A/N - Alright, this one is actually longer than chapter four, and holds the first real action scene that I've done. I beg for your mercy if it's horrible and disuades you from reading any more of my chapters, but...one can only hope that, by some brief flash of grace, it'll be half-decent and you'll enjoy it.

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Chapter Six: Trial and Error

Denisov first went to the barrier and announced:

"As the adve'sawies have wefused a weconcilliation, please pwoceed. Take youw pistols and at the word thwee begin to advance."

"O-ne! T-wo! Thwee!" he shouted angrily and stepped aside.

The combatants advanced along the trodden tracks, nearer and nearer to one another, beginning to see one another through the mist. They had the right to fire when they liked as they approached the barrier. Dolokhov walked slowly without raising his pistol, looking intently with his bright sparkling blue eyes into his antagonist's face.

His mouth wore its usual semblance of a smile.

Count Leo Tolstoy's "War and Peace", page 244

Dawn's memory involuntarily flashed back to the alleyway outside the Paper Lantern when her world had collapsed in on her. She could feel the silky smooth darkness trailing up her body as she fought to slice it away from her with her knife.

The knife.

Where was her knife?

It didn't matter now. She could still see the Paper Lantern as the strands of black mist wrapped around her throat, cutting off any strangled sobs for help that she might try to force out.

Other students were beginning to notice the black shape, and many of them stood, giving it wary glances. Dawn's mind faintly registered Layla's worried voice asking her if she was alright as she sat stock-still in her chair, her eyes wide and afraid, staring at the shadowy mist creeping under Warren's chair.

The mist.

Warren had talked about a black mist taking her away. He said it took something on the ground; it must have taken the knife.

But that didn't matter either. Darkness shrouded the edges of her vision before completely stealing away her sight. No light invaded the shadow.

No light.

Dawn let out a choked gasp of horror as she grabbed Layla's wrist in a vice-like grip, her breathing shallow, her heart beating wildly, and her vision and perception of sound completely blackened out.

At least two minutes passed before Dawn was able to calm herself and regain her awareness of what was going on around her. Most rational thought of which she was capable had been thrown to the ground, but her increased mental strength now gave her an edge over this new kind of fear.

The doors to the cafeteria had been shut and locked - by the intruder, Dawn supposed, to contain exit and entry. Layla's wrist was still captured in her grasp, but the red-head was standing and trying as hard as she could to free herself, yelling something about rescuing Warren.

As the telekinetic looked up, she saw that the shadow had increased in size and had now wrapped itself fully around Warren and several other individuals. As filmy tendrils reached out for more, students shrieked and backed away with it. Those who dared to try and fight it were encased in the dark vapor.

As one hero stood in front of all the rest, she reached out hesitantly to try and touch it. A wisp of mist wrapped around her finger, and the girl examined it, intrigued, before she suddenly looked as though she was being choked. The wisp released her while she dropped to her knees and clutched at her throat before she apparently regained her voice and started to scream. At this point, the wisp reached back for her hand and pulled her into the body of darkness.

Almost everyone enclosed in the shadows was either screaming with uncontrolled fear, yelling gibberish mixed with phrases like 'no light' and 'total darkness', or they were unconscious. The only one not doing any of these was Warren, and he was attempting to light himself on fire. As soon as his hands would light, the flame was extinguished. Between attempts at lighting himself, his eyes would flick around, and at one point they caught Dawn's.

Fear.

It was an emotion she had never seen Warren Peace emit, and it terrified her. If he had a reason to be afraid, it seemed they were doomed. It suddenly and very abruptly hit Dawn that her hands were out in front of her and she was subconsciously mentally trying to force the shadow away from Warren's body. It appeared to be working since his flames were lasting longer, but it was taking an extreme effort on her part.

"Get out of here!" Warren's voice was muffled by the darkness, and the expression on his face told Dawn that it physically pained him to speak. "Don't try to be a hero!" He strained against the shadows, momentarily giving up his fight for flame.

"I won't leave you!" Dawn screamed, her presence of mind returning as she again tried to push the confining mist away from Warren. This time, the shadows wavered a little bit before being stretched away from him, giving the pyrokinetic a chance to escape.

Running to Dawn, Warren whipped around and blew a fireball at the massive shape. The fire hit its target, and said target shrunk considerably, freeing many students. As soon as they were released, the conscious students stopped screaming and drug their unconscious friends to safety.

"I thought you said the last time you threw fire at it, it ran away!" Dawn yelled over the raucous of fire-throwing and screaming, her hands again thrown in front of her defensively. "It did," Warren yelled back, "but it's apparently not going to run again."

The pyrokinetic's dark eyes flashed as he started to circle his enemy. The hunted had become the hunter; the preyed-upon now focusing in on his prey. Warren stepped away from it, then forward, causing it to shrink back as he charged and threw another fireball in the blink of an eye. Its concentration wavered and broke as the flames hissed and crackled on it, causing the mists to release the remaining individuals.

Dawn stood back, trying not to get in the way. The cafeteria had now become dangerously silent; with everyone liberated, the screams had vanished. Now the only sounds were Warren's quiet, purposeful footsteps, and the silky murmur of shadow traveling across linoleum.

Suddenly, the flame-thrower stood his ground and roared, both arms and his upper back completely igniting in his fury. The darkness lifted itself from the ground and created a huge churning pillar of what looked like a black cloud that reached to the ceiling of the cafeteria.

"They're both bluffing or they're both really, really serious about this." Dawn whispered to Layla, concern and fear twisted into her voice. The red-head could only nod as she watched the ongoing scene.

"I hate not being able to do anything!" Dawn muttered, evidently making up her mind about something. She stepped up beside Warren and the pillar and pulled with her mind as hard as she could. Simultaneously, Warren charged an enormous inferno and sent it blowing towards the towering darkness.

This time, it was prepared. As Dawn's mental energy pulled at it and tried to toss it off-balance, it transferred the energy to make a gaping hole in the middle of it. The young pyrokinetic's flame passed right through.

Dawn and Warren swore concurrently as their minds raced to think of something. To their surprise, it wasn't either of them who finally did think of their next solution.

A burst of lightning broke through the top of the cafeteria, sending roof tiles everywhere as it pierced through the pillar of darkness. It split down the middle, trying to work with the electricity, but it was quickly met with a flurry of fireballs from Warren, who was now trying to think on his feet.

As Dawn spotted a small teenage girl on the far side of the room, she realized the girl must be controlling the weather. They smiled at each other, in spite of the circumstances, and then an idea struck Dawn, not unlike the way the lightning had struck the pillar.

"Take my hand!" She yelled to Warren, holding out her slender right hand.

He paused his fireball assault towards the now-flattened shadows to glare at Dawn before he rolled his eyes and snorted.

"I'm not trying to be romantic; I swear! Just trust me, this once?" She asked, waving her extended hand emphatically.

"What are you going to do?"

"I don't have time to explain; shut up and grab my hand!"

He made up his mind very quickly and gripped her hand with his. Dawn attempted not to jerk back, since his grasp was like fire due to its recent activity of flame-throwing. Not that the heat was unwelcome, but it startled her. In fact, now that she thought about it, the heat took her back to the warmth of the Paper Lantern and his hands on her shoulders as she -

"Odelle!" Warren yelled her last name to regain her attention, indicating she should do whatever she planned on doing.

"Right, right!" She yelled back, concentrating hard. "'Flame on', or whatever you do!"

He paused and looked at their hands. "I'm going to hurt you."

"Shut up and ignite yourself!"

His arms lit up to his shoulders as he set himself on fire. His left hand and her right suddenly became a flamethrower of sorts, expelling a steady stream of fire - of which Warren was not normally capable - into the shifting shadows that were apparently trying to re-form into a pillar. Being hosed by the fire apparently discouraged the being enough that it shifted into a hazy human before catching Dawn's eye.

The shape was almost certainly a male form, and it appeared to be made out of a solid, shadow-like material. If she hadn't been so afraid of it, Dawn might have reached out to touch it. In truth, there was nothing very frightening about it at all when it was in a human shape…except the eyes. And the eyes were what were locking onto Dawn.

They were onyx and cold, even lifeless. The stare they gave her was blank, showing no emotion or humanity at all. However, she felt herself being drawn to them. Her left hand reached out towards it, since her right was still encased in Warren's, and the creature reached back towards her. Shadowy fingertip met human fingertip, and Dawn felt her throat being constricted by that unknown force before she was yanked forcibly back by Warren.

"Snap out of it!"

She lowered her head to clear her windpipe again, her hand possessively staying in Warren's. However, Dawn barely lifted her eyes in time to see the shadowy organism leap out of the farthest window and disappear to the clouds below.

"Maybe he's dead?" A boy piped up from beside the window.

"No." Warren responded bluntly. "He wouldn't have done it if he wouldn't be able to survive; that won't be the last we see of him."

"Stop referring to 'it' as a 'him'." Dawn grumbled, her grip on Warren's hand releasing. Looking down at her, he sat in one of the few chairs still standing before gesturing for her to sit across from him.

"Explain what just happened, you know, with the stream of fire."

She finally released his hand and propped up her elbows on the table. "I'm a telekinetic, remember? I moved the oxygen away from the direct proximity of my hand so you wouldn't burn me, first; as you know, fire needs oxygen to stay alive. Then I had to decide how exactly you create the fire and what I could do to work my - "

"Cut to the chase."

"Right. I tapped into whatever channel you use to, in a sense, open or close the figurative valve that allows you to release the fire. In doing so, I mentally propped the valve open so the fire just kept coming and coming." She elaborated, trying to explain what she herself didn't exactly understand.

Warren quirked an eyebrow before shaking his head. "Whatever; as long as it worked."

"So…" Dawn shifted nervously in her seat, and she started to feel awkward, like she had in the Paper Lantern. Suddenly, though, that reminded her.

"Paper Lantern, after school?" She asked quietly, raising her eyebrows hopefully.

Warren rolled his eyes and fought a smile. "I suspect we'll be getting out early today. But yeah, fine; when Ron drops me off back home, I'll take you with me, and I'll give you a ride."

"How long can you spare before you have to go work?"

The pyrokinetic stood and shouldered his located pack before walking away from the table, calling back to her. "How long do you need me?"

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A/N - Well, there it is! My lovely, or not so lovely, sixth chapter.

Critique and suggestions are always welcome!

Devotedly yours,

Corvaisis