Well, guys, Brock scares the crap out of me xD Officially.

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Chapter 36

{STRENGTH [will] HTGNERTS}

The aura sphere hit Pratt, knocking him over. Relief flooded through me as I felt the psychic hold collapse.

"Austin?" I wondered, my eyes asking if he was all right.

He simply took his head and began to charge up another aura sphere.

I summoned a water pulse and chucked it at Pratt. It threw him against the wall, effectively soaking him and the room itself.

"Shield?" Eve wondered, and I nodded.

Her eyes flashed and a purple protecting screen appeared around all our team except Laek, who yelled a battle cry and used thunderbolt.

Electricity jolted around the room, shocking and singing everything that wasn't under Eve's shield. He shrieked like a hundred dying meowths while his fine drowsee fur blackened as it burnt to a crisp. Eve smirked, and a small, somewhat frightening thought occurred to me: this was probably music to her ears.

I waited patiently until the electricity faded and Eve dispersed her shield before carefully stepping forward. Pratt did not move. No one did.

"He's still alive," Austin said in a quiet hiss. I glanced back at him and found that he was shaking with agitation.

We stared at Pratt for a few more moments, until I decided he was down for now, and then I glanced up at Austin again and asked, "What happened to you?" Hissing wasn't like the Austin I knew.

He breathed deeply before he answered. "Lily, Jaeson, and Jay are dead," he murmured in a tiny voice, looking away. Austin abruptly growled and threw another aura sphere at Pratt, whose body jumped in the air, smacked the ceiling, and landed on its stomach.

Suddenly a light flashed and Uxie teleported into the room, on her guard. "Is he down?"

"Down enough," Eve remarked, sounding annoyed, and her violet eyes flashed. Dark magic covered Pratt like a psychic attack. She twitched a claw and his eyes were forced open.

"What...?" Pratt's voice came dribbling out.

Uxie rushed over to him and sat at his side. She, to my surprise, opened her eyes. Both their eyes glowed white, and neither moved.

"What's happening to them?" Austin wondered with sad eyes and a voice that said, "I've already lost so many. Please, tell me no more."

"...I believe she's taking his memories," I answered quietly. "Like Knight suggested."

"Why are they not moving?" Eve wondered.

"Locked in focus, I'd assume. Maybe mind-battling for control over Pratt's memories," I told her.

"What if she loses?" Austin asked quietly.

"I'm not sure," I admitted honestly. "As far as I know, he doesn't have the power to take or alter her memories whatsoever, but she has the complete and fully functional ability to completely erase or alter his mind. Also, her mind is possibly the strongest this planet will ever see. If she loses, then we're all screwed for eternity."

No one responded. I imagined that dread, like a fist, was squeezing Eve, Laek, and Austin. I for one was not worried about the legend: I believed in her power.

Eve suddenly demanded, "Wait a minute. You weren't serious when you said that Lily, Jay, and Jaeson were dead, did you?" Her eyes were abruptly a cloud of sorrow and denial, her lips pressed tightly together in dread.

Austin cringed and whispered, "I... I was."

"Then it isn't over," Laek murmured quietly.

"Let's head back over there," I suggested.

"One of us should stay," Eve decided. She glanced at Pratt, a flicker of nervousness appearing in her eyes for barely enough time for me to register it.

"It won't be you," I told her softly, sympathy in my eyes. She gave me a slight nod of thanks.

"I'll stay back. Knight and Thunder will help me when they wake up," Laek said, sitting up with his head held high. "The rest of you go back to base and see what's happening there."

"Okay," I agreed, nodding.

"Wait," Eve said as Austin and I began moving towards the stairs, "Where's Destiny?"

"I'm here," Destiny said as she teleported into the room as an espeon. "Gimme your paws and we'll teleport to the base."

I mentally sighed of relief. I knew that if Destiny was dead on top of Jay, Jaeson, and Lily, there would be some major problems. Austin would have to contact the other legends and they'd have to find a way to figure out what would happen next. Would they reincarnate right away? When they did, where would they end up? Would Pratt be able to find them if his memories weren't taken away and Uxie was hurt? My head started throbbing as I thought, so I stopped. Destiny was fine, and maybe some of the others were, too.

I felt a nudge and came out of my thoughts completely. Eve held up her paw and I took it. Austin took my other paw and we teleported.

We landed outside the special room I'd created for Knight. The ceiling had caved in and only debris filled the space now.

Destiny abruptly morphed into a kirlia and grabbed Austin's paw. She was totally silent and totally still, but her face flushed bright pink. Sensing she was about to burst into unwanted tears, I stood next to her, hoping my presence would offer some support. Eve hung back behind the three of us, staring emotionlessly at the floor. Knowing her well enough, I could tell she was afraid of what we'd find.

When Destiny's face returned to normal coloration and she morphed back into an espeon, releasing Austin's paw, I knew she'd be all right... for a while. As everyone stood, silence in their spirits, I mentally bit my lip, took a deep breath, and stepped up to the plate once again. We needed some orders to follow, I felt.

"Okay, everyone. Austin and I are going to start checking here for any trace of a bomb," I told my friends, my head held high despite the numbness I felt inside. "Eve and Destiny, I want you two to start walking and look for anything abnormal around the base."

For a moment the others just stared at me. Then Eve gave me a nod and told Destiny, "Come on. We've got work to do. You look at the ceilings, I'll look at the floors. No matter what, don't separate from me. This place is a huge maze." With that she started walking, setting for her and Destiny a swift pace. It took a moment, but Destiny nodded and ran to catch up.

"Okay. What exactly are we looking for, Will?" Austin wondered, seriousness taking over his numb expression.

"Bodies," I responded quietly. "I just wanted Eve and Destiny out of here. Eve likes to pretend she isn't phased by their deaths, but I can tell you she is. I know you are, too, but you know very well that you'll see them next life. Eve and Destiny's souls are too young to know that yet."

"Agreed," Austin said, nodding.

We began to slowly move chunks of what used to be the ceiling out of the way as we looked. Austin wondered quietly, "Any chance they're still alive?"

"No," I responded curtly. "They're dead. I purposely made the roof of this place out of the rocks of this mountain, and those rocks are heavy as hell, as you can probably tell. It takes a lot less force to crush you than you'd think. I don't really even think there'll be bodies left. Just... flesh, maybe."

Austin flinched at the thought of his friends being crushed. His voice cracked as he yelled at the rocks, "I hate that bastard. I hate him."

"I know," I responded, preparing advice, reassurance, et cetera. Preparing for his vent.

"He's killed so many. Injured, corrupted, mentally hurt even more," Austin said, his voice getting harsher and his body growing tenser with each word.

"Uxie is going to take out his memories. John Pratt will die metaphorically by that. Uxie'll probably have to kill him, too, so he won't have any doctors or anyone trying to help him remember anything," I told Austin. "Not that there'll be anything to remember. I believe that his ability to remember himself through reincarnation will also end as he will no longer be part of the legend because his soul has no memory of it."

"Does the memory die?" Austin wondered.

"No. Uxie will have to live with it forever. She has only done this because we need to know why legends have stopped remembering themselves through their lives," I informed him. "Otherwise she wouldn't just erased them."

Austin cringed, probably thinking about holding Pratt's memories as your own for all eternity. He asked next, "How do you know all this?"

"A lot of it I'm assuming from what I've gathered between speaking to a few legends through my years and reading all the written legends I could get my paws on," I said.

Austin nodded. "You're almost as smart as Jay and Jaeson a- were."

I nodded my thanks and we both silenced ourselves, neither of us able to pull our minds from the facts of death as we unburied what little remained from our friends.

{STRENGTH [eve] HTGNERTS}

I padded swiftly down the corridor, trying to push the bloody task I knew Will and Austin were taking up out of my mind. Destiny trotted after me, searching the ceilings. I stared at the floor, knowing the real reason why Will and Austin had sent us away. "You don't have to look for anything. This is just busywork, you know."

"Oh, I know," Destiny murmured, still lifting her head and searching.

"Then why are you looking?" I wondered.

"I'm trying to distract myself and pretend there is something wrong," Destiny told me, still craning her neck in different directions to scan for something we both knew didn't exist. "Much like you're trying to do, I imagine."

"Yeah," I admitted quietly. "Distraction is nice, but not working."

"Not for me, either," Destiny said with a shrug. She suddenly stopped and asked me, "Why are we still walking?"

I stopped and turned to face her. "I don't know," I responded, also shrugging.

We sat in silence for a moment before Destiny asked quietly, "Do you realize how strong Will is?"

"Yeah," I told her. I stared down at the floor. "He must be. He's always stepping up at times like this. When Laek was kidnapped, I almost cried, I was so sad. Knight and Thunder, too. Will's face was all red, and he was tense and I could tell he was holding back tears, but he talked to us with a strong, calm voice." I looked away from Destiny. "Told us we'd all be okay in the end. Laek would be fine. That night he didn't shed a tear until after the three of us went to bed. We all gathered in my room and Will told us stories from when he and Laek were younger, like our age. He made us laugh. Then Knight and Thunder fell asleep, and I pretended to. Will stayed for a few minutes, and then he left. I snuck out and leaned against his door, wondering how bad he really felt. He cried all night long, I swear. It was so quiet, but I could smell his tears. I eventually went to bed. In the morning, though, he was his happy-go-lucky self and he made everybody breakfast in bed and he just... I don't know." I looked at Destiny again. "He helped us through it. I have to wonder, though, who helps him."

"He is strong," murmured Destiny softly, looking at her feet. She met my gaze and smiled bittersweetly. "I don't know terribly much about Will, but from what I have heard and what I've seen your smiles help him through it. Seeing you all be happy makes him happy, too."

I sighed and looked away again. "It sounds right to me. But you know, when I was little I used to wonder what real strength was. I don't know how, but I came to the conclusion that strong people never cried, so I always tried not to. I thought tears were weaknesses. But after watching Will, I know that the strongest people are the ones who cry, but they let the others cry first. I mean, they help the others as they cry, and then they let themselves cry. Tears aren't weaknesses, either. Tears signify emotion and feeling and empathy and a bunch of other things that a leader needs. So the strongest people are the ones who are hit the hardest but they help everybody else get through it first and then let themselves cry."

Destiny nodded. "You're right." And that's when she smiled and told me, "You know, I may not be able to help the dead, but I sure as hell can help the living."

But before I could ask her what she meant, she was already gone, running down the hallway towards where we'd came from, me frantically chasing after her.

Author's Note:

Hope you enjoyed!