Chapter Eight:

Protector

It had been raining for a good half an hour. I limped through the streets, my eyesight blurry, my breath raspy, and my blood pouring from my wounds. I hadn't even reached for my nodachi, seeing as there was no reason to, but knowing it was there helped me.

My cell phone had been lost. It had been shot, and gone through it into me. Cole couldn't contact me, or I him.

I coughed up some blood and fell to the ground. I was out of Flood Town, but I wasn't sure of anything other than that. I held my left shoulder, tightening my grip as if I could squeeze the pain away.

It didn't take long for me to fall… again. I forced myself up, trying to ignore the pain by gritting my teeth. I needed help, but where could I go? Who could I trust? I didn't even know where I was!

I saw a house at the end of the street, facing me with the lights on. I just stared at it for the longest time before I headed towards it. I saw shadows inside, moving around like they didn't have a care in the world, and I was just about to shatter that.

I'll apologize later. I need help! I pushed onward, forcing my aching and bullet-ridden body to move. Every step was a little piece of agony until I reached the door.

I raised my right arm, ready to knock on the door, but hesitated. I squeezed my eyes shut, wondering if I was really making the right choice by knocking on a stranger's door. Without warning, I started swaying, and fell into the door, knocking it with my head. My eyes closed just as the door was opened, and I collapsed into their house, my body half in, half out of it.

I don't even know how long I was out. All I knew was that I had been freezing for one second, and warm the next. I would sometimes try to move, try to get away from whatever was around me, but I was always unsuccessful.

I was being haunted by dreams. Memories, really. First of Alden, and how I'd tortured him, then Sasha, and how I'd wanted to torture her, and then it went into the memories that existed in the far reaches of my mind.

I saw Kessler, hood down, a little older than Cole, but not so old that it was apparent. I could almost feel the pain of my blood being drained from my body, as it was replaced by some sort of red liquid similar to how blood was, but it looked more like magma. I saw Kessler a few times, jumping in-between times from when he looked young, to when he looked old, and felt that hate of him boiling inside of me every time I saw that superior smirk on his face. It was vivid, yet foggy. I couldn't keep up.

And then I saw me, but I looked different. Firstly, my colour scheme was totally opposite. Where there was supposed to be black on my clothes, there was white, and vice-versa. She had midnight-black hair, the same colour as her eyes, and Kessler's superior smirk. She held out her palm, and black fire erupted from it. I saw her—me, toss the fireball at a building and laugh as it fell, crumbling into dust and killing all inside, or around it. Finally, Kessler came into my head once more, flickering in-between the image of who I knew Kessler to be, white hood, metal hand and all, and Cole MacGrath, as he appeared in New Marias.

"You're the Vessel," they said at the same time. "You're the Vessel, Kayce. You will bring destruction to the world, and put the Beast to shame by doing so."

"No!" I tried to run, but I was rooted to the spot.

Kessler and Cole separated. Cole grabbed one of my arms, and Kessler the other, and they started to pull me apart. I screamed as loudly as I could, but that didn't stop them.

"Cole!" I yelled. "Cole, stop! Please!"

He didn't listen. Finally, it felt as if I'd been ripped in half, which it seemed as I looked at Kessler, who was holding the black-eyed, smirking version of me. I gasped, trying to get air into my system, but felt nothing.

"I'm going to take New Marias for myself," she said. "And I'm going to show these pathetic humans the reason that they should fear us! I'll show them what the real definition of 'monster' is! And your precious Cole will bow at my feet, or die!"

"No!" Why couldn't I move? I needed to stop her! But…

My heart suddenly skipped a few times. "Joan!" I heard my name being called. "Joan!" I sucked in another breath, and suddenly, everything became black.

I gasped and sat up, my eyes wild from fear. I could feel the sweat on my forehead from the dream. And then I felt the pain of my wounds, and laid back down. I looked to my side and saw someone I didn't really expect to see.

"L-Lance?" I exclaimed as best I could (my voice was weak).

He waved lamely. "Hey, Joan."

I put my hands on my face, covering it. "Ugh… What the hell am I doing here…?"

"You kinda collapsed inside," he said matter-of-factly. "Do you get shot often, or somethin'?"

I groaned automatically. "Sometimes. I don't even know how the hell I got here! I barely even glanced at the piece of paper you gave me!"

I heard a knock on the door, and guess who came in?

Who else but Helen?

"You're up?" she asked, holding a tray in her hands.

I looked from Lance to Helen. "Oh God. Don't tell me…"

"She's my mom," Lance said, stating my worst fears.

I think I froze in place. I couldn't find any words for a solid minute.

"I brought some soup, in case you were hungry," Helen said, holding the tray up a bit higher.

I hung my head. "I'm sorry for troubling you with my wounds again, Ms. Grey."

"It's no problem. I'm a doctor, remember?" She smiled and placed the tray on the bedside table. "You've been out for several days, almost a week. I managed to get those bullets out of you, but you'd lost a lot of blood, and your heart was starting to stop, so I had to put adrenaline into your heart until I got back from my clinic with Cole's blood."

"Adrenaline?"

She nodded. "That's a last resort, but I decided it needed to be done."

Lance frowned. "You were having nightmares the entire time you were asleep. You kept saying weird things…"

"What'd I say?" I asked, almost too quickly.

Lance ignored it. "You kept saying stuff like, 'Cole', or 'I'm not Kayce', and 'Kessler'. One time, you even said, 'I won't let you kill them!'. It was pretty strange."

I gripped the sheets tightly. "Oh? Really, huh?"

"Are you okay, Joan?" Lance prodded. "If you need to talk, I'm here."

I felt my face become hot, and I wondered if it was on fire, but there wasn't really a reaction from the two in the room.

"I-I don't really—."

"You at least owe us an explanation, Joan," Lance continued.

"Lance…" Helen murmured.

He ignored her. "Joan, I can tell that something was bothering you. Please, tell me!"

"I can't…"

Lance was getting ready to say something else when someone else came to the door, panting and looking like he hadn't slept in days.

Cole.

"Joan…" He came over to the bed and sat on it, hugging me tightly. "Oh God, Joan…"

I cringed at the pain, but hugged back. Cole noticed and released me, his eyes full of the concern I was so used to seeing.

"I wish I could heal you," he said.

"I wish you could too, but it ain't gonna happen." I remembered that Cole had once tried to heal Alec, but hurt Alec instead of helping him. We decided it'd be best if he didn't heal any one of us. Conduits, I mean.

"Helen called me and told me where you were," he explained. "She told me that you'd been out for a few days, and since I wasn't listed in the phonebook it was hard to reach me, but she got a hold of me a few minutes ago." He took a breath. "I tried to look for you. Lucy was in trouble, so I had to help her first, but I couldn't find you after. You didn't answer your cell, and I just…"

I squeezed his shoulder. "I'm all right, Cole. Seriously though, Lucy's gotcha whipped. You were caring before, but man! Now its like you're gonna cry!"

"I'm not gonna cry, you stupid walking lighter."

"Sure, light bulb. Sure."

He chuckled. Lance looked at us two and tilted his head.

"You know Cole MacGrath?" he asked me.

I turned to him and nodded. "Yeah. Long story, but we're good friends."

"Good friends, or good friends?" he asked, adding the emphasis.

I glared at him. "Just friends, Lance. Seriously."

Was it just me, or did he look kinda relieved…? "Oh. Well, that's still cool. Cole MacGrath, chillin' in my house!"

Cole looked at Lance. "Are you the friend who went to the concert with Joan?"

Lance nodded. "Yep."

"She's the one who helped you with those thugs?" Helen exclaimed.

"Thugs? Joan…" Cole's head slowly turned to me, the frown apparent on his face.

"It was no biggy! Really!" I said, holding my hands up in defence. "It was unavoidable!"

Cole sighed. "Fine. Just as long as you're safe."

I smiled and playfully punched his arm. "Hey, I've been back from the dead once. Who's to say I can't do it a second time?" I whispered so only he could hear.

"That's what I'm afraid of," he whispered back, and then he let his voice return to its normal volume. "Well, you'd better eat. Helen, do you want me to move her after she's done? I don't want us to be imposing…"

"It's not imposing at all! Really!" Helen smiled playfully. "It's nice to see Lance doing something other than sulking all day. Now he always comes to sit by Joan, and plays music in here."

"Really?" Cole and I both exclaimed.

Lance looked at the ground, finding a sudden interest in his socks. "Sometimes…" he said, his face turning a bit pink.

My face suddenly started to get hot again. Ugh! I hate this feeling! Can't it just go away?

"Well, I need her to be safe while she recovers," Cole said, getting off of the bed and standing by Helen. "If she goes home, she'll try her best to get outta there and wander. Keep her in here, and force her to get better if you need to."

"Oh, don't worry. I'll make sure she does," Helen assured him. "Go and save the world. I've got this."

Cole nodded, and glanced at me one last time. "You get better, Joan. Don't make me suck the juice out of your T.V. again."

"Touch my T.V. and die, you stupid, over-sized light bulb!" I snapped, and then cringed again.

"Don't overreact! You'll get hurt!" Lance warned, holding his hands up as if trying to figure out how to touch me without me punching him in the face. "Just eat something, 'kay?"

Cole left, smiling. I frowned. "Okay," I agreed. "Just touch me and die."

I saw Helen smile as she left the room as well. What is it with them? Smiling like that? I wondered. They must be on ecstasy or somethin'.