AN: Woohoo, another chapter already!

Thank you to everyone who read the last chapter :^). I hope you enjoyed the chapter, and I hope you enjoy this one. It's a bit of a filler compared to what I usually write, but I figured I could do a short one once in a while.

OK! Without further ado, here's Freak Academy Ch.9~

SCENE NINE, ACT ONE: Rescue mission commences.

The forest was colder than the open wind of the city. Frosty air clawed at Chloe through the thin fabric of her uniform shirt, and she started to shiver. The strong smell of pine and bile permeated through the air.

Chloe looked down at the Derek's footprints on the dirt and picked up her pace. Slowly, she must run to keep up with Derek's pace. At times, she was worried that she would lose Derek in the thickness of the forest. In the dark of the impending evening and the looming trees, she would sometimes lose track of the footprints she was following. But Derek's coughs and lurching noises were loud enough that she could make a good guess about where he was comparative to her.

She followed his tracks as she slowly turned from footsteps, to skid marks, and eventually leads her to a panting Derek crouched over near a log.

"Derek?" Chloe approached him, only to gasp at the black splotches that covered his back and arms. As he looked up at her, she saw the splotches cover his face, grow over his neck, and dominate his chest. The contrast of the black marks against his ivory skin made him look unrecognizable to Chloe.

"Ch—" Derek doubled over with coughing. Chloe ran and dropped down near him, gently stroking his hair to try to calm him down.

"Hey, it's ok," Chloe said, "you've done this before, you can do it again."

"N-no," Derek said, "it's not—"

Coughs tore through Derek as he turned away from Chloe. She heard him making noises like he wanted to vomit, but nothing came out of him. Finally, he tossed onto the ground against Chloe so that his head accidentally landed on her lap, and tears started running down his face.

"Chloe," Derek whispered. He kept mumbling her name. She sat there, blood thumping against her ears, listening to his whimpering until she snaps out of her trance.

"I-I'm h-here," she replies, stroking his hair.

"Don't… leave…"

"Don't worry, I'm here,"

Chloe's stomach was in knots and while she was trying to steady her breathing to focus on Derek, she couldn't help but look around her. They were in the middle of the woods, and their surroundings were getting darker as night encroached on them. It felt like she would have to stay the night here with Derek, trying to fend of impending danger while he was doubled over in pain.

"This is just like Lyle House, and you're going to be fine," Chloe tried to comfort him. She had to slow her hands down when she realized that she was tugging at Derek's hair harder than she should.

"No… it's not…" Derek coughed, "diff…different."

"But you'll be ok, you'll be ok Derek," Chloe said, "I'm here."

Derek thrashed in pain, taking Chloe by surprise and she dropped from her lap. He coughed harder and tried to throw up again, but, again, there was nothing for him to throw up.

Chloe rested her hand on his arm. His skin was hot, warm enough for her to feel like her hand was on fire. The, right when thought things were over, she heard something in the distance.

"Chloe! Derek!" It was Simon's voice! She couldn't pinpoint where it was coming from, but she didn't need to. There was a small flash of light that approached the two. In the sudden light in the dark, Chloe could see Derek's bloodshot eyes staring up at her. If she hadn't been feeling his body move up and down to the rhythm of his breathing, she would've assumed that he was dead.

"We're here!" Chloe yelled back at Simon. Soon, there were sounds of feet stomping over branches and leaves as Simon appeared around the corner.

"Oh, thank god we found you," Simon said, reaching his hand out over Derek's body, illuminating white light over him. For the first time, Chloe noticed that he wasn't using a flashlight or his phone, but the light was coming from a floating ball of electricity on his palm.

"What's that?" Chloe asked.

"It's light," Simon smirked at her. Just then, the light started to flicker, making a sizzling sound before it started to sputter. "And it's going out soon."

"Ok, ok," Chloe started to busy herself to trying to get the coughing and lurching Derek to sit up. "We should probably bring him back home."

"I thought he was changing?" Simon retorted.

"I thought so, but he's telling me that's not what's happening,"

The light continued to sputter, small explosions happening here and there, and weakening the glow over Derek. Simon swore.

"I'm not really good at this, yet," Simon said, "We should wait until dad and Tori get here."

"How long until then?"

"I don't know, I'll try to give them a signal – hold on."

Simon got up and walk a small distance away from the two before his lunged his hand up, and the electricity made a small explosion around them. A cool white light washed over them, tracing over every crevice of the forest. The forest looked beautiful for a second, but Derek's coughing and his worsening body temperature was a sobering reminder of the pain that he was in during the beauty.

The darkness engulfed them as the white light evaporated slowly, and soon the three were left with themselves.

Simon sat down near Derek and Chloe.

"They should be here soon," he said.

Sure enough, in a few moments, two orbs of white light started to inch closer to the three, and with the orbs came Tori and a dark-haired man. Simon flagged them down and ushered them towards where Derek was writhing in plain on the ground.

"He just started coughing and wouldn't stop," Simon said, "we don't know what's going on."

The man was approached Derek, and Chloe started to move away from him to give the two space.

"No!" Derek flinched as Chloe started to move her hand from his arm, "Chloe…"

"I'm right here, don't worry,"

The man's and Tori's orbs lit up the clearing they were in enough for Chloe to get a better glimpse at Derek. His hand was covered in mud from him clenching and unclenching his fist, and they look distinctively more human then when he had first turned in front of Chloe. She felt something heavy drop around her, and she turned up to see Simon wrapping a thick blanket around her. She whispered a small thank you.

The man pulled a bottle of clear, purple liquid out of a satchel bag that was resting on his side.

"Simon, can you help Derek sit up?" He said. Simon propped Derek up into a sitting position, and Chloe moved to help. At this point Derek's temperature had risen to a dangerous level, leaving a burning sensation against Chloe's blanket.

The man pressed the bottle against the coughing Derek, who resisted at first but soon started drinking the contents of the container. After a few moments of lurching, Derek seemed to calm down. His coughing eased, and he started to grow heavy against Chloe.

"I'll get him a blanket," Simon said as Derek's eyes started to close. Chloe could feel his temperature lowering, and the black splotches that painted his skin were starting to fade as he fell into a steady sleep.

"Will he be ok?" Chloe asked as Simon wrapped a blanket around him. The man nodded his head.

"He's going to be groggy when he gets up, but he's ok for now," he said. He looked towards her and gave her a smile that was like Simon's, but much kinder.

"I think you guys should head to the house, I'll wait here until Derek gets up," he instructed.

"B-but, Derek wants me to be here,"

"Thank you so much for being here, Chloe, but you should probably be getting ready to head home," he replied, "it's getting late, and I'm sure your family is worried."

There wasn't anyone at home to worry about her – her father was away in Netherlands for a business meeting, and she didn't have dinner with her aunt Lauren on Wednesdays. It would be nosy housekeepers that she would usually worry about, but her current housekeeper seemed more or less indifferent to her coming and going.

"My family doesn't mind," Chloe said, "I want to stay - I want to make sure he's ok."

The man nodded. "Then how about you wait for us inside the house? I'll come up with Derek in half-an-hour."

Chloe was about to interject, but she hesitated. As she stood up from the ground, she felt consumed by fatigue and freezing cold. The bones in her legs, spine, and arms were sore. She didn't notice any of this when she was comforting Derek.

"When will you two come back?" Tori asked.

"He should be up soon," the man replied, "the potion is fast-acting."

"Ok, the three of us will see you then," Tori put her arms around Chloe started ushering towards the other direction.

"Wait," Chloe stopped Tori, then turned to the man, "will you please take care of him?"

The man chuckled. "Don't worry, I will take care of my son."

SCENE NINE, ACT TWO: Rescue mission ends.

AN: Oooh, what's going on with Derek? I guess you'll have to keep an eye out for FA to upload again.

Thank you again to everyone who read and interact with this story! It means a lot to know that other people enjoy reading this as much as I like writing it.

I already have Chapter 10 in the works right now, so I should be coming out what that soon. In the mean time, feel free to leave a review, like the story, etc.

See y'all soon!

- Terrible Typo