Yes, folks, I have committed the unforgivable sin. I have used a song by James Blunt as a chapter title. May hellfire and whatever else the Bible says fall on Earth, or whatever they do. I've never actually read the damn Bible.
Chapter XI: Same Mistake
"She's in the warehouse," Sayen answered.
"Which warehouse?" asked Callia.
"Keefe's warehouse."
"Where's Keefe's warehouse, dearie?" Callia asked.
Sayen got a strange expression on her face, either because she knew where the warehouse was or because Callia was acting so out of character. It may have been both, because she walked to the console and typed in an address. There were the usual groaning sounds of a Tardis defying all laws of physics, and then there they were, in the safe house of another gang that Sayen had ties to.
"Can you pull up the Paradigm too?" asked Callia. "It predicts things and I am just dying to know if I die during this."
Sayen opened her mouth, made a sound, then closed her mouth again. It would be next to impossible to change the mind of Calantha Reid when she was being reasonable. She went to the computer, and let out a confused sound between a cough and a whimper. "Bela, what the hell is a para-dime?"
Bela shook his head and went over to pull up prophecies as Sayen walked to the door, anything but eager to see the future.
"NO!" Callia shrieked.
Sayen paused at the door and turned around, alarmed. "I thought you'd be all over this, the whole saving Safara part."
"Can you pull up the Paradigm too?" asked Callia. "It predicts things and I am just dying to know if I die during this."
Sayen opened her mouth, made a sound, then closed her mouth again. It would be next to impossible to change the mind of Calantha Reid when she was being reasonable. She went to the computer, and let out a confused sound between a cough and a whimper. "Bela, what the hell is a para-dime?"
Bela shook his head and went over to pull up prophecies.
Callia pointed shakily to the Paradigm. "S-some prophecies are a bit weird. I mean, you've proved them wrong time and again. but this is the Skasis Paradigm. There's nothing in it that doesn't come to pass," she swallowed back her tears.
"Then you're reading it wrong," Carlisle said worriedly.
"I wish. But it's very clear. The double-elemental will face the Master to retrieve Varda's soul, and she will die," Bela said.
"So…that's it, huh? My time's up. I know the drill. One elemental dies, another must be found. I wonder if there's gonna be two, since I'm two elements," Sayen turned to Callia. "Will you teach them, or will there be someone else?"
Callia was on the verge of tears. "Say-"
"Does it say how he's gonna kill me?" Sayen hiccupped. In a smaller voice, "Is it gonna hurt?"
Mara reached out to comfort her, but Sayen shrugged off her hand. "Don't touch me!" A moment of silence, then, "Would you have told me if I hadn't gone running to the door?"
"I was hoping I wouldn't have to," said Bela. "I hoped there was some way around it."
"I have a way around it," Sayen drew herself up to her full height of 4 feet, 4 inches. "I won't go."
"It's not that simple," Bela said, frustrated.
"I'm making it that simple. I quit, I resign, I'm fired, whatever! Find someone else to stop the Master from using Varda's soul to start his taking over the world."
"I'm not sure if anyone else can. All the signs indicate-"
"The signs, Bela? Oh, geez, read me the signs, tell me my fortune! You are so useful, sitting there with all your books! You are so much help!"
"I know," Bela looked like he was about to cry.
"I know this is hard," Edward began.
"No you don't. You're never going to die," Sayen spat.
Callia stood up, eyes blazing. "You think Bela or Edward want anything to happen to you? You think I could stand it? We just have to figure out a way to-"
"I already have. I quit."
"Sayen, if the Master rises," Bela warned.
"I don't care, Bela! I'm 16 years old and I don't wanna die!" Sayen gave a dry sob.
"You're already dead," Rosalie said, standing. "You did a transfer with me, remember?" she looked at Sayen seriously.
Sayen broke into a smile.
"Transfer? Transfer?! You did a life transfer?" Callia demanded. "Of all the stupid, stupid things to have done…remember what happened the first time you screwed with life?"
"I thought—"
"No, you didn't! You could have died!" Callia shouted. "You were already weak! You should have died!"
"Wait a minute," Sayen looked like someone had lit a light bulb over her head. "A transfer? A transfer can kill someone?"
Callia looked at her and laughed. "Are you ready to go?"
Sayen took a deep breath. "I guess."
They say that the people who try to kill themselves and fail tend to want to live the most. We only know that because they've survived. We will never get the opinions about life from those who've succeeded, but the fact that they might have spent their last moments wishing they were alive is very sad. Still, after nearly dying, people tend to want to live afterwards, and I mean live, take risks, not just breathe. But you haven't clicked on this story to read a lecture on the value of life.
Sayen, Henry, and Callia burst inside the warehouse. Varda's body was trapped in a bubble with Ken's body. Sayen tried to retrieve the bubble, but it didn't work. The realization of what had happened slammed into her like a bolt of lightning. She hadn't put Ken back inside the bubble when she left. She had taken the bubble with her. But there were footsteps that made Callia whirl around for a glimpse of the Master.
It turned out that she had already had more than a glimpse. Standing beside them was Cailean.
"What do you want?" Sayen asked, resigned. That made Callia break down entirely, because throughout this whole adventure, Sayen was the energy, egging them on. Sayen was so numb from feeling like she had disappointed everyone that she didn't even help Callia. Instead, a miniature version of Callia patted her shoulder, placating.
"I want a life for a life. I can do a life exchange. Who wants to volunteer to die for one of them?" Cailean cackled.
Sayen recalled how she almost died because she had expended so much energy trying to bring Ken back (that was only two months ago? It felt like decades). Surely, with Cailean's age and all, he would die if he performed the spell. But just as she was about to step forward, Henry surprised her by doing that instead.
"I will," he said in a strong voice.
By Goddess, had the whole world gone mad? Sayen wasn't up for doing anything, Callia's iron will had rusted to the point of being obsolete, and Henry was the bravest of them all.
"By all means," said Cailean. It was all over in two seconds. Cailean and Henry were both on the ground and Varda was up and running. The bubble had burst, but Varda wasn't running for Henry.
"What are you doing?" Sayen asked, since Callia wasn't about to do anything buy hug Freya for a while.
"Cailean didn't leave you all those clues by accident, and I know what he was trying to do. He was trying to manipulate the Multiverse so that, when he saved it, he would become master of it. He even has all these," Varda gestured at the necklaces. "They allow you to go anywhere in time and space with a blast of elemental power only the specific elemental can handle. Each one has a specific name. The one dotted with bixbite on it is called the Starla and it's yours, the one covered with opal is called the Starlett and it's also yours since Ken's dead, the smooth gold one is the Star and it's Eddie—"
"Actually, Eddie gave it to Henry," Sayen interrupted.
"Whatever. The one with the amethyst band is called the Starlo, Sam's, and the one with the coral at the end is called the Starlou and it's Calix's. I'm already wearing mine, and what I'm about to do is send Henry back to be reborn in this universe. He doesn't exist here, so I can bring him back, but I can't bring him back as Henry because then the other universe will fall apart. So what I'm doing is make another person. The Multiverse will be confused, so you can make Ken someone else in the meantime," Varda said seriously.
Sayen's heart beat fast. "Really?" she asked, afraid of a denial.
Varda gave her a long, hard look. "I wouldn't joke about something this serious, Sayen," she said. "Now I need you to just sing, not hum or think the lyrics." Varda took a deep breath.
"I hope you never fear those mountains in the distance…"
Varda sniffed as the words to "I Hope You Dance" flowed out. When had she started crying? But she watched as her ring with the onyx stone on it and it expanded until Henry could've fit in quite easily. "I'll name him Spencer," Varda said with a single glance at Sayen. "Spencer Reid."
Sayen held her ring up too and started singing. Three guesses what she sang, and the first two don't count.
"I'll name him Adam. Adam Rush. And his middle name will be Keefe," Sayen said, thinking that suit him perfectly.
"Adam Keefe Ross being born," said a robotic voice. Sayen cursed. Teenagers did tend to talk faster than their ancient counterparts.
"Thank you," Callia said thickly as she put her arms around Freya. Just as soon, she had to take her arms off and reach for tissues.
"You're welcome," Sayen deadpanned. She put her head in her arms and cried. Varda patted her absently while fingering her necklace, as she was apt to do when she was not fully here.
"I'm the Queen of Universe #4? So what's my job? Planet patrol?" she asked suddenly.
"Planet patrol. I like the sound of that," Callia said. "It sounds like the name of a TV how. Alright, your job is to patrol the planet for a while."
"Why me?" Varda asked blankly.
"I know it comes with great responsibility, but-"
Varda dismissed Callia with a wave of her hand. "I've had more responsibility, but I just don't want to have power if that means I'll come up with stuff people will kill for. Anyway, does the Paradigm tell us where to input our codes for the universe?" asked Varda with a hint of exhaustion. Then she got a sort of pinched look. "Never mind, I know where we should go. We have to go back to Rainbow Valley, and I know exactly who's going to let us pass into the Rainbow Valley City Hall."
"You've been acting off for a while," Sayen said to Remus. "Are you okay? Well, that's a stupid question. I already know you're not okay. Let me say this: can I help?"
"Not unless you have a cure for lycanthropy."
"So you're afraid of hurting somebody, and that's why you won't even come near us to help us, is that right?" Sayen retorted.
"Listen, I shouldn't be around people. You have no idea-"
"No, you have no idea, you coward. People are pretty much multiversal, so stop running!" Sayen yelled. She got up and ran to Bela, stopping him with a, "If you really did kill your whole planet, please see a psychiatrist. Varda's pretty good, but if you want to see Callia again, you should call upon Sophie Miller," before running into a closet with Luna. They managed to keep their clothes on, miraculously.
"I guess this is goodbye," Bela said to Callia, the words Sayen flung his way in private still sticking in his brain. "Unless you want to come with me?"
"No," Callia looked straight at him. "Some things aren't meant to be seen or experienced by a human. My little girl nearly died during this trip, and I don't mean Freya." Tears glimmered in the back of her eyes. "I heard her talking about how I'm so cold and distant. I worry about her all the time. I know how strong she is and I knew she would wake up. She's spent her whole life with a bad support system, So until I can work on being human, I can't work on being superhuman," Callia touched his cheek. "I'm sorry," she kissed his forehead and pursed her lips. "I guess I'll see you at the double Tennant-Hansen wedding."
"You will," Bela nodded. "What about Ben?"
"He wants to stay with Angelica," Callia chuckled.
"Young love," Bela shook his head.
"Hopefully, someday we'll be talking about old love," Callia said. They slowly slid their hands apart and she waved her reluctant goodbye.
Well, that's just about it, peoples. I've made this story longer because I decided it was too short to have any character development. This was thrown together by my ex-girlfriend Chelsea Giovaninni, her mother, and me. Thank you, Mrs. and Miss Giovaninni!
Next chapter, the last one, someone gets to say "Nothing screams classy more than the stench of urine." And I guarentee it isn't Doc-Boy.