Longing for Friendship

Chapter Seven

Goodness never dies

Zebedee was awake! Sam ran to his friend's bedside. This relieved Elora. She watched as Sam held one of her uncle's gloved hands. He was happy that his old friend was okay but there seemed to still be sadness in the Magical Springer's eyes. "What's wrong?" Sam asked him curiously. "It's Zeebad. He went into surgery for his stomach but he hasn't woken up or shown signs of life. I know somebody close to me is fond of him and I don't want them upset if you know what I mean." He said as he began to close his eyes. This worried Sam. "Remember that good magic never dies and a good wizard always bounces back, no matter if he's faced with a certain evil nemesis or an illness." Zebedee said in his sleep. Sam smiled at this. He noticed something on his friend's bedside table. It looked like a pen but was a syringe. It was an Epi pen. Only people with Type 1 Diabetes had them. Meanwhile Elora was with Zeebad. He was still unconscious as he lay in the bed. He looked worse for wear. She held his blue hand. She wished she could've stopped him from doing this. Tears welled up in her eyes. "He's got to wake up, he's just got to! I should've stopped him if I'd knew he was going to hurt himself with that sword." She sobbed through her tears. Sam knew how she was feeling. He'd been like that yesterday. A tear fell onto Zeebad's face and froze over. She then walked off into the village. Anger flowed through her body. Her hands glowed with fiery lightning. She then shot flares of it into the sky. Zeebad could feel her anger. He knew she was upset because of him but he'd been trying to erase himself from the village because he felt like he didn't belong there until Elora came.

He found himself in Elora's room but he was see through. He was unaware that he was having another dream. She was asleep but he could tell she was missing him. "I'm sorry I hurt you. Nobody wants me in this village, not even Sam, Rusty and especially your uncle. But you're the only one who understands me better like I understand you." He whispered into her ear. She then opened her eyes at this but he wasn't there. This confused Zeebad. Couldn't she see him? He then heard a voice. "Wake up… many people in the village miss you especially Elora." It said. Suddenly he was plunged into an abyss of light. He woke up startled in the hospital bed. It hurt him to move but he was awake. He looked at his stomach. There were bandages over it. But he could feel sadness somewhere. He heard screaming in his mind but blocked it out with Elora. He then calmed down. "I see you're awake!" a voice said from the bed beside him. It was Zebedee. He was worried for his former enemy. "Yes but where's Elora?" he asked quietly. He then saw Mr Rusty run in with Sam. There was a look of fear on their faces. Zeebad could sense something was wrong. "What's up?" Zebedee asked them blissfully. They were both shocked by that. "Don't worry that's just side effects from the stuff they gave him to calm down from the pain." Zeebad explained to them. "Elora's gone! We've been searching everywhere for her and can't find her. We're very concerned. Do you know where she could've gone?" Sam said. Zebedee didn't know where she could've went to but there was a look of sadness on Zeebad's face as they left. "She can't have gone! I've got to find her!" he said but he forgot he hadn't recovered fully yet to go anywhere. "I hope they find her. My life would be miserable without her." He thought as his eyes closed in blessed sleep.

Elora wasn't far away from the village. In fact she was in the Roundabout's core in Zeebad's prison. She felt happy there. She would wait there for Zeebad until he came back. She could tell that Sam would be down here looking for her. He then came down. He saw her hiding behind Zeebad's mirror. He came over to her. "Why're you down here for? Everybody's looking for you and you've probably worried your uncle to death." He said to her. Her eyes were full of frozen over tears like Zeebad whenever he got like that assuming he did. "Don't tell anyone I'm down here, okay? I'm staying here until Zeebad comes back and nobody's stopping me!" she snapped. He understood what she was doing. "What is it about Zeebad that attracts you? Is it the moustache or maybe his power lust?" he asked her. She looked at him fiercely. Her face shocked him. Her skin had turned icy blue like Zeebad and her eyes were black like his. He backed away from her in fear. "He's my friend, okay? He understands what it's like to have powers like me and cares about me just not because of my powers. If my uncle was in danger, you'd be like this and wanting to help knowing you couldn't." she told him as her body glowed with icy lightning like Zeebad's. "I understand but listen. Zeebad was the one who gave me that hole in my stomach, the one he healed last night. I made the mistake of being friends with him. I paid the price by having to watch him throw your uncle off his old lair and getting hurt by his crazy lust for power. I don't know what's up with Zeebad but it has something to do with you." He said to her. He then left very worried for her. Zebedee could feel a change in his niece's power but didn't know what. He still didn't know she was friends with his arch enemy. Sam knew that if he found out, there'd be trouble. He then sat down on the grass. Things were too much for him at the moment. How could he explain to Zebedee about Elora being with Zeebad? He smiled at how Zebedee would react to that. Dylan sat down beside him. He was curious and wanted to ask him something. "Hey man what's up with Zeb? It's like he's gone off somewhere and hasn't come back." He said to him. Sam then saw someone come out of the hospital with Zeebad in her arms. They didn't know that it was Elora. She'd been thinking about him and had decided to heal him herself. She then went into the Roundabout's core and brought him into his prison. He was asleep still. "I'll be back, okay?" he said to Dylan and ran off after them. He then saw her lay Zeebad's sleeping form on the ground. She waited until he woke up. Sam then put his hand on her shoulder. "Why did you do that?" he said to her. She then saw worry in his eyes. "What do you mean?" she asked him. "I mean going into the hospital and bringing Zeebad here?" he said to her.

"I did it because I miss him and my powers have improved. I figured I could try healing him with a spell. Don't tell my uncle or anyone I brought him here, okay?" she told him. "Okay but he could get worse." He said as he watched her hand glow with icy magic. It surrounded Zeebad in a mist of ice. It then disappeared. Sam saw a big gaping scar on his stomach. Elora noticed this and replaced the bandages with clean ones. She then saw him open his eyes slowly. "Elora… thanks for the healing spell. But Zebedee probably saw you getting me out of there." He said to her sleepily. He was amazed to see her appearance was like his. Sam then watched as fiery magic surrounded her as she changed back. She then walked out before the others saw her. Zebedee was in hospital still and asleep. He'd no idea what happened. Mr Rusty knew that Elora had brought Zeebad back to his prison. But Dylan had noticed something was up with Elora but needed to talk to her. Zeebad then woke up during the night and found Elora by his side. "You don't want to be like your uncle and help those who mock you, do you?" he said to her. She looked into his eyes and saw happiness in them as he looked at her. "No I don't but he wants me to but I want to be like you and make my own destiny." She said to him. But they were unaware that somebody was watching them. It was Dylan. He was shocked and surprised by this. "Why's Elora with him for? He'll try to make her evil like him. Does Zeb know?" he thought as he left. Mr Rusty then found him playing the guitar fiercely. "He must be in a bad mood about something." He said as he approached him. "What's up?" he asked Dylan. He saw anger in his eyes. "Elora's hanging out with Zeebad and it's making me angry. Zeb might be crushed if he finds out!" he said angrily. "Dylan I don't think it's a good idea to tell Zebedee, okay? Elora really likes him and he hasn't froze anything in a while. Besides wouldn't doing that unbalance your karma?" he said softly. "You're right! I'm not going to tell him but Zeebad better not hurt her or there's trouble." He said. But he didn't know that Zebedee had seen what had happened. He wasn't happy…. Sam would have to do some talking to convince him to chill about it.