A/N: Sorry for the lateness here, but I had some minor troubles during my break with my Microsoft Word. Please let me know if there's anything that I need to rewrite or fix here. Thanks in advance.
If it weren't for the fact that Hamdo was a notorious psychopath and murderer, his facial expressions would be downright comical to look at in person. As he listened to Shu and I introducing ourselves, he stared at us while he pointed his finger at us, wearing this completely ridiculous look that told me that he was unable to understand one thing that had just happened to him. His mind never was able to make logical leaps that well.
Unfortunately, he was able to yell out the words, "Kill them!" to Abelia, who then proceeded to whip out her sidearm in an attempt to get us out of the way.
I was disappointed with her to say the least. After all I'd learned about her origins here she was still dancing along to the beat that Hamdo was playing. Then again, I really shouldn't sound so condescending to her, especially considering what she later did for us down the road.
Abelia couldn't get the shots off at first due to the mechanical failures that were the direct fault of Lala-Ru and myself. "It's overheating!" Abelia shouted in response, talking about the main power sources of Hellywood, I believe, but I don't know that for a fact, so take that as you will.
Shu, Lala-Ru, and me were all held up against the railing of the catwalk we were on, trying to stay on it and away from the explosions and errant water around us. After some time, though, the catwalk became more stable and Shu and I jumped up and went after Hamdo, knowing he had to be taken out if we were truly going to be safe. I didn't know how I really felt about murdering someone, even if that person was Hamdo, but I knew in my heart that if someone like him were ever left alive, then he'd find another way to spread despair into the world he or she lived in.
Abelia pointed her sidearm at us, her aim shaky from the continuous movement of the battle station as it tore itself apart. Shu and I stared back at her, with Shu holding up his shinai and me clenching my fists.
She fired first, missing Shu by inches, as he and I approached her, and Shu forced the gun out of her hands with his shinai. Abelia cried out in surprise and fell backwards onto the catwalk. We stared once more at each other, Shu and I unwilling to fight her when she was down, but something changed all that: The gun that Shu had forced from her hands was now in the possession of Hamdo, who fired it at us, grazing Abelia on her right shoulder. He fired once more, missing me by Lord knows how many nanometers, and tried again, once more hitting his loyal subordinate.
"Die!" Hamdo yelled, a crazed sneer on his face.
In unison, Shu and I leapt after him, Shu hitting him in the gut before Hamdo could manage to bring his gun down, and me offering a shot to the kidneys. Shu yelled like a man possessed, as he continued the attack, while I kicked Hamdo right in the ribs, eliciting a pained cry from him at our combined blows. While I backed off for a little to recuperate, Shu continued the assault, his shinai noticeably losing more and more of its parts every time he landed a blow, until it eventually shattered in his hands when Shu hit Hamdo while he was whimpering on his knees, while his hands were protecting the back of his head.
Shu yelled once more as he raised his hands into the air, while Hamdo tried to get up and flee, but Shu threw the remaining fragments of his shinai at him, forcing the once proud dictator to run off from us, while I started to go after him, but Abelia pushed me out of the way.
"King Hamdo!" she yelled, as she went for him.
I watched as Abelia ran after the former King Hamdo, laughing as they both fled from us, just as a sharp jolt in my chest brought my attention to what I should have been worrying about the entire time my adrenaline was pumping in the brief fight: Keeping my heart under at least some form of control. I clutched my chest for a moment, barely able to register the fact that my heart was doing the one thing I'd tried to avoid for years, and that this time I knew that it was the final one.
I fell down, unable to stop myself from succumbing to the massive pressures that formed inside of my body. The agony was immense, more so when I thrashed my head back and hit the railing behind me, yet I wasn't given a moment's respite to deal with that problem when the pain coursed through my nerves, bringing the intensities all over my already weary body.
Really, I should have expected this to happen to me. I'd just spent the last days of my life in as stressed a time as anyone without a heart condition could take, let alone one who actually had one. Almost dying when I attacked Kazam in a blood-filled rage, almost losing Sara when she tried to kill herself, losing Zari-Bars when Hamdo invaded, and I'd just gotten out of a fight with two trigger-happy soldiers, only to be transported away from them in a magical bubble that protected me against a crushing tide of water. And now I'd just fought against the person I was most pissed off at for causing everything bad that had happened to Sara, Shu, Lala-Ru, Sis, the others, and myself. It was only logical that my body wouldn't be able to contain that much stress going on at once.
What Shu and Lala-Ru were doing while that was going on, I don't know, and I imagine that they must have panicked at first—well, Shu at the very least—and wondered what they could do to stop whatever was messing me up.
Grabbing the side of the railing, I tried to stand back up, but the pain spiraled up for another round of torture and I fell face first into the metal catwalk.
I knew it was the end of me. I had already gone through one heart attack too many in my life, especially for someone who wasn't supposed to live through as many as I did. My time on this wondrous and magnificent earth was over with, and so was my promise to Sara to be with her once this was over.
I've talked a couple of times about dying, but knowing you will die and actually being there to experience it are two different things. I'd faced my own mortality several times in the course of my life, but they were nothing like this one. This one felt so…final to me, like I wouldn't be walking away from it joking all the while.
But that didn't bother me at all; I'd come to terms with my death a long time ago. It was Sara I was worried about. She'd just found herself again and knew what she had to do in life again, and she'd also thought I'd be able to be there with her. In that short spot of time, I imagined Shu explaining to her that I was gone and that there was nothing that they could do to save me. He told Sara that I was a hero and that I'd sacrificed myself in order to save everyone else from Hamdo and his insane ideals. I imagined the look on Sara's face and the tears I knew she'd try to hold back on, and wondered what she would do after I was gone. Would they bury me? Would there be a body to bury when the once mighty Hellywood fell to the earth in its death throes? Would Sara be able to go back home with Shu once they found a way to operate the time tunnel? What would she tell my family? Her dad? Would she even be able to describe what had happened to them without succumbing to renewed depression? What about the kids? Who would take care of them once Sara and Shu left?
I can't die, I told myself, as I stared blankly up into the ceilings of the place that I had just fought off Hamdo in with Shu not twenty seconds ago. I can't die. I need to get back up and help them! I can't die!
"I CAN'T DIE!" I roared as my body ignored my protests when I tried to get back up and stand on my own two feet.
It was then that I noticed an orb of blue energy surrounding my body, causing my eyes to widen and drift over to where Lala-Ru was sitting on her knees, her hands both covering up her pendant. It took me a while to figure out just what she was doing, but the moment that I felt the pains that were causing my body to twitch and spasm going away, I knew that my savior had come to rescue me.
Lala-Ru spoke to me…but it wasn't out loud; it was more of a whisper that we hear in the mind every now and then. "My power is leaving me as we speak," she said, her voice low and concentrated. "I give you some of what remains in order to thank you for the way that you have helped me during the time that we have known each other. I know that you hated me for what happened to Sara, but I also know that you forgave me, even when I hadn't asked for it. Use the life I offer you now to go and save Sara—who I also forgive—and get to safety; she is seven floors beneath us. Shu and I have to finish up elsewhere."
I was dumbstruck at first, unable to form even the simplest of cogent sentences to offer my thanks to the majestic woman in front of me, but I saw her smile at me when she finished healing me, and I knew that she was aware of my feelings.
Shu, meanwhile, was staring at the spectacle with the awe that comes when you keep seeing magnificent things happen almost every day, which is just my way of saying that he looked at it if he'd never seen anything like it before. When miracles come into your life, even if they happen on a regular basis, never get old to witness. Every single time that they happen my heart is filled with wonder and amazement.
Lala-Ru finished up a moment later and looked at me with curiosity on her face. I touched my chest and waited for the pain to come back, but to my genuine surprise, there was nothing there to worry about. My heart was perfectly fine.
My heart had been healed.
I was alive, truly alive for the first time in two years.
I stood up and nodded at them. "I've got to go find Sara," I said, determination filling my face according to Shu's later account to me. "You do what you have to do in order to stay safe."
Before they could answer I ran out the door, knowing where to go based on Lala-Ru's directions. I'd been able to run several times since I'd lost control of my heart, but they were always careful runs, designed to let me go fast, but not to exert myself in a way that caused me too much stress. But this time, I really cut loose when I rampaged down the soaked hallways of the dying battle station once called Hellywood. It was so freeing to do something as simple as run with reckless abandon, so much that I almost lost place of what I was supposed to be doing, but thankfully my mind restored my original purpose in sprinting when I'd traveled down four flights of stairs.
I'm coming, Sara, I promised, scaling down another group of stairs.
Hopping over a few odd dead bodies consisting of both Hellywood soldiers and former civilians from Zari-Bars, I tried not to look at them and imagining Sara's face on the many dead women I had to jet by.
I heard rushing water from the floor below me and watched as a piece of the wall collapsed and fell down into the space beneath it, reaching a river of the water that Lala-Ru had created to end Hellywood's threat. I also saw Sara and about twelve of the kids that she'd looked after, as well as at least two that were dressed in Hellywood attire that couldn't be more than six years old.
"Sara!" I cried out as I looked down the hole
She looked up to see me and a smile flashed on her face. "Matt!" she cried out. "You're okay!"
"As okay as I'll ever be, sweetheart," I said. "Hold on, I'm coming to get you guys out of here."
"We'll be fine, just—" Sara started to say, but then she shouted out, "Musa! No!"
I turned my head over in the direction where a small child—one of the ones that were garbed in the traditional Hellywood uniform—had slipped and fallen into the water. I immediately picked myself up and descended the closest set of stairs that I could see and rushed down to where Sara and the kids were.
The moment I found them, I didn't pay attention to where Musa had fallen, as I'd figured the river had washed him away, so I'd settled on saving Sara, who was dangling from a broken piece of the walkway they were on. I dove onto it and grabbed her arm, trying to say something smart and brave, but the crumbling of yet another part of the walkway, thankfully far enough from us drowned out what I intended to say.
Sara and I looked up to see if maybe Musa had made it and were astonished to see that Kazam was standing in the middle of the distance between broken walkways, as he held the small child in his arms. Our eyes met for a second, and I had a feeling that he'd been following after Sara in order to keep her safe. I don't know if he ever saw the look I gave him in that short moment, but I like to think that he knew that I was grateful for his help.
Kazam struggled against the waters and approached us, offering Musa to Sara, who was closest to him. "Here!" he gasped, the strain getting to him.
Sara grabbed the back of Musa's uniform and brought him to us as I held onto her to keep her from slipping off of the walkway, our attention focused on everything but what was happening around us. Sara tugged with all her strength, eventually bringing Musa to dry land. Musa saved, Sara and I looked back to find Kazam, who was no longer in view, the victim of his own heroism. Sara and I exchanged a mournful glance together, and picked ourselves up with Musa in tow to get back to the other kids, who were as delighted to see me as I was to see them. I smiled at them and ruffled the closest one's hair.
Thank you for everything, Kazam, I thought, trying not to look back at the slowly rising waters. I wish I'd treated you better, but you've always looked out for me, even if I didn't understand you all the time. Rest in peace, my friend.
"Everybody ready to leave?" I asked the kids.
I didn't get a verbal response, but the smiles on their faces were enough for me to know what my friends were thinking about.
"Then let's go," Sara said, dropping Musa in front of her as we rushed off to stop the raging water from filling up the room we were in.
We managed to find several corridors that weren't waterlogged and went down them to reach the bottom of Hellywood, where we knew we'd be safe from the massive flood above us for some reason. Another one of those things that you just naturally know in life, I suppose.
"Matt, thanks," Sara said, blushing at something I'd obviously forgotten about in the excitement.
"For what?" I asked, confused.
"For the message that everyone heard. That I heard."
I smiled and winked at her, finally realizing just what she was talking about, and said, "Anytime, beautiful."
"Where are Shu and Lala-Ru?" Sara asked as we neared the exits.
"They had something else to take care of," I said, grinning to myself. "I would've stopped them, but I was too grateful to say anything."
"Grateful? Why were you grateful, Matt?"
I guided the kids in front of me down a safer passage, still grinning. "Sara, would you believe me if I told you I've got a new lease on life?"
"And what's that supposed to mean?" she asked, as she picked up one of the little girls that had stumbled.
"Sara, why can I run as fast as I am right now without trying to slow myself down to protect myself?"
Sara gave me a look and I kept on grinning. "But how, Matt? How did it happen?"
"The same way that I was healed a while back when Hamdo beat me up: Lala-Ru. After Shu and I finished fighting Hamdo I started to have another heart attack, and I was beginning to think it'd be my last, but then she came and stopped it from killing me."
"That's—I almost can't believe it, but after all we've seen I don't see why that can't happen."
"Looks like you're going to have to deal with me for another fifty years or so."
"Lucky me."
"Hey!"
Sara giggled; it was a vibrant giggle, one that I'd missed immensely since being taken away from our homes. If it was even humanly possible to do so, my grin widened even further in response.
That same feeling of just knowing came over me and dominated my thoughts as we exited the dead battle station.
Everything was going to be okay.
The remaining survivors—both captive and soldier—stood as far away from the former scourge of the desert world as possible, all watching it in amazement, as if none of them had ever considered the likelihood that even the greatest weapons can be destroyed given the right amount of resistance. I had to admit I had my doubts as well, but I shoved them aside in order to focus on the kids and Sara, who was already leading them as far away from the falling battle station as she could.
I picked up two of the slower kids and ran out in front of the others to try and coax them into running as fast as I was, hoping they'd think of it as some sort of fun game, rather than a path for survival. Kids—even those who have experienced the harsh realities of life—still need their imagination to keep the grief from consuming them, as I'd learned in my brief time in this future desert world.
Surprisingly, though, the battle station remained upright, despite all the damage that had been delivered to it by both my computer virus and Lala-Ru's, um, flood attack thingy. I stared at it with my eyebrow furled, wondering how the heck it could do that, but Sara brought my attention elsewhere when she grabbed my shoulder and turned me around to stare out into the paradox in front of us: An entire lake of water in what had once been a desolate desert.
It was immense, looking like it could stretch out for miles on end, possibly even past the part of the world that we'd been in. The cerulean mass before us was amazingly vast and brilliant to look at.
"How…the heck…?" I asked, unable to finish my sentence.
"She gave it to us," Sara said, bringing my attention back to her. "Lala-Ru must have decided that we deserved a second chance."
Sara smiled at me, and I returned it, just as I looked back out into the water. It wasn't more than a couple feet in front of me. It was tantalizing to look at, especially since the largest quantity of water I'd seen had consisted of a glorified pool in the middle of system of caverns.
Before I could stop myself I approached it and bent down to take a scoop of it—not once thinking about the probability of it being saltwater—and drank what was left in my hand, finding a sweet liquid that invigorated my taste buds.
"Amazing, it's actually real!" I shouted out as I looked back to Sara and the kids. "Come on and try it, Sara! Kids, come on!"
Emboldened by my impetuous move, Sara and the kids soon gathered around the water, finding it as refreshing as I had. The peopled amassed outside the somehow still standing Hellywood mostly stared at the new and strange addition to their world, never once having been near anything that was close to its design in their lives. Eventually others came to the water and filled their mouths with its succulent flavor.
I wanted to go out and swim in it, a childish desire filling my mind that I almost couldn't control. I couldn't help myself; I hadn't seen a great body of water in a very long time, and now here it was right in front of me, just waiting to be swum in by yours truly. I never once considered the impossibilities of how an entire planet—at least I assumed at the time that the entire planet was experiencing the same thing—could suddenly gain a vast amount of water and be able to support it efficiently. Why should I? There it was, proof positive right in front of me, so why bother to think about impossibilities that clearly weren't so impossible.
I felt a tugging in the back of my mind to look back at Hellywood and found that Sara was doing the same. We both looked up at the highest part of the recently deceased battle station, locating Shu holding Lala-Ru as the two watched the crimson sunset.
"Well, well," I said, smirking, "looks like I'm not the only one who gets the girl."
Sara rolled her eyes. (Honestly, I'm lucky that that's all that happened.)
But I began to regret my statement a moment later, when I started to notice that Lala-Ru didn't look corporeal to my eyes. I closed them and rubbed them, but when I looked out again, Lala-Ru was fading right before my very eyes, eventually vanishing from view entirely. Sara and I both gasped as we witnessed it, unable to figure out what had happened. Shu—for a moment—kept holding on to the air that had once been filled with Lala-Ru's body.
It took me a while to figure it out, but it dawned on me a few seconds later. "Her work's done," I said, remembering what she'd told me about her power leaving her. "She has to go back home now. Thanks, Lala-Ru…for everything."
"I'm sorry for everything I did to you," Sara said, taking my hand as she watched Shu discover Lala-Ru had left our plane of existence. "I hope you can forgive me for what I did to you."
"She did," I said. When Sara looked over to me I added, "When she was healing me, Lala-Ru said that, 'I know that you hated me for what happened to Sara, but I also know that you forgave me, even when I hadn't asked for it. Use the life I offer you now to go and save Sara—who I also forgive—and get to safety.' At least that's how I think she said it."
Sara nodded. "What was she, Matt?"
I shrugged. "I don't think we're meant to know, Sara. I'll settle for an angel for now, though."
"Matt, look at the sun," Sara said, her voice different somehow.
Curious, I turned around to look at the sunset, and found it changing from the once menacing crimson to a brilliant and beautiful yellow. I've never been so glad to see the color yellow in my life.
"Looks like we got our second chance after all," I said, as Sara and I watched the sun finally set in the distance.
A/N: Alright, just two more chapters to go, my friends. Next one will focus on the fallout from the destruction of Hellywood, as well as some important decisions that need to be made by everyone involved. It should be out soon, maybe by tomorrow if I can get the time to write it. Until next time.
