Hey! It's been over a week since I last updated. I know. You must be kinda pissed.. Sorry! Had a bunch of stuff going on, with my sister's b-day and such. Plus, I got myself a haircut! Anyway, since you don't care much (lol), here's another chappie, from me to you! Enjoy!
Three days had passed since Zim's and Dante's battle against one another. Zora stirred about finally that morning, her vision still a blur, but nonetheless, still okay and in perfect condition.
Where she woke up, however, was a complete surprise to her. She was in a huge room, with the wallpapers hot pink and the bed as well, with red satin sheets. It was her bedroom in her underworld home.
Suddenly, a sharp pain shot through her head, images of her memories swimming through like a movie put on fast forward.
'Ugh. Is this.. is this my old bedroom? Ya, it is. I'm in my underworld home.. wait... where's Zim..and the others?'
She tried to get out of bed, but slipped and headed downwards, towards the floor.
She cried out and shut her eyes, waiting for the hard impact. Nothing happened. She felt a hand, however, holding her up.
Nervously, she popped one eye open, only to see a butler hold her... a ghost butler.
She screamed as she fell backwards back on the bed. "Who are you? Why am I here? Where is everyone?"
The butler adjusted his eye piece, as he chuckled in humor. "My, my. It seems that you don't remember me, dear Miss. It's me, Walter."
His hair was slick black and tied in a low ponytail. His wrinkled face still held some youth in it and wore fine garments that were used way back in what seemed like Victorian times.
Zora blinked a couple times before she let the name settle down. Again, a huge throbbing in her head took place.
"W-Walter? You mean... the old butler of the Helsing family? The same one who attended to.. my-"
"Your mother. Yes, the very same. Good to see that your memories are now falling back into place! It's a shame you are mostly drained of energy though, young miss. It seems your body needs more time to regain it's strength and recuperate before you do anything else."
Zora propped herself up on the bed with pillows to support her. 'Damn, these pillows are soft! Where they always this soft..? I can't remember...'
Walter began to chuckle a bit. "I forgot to tell you; not all your memories are fully restored. It will take more time until they all fall back in their proper links. But at least you are now remembering your past life here in Hell."
A knock on the door caught them both by surprise.
"It's us, Walter. Let us in! We wish to see if Zora is finally awake." Grim's Jamaican accent rang behind the door. Walter straightened his tie as he floated over and open the door.
Everyone almost fell into the room all at once. Walter looked quite amused at the sudden barge in. "Well, I shall go check the hallways for anything else. If anyone needs me, then don not hesitate to call." With that said, Walter floated out of the room and disappeared into a white mist, which cleared just as quickly.
Zelda got up and straightened herself, then rushed over to her daughter. "Goodness, sweety! Are you alright? You're not hurting anywhere are you? Your dad didn't hit you by any chance, did he?"
Dante got up, very bewildered from his wife's comment.
"I didn't hit her at all, Zel! Honestly, I was aiming for the alien! Something went with Zora and caused her to go nuts! It's not my fault!"
Dante fumed as the other teens got up behind him. Grim stood on the opposite side of Zora's bed, which surprised everyone as to how in the world he got there all of a sudden.
"Are you sure you're alright, child? Let me take a good look at you." Grim examined her from head to toe, making her shift slightly from his eye probing.
"She's fine. Her aura, however, is very different from before." Grim frowned ever so, as he placed a bony finger on his chin.
Zim shot right towards her bed before anyone else could make a move.
"Zora! Are you alright? Please tell me you're alright!"
Zora smiled up at the ex-invader, happy to see that he was still alive himself.
"I'm fine, Zim. Don't worry about me. I just have a bit of a headache, that's all." Zim sighed with relief, happy to know that his 'prized possession' was safe and sound.
"I'm surprised that Dante didn't even bother killing Zim after what happened to Zora." Ryuu stated bluntly. Dib punched him lightly on the arm, which in return earned him a hard punch to the side from his sister.
"I'm surprised that Lord Dante didn't even kill you off the spot along with that alien.", a strong voice came from behind the group.
Everyone turned around as they saw a young man, approximately the same age as Ryuu, with short blonde spiked hair (almost like Roxas from KH), with baby blue eyes with black slits in them. His skin was almost as pale as Grim's bones, and wore a white uniform shirt with a gray pair of slacks and black boots. A skull identical to Ryuu's belt buckle and the one on Zora's witch hat was imprinted on his shirt pocket. He had one piercing on his right ear, and was holding what looked like a charcoal black notebook in his left hand.
"What in blazes are you doing here, Edmond?" Ryuu spat with venom. His eyes turned into slits as well, with his irises glowing a bright eerie green.
Gaz was surprised that Ryuu held such hatred towards this one guy standing right in front of them. 'Damn. Guess we have another member in our "special" club...'
Dante looked over with a scowl. "Ryuu, calm down. Edmond was just worried about Zora as much as you were. Edmond, what brings you here all of a sudden? Surely, you didn't leave the other guests unattended?"
Edmond opened his book with a blank expression on his face, then closed it again. "The other guests were too busy watching the NFL right now. Saints versus Colts, you know? So, they didn't notice anything going on as of late, not even you being gone from the meeting for so long."
Dante grimaced. This was going to be a problem, what with all the other underworld inhabitants lurking about in the meeting room without supervision. Dante had a so called meeting with the other big bad rulers of the underworld. Hell was divided into sections among the rulers, with Dante having the bigger piece.
Those rulers were Nergal, Grim (of course), Dante himself, Jack Skellington, and Him.
Dante and Grim merely exchanged glances at one another. Although Grim knew he had to leave back to the mortal world sooner or later, he had to attend this meeting, since it only occurs once a month.
Zelda waved a hand over to her husband and Grim. "You should both go over there now, before they all start making a disaster! I don't want Walter pushing himself as much as he is right now."
With a nod of understanding, the Reaper and Demon Lord vanished in the blink of an eye. Zelda motioned Edmond to come join them. He obliged, although he continued to glare at Ryuu, who was glaring back with equal amount of hatred.
Zora glanced over at the calendar, and was shocked to see the date. She finally noticed that she had been sleeping for three days straight! 'And my body isn't rejuvenated yet...? Damn...'
"Mom? Have I really been sleeping for this long? I mean, look! I missed school!"
Zelda giggled. 'She's so adorable when she gets mad, just like her father.'
"Yes, sweetheart, you have. Your body must have underwent some sort of change and thus, you need to rest."
Zora looked blankly with some confusion at her mother.
"This isn't another step in puberty, is it? Like another per-"
"Where the hell is Walter? Shouldn't he be back by now?" Gaz questioned aloud, not letting Zora continue her rant as to what her mother really meant.
"I'm right here..."
Everyone turned, only to have shocked looks on their faces. Walter was holding a brutally beaten and unconscious Tak in his arms.
"Tak! What happened? How did she..?" Dib was speechless, unable to fathom the damage that Tak took. 'Where did she go?', he thought with worry and... anger.
Edmond examined the female invader's body carefully. Dib clenched his fists as he took note of this.
"What the hell are you doing?"
"I'm checking for vital signs, you pathetic human. She's alive.. but only just. Where did you find her, Walter?"
Walter looked among them grimly. "She was found in the black corridor. The vault, was also found... open and.. empty."
Zelda covered her mouth with her hands, her eyes growing wide.
Zim scoffed, not looking the least bit amused. "I'm guessing that's where this so called 'Ethereal Darkness' was locked up in?"
Walter shook his head. "You didn't tell them, did you Mistress?"
Everyone's eyes fell on Zelda, who was looking close to passing out. Walter appeared right behind her with a chair, letting her fall lightly on it.
"Let me explain then." Walter said calmly, removing his white gloves and placing them on the small table next to the bed.
"This so called 'Ethereal Darkness', was not locked in a vault. The 'vault' that I was talking about, was the one where Lucia was locked up in."
Ryuu and Edmond's eyes grew wide with horror and deep burning hatred, more hatred than they had for each other.
Zora shifted uncomfortably, holding on to Zim's hand tightly, who returned the squeeze with equal concern.
"Perhaps you do not remember this, young miss, but Lucia, was the same boy that tried to kill you years ago, when you and Ryuu went to play in that abandoned shelter. He is also the son of your father's enemy, Anderson."
Her eyes finally widened in sheer terror, the voice of that demon replaying in her head. "Anderson.."
The shadowy image of that boy again reappeared in her head, but his face still hiding in darkness, making it impossible to make out.
Zim's eyes glowed in rage, his other hand shaking violently. Gaz raised a brow, impressed at the giant 'doom cloud' that hung over their heads at the time.
"Then what about the 'Ethereal Darkness'? Where the hell is that thing being kept at, if not a vault?", the purple female goth questioned the butler.
Walter cleared his throat, in a dramatic way.
"The 'Ethereal Darkness' was sealed away in a book. A large black leather book, with silver writing on the spine. It's written in the ancient language of the demons, so no mortal can make it out."
Everyone fell silent. This made Walter raised a brow in confusion. Edmond stared hard at Ryuu, who was shifting his feet nervously on the carpet.
Zora fell silent as well, gathering some courage to finally say something.
"Um, Walter? We found that book back in the old abandoned room in my house in the mortal world, and um..."
Walters' face fell in shock, but remained calm in his tone of voice, "And..?"
Zora swallowed with difficulty, "It sorta disappeared into a black and red kind of smoke and I kinda... absorbed it."
A long, deadly silence filled the room. No one spoke for so long time, that is, until Edmond spoke out for what seemed to be everyone.
"We're fucked up."