Well, if you hadn't figured out why Gar felt "pain" in the last chapter, here's your answer. Unless you hate every character, you'll hate me for doing this. Sorry.

Raven screamed. Malchior had pulled the trigger, and she watched, helpless, as the golden bullet sped towards Gar. He turned, looking for the source of her voice, just in time. The bullet struck him in the back, almost exactly where his heart had been if he had been facing the other way.

"Gar!" Raven screamed. Malchior had turned on her with the gun, but she didn't care. With every ounce of anger and strength in her, she punched him in the face. Not waiting for a reaction, she yelled, "Jinx, let's go!"

Jinx popped out from under the bed and the two friends took off running. She grabbed Jinx's hand, and dragged her towards Malchior's bedroom door. They

ran out and towards the entrance door, hoping they would reach it before Malchior would recover from his recent head injury.

Raven hastily clicked the lock open, and Jinx pulled the door open. They slammed it shut together and rushed out into the hallway.

"We'll have to take the stairs," Raven said breathlessly, still unable to believe what had just happened. "The elevator will take too long." She and Jinx, still hand in hand, dashed down the hallway and slammed themselves against the door that connected to the staircase. Then, both tripping on every other step, they raced down the stairs and to the exit.

They came out onto a sight that nobody would ever forget.

Gar was lying on the pavement, face down, with everyone standing over him except Toni, who was holding his head off the ground so he could breathe. Angela was standing apart from the group, talking frantically into her cell phone, having no doubt called 9-1-1. Her eyes were wide and unblinking, and when she caught sight of the two girls running out of the building, she let out a strangled yell.

"Raven!"

But Raven ran past her mother's open arms. With Jinx still clinging onto her hand, she pushed between Garth and Kori to enter the circle that had gathered around Gar. Toni looked away from Gar's face and met Raven's eyes.

"Oh my God," Raven could hardly breathe as her eyes traveled from Toni's tear-stained face and onto Gar's back.

The bullet had lodged itself just below Gar's left shoulder blade. His shirt was now stained with blood, and more was still seeping out of the wound. Raven let her eyes travel onto his face, which was barely visible. His eyes were half-closed, and she could not tell if he was breathing.

"Is he…?" she trailed away, too scared to voice the question she had to know the answer to. Jinx let go of her hand, and she sank to her knees, tears flowing down her face. She looked at Toni for an answer, but Toni seemed unable to speak.

"No," Wally answered the question hoarsely. Raven turned to look up at him. "But he will be if an ambulance doesn't come soon."

Biting her lip, Raven turned back to Gar. Toni wordlessly turned over the job of holding Gar's head to Raven, and she gently propped his head up onto her lap, as Toni had done. This movement seemed to shake Gar out of whatever state he was in, and he blinked at looked up at her.

"Raven?" his voice was weak, barely more than a whisper.

"Don't try to talk," Raven said encouragingly, though her tears were still falling. "Just relax. We're getting you help."

"Promise to stay with me," Gar seemed to be straining to stay conscious.

"I promise," Raven nodded, though she was not sure Gar had heard. His eyes had closed, and his breathing became labored.

Angela broke through the circle and said, to no one in particular, "The ambulance should be here soon. And I've also let Gar's parents know what has happened. They said they would meet us at the hospital." She sounded defeated, and looked as if she had suddenly aged by ten years.

No sooner had she uttered this sentence then three loud bangs came from the apartment building. Everyone turned to look, just in time to see three black dots racing towards them.

Some people screamed, and some ran. But others, knowing what would happen if they moved, stayed where they were. In less than a second, Gar was joined on the ground by two more people. It was these two people that had saved his and Raven's lives, for if they had moved, Gar and Raven would have both been killed by the three bullets that Malchior had just shot at them.

Wally was now kneeling next to Raven, clutching at his left arm. He had been lucky; the bullet had only grazed him. But next to him, someone else had not been so lucky.

Leo was lying on the ground, blood flowing out of the wounds in his right leg. The two other bullets had lodged themselves in his thigh. His blood was staining his blue pants a nasty brown color. As Raven watched, horrorstruck by what had just happened, Jinx and Toni both knelt to the ground. Jinx took Wally's hand in her own, squeezing it for support. Toni helped Leo pick himself up into a sitting position, his head resting on her shoulder.

"What the hell just happened?" Vic yelled, obviously confused. Everyone else looked too shocked to speak. Raven was opening and closing her mouth rapidly, looking much like a goldfish, as she tried to explain what had happened.

"It was Malchior," Jinx said suddenly, and everyone turned their attention on her. As everyone else listened to Jinx explain everything that had been going with Malchior, Angela and Jinx's mother pulled Kole aside, for she looked as though she might faint any second. Raven was hardly listening, and she instead watched her mother pull out her cell phone again, now having to call two more families about their children's near-death experience.

- - - - -

Malchior watched, as if in a trance, as the three bullets sped towards the group huddled over Logan. One of them would surely hit his target. The others would scatter, leaving him exposed.

"I will soon have the queen I deserve," Malchior sighed, hardly daring to believe that he had succeeded.

But as he watched, not everyone ran away from the bullets. Were they unable to move from fear? Were they protecting Logan? His eyes narrowed as he watched two new people crumple to the ground.

"Curse it all!" Malchior exclaimed. "Why wouldn't those damn people move?"

He had failed. Not only had the golden bullet failed to pierce Logan's heart, but he had also been unsuccessful in killing him. Now Rae would stay under the enchanter's spell, and he would never rule over his kingdom.

Malchior did not know which was worse: losing his kingdom or losing his queen. As he watched from his window, Rae and Logan came into plain view. Logan's head was resting on Rae's lap, and he could tell she was crying. Malchior shook his head.

"I have failed," he picked up one of the books strewn across the floor. "This is not what was written. I was to succeed." He opened the book to the page he had marked, his eyes whizzing across the page faster than the bullets that had sped through the air.

"Now I see," Malchior's eyes fell onto the elaborate picture of his fantasy self stabbing Logan. "I understand. I was not meant to take advantage of the shortcuts made in this world. I must do this the old-fashioned way."

He closed the book and walked calmly into Ryan's room. There was no need to panic, not yet. He still had a chance of succeeding in his mission.

Mounted above Ryan's dresser was a sword. Ryan had taken martial arts in his teenage years, and had excelled far beyond his classmates in Haidong Gumdo, a Korean form of martial arts that was done completely with a sword. In fact, he had excelled so much that his teacher had taken him to Korea to study with the Grand Masters.

There, Ryan had been presented with a golden sword. It was not made entirely of gold, of course, but the blade had been painted a golden color. The paint used had real gold dust mixed into it.

"This is my last hope," Malchior breathed, taking the sword down from its mounts. "After the unfortunate incident with the golden bullet, this is the purest gold I can get my hands on. Please, father, let it be enough."

- - - - -

The minutes dragged on like hours for Raven. Gar's breathing had slowed, and no matter what she held to his wound in an effort to stop the bleeding, the blood had soaked through. Her hands were now covered in the sticky, red substance, and there were streaks across her face from the times she had wiped away her tears.

She kept whispering to Gar, begging him to hold on, to keep fighting. She had no idea if he could hear her or not, but she couldn't bear to keep quiet. Her voice shook from crying.

Beside her, Jinx was still telling everyone the entire story. Raven had never seen so many people with livid expressions on their faces. The only thing she could compare it to was the incident at the dance, which seemed so very long ago. Except this time, there were three people that had been seriously hurt, one who might slip away in front of her very eyes.

"Please stay with me, Garfield," Raven was pressing a piece of the tablecloth on Gar's wound, hoping that this time the bleeding might stop, if only by a little.

"Raven," Raven looked up from Gar's wound to see Jinx pointing towards the building. She followed Jinx's arm to see Malchior running out the front door, a sword clasped in his hands.

"Oh my God," Raven breathed. "He's coming to kill Gar!"

"Not if we can help it," Robin was staring at Malchior with a scowl on his face. As he said this, he walked in front of Raven and Gar, facing Malchior. He was joined by Vic, Garth, and Roy. Kori stood by Robin's shoulder, biting her lip nervously. Bea was next to Kori, also looking scared. Kole was sitting with Angela and Jinx's mother, who had not noticed Malchior.

"You all stay back," Robin stepped forward held out his arms, blocking everyone from following.

"But Robin," Kori started, but Robin cut her off.

"Kori, I can do this," Robin turned to give her a reassuring smile. "I can't count how many times Master Wilson's run at me with a rubber knife. Malchior holding a sword will be a piece of cake. He's not even holding it right."

Malchior was only feet away when Robin acted. He bent his knees into a fighting stance, holding his hands in front of him, ready. As Raven watched Malchior run towards them, she thought she noticed a look of fear pass across his face as he caught sight of Robin.

"Leave them alone, Malchior," Robin shouted. "I don't want to hurt you."

"You can't possibly hurt me!" Malchior tried to sound confident, but there definitely was a shake in his voice. "My father has faith in me. I must not fail him."

Angela, Kole, and Jinx's mother had all caught sight of Malchior now, and the three of them came rushing over. Angela yelled, "Malchior, what are you doing?" as she came.

Malchior ignored Angela's question and lunged at Robin. Robin sprang to the side, as if he was standing on springs, and grabbed Malchior's right elbow. He sank into a front stance, and pulled Malchior by the elbow away from the group of people. Malchior tried to turn at hit Robin with the sword, but Robin caught his other arm, and crossed them.

"Why are you doing this?" Robin asked.

"It is destiny," Malchior growled at him. "I am meant to kill Logan. I am meant to marry Rae. I am meant to rule over my father's kingdom."

"You're insane," Robin shook his head, twisting Malchior's arms further. He let his grip on Malchior's arms slacken, and moved his hands to Malchior's wrists. He then pushed back on his hands as hard as he could, forcing the sword out of Malchior's hand.

The golden sword fell to the ground with a clang. And as it did so, everyone turned to watch a car pull up into the parking lot. No one's eyes left the car as the door opened, and Ryan stepped out.

"Malchior?"

His eyes traveled from his son, who was still in Robin's grasp, to Angela, who was shaking her head in disappointment at him, to the six teenagers on the ground, one of whom looked dead.

"What happened?"

But no one was able to answer his question, for at that moment, siren blaring, an ambulance pulled up to the apartment building and three people jumped out, pulling a stretcher with them.

PS. I'll be on Harry Potter overload for the next... -counts- 15 or so days, so don't expect an update soon. I'll be too excited for the movie/book to concentrate on this fic. Not only do I work at a bookstore, but I'm in charge of the midnight party, so I've got a TON to do!! I don't want to let my boss down. We're gonna have the best Harry Potter party ever:)