Greeting: Hi, all you wonderful bookworms out there! It's time to wolf down one more chapter once again.
I hope all of you are enjoying this so far. I am enjoying writing it. So enjoy, everyone.
Dinner is on the table.
( The repairing room. Fang, Storm and Storm Jr.)
" Hold on, Fang! Breathe, my darling! Breathe!", Storm's distressed voice shouted to Fang's ear.
Fang was sounding like he was choking on something. Storm had brought Fang to the table where Storm Jr. had been lying for a long time.
Storm and Storm Jr. were there to help him and ease his suffering.
Storm would have wanted Willa to be there too. Unfortunately, she hadn't been able to take it.
Storm Jr. had told her to go to the restroom. If they managed to heal Fang, Storm Jr. would then go to her sister.
Based on Fang's moaning, he would not heal soon. Fang tried to turn sideways so he could get out what was in his throat.
It caused him lots of pain but it was worth it. Fang coughed and oil came out of his mouth.
" Dad! Heal yourself", Storm Jr. told him loudly.
" I can't. Something'..s wr..ong", stuttered Fang.
He had to be pressing the wound constantly with his hands. For a second, Storm thought that Betsy had caused Fang's black blood to corrupt as well.
Fang would have to go through what Storm Jr. had gone through previously.
Storm couldn't have been able to take another one. Waiting for Storm Jr.'s approaching death had been the worst part of Storm's life.
She didn't want to go through it all again.
" Fang! Are you sure you can't do it? Be angry. Anger gives your black blood its power", Storm asked him.
" Angry? Why would I be angry? I...I just fought a girl. The children can see my true self now", Fang answered Storm.
" Don't think about that. Find something to be angry about instead. It gives Legends strength", insisted Storm.
" Okay. I'll try", Fang promised.
He tried to focus on anything that might make him feel angry. He imagined Hank's face staring at Storm as she was moaning on the floor.
He thought about Storm's begging expression.
" Please. Don't", Storm begged as Hank took his claws out.
Fang had always found that to be an absolutely enraging thought. Hank the Legend husky hurting his beloved wife.
Storm had that same expression on her face right then. It was the expression of fear and pain. Storm looked like she would burst into tears.
Fang hated that expression. It meant that something was wrong with his baby.
He saw the situation from Hank's perspective.
Storm was begging on the floor knowing that Hank would show her no mercy.
Suddenly, that fierce picture of Storm, getting hurt, changed into something else.
" Why would you do that? I thought you loved me", Storm said as her face turned into Betsy's.
An innocent girl getting attacked by a merciless attacker. That is what Fang was, merciless.
Deep within, Fang was no better than Hank. Fang couldn't be angry at Hank any longer.
He was just sad for having to hurt someone as innocent as Betsy. She had been a monster but so had Fang.
An oily tear fell down his cheek.
" I can't, Storm. I hurt Betsy in front of children. I can only be sad about it.
I ruined their childhoods and everything they believed to be true", Fang told Storm in a sad tone.
" Fang. Don't give up. I know you can make it", Storm responded and got close to his face.
Storm Jr. was standing behind Storm and looked at her parents. She was thinking about what Fang had just said.
" I can only be sad about it", thought Storm Jr.
Betsy had tried to attack her as well. Why hadn't Storm Jr. been able to do it? Why had none of the animatronics really done anything to stop Betsy?
" Anyone who can kill their own boyfriend in cold blood, can kill an innocent girl as well", Betsy's words came into her mind.
Storm Jr. realized what Betsy had been going for. Killing a girl was wrong.
Betsy had obviously been possessed by something but the animatronics had only seen her.
They could not fight a child. No matter what that child was like, they were not able to do it without breaking from the inside.
Betsy had been so poweful due to that inherent weakness the animatronics had.
" Dad", Storm Jr. walked next to Storm.
" Don't be fooled by that monster. That thing was far from an innocent girl. Thanks to you the children are still alive", smiled Storm Jr.
" Betsy would have ruined a lot more than the children's childhoods if you hadn't fought her", she added.
" That's right, Fang. You are not a monster. You are a hero", Storm agreed with her daughter.
Fang looked at his beloved wife and daughter. They were smiling at him and repeating him that he had been a hero.
" Good to know. I have changed a lot since I killed Bella. I have learned to love the kids and their smiling faces. I would not kill a child again.
But I would kill a child monster if that saved our kids", Fang smiled back at them and his pain began to fade away.
" It's working!", exclaimed Storm Jr. as she noticed Fang's stomach start to heal itself.
Storm Jr. had been right. Fang's sadness had prevented him from healing.
Fang got his strength back and Storm helped him sit upright. Fang's throat stopped bleeding and he swallowed the rest of the black blood.
" Ah! You are alright, love", Storm hugged Fang.
He let out a short groan.
" Maybe let's not hug just yet. I'm still healing", Fang reminded her.
Storm let go of him quickly.
Fang looked at Storm Jr.
" Whatever your plan was, it worked, me hearty", Fang said to her in his pirate accent.
" I thought it would. Legends aren't suppose to be sad about anything. Your black blood began to wonder if you were a Legend at all", Storm Jr. nodded.
" A Legend? Of course I am an angry Legend. I am angry with whoever made me attack Betsy", Fang said as his wound began to close faster.
" Don't worry, dad. So is everyone else", Storm Jr. pointed out.
Storm and Storm Jr. were happy about Fang's recovery. Fang tried to stand up but it made him moan.
" I think I'll sit here for a while. My black blood is still warming up", he told his wife and daughter.
They nodded to him.
" I'll be here with you, my handsome wolfy", Storm sat down with him and leaned into his side.
" I'll go to the restroom and tell Willa the good news", Storm Jr. smiled at them.
Fang chuckled.
" Go tell her that her daddy's alright", said Fang.
Storm Jr. was just about to leave when her parents both groaned in pain. It was due to what was happening outside.
Bonnie and Eclipse were outside at the moment.
Fang and Storm could not see the final stage of the Beginning but they could feel it. Storm Jr. was not able to feel a thing so she got scared.
" What now? Why are you groaning?", Storm Jr. asked them worriedly.
Storm was groaning as well as Fang so it couldn't be caused by the wounds.
Unless, Storm had gone inside her husband's head and could feel his pain. Storm Jr. considered that too.
It lasted for approximately seven and half seconds.
It was the final barrier, between two worlds, breaking. In the mind world, it was a huge wave of thoughts and hunger.
Only decent psychics could feel it. After it was over, Fang and Storm gasped and then exhaled quickly.
They were holding their heads and shaking them.
" Did it go away? Mom? Dad?", Storm Jr. was waiting for another attack or something even worse to happen.
She had a prepared expression on her face as she looked at Fang and Storm like they could attack her.
Seemingly, Betsy had not felt pain when she had been taken over but no one knew for sure.
Storm Jr. froze her hand and went into her fighting stance.
" Mom? Dad? I asked you if you were okay", Storm Jr. told them.
Fang and Storm had not heard what she had said the first time. Storm was still confused and her vision was blurry.
The wave had caused her mind to go dizzy. She looked like she had been hit by a wave for real.
" What? Storm Jr.?", she noticed her daughter in a fighting stance.
Storm Jr. came closer with her hand pointed towards Storm.
" Whoa, honey. Don't attack, it's me", Storm raised her hands to cover her face.
" Don't attack me either", Fang realized what was happening.
Storm Jr. was pretty sure that these were her real parents. Storm and Fang seemed normal and there was nothing wrong with them.
Storm Jr. melted her hand and put it down.
" What was that? You looked like you were in pain", Storm Jr. calmed down and asked them.
Storm shook her head.
" I don't know. Something hit us, I think", explained Storm.
" I felt as if I was inside a centrifuge or a washing machine", Fang described it.
" But everything's okay. I think it was something that went by. It's not coming back", Storm assured Storm Jr.
Fang checked his wounds and realized that some of them had reopened.
" Crap! That hurt my insides", he cursed.
" I'll take care of him. Go to Willa. You know where to find her", Storm told her daughter.
Storm Jr. nodded to her and left the room.
" Are you sure that everything will be alright from now on?", she asked them, reaching the door.
" We will, Storm Jr. Don't worry, baby. Be free of all worries, hon", Fang smiled at her.
Storm Jr. left the room and sighed.
" Be free of all worries, huh?", she thought.
Storm Jr. was not a carefree animatronic. Especially at times like that, she was always worried about everything.
She did not know what the heck was going on but she didn't like it.
She had a weird feeling in her endoskeleton.
First, Betsy turned into a monster and tried to eat all her friends and then something attacked Fang and Storm's minds.
Storm Jr. knew that this was exactly what the nightmares had been telling her. A mental picture of Leslie's face appeared in her head.
He had surely been the one trying to warn her.
" You are dead, my darling, but you still affect the world", Storm Jr. thought before entering the restroom.
She didn't understand why everything always began with her.
Storm Jr. was always the one it all started with. Maybe it was due to her being Leslie's loved one. Storm Jr. stopped thinking about it when she saw Willa.
" Tell me the truth", Willa saw her in the mirror.
Willa was in front of a sink and had been staring into the mirror for a long time.
" Dad's dead, isn't he? We have only mom and each other", Willa was depressed.
She wasn't usually that pessimistic. Storm Jr. sighed and looked into her eyes through the mirror.
" Sister? Since when have you been expecting the worst?", Storm Jr. was almost shocked.
" But I'm right, aren't I? Dad's with Leslie now", Willa turned around and glanced at her.
" Dad's alive, silly. A couple wounds and a bewitched girl can't stop a wolf", Storm Jr. smiled at her and laughed.
Willa felt relieved and she giggled a bit.
" Dad is fine. Oh, Storm Jr. Your expression scared me", sighed Willa.
" My expression scared you? Why?", Storm Jr. raised her eyebrows.
" You looked sad and your ears were drooping", Willa said like Storm Jr. should have known that.
Storm Jr. didn't always realize that her emotions were showing on her face. Knowing that, Storm Jr. began to worry again.
" There was a..different reason for that", Storm Jr. looked down at the floor.
Willa noticed that and walked towards her. She grabbed her sister's hands and got very close to her.
Storm Jr. and Willa's snouts touched each other.
" What reason?", asked Willa.
Storm Jr. was reluctant to tell her.
" Just a random reason. Not anything important, actually", Storm Jr. tried to avoid looking into Willa's eyes.
" A random reason? Sounds interesting. What could make a happy, dancing wolf, like you, sad?", Willa asked her.
She raised her hands and gently placed them on Storm Jr.'s cheeks. Willa forced Storm Jr. to look at her.
" What's wrong, sister dear? Why are you feeling down? Dad's alive. You should be happy about it", Willa smiled a bit to cheer her sister up.
Storm Jr. had an empty look in her eyes.
" I was just thinking about our current situation and it makes me worried. Why does it have to start again?", Storm Jr. told Willa.
" What's starting again, Storm Jr.?", Willa sighed.
" Another chapter in our life of fighting for our lives", answered Storm Jr.
" I know what you mean. If it starts, we can win again. We have done it many times, we can do it again", Willa shrugged.
" It's gonna lead to more suffering and struggling. It always does.
Someone, important to us, dies and everyone will be more and more depressed", Storm Jr. said to Willa.
" The first time, we lost the Taylors and the Summers. Last time, we lost Candy, Luna, Bulldozer and our beloved Nina. Who's gonna die this time?
Could it be the rest of us?", Storm Jr. looked at Willa with fear in her eyes.
Willa kissed her sister in order to comfort her.
" Then at least we'll die together, sis. But believe me, we won't", Willa assured her.
Storm Jr. pushed her away and turned around.
" Yes, together. I would be with Leslie but I have to die before that. I'm afraid of dying. What if there's no paradise beyond life?
What if it's just another world full of torment and suffering?", she said, looking at the floor.
" We won't die, silly. That's not possible", Willa shook her head.
Storm Jr. was the pessimist there. She had called Willa pessimistic but that definitely wasn't true.
" Luna and Bulldozer said something like that before we headed to the battle. God thought it was funny, I think", snorted Storm Jr.
" If a god of some sorts exists, they did not kill our friends", Willa pointed out.
" You think so? God makes everything happen, isn't that what they say? Like the world and our lives are parts of some sick game", Storm Jr. grinned as she said it.
" A game? Our life is not some sort of horror game. We make our own story, Storm Jr. We will get through anything", Willa grabbed Storm Jr.'s shoulder.
" Maybe that is the point! Perhaps He allowed us to survive so we could suffer. Leslie came to me and we fell in love.
He was taken from me just so I would suffer.
After I began to recover, He gave Leslie back to me just so he could be taken away again!", Storm Jr. began to shout and her eyes were filled with tears.
" Storm Jr.!", Willa grabbed her body and kept her from moving.
Storm Jr. was starting to panic. Willa let her calm down and catch her breath for a second.
Then she started speaking in a calming, silent tone.
" No one has done this to you so it would make you cry. Nobody could be that sadistic. Especially an omnipotent being.
If he exists, he is on our side. He would not let us die", Willa told her.
Actually, Willa was not keeping up with what Storm Jr. was finding so worrying and frightening. Perhaps everything.
" He didn't care about Luna, Bulldozer, Candy, little Nina or Leslie", Storm Jr. sighed.
" Leslie", Willa whispered to herself.
" Is Leslie what this is about? You are longing for him again", realized Willa.
" I was thinking about him too. I'm also extremely worried about everyone in this pizzeria.
You saw how everyone got paralysed when Betsy became a monster.
I sense that this time we have met the enemy that's superior to us", Storm Jr. nodded to Willa.
" You are thinking about there being more of them, aren't you? We don't know for sure", guessed Willa.
" Come on, sis. Of course there will be more of them. My nightmares have not been warning me of Betsy. She was like a greeting.
Our new enemy came to say hello. Next time, we'll be fighting an army of them", said Storm Jr.
She thought Willa was a fool to think otherwise. Willa's eyes widened as a mental picture appeared into her head.
She imagined standing in front of the pizzeria and an army of sharp-toothed humans walking out of the mist.
Willa saw her friends standing beside her, shaking in fear, paralysed.
" Well...let's not think about the worst that could happen. Didn't you tell me to be less pessimistic?", Willa chuckled nervously.
" You can lie to yourself but deep within you know it to be true", Storm Jr. looked into her eyes.
Then she turned around to leave the restroom.
" Dad and mom are in the repairing room if you want to go see them. They can tell you the same I told you", Storm Jr. said what she had come to say in the first place.
Willa was looking at her.
" Storm Jr.! If there really is an army heading our way, we'll fight it!", exclaimed Willa.
Storm Jr. left her behind and made her way to the Circle where her bed was.
" How could we fight them?
They are probably laughing at us right now. Betsy was just one and she made us look like a normal group of singers", thought Storm Jr., entering the stage.
Betsy had shocked everyone and an army would kill them all in seconds.
Storm Jr. knew that they were coming. She could feel it in her endoskeleton.
Storm Jr. still had the power to leave her body at will.
It meant that her soul was not completely attached to her body. When the mind wave had hit her parents, Storm Jr. had seen her vision go whiter than usual.
It was a long time since she had last left her body but she could still remember what it had been like.
Her vision had gone whiter then as well. The shockwave had not affected her mind but it had separated her soul from the body a bit.
Storm Jr. was not familiar with the mind world but she was connected to another one. The soul world was Storm Jr.'s realm where no one else was able to go.
She had felt the souls in there. Psychics had gotten nothing more than a series of unclear thoughts.
Storm Jr. on the other hand had actually felt the barrier collapse.
She had felt the army in her soul.
It poured out of the afterlife like a swarm of bees.
It had begun to worry her. Storm Jr. had understood it unconsciously then.
Storm Jr. had fully grasped the meaning of that feeling during her conversation with Willa.
Reaching the main hall, Storm Jr. met two animatronics. Bonnie and Eclipse had come inside and they saw her.
Bonnie had looked around the yard for more kids but hadn't found any.
Eclipse was the one who noticed Storm Jr. first.
He glanced at her and saw her lie down on the bed. Storm Jr. pulled the blanket over her head so her ears were sticking out.
Eclipse walked to her carefully.
" What are you doing?", Bonnie asked him.
Eclipse glanced at Bonnie.
" Storm Jr. seems scared. Maybe the others could see feel it too. I'll ask her", Eclipse suggested.
He walked to the bed and knelt down.
" Go away", Storm Jr. told him rudely.
" Did you feel it too? Is that why you are scared? Don't deny it, I can feel it in you. You're scared. You saw it, didn't you?", asked Eclipse.
" My parents felt it. I could sense the army in my soul. They'll soon be here and kill us all", Storm Jr. said to Eclipse.
" We saw them. Bonnie and I saw them flying across the sky. Do the others already know?", Eclipse asked her.
Storm Jr. revealed her face.
" I don't know. Probably", she said with scared eyes.
Eclipse didn't know why Storm Jr. was like that. He was scared too but not as much. He was more worried about the children than about his friends.
He encouraged Storm Jr. to come out.
" Come, Storm Jr. Let's not let the fear take over. Come on, we have to tell the others", Eclipse beckoned her to follow.
Storm Jr. decided to forget her worries for now. Maybe they could survive.
In her mind, she begged for any cosmical being to help them. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't forget the truth.
The army was coming.
The army of the dead.
Farewell: This chapter was more like what I had in Act 1.
I know I made a little reference to myself there. I am a horrible person for doing this to them.
Sometimes I feel sorry for them. I need to remind myself that this is a story.
Anyway: See you later and: THE ONLY WAY TO LIVE IS TO WRITE.
