms just thinking about what he'd become. Just Mardockt's eyes after the resurrection filled me with a dread I'd never knew could exist.

"That's very unusual. Why would you fear him? Why Mardockt? Isn't he dead?" His eyes widened, "Mardockt isn't dead, is he? Something else happened that forced him to be exiled. I wonder if he left for the same reason I did?"

"Bob, don't." My voice had no strength.

"Well, no matter, I'll take care of that later. Right now, I'm going to help you with your fear. Once I do that then maybe I can convince you to join me. With your strength, maybe I wouldn't have to worry about losing this war."

"I'll never join you, Bob. I'd sooner kill myself than become a murderer."

"You're already becoming a murderer! Once you earn some say on council matters, then you'll do the same things they do. They train us for this our entire lives, Christina. They make us in to them and then we make the next generation in to us." Bob's face had gone red with anger.

"This isn't the right way, Bob. This is wrong, can't you feel that?" My headache was nearly gone but my knees still shook beneath my weight.

Bob waved his hand toward me, "Maybe you'll think differently when you're not controlled by your fear."

A new headache erupted and I fell to the ground. The stone against my cheek only served to make the headache worse.

"The pain won't last long, Christina. You'll be better than fine. You'll be powerful, unstoppable. Nothing will - Oof!"

I looked through my pain-filled eyes to see Patrick standing where Bob had been. Bob was pulling himself to his feet and sneering at Patrick, "You shouldn't interrupt while I'm inside your friend's head, anything could go wrong if I make a mistake. You wouldn't want her to be a vegetable, would you?"

The pain in my head grew to a new intensity, and I could swear my head was splitting open. I opened my mouth to breathe but only screams escaped.

"All this time you've wanted to fight me Bob, and now that you have the chance you're hiding behind a hostage." Patrick tried to remain calm. If he didn't than he would use too much force. Patrick's power was related to his emotions, though I wasn't sure exactly how. If he got too angry this would get very messy and he'd have to explain to the council why he didn't bring the target back alive.

Bob took the bait and ran toward Patrick. He didn't release his hold, and I could feel him shifting things around in my head. The increasing pain of the headache made sweat drip from my forehead to the floor. It paralyzed me completely while I watched.

It was over in seconds, as I knew it would be. The pain subsided quickly as Bob fell to the ground unconscious. For some reason I already knew what had happened; Bob never finished removing my fear and because of this, I would never see ham the same way again.

Exhaustion, pain, and trauma from the ordeal took its toll and I fell to sleep.

I woke up back in the museum looking into the eyes of an Abhorian as he raised his fist to smash my face in.

176: Abhorian War -Christina-

Ahead I watched a lone human trying to fight against a beast that was once known to level cities in a single night. The Abhorians had been known for their swift and unrelenting attacks on human settlements in the Other Lands.

If you had told me that in a few thousand years, that I'd be seeing a human dodge an Abhorian's attacks, I'd have thought you were mad. Humans had changed since I'd slept. They'd grown stronger and gained more fighting prowess in such a short time. The rest of my kind was dead, but I wasn't sure that humans needed our protection anymore.

I shook my head. No, I was wrong. Humans would always need my kind. Carl was fighting well, but losing fast. I'd severed the hold Melissa had on him and it wasn't helping. I grabbed my weapon off the floor and ran forward.

The world exploded. Intense white light flowed from the door stopping everyone in their tracks, except the Abhorian whose arm caught Carl in the side. Carl was lifted from the ground and the force of the hit sent him flying in to the wall. He wouldn't be getting up from that, not with out a miracle.

I turned to protect Carl from the Abhorian, but the world faded as the Abhorian shambled toward his limp body. The bright white faded to blackness, and then the world around me came in to focus.

I was standing atop the scaly back of a jet black dragon flying high above the battle happening below. Below me, my people were storming the last standing Abhorian stronghold, but had been ambushed from behind by some Elite Abhorian Vanguards. I swooped down, raining fire on their back lines and picking off a few heads if I was close enough.

By the looks of it the Abhorians were going to win this battle, several of our own elite had fallen under the ever growing fear our enemies caused in living beings. I knelt down on my trusted dragon's back as we flew low over the battlefield, dodging attacks and knocking the legs out from under the taller Abhorians, so they could easily be killed by our ground troops.

The tallest Abhorian I've ever seen was the size of a small mountain, and the smallest the size of a young child. Abhorian elites stood at about two times the size of a normal human and could move faster than most signed Gods, so when one jumped on to the back of my dragon I didn't hesitate. A step back and a simple flip over my shoulder gave my dragon a mid-battle snack. I urged my steed in to the skies again to survey the battle. That was when I saw them, a new type of Abhorian.

They could fly, and very fast. They were on me in minutes and I spun in an attempt to shake them off but they held tight. I swung a foot out and made one lose their grip by inserting my foot in to their gut. I heard the dragon scream as we lost control, plummeting to the tall Abhorian building.

To my surprise the Abhorians held on and flapped to force us to fall at a faster speed. I saw the building getting closer and shut my eyes as the Abhorians finally let us go. My dragon and I smashed in to that wall and darkness surrounded me again.

Flashback Entry 164: Things Before -Andrew-

The whip tore into the skin of my back as the hooded man laughed at my silent screams. When I finally got my voice back I tugged at the binds and yelled at him.

"Please! Just let me go! I didn't mean it. It wasn't my fault! Oh God, I'm so sorry Vincent. So sorry."

The hooded man knelt down in front of me and I could tell he was sneering at me as he spoke, "He can't hear you. No one can. You're stuck with me for eternity, and no amount of screams is going to change that. It's not like he cares about you anyway, you're a monster. A blackened pit of sick that deserved what you got."

My head fell and I felt tears flow down my face. The soothing wet was soon replaced by searing pain as they rolled over the hundreds of cuts and bruises all over my face, "Please."

The snap of the whip reminded me of what my words meant. Nothing. As the torture continued, I fell back into that part of my mind that keeps me safe. The part of what things were before.

My thoughts faded to a darkened bedroom. I was watching her sleeping peacefully, happy that my life had gotten this far. Everything had fallen into place, and I'd just gotten a great job working with a good friend. I leaned down to brush a lock of hair from her forehead, and laid a kiss on her beautiful, pale skin. She was going on 7 and was the most important thing in my life since her mother died.

I walked to the door and took one last look before closing the door. I made my way into the living room where Vincent sat ready to kick my ass in Soul Calibur.

"She's sleeping?" He handed me the controller.

"Yeah, she took it hard when her mother died, but I think she's finally moving forward. Stephanie would have been proud."

Vincent smiled a sad smile and nodded toward the video game screen.

"Wake up, you stupid piece of worthless air!" Hooded man's voice came flooding through my thoughts, tearing me away from a time when I was completely happy. I looked up at him feeling the rage in me grow.

"You need to stay awake while we tear off your skin."

I knew I belonged here. My sins had been too great.

Hell hath fury.

131: Ignored -Ben-

The convenience of Crystal’s new talent was not lost on any of us, and it made me more than suspicious. Then again, it was just what we needed at the moment, and I know better than to bite the hand that feeds.

"You sure you can do this?"

"Ben, I don't even know how I know this. Just a few weeks ago I was a zombie with minimal intelligence, and now I'm flying a plane. It's kind of startling."

"So we can tell the passengers that everything is going to be okay?"

"No.", Carl tapped my shoulder and I turned around to see the man we'd knocked out, standing.

While nothing about him had changed, something was different; feminine. He was staring intently at Carl and smiling like someone who knew too much. The man knelt and went for his gun.

Carl moved quickly, reaching for the man’s shoulder and arm. Before he could get close enough, the man swung his arm up; smacking Carl in the face. Carl fell back on the ground holding his jaw.

"Be a good boy and stay still.", he looked at Carl and laughed.

He stood up with the gun and slipped it in to the holster, "What a coincidence that the one plane I decided to use was the one you'd be on. A sad coincidence. I told you not to interfere, I told you so long ago."

Carl looked more angry than usual, "Merczel."

I glanced at Carl, "You know him?"

It's very unusual to see a grown man jump up and down clapping his hands with a giddy smile on his face, "You remember! Aw, so sweet."

The man known as Merczel began waving his hands around, "Carl, Carl, Carl. You could have just backed out of this, but of course your crew has to interfere. Like a righteous storm, you descend upon the undeserving and smite them for their sins."

Crystal glances back, "Is there any chance that this could be taken somewhere else? It's getting really cramped in here. All this tension and violence is making it a little difficult to concentrate on keeping all these people ALIVE."

Merczel laughed, "Little girl, these people aren't going to survive. Best you go join the others in the passenger cabin."

I looked at Crystal, "Keep flying, we'll take it somewhere else."

The man had a small fit, "NO! Why does no one ever listen to me?! I said to go with the others! Who the Hell are you to go against my word?!"

Carl leaped up, grasping the guy around his middle and tossing him through the cockpit door. The man rolled on the floor and then leaped to his feet in time to knee Carl in the face. Nick jumped back in surprise, letting a small stream of fire from his hands toward Merczel. Merczel yelped in pain and turned toward Nick in anger.

"WARLOCK!", the man swung his arm swiftly and Nick flew in to the passenger cabin like a discarded toy, "I hate warlocks."

I moved to the passageway between the cockpit and the passenger cabin, "Carl, who is he?"

Merczel pointed toward Carl, "Conversing with warlocks now? Strange things are just attracted to you, huh? Who are these people you're with now? I admit, the girl didn't show any signs of usefulness. Quite a surprise when she coincidentally can fly this type of plane. And whose this idiot?", he pointed to me, "What is he? The boss? What a joke."

Carl stood, wiping blood on his shirt, "Merczel, these people here aren't going to die. My friend in there is going to land this plane and you will have failed. Give up."

Why didn't anyone listen to me? "Carl, who is he?!"

The man stopped smiling, he just stared at Carl. After a few moments he spoke, "You intend to stall my plans?"

Carl looked at Ben and laughed a bit. Then he turned to the man and smiled, "Melissa, I plan on stopping them."

My mind did a quick backtrack. Melissa? What?!

130: Uncertain Knowledge -Crystal-

My job was to stop Nick from casting the spell as soon as they had the cockpit, but I couldn't. To be honest the guy scared me. Here was the guy who fought the Snake Goddess' control of me when I was a zombie and had brought me back to life. He could do things no other human could, and being in the same room with him left me with a sick feeling. I had no idea what he would do next.

Somehow, this one was different; less menacing and certainly not as mean. If this was the same man, then something very serious happened to him. This new him was filled with a sort of youth and really didn't exhibit any of the abilities the one I'd met had.

As I reached to shake his shoulder I decided to give him another chance. See if he turned out to have the same ruthless style.

He lifted his head and looked at me, "Oh, hey Crystal. Are they done?"

"It seems so.", I was scared but I forced a smile through.

Nick tipped his head sideways and looked at me, "You look scared. Don't worry, we'll get through. I'm sure."

I had trouble deciding whether he knew it'd be okay, or he if was just reassuring me.

Nick stood and walked toward the cockpit. I watched him leave and slowly stood. I took a quick look around and followed.

As I stepped in to the cockpit it seemed oddly familiar. On a whim I sat down and began checking all the gauges and fuel. My finger flicked the plane off auto-pilot and I turned it to the left slightly, keeping it level with the horizon.

"This isn't so hard."

I glanced back to see everyone there staring at me in surprise. Slowly it dawned on me. I wasn't supposed to know this. For a few seconds I almost lost control, but I forced the large vehicle on to the right track.

"Crystal?" It was Ben.

"Yeah?"

"How are you doing this?"

"I'm not sure. Truthfully, I'm kinda scared. I've never done this before. What if I let it down too hard? What if I miss the landing? What if I misread the altimeter and lower the wing flaps too late?"

"Crystal, I don't even know what wing flaps are used for."

There was no denying it.

I could fly a plane.

129: A Sign Of The Past -Carl-

"Shit!", the voice on the other side of the cockpit door was full of panic, "It's not supposed to happen yet."

Nick sat on the floor nearby, his eyes closed, full concentration on the spell he was working on. On the other side of that door, two dead bodies and a very scared man felt the plane tip downward. Now all we had to do was wait for the man to come outside.

A voice came over the loudspeaker instead, "Well, I'm sorry to tell you but we are going to be landing long before schedule. Your deaths were supposed to be for something important, they were supposed to save the lives of millions. With out the pilots I can't figure out how to keep this plane in the air, so while we spend our last moments together, I'll tell you why I'm here.”

"I used to push papers for a living and I had a beautiful family. Then we had a visitor, a man with a small faerie doll. The doll was made with expert craftsmanship, and my daughter fell in love with it instantly. So we bought it for her from the man who sold it to us for a very small price. I will never forget coming home from work that day."

I felt my body stiffen as I realized what I was hearing. There was no way it was them; no way.

"From down the street I could see the lights of the police and medical vehicles. The police say there was an accidental gas leak and the house exploded, but I know otherwise.”

"I was put up in a hotel and that night I got a phone call. It was the man that stopped by my house. What he said was that he hoped I'd learned my lesson. He said that maybe the next time I'd pay more attention to my children. He said neglecting to give them attention had made me homeless and with out family. Then he hung up."

I felt a sinking feeling in my gut. The Fae Merczel and Josh were still out there, and by the sounds of it they were still doing things the same way.

"So I searched, and after 2 years I'd found them. They live in a building in New York. The same building that this plane was headed for, but as you by now have realized, this plane is going down now."

The cockpit door opened and I swung my foot out, catching the man in the chin. He fell in to a crumpled heap on top of the bodies of the pilots. I stepped inside and felt the world tip downward. Nick was still working his magic because he didn't know it was over.

"Hey, Ben?"

Ben looked around the corner, "Yeah?"

"So, we make the guy come out. Right?"

"Yeah."

"Then, I knock him out, disarm him, and take the cockpit?"

"Sounds about right."

"Okay, then what?"

"Well, then we land it . . .", Ben's face went pale-white, "Oh."

121: Define Wrong -Carl-

The people through out the plane had calmed down. They'd given in to their fate believing it to be a certainty. So many lives would be snuffed out if we failed. Then again, it's like that a lot lately.

Ever since I met Ben it's been one thing after another. Weird seemed to cling to him. I can't complain though. It's been crazy fun. Now that he'd taken to being leader, the group seemed to flow better. Several quick instructions and everything just fell in to place. Like how he wanted us to help these people.

Crystal and Nick took out the cameras quickly with a couple of Nick’s socks. They just covered them and then I waited. The terrorists would come soon, needing to know what had taken out the cameras.

The first one fell quick, one jab to the face. Then I grabbed his arm and used his weight to knock the one behind off balance. I felt that exhilarating rush as my fist made sure he wouldn't wake up for a few hours. The third guy was surprised enough; making any kind of movement to stop me. His weapon was in my hands and the butt of it in his face before he realized that the sad, pathetic people they'd destined to death weren't going down easy.

Fourth guy had experience, and swiftly brought his weapon up to block my fist. I swung my face forward taking him off guard with a head-butt. I felt his fist in my gut and his knee smash the bottom of my chin, telling me my head-butt had failed. I fell to the ground as his weapon came down, narrowly missing the back of my head. A quick scissor of my legs and down he fell. From there, it only took two swift elbows to the temple and he was down.

I pulled myself to my feet and wiped the blood from my mouth. The radio the man was wearing began to cackle.

"Davey? Hey! Davey? We're getting close to our destination, we can't have anything go wrong now."

I quickly scooped up the radio and laughed into it.

"Define . . . wrong."

119: Tears and Relations -Crystal-

"Hello, Mom?"

A person nearby was talking in to a cell.

"Mom, I love you, okay?" His voice broke.

"No, no, I'm okay. I'm just calling to tell you that I never meant to upset you and I'm sorry. I'll never forget all that you taught me." He went silent, tears along his cheeks.

"Could you tell Dad that I miss him? Tell him that I know he was rough, but I understand that he was just looking out for me. No, I'm fine. Just . . . tell him I love him too. Please put some flowers on Charlene's grave for me?"

Sounds of crying and panic had flooded across the passengers quickly and I'll admit, I was scared too. This isn't something that happens to you every day. This couldn't be happening. My life had been too short, and the only people I could call were either here or . . .

My Dad. I could call him. He wouldn't recognize me, but I wanted to tell him I loved him. Tell him that I've never forgotten him. Say goodbye.

I sat there staring at my cell phone trying to get the nerve to call when I felt a tug on my sleeve. Glancing down I saw a young boy. He looked to be about 5 and his eyes were filled with tears.

"Lady?"

I kept silent and stared at the kid, seeing him put me on the verge of tears. Such a small child close to my age, losing his life so early.

"Lady? My Dad won't hear me! He's not listening!"

"Where is your daddy?"

The young boy pointed at a man who was embroiled in the panic, yelling about revolting against their captors. There was no way to get that guy listening.

"What did you need?"

"The bad men. They took the plane and I'm not gonna see my Mommy again.", he started crying loudly and fell to his knees, "I WANT MY MOMMY!"

Tears streamed down my face as I watched this child cry. A couple of seats away I heard people talking.

They were saying goodbye to their children. They could barely speak.

Slowly anger filled me, something I'm not accustomed to. I knelt down in front of the boy and patted his head.

"It's gonna be all right. Do you know your phone number?", I smiled.

"835-555-4930!", he said proudly.

I dialed the number and handed my phone to him. My Father would have to wait.

"Here, you tell your mother how much you love her, okay? Don't worry, I have a couple of friends who may be able to help."

"I'm sure we can come up with something."

I turned to see Ben walking up the aisle toward me, followed by Carl and Nick.

"So, what's the plan, boss?", I looked up at Ben.

"First, you stop calling me boss. Then we save these people."

118: Something Arises -Ben-

The trouble with being a leader is that everything falls on your head. Someone has trouble being a team-player? Go to the leader. Found a case? Go to the leader. Realize that the flight we got on is scheduled to have an explosive finish? Go to the leader.

Sometimes you just want to close your eyes and pretend someone else is in charge.

"I know what I saw.", Carl was looking at me with a stern face, "I saw a passenger with a parachute in his bag."

"So, because you saw a parachute, you think the plane is going to blow up? That's hardly enough. You're just panicking."

Maybe I was hoping it wasn't true, maybe I wanted to ignore the facts, or maybe I just wanted to get out of this bathroom before my reputation for being a straight male took a nose dive. Besides, it was really cramped in there.

"Not just that, when I was in the back chatting up this attendant, a big guy came in and asked me to leave. Normally I wouldn't have listened, but the attendant didn't want a problem so I left. Not before I saw the gun underneath his jacket though."

All I wanted to do was go take care of this case with out some kind of disaster happening that put us all in harms way. What do I get? Terrorists. It's a good day to be alive.

I put my hand on the door handle, "Listen, it could have been an Air Marshal or something. We'll keep an eye out but we won't make any moves till we figure out if it's really a group of terrorists.”

Being a leader means being patient, and willing to hear every crazy idea that your colleagues come up with. You have to be able to tell them that their suspicions are probably just that and then push it out of your mind.

The walk back to our seats was accompanied by many stares from our fellow passengers. I guess two guys coming out of a one person bathroom at 30,000 feet is enough to make people wonder.

I sighed heavily as I slumped in my seat, and no sooner had I closed my eyes when a gruff voice came over the com.

"Hello passengers. I do hope you've had a nice flight. Sadly, this will be your last. If you need to make any calls please do so, and don't forget to say your I love yous and goodbyes, because you will not be seeing them ever again.”

"I hate to be so harsh but this is a very delicate operation, so if you'd please not cause any problems then we won't miss our target. Why do you want us to hit our target? Because if we do only a couple hundred people will die, including you. If we miss, we'll be hitting a very full and very public place, which would probably increase that number ten-fold. Thank you for flying with us and have a nice day."

Then panic ensued.

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