Chapter 10: Submersion

She went deeper.

Into the nothingness.

Into the void.

Reality blurred, faded even, but still she went deeper.

A part of her made her skin crawl, telling her to run away, to get out of here hours ago, fear began tearing at her heart, nightmares pressed into her mind.

Another part drew her further in, telling her that she was welcome here, that the nothingness was her friend, her companion, that she was apart of it as much as it was a part of her.

And that scared her even more.

But she brushed it aside as she continued.

She was here to stop the annihilators, to free the twins so they could make the world right.

Nothing else mattered.

Not her past.

Not the lies she lived.

Nothing.

…

She felt them nearby like the sun at the break of a new day. Fueled by desire to end this before things got worse or her fear fully took over, she rushed toward them, the sight of the void nearly breaking her.

There he stood, the older, confident, stronger twin, helpless as the younger one was strangled.

She couldn't believe he'd be broken like that, by just the site of his brother near death.

But then she remembered her own memories, the tears she shed for killing those she loved.

And she understood him all too well.

Cody fell to the ground, his life force nearly gone, and Stacie knew now she had to make her move. She gulped, fear of Jarred telling her that she would fail.

He was strong, had a cunning mind and the power to travel through the realities that had alluded the watchers for many eons.

Some feared him as a god, his followers worshiped him as one.

She questioned what someone as weak as her could do.

But she wasn't powerless.

With the powers bestowed upon her by the watchers, she would stand up to him.

And defeat him.

She had to.

And so, ignoring everything but the powers at hand, she flew at him, an aura of gold colliding into him, sending him several feet away.

"Stacie," Zack said walking up beside her as she checked on Cody.

"Are you okay?"

"I am, but Cody…"

She could hear the love in those words, and the guilt too. "Don't worry, he'll be okay." She held her hands over him, bringing the broken pieces of his spirit back together, bridging the gap between reality and destruction. The annihilators were known for their ability to wipe things out of existence, but luckily she got there in time to restore Cody. She thought of the rules of earth, that nothing could be truly created or destroyed. Not just the physical world, but the unseen as well. And luckily for Cody, not even Jared could easily break that rule.

"That felt weird," Cody said getting back to his feet, not sure if he had the right amount of legs, but figured that would have to wait. He had never felt such a sensation, destruction and restoration combined into one.

"It's not surprising. The fact that you were not so long ago a normal human now exposed to the spirit world makes you more vulnerable to their powers."

"You won't stop me. You can't," Jared said getting back up, unfazed by this new enemy. "Not even the princess of destruction can reverse the changes in the timeline."

"Maybe not, but they can." Stacie took several steps toward Jared. She wouldn't allow him to hurt their only chance to save the world. Maybe he was right, she couldn't stop him. But she could make sure they could. And no matter what, she'd ensure Jared wouldn't get in the way. No matter the cost.

"Fine then, I'll just get rid of them first."

Bleu lights shot out from Jared's hands at the twins, but Stacie's golden light shot out to block the attacks and as the opposite powers clashed, Stacie send them flying back at Jared, striking him in the chest, and knocking him to the ground.

He struggled to get back up, the foreign energy nearly crippling him.

"You have to get back there and save Cody," Stacie said to the twins.

"What about you?" Zack asked.

"This is a little more important than me," she said, "You can relate, can't you?"

Zack nodded. "Just don't do anything stupid."

Jared began getting back up, Stacie's attack unable to keep one such as him down for long.

"Return to reality!" Stacie said as her golden light went out encompassing the twins teleporting them to the world they knew leaving her alone to fight the one she feared most.

But before she could prepare a defense, Jared leapt at her, a destruction infused punch colliding into her face, sending her flying toward the ground.

"It is only a matter of time before all is returned to nothing."

She tried getting back up, though couldn't move her body. The blue light of destruction surrounded her, its power tearing at her soul, ripping her into nothingness.

She tried to harness her own powers to restore herself, but they had faded, torn to shreds with the rest of her.

But then she felt it.

Everything she feared.

Everything she hid.

Everything she needed.

She arose again, throwing Jared back.

"The princess of destruction. Kind of has a nice ring to it."

He took a step back.

"What is this, fear?"

She laughed.

This power was nothing to fear, nothing to run from. No, it was something to embrace.

She had the power to enforce her will, to break those who would dare try resisting her.

And she would start with the so called God of Destruction.

"Perfect, you've finally thrown off those restraints that they held you back with. Now, come my daughter, let's end this world of mortals."

"Who are you to command one as powerful as me?"

She wasn't about to bow to Jared now. Before she was weak, but now she was strong. She wouldn't succumb out of fear or duty anymore. For all he had done, she would end him.

Blue light flowed out from her, filling her body with a joy and confidence like no other. This wasn't the power of the watchers, calm, controlled. No, this was wild, uncontained, chaotic. And she could already taste the sensation of using it to tear Jared apart.

She sent out a massive wave of the destructive energy, larger than anything Jared had produced. He tried deflecting it with his own energy to try shielding himself, but Stacie's attack tore at it, reducing it to shreds in a matter of seconds.

"You can't unleash that much power at once. You can't control it," Jared said as he fell to Stacie's unfathomable might.

"The beauty of chaos is when it is free from all control." She looked down at the one she though she'd be afraid of and how his powerlessness reduced him to fear, even cowering. "You are not fit to be called an annihilator."

She placed her foot upon his head, pressed down with all the power she could muster and soon his screams of terror filled the room. She smiled as he life was torn to shreds, as his existence was reduced to nothing.

And now, free from all those who tried to control her, her family, Jared, the watchers, it was time for her to bring about the ultimate destruction she craved. To carve for herself a new world of nothingness.

It was already in motion, the stage was set (to which she gave Jared her thanks) now it was only a matter of getting rid of those pesky twins once and for all.

A/N: You know what it's like when you start writing a chapter and then the characters do something that makes you go "No way…no freaking way…" Yeah, that happened here again. Dang, I love it when my characters throw my plans out the window!