Chapter 21 was the only chapter so far that I didn't write down any trivia or sidenote. Don't take it as me being mad, I wasn't mad about anything, I didn't really have any particular thoughts at that time.

I didn't think I'd complete this so soon. The fight's on.


Chapter 22

The five of us were teleported to a platform on the outside of the Sol Lighthouse looking towards a town. It must be the town of North Park, seen from the distance, since my phone told me the town is to the south. Nevertheless, we were running low on time. From the platform, a bridge of hard light was constructed. It did not go north to the main tower, but rather started east, then wrapped up north, then went west connecting itself to a pathway layer on the tower. Ray cautiously put his foot on the bridge, not sure if it was stable, but his foot never went through. We walked the bridge leading to the main tower. We then took a staircase up, wrapped around so we were going clockwise. When we got to the southernmost point on our level, we were met by a wall. To the right was another staircase that led us directly to the top of the lighthouse - the aerie.

Predictably at the top, there was a beam of light that shone from the very center straight to the sky. The apex of the aerie had probably a 60-foot radius, the center hole from where the light shone being 20-feet in radius. Around the perimeter stood four statues of female angels, spread out evenly."So that beam is the portal to Sovngarde," Stan said.

But then an angry voice of an old man called out to us, from somewhere. "Betrayers, you have arrived!"

The five of us looked around furiously, but there was no sign of the person who called us out - or anyone else for that matter. "Who said that?" Wendy asked.

"Over here." We faced forward to see an old man come out from behind the closest statue to the right. The man was likely in his late seventies wearing a nice black tuxedo and a black tie. He wore a black eye-patch over his right eye. "I didn't think you delinquents would make it all the way here." None of us said anything in response. What could we say? We don't know anything about this old man. The man took a good hard look at Ray. "Raymond Irvington. So it really IS the Dragonborn, or should I say, DOVAHKIIN! Just can't stop being a thorn in our side, huh?"

Stan turned to Ray. "How does this guy know you?"

The old man never let Ray say anything. "You don't remember, do you? How we tried to find you?"

"Us fighters of Zaron need to pass through the portal to Sovngarde. We're running out of time." Wendy giggled at Stan's words, probably because Stan sounded pretty nerdy right now.

"Zaron?" Isaac scratched his head in confusion. "Wait, we're playing a game?"

"Fighters of Zaron?" The old man laughed out loud. "Kids, what's going on here is much more complex than that. This isn't the first time a UFO has crashed to Earth. You see, in 1947 a UFO crashed in Roswell, New Mexico..."

"Oh God!" Stan groaned. I rolled my eyes as well.

"I don't want to listen to this nonsense," Wendy added.

"Crap," Isaac said.

"Hang on a sec." The old man shook his head. "A UFO crashed in Roswell and a new government agency was created to investigate the paranormal. Our Agency."

"Can't we skip this?" I sighed.

"Oh, you don't want to skip this," the old man shot back.

"Yes we do," Wendy retorted.

But the old man continued on. "Whenever aliens are spotted, vampires run amok, our agency is there and we have never lost a fight. That is ... until 4 years ago when we investigated a child. A child who had an unnatural power inside him. I had order from the President to secure the child, so that we could harness his powers before our enemies could. But he slipped through our hands."

"The government wants Ray for his farts?" Wendy asked.

"That's dumb," Stan remarked.

"His farts? No. His amazing ability to make friends so quickly on any social network. Before he was 5 years old he had 3.2 billion friends on Facebook alone. Do you have any idea the power that kind of gift yields in today's world? It's time to come with us, Dovahkiin. Time to stop resisting and use your gift for your country." The old man looked back at Ray. "You have to do what the government tells you, just like me. We're all just pawns in their game. I'll admit you are fascinating, you have more power than any child I've ever come across."

Ray facepalmed and growled beneath his hand. "Thank you for telling us what we already know, moron. You don't think I haven't figured this out already? And mind you, having four really good friends is just as well as having 3.2 billion friends on facebook you barely even know." Ray huddled the four of us together. That thought made us smile - well at least I did.

The old man rolled his eyes and laughed again. "Aw, that's sweet. You still care about those four idiots? What about the Stick of Truth, Dovahkiin? Together we can rule the-"

I narrowed my eyes at the old man, not letting him say anything more. "What do you know about the Stick?"

"'He who controls the Stick controls the universe.' That's the tale, right? That's what you kids are going after, right?" The old man shook his head. "Nevertheless, I shan't interfere with the actions of little kids." But the old man still stood in the way of the portal beam.

"If you can't interfere, then how about getting out of the way so we can go through the portal, huh?!" Wendy yelled.

"Ooh...good one, Wendy!" Isaac cheered.

"Well by all means." The old man stepped towards the front right statue and put his palm out at the portal beam in the middle of the aerie. "But of course, what would your parents say?"

That hit me in the heart. I almost forgot - my dad never tried to contact Isaac or me. He could still be in trouble. I don't think he returned home. I gritted my teeth in anger as I glared down at the old man. "What the hell did you do with our parents?" Stan's words were full of rage and poison, he likely had the same reaction I did when I heard what I heard from the old man.

"Can't let you kids have your hands on the Stick, so I added an extra factor of deterrence." The old man brought out a small yellow patch from behind himself. He opened the pouch, and poured out purple dust into his right hand. He then threw it at the statues one-by-one, revealing people that made my heart snap. On the statue directly above himself were Stan's parents and an older girl with brown hair, probably Stan's sister. The back right statue had Wendy's parents, the back left statue had presumably Ray's parents, and the front left statue had my dad. All of our parents were strapped in steels chains hanging off the head of each statue. Chains were wrapped around their mouths so that they couldn't talk, all they could make out are muffled screams. They eyed us in terror, trying to scream out for us to help them.

"Y-you...you b-bastard!" Wendy struggled to choke out her words. "W-what have you done? Why?"

"You kids can go through the portal right now, but I don't think your parents would appreciate you leaving them there tied up on the statues." The old man then walked back and forth. "Seriously though, did you kids really think I'd let you have the Stick? I'm not letting you assholes control the universe, it belongs to me! I will make sure America makes this world a better place!"

"You're a self-serving bastard, that's what you are!" Wendy shouted.

Of course though, I had to be the one to point out the obvious. "You do know Terrorblade has the Stick...right?"

The old man gave us an evil grin. "Oh I know, why do you think I sent the Seal Team 6 into Sovngarde to stop you?" I opened my eyes. I can't believe it, this big bad government guy is working for Terrorblade.

"No..." my friends and I murmured. "Not him..."

"With Terrorblade at my side, we will spread terror to all of America's enemies!" The old man laughed. "Russia, China, the Middle East...all of that sort, they're all the same - dirty terrorists!" I mean, I'm not good with my politics, but come on, this guy probably strikes me as a jackass.

"You don't know what Terrorblade is capable of!" I said. "How can you trust him?"

"With his help, we'll vanquish America's enemies!" the old man said. "Imagine a New World Order where we make a better place!" The old man's evil sneer turned into a scowl. "I would have sent my soldiers into the lighthouse, but that damn Harbinger the Outworld Devourer killed my air troops." He shook his head. Ah, that would explain the lack of U.S. troops.

"You're a dick, you know that?" Stan pointed at the old man. "You're nothing but a power-hungry dick."

"Oh, and you're one to talk, Stanley. There's a poor boy I want you to meet. I think he deserved the pardon I gave him." The old man whistled.

Out from behind the beam circling to the left came a boy I've never seen before. His blonde hair was similar to my friend Garet Jerra's - it went straight to the sky, but a little shorter. He was beefy and muscular. He wore a black T-shirt, a gnarled red vest, and brown pants with a brown belt. The best words to describe this guy is someone who looks super tough, and despite his size, he seemed to be no older than me. "Stan Marsh," was all the kid could muster.

"Oh shit!" Stan's voice quavered as he hid behind me, using me as a meat shield. "No...that can't be him!" I could feel Stan's hands shaking both my shoulders.

"He looks scary!" Isaac gulped, but he still maintained composure.

"This can't be happening..." Wendy's echo faded into nothingness almost instantly as she hid behind me as well. Why the heck is everyone using me as a meat shield?

"Stan Marsh...you fucking cunt." The blonde kid took a step forward. "Didn't think you'd see me so soon, did you?"

"What are you here for?" Ray asked.

"Quiet, you faggot, the real adults are talking!" The tough blonde kid shouted at Ray and he almost stumbled backwards. "Now I believe I have a little payback with Stan." Stan still quivered behind me. The blonde kid's words then became taunting. "What's wrong? Can't run anywhere now? Should have thought of that sooner before framing me for arson back in preschool!"

At last, I saw the meaning of this kid, at last I realized why this kid was angry and why Stan and Wendy both reacted in such a way. It was like how I spied on Stan's and Wendy's date night two nights ago. I crossed my arms and glared at the kid. "So you're Trent Boyette."

"Yeah? And? So what? So I am. And what's it to you, you little shit? Fuck off Cole!" That took me aback. How does he know my name? I never ever met this guy before. Trent walked up to me and made a sudden movement - putting his face near mine. I stumbled backwards a little. I hate it when people do that - scare me like that with that "tough guy" motion. "Haha, what a little bitch you are. But enough about you. I came here for one thing." I myself was quivering now. Jesus Christ, this guy is scary, I probably don't want to mess with this guy. I moved to my right to join Isaac and Ray as Trent walked closer to Stan and Wendy, who were holding each other. "Aw, that's cute. I didn't know the two biggest asswipes in my preschool class are dating now. Wendy Testaburger. I remember you, you were always a know-it-all-tattletale. Dumb bitch" Trent Boyette then turned to Isaac. "And Isaac Dimmons, you were one of the two crybabies in my pre-school class? I think the other one is Butters, that prick!" He then turned to me. "And Isaac's twin brother Cole. Shame we never ever got to meet. I'd have more fun giving wet willies to you than I did to your brother." I never said anything, but I gritted my teeth a little. This little prick is an asshole, but what can I do? This guy is super tough. He then turned to Ray and gave him a look of confusion. "Who the fuck are you?"

"K-k-knock it off!" Isaac stammered. "L-leave them alone!"

"Shut the fuck up, Isaac! Go choke yourself on a tampon you fucking freak!" Trent pointed his finger at Isaac and Isaac bent downward and cowered in fear. "Now Stan...need I remind you of all those five years, almost gone because you framed me and blamed me for starting that fire in Miss Claridge's class?"

"Please," Stan spoke softly, "not near my parents-"

"No! Fuck you!" Trent faced our parents, then back at us. "They deserved to know that you told me to start the fire! You thought you could put it out! But no! You lied to the entire town! I had to sit in prison for five years! And I came back for retribution." This was all coming back to me now. I'm beginning to remember seeing him some time ago now, I witnessed this before. "Came all the way to find you with your other friends, but your fatass friend Eric Cartman tazed Miss Claridge's wheelchair, so she crashed into a building and started another fire!" Goddamnit Stan, why did you have to piss off Trent Boyette back in preschool? Why did you have to go off and play fireman? "So I got sent back to prison. Luckily the government guy here gave me a pardon, or I'd be rotting in prison!"

Stan was quivering in fear. "Trent, I-I-I'm sorry, I j-just-"

"Sorry doesn't fucking cut it! Fool me once, shame on you! Fool me twice, shame on me!" Trent cracked his knuckles as he walked towards Stan and Wendy.

"Aw man, I just realized, all of this is just like that one game Golden Sun!" Isaac complained.

I tilted my head at Isaac. "Uh...what?" My thoughts completely represented my reaction.

"You know, Golden Sun? The game I kept playing in 3rd grade? In that game, you have to go light four lighthouses, but each lighthouse there's always some kind of betrayal going on," Isaac replied. "It's what inspired me to play a Shaman in WoW."

"Uh...I don't have any idea what you're taking about." I shook my head. "Never heard of that game before."

"Will you two idiots shut the fuck up?" Trent yelled, making us jump with fear.

Isaac put his hands in front of his face, cowering in fear. "Ah! Please don't hurt me!"

"Pussy." Trent then turned back to Stan and Wendy. "Now...any last words before I beat you both to a pulp?"

"Wait..." Aw shit, Ray's gonna say something stupid. He stepped forward. "...aren't you an asshole to everyone?"

Trent reddened with rage. "Rrrrrrr..." He then charged at Ray and punched Ray straight in the face with his right fist. Ray flew into the ground, banging his back on the surface of the ground, giving off a clang. The parents who were tied up still gave muffled screams. "Call me out like that again, you stupid pink-haired weaboo!" Trent screamed. Holy shit, this guy is even more ill-tempered than I am.

"Ray!" my friends and I shouted.

I knelt down next to Ray as he lied there unconscious. "No..."

I placed a hand on his forehead. I could feel a tumor coming on in my own forehead. That asshole is going to pay. I closed my eyes feeling a tear drip down from my right eye. I can't believe he had the audacity to punch Ray like that, and given Ray had never wronged Trent, I don't mind stomping this asshole down myself. As I slowly stood up, feeling the solar power of nature charge in my right hand. As I returned to a standing position, I could hear Trent walking away from me, probably towards Stan and Wendy. "Now where was I?"

"You asshole." The words came softly from me dripping venom as I turned around and chucked a Solar Wrath straight at Trent. "Take this!" The bolt of sunfire smacked Trent in the face, staggering him back a little and leaving a burn. But I gave Trent no time. "And this!" I raised my left hand to the sky, and a beam of moonlight exploded on Trent, leaving a periodic burn. "And this!" I then shapeshifted into a cat to jump towards Trent and claw at him.

Of course though, I clearly underestimated Trent. They say prison is where you are either made or broken, and in Trent's case, he was made in prison. By what I meant, as I was jumping at him, he punched me straight in my left jaw, causing me to fly to the right, causing my body to clang onto the statue where Wendy's parents were tied, then I fell to the ground. "You little bitch! That's it! I'll kill you first, Cole!"

The punch hurt like a bitch. As I shapeshifted back into a human, I could feel the blood already coming from my nose. As I began to heal myself, I saw Trent rapidly running towards me. But Isaac caused an explosion of frost, the Frost Shock, to overtake Trent, slowing him down and preventing him from getting to me. "Get away from him!" Isaac then charged his left axe with flame and went for a sweeping attack, but Trent parried the Lava Lash with his right arm, leaving a bewildered Isaac. "What? Augh!"

Trent then punched Isaac in the face with his left fist, knocking him down to the ground. "You're a fuckin' dumbass." He shook his head. "Enough of this. Time to get what I really came for." He charged at Stan and Wendy and immediately grabbed Wendy by her right arm with his right hand and pulled her away from Stan's arms. "Come here, you little bitch, I'll kick your head in!"

As Trent grabbed Wendy's hair with his left hand, Wendy tried to kick and scream. "Let me go! Stan! Help!"

I tried to get up, but I couldn't. I was too weak. I banged the back of my head on the statue Wendy's parents were tied up on, exhausted and exasperated. I didn't think Trent would be that strong. He doesn't even have any WoW powers and he could already take on the five of us. Or maybe it's because my endurance is awful. "L-et her go," Stan nervously said.

"Or else what? Ow!" A light explosion of arcane energy struck Trent, probably due to my Moonfire from earlier. Trent the fingernails on his right hand, likely to attempt to claw and shred Wendy's face like a wild cat. Of course, due to Isaac's Frost Shock, he was a bit too slow.

Therefore, Stan charged at Trent with his sword, striking downwards and causing a deep rend onto Trent's right side. "Get away from Wendy!" I grinned - finally Stan does something.

As I slowly got up, I saw Trent grab Stan by the collar. "Finally! RAAAAHHH!" Boy, did Trent not hold back. He slammed Stan onto the ground and started punching him into a pulp. I could hear the parents scream from beneath the chains.

Of course, Trent got caught in a Wind Shear from Isaac - a gust of wind interrupting his attacks, momentarily, buying enough time for Wendy to come to and strike Trent with her own sword ignited with light. "Asshole!" Trent then tried to punch Wendy, but Wendy blocked the attack with her shield, mitigating some damage. Isaac came in just in time to assist Wendy as he hacked and slashed away at Trent, enhanced with furious winds around him.

"Ow!" Trent jumped away from the two as I began to turn into a cat and dash to Stan. "Take this!" Trent then grabbed Wendy's right arm with both his hands and rotated his hands around her arm in opposite directions, giving her the good ol' Indian Sunburn.

"AH!" Wendy screamed in pain. Trent then elbowed Wendy in the face with his right elbow and she fell down to the ground.

Of course, Ray got up and summoned forth a water elemental of his own. Trent tried to turn to Ray, but he was getting kited around by frostbolts slowing him in his place, while Isaac was doing his best to hack away at Trent. Trent is really resilient though, probably the product of having prison mold him into a tough cookie. Meanwhile, I retrieved Stan and Wendy and dragged them both back to the statue where my dad was tied up in - the front left one. The bruises on Stan's face was horrifying, to say the least, and it showed Trent did not hold back at all. His face was bruised and bleeding. Wendy's was the same way, but not as bad as Stan's. As I turned back into a human and began to heal them both up, I saw Trent kick Ray's water elemental off the lighthouse. He then turned around and tried to grab Isaac's throat, but Trent was caught in a Deep Freeze

"Alright!" As Ray began to summon another elemental, Trent broke out of his icy prison. "What?" Holy crap, we can't even lock Trent down either?

"I'm a boss," Trent sneered. For a second, I thought Trent was bragging about himself for how awesome he thinks he is, but he's probably an actual boss fight. Wait, what am I thinking? This isn't a game, Cole! He then lit a cigarette with a match and threw it at Ray, interrupting Ray's spell and catching him on fire.

"AH PUT IT OUT!" Ray then ran towards me screaming. I quickly threw out a bolt of nature energy at Ray, purging the flames off him. He then crashed down next to Stan, burned up. "Screw...me..."

"Ugh!" I groaned. I now had to tend with four people, including myself. This was too much work for me.

"Ha, that should keep Cole busy for a while." I looked up to see Trent addressing me. He was hit with an explosion of flame from Isaac, the Flame Shock. Trent tried to punch Isaac, but Isaac dodged the blow. Isaac then lept up into the air, charging both weapons with lightning, trying to go for the Stormstrike, but Trent dodged towards the portal, leaving Isaac to land in front of the statue where Stan's parents were, completely open. Trent then kicked at Isaac in the gut, causing him to fly into the statue, then down onto the ground.

"Ow..." Isaac cried.

Oh crap! He's gonna go for me next! Quickly, I poured all my energy into healing the last of Stan's wounds, but then I was lifted off the ground and the next thing I knew I saw Trent holding me by my collar with his left hand while pulling out a knife with his right. Oh shit, I'm gonna get stabbed. "You think I don't know what you're capable of, healer?" Of course, the only response I made was that I spat into his face.

Big mistake. The next thing I knew, he thrusted the knife straight into my gut. "Uugh!" My eyes ran bloodshot as he pulled the knife out of me. It stung me so badly it left my whole body paralyzed. He tried to stab me again, but Stan smacked Trent in the back of his head, letting me go and fall down to the ground back first. As I struggled to crawl near my friends, I rolled over to lie faceup to heal my stab wound.

Of course though, Wendy knelt down beside me to help me heal myself. "That dick is gonna pay."

"Yeah. I know." I looked to see Stan rend another wound into Trent. Isaac then got up and hacked away at Trent. Then Ray got up as well and began to fling frostbolts at Trent from a far. With the help of Wendy's healing and my own, I was able to get up and back into the action. As Wendy charged in, I sat back from afar flinging solar wraths at Trent. Of course though, because Trent was already damaged from flames, moonbeams, and open wounds, he finally gave in. It took us a while, but we finally beat out Trent.

All five of us stood around the downed Trent, who lied on the top of the large staircase from where we came. "Ugh...I'm sorry..."

"You think beating on girls is funny?" Wendy yelled. "Are you an asshole? Is that it?"

"Yeah, this is why everyone hated you in Preschool!" Isaac added. "And no, you're not tough at all!" I sat back and watched as Wendy and Isaac flung insults at the downed Trent. I could tell my friends to back off. On the other hand, I'm not very sympathetic at this point, the jerk stabbed me.

"Yeah, go get out of here, you retarded scrub, keep selling your foodstamps so you can talk to me while you burn in hell, noob," Ray said. "And by the way, no, I don't watch anime you dipshit. I just like dying my hair pink. Problem?"

"Yeah, I really just want to kill this guy," Wendy said. "This guy was an asshole to everyone in pre-school anyways."

I shrugged. "Well...eh. Why not?"

"Guys! Don't!" Stan waved around his hands to stop us. "It's not his fault he turned out like this. It's like what you guys already knew - I framed him for arson. Just...put down your weapons." He gave us a look of remorse and sorrow. Sorry, but damn, those blue eyes gave me the feels, not that I'm gay, but at that moment, I knew that Stan wanted to forgive Trent for attacking us - after all, Stan did help turn him out like this.

But my ear shot up at the sound of a pistol cocking behind me. I turned around to see the big bad government guy at the bottom of the right stairway. The thing about the stairs is that they start separated in left and right portions due to the wall, but they join as one. That said, the big bad government guy aimed a Glock, a 9mm handgun, at us while he had on some sort of blue backpack. "Yeah, no. This isn't happening. You're not gonna have some stupid happily ever after this time." On the underside of the barrel there was a laser pointer

As Trent stood up, my eyes followed the path of the laser pointer, which pointed directly at Trent's forehead. Oh shit. "You're going to kill Trent...why?" Stan asked.

"I saw everything, ok?" The government guy's hands were shaking. "He's going to betray me! But I won't let that happen!"

"No!" Trent shouted. However, I began to hear wings flap and beat. Could it be Harbinger?

But it was too late, the government guy already fired his shot. However, at that moment, Trent was lifted from the ground and suddenly trapped inside an astral bubble - the exact same bubble Ray got sucked into two nights ago when we first fought Harbinger. Thus, the bullet disintegrated when it made contact with the astral imprisonment. "Impossible!" the government guy screamed.

Harbinger the space-gryphon-mage landed in front of us on the top of the stairwell. He pointed the tip of his staff at the government guy, which charged an arcane orb. "Destroyer's shadow covers you." He then let loose a light blue arcane orb which exploded onto the government guy and knocked him off the lighthouse.

"I'LL KILL YOU ALL!" That was the last we heard from the government guy.

As Harbinger began to break the chains off our parents, Trent faced Stan. "Stan, uh, I didn't expect you to not kill me. I'm sorry for being mean. But you know why I did what I did, right?"

"I know," Stan replied.

Of course though, before any of us could say anything else, all of our parents came up to us, and boy were they pissed. "Stanley Marsh!" Stan's mom marched over to us. "What the hell have you been doing this whole time? Leaving home, going on your stupid adventure, and what was that I heard about you framing Trent for arson?"

"Yes, your mother is very angry with you, Stan," Stan's dad mimicked.

"Mom, Dad, we're trying to save the world," Stan said.

"Well you're not, and I knew you'd end up with Wendy, she's a very bad influence on you!" Stan's mom yelled.

Wendy's mom, however, was not very pleased at the insult. "Now wait just a minute, Sharon, it was probably your son, my daughter wasn't the one who framed Trent for arson!"

As Stan's and Wendy's parents started to throw insults and argue at each other, my dad came up to Isaac and me. "Cole. Isaac. Care to explain yourselves?" Dad was not very pleased with what we did, but I can't really blame him. We did ditch South Park to go on some grand adventure. He is about the same age as Stan's and Wendy's parents, and he too was well toned for an adult male. He had eyes as blue as my own and short blond hair no longer than an inch or so. He had on a brown coat and khakis.

"Dad, we were just...uhh..." Isaac tried to make words come out of his own mouth, but of to no avail.

I stepped forward. "Dad it's my fault. I shouldn't have-"

"No." Isaac shook his head in frustration. "Cole, don't do this again, don't take the blame for me. You know that-"

"Kids!" Dad yelled, and the two of us immediately stopped arguing. "I want to know what's going on. Now."

"I'll tell you what's going on." The laughing voice of Harbinger made everyone else fall silent. We turned to the stairwell to see Harbinger floating a few feet above. "I'm sure you already heard about what Terrorblade is doing, right?" As we all nodded, Harbinger continued. "The world is changing for the worse. There are ill omens on the horizon waiting if Terrorblade succeeds. The world as we know it is going to end. But we can still stop him. Your children are the key."

"Oh no!" Wendy's dad shot Harbinger a glare. "I am not sending my daughter off on a magical adventure around those troubled boys!"

"You parents know nothing," Harbinger snarled. "Shut. Up. Idiots. I don't like it anymore than you do, but these five children-" Harbinger pointed at Ray, Isaac, Wendy, Stan, and me "-are our only chance to save this world. You might be worried about losing your children, but if they don't succeed at this, you'll all lose more than just your children."

"Ugh, this is exactly what I was worried about, I knew Ray would know eventually!" Ray's dad groaned.

"Know about what? About the little secret of me being Dovahkiin?" Ray glared at his parents. "Mom! Dad! You lied to me! Why couldn't you just tell me upfront?"

"Because this is what would happen!" Ray's mom replied. "We just wanted you to be a normal kid, not...not..."

"What?" Ray said. But no one said anything. "But what?" He looked down at the ground, his face full of hurt.

It was an awkward silence for about an entire minute. Then Harbinger spoke. "Well? Let's get going." He turned back at our parents. "Look, I...I'm sorry for all of this. But I'm hoping this will all turn out ok."

"Keep our children safe, ok?" my dad said. Harbinger nodded in response.

As we turned to walk through the, a different female voice spoke from behind us. "Hey turd! Wait!" I turned around to see Stan's sister walk up to Stan.

"What?" As the words left his mouth, Stan's sister immediately slapped Stan on his left cheek, leaving a red mark. "Ow! What was that for?"

"That was for you and your turd girlfriend beating me up the other night." Stan's sister then hugged Stan.

"And that?" Stan asked.

"That was for making peace with Trent Boyette," Stan's sister replied, and Trent nodded. "I needed to smack you around turd, but this is good for you." It's like what Isaac said, having that sibling to smack you when you do something wrong, but will always be there for you.

"Um, thanks Shelly," Stan replied.

Watching the tears run down our parents' eyes was heartbreaking, but alas, they had to let us go. They knew we were their only chance. Facing the beam of light that shone from the middle of the lighthouse aerie - the portal to Sovngarde - I looked at my friends, and they all nodded. With the five of us hand-in-hand, and with Harbinger right be hind us, we all rode the beam of light and ascended straight into the sky.


You know, looking back at some TV shows, and looking back at my own childhood and what my siblings have told to me about their elementary school experiences, my point of view about elementary school kids is that they're mostly assholes. I probably should have mentioned it in the earlier chapters, but reading over the previous chapters, I realized that all of the main kids in this story are kinda jerks to each other. I think that train of thought was what influenced the outcome of this story.

One thing I regret about this fic is that I think the fic built the main story too slowly; I feel like this fic started too slowly, and I think this story dragged out a bit. But maybe that's something you enjoy. I'm still not sure if having chapter 1 be about Breast Cancer Show Ever was a right decision since I didn't feel like it contributed to the plot as much as I wanted it to. My intent was to try to show you guys where Cole stood on the social ladder, but I don't think I did a good job with that, I feel like I just copied the episode instead. I don't know.