Disclaimer: I don't own the quote from "Imaginations From the Other Side".
A/N: Wow, I feel so loved and special (sniffs) You guys/gals are great! Cookies all around! (passes out cookies shaped like the Creeper and eyeballs) Oh, FYI, this is the last finished chapter I have, so you'll have to wait for me to write the next one and I've got exams this week so it might not be 'til the weekend that I get to update. I blame the educational system!
"I'm Not Quiet, I'm Plotting."
Darry choked, struggling in the Creeper's grip as the police trained their guns on him. Trish pleaded with him to let Darry go and take her instead. Darry tried to tell Trish not to do it, but he could barely breathe let alone speak. For one horrible second it looked as though the Creeper would grant Trish's request. Then, all of a sudden, he yanked Darry's head back by his hair and dug his hideous claws into the soft flesh surrounding his left eye. Darry screamed in anguish, and again as the Creeper pulled his eye out. He repeated the process on his right eye, throwing Darry's lifeless body at Trish when he had done and consuming Darry's eyes right there. Trish screamed when she saw that Darry was dead, and lunged at the Creeper in blind rage. The Creeper caught her and ripped her heart out as easily as young boys pull the wings off butterflies. Grinning horribly, he dropped Trish's body and squeezed her heart in his hand until it burst.
"Darry, wake up."
Gentle hands shook him, trying to wake him. With a cry, Darry's head snapped up and he looked all around, panting, terrified.
"Darry! Darry, it's me, Ana. Your friend, remember?"
Darry looked for the source of the voice and found Antares kneeling on the ground next to the bed stroking his hair like his mother did when he was little and had a nightmare.
"You were dreaming," she said gently. "You were just having a little nightmare. Shh, it's all right now."
"No it's not," whispered Darry in a cracked voice, tears stinging his eyes. "It's never going to be all right as long as he's around!" He started to cry uncontrollably. Antares climbed up on the bed with him and laid his head in her lap, stroking his hair and rubbing his back between his shoulder blades, the only part of his back that hadn't been cruelly torn open by the Creeper's whip. For several minutes they sat thus, neither speaking. Antares didn't know what to say and Darry couldn't say anything if he wanted to. Finally, he calmed enough to speak:
"Talk to me, Ana."
Antares was a little surprised. "What do you want me to say?"
"Anything. Just talk to me. I am so scared. When we're talking, everything else fades out and he doesn't exist just for a while. Tell me about your family, your friends. I'll tell you about mine."
Antares smiled. "All right." She shifted her position a little and checked the dried clay on Darry's back. "This is almost ready to come off, but that can wait. So…my family. My brother's name is Rigel. He's five years older, probably your sister's age. He has hazel eyes, like our mother, and brown hair like mine used to be."
"Oh, I remember that now," said Darry softly. "You had natural gold highlights, right?"
"That's right," said Antares. "But, as time went on and Creeper took more and more of my soul, the colour just went out of my hair and skin."
"I see," said Darry quietly. "Go on. Tell me about your parents."
"My mother is beautiful," said Antares. "Her name's Mira. She has hazel eyes and hair the colour of antique gold, though with the sheen of new. She moves with the grace of a willow tree in the breeze. Her smile brings the dawn and her laughter is the ringing of morning bells. My father gave me my green eyes and brown hair. His name's Sirius. He's tall and powerful as a redwood, but gentle and loving. I was born on his birthday, actually. He says I'm the best birthday present he ever got. And the most expensive." She gave a small laugh. "I look more like him than Mom. Rigel looks more like Mom."
"You all have star names," said Darry thoughtfully, composing himself. "Except your mom."
"Actually, Mira is a star in the constellation Cetus, the Whale," said Antares. "My grandparents named Dad Sirius as a sort of joke, and he just happened to fall in love with a woman who's name was also a star name, so they gave their children – my brother and I – star names as well."
"What constellations are yours and your brother's names from?" asked Darry.
"Mine's the brightest star in the constellation Scorpio. Rigel's is from the constellation Orpheus." She broke off for a moment, thinking. "What about you and your family? I want to hear about them."
"I have a sister, like I said," said Darry. "Trish. Her hair's dyed blond. Her eyes are a little lighter brown than mine, more like hazel, and she's shorter than me even though she's older. My mom's name is Selene. I get my eyes from her, but her hair's blond. Natural blond. My dad's name is Darius. I was named after him, actually. Trish and I get our brown hair from him. Trish's hair was brown like mine before she dyed it. My parents were at your performance, actually."
"I'm flattered," said Antares, and she meant it. After a moment's pause, she ventured to ask, "What were you dreaming about?" Darry looked back at her.
"I'd rather not say," he said.
"I respect that," replied Antares. She sighed, as she seemed to do a lot. "That barricade isn't going to hold him off very long. As I told you, he has a very low opinion of defiance, so I'm in deep trouble for what I did tonight. It's hard to ask you this, but please, please, this time, just let him. If and when he comes back, just pretend to be asleep and don't come between him and what he means to do. I don't want you getting hurt again."
"You've totally given yourself over to this thing, haven't you?" asked Darry.
"What do you mean?" asked Antares.
"You'll do whatever he says, no matter what it is, and you'll let him do whatever he wants to you. How can you exist like that?"
"I told you, I'm scared to death of him. This is the first time I've made him angry in a while; I've been avoiding doing so for so long he was stunned. I don't want to disobey him again."
"So you're just going to let him shut you up in that pod thing for twenty-three years?"
"What choice do I have?"
"You could run away."
"No."
"Think about it. He probably won't shut you up until the very last night, just before he runs out of time and goes to sleep himself so he can feed from you. Until then, you and me are down here alone all day. We could make it together. I'll help you, if you just give me courage. Courage like you showed tonight when you stopped him from beating me. It's there, I know it is."
"You don't think he'll take steps to make sure we can't do any such thing?"
"We have to try."
"Darry, I can't-"
"Yes, you can. Stop saying you can't; you can. Together we can. I want to help you, Ana. I want to save you."
Antares smiled. "You already did, in a way."
"What do you mean?"
"After I started having the dreams about you, I set aside my plans for suicide. I vowed that I would try one more time to save an innocent life. I sword that if you did not live then nor would I. When I saved you, you saved me."
Darry was silent, thinking on what she had just said. "We have to get out of here, Ana. You know it."
"I've told you, I can't."
"No, you won't. You're too afraid, aren't you?"
"So what if I am!" Antares rose and walked a ways away before spinning around to face him again. Darry rested his cheek on his arm and watched her, her eyes flashing with anger. "You want me to say it, I'll say it! I'm too afraid to run away! Are you happy now? Are you satisfied?"
"No," replied Darry. "And I'm not accusing you. I'm just trying to tell you that we could do it. You have the courage; I saw that tonight. You have to fight him, Ana. I know you're scared. I'm scared too. Nothing's ever scared me so bad before. But we have to get away from him. You know that I'm right. I'll help you. You know your way around this place. If you show me the way, I'll help you follow it out. We can make it, together, if you just believe in our strength."
"You're talking like a book," retorted Antares, but she wasn't so defensive anymore. Slowly she relaxed her tensed muscles. "I want to get out of here more than anything, to get back to my family and friends, let them know I'm alive, I'm OK. But ye gods, I'm so scared…"
"I know," said Darry gently. "We can be scared together, OK? But you have to let me help you. You can be as scared as you want if you just try to get away with me." Antares still looked skeptical, but she nodded.
"Just promise me something," she said.
"What?" asked Darry.
"If I fall behind or something, you leave me and get yourself out and away, OK? You promise?"
"No." Darry gazed at her in surprise. "You really think I would leave you behind like that? You're crazy. No way I'm gonna leave you with that thing, nuh-uh." Antares nodded slightly.
"I expected as much," she said wearily. "I just thought I'd try. All right. But we only have one shot at this, understand? And I'm still terrified of him discovering us. He'll kill you, Darry. If we do this, and he catches us, he'll kill you. He'll make you wish you were dead, and then he'll grant your wish. I don't want to scare you anymore than you are, but you have to know."
"No, you are trying to scare me," said Darry. "You want to scare me out of doing this, but it won't work. I'm getting out of here and I'm taking you with me, back to your family, your house on the beach."
"Yes," whispered Antares. "I want to go back. I want to go home."
"And I'll take you there," said Darry gently. "I'll get you out of here. It's the least I can do after you saved my life."
"Out of the dark…back to the light," said Antares softly. "Yes. I will go with you. I trust you." Darry smiled. Antares smiled back. "That clay should be ready to come off soon. Maybe later." She covered her mouth with her hand to stifle a yawn.
"Did you sleep at all?" Darry asked. Antares shook her head, unable to speak due to another yawn. "Go to sleep now. I'll watch over you." Antares smiled again and started toward her beanbag bed. "No." Antares looked up at him in surprise. Darry moved to the far side of the bed. "Here. With me. We can keep the nightmares away from each other." Antares blushed a little, but smiled and lay down alongside him, closing her hand over his. Darry closed his eyes for a moment, and in that moment he could've sworn he heard Antares half-sing:
"Out of the dark/Back to the light/Then I'll break down the walls around my hear."
He opened his eyes to ask her what she meant, but Antares was already asleep.