House of Anubis: House of Homecoming.
Chapter Eleven: House of Legacy.
A/N: Reader discretion, this chapter extreme violence.
"Sibuna." Said a deep, croaky voice.
BANG.
Nina dropped to the floor, straight onto her ankles, collapsing into an unconscious heap.
Jack walked slowly down the steps away from the apse, sweating profusely. He clutched his chest, where a wound dribbled a heavy red liquid.
The hooded figures all lowered their heads, some falling into the bible racks in front of them, others collapsing into the laps of their neighbours. His undead army was once again lifeless, their bodies at peace.
"How…?" He was confused; sure his plan was all but complete, impossible to stop at this point.
But he'd been wrong.
Reaching the bottom of the stair, he fell to his knees. Eager, desperate, to carry on, he began to crawl and shuffle like a toddler, the blood on his hands marking the varnished wooden floor, a thick pour dripping from the hole just above his heart.
He reached up to the perpetrator, grasping helplessly at the mechanism surrounding the wheels on the chair.
The gunman tugged at the joystick, reversing and causing Jack to nearly crack his face on the floor.
The man in the wheelchair coughed, momentarily replacing the oxygen mask on his face.
A few deep, rasping breaths, then he removed it.
"It's done. He's… it's done."
The old man moving his tremoring hand over his wrinkled cheek and mouth, then ran his fingers through his thin, grey hair.
He sighed.
Rolling his eyes, he saluted, placing his left eye over his left hand, then, realising his error, he changed it to his right. He only for a second, but it was still absolutely mortifying for him.
"Never make me do that again."
A few of them kneeled around Nina's unconscious body, checking her over.
"Come on, Victor, it's not like that's the first person you've shot, is it?" Joy said, stony faced. KT surmised a sprained ankle, from the fall, whilst Willow believed she had a broken arm, possibly from hitting one of the stone columns on the way down.
"You know damn well I've never ended a life before." He threw the gun onto the floor.
"Besides, I was talking about your stupid sal- never mind."
Mick picked it up, with a look of curiosity and amazement. Eddie snatched it off him, swiftly emptied the cartridge, and shoved it into the back of his jeans.
Patricia approached Jack's body, holding a wrist to check his pulse. It was slow, irregular.
"Ah, Miss Williamson…" Jack coughed.
Suddenly he sprang back into life, grabbing her by the throat.
His eyes stared into hers, wispy black smoke and tendrils reaching out into the air. He could see an inside pocket with the chain of the locket dangling out from it, so he snatched it out with his spare hand.
"LET GO OF MY SI-!" Piper shouted, before she and the rest of the onlookers were hit with a wave of energy which froze them in place.
"Or rather, should I say Mrs Miller? You're no longer the naïve, virgin girl my father had such a close rapport with."
"Fascinating," he mused, stroking the gem on the front of the locket. "I've seen many of these, encrusted with pearls, amethysts and emeralds, but I've never seen one with a ruby centre."
He tapped it with his fingers. It fell off, revealing a wonky and slightly dusty LED behind it.
"Oh. Just a cheap replacement," he dismissed. "I can't say I'm surprised."
With one hand, he deftly opened it, revealing a very old and tattered picture inside.
"Sarah Frobisher-Smythe, the prodigal daughter of the family who started it all." He clawed it out with a fingernail, and it dropped to the floor like a feather. "You're not worthy of having your image in there."
"A…and you are?" he looked up. Her eyes were bloodshot, her face purple.
"This world is so chaotic. Everybody rushing around, busy with their own lives, never once stopping to think of the consequences of their actions, on a personal level, let alone on a cosmic scale!"
"But it's what you busy yourselves with, too. With such trivial matters, you're all so damn busy inside your tiny little heads." He tapped the locket against his temple several times.
"This world is so much bigger than you lot know. It's not all a big adventure, globe hopping and saving the day with a swashbuckling, lackadaisical camaraderie."
"Things have repercussions. And with so many things on this pathetic world, everything from ancient gods and demons, to deadly monstrosities and creatures from other worlds, this planet needs someone powerful enough, strong enough, smart enough and worthy enough to fight them."
"And that's… you?"
"It's better than you lot. You think you have the legacy to carry on his work, their work. But you're children, constantly in petty squabbles between yourselves, led by a decrepit old man, who deceived my father into believing his own crude, foolish plans."
"My father was wrong, and he paid the price for it. And now, so will all of you!"
"Nah. I don't think so." Said another voice. Jerome.
"Now, you see, here's the thing, old boy." He spoke quietly, but there was a tense burning inside him. A similar locket bounced against his chest, this one beech and set with an asscher shaped topaz, which glowed brightly.
"Throughout my short time on Earth, I've learned many difficult things, tough lessons on humility, strength, and empathy."
He grabbed Jack by the shoulder, throwing him back onto the stone steps.
Listening over his shoulder, he heard his friend regain her breathe, then with an assured, confident smile, he turned back to Jack.
"I was once a scared and vulnerable. I get it. But it's okay to reach out. It took me too long to realise that."
He smiled, holding back tears.
"The thing is, though, I've gotten over that, just enough to make a better life for myself. And it was great. People had forgiven me, and I'd nearly, nearly, forgiven myself."
"But then you came along, and my life spiralled back out of control." He no longer spoke a cheery, positive manner, but quickly and with a hint of rage.
"My business has gone down the toilet, threatening the livelihoods of many people who depend on me." He began to count on his fingers. "My friends have had their lives, their relationships and their families thrown into turmoil. You've destroyed dozens of lives, been close to murdering hundreds more, and my sister…" his voice cracked. Jack's smile simply grew.
"My sister lost her child. She miscarried and it was your fault!"
Jack began to laugh, but it turned to gurgling screams of pain when a pair of fingers began to dig and twist into his chest.
"A bullet is too fucking merciful for you." He grasped the man's air in his fingers, and repeatedly drove his head into the brass plated nosing of the step, smashing it again and again until fragments of brain and skull were visible.
Now freed from his grasp, the eleven spectators exhaled loudly.
Alfie ran over.
"Mate… mate, it's okay." He cried, embracing his best friend.
The great doors to the church swung open. It was Fabian, with Mara just behind him, carrying the younger Nina. Seeing the dying body of their former foe, she quickly and instinctively covered her daughter's eyes.
Amber looked around, from Jack, across her friends, to her fellow founding members of Sibuna.
"After all these years, it's done, finally done." She smiled sympathetically.
"And for the first time, we're all together."
Eventually, Jack's death throes ebbed away, and those who were cried calmed.
The church was silent now.
"So quiet. I could hear a pin drop, if I had one." Victor quipped, having the worst timing.