Disclaimer: The Magic School Bus is not mine. Whatever is left of the rest of these guys when I'm through with this, well, they're not exactly mine, either. I think I've said this before, this exact same way. :) Oh, well. Too late at night to think of something more original.

Chapter Fourteen
Picking up the Pieces
Ms. Frizzle and Noka ran as fast as they could to where the gleems had taken off, but it was too late. They were gone, and they had taken Morgan, Arnold, and Phoebe with them.

Ms. Frizzle fell to her knees. "How could this happen? They were leaving!"

"Well, they left, all right," Noka sighed. "I guess your victory shout was a little premature."

"I didn't realize–"

"Of course you didn't! You had no way of knowing the gleems were as dangerous as we told you!" Noka exclaimed sarcastically. "Of course not! You think they're going to just fly away for no reason at all? No way! They did what they came here to do, and now they're gone. Gone! And they probably took half your class with them, because that's who they were after!"

"They were after my students? Why?"

"Not all of them, and we're not completely sure," Noka admitted, his voice becoming softer, gentler, his temper beginning to dwindle. "We only have a guess. But they did take Arnold and Phoebe, and Morgan, as well." He sighed and put his arm around Ms. Frizzle's shoulders. "Hey, it's all right. We've handled this before. Trust me. It'll be okay."

Ms. Frizzle blinked the tears out of her eyes. "Thank you, Noka. Even if you just made it all up and they're in terrible danger, thank you, for trying."

"Oh, don't get me wrong; you were all in terrible danger from the moment Latano and I set foot in your classroom. Come on; let's find the others." They headed into the school.

Balo and Carlos sheathed their swords, utterly surprised. With no kind of warning whatsoever, just as quickly as they had come, the gleems had left.

Suddenly, they heard footsteps running. Ms. Frizzle and Noka rushed into the gym. "Carlos, you're all right!" Ms. Frizzle exclaimed, engulfing him in a huge hug.

"Yeah, I'm all right." Carlos winced. Though neither he nor Balo had been seriously hurt, they both had minor cuts and bruises, and Ms. Frizzle was squeezing several of them.

"What happened, Noka?" Balo asked. "Why did they leave?"

"They got what they came for. They have Morgan, Phoebe, and Arnold, and maybe others."

"We heard Wanda scream a little ways away from here; Carlos and I think she ran."

Noka accepted the explanation easily. "Dorothy Ann was taken, as well," he added. "We heard her overhead."

Just then, Eric staggered up behind them. "If they got what they came for, then Tim is either with them or dead. I didn't want to tell you before, but I'm completely sure it's him. That kid looks just like his parents."

"What do they have to do with this?" Ms. Frizzle asked, having now released Carlos. "And where's Wanda? She was with you!"

"Weren't you listening to them?" Eric sighed. "She ran. She was scared, and I can't blame her for that, but being alone only put her in worse danger. I would be very surprised if the gleems didn't manage to capture her, and very quickly, at that."

"Wanda would never--"

"Ms. Frizzle, please don't be naive. When push comes to shove, people older and braver than her would still run from a battle. It's human nature; I can't speak for the elves. Our first impulse is always to save our own skins and run like the wind. Anyone who doesn't feel that – feel it, I mean, not necessarily act on it – is either extraordinarily gifted or extraordinarily dumb. Wanda has simply proven she isn't either."

"What about Tim? What does he have to do with this? Why do they want him? Or Phoebe or Arnold? Or Dorothy Ann? Why?"

"Ms. Frizzle, please, try to relax," Eric coaxed. "Come with me; we'll check out the library. Balo, Noka, Carlos, y'all see if there's anyone still in the classroom, though after what you said about hearing Dorothy Ann, I doubt it, unless she ran, too, and Rona's still there. Come on, let's go."

Carlos was shaking. "Man, I've never seen the Friz lose it like that before."

"She's always had control, Carlos," Noka pointed out, shaking his head. "She's always been the one calling the shots, making the choices. Now she has no choice but to ride out this storm, and it scares her. I know how she feels, really, I do, but she's going to have to pull herself together, because y'all need her, now more than ever."

Ralphie groaned and rolled over. They were gone. All gone. They'd flown away, as soon as he'd heard Tim shout his surrender. And they'd taken Tim with them.

Peter was already getting to his feet. "You all right, Ralphie?" he asked.

"Yeah, I'm okay." Ralphie felt the slash across his chest. It wasn't deep, but it was bleeding badly, soaking his t-shirt.

"Here," Peter offered, taking some cloth out of a pocket in his cape. "Stay still." He helped Ralphie sit up a little, then bandaged the wound. "It's okay; it looks a lot worse than it is."

Ralphie nodded, but it not only looked worse; it felt worse. He tried to sit up more, but collapsed back into Peter's arms. "It's all right," Peter assured him, and gently lifted the boy.

They headed around to the south side of the school. "Peter!" came Rona's voice. "Peter, over here!" Peter stumbled over, somehow still holding onto Ralphie. He set the boy down and knelt down beside him.

Latano was lying on the ground, unconscious, a pool of blood forming around him on the ground. "My gosh," Ralphie whispered.

Peter took some more cloth out of his cape. "How is he, Rona?"

"Terrible," Rona answered honestly, taking the cloth. "And the rest of you?"

"Ralphie and I are all right. Tim surrendered to the gleems; he's alive. I don't know about anyone else."

"Dorothy Ann was captured, too," Rona nodded without looking up, continuing to bandage Latano's wounds. "We were climbing out that window when she fell. The gleems caught her. Tim heard her and looked up. He was distracted. Latano saved him, but he'd been using a stick; I don't know why. It broke, and he told Tim to run." Ralphie noticed she was speaking in short sentences, as if anything longer would make it more real, more emotional. She was trying to keep herself together, for the others' sakes.

"Tim ran over to us," Peter nodded with the same control. "So then you ran over to help Latano."

"Yes," Rona agreed, even though it wasn't really a question to begin with. "A little while ago, the gleems just flew away."

"When Tim surrendered," Peter agreed. "It's him they wanted."

"Not . . . just him," Latano coughed. "Morgan . . . told me . . . Arnold . . . Phoebe . . . we were right."

"Blast," Peter whispered, now desperately trying to maintain the control he had over his words, trying not to frighten Ralphie, trying not to make him think the situation was worse than it was by a mischoice of words. "They must have been taken, then, or the gleems wouldn't have left. That means Morgan . . . Latano, I should never have left her."

Latano smiled weakly. "That's why she . . . didn't tell you . . . knew you'd . . . want to help . . . wouldn't . . . do any good . . . she knows . . . what she's doing . . . she can help them . . . I failed."

Peter took Latano's hand in his. "Don't even think that for a second. Tim is all right, thanks to you. They would have killed him, believe me, if he hadn't surrendered – as long as Athos wasn't with them – and you were the reason he knew he had to. I know it couldn't have been easy for you to tell him, but you did. And knowing saved his life."

Latano coughed, trying to catch his breath. "Thanks, Peter."

"My pleasure, mellon nin."

Ralphie watched the two with curiosity, and for a brief moment, he understood what he was seeing. This was friendship shining at its brightest, through the darkness of failure and doubt. This was courage in one of its most unrecognizable forms, unique and wonderful. This was what held the group together, this kind of friendship, hope, courage, this kind of love.

Then, after that brief moment, it was all gone, and Peter and Latano were once again simply an old man and a wounded elf, comrades on the battlefield of life.

Carlos shook his head. "There's no one in here."

"Didn't expect there to be," Noka agreed honestly. "Dorothy Ann didn't seem the type."

"And Wanda did?" Carlos asked.

"Quite frankly, yes, she did. Come on, let's go check outside."

It wasn't long before they found Rona, Peter, Ralphie, and Latano, and the seven of them went back into the library, Peter carrying Latano, Carlos helping Ralphie. There they found Ms. Frizzle and Eric, who had uncovered Keesha and Tandro. Both were hurt, but not badly. Liz also showed up, carrying Rose, who, to Noka's delight, Rona said would be fine.

"Well," Eric said, looking around at everyone, now seated among the rubble of books and bookshelves and computers. "I guess it's about time we explained."

Lesley88 -- Well, glad to see you stopped at the second chapter if you thought it was that dumb. :) To each their own, mellon nin.

the Ultimate Sora -- Yeah, that kind of just came to me. Wanda always seemed like a bit of a weasley wimp herself; now she got a chance to prove it, and she did a wonderful job of proving me right. :) Amazing how that happens to authors. :)