Tim shook Noah awake. "Noah. We need to go." was all that Tim said.
"Why?" Noah asked, before seeing the red glow emitting from the dorm window.
Firebrand's warning echoed in his head..
They're going to attack Vale, kidnap you and turn you into a monster… Everything I've worked for, that we've worked for, will fall.
Noah's eyes widened in realization. "Fuck." he cursed under his breath. He dragged himself over to the window and saw hell itself.
Tongues of flame licked at the scorched black sky. There was thunder and ash swallowing the sun whole.
The Collective had come for Vale at last.
"Where's the others, Tim? Where the fuck are they?" Noah asked.
Tim stared back, his gaze devoid of all mirth.
"Outside. Grimm are attacking. Get your weapons." he replied tersely.
Tim and Noah ran had met up with Evan and Caught, and Team CTNE was finally striking out as a team at last.
Monstrous versions of Grimm were indeed attacking the city.
But that wasn't what stopped them dead in their tracks.
No, what stopped them was music, distorted music, playing from out of nowhere.
The empty matter in front of them tore itself apart into a portal.
Standing in front of Noah was Firebrand. "We still have a chance to beat them, Noah. Follow me."
And Firebrand pulled Noah into the Collective's domain. Caught, Tim and Evan followed.
They landed in a stark white room. A silhouette of a old man sat in a chair, next to them.
The silhouette looked at Noah and nodded gruffly, gesturing towards a doorway that appeared to have just opened.
Noah realized who the man reminded him of. "... Karl?"
Again, the silhouette nodded.
Team CTNE quickly departed from Persolus's room.
They walked into a different room this time, with red cuts in the walls.
Mr. Scars stood with his arms open. He hugged Noah quietly.
'noah. my cousin.. good luck. i can't help you any further than that, they've still got their claws in me.. but still. good luck. and i hope everything turns out alright.' he whispered.
"Thank you. And I love you, Milo. So much." Noah said in reply, letting go of the hug.
He could see Mr. Scars smiling as Team CTNE walked out of the room.
Team CTNE walked into what appeared to be a library. Sitting in a comfortable chair with a journal on his lap was a masked man in a military jacket. "You're Swain.." Noah remarked.
"Meine Gäste! Setzen Sie sich, machen Sie es sich bequem! Sie haben einen langen Kampf vor dir, ja, aber darüber jetzt keine Sorgen." Swain greeted.
"... I'm sorry?" Tim replied.
Swain sighed. "Sit. Make yourself comfortable." he translated in slightly accented English.
Swain nodded and seemed to turn his gaze to Noah. "Herr Maxwell. I met your grandfather, in the war," Swain began.
"Personally, I've been waiting to finally converse with you at last. I've had great fun with your… what was the word for it? Your twin? Firebrand. The talks I've had in this room with your parallel self, Herr Maxwell, are beyond imagining. And I've been curious to see how different you are from him.. Ah! Ich schweife ab!"
"I have a gift for you, Herr Maxwell. A parting gift, so to speak, as it is most likely the first and last time we shall trade words. Think of this as an apology, that Mr. Scars and I could not help you when we were able. Der Großmann stills our tongues and chains us to our graves." Swain finished.
He bowed his head and handed Noah a black journal. Noah stared at it. Then the realization hit home. "Sebastian's journal." Firebrand hissed with glee, speaking through Noah temporarily.
Then Noah came back, staring down at that journal.
Swain tilted his head in interest. "I know the Stubborn's voice when I hear it, and that was his voice. It appears you inherit more from him than you realize." he added.
"Farewell, Herr Maxwell. And good luck to you."
Team CTNE were teleported to the next room.
Swain shook his head. "I should have told Noah of what Firebrand was planning.. Well, it is too late for that now." he sighed to himself.
"Herr Maxwell will have to roll with the punches."
Firebrand stood smiling in the next room. "Don't worry, Noah. I have a plan." he remarked.
Noah stormed up to Firebrand and slapped him across the face.
"You fucking took over my body without my permission, you creepy motherfucker!" Noah roared.
Firebrand's voice darkened as he spoke.
"Considering the circumstances, I could be much worse. Right now, you're going to have to trust me, because I'm going to need to do it again in order to kill the Observer." he growled.
"You're lying."
"Have I lied to you before, Noah? Have I ever been anything other than a FUCKING GODSEND FOR YOU? It's not in my interest for me to lie to you. So, if you finally want Observer to stop tormenting us, I would suggest you play along with this."
Noah sighed.
"See, there it is. 'Your interest.' That's what scares me. Because every time you say that you're doing something for our own good, what I'm starting to hear is 'I'm doing something for my own good that will vaguely benefit you, Noah. Thank me.' And I get the feeling that's going to get somebody I love killed or maimed one day. Because I had to trust myself as a scary god-demon. So if you truly say you want to help, maybe make it so that I actually know what you're doing every time you take me over." Noah ranted.
Firebrand snapped.
He slammed Noah against the wall.
"EVERY MOTHERFUCKING TIME, NOAH! I'VE SAID IT, OVER AND OVER AGAIN: I DO THIS FOR YOUR OWN DAMN GOOD. BUT YOU NEVER SEEM TO LISTEN, DO YOU? DO YOU, YOU UNGRATEFUL FUCK? FUCK NO, YOU DON'T! YOU SEEM TO BELIEVE I'M OUT TO TRICK YOU JUST LIKE OBSERVER AND THE REST! I'VE SACRIFICED SO MUCH TO GET YOU HERE! I'VE HAD TO STEAL - WHERE THE FUCK DID YOU THINK I GOT THAT MONEY FROM - I'VE HAD TO LIE, I'VE HAD TO MURDER ON HABIT'S COMMAND… AND YOU. YOU MOTHERFUCKING STAND THERE AND SAY YOU'LL RATHER DIE BEFORE TRUSTING ME! SO, FOR MOTHERFUCKING ONCE, SHUT YOUR MOUTH AND FUCKING LISTEN TO ME."
Everyone fell silent, Noah and his companions included.
"Ok. I'll let you use my body again. Got off on the wrong foot, it appears." Noah whispered, finally giving in.
A smile grew on Firebrand's face again. "Off you go!" he said, pushing Noah and his friends to the exit.
This next room was a basement.
Cursor stood in the middle of the room, holding a gun. "I'm sorry, Noah. I really am."
Noah closed his eyes, breathing in.
"Tim. Please kill her for me. I can't fucking do it." was all Noah said. Tim nodded. With Masquerade in hand and Caught at his side with a forcefield, he marched towards Cursor and simply stabbed her in the gut.
Blood began to stain her white dress as she fell. "Noah.. Noah.. please end me. Please end my suffering." she coughed.
Noah turned away at first. But then he walked towards her, holding his glaive at her throat. She smiled preemptively. "Thank you-"
Noah slit her throat and walked out of the room.
He couldn't stand to look at her any more.
The next room they walked into was pitch black.
Suddenly attacks started hitting from all sides. The dark itself was fighting them.
Noah lit up his hands and made flames lick the floor.
The flames went up and Noah saw a skull mask in the shadows.
"EVAN! I SEE HIM!" he roared.
Evan struck at the skull masked figure. His dagger glowed red even in the dark.
The shadows receded. Tim had stabbed the figure at the same time.
The figure was on its knees, silent.
Then shadow and static burst forth from it in one last, horrifying death cry.
Noah and his friends ran out of the room.
Noah walked into the room - a starry void stretching far beyond the boundaries of a room - and saw standing there a familiar figure.
"You motherfucker." Noah hissed.
Standing there was Observer. "Noah, you've kept me waiting for FAR too long. It's time for a match, wouldn't you say?" he hissed.
Noah charged at Observer, flame pouring off his weapon as he leapt at Observer.
Observer smiled, pulling a void-black spear from the ethereal abyss and slashing at Noah.
The two were locked in a dance of blades, a sight to witness. The others could sense that this was Noah's fight, a fight for his pride and courage.
Noah's eyes were murderous. He was going to end this, killing Observer once and for all with or without Firebrand's help.
"You're putting up quite a fight, Noah! You really are a delight!" Observer remarked, smiling crazily.
Noah remembered all those he had lost.
Milo. Sarah.
They were not going to die in vain.
So Noah fought with monstrous intensity.
His vision blurred for a minute. But when it came back?
Observer had Evan at bladepoint.
He heard Firebrand in his head: You've done enough. I'm sorry, Noah. But you'll thank me later.
And Noah lost control.
He was devoured in a whirling maelstrom of flame.
But frenzied, feral laughter erupted from the flames.
Firebrand walked out, his hair slicked back and his grin deeply disturbing.
He strode up to Observer and kicked him down.
"Guess the fuck what, Observer? I'm BACK. And this time? You're going to pay for everything you've done to us. Both me and Noah. I'm going to rip you apart and set your bones aflame." Firebrand snarled, his grin absolutely sadistic as he loomed over Observer like a vengeful god.
"This is what you get. This is your pyre."
And Firebrand began to slash Observer apart with Noah's glaive.
Observer was screaming and screaming and screaming.
But Firebrand was just laughing darkly the whole time.
Then he stopped. The Observer was dead.
He stood over the Observer's corpse, his breathing heavy.
Evan took a step towards him.
"Noah? …"
Firebrand twisted Noah's neck around with a very audible snap and a murderous grin.
"Not Noah."
He strode up to Evan, putting a hand to Evan's face. "So you're Evan.. Noah's taken quite a fancy to you, you know."
Evan recoiled a little. Firebrand was still his friend and wife, just a little more… monstrous, right?
"Do you want to know how I know? Because I feel mostly everything Noah feels except fear. But amplified. He gets angry, I become consumed by unholy amounts of rage. He's happy, I explode with mania. You get the gist."
"So when I say he's taken a fancy to you, you can only guess what that means." Firebrand purred with a grin.
He'd backed Evan into a wall at this point, and it was not looking good.
But Noah came back just in time.
"Evan? What.. what did I do?" Noah said.
Evan stood, frozen in fear.
They left the room afterwards.
They stepped into a starry void even bigger than the last.
Standing, far at the horizon, was a familiar figure to them all.
It teleported to right in front of them, raising tentacles in anger.
The Slender Man.
Caught nodded at his companions. They all unsheathed their weapons.
And their battle began.
They'd exhausted all options. They laid on the ground, bloody and broken.
The HABIT intervened.
He pulled himself up in Evan's body, lifting up a knife.
He strode up to Firebrand, who was barely conscious at this point, and stuck a finger in one of his larger, bloodier gashes.
"BOTH OF YOU. DO YOU REMEMBER WHAT I TOLD YOU ABOUT SEVERANCE?" he growled, tracing the symbol on the knife in Firebrand's blood.
Everyone suddenly seemed to receive a rush of energy out from nowhere. Firebrand's eyes widened.
HABIT's smile was infectious. "YOU'RE GONNA WANT TO SEE THIS."
He turned to the Slenderman.
"COME AND GET ME, YOU SKINNY FUCK! TRY ME, BITCH!" he roared at it.
It teleported right in front of him, tentacles waving…
And HABIT did something thought impossible.
Team CTNE's eyes widened in shock.
HABIT had just stabbed the Slender Man.
Black blood splattered all over his face. The Slenderman actually screamed, vanishing in a burst of static.
"LET'S JUST SAY, THAT FUCKER'S NOT GONNA BE STALKIN ANYBODY FOR A LONG WHILE." HABIT boasted.
"How.. how the fuck did you do that?" Caught asked.
Something feral gleamed in HABIT's eyes. "I WAS PART OF THE COLLECTIVE ONCE. LEARNED THE FUCKER'S SECRET. YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW LONG I'VE BEEN WAITING TO DO THAT." HABIT smirked.
The black void around them faded away. Their energy had returned to them.
Alas, they were surrounded by Cinder and her entourage.
"...FUCK."
Author's Note: Again, pure badass.
Reviews bring good chapters such as this. This is the longest chapter in this fanfiction, at 2,270 words.
We're about to watch Rome burn.
:)