Sike

Chapter 22: Where is Hope

After Dragonfly showed me the terrible sight, she took me to the Eiffel tower. There we tried to save as many unfortunate civilians as we could. It was incredibly heart wrenching to see once happy families ripped apart from something so unexpected.

All of these people, they have gone through something that no one should ever go through... And yet, I can't do anything to help them! Even with all of the amazing things I can do, I'm just a kid.

"What happened when you tried to purify the darkness?" I asked, while hoisting some trembling toddlers on my back. "I tried! Believe me, I tried so hard." Emily confessed, while struggling to hold in a sob. We were inside of a hotel, hastily rescuing survivors. "But I couldn't do it! The darkness was just too powerful!"

With that, Emily burst into tears, trembling sobs shook her body. Ladybug, who had been creating something to carry the people to safety, stopped what she was doing and hugged Emily until she calmed down.

"I-I'm sorry." Emily apologised, "It's just that, I feel so helpless. I am supposed to be light, and yet I can't light up the darkness. All I can do is run."

We traveled from place to place, picking up after the wave of destruction. Emily used her power a couple of times to clear the way for us. Ever so slowly, the darkness crept in, suffocating us and stopping us from rescuing anyone else.

We miserably retreated to the hospital to treat our wounds and plan what to do next. Adrien had been paralyzed in a fight with Meniss, the creature behind all the destruction, and had been in a coma ever since. As we gathered around Adriens bedside, I couldn't help but notice how dead the world seemed. It was like the hospital was the last flicker of a flame that was dying out.

"What are we going to do?" Emily asked at last, breaking the unknown silence between us. There was another moment of silence, and then I stated, "What can we do?"

"Nothing. We can't do anything until we find out more about the darkness!" I shout, while slamming my fist into the wall behind me. "And how do we do that?!" Mari returns, a hurtful expression covering her usually peaceful face.

All of the built up stress that we kept inside bursts out, and we started yelling at the top of our lungs. Emily was about to let out another string of hateful words when Adrien whispered, "What about my dad?"

Mari sighed and reassuringly put her hand on Adrien's remaining arm. "Don't worry Adrien, we'll find your dad." Adrien sighed and clenched his fist.

Suddenly, a trembling maniacal laugh resounded around us, seemingly shaking the walls and causing me to grip my seat in excitement and terror.  "You can't hold out forever! Sooner or later your last hope will die!" A teasing voice said, echoing through the pale walls of the hospital.

It's Meniss.

I clench my teeth and try to keep the anger inside while Emily stands up and shouts, "Why are you doing this? Why do you want to cause so much destruction and death? What did we ever do to you?"

On and on and on she went, yelling until the air was taken out of her, sobbing until she didn't have anymore tears left to cry. The rest of us just stood there, feeling exactly what Emily was feeling. Emily finally became quiet when she couldn't hear the laughter anymore.

The shrill laughter had stopped, but it had left an impression in our minds. I led Emily out of the room and out into the hallway.

"I barely saved my mom from the hands of Meniss." Emily whispered, barely able to get her words out. She had an empty expression in her face, the kind you see when hope has been ripped from your hands and replaced with fear, anger, and sadness. "I-I tried to go faster, get my mom out before anything happened, but because of me my mom lost her eyesight."

What should I say? what can I say?

Emily slumped down by the wall and sat there, just staring forward. I knelt down beside her, desperately thinking of a way to console her. I nervously wrung my hands as she said, "I don't know if I can ever forgive myself." She sighed. "Well, if it helps, just know that we're in this together."

We sat there for a moment, enjoying the silence as we focused on our own thoughts. Suddenly a dark streak started flowing along the ground. I shot up and, in my surprise, flicked and liquefied my fingers which shot a spray of water at it. Unsurprisingly, the water was enveloped by the darkness. Emily joined me while shouting, "Zzip! Wings out!" Which she followed up with, "Light'em up buttercup!" 

The places where the darkness was thinner go away, but they soon come back. Only one spot stays clear of the darkness. It is a small blotch of the water that I shot out. It is glowing  white, and any darkness that touches it shrinks away.

I guess there is such thing as Holy Water.

A moment of silence passes as we come to a startling realization.

I can stop this!

_______________________________________

I'm back! I'm going to finish this book and start a new one soon!

That's pretty convenient ain't it?