Batwing 17 herewith chapter seven: The order of the Crystal Elf

Three days after Stitch's apology to Lilo, Angel noticed that Stitch was still acting suspicious.

"Stitch, are you okitaka, I hear youga talk about power and control of the world - you haven't been eating or sleeping and when did you last spend time with our Ohana or mega, for that matter I miss you Stitch, I'm worried, Angel announced".

Stitch replies angrily in the third person: "Stitch no longer loves you. Stitch no longer needs food or family. Stitch only needs precious!"

Stitch then stands up and tackles Angel to the ground.

Angel struggles but remains pinned to the living room floor.

"Let me go"! Angel demands.

Precious says your blood must be spilled! Stitch spat sadistically.

Angel's POV:

In a last desperate effort I try to sing my siren song to Stitch to try and calm him down. It works but I'm so scared, I can't keep in tune thus breaking the connection of my spell.

Just then Reuben burst through a window and pulled Stitch off of Angel.

Angel, run! and don't stop until you reach the clearing by the waterfall, and wait for me there, GO! said Reuben in mid battle.

After 34 minutes of waiting...

"There you are what's going on?" Angel asked frustrated.

"OK! OK! Calm down, Stitch is right here, said Reuben while pulling a small red wagon, containing a passed out Stitch in a capture container".

"I just know his sick, but I don't know who or what to blame, I..." Angel was interrupted by Reuben's outburst.

"STOP, DON'T BLAME STITCH OR YOURSELF FOR THIS, YOU SHOULD BLAME ME! I FAILED THE ORDER!!" Reuben stressfully proclaimed at the top of his lungs.

"Wait, I'm confused, what order and what does it have to do with Stitch?" Angel asked.

"Everything, the order of the Crystal Elf, dedicated to guarding the ring of Mordor and preventing it from finding a host to control. I'm the last of the surviving members. Angel, it is my duty to remove the ring even if it means killing Stitch, but I sincerely hope for the sake of my cousin that it doesn't come to that", explained Reuben.

"Angel, the best way for you to help me is to distract Stitch while I try to convince the ring that I'm a more useful host. Only I can maintain my control when under its influence, now go take Stitch home and keep him there, restrain him if you have to, Go!", Reuben ordered. Before Angel left she saw Reuben put the ring on and speak the ring's elfish tongue.

"I take him home but I can't bear the thought of locking him up against his will even if it's for his own safety, so I place him gently on the bed to give him some form of dignity".

Reuben told me to keep him here and calm him down when he wakes up. My Siren song and a tranquilizer blaster should do the trick.

Stitch starts to wake up and growls, demanding what he refers to as his precious. I start to sing and shoot two darts that made him fall into another slumber.

"Angel, you have a universal communications request from Reuben! shouted Lilo from the kitchen".

"Uhm, Lilo, transfer it to my computer please, I'm, uhm, watching a movie with Stitch", Angel lied.

"Transfer complete", said a computer voice.

Computer, play newest video message, Angel commanded.

Reuben's face appears on the screen. Angel sees the ring's energy coursing through his small alien body. "The ring accepted me, but it's harder than I anticipated to control, I have no choice, I have to summon the overload - this will drain out the mystic energy of the ring and Stitch will no longer act insane. Aaahhh! Reuben screamed mid sentence. Find it, crash it and bring me home, find my gift...!

"Transmission terminated" were the only words on the screen as Reuben's image flashed off the screen.

Then an explosion of deadly proportions occurred which cannot be described by the human brain.

Stitch's POV:

I remember everything; everything I did and said flooded my mind as I struggled to get up. "Agaba, don't move" I hear Angel shout.

"Angel, isa mega please, lower the blaster, I won't harm youga anymore, I promise I know an infinite amount of apologies will not make things okitaka, but maybe a kiss will..." I was interrupted by Angel's lips brushing against mine - it is at that moment when I knew I was forgiven.

"Oh, don't blame yourself, Stitch. Isa naga your fault, I'll explain everything".

"I know I heard Reuben saying it was the ring you gave mega. He saved mega, I owe him my life."Ashi isa Reuben?

Angel is in tears now Stitch. Reuben detaka, saving youga; soka Stitch we need to bring his body home.

Naga! mega cousin Reuben, Gatchi nosty Angel? Stitch said heartbrokenly.

Ih. Come on, let's find him, said Angel while trying to fight back her tears.

Back at the clearing:

As they walked they saw nothing but broken palm trees and scorched soil - it was there in the centre of the clearing that they found Reuben lying motionless on the ground.

"Reuben told mega to find and crush the ring", Angel stated.

"Be my guest, get rid of the icky thing", said Stitch coldly.

Angel's POV:

When I touch Reuben's paw it oddly still feels warm, but I can't find a pulse, it's most likely that the blast electrocuted him. I find the ring and I use a nearby rock to crash it. It will never be seen again.

Crying starts...

Angel sees something nuzzled in his paws, its thin and golden, Angel's eyes widen in shock, it's a back spine, one of his. She then takes it and unbknounste to Stitch atateces it to her necklace.

"Stitch, you and I both knowga that Reuben had always loved mega. I was his first love, I ask your permission for me to give him what he wanted most in hisa life, Angel begged.

Knowing what she meant Stitch reluctantly agreed to it.

I gently lifted his head, "In another time, another place maybe you and I… If only I'd known." I gently lifted his head and kissed him softly.

His debt to the order had been paid and Stitch's life had been saved.

THE END, please review!