"My foot?" Johnny repeated in a question, glancing down at the trail of crimson liquid that his foot must have been leaving behind on the sidewalk. He didn't even notice the pain until Tenna had mentioned it. Every step he took left a piercing pain to jolt up his leg and straight up his spine. "Damn..." He whispered to himself, forcing himself to keep walking through the pain. All he wanted to do was just get Devi to her apartment, get something to wrap around his shoe, then go home and forget this day ever happened. Though he knew that it was going to be far more complicated than that, because chances are, Tenna wasn't going to let him leave with his foot like this.

She was already starting to panic, tapping a finger on her chin as she thought. "There's a hospital down the street, look, I could help you down to the hospital- and then I could call my friend to come pick me and Devi up, just say that-"

"No." Johnny snapped, getting quite irritated with her. "I'm fine, and it's just a tiny little scratch. It's not like i'm going to die from it... as if I even could."

"A tiny little scratch? Nny, you can practically see bone through you're shoe!" Tenna whimpered, tapping her nails together as she brainstormed. "Come on, at least let me find you some help-"

"I don't need... any fucking help." Johnny whispered in a low growl. "My foot is fine. It will heal. Get over it." He noticed that he was already starting to reach for the knife that he hid inside his boot, and immediately stopped himself. He was going to snap any minute, he just knew it, and he was dangerous when he was like this! If he didn't calm down now, someone was going to die. And he didn't want it to be any of these two.

Tenna must have been able to feel this, too, because she immediately shut up and started walking again, trying her hardest not to say anything. She was quiet for the rest of the way, except for the occasional question asking. But Johnny rarely ever answered them, he didn't really feel like talking right now, no, in fact he was afraid to talk at the moment. This night was sure turning out strange for him. The old creepy lady, fainted Devi, split open foot, and now he was beginning to go insane all over again. What was next? Getting abducted by the aliens? It seemed pretty logical right now.

"So... you said you were Devi's friend, right?" Tenna asked, squeeking Spooky from inside her purse. Johnny just automatically knew this was going to be a question that pissed him off even more. "I thought i've met all of her friends, weird how she never introduced me to you. What's you're real name?"

Johnny finally felt himself just snap, he started shaking violently with anger at her ignorance and immaturity. Here, her best friend, Devi, was laying unknowingly in the hands of a psycho maniac while his foot was slowly starting to grow numb with pain. On a fucking Tuesday, ofcourse, where they could all have been killed by extra-terrestrials by now, and Tenna was worrying about his damn name? Oh and Spooky, goddamn Spooky, being the one to talk. He had 'no' experience of what he was going through right now. But yet he was laughing at him! He was laughing at... him?

"Nny..?" Tenna's questioning whisper snapped him right out his thoughts, though Johnny was still shaking like a madman. "Why do you have a knife in you're hand?"

"Tenna... run..."

- DEVI'S POV -

Devi's dreams were interrupted by a dark cloud fogging over her vision, glowing white eyes stared down at her as she struggled helplessly to get away. But now she couldn't move- everything was dark, but she could feel the crimson liquid spilling from her shoulder, her arms skinned down to the bone as she lay helplessly on the cold, icy ground. They left her- left her to die slowly, bleed to death as the snow around her dripped red with the substance. When she finally gathered the strength to open her eyes, all she saw was that damned color.

"You filthy liar." A man said, just as Devi felt a sharp shoe- almost like metal talons- jab right into her already bruised side.

"Tell me where he is. Goddamnit, you know!" He spat in disgust. Devi could barely breathe- the foot in her side starting to pierce and spill more blood, as if there wasn't enough around her already.

"No..." She slowly managed, crimson spilling out of the corners of her mouth at every word. "I... swear... to god. He... ran away again."

The tall, rather plump male gave a scowl, then turned his back and began to walk away. He had a beard, one that stretched up to his ears and into his dark hair. "Throw her. She's not going to give us any answers."

Just as the man gave that order, Devi felt herself being lifted by her arms, held over a black square in the ground. It almost looked like a garabage shoot, but never ending. She didn't have enough strength to emit a scream, she had wasted all her energy on talking. Fucking talking. Devi hated talking.

But as she felt herself being released, she couldn't wish for anything more than just that, to talk out her problems with these men. Maybe she could convince them to keep her alive? But it was far too late, she was already sent barreling down. Down towards the center of the fire burning, yet so dark, cold core of the earth. All she could remember was that it was pitch black, Devi couldn't tell whether her eyes were open or closed in this place. But suddenly tiny little rays of light started to show through, lighting the tunnel just enough for her to see that she was falling past sod, lava, clay, and then air. Instead of landing on a burning ball of fire like she was expecting, she landed on a mass of twisted decapitated bodies, and bodiless heads and bodiless arms and legs. The thing that freaked her out was that they were... moving.

"Come with uuuusssss." The voices hissed from the heads, while the arms did their job to grab her, slowly pulling her into the mass of bodies, eyes watched and moved as she was pulled under, deeper and deeper into the mess. And the further she fell in, the more things started to disapear into white. Eventually it became too bright for her, she had to squint. She didn't even feel the arms pulling at her anymore, it was like they just disapeared. All she was really focused on, though... was that the light was getting so bright that she was starting to forget that all the scars and blood... had dissapeared.

Devi had woken on her bed, her heart felt like it could have been heard from halfway around the world from how terrified she was of the dream. She sat up quickly, her legs hung over the bed as she tried to get the blood from her head moving again. How did she get here? It seemed that the only thing she could remember right now was this morning, when she blacked out. It couldn't have been just that she was tired. Sure, she had gotten up a lot earlier than she would have liked this morning, but there was no way that someone could have passed out in the middle of the street just because they were tired, could they? Or perhaps she had just dreamt that this morning had happened?

No, because she still had the same clothes on that she had on at just that time. But just how did she get home? Did Tenna have to call someone to come get her? Oh god, how embarrassing that must have been.

"Tenna?" She called out, standing up a little awkwardly as she expected an answer. Damn, she couldn't even walk right! "I know you're here, Tenna. Stop fucking around!"

But she heard no answer, not even from Mr. Spooky. Usually Tenna would have given in by now. Something was wrong... Just what had happened after she fainted?

Devi wasn't afraid, though. She could just feel that her friend was just fine, it was this special best friend connection that they shared. What she was really wondering, was just how this all happened.

Then she noticed something... there was a bruise right on her shoulder, and a few tiny little scratches down her arms. They had to have come directly from the dream! What was going on?

Devi began to walk, though she was swaying just as she had been doing at the store that the author was too lazy to give a name to. Something in here... had a similarity to that place.

"I know you're in here, Sickness!" Devi screamed, her hands balled into a fist at her side. "Come out where I can see you, I have absolutely no plans of re-painting you, don't get you're hopes up!

"Who's Sickness?" A dark, whispering tone echoed through the room, it was almost too quick of a response. Devi knew exactly who it was, she feared that voice since she had ever met the creep. Freezing at the frightened tone, she was quite surprised at the way that was said. He sounded... scared?

"So you finally decided to come back and apologize to my face, hmmm?" Devi smirked, quite pleased that he was showing his most vulnerable side. Yes, now is when she was going to finally strike out and end the miserable suffering that this creep had forced upon her. "Where are you, you miserable little shit?"

She heard the shifting of papers by the window, and turned to face it, grabbing the knife that she hid on the dresser just by the bunk-beds. Not the best place to hide a knife, but it was still there, which was all that mattered to her right now.

"I'm not here to hurt you, Devi. Infact the only reason i'm here was to help you." Johnny admited, standing infront of the window that still shed some of the light from outside streetlamps. For the first time, Devi could actually see him clearly. He had the exact same appearance as always though, skinny, tall, figure. Wore all that striped clothing, and the black cloak that had torn swallowtails. And his hair had actually grown back quite well after a few months, combed back almost neatly, he had died it a dark blue again, but it was starting to fading back to black already. She flinched as Johnny finally moved, expecting him to attack by the way he was pulling a bloodied knife from his boot. But instead, he just walked closer, careful to keep his distance, but close enough to be able to set the knife by Devi's shaking feet, then retreated back to his place. "And this is proof. That is the only weapon I have, and it now lays at you're will."

Devi hesitantly dared to shift her gaze from the man for a minute, staring down at the knife by her feet. And without thinking, she locked the handle of the knife in her hand and stomped over to the psycho, holding his own weapon to his throat as if daring him to make a move. "You're saying... that you have absolutely no desire to kill me right now? That's bullshit." She glared, pressing the blade of the long knife with more pressure against his exposed throat. "Are you giving me permission to kill you right now, in this very room? I can actually end this terrible suffering that you've thrown straight onto my head?"

Devi was quite surprised when a nod was given, without even any hesitation. "Kill me if you wish. But I can almost guarantee that you wont." She hated that way that he said that with such confidence.

This only made Devi more pissed when she pulled back the knife, ready to strike. With such force, she jerked her arm forward with a single thrust, aiming straight for the throat. She was so close, way too close, but... she couldn't. Damn, the maniac was right. He was actually right! She couldn't do this...

"You were right, Johnny? I... I can't kill you?" Devi whispered in more of a question than a statement. She let the knife drop, then turned her back to him, slowly walking away in a sort of daze. Why didn't she just kill him, cut his head off right there? Hell, he'd even left his throat completely open.

"I'll be back in a little while." She heard Johnny mumble before picking up the knife from the floor, unlatching the window to open it (Preferably without smashing through it like he used to do. Don't get him wrong, he was very tempted to, but no), then leaping out. And he was quite lucky, if he tried to jump from just one more floor up, he probably would have been dead.

Please don't leave. Devi wanted to yell after him. I don't want to be alone, not right now... And she was almost about to, but was disappointed to see that he was already too far away. Way too far away.

After a few more minutes of thinking, she decided to finally flip on the lights to her room, only then was it that she snapped right out of her daze. The wooden floors were stained red with blood- something that she feared right now from her dearest dream. It wasn't blood of Johnny's possible victims, nothing like that, not Tenna, but they were shaped of footprints not of her own, but from the blood of Johnny himself.

Nny was hurt? Devi wondered, shaking with the thought. Damn, she really hated him, but she couldn't stand the thought of him hurt, possibly dying right now as she was thinking. Maybe that's why he risked his life when he said I couldn't kill him?

Devi had enough of this crap, she decided to just go check it out for herself. After all, maybe he knew where Tenna was? She wouldn't have just left her out of the blue, and there really wasn't anywhere she could go around here, with her apartment being rearranged and all. Devi stormed over to the closet out in the living room, which, mind you, was right next to the exit of her apartment.

As she opened the wooden door to the closet, a familiar creaking sound emitted from it's hinges. It sounded like it was just about to fall off any minute now, but Devi dismissed this, diving her hand in to search for her usual coat. After a minute or two of digging through everything, she managed to pull out a bright red coat, the hood bordered with fake silver wolf fur. Once she threw it on her back, she made a dash to the exit. As she twisted the silver knob, she threw a hand over her eyes, shielding it from the blinding light as she stepped out into the bright hallway of the apartment.

The area was decorated with traditional art pictures hanging on the wall, and some were crazy designs that looked like they had been designed from a five year old. Devi kept pushing on, despite the burning light from the bright lucent glass overhead. She wasn't used to being out in the morning, she rather wait until there were less people at night and it was darker out. But right now, she was just focused on finding Tenna, then teach Johnny a lesson about leaving her the fuck alone.

It was easy to track down the maniac, just following the bloodspots trailed on the side of the road. He's lucky that cars don't travel down here anymore. Devi thought with a frown, trying to ignore the searing pain arched into the deep scrapes on her right arm as she walked. Instead, she only picked up the pace more, trying to forget about it.

The silence annoyed Devi, all there was sound out in the wilderness, a few chirping birds and the silent sun. It was just a dead neighborhood down here. Quite nice in some areas, but dead. It was what one might call vacant. It was creepy with the empty wooden houses, looking as if they were held together with only a single nail, destined to pop out any minute now and send the whole place crashing down into the howling midst of the earth.

The violet-haired Devi kept following the specks of blood, her feet growing sore already. What she didn't notice was that she wasn't exactly in the greatest condition, either. Devi was beginning to grow irritated at the situation. Just what had happened when she blacked out? And just why had she? She could barely even remember anything from earlier in the morning. She just remembered going to the store that had remained unnamed because the writer was too lazy to think of something.

"Devi?" A dull female voice sounded behind her. Shit! Devi hadn't realized that she had no defense weapon at the time, just how dumb could she be? Here she was, hunting for a maniac that had threatened to kill her, and almost had at one point, and she had no weapon? It frightened her, the voice, she didn't recognize it until she finally turned around.

Devi sighed with relief at the familiar sight of her friend's stupid grin. And, of course, she was holding Spooky like it was her most prized possession. Devi didn't care about that dumb toy though, she was just glad that they were safe.

"Tenna, you're okay!" Devi sighed with a weak smile, throwing her arms around her friend. "I thought you were dead... just where the hell were you?!" Her attitude changed suddenly as she pulled away, glaring at her friend very seriously now.

Tenna seemed to back away, she looked ashamed as her gaze dropped to the ground as if she was a child being scolded by her mother. "Well... you know that guy you always told me about? That uh... phsyco, Johnny, right?" She looked up again, her hands clutching the skeleton dog-toy, forcing it to squeal. "Uhm, yeah well, he said that he would help get you home. Y'know, because you blacked out and all. Then he got hit by a car, and hurt his foot, and it seemed like I was annoying him. Then... Johnny threatened to kill me, so I ran." That's right, she knew his name very well. Tenna must have used her fantastic acting skills to pretend as if she hadn't.

Devi just stood, her glare still glued to her face as she processed this new information. "He... what...?" She silenced herself, deciding that she needed no words to explain her hatred. Instead, she was going to take action. And being Devi, she knew exactly what to do.

Authors note

Sorry for the super long wait on this. I originally wanted to post this on Christmas for you guys, but as you might know, the site went down and nobody was able to log in. So it had to wait. Also, one of my pets died and I just couldn't bring myself to sit down and write. But it's finally here! I finished it! And guess what... ITS THE SEASON FINALE.
So uh, tell me what you think about this series so far, if you can, and tell me what you're favorite part was out of everything that has happened, I would like to do something like this at every end of each series to get an opinion from you as to what I can do to improve as I progress through this story. No, im not necessarily searching for praise, but just anything that you would like to see more of, or what I could plan to improve on. So please, tell me what you think! 83