Chapter 18

"Alex?" He looked up at the stairs and he saw me. He saw how pale I was; dark, sunken eyes and the loss of weight stunned his eyes. Claire looked where he was looking at and she saw me. She looked at him and he just stared at me.

"Anya." I ran downstairs, passed Leon and everyone else, Claire moved out of the way and I hugged Alex as tight as I can. Alex caught me when I hugged him and he hugged me back as tight as he could too. Just feeling his warmth and his arms around me made me happy. He's alive, Ino was telling the truth, and Alex was alive. I let go of him and looked at him. He gave a small smile and I gave a shy smile to him. I can't believe I was looking at him, he wasn't a spirit, and he was real. A tear sneaked out of my eye, his hand was on my cheek and rubbed the tear away. I felt my body quiver, the life energy in me was drained out, my limbs were weak and my breathing started getting hard. My body felt hot and my body was getting heavy. I collapsed. "Anya!" Alex shouted, Leon caught me and held me in his arms for a moment. He carried me to the table, Steve threw everything off the desk and Leon laid me on the table. He took off his jacket and rolled up so it can be a pillow for my head. He brushed the strains of my hair out of my face. I felt his hand stroking my cheek in my sleep. I woke up. My eyelids opened slowly, I felt groggy and exhausted. It became fuzzy and blurry for moments, but it all went away. I saw Leon, Gerard, Jenna, Mikey, Steve and Boss clearly. Dad took my hand and squeezed it hard, he was getting worried.

"Hi sweetie, how are you feeling?"

"I feel exhausted, my life energy is gone, I can barely move now, my breathing is heavy, and my head is in pain and everything in between." Leon put his hand on my cheek to calm me down. The feel of his skin against mine was warm again. I noticed something in Leon's eyes, they were distracted and focused on Alex. "Alex is here, isn't he?" He looked down at me.

"How do you know?"

"I can feel him. I feel his presences."

"How is that possible?"

"Because he has the same power I have. I can feel it." Leon was confused and I didn't know how to explain it to him. He doesn't know what's going on, it was all new to him. "Can I see Alex, please?" I tried to squeeze Leon's hand, but I was too weak to move anything, Leon didn't answer my question yet and I really want to see Alex. Ino told me in my unconscious stage said Alex was still alive. At first I didn't want to believe her, but I could feel him fighting for me. "Leon, please. I want to see Alex. Ino told me he was still alive. Please Leon please.." I was falling asleep and I could feel my breath getting short.

"Anya? Anya, answer me! Anya!" I didn't answer him. I fell into a deep sleep and I couldn't wake up from it. The voices in the background were in panic. I tried to awake from it, but I couldn't wake up. Leon's voice was trembling, I wanted to wake up, but I couldn't. It felt like a force was holding me back. "Anya, please wake up! Anya! Anya! Please, stay with me!" The more he panic, the more tears he shed. His heart was breaking inside, he felt hopeless.

"Leon?" He looked up and saw Claire through his tears. She stood right next to Leon. "Leon, she needs Alex. He can help her suppress her power. It's overcoming her. Alex is the only one who can help her." Leon stayed quiet. He didn't want Alex near me after what happened a year ago. However, he didn't like me being in this stage of pain.

"Is Alex the only one who can suppress the power inside of her?"

"I believe in him. He knows more about Anya's past and the power she has. He can get her out of this stage. If we don't act now, it will be too late." He knew she was right. He wants me to be pain free and be all smiles when I'm living. He sighed.

"Okay, I believe you." She nodded at Leon and looked over at Alex. He met Claire's eyes and he walked towards me and everyone around me. He walked next to Claire's side. All eyes were on Alex including Leon's dark, forest, green eyes glared at him. Claire touched his shoulder.

"You know what you're doing right?"

"I do and I know what's wrong too. She's missing her other half of her soul." Gerard, Mikey and Jenna looked at him with confusion. Gerard spoke.

"What do you mean she's missing half of her soul?"

"She never told you, didn't she?" Gerard was more confused. "Before Master Zero and Ino's death, Zero, Ino and Anya did a ritual that split in two. One is in her mind and the other is in a crystal necklace she has." Jenna looked at Gerard and back to Alex. She remembered the necklace.

"You mean the small blue crystal necklace I got Anya from my expedition I went on two months before the fight?" Alex didn't answer instead he took out the small blue crystal that was hanging around his neck. He showed it to Jenna and her eyes went wide. "Why is it glowing?" The small blue crystal was glowing a light blue color. It shined in Jenna's face when she looked at it closely. She reached for it and her fingers almost touched it, but quickly pulled her hand away. "Is Anya's soul in there?"

"It's her other half. The reason why she's like this is because the ritual was never complete." Gerard looked at Alex.

"What do you mean the ritual wasn't complete?"

"Ryan found out what we were doing and attacked both me and Ino. We were half way done, but we had to shorten the ritual for the time being.

"So Ryan was after Anya because she has the first half of her soul." It all made since to Claire after saying that comment. She looked at me and then back at Alex. "What do we need to complete the ritual?"

"Only the crystal and the proper text."

"Proper text? Like a saying or a prayer."

"It was a poem. A poem that Anya wrote two years ago. We used it because the words she used were from the song that described what she had gone through or the emotions that overwhelmed her." Alex turned towards Gerard. "Does she still have the poem she wrote two years ago?"

"She burned it last year along with everything else that had to do with the murders. She didn't want to be reminded of the terrifying memories." Alex was silent and looked at his feet. "I'm sorry, I didn't know it was important."

"It's okay, I would've done the same thing."

"Is there anything else that we can use for the ritual?"

"She sang a lullaby." Everyone looked at him, but he was staring at me while I was sleeping. "She sang a lullaby in her sleep." He looked up at Alex and made eye contact with him. Alex remembered me talking about a lullaby once, but was it the same lullaby?

"What's the name of the lullaby?" Leon didn't answer right away, he took his sweet time to remember the name.

"Sleeping Beauty." A flashback hit Alex like ice cold water. His head started to hurt and fell to his knees from the pain. Grinding his teeth, the flash was of him and me sitting together on the football field bleachers. The memories of happiness and laughter we had. The paper I handed to Alex was the lullaby. The title was in bold letters and said "Sleeping Beauty". Alex opened his eyes in shock. He noticed Claire was by his side.

"Are you okay?" He looked at Claire and back at the crystal.

"Leon's right. It's the lullaby that is the proper text for the ritual." Claire looked at Leon. He was so serious about me getting out of this state of almost going to hell. She looked at Alex; he got up slowly with the help of Claire and walked towards me. I was lifeless to Alex and to everyone around me. He closed his eyes and stood there for a moment and spoke.

"Ino, it's time." He opened his eyes and one eye on the right was yellow-orange color. His original eye color was autumn like a light brown and mix of yellow. After opening his eye, Ino appeared on the other side of me. Leon didn't move when Ino appeared he just looked at her and back at Alex. Everyone around Alex, Leon, Ino and me were stunned and shocked what Alex can do. Jenna walked towards Ino, she was right in front of Ino and she could feel the cold in the air.

"Ino?"