Chapter 25: The final stone is obviously the most of a pain in the ass to retrieve—or head in Jared's case

The final stone was far north, in a cave near the arctic circle, close to Russia.

Because of the strong, icy winds—which were lethal to any normal person after a few minutes—they had to land about forty miles away from the cave where the temple was.

Gizmo looked out the window and through the journal, and they could see the gears turning in her head as her analytical superpower worked.

"Okay, so it's cold as hell, and death entities aren't allowed in. So Joselyn and I will stay here in the jet." Joselyn shrugged as the others put on heavy winter coats, hats, and scarves—for once, Zoe was relieved for her mate's paranoia.

"Bye guys," Hana said, "Try not to get murdered while we're gone!"

They hopped out of the jet and frigid air penetrated their skin instantly, chilling blood and sinking into the marrow of their bones like wet concrete.

Plagg pulled his coat tighter around himself, and Zoe cursed. If it weren't for the fact the journal had had a warning against using magic to lessen the cold, lest the weather get worse, Jared would have done for the team what Kelly did for him in the Ice Waste. Oh how innocent things had seemed back them.

Now though, cold licked at his face and crept under his clothes, spreading across his skin.

"Okay…let's go…"

Within minutes, he had purple lips tinged with blue and gently chattering teeth. He wrapped his coat around himself tighter.

This was going to be a long hike.

The next day

In that wasteland of white, there was nothing for their minds to hang onto. There was no familiar sight, no sound other than the howling, even the light they needed to warm them was instead blinding and no match for the wind. Only the hearts beating in their chests stopped them from becoming as frozen as the landscape. When Zoe whirled around to at least see the tracks they had made, there were none. The only way to navigate was by the sun and even it sunk below the horizon at one point, leaving them shivering under the stars.

The terrain was a nightmare. It was slick, jagged, and icy. They weren't fully sure when they were over land or water—and if it was water, it was a mystery if the ice would hold. They almost lost Eden like that.

The only person who wasn't 1000% miserable was Hana, since she was used to it. Apparently she had been on the streets in New York from ages 6-9, back when it was actually cold in New York during the winter. So she had a little more resistance than the rest. Though Jared did have to thank the internal fire that came with being a magical creature, otherwise he was sure he would have frozen to death by now.

As it was, cold seeped into his innards like a freezing fog making it's way into his bones and wrapping around his brain like a wet blanket. The only thing to do was keep moving, keep heading toward the temple and a then warmth when this was over. Each step became a prayer for home as they walked, and then became the only motivation to keep going. The sooner they did this, the sooner they could kill Iku.

The lack of friction alone made travel difficult, then add constant snowstorms, winds strong enough to lift a small car, and temperatures low enough that they had to keep moving lest they freeze to death in minutes. So none of them had slept in twenty hours.

Though since Gizmo was in the jet, Plagg was going to be taking the final stone—and since the power was Deathtouch, it was perfect for him.

Even Zoe was quiet, that's how he knew it wasn't just him.

Another thing he had done since conversation wasn't an option was thinking.

For the last few days, that one nightmare of Kelly fighting an evil Joselyn came to mind.

"I'm what nightmares fear!"

That phrase Kelly said in the dream had stuck with him. He had asked Freya, and she said that he was likely a seer, so he knew that line was important. But what scared him was that he never saw past or before that moment. Who won the fight? How did it happen? Was it really a vision of the future, or was it just a simple reoccurring nightmare?

He didn't know how long they were walking when they finally saw the cave, nor did he really care at that point. All he knew was that the cave meant at least a temporary end to this bitter cold.

They all picked up the pace and got into the cave, but the moment Jared walked to the entrance, he fell to the ground after feeling the force of hitting a brick wall at 50mph.

Zoe turned, "Huh? Jared?" Oh god…oh no…Jared remembered this feeling, after the plane crash. The prison of pain that was a migraine. Stupid side effects. Not that he was surprised, having just ran into a wall. Didn't make it any less excruciating.

She ran over to him, and gently placed his hand at the entrance, only to see a barrier appear for a moment.

"Oh fuck." Hana looked around for some runes, which she didn't find, "I think this is a 'no mind mages' temple. So he's stuck out there in this freezing cold and is going to suffer."

"Shit." Jared could feel the pain building up, and tried to stand, only to fail. Zoe sighed,

"I'll stay with him. If you don't find us when you get the stone, I'm taking him back to the ship." Kagami was the most reluctant to leave, but was dragged inside by Eden. She started digging into her backpack, pulling out a bag labeled 'EMERGENCY' which held an bunch of blankets, some wood stakes, a hammer, and a couple think winter coats, and some little pouches that were designed to heat up when shaken.

So Zoe started setting up shop. This wouldn't have held all of them, four tops if they were willing to sacrifice personal space, but it worked. Most of the blankets were used as walls against the wind. It was still really cold, but the wind wasn't as insufferable. She then wrapped Jared in the spare blankets. Being still like this wasn't good for this health.

If she had to guess, she would say they had been in the shelter for about ten minutes before a blanket wall collapsed, so she had to go out and fix it. She blessed Eli's paranoia and the internal fire of a magic wielder, otherwise she and Jared both would have frozen to death at this point.

Unfortunately, she went back in to see Jared's head covered in snow. She groaned, putting his head in her lap and cleaning the snow off. She knew she herself was cold, but since Jared was too weak to move, he was taking it harder and his lips were purple, along with his fingertips starting to freeze. If it weren't for the flame that resided inside him, both of his hands would be completely frozen and need to be amputated, so this was a relief. She slipped his gloves back on him and hoped they could get back the the ship quickly, because it was going to get worse, and the walk was already long enough.

After a minute of him being too still, she nudged him and he opened his eyes just a crack. Normally Zoe would wonder why his migraine was affecting him like this, since it was usually caused by being able to hear the thoughts of everything in a fifty mile radius and they were in the middle of fucking nowhere. But he did run into a brick wall, and the cold couldn't be helping.

Viirus and Blazze emerged from Zoe's backpack. They had been in there since the start of the trip in animal form, but then came out. They hadn't really been needed until now.

Viirus flew down to Jared, "I don't think we can stay here. It's already too cold for both of you." Zoe nodded,

"Well he's grown like six inches since I carried him last, and I don't think I would be able to do again without transforming." Blazze nodded, before shifting into Fae form,

"No, but we can."

Viirus shifted too. Zoe realized this was the first time he had shifted, at least around her. If she had to guess, he stood seven feet tall—and she was jealous, still being 5'1 and even her eldest son was taller than her—and he wore leather pants and boots. He was even more muscular than Jared, with shoulder-length brown hair and chestnut eyes, and a braided beard. He wasn't wearing a shirt, just a bearskin cloak.

Zoe pulled out a jacket and gave one to both him and Blazze—who was still wearing that rather revealing dress in this death weather—but they both pushed it away,

"We both can survive naked out here for two days before feeling any negative effects." Viirus assured, "Use them for yourself or Jared." She nodded, putting another jacket around herself, and wrapping another blanket and a jacket around Jared—who Viirus had given the bearskin cloak to. When Viirus picked him up, he didn't even look like he was carrying a person, just a large thing of blankets.

Blazze turned to Zoe, "I can carry you. Viirus and I can travel faster than you, since we aren't bothered by the cold." Normally she would argue, but even Zoe was too cold to argue, so she was carried piggyback as they trekked back to the plane.

Meanwhile

The temple itself was quite beautiful, and had a more natural glow to it, with the only light coming from little lights that were on the ceiling. There were also animal carvings, or things that looked like animals, and there was one of a warrior.

The main feature was the sphinx-creature in the center of the room. It looked like a combination of an old man and a lion, in somewhat typical sphinx fashion, with long white hair an equally long beard, and bright completely white eyes. It also had large blue bird-like wings.

Then it spoke, "If you do not seek the Oblivion Stone, turn back now. If the stone I guard is what you desire, step forth. Correctly answer my riddle and claim the power of the stone for yourself."

"Okay." Plagg shrugged, "Let's get this over with. Sooner we're done, sooner I can accept death again and we can get Zoe and Other Jared out of the ice and snow."

"Just so you know," Hana said, "I have practically no education, so I won't know this."

The sphinx didn't seem to react to them talking, but said the riddle once they were silent,

"A box without hinges, key or lid. Yet golden treasure inside is hid."

Quantic Jared brightened. This riddle was from The Hobbit! He knew this! He felt like an excited kid.

"The answer is—"

"Eggs." He turned and saw Hana had spoken. Plagg, Kagami and Eden stared at her in utter horror and then terror was on their faces. But then the sphinx spoke,

"Truth."

There was a sealed off door behind the sphinx they hadn't noticed before, which opened to reveal a waterfall with a room behind it.

"Okay then." Eden shrugged, "Come on, let's go." Quantic Jared turned to Hana,

"I was about to answer it. You've read Hobbit?" He was a little disappointed he hadn't been able to save the team, but this meant he could have something in common with the least insane person in their group.

Hana raised an eyebrow, "No. Why?"

"Because it was from that." She shrugged,

"Oh, I just guessed. I was reminded of a childhood memory, and I have a knack for flashbacks helping the current situation." Plagg turned,

"Please explain." Hana brightened as she told her story,

"Nobody cared about my opinion when I was a kid—whether with Douglas or my parents before they died. No one cared what I thought. Sometimes people would say 'what do you think you are doing'…" she sighed, "but that just meant stop, they didn't actually want to know my thought process. They did want to be say I was going to put a bottle rocket into that container of eggs, so that when I lit off the bottle rocket the eggs would explode everywhere."

Kagami seemed both parts bemused and impressed, "I'm actually curious what brought you to that." Quantic Jared had to admit he was too.

"Oh well thank you for asking. Well…you know how I'm filled with rage?" She clenched her fists, "I'm so angry all the time, and I have no outlet for it. It's just my head. So…eggs."

Quantic Jared tried to put himself in Hana's shoes, and found that was one of the frustrations of being the only person to have had a normal childhood. Horrific backstory is what brought that gang of misfits together—other than the big bad that was always going after someone. Regina had been after Eli, Zoe, and anyone related to them. Iku was after Psychic Jared and basically everyone else—and he himself was just trying to see if there were survivors in a crashed plane. But while he had had a lovely childhood, he couldn't relate to the others other than Gizmo's science love. He had studied psychology, so he had an idea, but imagining not being listened to at all hurt him; and then there was the enslavement, or the abuse, or the other horrors the others has suffered through.

He was still surprised any of them could smile after what they had been through. Zoe was messed up in the head, so it made sense. And he could tell that Kelly, Joselyn and Eden rarely smiled genuinely. Eli's smiles were strained unless he was with his close friend and family, same applied with a lot of them. Gizmo's smiles were fake as hell, but he and everyone else knew she was new to the whole emotion thing. But he had thought Hana's were real. Apparently not.

When Zoe had said nobody in their family was normal, this wasn't what he had expected.

But as long as Kaylee was kept out of this, and he avoided that freaky illness Kelly had had, he didn't have too many regrets. That was assuming they grabbed this stone and then killed Iku by the end of the week, meaning he could get back to MIT before that important test he had reminded Zoe about at least eight times.

Plagg was clearly apprehensive about this, since he was the one taking the stone's power: deathtouch. It sounded kind of like Cataclysm, so he was perfect for the role—if it weren't for the dozens of warnings about using the stone, absorbing the stone, and burning out being extra painful and could cause suicide or a horrible death.

The stone itself was a little bigger than the other stones they had seen, and was made of Onyx with a faint star-field visible inside. It was beautiful, but he knew it was going to make Plagg's life both parts shorter and harder.

…

Plagg sucked in a breath as he looked at the stone he knew was going to be his doom. He had been around for a very long time, and remembered when the council had placed these stones, and he remembered that Cradh was more particular than the others. It was funny in a way, how he had laughed at the power this was given, how he had been a god. But now, with what he had been reduced to, he knew this power would be too much for him to handle for long.

Was he scared? Yes. But not of death, or what came after it. He wasn't even afraid of the pain he knew came with it—not that he was eager for it in any way—but he was just scared in general. It was moments like this that he longed for the days of sitting in Adrien's room with not a care in the world other than cheese. And maybe he was a little bitter about having been brought back from the dead in the first place, only to be thrown into a world of pain. It was cruel. But he had been given a second chance at life. Might as well not waste it.

Reluctantly, he placed his hand on the stone.

The pain loitered around inside him whilst he helplessly try to shut him out, scratching and aching every bone, crawling around in his stomach and fired spears at his heart. It poked at Plagg's brain and played with his mind. It climbed up his spine, crushing bones with unbearable, unbeatable strength, demanding to be felt. Hundreds of agonizing deaths were being felt at once.

It shot up fast, erasing every thought from his head and paralyzing his body. Apparently he screamed, but he would never recall that part, only the pain. It couldn't have lasted long though, the screaming, because by the time his hand detached from the stone, Plagg's speech could only come out in faltering gasps as he struggled to make his brain listen to the voices of his companions and respond with something appropriate. Eden, the healer, was kneeling by him, saying it would be alright.

He passed out moments after that, and that was a blessing.

…

Eden checked Plagg's pulse once he passed out, "He's stable." She then went into auto-pilot and continued looking him over and even prescribed painkillers. Then she paused at how right it felt to play the role of doctor she had discarded.

Hana grinned, "Want to be a doctor or not, you still have a knack for it." She looked around and the team noticed they were in a different location. It seemed to be Venice, Italy.

"Fuck." Eden looked around, "Zoe and Jared!"

"I think Zoe's smart enough to have started heading back to the jet." Quantic Jared assured, hoping he was right, "So…should we relax or head back to Paris?"

"Well, even if we get a flight," Hana said, "It will take time. Thank god I stole one of Gabriel's wallets. Buckle up, it's time for a vacation!"

OoOoO

Viirus and Blazze were able to get back to the jet in less time than it had taken to get to the cave, and Gizmo opened the door.

Zoe and Jared were not in good shape. Both had passed out either from pain or the cold, and hard frostbite. Both had ice coating various limbs, and the internal fire was the only thing preventing the need for an amputation.

Joselyn gasped, "Jared?! Zoe?! I'll get warm water and washcloths and fresh clothes!" She scampered into the back and came back with the necessarily materials.

Viirus changed Jared, while Blazze changed Zoe, and then started using the warm water to get the ice off. Once the skin was back to normal colors, they wrapped the two in more blankets and put them on the beds in the jet.

Blazze went to the wheel and got the jet flying. Good thing Gizmo had been focusing on keeping the engine from freezing while they were gone.

"What about the others?!" Joselyn asked worriedly. Blazze shrugged,

"We were around when the temples were built. They'll end up in Italy, so we'll meet them back in Paris. but for now, Jared and Zoe need help. And the farther we get from the storm, the sooner Zoe can thaw herself and help Jared.

It was about an hour before Zoe shifted into Heartless, and then woke up a few minutes later completely fine. She changed back and got up, still with a blanket wrapped around her.

"H-How's Jared?" She was still cold, just not dangerously so. Joselyn sighed.

Jared was in so much pain his complexion was ashen, even more so than from the cold since he had continuously gotten paler the closer they got to civilization. His normally tan skin had sunken in tone to something so lifeless it scared her just to look at him. His eyes closed and he had sucked himself into a deeper place in his mind to cope. All she could do was hold his hand. It barely seemed enough, and his skin was icy—literally!

Every few minutes he would scream, not like one of those guys in some movie being tortured, but worse. It had a raw quality, the realness of a person consumed by a pain that knew no end or limit. Then he would go quiet, just panting or shivering or both.

Zoe nodded a little, placing a hand on his forehead, and his skin returned to a normal temperature. Then Jared opened his eyes just a crack, before whimpering and closing his eyes again. It was hard to tell if he was asleep, unconscious, or just closing his eyes.

Freya appeared, "All the stones have been collected. We can defeat Iku now." Viirus looked to the Guardian of Avalon,

"You created the stone he's using. Can you get rid of the migraine?" To the dismay of everyone, she shook her head.

"The migraine itself it brought on by the limit a human can handle, while he's actually hearing the thoughts of everyone and everything within a fifty mile radius. So I can't help him with anything other than the concussion that isn't helping." She placed a hand on his forehead, and a singular streak of his hair turned moonlit white.

"What just happened?" Gizmo asked. Freya shrugged,

"I had to auto-kill him for a second to heal the concussion, since I don't have healing powers and can only heal him with the auto-kill. Didn't help with the migraine, but now it won't actually kill him. All of his hair would be white if it wasn't instantaneous death and revival, so he just had one streak of white as I guess the price of getting the concussion healed."

"Could be worse." Joselyn said, "But we wait to kill Iku until he's better. I don't want him to push himself too much." She froze as Jared's eyes opened again,

"No…we're doing this…we get back to Paris and we're killing her."

"But—"

"No. I will have none of that." He sucked in a breath, before Joselyn grabbed a bucket so he could vomit. Migraines really were the worst, especially with lingering hypothermia, "I'm going to sleep and try to shake this off. When I wake up and meet up with the rest of the team, we are doing this." And then he was asleep from the effort it took to get all of that out.

Joselyn smiled, wrapping the blankets tighter around him, "Sleep well, Jared."

OoOoO

When Jared fell asleep, he was out cold. So Viirus had to carry him into the mansion and set him on the couch. Kelly looked significantly healthier, and Morrigan was there as well. The rest of the team who had been in Italy were there as well.

Eden placed her hand on Psychic Jared's forehead and he woke up,

"Hey Eden…" he was still clearly in pain, "Do you have an Advil? This is killing me." His voice was weak, barely a whisper, and his eyes weren't even open.

"How would you describe your pain?"

"…..It's killing me." his left eye opened a little, since it was a dark room, "I don't know if you remember that part. Are we playing that pyramid game? Um…excruciating…horrific…would rather have shards of glass in my eyes. How do I convey this to you?"

Eden sighed, "How would you rate your pain?"

"Four stars! Two enthusiastic thumbs up." She sat him up and gave him an Advil,

"Don't throw this back up."

Then Kelly ran in, "Jared, get up. Joselyn's gone!"

While all of that was happening

Joselyn had been waiting patiently when Sam arrived, and walked into a room with Kelly. Curious she decided to listen in,

"Kelly, you got my message, right?"

"Yeah." Her Dad said, "The one about Iku."

"More specifically that killing Iku means Joselyn will die! Her soul will vanish forever!" Joselyn gasped, and to her horror, her Dad nodded,

"I remember. That's why I plan to take her place. If I had to choose between my life and hers, I choose hers all the way. Besides, Iku must be destroyed from the inside out, so she will have to fight Iku to the death, without her powers. I'm better suited for that."

Unable to listen to anything else, she ran out of the mansion with tears in her eyes.

She stopped at the park, where there was a full moon. She looked at the moon longingly. She wasn't going to let her Dad sacrifice himself for her if that was even possible. But…it still stung knowing this would be her last night alive.

She wanted to spend this night with Jared or Cam or Gizmo…but she knew she wasn't supposed to know. Her Dad didn't want her to know because he had plans for it to not concern her. But he was more needed than her.

So she turned over in the grass and cried.

Kelly was right about at least one thing: on her own, she was not strong enough to kill Iku. Iku was the source of her power, and she didn't know if she would be able to do it. The fate of the multiverse rested on her incapable shoulders.

"Joselyn?" She sat up and saw Vita staring at her. She scrambled backwards and splashed water on her face to startle Iku into behaving.

"Vita." She greeted coldly. He shrugged,

"I deserve that." He sat down, "So you heard what happens to the person who kills my sister." Joselyn nodded,

"I don't think I'm strong enough to defeat her. I'm not afraid to die, as long as I take her down with me." Vita smiled,

"You're braver than most. I barely had the guts to help the council imprison her. Now I realize what I have to do." He held out his hand, "Come with me, I can help you get stronger. And if we're lucky, I can get her out and then you'll be home free while your friends kill her vessel-less form."

"You'd do that?"

"That's kind of why I created Amhar. I do regret what happened to Eden Imelda. But she will recover in time. But we can finish this battle tonight. Just come with me." He held out his hand, which Joselyn took.

"None of the others will get hurt, right?"

Vita hesitated, "I'll do my best." he narrowed his eyes, "Iku, don't even try."

Meanwhile, Iku was laughing maniacally inside of Joselyn.