A/N: Guys! I recently noticed that Gracepunk is so close to getting 100 reviews! Do you think we can do it? Can we get 100 reviews before this ends in a couple chapters? Also, is Gracepunk a fandom now?
Gracepunk
The walk back through the Dead City took all day. Andrew led the way, with the twins on his heels. Christopher lagged behind the group, constantly looking over his shoulder.
They walked in the center of the road. Andrew somehow knew that nothing or no one would attack them.
The sky above them was cloudy and gray. There was a light, stale breeze blowing, sending several stray papers scattering amongst the derelict and abandoned buildings. There was almost no noise aside from their footsteps echoing off the hollow structures left and right.
The sky was getting darker as the sun sank lower. They were running out of time.
On the horizon, on the other side of the city and looming like a mountain, was the Gracebeast factory.
Andrew looked around. He hadn't been in the city since he first woke up, but he remembered what he was looking for.
Finally, they reached an enormous and half destroyed building. Andrew stopped and looked up at it. The whole building was ashy gray, and white curtains drifted hauntingly out of the broken windows.
"Why are we stopping?" asked Christopher in a hushed tone. He seemed afraid to speak too loud.
"I need to finish something," he replied. "You guys wait here. I'll be right back."
Without waiting for Christopher to object, he went inside.
He didn't want to risk lighting any fire. He didn't need to. There were enough holes in the walls and shattered windows to let in enough light to see by.
Silently, he crept down the hallway, stepping around the debris scattered about. He remembered this place.
It was the hospital where he woke up.
He carefully climbed the rickety flight of stairs to the second floor, and he followed the sound of shutters gently knocking against the wall.
That was when he found the room he had first woken up in.
He cautiously crept into the room and spotted the dead body. It looked more withered and hollow than before.
Andrew stood and stared at the body for several minutes before finally gathering enough courage to painfully kneel down next to the body. The wound on his leg was starting to hurt again now that his rush of adrenaline from entering the building had worn off.
Gulping, he leaned forward and took hold of the man's lab coat. He tugged part of the lab coat out from under the corpse and found the chest pocket. Inside was an ID badge.
The man's name was Alan Sparks.
Andrew stared at the name for a minute before letting the badge drop from his limp hand. He slowly stood and backed up until he hit the bed, where he cautiously sat down.
He never knew anyone in his family named Alan Sparks. Judging from his age, he could have been his grandfather. It was possible. He never knew his grandfather. Now that he thought about it, whenever he had brought it up with his mom, she would always change the subject. He had no idea he was still alive... or... he was alive.
After a moment, he reached into his bag and pulled out the box he had found clenched in the hand of Alan Sparks' corpse. He set it on his lap and ran his thumb over the keyhole.
He reached up and pulled the key from around his neck; the large metal key clanked against the talisman that he was still wearing around his neck. He was afraid to take it off.
Using Caleb's key, he unlocked the box. The click echoed through the vacant room.
He opened the lid to the box.
The first thing he saw was the mirror on the bottom of the box lid. Engraved in the bottom of the mirror was the word "Hope."
Andrew stared at his reflection and the word. He glanced down at the key and saw the engraving.
"Our last hope..." he whispered, looking up to see himself in the mirror again.
Suddenly, something in the box began to flicker, and a hologram appeared above the box. He was so shocked that if he hadn't been sitting down he would have dropped the box.
Alan Sparks appeared, alive and well. Or... alive. He looked exhausted. He was pale, he had dark circles under his eyes, and he looked sick.
"This is all my fault," he said, looking sadly into the camera that Andrew assumed filmed him. "This war... I started it. I don't know what's happening with the war now. The city is gone. Those beasts have moved on to Demon's Run. The armies are following them. I doubt the Ungraced will last much longer in this war...
"I've been hiding here for about five months now. I'm just glad I got here and saved them before the bombs hit."
He stopped and adjusted his glasses.
"Andrew, Maria... if either of you see this... if either of you survive... I just want you to know that you need to find the others. Find the other Gracelings like you. They all have numbers. That wasn't my idea, but I like it. If either of you survive, you'll be number 9..."
Andrew's eyes widened. He was talking to Maria as well... Did that mean she had survived the crash too? What had happened to her?
He noticed the tag on the side of the box with the number 9 in it. At least he knew where that and the number painted on the back of his jacket came from...
Alan continued talking.
"I'll explain everything soon," he said. He glanced past the camera and looked worried. "I have to go..."
Another clip began playing, clearly having been cut together. Alan appeared again, this time looking worse.
He only said one thing before the clip changed.
"I'm so sorry..."
The was the one that scared Andrew the most.
When the next clip came up, Alan looked years older.
"This is the end... Andrew, it's all up to you now.
"I guess... I guess I should tell you everything. The truth is, I started the war. I created the Gracebeasts. I... I was the first Gracebeast."
Andrew was so shocked that he nearly fell over.
"Let me explain," said Alan, as if he could sense Andrew's shock. "When I was younger, I wanted to understand Graces. I... I began to experiment on myself, to see if it was possible to give someone a new Grace. Nothing happened to me, though. I remained Ungraced... but a few years later, my son was born, and he was Graced... his Grace was unnatural... But my younger daughter, your mother, she was Ungraced.
"My son's Grace encouraged me to keep experimenting. Eventually, I did it. I created a way to give someone a different Grace. But... it came at a cost. There's a Glitch. My son never suffered from it because he was born with his Grace, but according to my calculations, the Glitch slowly drains the life from someone whenever they use their Grace. I don't know how long it will take, but it will eventually kill whoever used my formula.
"I wish I could tell you more about it, but I honestly don't know what it will do. But either way, the Baron heard about my experiments. He wanted to change his Grace because he was a Seer and at the time they were killing them. If you've met with the others, then you'll know what I'm talking about.
"He threatened me, and I changed his Grace. Then he stole all of my work and made his own army. I wish I could have stopped him. He's killed so many people...
"His new Grace is dangerous. He can steal your soul. Your very life force. He can drain it in a second. It... it was an accident... I tried to kill him, but all I did was make him more powerful.
"There's a way to beat him though. It took me 25 years to create."
He held up something, and Andrew felt his heart stop.
He was holding the talisman.
"It's a weapon. There's a pattern to the symbols, and if you use them in a certain way, they can counteract his Grace. Watch carefully..."
He held the talisman close to the camera and pressed the symbols in a certain order. Andrew committed the pattern to memory.
"This can stop him," he said, "but... there's a certain element of risk to it... In order for it to work, it has to be deployed while he's using his Grace... someone is going to have to die..."
Andrew froze, staring at the hologram. Suddenly, something Christopher had said rang through his mind.
Sometimes, one must be sacrificed for the good of many...
He was going to have to die.
"You better give me a bit more than that..." Andrew muttered to the hologram. Surprisingly, Alan responded.
"There's... something else... about the talisman...
"After about six months of hiding in this hospital basement, the medicine started to run out. Both you and Maria survived the crash, but there wasn't enough supplies to keep both of you alive... I had to choose which one of you to save."
"And you chose me..." whispered Andrew, feeling a knot in his throat.
"The car your family tried to escape in was sabotaged. It was your uncle that called to warn your mother about the attack. Most of the hospital supplies were destroyed in the attack, and so far it still hasn't been enough.
"Andrew, it's been nine months and you haven't woken up yet. I only have one last chance to save you."
He glanced down at the talisman in his hand.
"I'm going to give you my life," he said, not looking up. "I'm sacrificing myself so you can live. But I'm counting on you. I'm counting on you to save us all. It's like I always say, sometimes one must be sacrificed for the good of many..."
Andrew's eyes widened, and he felt tears start to well up in his eyes. Alan Sparks, the grandfather he had never met, sacrificed himself so he could live.
Alan looked up, and for a moment, it seemed like he was there, like he was really looking Andrew in the eye.
"Andrew, you're our last hope. End this war. Save us. Save us all...
"You're our last hope..."
Andrew shook his head a bit.
Alan smiled. "Goodbye."
Then the camera turned off and the hologram died.
Andrew sat there for a moment before slowly closing and locking the box. He put the key back around his neck and stood up, taking the blanket from the bed with him.
He went over to the body. Kneeling down again, he gently put his hand on his grandfather's shoulder.
He wanted to say thank you. He wanted to say that he would do everything he could to save his friends. To stop the Gracebeasts. To save everybody.
But he couldn't speak.
Carefully, he placed the box back in the skeletal hand. Nobody would disturb it. Then he covered his grandfather with the blanket.
"I won't fail..." he whispered, standing with a grimace. "I promise."
His feet moved on their own, and a minute later, he found himself standing outside the hospital, face to face with Christopher and the twins.
"What happened?" demanded Christopher.
Andrew shook his head blankly. "I know how to beat them."
"What?" exclaimed Christopher, looking confused, even though there was fear behind his eyes.
Andrew steeled himself and stood tall. "I know how to defeat the Gracebeasts." He turned and began walking back down the street towards the factory, Christopher and the twins in tow.
They were going to save the world.
A/N: Well, only two more chapters after this! Yikes! Next chapter is gonna be a LONG ASS chapter! So be prepared. It's gonna be one hell of a ride.