Here is the next installment. Thanks for R&R :)

~Chapter 32: At the Worst of Times…~

Krystal

I don't know how long I've been out, or what has taken place since then. As I slowly came to, I heard a slow but continuous beeping sound. My whole body felt stiff. It was as if I hadn't moved in a few days or so.

The smell of alcohol hit me next, not strong but it was in the air. I wanted to go back to dream land, at least it was alright there and I was safe. I had my family, but now I don't.

I opened my eyes slowly to get a view of my surroundings. I found a sleeping Zero sitting in a comfy looking chair, who had his head on the bed, with his hand on mine. I smiled sweetly at him. He still had his jacket on. I wonder how long he has been here. It was tempting to reach out and ruffle his hair, but that might have woken him up so I fought the urge.

To my left was a large machine measuring my blood pressure and pulse. Several leads of wires lay on my chest underneath the hospital gown. And to my right was large window that was slightly open along with the curtains. It was dark outside with grey clouds and rainy weather but the breeze felt nice.

I noticed that my hospital room door was closed and a bag with my name on it had been left a round table. Zero and I were alone even though he was sleeping.

My mind went back to what happened with the Damon incident. I remembered everything. The last part being that my powers had failed me. I called them when I desperately needed them, and so little was done.

I narrowed my eyes as I looked at my free hand palm up as I squeezed my hand shut. I was growing angrier by the second as I glared at the wall which I think started to crack. Courage brought me back from the brink of death but couldn't help Melanie…

I thought back to mom as I remembered the good times but then her horrid dead standing figure loomed back in and I began crying. "I..I can't cry.." I whispered to myself as I hung my head and tried to stop the tears. "I have to be strong." I sat up as I tried to steady myself.

I just kept crying and then a hand lifted my chin up so I could look at them. I had already known it was Zero. He was filled with concern and worry and looked a bit scared.

He squeezed my hand and I leaned my head on his chest and he began to rub circles on my back. He surprised me by hugging me pretty tight, but not to stop me from breathing.

"I nearly lost you." He started to tremble a bit. I hugged him back to reassure him I was really here but what was he talking about?

As if he heard my thoughts, he replied barely above a whisper, "You coded twice Krystal, meaning you practically died twice. Those damn black spirals are ¾ ths up your shoulder blades!"

My eyes widened as I let out a horrified gasp. Oh no…

"Only a bit of time left…" I mumbled to myself and I knew Zero heard it because his grip tightened on me. I took one of my hands and rubbed his head as I tried to calm him down. I didn't know what else to do.

I gently pushed him away from me and meant to say something else, encouraging like when I blurted, "I can't do this anymore."

Zero grasped my hands as he look at me with a sorrowful expression, "I understand your pain Krystal. I can relate because you know of my past with Ichiru." He took a deep breath and closed his eyes for a second. I squeezed his hands for comfort and he opened his eyes.

I nodded, and I could see the truth in what he saying but…"Their dead Zero. My new awesome powers turned to super weak ones when I needed them then. Why did it work for me and not for Melanie or mom?" I looked to him for an impossible answer.

I could see him thinking of something to reply with when a knock was heard on my door and in came Doctor Hayes, and the rest of Zero's family. Each of them looked sad, but eager to tell me something.

"Ah Krystal good to see your doing better." Doctor Hayes spoke in a cheery voice. His expression turned grim then, "Krystal…I have heard the news about your family. I'm very sorry for your loss. Of course we all are. But I have very urgent news."

He walked over to me and put a hand on my shoulder as if to steady me for what was to come. "As we all know and I was recently brought up to speed on your condition. You are still slowly dying and now it could be very soon. The virus inside you cannot be stopped with our current up to date technology or medical practices."

He looked at me with a very worrisome expression, "I cannot give you an exact time, but within about a week or so, you'll…" He trailed off.

I nodded in understanding, "Then I will use that time to obtain the last symbol and hopefully I won't die." I was trying to stay positive. I forced a small smile. "This is a test of my will and no matter what, I know I can overcome this."

He nodded and I could see that he believed me. He stood up and left to give the rest of us some alone time.

I just looked at the floor, it really did suck to know that I had a week or so to live. I was sure I would have these attacks more often. In the same time frame, I must beat the crap out of Damon and bring him to justice and become the Immortal One. But even if I achieved all that, what would happen next?

I rubbed my forehead and knew a headache would soon be on the way.

"Krystal, I have good news and I have bad news." Mrs kiryu spoke through the awful silence. I didn't look up at her, I couldn't meet their gazes.

I knew if I did, I would say that I was done, ready to quit and lay back and enjoy the rest of my time on this planet. But what she said next had me looking at her in shock.

"Your mother and sister can possibly be saved." She put on a serious face. "After Zero and Zoey ran you to the hospital, your mother and sister suddenly turned to stone. We didn't know why but figured out just a few hours ago on your third day here that it was Damon's doing."

I opened my mouth to ask a question but she put her hand up to silence me. "And yesterday on the news were reports of people all over the world beginning to turn to stone. Including us vampires. Some of my royal guests had even turn to stone."

"But why?" I asked finding this very sad.

"After we fought off Damon and he disappeared, he used an ancient dark spell to cause it to be dark outside for the past two days. He is taking our life energy to make himself even stronger. In that time, people and vampires have begun turning to stone. The vampire society will crumble and fall, but not you. The spell is not reversible unless you can become the Immortal One. We shall all be cursed too very soon and only you can save us."

I took in everything she had said, "But I couldn't even save—"

"I know its painful and you are depressed, but that incident should give you the push you need to continue on. We know it's hard, but right now we have bigger fish to fry and if Damon's downfall is done quickly, the sooner you can free us all." Mr. Kiryu said trying to reason with me.

"So its not gonna affect me at all because I'm becoming the Immortal girl?" I asked as he nodded. "So everything is on me huh?" Crap.

"Excuse me, but hurry turn on the TV!" A nurse with long blond hair said rushing into the room and doing it herself. She turned to the news and the women reporting looked freaked.

"Channel 5 news coming back to you live. Earlier in the day there have been reports about an asteroid heading for Earth. Several scientist have already looked into it found that it is indeed heading our way. Its name is Raptor due to its enormous size and rocky structure. It is the size of half of the sun." She swallowed the lump in her throat and tried to shake off the nerves but they didn't go away.

"The space team and governments around the world have made attempts to try and stop it or at least push it away from the planet but nothing has worked. It will be here in five days and on the fifth day please be with your loved ones. I will continue to update on several continuous efforts to stop it."

The nurse turned the TV off as she dropped the remote and instantly walked out of the room. That was that tip of the iceberg and I lost it.

"First everything I've been through thus far, then Damon killing my family, everyone who is gonna turn to stone soon, my five to seven day limit to get the symbol of Wisdom, AND a freaking asteroid name Raptor is gonna kill us all if nothing is done in five days to prevent it!" I looked out at the window angrily at the dark sky and it began to crack.

I heard a loud gasp from behind me. I assumed it to be Zoey.

I was beyond pissed. The window broke as its pieces fell to the ground. I looked down at the floor again. I was trying to be calm but I had TOO much to DEAL with! I took deep breathes, as I closed my eyes. I'm only seventeen and I'm still going through a bunch of crap that determines life and death everyday. I haven't even graduated yet, and I've been missing days.

But I've always had support and friends around me. I've made it this far, so why not continue on. I have to keep going. Everyone seems to be depending on me, even though they can do their own things. Without them, I would have never made it this far.

I unhooked myself from this heart monitor thing and started to head for the bathroom. "Listen up!" Everyone turned to me giving me their full attention. "I just need time, time for myself to think about what the hell I'm going to do and how I'm going solve all these issues. I might be able to stop that meteorite just before it hits, but I can only do it only maybe do that being the Immortal One."

Mrs. Kiryu spoke next. "It may be possible, I've seen the Immortal One in my time, do many amazing things others can only dream of. We understand that you need to be alone. Call one of us when you figure out what route to take. As for us, we will be doing what we can to find out about Damon's plans and try to stop him. If he is taken down, I do believe everything will return to normal."

I nodded as I quickly entered the bathroom and closed and locked the door behind me. I felt hollow on the inside and I had to say something to get them to leave. I started the shower water, undressed and got in. It was there I had cried, mourned for my sudden loss.

I was standing there crying for a long time as I finally shut off the water. It had warmed up the bathroom. And the mirrors were a little foggy. I had noticed that I didn't even bring my clothes in with me. They must still be in that bag on the table. Wrapping my towel around me, I unlocked the door and walked out to get my bag.

Inside I found the usual bathroom things, like a toothbrush and toothpaste. I also found my phone and a few pairs of clothes.I went back into the bathroom and got dressed. I was in a nice fitting black and white jogging suit. And I threw my hair up in a pony tail. After brushing my teeth and cleaning up the mess, I stepped out of there.

I decided that I needed some air and opened up a hidden balcony glass sliding door behind a wall of curtains. I was told to be careful because I may possibly have another attack, which would suck. Opening the door, the fresh air greeted me.

I remembered Mrs. Kiryu saying that the sky has been dark for the past two days since I had blacked out. I had already known that Damon was behind it. He was also trying to get rid of the vampires and humans all over the world. He wanted to bring society to its knees so he could rule I guess.

Looking up in the sky, it had stopped raining. It was still really dark out for 4:30pm. That's when I saw it, a large red ball of fire heading towards us out in space. Even though it they said it was at least five days away, something in my gut told me it could possibly be here sooner.

Zero's voice scared me and I jumped. Feeling my face flush with embarrassment I said, "Don't do that. What did you say?"

He just stood behind me and wrapped his arms around my waist and put his head on the top of my head. "Sorry, but I thought you wanted at least one person for company. We can just stand here and stare at the asteroid or we can talk about what you possibly have up your sleeve. Talking helps."

"I do. Thanks for staying. Well, I've got to get reading that book on Wisdom-" Zero pulled it out from his side pocket. It was a small thing. He opened it so we could look at it together.

Nice.

"It says here about bringing people back from the dead, it can only be done with a great sacrifice of something of equal value. It also says that it was never completed successfully because the previous Immortals had backed out of the spell out of pure fear or possibly dying." I read aloud.

"Interesting." Zero said.

We scanned through the rest of the pages and stopped on one that told us where the next cavern was. It was in the Sakura Blossom forest. There was a small temple with the words on them that could somewhat understand.

"Its not too far away." I said. "Zero I need to go their and get started. The faster I do this, the sooner I can be done. And I've got a feeling that the asteroid will be here sooner than five days."

"I see. And you think so too huh? Are you sure you can do this right now, at this minute." He asked.

"Yes and no. I don't have a choice do I?" I frowned. He slipped my cell phone into my pocket.

"Sadly no. But you may be able to see your family again."

"That's the only thing that's driving me to do this. I have to get going now." I turned around and leaned on my tiptoes to kiss him as I sped off toward the area.

"Zero." I called him while my hand turned the doorknob. He turned to meet me. "No matter what happens. I love you. You and your family were the best things that have ever happened to me. I don't plan on letting you down."

He walked towards me with a beaming smile, I knew it was his special smile only for me. And I returned it as we kissed again. "I'll text you when I have achieved my goal of getting the Wisdom symbol."

"I'll be waiting. Don't put yourself down. Focus on rescuing your family and looking afterwards into our future." I saw his awesome smile again as I turned and ran out of the room.

I can do this! I know I can!

I bumped into Doctor Hayes on the way out of the hospital. "Krystal you should be resting. You can leave, your heart could-" He stopped talking as he looked at the my serious expression.

"Please, I don't have time to wait. The Earth is in danger. I must go do something very important." My tone was firm but I wasn't trying to be mean. I was still a bit frustrated for what I was about to walk into.

Soon after he let me go is when things started to take turns for the worse.

Hell.