"I was summoned?"
"Yes, I guess, King Dark." Light stated, standing up.
"He has wings now I see." His red eyes stood out against his slightly pale skin. He shifted his gold emblem on his chest and walked over. He walked properly and swiftly over to mark. He held out his hand which Mark reluctantly grabbed. King Dark helped him up and spun him around to look at the wings. "Very nice. They suit you."
Mark turned around and looked at King Dark. "Ego huh?"
"Your entire ego is reflected by me," King Dark explained. His slight smile disappeared when Light walked over to them.
"You are here to help, not spread your negativity to him." Light defended.
"Hey, I didn't do anything." He backed off, "You all know I didn't join them."
Light relaxed slightly, "Why didn't you join them?"
King Dark looked at him, "First of all, ego. But they want control and don't care what happens to Mark in the end, as long as one of them controls him."
He stopped when Hero stood beside them, "How do you know?"
"I've known their plan since they first started wanting to take control. Dark started it; Demon has the power to do so." King Dark continued and shrugged off his robe. He turned around. Four large gash marks shined in the light, a fifth faint one had almost healed.
Mark put his hand on King Dark's back, "They did that to you?"
King Dark nodded, "When I first decided to not take their side after hearing their plan, Demon did this."
Mark sighed and removed his hand, "So whose side are you on?"
King Dark turned around, "I'm on no one's side, but if I don't help, and they take over, I stop existing."
"How do you stop existing?" Light asked.
"If Mark dies, so do I. I represent a key emotion that he has." King Dark turned to Tim, "So will you," then to Light, "And you."
"What about me?" Hero asked.
"You will survive because you were created through a lot of other things that Mark has done. If Mark dies, only a part of you will disappear." King Dark explained as he turned around and picked up his staff again. "Again, they don't care what happens to Mark."
Tim walked over to Mark and hugged him.
Hero and Light looked at Mark then at each other, "So what do we do?"
"Win," King Dark stated bluntly as he put his robe back on. "I'll protect him to the best of my ability…"
"Wait…" Light interrupted. "What if the one we don't want here, shows up?"
"Who?" King Dark asked.
Hero turned to him, "Wilfred Warfstache," he said with a lot of disdain that a hero shouldn't have. It was almost a growl.
"Oh." He replied. "I get it. He's quite hilarious though,"
"Difficult to work with," Hero said.
"If he shows up, just let him be there." King Dark suggested. "If he gets in the way, then oh well."
Before anyone else could speak, an over powering voice echoed across the dream, "I'm tired of waiting."
"Good luck!" Hero shouted to the rest of them as elongated red and black claws ripped through the sky, grabbed him and he was pulled out. Tim shut his eyes and disappeared.
King Dark nodded to Mark as he stepped back into a circle of light.
Light was next to be grabbed.
Mark woke up with Demon half crouched over him and in the middle of throwing Light across the room. After letting Light go, he turned to Mark, smiled and stepped back.
King Dark appeared and stood behind Mark, putting his staff in front of the couch and glared at Demon.
"How are your scars doing?" He asked in a tainted voice, tilting his head to one side, smiling.
King Dark stood patiently and stepped to the side for Light's fire ball to fly past him. Demon dodged it but part of his side was burned. He glared at Light and charged at him.
King Dark stepped in front of Mark as the two flew through the wall and into the sky.
Light flew up into the sky and away from everything else. Demon followed and matched Light in speed. He ran on the air with a never ending layer of black tendrils. He used these tendrils to steer him in the air and keep him up there.
Dark looked at Hero and Tim. "My turn," he growled and charged at them. Hero shoved Tim to one side and dodged to the other. Dark crashed into the wall leaving an indent, turned around and threw a black tendril ball at Hero.
The impact threw him through the glass windows and outside with the others.
Dark turned to Tim, "Time to get rid of you once and for all," he yelled, gathering a smooth black ball in his hand and running at him.
King Dark ran from where he was and tried to intersect the hit but didn't get there in time. King had managed to drive his staff into Dark's stomach, cracking some of the teeth, but couldn't stop the impact. Dark's ball sailed from his hand and into Tim's neck. The ball held him to the wall, dangling and struggling.
"Tim!" Mark yelled from his half standing position by the couch.
"Mark, no!" King Dark yelled from his hold on Dark.
Mark's internal conflict gave Dark enough time to react to King Dark, throwing him off and running to the wall with claws extended.
"Dark!" Mark shouted angrily from his stance and glared at Dark.
Dark stopped mid step, mid strike and froze completely right before impact. Tim had looked away and closed his eyes. Dark struggled to even turn to Mark.
"Don't. You. Dare." Mark's glare pierced right through Dark's eyes.
"Your anger empowers me, you know." Dark said, trying to move. When he couldn't he looked at the hole in the wall. "Maybe it empowers him."
As he spoke, Hero shouted from outside with Light and were thrown down. Light braced for impact and caught Hero.
Mark put his hand on his side from the result of the impact and stood still. A rush of light swept through the hole in the wall and the walls themselves lit up like a Christmas tree, revealing intricate lines of light blue and green throughout the room.
The lights on the ceiling exploded, spraying electricity and glass everywhere. Wind rushed throughout the room, throwing Dark off balance as Mark closed his eyes and turned away.
"I know what I said, but I'm here anyway." Hawk yelled as the excitement settled down. Mark looked at her. Her hand was up, facing the wall in Dark's direction. She was holding Dark up from the ground with energy or something. She looked at Mark.
"You can't help us!" King Dark yelled at her as he stepped back over to Mark.
"I know how to suppress the darkness within." She curled her fingers into a fist and in a smooth, swift motion, she waved her hand to the side and Dark flew into the wall and stayed where he landed. He rolled onto his side and glared at Hawk.
"But how will you help him?" King Dark asked.
"By keeping Mark alive!" She yelled before walking over to where Dark fell.
"That's my job!" King Dark yelled after her.
"You know what I mean!" She shouted back then yelled in effort to pick him up, walk over to the hole in the wall and throw him out of the building. She turned her face from them.
Moments later Hawk turned back to King Dark, smiling, and had black eyes tinted with green and red. Green added to her strength and red added to her overall power. "I stopped seeing his future and had to intervene," she said in a half growling voice. The colors laced around her skin as she walked.
Mark saw the colors emanate off her as she walked to the hole in the wall.
"She's a good ally," King Dark said as they watched her walk onto the air outside, look up and spring into the air to join the others.
Mark grabbed his stomach, screamed in pain and fell to the floor. A moment later Demon fell from the sky.
King Dark helped Mark up and walked him over to the hole in the wall, shielding Mark. Hero was fighting Demon with Light's help and Dark fought Hawk.
He looked back at Tim who had fallen unconscious by where Dark dropped him.
"Why did that hurt?" Mark asked softly as he stood on his own. He jerked to the side when Hero punched Demon in the side. He looked around to find Hawk.
She was facing Dark but he was in a different outfit. His red eyes stood out against the now green outfit.
"That's actually a really cool outfit," King Dark said. "Especially the gold horns on the top."
"He looks like Loki," Mark grunted. He sat on the ground and waited. All he could do was watch.
Mark watched Demon get back up into the sky and aim for Hawk in a counter attack. She dodged it easily and slammed her fist into his back, pushing him to the ground again. Mark lurched forward and was caught by King Dark.
"This can get really bad really fast." King Dark commented from his crouched position. He threw up his arm to shield them from the incoming wave of energy from the rebound attack from Dark. King Dark watched as the pulsing lights on the wall moved to where the flying stray black tendrils were projected to land then killed them before they hit the wall. These lights then focused around the hole in the wall, still pulsing.
Hero grabbed Light's arm and spun him around. Light slammed his legs into Dark's neck, throwing him close to the wall of the building. Mark felt the impact in both his neck and his legs. Dark recovered quickly and raised his staff to Light's chest.
Light stopped his attack, lowered his arm and looked at the tip of the staff near his chest over his dark glasses. The staff glowed blue and soon faded into black. Light took off his sunglasses and looked at Mark in regrettable, sad silence
"Time to end this once and for all!" Dark shouted and shoved the staff into Light's chest before Hero could deflect the staff. Hawk looked down at Mark and watched as her plan began to fail.
Mark and Light screamed in pain. Mark's scream echoed from the room and out into the sky. The staff had been shoved through his chest and out of his back. Light concentrated long enough to grab the staff and couldn't let go as its electro-shock reaction hurt him.
Mark was on his knees on the floor, chest pushed out towards the fight, head back. Pain, the only thing he could feel as his mouth hung open in silent screams of pain. King Dark tried to help but was unsure of what he could do. He could only watch in sadness as he saw his own hands begin to fade as he reached for Mark.
"King Dark!" Tim yelled as he recovered from Dark's attack and slowly reacted to everything. He got over to Mark and held him gently. Tim watched King Dark fade away with his bright blue eyes. King Dark kept looking at Tim until darkness engulfed him, taking him from this world.
"One down!" Dark said as he took a deep breath in and jerked the staff out of Light's torso, causing Mark to scream again and fall into Tim's arms. Light fell out of the sky and into unconsciousness. Hero caught him and looked up at Dark.
Hawk was distracted by Mark and didn't react in time for Demon's movements. He got away from her and dropped from the sky. She watched him angle himself for the crippled and nearly unconscious Mark.
Tim held onto mark as he lay on the floor and looked at his chest. There was no damage to him but he knew Mark had felt it. Mark's hand found Tim's and just let it all out. Tim held Mark's hand with both of his and cried in fear and sadness and clutched onto Mark's hand like it was the end.
Hawk dove for Mark with such speed that the energy she emanated pierced through the air and threw Demon off course. In the moment of passing him, she grabbed him, spun him around and threw him away from Mark. She landed on the floor next to Mark's feet and in one swooping motion she pulled Tim away from Mark.
"Mark!" Tim yelled as their hands separated, still reaching for each other.
Mark cried out for Tim then curled up in pain. Dark had kicked Light in the stomach and watched Mark react.
The sunny day had slowly turned dark with storm clouds. It was an ominous atmosphere.
Demon stood on his tendrils outside the hole in the wall. Dark held back Hero who was holding onto Light. Hawk held Tim and shielded him. Demon looked at Hawk. She felt his gaze but didn't look at him. That would put all of their lives in even more danger.
Hawk knew.
She always knew.
She knows the way of demons.
She knows demons always get their prey.
Always.
In a moment of debate and hesitation, Hawk decided that she couldn't stick to protocol any more. She turned to Mark and kept Tim from watching. She kept her eyes on Mark and he watched her. Hawk looked up at Demon as he stepped into the room.
He walked over to Mark and stood by his torso. Mark couldn't move.
Demon tilted his head to the side slowly, "Maybe one day you won't disappoint your fans."
Mark put his hands on his head and tried to resist the voice getting louder inside his head. Demon kept talking. He said things that reflected his fears. Each statement made Demon stronger. Each statement hurt Mark. And Mark knew he couldn't fight forever.
"You will never amount to anything in this world." He lowered himself to Mark's face.
"Your life is pointless." Demon growled into his ear.
"You fans will never appreciate you." He pulled away Mark's hands that barely resisted.
"You will let them down from this day forward," Demon sneered with the cruelest of smiles.
He grabbed Mark's face and his red pupils looked into Mark's brown eyes. Hawk watched as Mark's jaw fell open and a single tear fell from the corner of his eye.
"And you will never," Demon got closer, feeling the defeat from Mark's soul, "Make people happy ever again." His eyes turned all black, as did Mark's.
Hawk turned away. She couldn't watch. She didn't have to. She felt everything. She knows what it's like to be taken over by a demon. The pain, the burning, the takeover, can't help yourself, can't control it, can't do anything. She covered Tim's eyes to make sure he couldn't watch.
Demon surrounded them with a cocoon of black tendrils.
Hawk felt Demon's hand touch Mark's chest, she felt his convulsions as he receded into the back of his own mind. She felt his futile resistance from a much stronger essence of himself.
Demon started laughing, but not with his voice. The tendrils started to unwind and go back to Demon. Demon lifted his arms, flexed his hands, put them on the ground and got up.
Hawk looked at the human who was no longer there. She watched the darkness flow from him as he turned around.
Demon turned to what was clanging around then ran out to the living room.
This version of Mark was wearing a pink mustache, a striped suit and was very energetic. He stood in the middle of the room, fists on his hips and stuck out his chest. "Hey everybody…"
Demon waved his hand and let out a faint laugh. As quickly as he had arrived, Wilfred Warfstache had left the scene, not of his own doing.
Hero had lowered to see the whole thing. Light had regained consciousness enough to see what had just happened.
"Mark…" Hero whispered and attracted Demon's attention.
Demon started laughing and looked at Dark. He smiled, "I win."