-A/N- Ooooooohhhhh. Fifty chapter hype. Wonder about the cliffhanger...
-Preston's POV-
The next few days were boring, because I couldn't leave bed. Sky and Rob refused to let me up. My leg hurt pretty badly, but my chest hurt more. I don't know why, but it's probably something minor. But one of the days, Sky looked upset, and sighed unhappily as he sat in a chair next to the bed.
"What's the matter?" "Preston... We have an issue." "What?" "There are two reasons you're stuck in this room. What are they?" "One I know is my leg, but I don't know the second." "Of course. Neither does Rob."
"So what's the second?" "Preston... The drug they gave you to momentarily stop your heart? It didn't wear off." "Okay?" "Preston! You're dying! The drug is still stopping your systems. Unless we fix it, you're dead." "Oh... Don't tell Rob then. Okay?"
"If I needed him to know, I'd have told you when he was in the room. It'll just hurt him." "Well... can we fix it? Is it even possible?" "It's possible, but we need god power to do it. This is Death at your throat, Preston. One slip up and you could die instantaneously."
"So... Notch? Herobrine? Who?" "Seto." "Seto? Why Seto?" "Seto's been training for stuff like this his whole life. He's also my brother. If he and I both work together on this, that's god level power." "I didn't know that."
Sky teleported away. I could faintly hear him in the main hall. "Seto! C'mere!" Then he reappeared, with Seto's cloak swaying. He came over, and took my wrist, holding it.
He quickly backed away, eyes wide and uncertain. "Sky, this is serious. You should have brought this to my attention days ago. It would've been easier. I'm gonna need you and Brice. Too much to expend." "Then go get him. I don't know where he is."
Seto disappeared. He reappeared with Brice, who already looked depressed. Seto must've told him. "Sky, we gotta do this now. Knock him out." Sky handed me a little pill, which I ate. Good night, world around me.
-Sky's POV-
I felt his energy fade, and I knew he was out. His energy kept fading fast, but this time from the shut down. Seto and Brice spread out around the bed, and left me standing where I was. Seto spoke the Death spell, and Brice muttered the Life spell. Two opposite spells in the same room... Scary stuff.
Their spells drew together naturally, and the energies spun around together. I summoned my natural go-to spell. The light. It spun in a lonely circle, and I tossed it up to the ceiling. It floated eye level. I didn't touch it, but I guided it to the Life and Death compound.
My spell enveloped the compound, and Seto bound the energy to Preston. I kept my pin on Preston's low energy. With the binding, I felt Preston's heart rate increase to a healthy rate, and the effects of the shut down faded into the abyss. I sighed as I felt extremely drained, and heard Brice and Seto collapse to the carpet, exhausted and drained.
Preston was getting better by the moment, but his leg was still pretty much ruined for another few weeks. I took Seto and Brice to their room to rest, and gave into the exhaustion. I collapsed into bed, torn to shreds.
-Lachlan's POV-
Thinking back on it, I wish I'd spent more time with Rob while I could. He's always busy now, and I never see him anymore. Preston's disappeared with him. Vikk and I are spending our time with Mitch, Jerome, and Ian in the arena a lot. We're the kind of kids who like specific kinds of practice in combat.
Vikk is an all-around, and I'm more of a swordsman. Vikk's good with a bow, axe, sword, whatever. He even aced Mitch's metal infinity bow. He did fair with Jerome's axe Betty, and absolutely wrecked with Mitch's sword. And I'd never thought to let him try.
He'd always been so fragile to me, so small, I didn't want him getting hurt. He still can't walk for Notch's sake. He can speak again, fairly well too, but he can't walk. The explosion when we were little screwed up the muscles and bones pretty bad. And yet he wrecked face with every weapon.
I mean, he's only 9, a year younger than me, and he beat Mitch- a 15 year old- in a sword fight. He wrecked Jerome in an axe battle, and nailed the archery against Mitch. I could tell they were impressed, but also confused. How the fudge is he so good? Answer? I don't fudging know.
Ian tried against him, a 17 year old to a 9 year old, and they tied at a stalemate. Neither could win. And Ian is two full heads taller than Vikk. Finally, Vikk gave up. He sat on a bench and laid down across it.
I draped a cold cloth on his face, and he didn't do anything. He was tired, and I could see his chest move violently as he heaved for air. He was done for the day. I picked him up and carried him inside to the cold marble floors. I set him down on the marble, and he sighed heavily in instant relief.
The wolf mother came over, and licked Vikk's face, like he was her puppy. She licked me too, and laid down around Vikk on the marble floor. She reached up and tugged me down to the floor by my hoodie. "Hey!" I teased her.
"That's no fair!" She howled, and licked me again. I started to stand up, and she grabbed my hood yet again. "What?!" She yipped at me, and I stayed put as she asked me.
We ended up laying there for an hour or two, comfortably laying against the wolf. She'd fallen asleep, so I doubt she cared. Vikk fell asleep too. I finally shook Vikk awake gently, and took him to our room down the hall. He looked better, but was still tired.
He fell asleep again before his head even hit the pillow. I went back out for another practice round or two. I found Mitch leaning against the archway to go in, looking sad. "What happened?" "Nothing to me. But to Jerome and Ian..." He pushed me past him to find an intense battle going on.
Jerome looked mad, and Ian was calm as ever. I glanced back at Mitch. "What are they doing?" "Arguing. Silent arguing. Letting their weapons take place of words." "Is it harmful?" "It can be. I hope it doesn't get to that point."
"Well then break them up!" "Oh. Would you like to get dragged into their argument? Maybe get cut or slashed? Didn't think so." "Mitch, just do something! Disable one and I'll get the other." "Fine. Go quickly."
I snuck behind Ian, and snatched his sword when he wasn't looking. A single head taller than me, it wasn't easy, but when he was in motion to swing, I caught a careful grip on the razor-sharp diamond blade, and pulled backwards. I noticed Mitch disarming Jerome. Ian caved and fell to his knees. Jerome caved into Mitch.
I rested my hand on Ian's shoulder, and Mitch held Jerome. I helped Ian up, and he walked out of the arena, pretty steamed. Mitch held Jerome away, and asked. "What were you fighting about?!" "Nothing." Mitch looked skeptical.
"Jerome." He snapped. "That was not a normal face off. That was an argument. Now what in the god forsaken world were you fighting about?!" "Fine! It was over Jason. Whether he'd be okay or not." "Why would you fight about Jason?" "Ian thought he'd die. Like, he was sure of it. I countered it, and it made him mad. That's it."
"Ian was sure his friend would die? Why?!" "I don't have a clue! Ask him if you want." "Okay." I turned and followed Ian, much to Jerome's and Mitch's dismay. I caught up with him, and tapped his shoulder lightly. "Ian?"
"What?" "Why were you fighting?" "Jerome doesn't agree with me. And at this rate, Jason is sure to die." "But just last week, Sky promised he'd never die from the curse." "Not the curse. He stopped eating the other day. He'll keep drinking, but he won't eat."
"He won't? Why?" "I don't know. He did say he'd recently felt uncomfortable with himself though..." "Maybe he's got something else wrong?" "Like what? Depression?" "I don't know, maybe an internal injury?"
"Cancer?" "Maybe? Maybe just an actual injury? Or emotional injury?" "I don't understand. Why would he stop eating otherwise?" "Maybe he just doesn't want it?" "No. That's not right." "Maybe he's sick again?"
"Not that I know of. And he's been pretty good about notifying us when he's sick." "Oh... I don't get it then." Ian's head popped up. "What can we do? He's cut himself off. Can you get Mitch and Jerome ove there? And explain to Jerome?" "Sure, Ian."
I ran back to Mitch and Jerome, and explained. "Guys, he only thinks Jason will die because he stopped eating. He hasn't eaten anything in a few days." "Really? What's wrong with him?" "We don't know. Let's go back to him and keep trying." "Is he sick?"
"Ian, when did this start?" "Sunday. Four days ago." "Well, how is he now?" "He's very withdrawn, but he's not sick, and he's just refusing to eat. Consistently." "That's bad."
"I know! And I don't know what's wrong! He won't tell me!" I looked down at my feet, and thought. What is so wrong with Jason that he won't eat? Is it refusal, or just not wanting it? Or maybe it's both? No clue.
At the door, Vikk is leaning out, with a panicked wolf behind him. "Oh no. We gotta go to Vikk now guys." Mitch sees him, and drags Jerome. I run after, with Ian following close behind. As we reach him, Vikk darts inside.
I leap ahead of Mitch, and catch up with Vikk. He leads us to Ian and Jason's room. The door is ripped to shreds, and the window is broke. The room is a mess. Jason is gone.
Ian, without warning, jumps through the window, a two story window, and runs after Jason, who is slowly disappearing over the horizon. Mitch bolts down the hall, calling for Sky. A dog is heard, then a howl from a different dog. The wolves respond to the howl quickly. Nails click on the marble as they leave.
I watch out the broken window as the wolves intercept Jason in a flash, and two smaller dogs circle the giant wolves. One I recognize as Jason's creme greyhound Starlight, the other was unknown to me. It was much larger than Starlight, and a nightmare black. Starlight is a smallish greyhound- only standing about 3 and a half feet tall. This dog was almost Sky's shoulder height.
Sky is 6 feet tall. The wolves are about 7-8 feet tall. This dog is 5 and a half feet. And I've never seen it once. Who's is it? Sky's?Seto's?
-Sky's POV-
I whistled again, and Fox's fur appeared beneath my hand. He was getting very big, nearly shoulder height for me. I laid my hand over his back, and leaped. He was almost a horse, and he didn't mind. The female wolf latched her teeth carefully on Jason's jacket and shirt, and trotted back. We all followed. The alpha picked up Ian on the way, and carried him back to the castle.
Fox didn't seem to care about the slower pace, and ran back. The alpha and most of the pack ran too, but the female walked slowly to avoid digging her teeth into Jason. He fought her, and made her grumble as she tried desperately not to bite him. I felt bad for them both. Jason is getting worse, and the female wolf has to deal with it.
I'll fix it myself... But I'll need help. And I look to see Mitch and Lachlan in Jason's window.
