Chapter 8: A Million to One

"Soon, we must all face the choice between what is right and what is easy."

JK Rowling, 'Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire'

"Here are some supplies," Mina handed a large blue bag to Evie who took it gratefully. "It's not much, but it should last you until you reach the next town. It's a few days' journey away from here. Just keep heading East and you will reach it."

"Chances are ten to one that you shall get there with little trouble," Sergei pointed to his calculations.

"Thank you, kindly. I appreciate your help," Evie said, her hands tightening around the bag, hugging it to herself.

"We only wish that we could do more," Travis looked up at her sadly. "If we knew of another way to get you both home-"

"It's fine," Evie interrupted him, not wanting for this goodbye to fester into guilt. She smiled even though it did not reach her eyes. "I'm sure I'll find some other way. Maybe there's a pair of magical ruby slippers or something."

Frederick's whining voice said, "not likely-" before Kyle smacked him and he cried out "ow!"

Travis glared at his German friend before turning back to Evie. "You'll find a compass and a map in the bag should you need it. And...here-" He handed Evie what looked like a communication device. It was larger and bulkier than a cellphone. "This will allow you to talk to Jack while we are still in proximity. Stay safe, my friend."

"I will," Evie nodded. "You too. Safe journey."

The spacemen and woman waved and said their goodbyes as they reentered the spaceship- while Frederick's helmet began to fill up with tears again.

Evie's hand lowered and she looked up at Jack, who still stood there with a conflicted expression. He did not like this arrangement. Not one bit. How could he go home and leave Evie all alone in the woods? In a world that is ruled by Aku? Up to this point, Evie had relied on him for survival, for protection. What would happen to her once he left? This… this wasn't right.

"I won't go," he said.

"You have to," Evie said instantly, knowing that he was going to say that. "They will never escape Aku's grasp without you."

Jack frowned, "then I shall come back."

"No you won't." Evie smiled sadly. "I mean, I sure wouldn't if it were me. This place is hell." Besides, how could he possibly come back without the rocketship? It simply wasn't possible. Jack's hands clenched into fists by his side and Evie noticed. So she put on the widest grin that she could muster and playfully punched Jack in the shoulder. "Now get outta here, samurai. Kick Aku's butt for me, kay?"

Jack stood rooted to the ground, his mouth opened to say something when Travis stuck his head out of the ship in a panic. "Jack! The drones are closing in!" He pointed to the brightening night sky where they could see distant glowing shapes approaching. "We have to leave, now!"

Evie gasped and pushed Jack back towards the ship. "Go Jack! I'll be fine. Don't worry about me. Now go!"

Jack had no choice. With one last desperate look at his friend, he boarded the ship and the door automatically slid closed behind him. He put on his spacesuit and was buckled into his seat. Jack looked out the window to see Evie hiding behind a tree as more mantis drones closed in on the rocket. Her eyes met him and he could just make out her lips saying 'sayonara,' before the rocket burst to life.

Evie covered her ears as the flames sprang out from beneath the rocket and it dashed into the sky before the drones could reach it. Evie watched silently as the rocket flew farther and farther away until she could no longer see it.

The mantis drones clicked their pincers irritably, not noticing the human girl slipping away behind them.

To the east she walked, as she was instructed. The compass in her hand led her where she needed to go. It didn't take long before the reality of the situation began to sink in. She was all alone. In the forest. Jack was gone. The compass in Evie's hand shook as she began to hyperventilate. Her vision began to grow blurry as tears sprang from her eyes. Remembering the communication device that Travis gave her, she dropped the bag onto the ground and began to rummage for it.

There was quite a bit of inventory in the bag. The astronauts certainly did not plan to leave her with nothing. There was quite a bit of space food- the type that were squeezed into tubes that were similar to toothpaste. There were also food packets and a large full water container. As she hastily searched for the device, she tossed out a warm blanket, a flashlight, rope, a first aid kid, bug spray, sunscreen, a box of matches, and even a hunting knife. But for now, Evie only cared about the walkie-talkie that was now in her hand.

Evie wasn't the only one who was frightened. Jack clenched his seat tightly as he could the planet Earth right outside the window. His teeth were bared together at the vigorous shaking of the rocket and Jack couldn't help but worry that the ship would break from it. Everyone else seemed to be chilling and quite relieved. One of them was even reading a newspaper.

Jack shut his eyes tightly, hoping that the flight would smooth out soon.

"Jack?"

Jack's eyes shot open at the sound of Evie's voice. He looked around, thinking that she was somehow in the ship with him. No one else reacted, as if he was the only one who heard her voice.

"Jack, are you there? Can you hear me?"

That was when he realized that there was a speaker inside his helmet and that her voice was coming from inside. "Yes! Yes, I can hear you," he answered, his voice tight from fear.

"Are you alright? You sound worried."

"Yes, I'm fine. I just… still don't like flying," Jack admitted as he could feel sweat trickle down his neck.

A soft chuckle came through the speaker. "It didn't seem that way when you were soaring through the sky earlier."

A small smile appeared on Jack's face. His fear of flying began to disappear as Evie's voice soothed him. "That's because I had control of where I was going. What about you, are you alright?"

"Yeah!" her voice came through as cheerful yet forced. "I'm doing fine. Aku's robots didn't even notice me so I got away without a problem."

Jack frowned at this. Not of what she said but...how she said it. "You are crying."

"Huh? W-why do you say that?" Evie asked as she struggled to dry her eyes with her free arm.

"Your voice is trembling."

"Oh," Evie lowered her arm to reveal her tear-stained red face. She sniffed and tried to breathe through her mouth. Her throat felt tight and her nose was stuffed from crying.

There was a short moment of silence over before she heard Jack speak again. "Evie, I promise that I'll come back for you. So please, don't cry."

"Don't make such a promise, Jack," Evie said tearfully as she sat there on the ground among the scattered supplies. "You are probably hundreds of miles away on a one-way ship. You're not coming back."

Jack didn't know how to reply as his stomach squeezed uncomfortably. He had to admit even to himself, that he didn't know how it was going to be possible for him to go back to Earth.

"Jack? Are you still there?" her voice cracked.

"Yes." He closed his eyes, not knowing how to comfort her. "I'm here."

"Can we talk about something else, please? I don't want to be alone yet."

Jack sighed through his nose and opened his eyes, trying to think of something."Do you remember how to start a campfire?"

"I think so? I have to gather dry branches and brush and… and… place stones in a ring in order to help contain the flames. Then I need to find some dry grass or moss to light first before I can light the wood. To start a fire I can either use quartz rocks or something similar- or… make a hand drill with wood…but I have a box of matches too, so that'll help."

Jack nodded. He was glad to hear that Evie remembered what he had taught her and he hoped that this fact offered her some comfort. At least she won't get cold at night. "Yes, that's correct. Good job. And Evie, you do remember which berries and mushrooms you can and cannot eat?"

"Yeah. You had me memorize that."

"Just checking," the samurai smiled. She had nearly poisoned herself during their first day in the woods before he had stopped her. Since then, Jack made sure that she could identify what was edible and what was not. "And if you are not sure?"

"Then don't eat it."

"Right."

As they spoke, Jack could hear that Evie was starting to calm down. Their review was boosting her confidence in taking care of herself, so she shouldn't feel so scared anymore. Honestly, he wished that he had a chance to teach her more. Once he was sure that she wasn't crying anymore, Jack managed to convince Evie to start her journey to the town so she was no longer sitting in place but instead making progress.

Jack didn't notice that the rocket had finally exited Earth's hemisphere and therefore had stopped shaking so much. What he did notice was a floating coffee cup that said "I heart science" pass by his helmet while the coffee started to slowly drift upwards.

"Jack?"

"A cup is floating…" He said nervously.

Evie actually managed to laugh. "You're in space now. There is no gravity up there so you'll find that you weigh nothing."

Jack poked the cup and watched it spin as it floated away.

"Do you see Earth from there?"

"Yes," Jack looked out his window once again, this time in awe at the vibrant blue and green orb that was getting smaller below them. "It is incredible."

"I bet it is. I know you can't see it, but I'm waving up at you."

Jack smiled and waved slightly back at the planet.

Their peaceful yet bittersweet conversation had to come to an end when Travis pointed at the large computer screen. "Ladies and gentlemen, we are entering Aku's blockade." The screen showed the yellow dot- which represented their ship approaching a large number of red triangles.

"They're going to launch the first wave," said Frederick. "Better get Jack to the airlock."

As their voices came through Jack's intercom, Evie had heard everything.

"Please be careful, Jack."

"I will," Jack promised.

The spacemen had Jack step into a glass-like enclosure- the very space that Jack assumed was the airlock.

"Don't forget, Jack, you must be in the pod when we make the jump to warp drive," warned Kyle.

"The odds are quite staggering against you if you are not in the pod," added Sergei.

Jack nodded.

Travis could only say, "good luck, Jack."

"Thank you."

The airlock opened, shocking Jack for a second. He then looked at his new friends one final time before leaping backwards into the inky darkness. Jack turned on his own rocket booster and he was off.

"It is so quiet…" Jack commentated as he flew next to the spaceship. He saw Kyle give him a thumbs up through the window, a gesture that Jack returned.

"That's because there's no air in space and you need air for sound to travel," Evie explained to him.

"Here comes the first wave," Jack heard Frederick's voice on the intercom.

"T minus twelve before impact," came Mina's voice next. "Five seconds until impact."

Jack narrowed his eyes as he saw what looked like giant red ticks hovering in place. He flew towards them and began slicing them one by one, causing the robots to explode. It was a strange experience, for he could not hear the explosions.

"Jack! They're digging into the hull!" Frederick cried.

Jack looked back and gasped. Sure enough, the monsters were drilling their sharp noses into the metal, trying to get through. Jack landed on the surface of the ship and began cutting through them all, severing their bodies from their heads.

However-

"The tick droids are still digging through," Sergei informed. It was not over.

And true enough as Jack could see- the droids were still drilling. How could he get them to stop? Then Jack remembered how regular ticks were taken care of. All it took was a burning match to get them to detach. Jack had no sticks, but he DID have a sword. Taking his magic blade, Jack put it in the flames of his rocket until the sword began to glow red hot.

Using his now heated sword, Jack stabbed through one head, and the drill stopped. The head detached before exploding at Jack's feet. Finding that this method worked, Jack continued until all of the mite heads were destroyed.

Evie listened worriedly as she walked through the forest, keeping to the east, just like the compass pointed. All she could hear was Jack's heavy breathing as he fought and the occasional remarks of the astronauts.

She did not dare talk to Jack. Evie was worried that she would distract him if she did, so she kept quiet. Instead she focused on reaching the town. She stopped only to eat and drink, but she was so worried about her friend that she could barely taste the beef paste that she squeezed out of a tube. Probably for the best too… it wasn't really that good.

"The fuel level is dropping! What's going on, Jack?!" The panicked voice of Frederick exclaimed through the communicator.

Evie's heart rate began to increase. What was happening up there? Was Jack okay? Was he hurt? She had no idea and the thought of not knowing was driving her insane. Her only source of comfort was the sound of Jack's voice as he fought tirelessly. It meant that he was at least alive.

Jack sliced through the noses and heads of the unwelcome mosquito drones who were now trying to suck up the fuel from the ship. They were less stubborn than the mites but their size and their sharp spear-like noses made up for it in terms of aggression. Jack barely stopped one from impaling through his helmet by grabbing it by the snout. The samurai grunted as he tried to keep it at bay before kicking it off with his legs. The mosquito was sent flying into the dark abyss, never to be seen again.

But the danger was not yet over. This time, wasp drones were making their attack and they came by the dozens! Their stingers were in fact missiles that they fired on Jack.

Jack narrowly managed to avoid them as smiled in relief that he was in the clear.

Frederick must have noticed Jack's false sense of security because he said, "Uh, Jack? Those are what we like to call GUIDED MISSILES!"

Surprised, Jack quickly looked back and saw that the missiles had indeed changed their direction and were now coming back for him. Having no choice, Jack had to try and fly away. The missiles followed him mercilessly, not letting up.

Another group of wasps fired another round of missiles, something that Jack did not fail to notice. An idea clicked in his head and Jack bolted headfirst towards the new missiles. Right before he was hit, Jack veered upwards and the missiles struck each other, exploding.

Before the wasps could fire anymore, Jack flew into their swarm and began to hack away at them, one after the other after the other. That didn't prevent them from firing anyway. Seeing more missiles coming at him, Jack continued to speed through the swarm, leading the missiles into the unfortunate wasp drones that got in the way. In no time at all, only three wasp drones were left.

Jack glared at them, daring them to come forward and attack. The remaining wasps had enough sense to admit defeat and they bolted. Jack smiled.

"They appear to be withdrawing!" Mina announced.

Jack could hear Evie sigh in relief from the speaker. She had not said a word since he began fighting and he had almost forgotten that she was still there.

"We are approaching top speed!" exclaimed Frederick.

"Jack, forget them. Let's go!" Travis yelled.

Jack flew back to the spaceship until he reached the tip. He pulled open the door to the escape pod and climbed inside. He sat in the chair and gripped the arms.

"Maximum velocity will be achieved in 1.2 minutes," said Travis.

"Stabilizing retro rockets," said Sergei.

"Standing by!" pitched in Mina. "Jack, I'm going to lock you in. This is going to be quite a ride."

A belt strapped Jack tightly to the seat, but Jack's head was filled with conflict. He was doing it. He was going home-... but… at what cost? "Evie?" he tried. "Evie are you there?"

…

"Evie, say something," Jack pleaded. She didn't speak, but he could hear muffled sobs coming through the speaker. Jack's heart plummeted into his stomach. He didn't feel the straps binding his legs and wrists. What in the world was he doing? How could he go home when Evie was stuck here? He wanted to go home, it was true- he wanted it more than anything. But this wasn't the way.

He had promised he'd come back to her. He promised that he would help her get home too.

Jack began to struggle against the restraints. He had to go back! He couldn't leave Evie by herself in this terrible future! She would die without him!

"What is that?!" Frederick's voice asked in confusion.

"Looks like the bugbots are forming into a… giant gun!" Travis answered, his voice laced with fear.

A screen fell before Jack and he could see the wasps forming the shape of a giant laser gun. Jack's eyes widened and then narrowed. He looked around desperately before noticing a button by his hand that said "release."

Evie couldn't bear to talk to Jack anymore. She was overcome with fear and loneliness. This was it. Jack was leaving. She covered her mouth as she cried, trying to keep herself from being heard. She had no right to beg him to come back. If he managed to go back to his time and destroyed Aku, this future would disappear.

'But what would happen to me if that happens?' Evie thought fearfully. 'Will I disappear along with it? Or will I return home?' She did not know and it terrified her.

But this was the right thing- she had convinced herself. Besides, it wasn't like Jack was able to come back anyway.

Unexpectedly, Frederick's voice shouted, "Jack's unlocking!"

"What?!" Mina yelped.

Evie stopped breathing as she stared shell shocked at her communicator. What did they just say?

"Jack, what are you doing? We're almost at top speed!" Travis exclaimed in horror.

"The robots must not fire that gun," came Jack's calm response.

"The odds of them hitting us at this speed are 325 to 1!" Sergei tried to reason with him.

"I cannot take that chance."

"But you'll never make it back in time!" Mina pleaded.

Jack did not answer as Mina called his name and again.

Evie trembled and she began to form cold sweat. No… he couldn't do this. NO! She grabbed the communicator and ordered, "Jack, you get back to the ship this instant!"

"No."

"Are you barking mad?!" Evie yelled, clutching the device so hard that it began to creak in protest. "I said go back! You have to go back home!"

"I am not leaving you behind."

Evie's eyes widened in disbelief. How could he do this? "Don't you understand? You won't get a second chance! The likelihood of you returning to Earth is impossible!"

"The odds of not returning alive are a million to one!" Sergei added in agreement.

"You hear that? You'll die!" Evie cried. "Jack? JACK!"

But Jack wasn't listening and did not respond again. With a frustrated yell, Evie threw the communicator with all her strength and it broke when it hit a boulder. She squatted down to the ground, clutching her head. She felt an odd sort of tingle in her fingers and toes but she didn't care. Jack was going to die. He was going to die and she was the cause. She began to wail and her cries echoed through the forest.

There was no changing Jack's mind. After taking a deep breath, Travis said, "initiate the countdown."

"But what about Jack?" Frederick protested.

"Darn it! There's no time!" Travis banged his fist on the control panel. No one had seen him this upset before. "We've done all we could," he hung his head sadly.

Frederick's mouth quivered but he managed to hold back his tears this time. He pressed three green buttons and the countdown began.

"Good luck, Jack. Good luck, Evie. And thank you both," Travis said quietly as the astronauts sat in grim silence.

Jack knew that what he was doing was extremely dangerous and entirely foolish. Despite everyone telling him that he was making the wrong choice, his heart insisted that this was the right path. If he dies, then at least he has assured the safety of the crew. If not- and he was desperately hoping that he wasn't going to die, then he would try to find Evie and they'll find a way back home together.

Evie had stopped trying to convince him and by the sound of it, he had a hunch that she had probably broken the communicator in anger. 'If I live through this, then I'll owe her a big apology,' he thought to himself.

5…

The laser gun began to glow as it charged up. Jack closed his eyes as he sped up.

4…

The astronauts felt the rocket start to shake as the countdown continued. They worriedly looked out the window, seeing Jack fly closer to the wasp gun.

3…

The astronauts began to sweat while back on earth, Evie continued to cry. She could feel her legs fall asleep but she didn't care.

2…

Jack slowly unsheathed his sword. The tip of the gun was now so bright that it was practically blinding.

1…

Jack raised his sword above his head and the neon green laser beam shot towards him. He placed the blade in front of his body, prepared to take the blow. The beam struck his sword and excruciating pain traveled through his body. In that instant, Jack felt completely paralyzed.

The astronauts watched sadly, believing that he was a goner.

Launch

The rocket ship hit lightspeed and vanished.

Luckily enough for Jack, the sword took the majority of the hit- sparing his life. In fact, the sword reflected the beam right back to the wasp gun, causing it to explode violently. Jack closed his eyes as he was blown backwards by the blast.

The explosion was so huge that Evie could see it from where she was. She stared up at it in mute horror as it expanded and finally faded away. Was that the rocket ship? Did everyone die? Or was that the weapon and Jack had destroyed it, and...killed himself in the process?

A single choked sob escaped her lips and she began to cough as her tears and mucus began to slip down her throat. Her body trembled in shock. 'They're gone…' she thought blankly. 'Jack's gone…'

But then something shining flickered in the sky and came down like a flaming meteor. She watched it in confusion, thinking that it might have been a piece of the ship. It passed overhead and then crashed into the forest just north of her. Evie fell backwards as the ground shook in impact before finally settling down again. Crows flew into the sky, shrieking.

Evie slowly stood up, breathing heavily. She swallowed hard and before she knew it, she was running. As she ran, the tingling sensation left her- her legs and fingers returning to normal. Evie ran faster and faster towards the crash. She almost tripped a few times, but she just kept going. Finally, she reached a large crater and she slowed down to a stop. She didn't know what she was going to find and she was scared to look. But she knew that she had to, so Evie slowly walked up to it.

A hand emerged from the crater, earning a sharp gasp from Evie and she stopped dead in her tracks, frightened. There was a pained groan and to Evie's absolute amazement, it was Jack who got out of the crater. He stood up and brushed himself off- (the spacesuit seemingly gone)... as if he didn't just fall hundreds of miles down to earth. Jack grabbed his broken helmet and let it fall to the ground.

He looked up and his eyes met Evie's bloodshot ones. Jack was startled. She was certainly a sight to behold. He had never seen her look so terrible. Her face was flushed red and her eyes were swollen. Tears were streaming down her face and even out her nose.

"Evie…" he said.

Evie took one step...then two. She continued to slowly walk towards Jack, not believing her eyes. He was alive! Once she stopped in front of him, they stared at one another- neither saying a word. Then Evie raised and hand and-

SMACK!

-struck Jack across the face with the palm of her hand.

Jack's head jerked to the side. His eyes were wide in shock and his cheek was stinging red.

"You idiot…" she shook with rage as Jack reached out to touch his cheek. She had actually hit him. "You absolute insufferable IDIOT! How could you?!" Evie's voice grew louder and louder until she was screaming at the top of her lungs. "You had a chance to go home! You could have died!"

Jack winced as her screeching hurt his ears.

"Could you STOP being a hero just ONCE?! No one asked you to be one!" Evie began to hit Jack on the chest with her fists as her screams turned to sobs. "What the hell was I supposed to do if you died?! What is the world supposed to do?! You are literally the only one who can stop Aku!"

Jack let Evie hit him. He just stood there and took it. He stared at her quietly, feeling quite wretched. He didn't realize that Evie would take his self-sacrifice so poorly. Most people back home would have found it an honorable act, after all… it was his duty to help others. However she did have a very strong point. Had he died, it would have been all over. Aku would have won.

Evie finally collapsed against his chest, burying her face in it as she clutched his dirtied and charred gi in her fists. "How can you be so stupid?" she whined pathetically. "It's not fair! You're horrible, Jack. Don't you get that you're my only friend in this world?"

Guilt began to eat away at Jack's heart and he placed a hand on her head and stroked it soothingly. "I am sorry, Evie. I am sorry. I didn't mean to cause you so much grief."

They stood like that for a long time, with Evie crying into Jack's chest and Jack stroking her head.

A/N: Well, will you take a look at that! A new chapter so soon? It must be a miracle! Thank you everyone who commented! It's always a joy to see you enjoying my fanfic. As for the one person who asked me if I could post the story onto Ao3, I'm actually currently waiting to receive an invite through my email so I can sign up as a member. At the time being, however, I AM also posting the story on Wattpad, in case you are interested. :)

Also, you guys have no idea how excited I am for the next episode! OOOOO! It's going to be so fun!