Authors Note: Hey y'all! I cannot believe this is the 30th chapter of this story. This one was really fun to write (probably because I wrote it in the midst of finals, which is a HUGE stress reliever for me) and I hope you like it, too. School is over for me now so more chapters will be up this week!

[Todd]

The trip back to the settlement shouldn't take us long, but walkin thru all the snow ain't helpin too much.

The snow is slowing us down a lot. Ben says, reading my Noise. But we're almost there.

"Are you sure, Ben?" Viola asks. She's a little ahead of us, pulling her legs up and down as she marches through the snow. "I feel like we're getting further from the settlement. Not closer."

It don't help much that there's four people here who can connect to the Land - me Viola 1017 and Ben - because for some reason, we're all gettin different readings of where we're at. We decided to follow Ben's Noise, cuz he's the reliable one of the group, and even though it does seem like we're kinda lost, I don't say nothin about it.

Cuz I'm too nervous, thinkin about my meeting with Eric, to do anything else.

"Y'all been back and forth thru here plenty of times during the war, I reckon?" Hildy speaks up beside Viola.

"We have." Viola tells her. "But ever since Todd woke up we've just flown the scout ship back and forth. It's been a while since we've traveled on foot."

My eyes are fixed on the ground, but I can sense Viola turning around to check on me for the millionth time on this journey. She's got a look on her face and a feeling coming from her Noise as if she's askin me, "You okay?"

Yes. I respond with my Noise, only for her to hear. But Viola don't look convinced, cuz she's reading the nervousness coming from my Noise and the the worry I'm sure is written all over my face and how I keep wonderin if this is all a trap, if it's a bad idea, if I'm just puttin my friends, my family, my Viola in danger-

(Shut-up)

Viola slows down until I catch up to her. Now we're walkin side by side, and she takes my hand, and I feel a little bit better.

For now.

Okay, this doesn't look very familiar. Ben finally says.

"So... we're lost?" Lee asks now.

Temporarily. Ben says, stopping in place. His boots sink down into the snow and he lets out a breath. Then he scratches his head while lookin up at the trees, as if he's gonna get the answer up there in the clouds or somethin.

"We gotta keep moving." Matthew says. Everyone else has stopped for a break but he marches through our circle and keeps goin. "We gotta get there before it gets dark."

"Slow down, Matthew." Lee says. "It's only the afternoon. We've got plenty of time."

Matthew huffs out a sigh, then turns around. "And Eric's got plenty of time to grow his army. If we don't hurry, we might be too late!"

"Jus calm down a second, will ya?" Hildy says, takin a long sip from her water bottle. "Ain't no use in wanderin round lost, either. Might as well rest while we can."

Me and Viola aren't opposed to this idea. The longer we don't have to deal with Eric, the better.

But Matthew insists that we keep goin.

"I'm sure if we walk just a little bit further we'll be there." He says impatiently.

"Matthew, relax." Viola now. "Let Ben think."

Matthew puts his face in his hands and sighs, lots of worry swirlin around in his Noise. I've started to learn that there ain't nothin we can do when Matthew gets like this, all uptight and anxious. Viola looks at him for a few seconds, and I'm surprised to feel sympathetic feelings comin from her palm to mine. But then they go away, and she lets go of my hand.

"I'm gonna go sit for a sec." She says to me, nudging her head towards a large rock. "Wanna join?"

"In a minute." I tell her. I don't got to say why, cuz she's already reading it in my Noise. So she just nods, then turns to go sit down, while I go in the other direction, walkin up to Matthew.

"What's yer deal?" I ask him once we're face to face and a little further from the group.

"Same as yours." He says to me. "We need to get to Eric as soon as possible before this gets worse."

"I know. But ain't nothin gonna change in a couple of minutes." I'm not too sure if that's true, cuz there ain't no tellin what Eric is capable of, but it seems like the best thing to say right now.

"You don't know my dad." Matthew says, gettin angry just talkin about him. "He's delusional, Todd. And ruthless."

"Well, that's why we're goin to meet him and talk some sense into him." I say. Matthew gives me a look as if I'm crazy, or stupid, or both.

"Don't be ridiculous, Todd. He's beyond sense at this point." He tells me.

I blink a few times before respondin. "So then what's the point of me and you going to talk to him?"

Matthew looks over to the group before grabbin my arm and turnin me away from them. Then, in a low whisper, he says to me, "You have to promise you won't repeat what I'm about to tell you, Todd."

I pull my arm away from him and give him a skeptical look. "Wut do you mean?"

He looks to the group one more time before saying it. "I have an alternate plan for when we get to my father."

Now I'm real confused, and I show him that through my Noise.

"So you been lying to us again?" I say, louder than he'd like, cuz he shushes me.

"I have a good reason, Todd."

"Just tell me what it is." I say, impatient.

Matthew looks at me for what feels like forever before he finally says it.

"I'm going to kill Eric."

I blink a couple times, not sure if I heard that right. But his Noise confirms that I did. He really is planning on killin his

"Yer serious right now?" I ask just one more time.

"I'm very serious, Todd. I know my father and he's not going to stop. He's had these crazy ideas about the Spackle since I was a little kid. He's hell bent on this movement. The only way to stop him is to kill him."

I squint my eyes at him. "You can't just go killing yer own kin like that." I say to him.

"Sure I can. I almost did, that night he attacked the settlement. And I'll do it again in a heartbeat."

I look from Matthew, to the trees, then back to Matthew. He's got a crazed look in his eyes, and I start to question if I should really be trustin him right now. He's planning a secret assassination that's more likely to start a war than just talkin to the man.

"That ain't reasonable." I tell him. "Yer just goin to start a war by killing him. All his followers will come after us. And we ain't in no place to fight them all."

"His followers won't be a problem, not if it hasn't gotten too big already. That's why we need to get there now." He says, pointing forward.

"And when were you plannin on tellin me this?" I say.

"I wasn't, at first. While you two had your conversation, I planned on shooting him. Right then and there." He says, and I narrow my eyes.

"Are yer crazy?!" I say, shouting real loud now. "You were gonna shoot and kill someone RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME without me knowin!?"

Now everyone looks up, all eyes on us. Viola stands up, and I can tell she's wonderin if she should come over thru her Noise.

"Todd, please." He says, tryin to beg before Viola decides to run over here. If he thinks my reaction is bad, just wait till Viola finds out about his little operation.

"I ain't helpin you do it, if that's what you want." I say. "You know I ain't doin nothin that'll put Viola in danger, and that's exactly what will happen if you kill Eric. A whole war'll break out. Then how am I supposed to protect them? Protect her?"

Matthew sighs impatiently before going on, "If you haven't already noticed, Todd, we ARE in the middle of a war. Spackle are dead, our people are afraid, and Eric is running the show. If he's dead, it'll all be over."

I shiver at that word, "over," cuz it ain't ever really over. We killed Aaron, we killed the mayor, but somehow we're still fighting this same fight.

"Killin ain't the answer." I say to him one last time. "If you go thru with it I won't help you."

Matthew pauses for a moment. I expect him to want to fight me on the issue, but instead, he doesn't.

"That's fine, Todd. I don't want you to kill him anyways. I just need you as a distraction, so that I can do it myself."

"Matthew, you've lost yer mind if you really-"

"Think about it, Todd. How many times did you try to reason with the enemy, only for it to not work out? In the end, killing was the answer." He tries to persuade me.

And I can't lie, cuz it's partially true. We killed Aaron and that stopped him from chasing after me and Viola. We killed the mayor, and that stopped his war on us and the Spackle. But that's all temporary. What happens when the next person we don't agree with comes along? We can't just keep killin when we ain't on the same page. That aint the kind world we want it to be.

But if Eric don't listen-

If he still wants to harm the Spackle-

Still wants to stop our mission for peace-

What other choice do we have?

Matthew can tell I'm contemplatin his idea.

"He said if I talk to him, then it'll all be over." I say. "At least let me figure out what he wants with me. With my Noise. And if it's bad, then. Yeah. Go thru with yer plan."

I almost don't believe I'm sayin it. But his life ain't the one I'm tryin to save.

"So you're willing to sacrifice yourself, instead of just getting rid of the enemy?" Matthew asks.

"It wouldn't be my first time." I tell him, which is true. I've been willing to put myself over everyone else for a long time now. Probably the guilt from what I did to the Spackle, to the women, to everyone, back when I was the mayor's son.

So possibly having to sacrifice myself now seems like a fair trade.

"Okay. First we talk. Then we kill, if necessary."

Matthew claps me on the shoulder, then starts to walk back over to the group. But before he gets too far away, he turns around to tell me, "Don't mention it to everyone else."

I nod my head just a little bit, knowin that I won't be able to keep that promise. Even if I tried to, Viola wud see it all in my Noise in an instant. Plus, she deserves to know, deserves to know if she's gonna be in another fight again.

If she's got my back-

I've got hers-

But for some reason, once I get back over to her, my mind goes completely blank.

"What was that all about?" She asks, standin in front of me now.

"Uhh. Nothin. Matthew is just..." I want to say he's 'just plannin on killin his father and starting up another war'. But instead I only say, "Paranoid."

Viola nods. "Figures. He's a little bit crazy, that guy."

Yer tellin me.

"Telling you what?" She reads, eyes narrow now.

"Nothin. I was just agreein with you."

"What are you not telling me, Todd?"

Damnit. She knows me too well.

"Yeah, I ruddy do." Viola reads again. She looks over her shoulder at Matthew, who's havin a conversation with Lee and 1017 now, and then she puts her eyes back on me.

"You gotta promise not to say anything." I say to her, really tryin to hide it in my Noise.

"Depends on what you say, Todd." She says, putting her hands on her hips.

"Viola."

"Todd."

"You can't say nothin."

She looks mad, but it's irritatin her more that I'm coverin up my Noise more than anything, so she complies.

"Okay. Fine."

"Matthew is plannin on killin Eric. When we meet him." I finally admit.

Viola's eyes go wide with shock, anger pulsin thru her Noise. I feel like I gotta step away from her before she explodes or somethin.

"What?" She says. "Where did he get that idea from? I thought meeting up and talking to him was enough!"

"Yeah, I know, that's what I told him. But he's sayin that there ain't no point in talkin, cuz Eric won't listen either way. He was just tryin to use me to get to his dad easily so he cud kill him."

Viola looks like she's about to kill someone.

"I knew we couldn't trust him." She says, eyes fixed on Matthew. She starts stomping thru the snow, headed in his direction, but I grab her around the waist and pull her back.

"Hey, Viola." I say, tryin get her to stop scowling and look at me. "I know it doesn't seem right."

"Yeah, no shit Todd!" She hisses, but in a whisper. "Killing Eric could start a war right then and there. There's no telling who will be after you once it's done! If Matthew wants to kill his dad, let him do it. But not while you're there. Absolutely not."

"He ain't gonna kill him right away." I say softly, so that Viola will calm down, but it ain't workin. "We're gonna talk to him first. But then, if he still ain't listenin, Matthew is gonna kill him."

Viola's got a blank look on her face, but her Noise is anything but.

"You know that won't end well. Killing isn't always the way to settle things." She says, her eyes glossin over.

"I don't think it'll come to that." I tell her. "But if he ain't listenin, it's the only chance we've got."

Viola bites her lip before nodding. "Only if I go with you."

"Yer not comin, Viola."

"Yes I am."

"Eric said only me."

"But you're taking Matthew with you."

"Yeah, for protection."

"So, you trust Matthew more than me?"

"No, I want to protect you more than him."

"Todd, we are beyond protection at this point."

"Not while I'm effing alive, we're not. I'll do anything to keep you safe and that means yer not comin."

Viola forms a tight line with her lips, frustration coming off her Noise, and she's givin me that look, that look she gets when she's got another plan underway.

"Fine. I won't go." She says, now walkin away from me, re-joinin the group. I know she's plannin on doin somethin now, cuz she gave up way too easily. It makes me mad that I can only feel her emotions instead of reading her thoughts, cuz that way I'd know what she's thinkin. Why can't she just listen? Why can't she just understand that I'm tryin to protect her? Why can't she just let me be the leader I'm supposed to? I stay away from the group for a few more minutes so she don't hear how frustrated I am, sittin down on the rock and buryin my head in my hands.

Hey, Todd, you ready to go? Ben says a moment later. Everyone's got their backpacks on and are startin to head out.

"Yeah. Let's go." I say, pushin up and walkin next to my father.

Ben and I walk behind the rest of the group. It's gettin colder, wind smackin us hard in the face. I try to tell Ben somethin but he can't hear me, not over the wind, so I use my Noise instead.

I need you to keep an eye on Viola while we meet up with Eric. I tell him.

Why's that? Ben says. She's her own girl. She can watch after herself.

I think she's gonna try to sneak along with me and Matthew. But I don't want her to. I say.

I see. Ben says. Even though I understand her concern.

Now yer ruddy worried, too? I tell him, shocked.

I'm always worried about you, Todd.

I shake my head at this. Well, you don't need to be. If I cud handle Aaron and the mayor, I can handle this, too.

But did you handle them all on your own? Or did you have us help you? Last time I checked Viola was the one who killed Aaron. And saved you at the bridge. And she's been saving you, ever since. Ben says, and it gets me thinkin. I ain't never been on my own, even when I was by myself. Viola has always been there for me.

But now, it's time that I do the same for her.

Just please watch after her, Ben. Promise me. I say. Ben don't try to convince me otherwise, just nods his head in agreement. I leave it at that, lookin forward as we continue to walk, and I do my best to hide my new plan in my Noise.

…

It's gettin too cold and too windy and too dark for us to keep travelin, so we all make the decision, against Matthew's will, to call it a night. We find a sort of cave in the middle of the forest, decidin it'll be the best spot to stay until mornin, and start a fire before rollin out the sleepin bags and settling in. Viola and I lay next to each other, away from everyone else, like we always do. She's real tired, so she don't notice me hidin my thoughts in my Noise, and as soon as I know she's sound asleep, I get out of my sleepin bag.

I walk around to everyone's spot, makin sure they're all asleep. When that's confirmed, I slide my pack on, and walk outside of the cave and into the night. Just before my feet hit the snow, I pray that Viola can forgive me for what I'm about to do. I know she'll be mad, so furious her Noise just might explode, but I gotta do this, I gotta do it for her.

I gotta confront Eric on my own.

We were closer to the settlement than we thought. I can see it in between the trees, just a few of our buildings still standin and covered in snow. Once I'm out of the forest and in the open, I can hear a little bit of Noise comin from the area. Most of it is just men sleepin, dreamin pointless things, but as I get closer I can detect the Noise of exactly who I'm lookin for.

Eric.

I can hear his Noise comin from the center of the settlement. I hide behind one of the buildings and peek around, seein him on his knees, in the snow, prayin in his Noise and out loud.

For me.

"Please, Lord, bring Todd to me. Let him realize his destiny. Help him to understand that he is the key to ending this treacherous storm, the only way we can live according to your will. Please, please.." he goes on, and in that instant I don't think, just do, just go right on out there and confront him.

Eric! I shout with my Noise, tryin to scare him. He raises up, causin snow to fly into the air, then turns to me, a look of shock on his face.

"My prayers have been answered." He whispers.

Don't start that with me. I say, plantin my feet in the snow, a good distance away from him. What is it that you want?

Eric looks at me, that same crazed look in his eyes as his son. "Are you alone?"

I look around, then back to him. What's it look like?

Eric chuckles. "Oh, Todd. You are very sarcastic. Not a typical personality trait of a savior."

What do you mean, savior? I ask him.

Eric smiles, claps his hands together, then starts walkin towards me. I ain't have no intention on killin him, but I'm not stupid enough to not bring a weapon, just in case I had to protect myself. I whip out my gun and point it at Eric to keep him from steppin any closer.

Back up and answer the question! I shout.

He stops walkin but that smile stays on his face. "Todd, I am not going to hurt you. You and I want the same thing."

No, we don't. Yer CRAZY. Killin the Spackle, blamin the Snowscape on them. I'm not like you. I say.

"But we both want peace and order. Do you want to live in these conditions forever, Mr. Hewitt? Piled underneath snow and amongst aliens, like the spackle?"

I ain't got no problem with the Spackle. I tell him. But I leave out the part about the Snowscape. It seems like it's only gettin worse, and there ain't no tellin when it'll be over.

"What if I told you there was a way for you to stop it, with your Noise?" Eric says, readin my Noise. "A way to connect to the Land, and get rid of the Snowscape? Restore God's planet to the way he intended it to be?"

My heart rams into my chest, my mouth gettin dry, and I break into a sweat, even tho it's ruddy cold right now. A way to stop the Snowscape… with my Noise? It ain't possible.

You don't know what yer talkin about. I tell Eric.

"Oh, but I do Todd. I've spent many years studying Noise, how it works with this planet, and we have more power over it, and the Land, than we think."

Well, if you know so much about it, why can't you do it yerself? I ask him.

"Because, Todd. Some of us are meant to preach. Others are meant to save."

I won't do it. I say to him. I don't ruddy trust you.

Now, Eric's lip twitches, and his eyes narrow.

"Oh, Todd. I thought you and I would be able to do this the easy way. I give you a chance to be the hero you'd like to be, to save your community, and you decline it. All because you're too blind to see your true purpose. For that I'm afraid things will have to be done the hard way. Laura!"

And before I know it, Matthew's sister comes runnin from behind a building, attackin me before I get a chance to shoot, then stabs me with a thick needle. I wince in pain as my body slams into the snow, and I don't even get a chance to reach for the comm in my pocket before I start fading out of consciousness.

"What… did you… do…" I'm sayin, snow on my lips. Strong hands reach for my body, pickin me up, then I'm slung over someone's shoulders.

"I did what had to be done. For the good of the community." Eric says. "Now you'll have no choice but to-"

And I can't believe what it is that I hear next-

The one who's always there to save me-

It's Viola-

Viola, Viola, Viola.

"TODD!" she shouts, sprintin thru the snow, all her love and anger and passion burstin in her Noise. "YOU LET HIM GO!"

"Take care of her, Laura!" Eric yells. Laura nods before sprintin towards Viola, who stumbles into the snow, givin Laura an advantage on her. They fight for a few moments, tumbling and punchin, and Viola puts on a good fight, but it don't end up in her favor. Laura ends up stabbing her too, her body fallin limp into the snow, and I can't scream, cuz I'm too out of it, almost gone, but my Noise is outraged, outraged because I tried to do this on my own, tried to keep everyone safe, and I failed.

"You have not failed anyone, Todd Hewitt." Eric says, readin my Noise just before I go completely unconscious. "Your purpose has just begun."