This is the chapter where you won't understand everything if you don't know some characters. It's okay if you don't know what all the parts mean, just as long as you get the main point.
CHAPTER 14: Shadows
The corridor was dark, the walls made of rough stone. There were columns, large and sturdy. They went on farther than the group could see; the hall seemed to go on forever. The group stood there. There was no other direction to go but straight.
"We go on, until the end," Jake reminded them, his voice echoing lightly.
"If there is one." Jack said and the group became uneasy at these words. Still, the group walked, knowing that it was something they had to do. Their shoes tapped loudly on the floor, and there was no noise except for them.
They walked through this endless hall for hours, so it seemed. Each of them looked for any signs of change in the walls, to know that they were at least progressing. It was when they came to a red line stained across the floor that they stopped, and felt a little better.
"What's the line mean?" Jesse asked.
"Do you think any of us can answer that?" Jack asked.
"Well no... I was just wondering aloud."
"The line means that we are about to cross to another part of the hall. It could mean that the rest of the hall is different then what we have seen." Matilda assumed. The group looked ahead and saw no other sign of change.
"Or it can be some blood stain when someone was dying at this spot and their blood just happened to make a line." Buffy said, and everyone took a step back. "Kidding. The line's too straight."
"Well, it doesn't look like paint," Harry said, squinting for a sharper look.
"I don't know why we are standing here when we have a job to do," Jake said. "For all we know, time is against us. The dream catchers could get to the room first. Maybe those demons have unlocked the doors and are now chasing their way down this boring hall."
"Do you think someone could have done some voodoo on the hall to prevent us from returning?" Jack asked.
"Oh, come on." Jake said and taking the closest hand, Buffy's, he crossed the line. Jake and Buffy stood there on the other side and nothing was different except for a second of this strange feeling of danger. Jake looked at Buffy, and she shrugged. "Well... everything's fine. C'mon, we don't have much time."
The group crossed the line, and when everyone felt fine, they went on.
Buffy looked at the tough, stone, walls and even though they were the same as they've always been, the walls seemed to scream at her. Warning her, looking down at her. The pillars did the same, and it seemed as if objects or people were trying to escape from them. Buffy frowned and turned from the walls, seeing that Jake was observing them too. Jake and Buffy shared a look and Buffy took one step forward and stopped. A wind seemed to pass across her, and the corridor was colder than ever.
"What is it?" Harry asked, looking at Buffy. Buffy looked on the walls and saw shadows. But when she looked at the group, she saw that none of them were moving. She saw one particular shadow, walking toward them.
"What do you think it is?" Buffy said.
"What is?" Matilda said.
"That shadow." Buffy said slowly, and soon it was a shadow no more. It stepped out of the walls and flickered, like a light bulb, but looked like a ghost. But it was no ghost. It was a vampire. Buffy reached for her stake and pointed it at the flickering shadow.
"Easy there," the vampire said gently and Buffy frowned. She knew this vampire. She loved this vampire. But her memory was as vague as the vampire shone.
"Buffy, what is it?" Jake said. But he realized that there was a shadow on the wall. Many shadows. One stepped out. Jake frowned. "Visser One?"
"We're wasting time, aren't we?" Jack said. Only he started seeing shadows. Everyone started to.
Jake frowned. "You're not supposed to be here."
"No, I'm not." Visser One said. "But somehow, I am here. Unfortunately, not fully. I bet you can change that."
"How?" Jake asked, taking a step back and almost bumping into Matilda who was starting to see her old kindergarten principal again.
"Your fears of me, made me become alive through these walls. Don't you know? Mostly the Dream catchers built this place. They own it too. So see, the more you fear me in your nightmares, the more I become alive."
"I don't fear you," Jake said standing tall and grounded.
"No, not really." Visser One said. "But you fear that." He motioned to the other shadows on the wall. It was the rest of his old Animorph group, all in a heap, and living no more.
"This isn't real! It's not!" Jake said with less confidence then he hoped.
"Isn't it?" Visser One said, and the shadows started to flicker.
Jack looked at Jake. "No Jake. It's not real. Having a nightmare?" Jack laughed. "Hello- Jake?" Jack said, waving his hand in front of Jake. Jake still stared at something, and yelling things Jack couldn't comprehend.
"Oi oi, savaloy!" Jack said, and then cursed. He looked around and saw everyone was in his or her own little world. And he was too. A shadow, with the same height and shape as he, started walking over, hands out, as if he were holding liquid in his hands and didn't want to spill it on himself. The shadow stepped out of the wall and walked toward him, stopping in front of him. The shadow placed his arms behind himself, and smiled.
The person flickered once, and no more. The person's feet seemed to stick to the floor and grow solid. "Well, I'd say you have it easy, mate," The person said, with his familiar smile. "Everything's as right as rain here. While your friends are in front of something they truly fear, you, my friend, are standing in front of no one but yourself."
It was true that the group was standing in front of something they fear. But it possibly couldn't be their worst fears. Harry feared fear, and there were no dememtors standing in front of him. The only person standing in front of him was Voldemort.
"We meet again. Earlier than I thought." Voldemort said. Voldemort took out his wand and pointed at the wall from where he came from. There was another shadow, down and helpless. "I destroyed his life. Now, I'm getting rid of him." Voldemort aimed his wand. "Avada Kedavra!"
"Noo! Don't kill him!" Harry said rushing to the wall but he could not touch the figure. It burned in pain. The figure lay dead. Harry tried to touch him but couldn't. "Why can't I get to him!"
"Make him real, Harry." Voldemort suggested.
"I don't even know who it is!" Harry managed to say, but could barely hear it over his rapid heartbeat.
"I think you do." Voldemort said.
Jesse, didn't have a shadow figure standing in front of him. He was different. Instead, the scenery of the corridor and the group faded away and he was in some place isolated. He was in the middle of nowhere and it was getting dark. He was around ruins. He was alone, and the wind spoke to him.
"How could you ask me, Jesse," The wind said. "How could you ask me to drink from the well?"
Jesse frowned. "Winnie?" A surge of memory came to him.
"No, Jesse. You are secluded. Everyone is gone." The wind said. "Winnie, your family. Even your hope and love as a result of the deaths of the people you love. It is like... it is like the world is gone, and you are the only one left standing."
Jesse looked around. The world was gone. And he was the one left standing.
Matilda tried hard to use her powers on her old principal but they didn't work.
"Thought I'd never come back, eh?" She said. "Thought I'd go away forever? No, no. I'm never going away. Because you fear my return."
"I got rid of you once, I can again." Matilda said, a little shakily. At this moment, the principal grabbed her from behind and Matilda didn't feel like a fourteen-year-old girl. She felt like a six and a half year old, back then, when she was helpless and had not found out about her gift. Matilda squealed in pain, as little children do, and tried moving, but her feet were off the ground. She had to stop this woman, or she would come solid and find some way to ruin others lives. With all her strength, the strength of a teenager, she shifted her weight and the principal fell back into the walls. She was gone.
Everyone that was around her, came to her attention. She frowned at the sight of her group battling invisible evils. "You have to push them into the walls! You have to push them!" Matilda yelled, but no one heard. "Buffy!" She yelled as someone threw Buffy against the wall. She yelled to her group, but they were deaf to her voice. Matilda went to Buffy. "Buffy! Buffy! Push the demon into the wall! The wall, the WALL!"
Buffy looked at Angel and a tear fell. "You're gone. You left."
"I'm here. I never did." Angelus laughed, while brushing off his hands. "Gee, Buffy, why the tears? You were always so emotional, I couldn't understand it..."
"I fought you. I killed you." Buffy said, remembering her last swordfight. "You were good. You turned good."
"I will never be good!" Angelus said. "Not anymore." Angelus lifted his hand and threw a punch but missed Buffy and part of his hand was in the wall. He got it out. Buffy stared. Push the demon into the wall. The wall, the WALL! a voice screamed in her head and Buffy obeyed. She struggled to push him, but soon he was gone. She noticed Matilda yelling in her ear.
"Oww. Stop!" Buffy said, dragging herself away and up.
"You can hear me?" Matilda said. Buffy looked at her, pondering, but saw the others. "We have to find a way to tell the others to push their demons in the walls."
"Were you yelling that at me?" Buffy said.
"Yes." Matilda said. "In your ear. Repeatedly."
"Okay, okay." Buffy said. "Get as close as you can to them. Do the same. C'mon, we haven't much time."
Jake was sucked into his imagination. He was standing in front of his group, dead.
"You thought you could beat me, beat us!" Visser one laughed. "Now, does that seem like a reality to you."
A silent whisper was bothering Jake. Something about a wall... Jake looked at Visser one in the eye. "No it doesn't seem real. But neither is this." Jake tried to morph but when he realized he could not, he looked at Visser One, who was simply frowning at him.
"Uhh..." Jake stood up straight and pushed Visser One into the wall. The bodies disappeared. Finally he was in his own reality and saw Buffy smiling at him.
Harry reached for the figure, putting his hand against the wall, and tried grabbing his hand. Finally, the body rolled out of the wall and lay dead on the floor. Harry's eyes were wide, as Voldemort laughed. "Sirius." Harry whispered and collapsed to the ground to his godfather.
"Honestly, this is fun, but not fulfilling." Voldemort took a step toward the wall and put his leg through. "When you're done here, come back to your own life. There, there we will fight. And that, Harry, will be fulfilling." Voldemort disappeared into the walls and Harry was aware that Matilda stood behind him.
"Harry... the body!" Matilda gasped.
Harry looked and saw that Jesse was running around the place, Jake trying to catch him. Jack was against the wall, staring and Buffy had a hard time helping him. Harry stood, and kept his eyes on the body. "It's him."
"It's not." Matilda said. "Push it into the wall."
Harry nudged the body with his foot and, surprisingly, yelped when it could not be moved. "It's not moving!"
"Okay, okay," Matilda said trying to calm him. "It can be, it can be pushed away."
"Those walls carry things that are not real. But this is. Sirius' death- if not- his body... is real. And I can't ever forget his death. Those walls- they are-"
"Oblivion?" Matilda said. "True... but this body is not real, right? So push. You won't forget his death, just forget this face."
Harry sighed, rubbed his eyes, and bent down, pushing. The body at first did not nudge, but then it rolled into the wall. And Harry was left there, remembering it. The entire trip, he was losing his memory. Now that it was back, he wished to lose it again.
Jesse had no walls to touch, but could only run, straight, trying to find earths edge. The wind laughed, and Jesse tripped. He fell to the grown, drowning in the dirt. He turned his body around, and lay there. He was alone. He would lie there forever, no one to pick him up, not even the spiteful wind. At that moment, something strong grabbed hold of his hand and forced him up. As Jesse stood the scenery changed and he was again in the hall. Jake released his hand.
"You all right?" Jake asked.
Jesse breathed heavily. "Yeah, yeah." Jesse smiled confidently, and Jake returned it.
Jack looked at himself. "What... what does this mean I fear... I fear myself?"
The other Jack smiled. "You fear what you have become. What you were back in that jungle. With those- those boys. Oh, what you did with those boys."
Jack looked down and saw that something red was dripping behind the Jack figure. The figure noticed. "Oh... you caught me-" The figure raised his hands. Jack gasped and saw blood dripping from it. He had a feeling that it was not animal blood. "Red handed."
Jack grimaced in disgust. "How could you... who does that belong to?"
The figure of Jack frowned, and pretended to look innocent. "They attacked me... what else was I to do?"
Jack yelled. "Go back into the walls! Go back!"
"I can't," The figure said, so solid looking. "I'm more than just a fear. I'm you. I'm inside of you."
"No," Jack said.
"Everyone has their evil in them," The figure said.
Get the demon into the wall. Jack, the wall! Get him into the wall, Jack! C'mon, Jack! Jack pushed on his figure but it barely moved. The figure punched him in the face, and Jack fell to the ground. Get up! Jack obeyed and tried again. The figure threw a punch, but missed. Jack took the figure by his bleeding hands and twirled him against the wall. "Go in! Why won't you go in!"
"I can leave your sight," The figure said. "But I can never leave you. Stop fighting."
Jack stepped back. The figure brushed himself off. Jack, c'mon! A voice said. But another voice, louder than any said quite the opposite. Walk away. Walk away. You have a job to do. Open your eyes.
Jack frowned. His eyes were open. But the more he stepped back, the more the figure disappeared. Jack blinked. He saw everyone watching him. "We all better now?" Jack said through his rapid breath.
"Is everyone okay?" Jake said. Everyone nodded slightly and Jake knew they weren't at the moment. "Okay. Let's go." Jake started walking.
"So... what was that? Our worst fears?" Jesse asked, remembering his isolation.
"No, I fought my principal, and I don't fear her the most." Matilda said. "I haven't thought of her for some years, really. But she's always been in the back of my mind... What I did fear, is her return. I did not fear it the most over everything, but I feared it. A lot."
"So, the person that we each fought is something that's been... bugging us?" Buffy said. "A fear that's been bugging us?"
Jack looked down and saw his hand. They were dry, as usual, but stained with blood. He frowned and put his hands in his pocket.
"Look, a door!" Harry said, pointing ahead. The group looked and noticed they were feet away from it.
"Let's go!" Buffy said, and together, the group ran toward the door, faster and faster. When they reached it, no one had to turn the knob. They slid through just as the shadows had done with the walls. The group frowned and processed the sight. The room was small and circular, and shelves on the walls carried jars. The shelves kept going higher and higher with no stop. On the shelves were glowing liquids in jars, most of them a bright blue. The group looked at the middle of the room. Nothing. No table. No box.
"Whe-" Buffy said but then, out of nowhere, a cage fell on them and they were trapped. The group touched the bars but could not escape. they could not lift this cage, nor squeeze into the bars.
"I knew it wouldn't work." An ancient voice said and out of the shadows came Scrauss. "League! How nice of you to join me."
*****
Yup. Long chapt. That chapter was probably all over the place, sorry, but believe it or not I cut some small parts. I think 1-2 chapters left.