A-Plus Cassiopeia: Well, he sure tried.
BookMast3r: Ah, comparing this to LOTR, as usual. Well, as for Mirror Isabella, let's just see what happens next.
For what seemed like an eternity, everything was silent. Nobody moved at all; they all stared, rigid, at the tar pit, which had ceased moving. It looked as if nothing had ever been inside it.
The only movement was from Janet, who trembled slightly, the mirror limply in her hand. She was crouched on her knees, only a mere inch from the pit, and looked as if she might dive in to rescue Sam herself.
A few feet away, Mirror Isabella stood silently and let a few crystalline tears stream out of her eyes and down her cheeks. They dropped onto the ground around her feet and turned to ice. Isabella herself was hugging herself tightly, her eyes shut.
David's mouth hung open, his eyes wide in disbelief, trying to desperately think of some way Sam could have survived. However, hadn't they all seen Sam get sucked under the tar pit, which minutes before had also claimed the life of one of the wolves? Turning towards his sister, David would've tried to comfort her, had he not been on the verge of tears as well.
For some time, the only sounds were Mirror Isabella's soft crying, echoing out into the night. Nobody dared try to empathize with her, for fear she would turn to violence.
That was when Janet saw it. A small, two inch wide, vortex of air, swirling dimly over the tar pit. Then, it began to widen in mass and brighten in illumination, slowly catching the eyes of everyone present. One-by-one, everyone saw the vortex as it began to expand from the tar pit, which was swirling itself as a result of the vertical flow.
Mirror Isabella was the last to see it, and her eyes brightened up as she saw a glimmer of hope.
As everyone watched on, the vortex imploded and, in a burst of crystalline, soared through the tar pit. Then, in front of their eyes, the tar pit was completely frozen in pure, transparent ice.
Just as that happened, all the mirror people from the party, Mirror Samson included, arrived in the forest, clearly having been lured in by the battle that had raged on minutes before.
"What's going on here?" Ophelia asked. Janet pointed at the tar pit, and everyone crowded around it. There, everyone saw Sam, frozen in the middle of the tar pit. Below him was the deceased body of the wolf. His eyes were closed, as if he were unconscious or dead.
"It's him," Janet whispered, and a smile began to form.
Sam's hands were above his head, and as everyone continued to watch on, fire began to form from his palms. It rocketed upwards, bursting out above the surface and breaking through the ice. Everyone jumped away as ice and crystalline clattered to the ground.
Sam burst out from the tar pit and landed on the ground, inches away from the frozen tar pit. He was worn out and breathing heavily, and sweat was pouring from his forehead.
"Sam, you're alive!" Janet shouted in joy. She practically tackled Sam in a hug, both of them rolling over each other on the ground. The next person to join the hug was David himself, not bothering to hide his glee.
Isabella smiled, her eyes glimmering in happiness. "You did it," She said. "You saved yourself."
Amanda raced over and joined Sam, Janet and David in their hug, and Isabella soon followed. Inches away, Mirror Isabella watched on, conflicted. She saw the mirror, lying on the ground where Janet had dropped it, and picked it up.
She turned around and saw eyes on her, especially from Mirror Ophelia and mirror Pandora. Kizzy and Lizzy were within the crowd, watching her silently.
By now, the group had stopped hugging and turned to face Mirror Isabella, now realizing she had the mirror. Mirror Isabella stared back at them, and her eyes met with Janet's.
Then, without a moment's hesitation, Mirror Isabella dipped her hand into the surface of the mirror.
"Ow, ow, you're hurting me!" Brenda whined as Amanda tried to bandage her wounds. It had been an hour after the city had been released, and the group had all remained in the Mirror dimension, specifically to tend to some of the injured, especially Sam and Brenda.
Currently, the two were lying in two separate beds in Sam's room, Amanda tending to both of them. Several people, mirror people or Earth-dimension alike, had joined them in the room.
"You're lucky you survived that lightning blast," Amanda reminded her. "That would've killed most people your age. Now lie down and let me help you." Brenda rolled her eyes, but complied and lied down.
Amanda finished bandaging Brenda and went over to Sam, who was lying on his bed next to Brenda. Janet was sitting on the bed with him.
Inspecting the wound on his side, Amanda said, "That's just like my injury." She briefly turned down to her abdomen, where the scar remained. "But you'll recover, and I know that from experience."
"Thanks, Amanda," Sam said, forcing a smile, still in pain from the battle that had taken place an hour before.
"No, thank you," Amanda said, smiling. "I wouldn't be alive if it hadn't been for you."
Isabella appeared in the room, wringing her arms as she stared at Amanda awkwardly. Amanda felt Isabella's presence and saw her in the room. Her expression wasn't like it usually was; rather than smug and irritable, she looked confused and guilty. Her expression made her look younger than Amanda.
"Um, Amanda, can I talk to you," She asked, nudging her head after her. Amanda stared at her, uncertain, but eventually got up from the bed and followed her.
The two walked out of the room and into the hallway. For a moment, the two said nothing, only staring off into space.
Eventually, Isabella broke the silence. "Amanda, I know you may not want to see me," She said, almost reading her thoughts perfectly. "But, I want you to know, I'm thankful that you're here right now."
Amanda's eyes widened in surprise. Ever since she'd known Isabella, the older girl had shown nothing but disdain for her.
"When you were friends with Sam, I thought that you would turn him from me, and I hated you," She admitted, and a few tears began to slip out. "But when I thought you died, I hated myself ten times as much. I didn't know if I would ever forgive myself. I don't think I'm worthy of forgiveness."
Amanda was silent throughout all of this. In her times as the nurse's assistant, she'd managed to tell if people were lying through their facial expressions. But she knew Isabella was genuine.
"I know I'm not worth it, but I just want to say that I'm sorry for what happened at that orphanage," She said, as tears poured from her eyes. As she said those words, she felt a force pressed against her. She opened her eyes to see Amanda hugging her tightly, tears streaming from her own eyes.
"You-you're hugging me?" Isabella asked in disbelief. "After what I did to you?"
Amanda broke out of her hug. "When I talked to Mirror Isabella, I meant every word," She said, smiling softly. "And it applies to you as well, You don't have to be alone."
Isabella smiled as joyful tears sprang from her eyes, and the two girls embraced each other again.
"You think you can walk?" Janet asked Sam as he began to get up fro the bed.
"It's a nasty injury, but I can take it," Sam reassured her. At that moment, Mirror Isabella appeared in the room. Her hands were encased on some sort of crystalline, and an adult mirror person was following her close behind.
Janet froze a bit, but she stood her ground, standing next to Sam.
"Look, Sam, I'm sorry for what happened to you," Mirror Isabella said, gesturing to the cut on Sam's side.
"I'm not the one you need to feel sorry for," Sam said, not raising his voice. "Mirror Isabella, for years, I've always looked up to you, and I've always tried to ignore what you've done. But you hurt a lot of people today, and a sorry isn't going to fix that."
Mirror Isabella's face fell at this, and her shoulders slumped.
"Look, you need to get some help," Sam said, putting a hand on her shoulder. "You can't just ignore all of this."
"That's the thing, Sam," Mirror Isabella said, on the verge of tears. "You see that man over there?" She gestured to the man behind her.
Sam nodded, confused.
"Look, I'm going to be...away for some time," Mirror Isabella confessed. "He's taking me to a psychiatric hospital, so they can cure my personality disorder." She let some tears stream down her cheeks.
Sam was struck hard. He hadn't thought that would happen. In spite of what she'd done, he couldn't think of parting with her, even if it was only temporary.
"When will you be back?" Sam asked.
"I don't know," Mirror Isabella said. "But I'll come visit, and when my other personality submerges, I'll come back to stay." She gave a hopeful smile.
The man grabbed Mirror Isabella by the arm and led her out of the room, leaving Sam and Janet. Janet put her hand on Sam's shoulder.
"Sam, you can't leave that mirror out in the forest," She said to him. "You don't have to stay there. We can take the mirror into the city, into our house. You can live with us."
Sam's eyes brightened up, and he turned to Janet.
"What do you say?" Janet asked for some clarification.
Sam said nothing; instead, he smiled warmly.
Okay, only two chapters left.