Chibiyu: This story is slowly drawing to a close, but who knows, it may stretch on for another ten or fifteen chapters haha.

Nick :*sigh* God help us all.

I don't own JONAS. If I did, I would be Nick's girlfriend on the show, not Macy. And the kissing scene wouldn't have been taken out. I would have wanted proof that it happened hahaha.

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He watched the Bane flutter down and land on Nick's unsteady shoulder. He watched it carefully nuzzle the side of his face, obviously speaking to him. And he watched as his son slowly lifted his head and nodded before he scrubbed away the remains of his terror. He saw Nick turn and look towards the camera the Bane had previously used. And his son smiled weakly and nodded once.

"Do what you have to do, Dad. I'll be okay. I'm not alone."

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"Look, Eric, you're talking nonsense!" Ray said as the two walked quickly and carefully along the grass-strewn roads. "You weren't even in the lair for a long time!"

"That doesn't matter!" the young boy argued as he pushed his red curls out of his eyes. "I still saw it happen! It was real too, not the shadow things that Necrophere used to confuse Nick's brothers!"

Ray sighed once, her fingers occupied with the tips of her dyed hair, dark eyes filled with the want to believe. "I don't know, Eric," she pursued her lips. "I can understand the cruel nature Necrophere would show the Normals, but I don't know about the rest."

Eric stamped his foot in aggravation. "Listen then!" he ordered his sister as he pointed to the window. "Out there is a war! Necrophere knew that! Why do you think he let Nick walk free? He knew that Nick wouldn't escape, because he couldn't! The Four was controlling him; it was since Florice took him from the Council. It's obvious! The Nick that was in the lair wasn't the same person who saved me from Florice!"

"Say I believe you," Ray drew out the conversation further in order to stall for future confirmation, "Then what do we do? If Nick wasn't in his own mind, then that means he is locked away for no reason. But he wasn't wearing the Four when he was controlled, so therefore the Four could still control him now, right?"

Eric nodded once. "Yes. That is why it's important to let him go and show him that the Heroes aren't bad people! We need him on our side in order to stop the Four! We need him to see you all as people and not scum."

"We're not scum!"

Eric tapped his foot stubbornly.

"Not all of us."

The younger brother nodded once. "Not all of you; Nick knows that too. But the people who care are the ones without power in the Council. He'll fight for us, but only us. And he won't fight with us. He may be a Villain, Ray, but he isn't like the others!"

The Super played with her hair again as she chewed her bottom lip in thought. "He wouldn't hurt you like the others would, but he is still a threat, Eric."

"The greatest Heroes are always threats!"

Ray sighed again as she released her hair. "You're too young to understand."

"No!" Eric yelled as his sister turned away. "I'm not! You're too blind to understand! Necrophere is hurting the other Normals! He is torturing them for information and will kill all of them! The only person who knows where they are is Nick! The whole room we were kept in was dark, Ray. We didn't know anything about it except for the pain and the fear. Look at my bruises if you want proof!"

The older did not look as Eric lifted his shirt to reveal the multicolored skin hidden beneath.

"But his memories are gone, Eric."

"Not gone," Eric reminded her, "Concealed. And Nick beat the Four before - why else did it take him so long to fall prey to it? Now that he is free again, he can fight for his memories back!"

"How?"

Eric shrugged once. "No idea. But he will find a way!"

"So, what if we release Nick? What happens then?"

Eric toed the ground, nervous for the answer. "The Four could control him again. Or the Bane could protect him. I don't know! That would be up to Nick. And I don't think he would turn his back on the ones he loves or his own kind. You saw what he did when Florice took us. You know how many times he has saved the unknowing butts of his ignorant brothers by taking the fall. You know what kind of guy he is, Ray."

The girl hung her head to make a curtain around her face with her hair. "I don't know, Eric. It's too risky."

"Without the Bane, we are all goners."

Ray turned to face her brother once more. "We can beat the Four."

Eric shook his head once, eyes full f pity as he stared into his sister's ignorant eyes. "No, no you can't. You've seen it, Ray. I've seen it. This is too big for the Heroes."

Ray lifted her head in order to stare at her Normal brother with a hint of doubt. "And a single Normal can?"

Once again, Eric shook his head. "No. The Heroes alone can't beat him. Nick alone can't beat him."

"So we fight together?"

"Yes," Eric agreed, but there was a dark undertone to his voice, "But even that won't be enough."

"What?!"

The young boy sighed and sat on the steps of their house, which forced the older to do the same. "We will need everyone. The Heroes, the Normals, the Villains; everyone. Necrophere can't beat us all."

"You're talking nonsense again. That can never happen"

Eric let his head fall into his hands. "Then we're all doomed."

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"For the last time, Brianna," Valenteen huffed as she moved about their townhouse living room and picked up her younger sister's discarded toys, "I don't care how great you think that Normal boy is, I don't want to hear another word about him!"

Brianna huffed, her light-brown pigtails bounced from the action. "But you don't get it!" she pressed as she followed her sister's heeled feet. "Nicky wasn't Nicky when you fought him before!"

Valenteen spun around at this new bit of news, the lid to the toy chest slammed shut, unnoticed by the Villain. "What did you say?"

Brianna allowed a smile to grow on her childish face as she gained her sister's full attention. "I said that Nicky wasn't Nicky. When he let his brothers take me from Necrophere's lair, that wasn't Nicky. That was the Nicky the Four was controlling! When the group looked away, I saw Nicky duck into the shadows and another figure replace him! The others didn't notice it, but I did! It was all to throw the Heroes off!"

"And before," Brianna continued as she jumped onto the couch to be at eye-level with her older sibling, "When Nicky was battling," she spoke as if she was there, but in reality she only had overheard what Valenteen had told their grandparents, "That was all for show! The Four wanted the Heroes to believe that Nick was strong enough to control it so it could fool them into locking away the Bane."

"And you know this how?"

Brianna looked to her feet, suddenly very shy. "Nicky told me. He was strong. He fought the Four a lot, but it always won. At times he was my Nicky and he would tell me things that he wanted me to tell someone else when I got free, but other times, he was a Villain. He wasn't my Nicky."

"And you were never punished for knowing this?" the older sister instantly began scanning Brianna's tiny arms for injuries she knew weren't there.

"Nicky kept it secret somehow."

"When did he tell you this?"

Brianna looked up again and smiled. "Right before I was taken away from the lair. It was on that same day. Nicky said he planned it that way so I wouldn't have the chance to get hurt. He said that he planned a few more things too, but he never told me what."

"The Normal was always fighting?"

Brianna nodded once, pride in her eyes as she spoke of the one she considered a friend. "Always. He told me that he felt like if he gave up, then everything he just got would be lost."

"Lost?"

Brianna nodded. "He said something about his brothers accepting his life, but there was always something more that he would never explain. Something about the Normals in general."

Valenteen sat next to her sister and pulled her into her lap. "Something about showing everyone that a Normal is strong enough to hold his own against the most powerful thing on the universe?"

Valenteen felt her sister's nod more than saw. "But that was the smallest thing he could accomplish. That's what he told me anyway."

"So he had a larger plan," Valenteen hazarded a guess as the pieces fell together all too well. "That little genius," she laughed with such joy and hatred that it sound more of a choke than laugh.

"Genius?"

Valenteen nodded. "Just you wait, Bri, that Normal has something more up his sleeve. I'm sure of it."

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Calm down, young one! The Bane ordered its master as the boy continued to stare blankly into the gloom. It won't try that again. I can't even believe it tried that in the first place!

But Nick remained silent and still.

Nicholas, please listen to me; the Four is a cunning creation. It lies and it manipulates - that is its nature. It took your memories, child, for a purpose bigger than this, not because it controlled you before. You were in your own mind.

Or you were tricked to think I was.

At this thought, the Bane fluttered its wings and harshly pecked at Nick's hand. The boy jumped, his hand nursed against his chest within the instant. But it had done the trick: Nick's eyes now bored into the Bane's.

I may be able to be influenced by my master's will, but I will never change so much that the Four can trick me into believing one of its lies. It is tricking the Heroes; it never tricked you.

But you told me that I was a Hero as well.

You are. But only some of the time. You do as you think is right: you act both Heroic and Villainous depending on what the situation calls for.

But it still manipulates Villains.

Yes, young one, but it doesn't to the ones it respects.

Nick let his hand fall at this statement and finally bent his knees, letting the Bane rest on them once more.

It has had many masters, Nicholas, but it thought the highest of you. As do I.

Such a force is unpredictable. You can't assume that it wouldn't use me just because it respected me.

I wish I could say more to ease your worries, young one. But I must not tell you more; I cannot interfere with the Four's plan.

You know it?

I have guessed it.

And you're okay with it?

I am.

Nick took a breath and leaned back against the bars, hands folded in his lap and eyes distant again.

Then what worries you, if not this?

No one should control that kind of power, Nick slowly told the Bane as shudders ran down his spine when he recalled the utter mind-crushing element that had overtaken him.

No, young one, it is not the power that is to blame, but the person who handles it. The most powerful person could be seen as weak if they are strong enough to withhold their true strength.

With great power comes great consequences, Nick thought with a sigh.

And great choices.

I'm still not keen to be the one with that kind of power.

You already have it.

Nick shook his head once, the pendant held tightly in his hand.

No, not the power that comes from me, young one.

Nick stared at the dove, confusion clearly written on his face, but the Bane did not elaborate further. He let the silence draw out for a moment longer as he closed his eyes. He focused on the feeling of his on vulnerability as he tried to rid himself of the horrid feeling the Four's power had left him with. Used, dirty, a puppet on cut strings; the list could go on and on about how Nick felt. And all of those feelings, he wanted them gone. He wanted to feel vulnerable, wanted to feel like he was alone again in his own mind, but the feeling wouldn't be shaken.

Did I feel this way when I held you both?

The Bane was quiet as it mulled over this answer, its head cocked to one side in thought. At first you did, it slowly responded, But when you saw the need to use such a power, you embraced it.

But I never liked it, did I?

I will leave that for you to answer.

Nick groaned at this answer, aggravated at best, especially when the Bane twittered in laughter.

Some things are better remembered than told, it finally added when Nick felt like ripping his hair out. I know you want answers, young one, but I cannot give them all.

I understand, Nick responded without hesitation. The more you tell me, the more dangerous it is for the both of us.

Yes. But the danger here is nothing like the kind you are about to face.

Nick smirked at this, though he felt no humor from the grim truth; anything with the Four is bound to be dangerous, especially for a Normal with the one force that can destroy it.

But will you destroy it?

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Chibiyu: A little of a filler chapter, but a lot actually happened in these 2,000 sum-odd words. Until Next Update!

Written 9/2/12