Soundtrack: Seven Nation Army - White Strings

THE TOUCH OF THE DARKNESS

They were there. They were finally there, and they were gonna feed the monster down in the cave. Drake was built up of utter and absolute fury at the sight of a hesitating Caine. Fucking idiot couldn't back out now! Didn't Caine have a single backbone? Didn't he have a single sense of knowledge inside of that self consumed mind of his?

He was in more pain now. His arm had lessened to a stinging numbness after enough blood had leaked for him not to be able to move his shoulder at all. Yet as soon as he was able to slow his heart rate even only by a couple of beats, was able to focus on something other then the pain, push it aside, he was attacked by Dekka, only resulting in him limping.

Worse then the pain was the thought of how goddamn vulnerable he must've looked with his bloody, torn shirt, his mangled arm, and his limping frame, moving forward in unsteady, slow movements.

'Caine... Don't,' Diana said, her voice pleading now. And besides her attempt at staying strong, carrying her well known confidence as armor, it was slowly shattering as Caine took another step toward the cave. But Dianas voice seemed to pull him back to sanity if only the slightest, and soon, he stopped dead in his tracks.

'Do it, Caine. Do it!' Drake hissed at him, flicking the safety off of his gun.

'Shut up, you psychopath!' Diana shouted in pure rage, the anger she for so lang had been bottling up, finally escaping, filing into the words she was now finally unraveling before Drake. 'I'm not gonna die just because you can't control your pathetic hormones! Ever since she left you, you've lost all sense that ever was left in your fucked up mind!'

Drake didn't let her continue any further. Before anyone was able to react, he spun on his heel, bringing his clenched fist upwards connecting with her jaw. His left hand was far from as fierce and accurate as his right one, yet his swift punch was one that most people would be envious of. And the gun he held in hand most definitely wasn't a misfortune when it came to the damage of the blow.

Before the signals of pain broke through the shock and reached her brain, Drake was onto her in one rapid movement sending her staggering backwards from the impact of him on top of her. He threw himself onto her like a wild animal, bringing both of them to the ground. They fell as one off the edge of the platform they were standing on and landed ruffly on the ground multiple yards beneath of where Caine was standing frozen to the ground, eyes wide and jaw hanging loose in an air of astonishment.

Drakes fall was cushioned thanks to the body beneath his own.

Diana on the other hand was slashed across her narrow back from the sharp stones, her head hitting the jutting point of one of the rocks in such a swift movement it knocked her out immediately. Drake sitting on top of her with one leg on each side of her waist, his left hand pinning her shoulder to the ground - not that there was any need to, she had already fainted from the stone to her skull. His right hand was holding his loaded semi-automatic pistol pointed at her head.

His eyes were electrifying. Not a single bit of hesitance in them, other then the remorse that he had to do this now. He would've waited the few hours it would take for her to wake up again - if she ever would wake up - and then torture her slowly until she died from blood loss. Sadly, Caine was at his back and if he did not pull the trigger now, he would be killed.

But at the moment he pulled the trigger, he felt himself unable to do so as he was frown backwards taking two summersaults and crashing into Jack, who kept yelling about the fuel rod which had cracked, yet left completely forgotten in the middle of this duel.

Both of them landing in a heap on the ground, meters away from Caine. Too far away form Caine, yet not far enough away for him to use his gun.

The gun shots weren't as accurate as his stuck up mind had imagined. His arm was shaking out of exhaustion, pain and adrenaline. His eyes were having trouble focusing clearly on his previous ally, standing with his arms raised, shamefully close and he knew that the radiation was also to blame for his current condition.

Without being in his right mind, his gun had been blasted out of his hand, leaving his palm unnaturally warm. When Sam erupted from behind a boulder, all he could do was stare in shock and awe at how the boy had gotten back.

Stiff and damaged badly, he watched as Caine pushed Sam and Quinn away with his invisible forces, before turning his full attention back at Drake.

'Caine,' he started, he wanted to sound warning, yet it came out more pleading then anyone could've expected. 'you don't want to do this!'

Hungry in the dark...

And Caine must have heard it as well, because he mumbled the words 'I am no ones slave, you monster! This will be the last time I obey you.' and with that, the fuel rod was thrown in his direction. A spear thrown so precisely it would hit him straight through his chest, killing him instantly.

Drake wasn't able to run since he was held in place by Caines telekinetic power, just like every time he disobeyed. Just like the time they returned to Coates, and that time when Lana came after him. Would she this time as well? He couldn't see her anywhere. He was able to turn enough to one side so that the fuel rod hit his shoulder instead, but the impact sent both of them flying backwards into the cave.

He had landed onto his back once again and he was struggling with moving when he felt himself being sucked out of the cave again. This time, loose rocks, support beams and what looked like another body was pulled out with him.

As he was dragged out my the invisible force, he struggled and said just about every swear word he had ever learnt. But as soon as he had exited the cave he was still swaying midair, Caine holding him with his power, raising his hands backward. Drakes looked at him expectantly. And for a brief second, the eyes of the previous allies locked. Caine had a murderous glare in his eyes, one that used to be bottled up due to his charismatic attitude.

Drake was weakening. He was badly hurt and he could feel the last of his energy being sucked out of himself due to the lack of sleep and food through the previous day, but a part of him slowly realized that the radiation was devouring his insides then and there, eating him alive.

Through that second they shared eye contact, he made sure that all the energy he had restored was now spent on the most seductive sharkgrin he had given. With blood running down one side of his head, his hair even more shaggy and messy then usual, clothes covered with dirt and holes, his arms covered with slashes and scraps, he truly was a frightening sight with his ecstatic eyes and white canine teeth. Surely this will taunt him in his sleep... Drake thought to himself.

Even with his drained strength, his final expression gave him strength enough not to quiver as Caine returned a smirk. He felt a pit gathering in is stomach as Caines hands shot forwards and for his final time; Drake tumbled backwards into the cave, stones, metal, wood following tag behind him.

He screamed in the process, he couldn't help it. And he hated himself for doing so. Because this was what they'd remember him by. Not by his sadistic tendency that would by traumatizing to some. Not by how he was always the willing one. The one who did everything without hesitance.

No, he'd be remembered by how weak he was in his last moment.

The previous fall of his had hurt, yet this one was unbearable. He landed on his side, rolling down the steep hill of the mineshaft multiple rounds before he finally slowed down. And when he did slow down, a stone rolled down from behind and hit him in the back of his skull. Luckily not hard enough to knock hi out, yet enough to make him utterly dizzy. If it hadn't been for the fact that they hadn't had anything to eat at the Power Plant, he would've puked.

The fuel rod, he remembered. And for the first time, he was suddenly terrified. Because there hadn't been a spear thrown at him. Tons of steel and lead and uranium.

He wasn't able to get onto his feet, though he did drag himself across the ground. But not back up were Caine was. Downwards. That was were he was going. Down into the darkness to reunite with the Darkness.

Lana wasn't fully able to process her circumstances. She was still having a hard time figuring out the exact moment the Darkness had taken its full possession of her. When she had lost her sanity. When she had lost her control. When she lost her ability to think clearly, function sufficiently.

But even with every sense and emotion under control by a dark force that was not her own, she was still able to acknowledge the presence of the weak frame coming closer, crawling - no, dragging - themselves across the ground, shoulders hunched over, head lowered. Lana could tell that it was a boy - a suffering boy - from the sound of his ragged breath, and somehow she was able to tell who it was by the way he swore almost casually, with his malevolence still filling every word.

It wasn't until he was only within reach that she pulled herself together and admitted to herself that it could be no one but him. Yet she longed for proof, but before she was able to get the confirmation, his left arm trembled and he crumbled to the ground, lying there like a rag doll tossed away after many years of rough treatment.

His slender form shivered from the impact of his body against the stones of the shaft, the coldness of the darkness. She hadn't caught him, simply watched as he fell to the ground. Had he expected anything else? How could he?

After everything he had done to Sam, to those defenseless prees, to those innocently mutated Coates kids, to her. Yet she had healed him once before. She had known what he was capable of then, the memories of the damage he could create even fresher in her mind, when the relationship between the two of them was nothing but a name connected to a face.

Yet she had healed him.

So why not now?

She sighed.

What did she have to loose anyways?

She lowered herself until her knees where bent almost painfully, wiggling slightly as she kept her balance by bouncing lightly on her toeballs. Her head was hunched forward to get a better look at his wounds.

His left hand reached out to her, his blood soaked fingers cupping her cheek in such a soft manner it was impossible to believe anyone could possibly be capable of it, nonetheless him. But she just denied his touch my slapping his hand away with her own, making a shooing sound as if he was only a cat who had ruined the curtains.

The gentle expression of his face faded almost immediately, and his gaze grew cold and intimidating. But Lana had the upper hand and they both knew it, so he leant back on the compact ground, ignoring the stinging pain of the sharp rocks against the back of his skull and the uranium surging through his veins in waves of magnifying shivers.

It wasn't until then that he noticed the pain in his elbow was gone. After the first hour, it had become an unbearable numbness, and at first he thought it had reached the point where his arm was completely paralyzed by the blood loss, before he realized that Lana was healing him.

Lana, who had been through nothing less then misery, abused by him whenever he needed the amusement of tormenting the one person that had possessed his true affections.

For the first time in, well, ever, he felt the slightest bit of... what? Regret? Guilt? Remorse? He would've laughed, hadn't it been for the uranium sucking the power out of him. She was healing that as well. In the process of fixing up his arm, she was sucking part of the venom out of his body, decreasing the chance of any more damage occurring to his already disheveled body.

In a sudden motion, she let go of his elbow and stood.

His eyes met hers as their size increased dramatically and for a brief second he could see the shock flowing through her, before she bottled it up, isolating it beneath layers upon layers of nothing. She shook her head slowly, constantly, insistingly, as if she was silently arguing with her mind, denying her own thoughts from surfacing.

'Goodbye Drake.' she said in a low whisper before she stalked off in the direction of the exit.

He got up, a sudden rush of energy developing on the little spark of adrenaline that she ignite to form whenever she was around him. His right arm reached out, before he mentally slapped himself because he no longer had a right hand. That was when he was caught off guard by the tail of a red python slithering around her waist. In the moment, he didn't bother noticing his newly replaced arm, only the fact that they were mere inches apart, facing each other, his "hand" on her hip, her breath hot on his lips.

'Goodbye.' he muttered, yet not letting go of her. His voice was hoarse though he didn't bother thinking about it as he leant down towards her. She was frozen in track at first, standing completely still with her eyes wide open, before she gave away to the overwhelming familiarity of his somewhat welcoming lips.

The kiss was calm and passionate, much like the one they had shared before the battle of Perdido Beach and as it lasted, neither could help but expose their true emotions if only for a second, smiles forming on each others lips as they were still pressed against each other.

Drake hadn't actually noticed quite how close she had gotten up until the moment she pulled away. Her hands were both behind his neck, her fingers casually brushing up and down in a calming fashion, gradually depriving him of the uranium which was slowly ceasing into his brain.

She smiled halfheartedly before she pulled away completely, both missing the others chilling heat, yet neither attempted stopping her from retreating in the direction of the closed exit of the cave.

Drake was still awestruck by having seen her again. After all this time, there she was; touching him, healing him, kissing him, as if nothing had happened. As if they were just some other teenagers who were making out with their high school love.

It wasn't that simple.

She'd left him, denying the slightest affection towards him as if it didn't matter that she was retreating from the cave again and he wasn't coming along.

Caines damage on the entrance would make it impossible to get out, yet he didn't doubt that she'd manage it, and that they wouldn't see each other for a long time.

Come to me...

He took a deep breath.

Come to me...

'I'm coming, you sick monster. I'm coming for you.'

Thanks to Kyle3698, Just Annie, AncientSTORM, Kei-Kat and Rhya for your wonderful reviews, you all made me so incredibly happy. Keep up with the sweet commenting and I'll work on updating quicker besides returning to school in a week...

And I realized that I have some extreme gone fans here that knows every word of the gone series by heart *cough* Just Devil *cough*, so I'm afraid that if you're like her you're getting your hopes up about the story being very different and you maybe just might be satisfied with the twelfth chapter :P

Anyways, hope you enjoyed and PLEEEEEASE leave a review! If you've got an account I'll send you a long and nice reply :3