Hey Guys!

So sorry for not updating. I was busy co-writing with Winddragon 797 and his story "The Darkness Comes". I also set this story on pause until the New Year because well... I was feeling really down then. I was feeling really disappointed at the very little reviews I was receiving, and I thought you guys didn't want me to continue this story...

There's going to be a poll on my profile, asking if I really should continue this story or not. Your opinions matter quite a lot to me... :)

Well, here's the fifth chapter...

Enjoy!

Of Good and Of Evil: The Final Stand

Chapter 5 – The Calling

*Back to present day*

-November 11, 2011-

The chipmunks and chipettes had just come home from another dreadful day of school. It's been over a year since their two eldest siblings had gone missing, and they were missing them terribly. Not that life had become totally ruined for them, but they all had been feeling 'incomplete' since their disappearance.

They all entered the den, where an exhausted Dave came in to greet them.

"Hey kids…" he sighed, greeting them with a weak smile. "How was school?"

"Same…" they all chorused, dropping their bodies on the couch as they turned on the TV and scanned through the channels, drowning what they had learned in school with whatever random shows they could watch.

"Look, fellas…" he sighed, kneeling down to meet their eyes, blocking their view from the TV. "It's been over a year now. I think it's time you moved on. Max and Christie are gone now… they're… in a better place now."

"Move on?" Alvin growled, his amber eyes looking at his foster father angrily. "How can I forget about my own brother, Dave? Especially sacrificing himself like that for us! He threw his life away to save us when that coliseum collapsed… he-he…" But the red-clad chipmunk could no longer continue as his tears began welling up from his eyes as he was comforted by his brothers, who were just as teary-eyed as he was.

"He-he's right Dave…" Jeanette cut-in, her eyes tear-stained as well. "We just can't forget about them… especially Christie… she was our role-model… our best friend… she saved us from that column with Max… they were the ones who fell down… they-." Jeanette let herself go as more waterworks began flowing into the room as the lavender-clad chipette let her tears go, only to be comforted by her older and baby sister.

"They're our eldest siblings…" Simon continued; rubbing his cheek against Alvin's in an attempt to comfort him. "They were the first ones who experienced things before we did. They taught us the basics, the ropes on how to live a fun life… they became the lights that guided us… the winds that steered us when we went astray…" Simon then couldn't continue as their foster father wrapped his arms around the six distraught chipmunks. Tears also formed in his eyes as he tightened his embrace on his adopted children. Despite the fact that they were over-exaggerating, the pang in his heart knew that, in a way, they were right. And the way Simon described them so poetically, it just dove a stake through his heart as he also broke down in tears.

Before the kids entered, he had received a call from Miss Miller. She told him that the chipettes were going to stay over at his house for the night. It was her bingo night, and it was the only time she could try to get over the whole incident. The voice she had during their conversation wasn't convincing to Dave at all. He knew her heart was still broken after one of her adopted children did not return to the safety of her household. Once the news was given to her, she spent the next three months doing whatever she could to find traces of the two missing chipmunks, especially her daughter.

"M-Miss Miller called me up…" he hoarsely spoke, referring to the chipettes. "She said that you three are spending the night with us. It's her bingo night tonight."

The chipettes only nodded in reply as the entire group broke off from the hug. Feeling a little lighter, Dave left the chipmunks and chipettes to the den and made his way to his room to sign some documents.

"I still can't believe their gone…" Theodore mumbled, wiping the tears on his face with his green sweater.

"I know, Teddy…" Eleanor replied, hugging her counterpart in a light bear hug. "Sometimes I think it was only a bad dream… but I wake realizing it was real…"

"Let's not get over ourselves here…" Brittany calmly interrupted, quickly brushing her tears off her make-up loaded face with a napkin. "I'm sure Max and Christie wouldn't want us looking like this… not especially after what they did…"

"Easy for you to say, Miller…" Alvin hissed, clenching his fists. "You're just saying that because you didn't really love Christ-!" but his words were cut short when Brittany slammed her paw on the red-clad chipmunk's face. The force of the slap was so strong that Alvin fell to the couch as Brittany grabbed him by the collar of his signature hoodie and glared at him hatefully.

"Don't you DARE say that I didn't love Christie, Seville!" she roared, fresh tears streaking her face. She could say no more as she collapsed on Alvin's chest, her tears staining his hoodie as she began crying hysterically, making the red-clad chipmunk blush lightly in embarrassment. He wrapped his arms warmly around the distraught chipette as he leaned into her ear and whispered a caring "I'm sorry" to her. She didn't reply. She simply nuzzled her face onto Alvin's chest as the two older munks continued their long quiet embrace. Their siblings followed suit, Jeanette and Eleanor sitting behind and hugging Brittany, while Theodore and Simon sat behind and hugged Alvin. All six munks felt the same heart-breaking pain… pain that could only be felt when one loses their connection with one of their own.

"Alvin…" a light voice called out, bringing Alvin out of his thoughts as he scanned his surroundings.

"D-did any of you call me?" he asked, raising his eyebrow. His brothers and the chipettes gently shook their heads in response, making Alvin shake his head as he released Brittany from his embrace.

Brittany looked at him embarrassed, her face looking a little worried.

"Alvin, are you okay?" she asked, her icy-blue eyes glistening from her tears. A small sigh escaped from his mouth as he nodded at the chipette in front of him.

"Y-yeah, Britt… I'm fine…" he mumbled, rubbing the back of his head as he looked at his surroundings.

'I must be hearing things…' he thought as he took a deep breath, looking down to the floor. 'I could've sworn I heard Max calling me…'

"Alvin…" the voice called out again, this time a little louder.

'Max?' his thoughts called out to the voice, 'is that you?'

'Yes, Alvin…' the voice, clearly Max's, replied. 'It is me… come to me… follow my voice… to your destinies…'

"Max!" Alvin yowled all of a sudden looking around the room, making the chipettes and chipmunks jump and gasp in surprise.

"What? What about Max?" Simon asked nervously, looking at his brother as if he had gone insane.

"I heard his voice in my head!" he replied, making the others look at him nervously.

"A-Alvin… are you sure you're okay?" Eleanor asked, looking at him curiously.

"Of course I am! I can hear Max's voice again!" he replied, smiling gleefully, creeping out his siblings and the chipettes.

"O – Kay…" Simon coughed, "someone's finally hit the nut house…" he then twirled his index finger over his ear, making the "crazy" sign behind Alvin, Theodore and Eleanor nodding their heads in nervous agreement. Brittany was about nod her head when she felt something enter her mind.

"Brittany…" another voice, this time female, echoed through her thoughts. It was soft and gentle, and very nostalgic.

"No…" Brittany suddenly countered to the bespectacled chipmunk, "I-I hear them too…"

"Hear what?" Jeanette asked, bemused. "The voices?"

"Yeah…" she replied, smiling lightly. "This time it's Christie's voice!"

Jeanette and Eleanor's eyes went wide with disbelief. Now their sister's going cuckoo too?

'Christie?' she called out in her thoughts, trying to get to the voice that called her. 'Are you still there?'

"That's right, Britt…" the voice replied, making Brittany's eyes brim with tears as she heard her long-lost sister's voice echo in her thoughts. "Max and I are still alive… and we are calling you all… to your destinies…"

'But where are you?' Brittany asked, her tears beginning to flow from her eyes as her smile slightly vanished from her face.

"We're here… there… pretty much everywhere for now…" Max replied, now entering Brittany's thoughts.

'Will we see you again soon, bro?' Alvin asked, looking up at the ceiling, Brittany following suit, leaving their younger siblings baffled and confused as they stared worriedly at their "insane" siblings.

"In time… Alvin… all in due time…" Max replied, chuckling lightly.

"For now…" Christie continued, giggling. "I think it's time we set you all up for 'it'."

'It?' Alvin asked, confused as he raised his eyebrows in suspicion. 'And why is it that it's only me and Britt that can hear your voices?'

"The 'it' is a surprise for you all… maybe something you'll all enjoy or hate… but I'm sure it'll change you forever…" Max replied, before his voice left their minds.

"And…" Christie continued, her voice beginning to fade. "You two are the only ones who could hear us because… you two were the very last people who saw us before we fell down that pit. It may seem crazy, but Max's touch enabled us to communicate to only the two of you. We haven't had any luck with the others… sorry for making them think you two have crazy or anything…"

'It's alright, sis…' Brittany smiled, feeling Christie's voice about to leave her. 'I'm just happy you're okay…'

"Good…" Christie replied, "Because things are going to change pretty quickly… if you know what I mean…"

As soon as Christie's voice vanished, the entire den began to shake, making the six munks panic in fear.

"W-what's going on?" Theodore suddenly asked, his eyes growing wide as the floor began to crack. The crack began to spread throughout the room, leaving trails of its destruction as it split through the walls and made the chandelier fall. Shards of the fallen glass nearly hit Jeanette when Simon suddenly pushed her aside as she squealed with fright. Simon held her tightly as the quake began to intensify.

"Another quake?" he asked himself. The earthquake was rather strange. Despite the huge magnitude that shook the household, it didn't kill the electricity, much more alert Dave of its presence.

"This is strange…" he mumbled, catching Jeanette's attention.

"What is?" she asked as she wrapped her arms around the bespectacled chipmunk as Alvin pulled him under the table, just as part of the ceiling was about to fall on them.

"What, are you two crazy or something?" he half-roared, gripping Simon by the collar of his shirt. "You could've gotten yourselves killed!"

"Alvin!" Eleanor cried, hugging the table leg tightly as she began shedding fearful tears. "Where's Dave?"

Those words struck him dumbfounded. She was right. Where is Dave? Normally, the man would literally panic and grab his children and skedaddle out of the building in thirty seconds flat. This really was strange.

"I don't know!" Alvin suddenly cried, replying to Eleanor's question. "He must've hit his head or something…" He suddenly capped his mouth with his paw realizing that his comment wasn't helping at all. Eleanor's eyes began to water as she began whining in fear. Theodore quickly wrapped his arms in a warm bear hug, his tears flowing down from his cheeks as well as the earthquake increased its magnitude.

Simon and Jeanette then joined their youngest siblings in the embrace as the cracks on the floor made their way toward them.

"We're not going to make it…" Simon half-sobbed, tightening his embrace on his lavender clad counterpart. Jeanette couldn't reply as she sobbed onto Simon's navy blue hoodie, gripping his paws with her own.

Alvin and Brittany were caught in panic as they looked at the ceiling.

'Max! Christie!' Alvin cried out in his thoughts, hoping that their eldest siblings would hear them.

'Help us! There's an earthquake here in the house… I thought you were calling us or something?' Brittany screamed in her mind, her heart now pounding with fear as the cracks on the floor neared them.

Silence.

Max and Christie were no longer there.

They were alone.

And CUT!

Okay, so it's not as long as the others, but I promise to make the next one longer! I just wanted this chapter out of my head before it starts haunting me...

Please review, please? (Lol, I said please twice... XD)

Thanks! :)

"Living it my way..."

~Perry