Here we go: Chapter Fifteen.

Hope you enjoy this. It's gonna be pretty short, but only because I can't think of many good things to put in it.

Enjoy.

Chapter Fifteen: A New Hope

Ned was on his back, lying on his bed, staring up at the ceiling, wondering what Ren was probably wondering as well:

What the hell is going on with me?

He held out his hand. Almost instantly, the blade reappeared, materializing out of nowhere. He was used to it by now. At first, he tried to hide it, but it kept coming out. Now he could take it out and put it away almost at will.

Though he didn't think Ren thought it cool. After the beating of the three cronies and then the studying of the weapon, she all of a sudden said she needed to get home and took off without so much as a good-bye.

Either not impressed or just really creeped out.

Hopefully, tomorrow would be better.

Though he doubted it would.

-----

"Hey, have any of you guys seen Ren?" Ned asked a couple of girls who were fixing their make-up at their lockers.

"Who?" one girl asked.

"Ren," he said slowly, "tall girl, brown hair, really quiet?"

"That girl? She just left," the other girl nodded in the direction she had taken off.

"Thanks," he hurried off in the direction they had pointed him in.

About a hallway and a half later, he found her. With her over-stuffed backpack and her arms full of school books. He ran up to catch her, not hard, seeing as how he had long legs and everything.

"Hey," he grabbed her arm, "Where've you been? I left you, like, fifty messages last night."

"Yeah, I was really busy," she answered, not looking at him, "Doing homework."

Ned scoffed. "Homework? You never do your homework at home. Not since second grade."

"Yeah, well, I figured now was a good time to re-start the habit," she sped up her pace, still not so much as breathing on him. He kept up with her perfectly.

"Hey, talk to me. What's going on?" he asked.

"'What's going on?!'" she finally whirled around to face him, suddenly confrontational, "'what's going on?' You're what's going on!"

"What?"

"How do you think I feel when my best friend wakes up and all of a sudden he can summon this sword-thingy out of nowhere and acts like something out of a Mark Hamill movie?"

"Ren, come on-"

"I mean, seriously, am I supposed to just pretend that nothing's wrong? That it's all OK? That it's all normal?"

"I don't know what's going on!" Ned was getting red in the face, "I have no idea what's happening to me, alright?! What the hell, I thought you were my friend! Where the hell is a little compassion, some sympathy, hell, maybe even a little understanding?"

"Oh, I understand all right. All I do is freaking understand!"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Forget it," she pushed past him.

"REN!" He shouted after her.

She turned and walked backwards as she threw back her last bit.

"I've been waiting for you to come back, and now… I don't even think I know you anymore. And I'm not too sure I want to."

And she turned and threw no glances back.

-----

"Hey, man."

Ned looked up as Corey sat down opposite him.

"Dude, not now," he said sternly, looking back down at his water bottle, "I'm not in the mood."

"Yeah, I figured," Corey scratched the back of his head, "I just ran into Ren and she gave me a look of a thousand deaths. So automatically, I came here."

"Cause, obviously, it has to be my fault, right?"

"Pretty much, yeah."

Now Ned gave him a look of a thousand deaths. Corey just smiled.

"Naw, with Ren, it's intimidating. With you, it's just sad."

"Gee, and why am I sad today, man?"

"Because you just get out of a coma, and you've already managed to screw up royally. That has to be some sort of record."

"Bite me, alright?"

Ned placed his head on the table and groaned. Corey, suddenly, got pretty serious.

"Listen, Ned; she called me last night. Told me about the after-school thing."

"Oh great," Ned looked back up, "And I bet the Sword of 1000 Truths came up too."

"Somewhere in the jumbled crying mess, it did."

Ned's anger quickly evaporated. "S-She was crying?"

"Naw, I just threw that in there for dramatic effect. Hey!" For his friend had tried to stab him with a plastic knife right then.

"So, what? You gonna tell me I'm a freak too?"

"Naw, actually…" Corey looked left, then right, then figured it was safe, so he leaned in and whispered, "Can I see it?"

-----

Ned extended his hand. Almost instantly, the blade materialized in his hand. Corey whistled.

"Hot damn, that's gorgeous," he said.

"It's pretty cool," Ned agreed, "Though I only wish I knew where it came from."

"Well, maybe it got triggered in your coma," Corey explained as he examined the blade from all angles, "Y'know, a subconscious psychological thing."

"But why me? And why this thing?"

"Well… Ned, what exactly happened?"

Ned frowned. "What do you mean?"

"The day you disappeared, it got everyone freaked out… what happened?"

Ned sighed. He sat down on the sidewalk and ran his fingers through his hair, desperately trying to remember. Corey sat down next to him as he began re-telling his tale.

"I was walking home from the drug store… I had just bought the latest FMA manga, and I couldn't wait to get home and read it…" he gulped, "All of a sudden, I had turned into this back-alley I used as a shortcut… and these little black shadowy things just… came out of nowhere. I tried to fight them off, I used some of those tae kwon doe techniques Ren taught me… but nothing worked, it was like I was hitting thin air. Then they jumped me and…and…"

He stopped for a second. Corey pressed harder.

"Then what?" he asked.

"…Darkness," his expression, as well as his voice, changed tone, "I was surrounded by darkness, it extended forever. Seemed like it, anyway. And… I ran. I ran and I ran, I tried to escape it… I thought I never would…"

"But you did," said Corey, "Otherwise you wouldn't be sitting here."

Ned snorted.

"And what good did it do me? All I got was Ren pissed, a key-blade that comes to me out of nowhere, and this white floating creature thing beckoning to me to go to it-"

"Wait, wait, wait, back up- what white floating thing?"

Ned went into detail of the thing that appeared to him in the hospital and outside the classroom.

"It seems to want me to follow it or something. What do I do?"

This was an example of why Corey was useful. His mind worked great under pressure. Right now, Ned could almost here the gears in his head churning, thinking. Finally, he grinned.

"So follow it."

Not what Ned was expecting. "What?!"

"Tomorrow, you and me, we'll find it. We'll follow it to wherever the hell it wants us to go. And we'll find out what it wants."

"Are you serious?"

"As serious as Ren never doing her homework at home. It's foolproof. Whaddya say?"

Ned gave it a little thought. Actually, a lot. The prospect of hunting down the creature that seemed to be stalking him, haunting him, wasn't appealing. He certainly didn't envy it. But this might be his only chance. Tomorrow was Saturday, so he could go and not be in trouble for skipping school. And Corey would go with him. Everything would be alright with him around.

"Alright," he finally agreed, "Why not? What's the worst that could happen?"

If only he had known the series of events that would transpire as of tomorrow…

Yeah, I end it here.

Hope you enjoy it! I'll hopefully have the next one up tomorrow, if not, after Christmas.

Review please!