Chibiyu: Hi all!
Nick: What do you have planned for this chapter?
Chibiyu: ...uhh...you know...stuff.
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Nick had already ducked up the stairs and collapsed on his bed, lips bent into a scowl. "Fools," he breathed once before he turned on his side and closed his eyes. "All Heroes are."
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Necrophere stood at the end of the street, his mask pointed as sharply as his finger towards the youngest of the three. The Heroes immediately flanked their brother, only to have his hands placed on their forearms, a strange look on his face.
"Why are you here?" Nick fearlessly called, his voice nearly enough to fool even Kevin. "It is a rather foolish move to reveal the Four like this."
The said pendant flashed once against the black cloak, but otherwise remained silent.
"It is a chess game," Necrophere stated slowly, almost as if he was hesitant of his words. "And it was my move."
Nick cocked his head to the side, eyes narrowing in to an analytical stare. "And now it is mine?" he guessed once, a plan already on his face. "Very well."
"Nick," Joe warned upon hearing the tone the younger had taken on, "What are you planning?"
Nick smirked at this as he took a step forward and spread his arms. "I believe this move will be my last against you, Necrophere."
"Oh?" Necrophere seemed to laugh, but something was off about his voice. "Is that so?"
Nick nodded once, feet now carrying him towards the Villain. "I'll take my pendant back," he said lowly, hand outstretched as he stopped just feet from Necrophere, his brothers struggling to get over their shock.
Necrophere laughed once, the pendant now in his hand. The cloaked figure bowed deeply and the pendant fall back into the hands of a Normal. The Heroes watched, open mouthed, as what they thought to be Necrophere dissipated as the sun came out from behind a cloud. They stared as Nick slipped the Four back around his own neck and turned to them. There was nothing less than winning smirk on his face and a gleam in his eye.
"Heroes are fools," he chuckled darkly, "So easily distracted."
"Nick, what...?"
But Nick cut them both off with a laugh. "The age of Heroes is over; it is time for the Villains to rise again."
"Nick, no!"
The Normal only sent a smirk their way before the Four flashed against his chest. "Checkmate."
Kevin bolted up only to have his head bang painfully on the ceiling of his bunk bed. He grumbled darkly, head in hand as he pushed open the curtain which covered him, eyes already on the still form of his younger brother. He sensed nothing out of the ordinary from him, even though his own heart still pounded, but there was another spark of fear in the room.
Joe tossed and turned, clung to his pillow, and then flopped the other way. Kevin sighed once, and was about to stand, but Joe beat him to the punch. The middle Lucas shot up to sit, eyes wide and breath heavy. His eyes darted to the brother he couldn't see before he noticed he wasn't alone in the room.
"Kev," he breathed once before he quietly but hurriedly walked over to his brother's side and collapsed in the chair by the bunks. "Nick alright?"
"He's fine, Joe. Nightmare?"
Hoe only nodded because he knew he couldn't get anything by his older brother. "Necrophere was in it and Nick got the Four again," he summed up both brothers' dreams without realizing it.
"I had the same one," Kevin told him, not surprised for he has sensed a certain stench darkness in the air. "It's only Phantom playing tricks."
Joe nodded once, still breathless. "Then why," he questioned softly, "Didn't he target Nick?"
Kevin looked towards Joe and shook his head. "To turn us against him, I guess."
"What would be the point of that?"
Kevin only could offer a shrug. "Their Villains, Joe. It's just what they do."
"Yeah, I understand that, but...Kev?" The middle brother trailed off as soon as Kevin's head whipped back towards Nick's bunk.
"Kevin?"
No response, just the same look of pure open-lipped terror.
"Kevin?" Joe asked, eyes now on Nick. "What's going on?"
"Th-the Four," Kevin breathed, his feet now taking him to Nick's bed, but he didn't dare approach his brother. "I can sense it."
"What?!"
"That's right, Kevin," Nick breathed once, eyes still closed. "You can sense it, just like I can."
The older brothers watched as Nick pushed himself up to sit and stared at his hands, which were clasped in his lap.
"It's not controlling you?" Kevin whispered, unsure whether to approach or back away.
Nick slowly shook his head. "Not yet."
"Then what is it doing?" Joe questioned. "Why would it show itself now?"
Nick shrugged once to the latter. "It's not doing anything," he carefully chose his words, in fear his brothers may misunderstand. "It's just..."
"Just what?"
Nick lifted his gaze to them, finally letting them see the full extent of fear that coated his face. "It's..." Nick faded away again, blinking once. "That's strange," he whispered, clearly not talking to his brothers. "Impossible, even."
"Nick? What is it...?"
"It's telling me about Necrophere. How it hates him; hates being used. How it wants me as its master again. "
Both the brothers lunged forward, each taking a hold of Nick's shoulders. "Don't listen to it!"
Nick stared at them with a hint of disbelief behind his fear. "I'll listen," he responded slowly. "But I won't act."
With those words said, the Four's presence left the room. Kevin and Nick both visibly relaxed and let out a long breath.
"You were right," Kevin muttered once, hand on his heart. "The Four is still out there."
There was a moment of silence before Nick lowered his head. "Lock me up again."
"WHAT?!"
The youngest nodded once, ignorant of the footsteps that raced up the stairs. "It will come after me. Manipulate me. Use me against you. So take me out of the equation." He finally looked up and stared his parents directly in the eyes. "The Four has to be stopped, and it won't be as long as it has a host that can support it."
"What do you mean, Nick?" Sandy asked, for her son's thoughts were too jumbled for her to follow.
"Necrophere won't last much longer," Nick told them, voice steady though his body was tense. "The Four will get tired of him. It will then come back to me. And this whole thing will begin again. Take away its pawns; leave it only with itself – the king."
"You're talking madness," Tom inserted to cut off his son.
Nick shook his head. "No," he contradicted. "I'm talking like the Four. Or," he was quick to add. "As if I still had it."
"Exactly," Joe was quick to say. "You're talking madness."
Nick closed his eyes, a pained look on his face. "You don't understand," he tried, but was quickly shot down.
"Yes we do, sweetheart," Sandy told him, hand on his cheek. You're afraid right now and not thinking clearly, she mentally told him.
Nick stared at her for a moment longer before he conceded to her point.
"Let's all just go back to bed. We will figure this out in the morning," Sandy continued to reassure. "The Four will still be weak from the Bane's fight. It won't have the strength to do anything tonight."
With this said, she smiled to her sons and pushed everyone back to their beds.
"She's a fool," Nick whispered as soon as everyone was out of earshot. "The Four is cunning; it wouldn't have just shown up for this."
He turned over, words now directed to the walls. "And fear is not the problem here. Not for me, at least. Why would I be afraid when everything is going so perfectly?" His dark chuckle was lost to the sound of a car horn. "Fear is a beautiful thing; it keeps the puppets secure to their strings."
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Lilith turned, her long dress getting caught on the floor, but she continued, not caring for the ripping sound that followed her. Her fingers skimmed the spines of the books as she walked along the hall, noting the amount of dust they had accumulated as she got further down the hall. She stopped at the door, tapped the metal once, before she flung it open.
"Daring," she breathed as she rushed down the spiral cement steps into her hidden rooms. Candles lit her way, making her face shift constantly. "Very daring."
The stairs opened to reveal a large arched hall; the sewers. She stepped carefully around a curious looking puddle before she jogged down to the first opening on the right.
"Here we are," she whispered as she stared through the gratings. She was quick to push the key through the grated gate and step into the small, dark room. She spared little of a glance to the small streams of light that came through the manhole many feet above her. Her eyes danced over the empty circular room, and her fingers twitched with impatience.
A rat ran across her foot, causing the women to start. "Disgusting," she sneered once as she glared at the black creature.
"I hope you're not talking about me."
Lilith laughed lightly before she lifted her gaze to the shadowed figure. "Of course not."
"Though it is disgusting, as you put it, how late I am."
Lilith said nothing, but her face agreed with the man's words. "I thought perhaps you wouldn't be able to show."
The figure stepped into the light, the shrug easily seen. "It's easy to sneak away from Heroes."
"Even with the Four being back?"
Nick nodded once, hands now in pocket. "That fear puts them more on edge, but for the wrong reasons."
"They look for the Four, and not for you," Lilith nodded once, cottoning on. "Daring."
The Normal leaned against the wall. "I've done worse."
Lilith smirked at this. "Yes, you have."
"But that doesn't matter; it's in the past."
Lilith read the smirk on Nick's lips and laughed once. "So what daring things do you have in mind for the future?"
Nick shrugged once before he shifted so his back was against the damp wall. "You'll see."
"I assume it has to do with getting your memories back?"
Nick spared her an inquisitive glance before he nodded. "Of course. I cannot rightly act without them."
"And yet you already have a plan?"
Nick smiled small. "You're forgetting something, Lilith."
"Am I?"
Nick looked over to her with amusement. "When I had the Four, I made a plan. One, that no doubt, the Four helped create and manipulate. But at the same time, that plan influenced the Four as well. We made that plan together as one."
"So," Nick continued. "Now that I know the Four's personality better, and because I know my own, I was able to guess what that plan was. And even though parts are still unclear, I am sure that the plan is still in play."
Lilith lifted her eyes from her wrinkled fingers. "And you intend to see it through?"
Nick only smiled at her in response.
"You play a daring game, Nicholas."
Nick turned his head back to the ceiling. "I'm a Normal; daring things are in my forte."
"So what brings you here, Nicholas? I assumed from the look on your face earlier that this meeting would be more than chatter."
Nick forced himself from the wall and faced the taller. "You would be right in that assumption."
"So what is it?"
Nick tapped his fingers together, a smirk back in place. "I need your help, Lilith."
"For what?"
Nick walked pass the Villain and entered the room he had been locked away in, all of those years ago. "It always amazed me how quickly you were able to reconstruct this after the explosion," he mused, avoiding the question.
"For what, Normal?"
Nick sighed once before he turned to face her again. "To reunite me with the Four, of course."
"And why would I do that?"
Nick's gaze narrowed into a glare that caused the Villain to flinch. "Because I want it."
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Chibiyu: All will be explained soon enough. Until Next Update!