450,000 WORDS! Another milestone passed!

I'm on 20 favorites lists now! The 20th, HanSoloHockeyGuy, is actually someone I know personally. In your review, see if you can guess who he is!

Here is the longest chapter yet, beating out the previous one by a decent amount. I hope that you enjoy it, and watch that bar on the right-hand side of the screen start to disintegrate.

And yes, I DO know how to spell "ghost". It's just a reference to A Haunted House, when they ask the ouija board if it's a demon or a ghost, and the ghost replies "G-O-S-T". It makes my dad crack up to this day.

Singlewave asks: What is your favorite foreign food?

SnowLucario answers: You know, there is no easy answer to that question for me. On one hand, I really don't like Mexican food. Maybe it's because I live in New England, more than 2,000 miles from most places in Mexico. Also, if our president goes ahead with the wall, which Trump seems to be doing, it'll get even worse for Mexican food. Like I said, though, I don't like Mexican food anyway.

Rather, I think I like udon from the Japanese place near my house. Or chicken teriyaki, but I'm leaning more towards the former. Not counting pizza or pasta. As for nachos...they're really just tortilla chips with a ton of cheese on them. Who cares?

Disclaimer: I might get a job next summer, I might not. I wouldn't be having this debate with myself if I owned Star Fox.

KONSTANTIN'S POV

When I woke up after having my nightmare, it must have been several hours before everybody else got up. Even so, I couldn't go back to sleep, and the reasons for that should be completely obvious. As one of the people who had helped to save my life, hearing a plot to kill Lucas was something that really riled me up.

It scared me, too. Although nobody had said it, Lucas had a large role in keeping this team together. To hear that they were plotting to kill him...well, I guess that it did make sense, but...yeah. It wasn't something I liked to think about.

Unfortunately, I would have to think about it if I was to tell Lucas. To keep him safe from these people who plainly wanted to hurt him. Looking around at the dark blue walls made of ice, and the fine dusting of snow on the ground, I could only hope that Lucas would wake up early as well, so that I could have a heart-to-heart with him and tell him to try to take care of himself. He'd have to avoid or survive a gunshot, after all.

I only hoped that he would wake up in time for this conversation to happen. It was one that needed to happen soon, because if it didn't, we would not have too much time. According to Wolf, he would arrive on Fichina within a week. As for Lucas waking up, he's kind of a wild card. He can be a very heavy sleeper at times, or he can be a light sleeper on occasion. Although I could bet that in an unfamiliar environment like this, he might be a light one. Only time would tell.

Luckily, Lucas woke up about an hour before we were supposed to get tattooed. None of the others were up yet, and I knew this was my chance.

"Lucas, I have something very important to tell you. In private. Can we go inside the bathroom?"

"Sure" he said warily. I could tell that the words in private set off alarm bells inside his head. He knew that the news was not good.

We went inside the bathroom that our, for want of a better word, dormitory shared. Because it was kind of a small space to stand in, I sat on the toilet while Lucas stood up, leaning against the shower/bathtub.

"There's just no way to sugarcoat it, Lucas" I said.

"What do you mean?" he asked me. I could tell that I just needed to drop the bomb now instead of tap-dancing around it. That was never going to work.

"Lucas, I think that Wolf O'Donnell is plotting to kill you".

His reaction was almost exactly just as I had imagined it. He clearly looked alarmed, and he had to grab onto the bar from which the shower curtains hung in order to avoid collapsing. I sat him down until he was lying down in the bathtub. He would have looked very odd indeed taking a bath in his pajamas, so I was careful not to start it.

"What do you mean? How do you know?" Lucas asked.

"I had a dream-".

"Oh, really?" Lucas sneered. "And I had a dream that Maximum Ride came to show-and-tell in my little brother's elementary school class. I don't even have a little brother, or any siblings at all".

Now, I was the one to ask the question, "What do you mean?".

"Telling me about your dreams won't get you anywhere. It doesn't mean anything. It's just a fucking dream".

"You are a really bad liar, Lucas Zantry Enfield" I said.

It was true. As much as he might let on that he wasn't scared, Lucas was pale and looked like he would indeed faint if he wasn't lying down.

"I'll...take every precaution I can. I'm sorry. What gave it away?

"It's just that you looked more like you were trying to convince yourself that you were safe rather than telling the truth" I said. "I can tell things, Lucas, based on people's body language".

"I get it" Lucas said. "Maybe it has something to do with the fact that I have Asperger's. I've never been very good at reading people, and you seem to be no exception".

Just then, there was a knock on the door.

"Is anyone in there?" said the voice of Dr. Howler.

"Yeah. Do you want in?" I asked.

"Konstantin! Is Lucas in there with you?"

"Yeah, he is. Do you want to see him?"

I opened the door and let the Bengal tiger in. She saw Lucas lying at the bottom of the bathtub, looking as if he had just seen a gost.

"What's wrong with him?" the doctor asked me.

I made eye contact with Lucas. In that moment, we both registered that we could not let Dr. Howler know what I had dreamt of. This was between Lucas and myself. We didn't need her worrying any more than she already was with all of these patients.

As it turned out, this would be a big mistake.

WILLOW'S POV

The days went on by.

And yet, I couldn't get the thought of what Dr. Howler had told me out of my head. After talking with Konstantin in the bathroom, Lucas had appeared extremely pale. I didn't know what this was, and she didn't either. However, she had told Ian and myself to keep a close eye on Lucas from here on out.

Of course, that would come naturally for me, considering that I really did love Lucas. And as for Ian, well...he was opening up to us a little more. He'd told us that he was originally from San Diego, but we didn't know too much else about him thus far. Even so, I was warming up to the guy.

In any case...yeah, that worried me to no small degree. At the same time, there were still other things to be occupied with. I couldn't spend all of my time worrying about Lucas, or else I would never get things done. Right now, we were working on helping in the war against the Anglars, however that could be accomplished.

Eventually, we reached Valentine's Day. I'd never been one to celebrate the holiday too much, but then again, I had never been in a serious relationship before, at least not a romantic one. I knew that what I was feeling with Lucas was real. And there was another good thing today as well.

To celebrate the holiday, all of our morning obligations were cancelled. At least, for those of us who slept in room 1652791. Asking around, I found out that there was a room in the basement that had a music player.

This made me happy. I wanted to do some more dancing with Lucas, have another date. I wasn't willing to admit it to myself, but over the course of everything that had happened my bond with him had seemed to become less substantial, less important to my life. I wanted to keep this thing going.

Lucas met me in the hallway after breakfast.

"You want to go to this dance room?" he asked me.

"It's not really a dance room, per se, but it's a place that we can dance. At least, they have a music player there. It's going to work, I think".

"You think".

"Why do you have to be so cynical all of a sudden?" I asked him, trying not to raise my voice.

I didn't want this to devolve into our second major argument as a couple. The first one had been as a result of Lucas going on his mission to defuse the bomb. Considering that I'd seen him one morning completely healthy, at least physically (I questioned Lucas's sanity for his decision), and the next day I'd seen him unconscious, severely hypothermic, and hooked up to an IV, I felt justified in this.

"I didn't mean to be" Lucas said.

I put my hand on his back. "It's okay. Besides, I have an idea of a perfect song that we could play to our dancing. Let's just hope that Cole doesn't catch us this time".

"Can I choose this time?" my boyfriend asked me.

Sighing, I said, "Of course. What do you have in mind?"

He didn't hesitate. "I want you to play 'Afraid Of Heights' by Billy Talent. Are you willing to?"

"Yeah" I said.

I went on over to the music player. After fiddling with it a bit, I was able to get to their Billy Talent playlist. Looking through the list of songs, I got it near the top in alphabetical order. I hit "PLAY", and let the song begin to unfold.

As soon as the first instrumentals began, I grabbed Lucas's hands

I really hoped that Lucas picking this song did not turn out to be prophetic. I wasn't planning on ending this relationship anytime soon. It was another of those songs where the instrumentals sounded happy, but the lyrics did not. It sounded like some deeply inspirational song, which I supposed that it might be for some people. For me, however, I was just hoping, again, that it didn't predict the future.

Given that we had just left a flight academy for another one, I got why Lucas chose this song. In this case, it held a very literal meaning for us, although it's probably metaphorical. I felt a renewed sense of commitment right now, like Lucas really would follow me to the end of time. I really hoped that this meant he would have my back no matter what.

And yet, as we held each other, I knew that we were still trying with this relationship, and were indeed not going to stop trying at any point in the near future. As for conquering the stars beyond this world, we were kind of already doing that, with everything that we were doing in the Lylat System. Who knew where else we would go during the course of this war, really?

This isn't going to end, I thought. If it does, it won't be from me saying the words. It'll be from Lucas doing it.

"We are not watching the final chapter close, Lucas!" I said, pumping my free fist in the air.

"Who said we were?" Lucas asked me.

I paused. I didn't know that Lucas would have thought that. I'd assumed that he was playing this in order to say that he was not happy in this relationship, but I might have been wrong.

All I knew was, I sure as hell hoped I was wrong.

The next day, I woke up still reeling from the events of the previous day. It really had been such a nice dance that I had had with Lucas. It had been a good time.

And yet...there were some things that did not seem to be going my way. For instance, Lucas still would not tell me what was going on. I trusted him, and yet this was one thing he was keeping from me. At least, that was what all of the signs pointed towards.

After getting tattooed with our normal schedule, I found out that I would have Arwing Flight with Krystal again. This was something I was looking forward to. The Great Fox had a fleet of four Arwings, which they used occasionally to do things like combat on the different planets of the Lylat System. I knew that, eventually, we would have to become combat pilots if we had any chance at defeating the Anglar forces.

Breakfast was not a subdued affair in the least. We had a lot of involved conversations about our schedules, but Lucas was still being evasive when I asked him what was up. If I was correct, Konstantin was the only other person who knew, and Ian, Cole, Will, Mike, and myself were being kept in the dark, as well as the three adults with us. Granted, Konstantin, at 19, was practically an adult already, but I'm digressing.

Once that was over, I headed in the direction of where Krystal was. Even after more than a week here, the underground tunnels could be quite confusing, so I was very glad to have the GPS system. Using that, I was able to find the way once again.

"Hello, cadets" Krystal said in her usual sweet voice. Luckily, it wasn't "sweet" in the way that Dolores Umbridge's was. It was more genuine, without malice. "Today, you are going to learn how to actually fly an Arwing. We're going to go outside to do this, so be sure to wear very warm clothes".

I hadn't brought my coat there. That was a big mistake. At least, I thought it was...until Krystal saved all of us.

"Don't worry, I've got plenty of winter jackets here" she said, opening up a closet. There was a wide selection indeed of ski jackets, parkas, and other warm clothing in various colors.

"Pick a blue one, just so I know that we're all together" Krystal said. Reluctantly, I skipped over my favorite color (gamboge, #E49B0F), in favor of a navy blue parka.

"All right" Krystal said. "Let's get this done!"

Krystal opened a door and let us all outside. Then, she got into the Arwing and flew it outside, meeting us about fifty yards from the edge of a cliff that went down thirty feet or so.

"Here's a few things you need to remember, cadets" she said. "First, remember not to clip one of your wings, because wings are made to fly. If you lose a wing, you lose a significant amount of control. If you lose your other wing, you're probably going to just go straight down. Keep that in mind".

"Next", Krystal said, "you have a supply of five smart bombs in there. Make sure not to detonate it on the ground here, as that can very easily cause avalanches, like the one on Corneria last month".

You don't need to remind me, I thought.

"Finally, just be safe, because we only have one Arwing here.

"You're going to fly about a thousand feet into the air and then loop back to the ground. The ring that has been placed up there is going to be your target. The Arwing is also in STUDENT MODE, meaning that it will tell you what to do. Who is willing to go first?"

Looking up at the red ring hanging one thousand feet above the icy ground, I was a little nervous. However, there was one thing I knew.

I wanted to get this over with as soon as possible.

"I will" I said.

Krystal beamed. "Excellent! Willow Foster! Please take your spot in the cockpit of the Arwing".

Krystal helped me with the harness, which was not dissimilar from the ones in the flight simulators. Once that was securely fastened, she closed the metal door and left me on my own.

Back in Maine, I had begun my driving lessons before getting taken into this alternate dimension. I wasn't an expert by any means, but I knew at least how to start a car. I could assume that the stick on the Arwing's controls did the same thing.

Luckily, I was right. I got the thing into high gear and began to soar above the icy ground.

"Use the wheel to go higher or lower!" said a robotic voice from the controls. I started to push the wheel up, but went down instead. Of course, I was supposed to do it like a regular airplane, where to go up you push the wheel down.

So that's what I did, and continued ascending until I neared the red ring. Using my intuition, I shifted the wheel to the left in order to turn right and go through the ring.

Now, all that I needed to do was to stick the landing. Easing down on the wheel as I approached the ground, I braced myself for the impact.

Luckily, it wasn't too hard. I had landed it successfully.

The rest of the class cheered, and I cheered silently in my head. I was proud of myself. I had done this right.

Later that night, however, I was far less cheery. I lay in bed, thinking about when Lucas had had that private conversation with Konstantin in the bathroom.

A simple "bro convo" between the two of them would have been one thing, and probably more acceptable in my eyes. Now, though, I felt like they had something to hide. Something that might terrify me if I knew what it was.

Well, this in itself terrified me. I had no idea what they might be hiding, but I could guess that it was nothing good. As to exactly what it was...well, only time would tell.

LUCAS'S POV

On the morning of February 16, I woke up, wondering why I was feeling so dismayed about things. Then, I remembered what Konstantin had told me next week. Apparently, today was the most likely day, if it was going to happen, that I was going to be shot by Wolf O'Donnell. I would need to be on guard no matter what, because I really did want to survive the next few days.

Today's schedule tattoo told me that I was going to have Potions today. I didn't know what we were going to make there. In fact, I had never had Potions before, but if what Cole had told me was to be trusted, it was going to be pretty funny just because of the names of some of the roots. Apparently, it was kind of like Potions class at Hogwarts, which made me wish that Harry Potter was real.

In the Harry Potter books, Potions is mostly portrayed negatively, but that's really because Severus Snape, a man who is quite vitriolic towards Harry and Ron, is the one who teaches it. Other than that, I always figured that it would be one of those things I really enjoyed. Ever since I was little, I had always enjoyed using various grocery items to make weird concoctions, but one time got in trouble for it because a babysitter asked me if there was a raw egg in there, and I admitted that there was.

In any case, that was what we were going to do today. Or rather, what I was going to do, since nobody else had Potions with me today. After asking around at breakfast, that was the conclusion I ultimately came to.

I walked into the Potions room, which a dog named Mr. Ruff was teaching. Apparently, Mr. Ruff could be strict at times, so I had to be careful not to cross him as much as possible. Looking at his face, I could tell that I was going to be walking on eggshells with him from the very beginning.

"All right, class. Today, we are going to make a potion for healing laser wounds. It can be dabbed onto the wound or injected, although the latter is probably preferable, because if it is dabbed, it causes severe stinging and is known for being extremely painful. It's pretty simple, and thus there are only six lines of instructions needed".

Mr. Ruff clicked on a remote that he had produced from his pocket, and the instructions appeared on his board.

"You have an hour for this one, so don't mess around. Go!"

I had all of the necessary materials in front of me. Looking at the first line of instructions, I read the following:

1. Place the sacul roots in the bowl.

Well, Cole hadn't been kidding. It took a lot for me to suppress the giggle that threatened to cause my face to explode. "Sacul" was my first name spelled backwards. It was really quite amusing.

I placed the purple roots into the bowl and looked at the next line of instructions.

2. Squeeze the nai peppers, but be careful not to get the juice in your eye. Make sure that as much of the juice as possible gets into the bowl. If you do it right, your potion should be blue.

The nai peppers were small and yellow, and it made my eyes water just to look at them. I didn't even want to think about what they tasted like. Sure enough, the potion turned a cerulean color once I was done placing the juice in. Again, color theory did not seem to apply here.

The rest of the potion wasn't too difficult to make, but I was doing my absolute hardest to get it as close to perfect as possible. Subconsciously, I almost felt like the reason for this was because if I got shot with a laser I was going to need it. Then again, Konstantin had probably just had a bad dream. It would not surprise me if he had been having nightmares every single night for the last two weeks.

6. Place the wolliw beans in the potion and allow it to turn pink.

It wasn't difficult to see which beans would be named after my girlfriend. They were almost a blonde color, kind of blue, and it was just too complicated to put into words, the color was. One thing was for certain: Even though pink wasn't my favorite color, far from it, the potion was still beautiful. In fact, I worried that it might be a love potion. Even now, I could picture Willow's ocean blue eyes and blonde hair, and the feel of her soft, silky skin against my rougher skin, tainted from excessive washing.

I was in love with Willow Foster. There was no way around it.

It was later, when I was walking to lunch, that it started to happen.

I heard what sounded like a blaster going off behind me. Picking up the pace, I started running. I was no longer focused on the cafeteria, just getting away from the shooter. I did not want to die today. Not when I still had so much life to live, so much to do to help with the war effort.

What if I told you that a song started playing at that very moment? Not just any song, but a song about a school shooting.

I looked back just in time to see an African-American boy get shot with a laser. To my horror, it was William Wexford, and there was no doubt in my mind that he was dead. After all, he had been shot right through the heart.

Konstantin's dream must have been right, I thought. And they don't care how many people they have to go through to get to me.

That only galvanized me to keep running, as more lines of the song continued being played, from where I didn't know.

The shooter fired another laser, which just barely missed me. I had no idea who the shooter was, except...could it be?

I sure as hell hope not, I thought. I continued running in a zigzag pattern, which was what they always said to do in order to make it harder for your predator to hit you, and decreased the chances that a vital organ would be hit.

Throughout the rest of the song, I managed to avoid getting shot by the laser. And it's not the world's shortest song, either. There were still four more verses to go, so I hope you'll all give me props for that.

After the song ended, however, my luck finally ran out.

I tripped over something. My long, long legs must have gotten caught on the body of Michael Kirk, as I confirmed. He was fallen, too.

I didn't even have time to grieve for my friends. Someone turned my neck, and I found myself staring directly into the face of Wolf O'Donnell. Just like Konstantin had told me, he'd turned as well. This was not good news.

He was the shooter. And he still had his blaster, and he was going to get me right in the heart. Cut off the head of the snake.

Before I could scream for help (because I could think of nothing better to do), Wolf grabbed me and swung his gun into my head. I tried to stay upright, but my vision was darkening. The pain caused was pretty horrible as well, which only helped to lead me into unconsciousness faster.

The next thing I remember, I was waking up. Still in the underground base, evidently, since I was surrounded by white walls, but a different room.

And it was definitely a room, not a hallway. It was thirty feet by thirty feet, with a ceiling of about nine feet.

My head hurt where I'd been struck, but I didn't think that my skull was cracked. In other words, I was not imminently going to die thanks to my current wounds.

"Hello, Lucas" Wolf sneered at me.

"What do you want?" I snapped. I tried to get up and realized that I was tied to a chair. Great.

This was genius on his part. I wouldn't be able to get up without injuring myself further. And Wolf still had his blaster, and he would be able to fire at will. One hit at a vital organ and I would be dead.

"I just wanted you to say hello to my little friend here".

Wolf's little friend was a three-inch blade that would be very deadly indeed if it was plunged into the heart. Before I could protest, he went up to my right arm (I am right-handed), and sliced into it. Slashing around, blood spurted all over his coat, which would have been funny had the source not been my arm.

I couldn't resist. I began to howl in pain, like a wolf that had been hurt or abandoned. My arm was stinging like crazy, and I knew that in the best of circumstances I wouldn't be able to use that arm very well for a while.

These clearly were not the best of circumstances. Because Wolf still had his blaster. He leveled it, preparing to shoot me in the heart.

In the last moments, I thrashed around, doing everything possible to dodge the bullet. In doing so, I tipped the chair over and the laser, which had already been fired, struck me right through the leg.

Blood came out, but I was immune to the pain. I tried to stay conscious and fight, but the darkness encroaching upon my vision once again was just impossible to resist. The more I tried to, the worse it became.

I closed my eyes and thought no more.

COLE'S POV

I was walking down the hallway with Dr. Howler and Konstantin. Konstantin had the same activity as me, Arwing Flight, while Dr. Howler was heading back to the hospital in order to fulfill her duties. Little did she know, her next patient was going to be someone she knew very well.

Suddenly, what sounded like a gunshot rang out. We hadn't heard any before that, but it seemed to be from behind a large white door on the side of the hallway.

"What was that?" I asked.

Dr. Howler looked at me seriously. "It's going to be someone shot. If they're not dead, I need to get to them. Let's get through that door, and see if it's someone who can still be saved".

"But that's suicide!" I shouted. "The killer is in there!"

"I'm a doctor and a paramedic" the Bengal tiger said. "It's my job to do things like this".

Before I could protest, she pulled on the door.

"Just like I suspected. It's locked".

"Could we bang it down?" I asked her.

Before we could even try, the door opened from the inside. We were looking right into the face of Wolf O'Donnell.

I'd always hated the guy, ever since he had manipulated the jury into voting for Konstantin to be found guilty and executed. Even before then, his position as the leader of Hand-To-Hand Combat at the flight academy was not something that made me like him more. And that is a little weird, because you would think that as a former juvenile delinquent I would appreciate this, but that's not the case.

"Come in" Wolf sneered, his tone of voice suggesting that we did not want to see what was inside that room.

Even so, my curiosity got the better of me. Flanked by Dr. Howler, we entered the room.

A chair was tipped over, and an unconscious teenage boy was tied to it. A very large amount of blood was oozing from a wound on his leg, and there was also one on his arm. He had long, fluffy hair for a male, and his face was that slightly yellow shade of tan that I had come to associate with Lucas Enfield.

Meaning that it was, indeed, Lucas Enfield.

"What happened to him?" I gasped.

"He's been shot" said Dr. Howler, clearly shocked at just how much blood was there.

"Yes, and I'll shoot you too!" Wolf shouted, pointing the blaster at the Bengal tiger.

"Oh, no you don't!" Dr. Howler snapped, grabbing Wolf by the arm and around the back.

Wolf was pointing his blaster at me now, but I was agile enough to avoid it, my reflexes honed from years of criminal activity. I'd spent a lot of time running away from angry people whom I had stolen from, so I was able to avoid being shot.

Wolf tried once again to shoot me, but I was ready. I lunged at him, managing to snatch the gun out of his hands.

Now he was on the defensive. He tried to make another lunge at me, but I managed to get out of the way. Staggering backwards, I pulled the trigger. I'd never shot a gun before, but I could imagine how it was done.

Sure enough, I was correct. A green laser came out and hit Wolf in the leg, near where Lucas had apparently been shot. Wolf collapsed unconscious, right beside Lucas.

With the threat gone, Dr. Howler rushed to Lucas's side.

"How is he?" I asked.

She frowned. "It's not good, Cole. Good on you for shooting Wolf, though. He seems to have stabbed Lucas in the arm and shot him in the leg. We'll need to get him into surgery right away to see what damage has been caused".

Then, she said, "Watch over Lucas until I get back, okay?"

I agreed to, but there really wasn't too much to watch. Lucas was still unconscious, and he remained so the entire time I was watching over him. Instead, I was confronted by my jumbled thoughts.

In books, you often hear about characters who feel very guilty, somehow changed, from the act of shooting someone. I did not. In fact, I felt like the same Cole McCallen as I had been before. There was a big difference, though. I felt guilty for not feeling guilty, if that makes any sense.

Oh boy. That was a really crazy thing to think about. If I felt guilty for not feeling guilty, then I was feeling guilty. Or...never mind. All I knew was one thing:

I really hoped Lucas didn't die.

KONSTANTIN'S POV

I had stayed outside the door the whole time, not wanting to face my nemesis Wolf O'Donnell. If I had been able to, I would have personally ripped his heart out with my bare hands. But I saw that in this case, he had all of the power, and I didn't want to die. I'd come close enough already in that cell, thank you very much.

Beyond that, however, I was pretty mad at myself.

I should have taken more action. Yes, I had told Lucas that he was being targeted by Wolf. However, I really could have pushed it more, although what could he have done to avoid being shot? He'd been locked into a room with Wolf somehow. And there had to be another shooter besides Wolf. There had to be some explanation for why Mike had been killed as well as Will.

All of this only exemplified one key point: These people really seemed to have some beef with Lucas Enfield. They didn't seem to care how many people they had to kill to cut off the head of the snake.

After Cole and Dr. Howler had overpowered Wolf, she had left and come back with a team of medics who lifted Lucas onto a stretcher and carried him away to the medical wing of the base. They were taking him into surgery right away. I could only hope that he would be all right, but there was a lot of blood. Would he even live?

I didn't necessarily see Lucas as the leader of this team, but he definitely helped to hold us all together. If he died, we would have a harder time working together. Why we had rallied behind Lucas in particular, we didn't know. Cole was just as instrumental, really.

In any case, Lucas was in surgery for several hours. Once that was over, Dr. Howler exited the OR, ready to tell us how things had gone.

Ian, Willow, Falco, and Cole had been summoned. Mrs. Hooter was not present. Apparently, she had been killed during the shooting. This meant that three out of the ten of us were now dead, just because of Wolf O'Donnell. And I could have averted it, easily. Well, maybe not easily, but still.

"Lucas is out of surgery now" the Bengal tiger said.

"It was a success. His heart didn't stop beating, but it was scary for some time. We stitched up his leg. The laser had done a lot of muscle damage, but thankfully missed the bones. As for his arm, that was from a knife slash. We stitched it up, but a vein had been severed, so Lucas won't be able to use his right arm for a while. That's why there was so much blood. Speaking of blood, we had to give him two pints of it to replace some of what he had lost. He'll be asleep for the next couple of hours, but you're free to visit for a few minutes if you like".

"I would like to" Willow said. I noticed that she didn't drop the bomb about being his girlfriend and all.

"Me too" said Cole.

"I also want to" Ian replied.

I, however, hesitated. I knew that Lucas was still asleep from the anesthesia and would not remember my visiting him. But what would I have apologized for? Not being forceful enough?

Cole opened the door, and we saw just the state our friend was in.

Lucas Enfield was nearly the same color as the snowy floor, and there were bandages on his leg and shoulder. An IV was taped to his left wrist, pumping fluids into him from the icy pole, and there were any number of machines attached to him. He also had a heart monitor attached, and its beeping created the only noise in the room. I could only imagine how he must have looked before having the blood transfused into him.

He was clearly still unconscious, and he showed no signs of revival from us coming into the room.

Looking at this, I felt even more guilty than I had before. My failure to act boldly enough had resulted in this. Lucas had almost gotten killed by Wolf's laser, and now he was likely to be facing a long recovery period. I didn't know how it could possibly get worse than it already was.

We'd lost three members of our team, very valuable ones. And we'd come this close to losing Lucas.

RIP Will, Mike, and Mrs. Hooter

Yes, I'm going to do obituaries in this story as well! The body count wasn't too high in the last one, but here it will be a bit more. But that's enough about that.

Will: Seeing as Wolf's mission was to kill members of Star Enfield, this was technically NOT a hate crime. In any case, I didn't like Will too much. No one sent in a PM for what became him, so he was always a filler character. He didn't have too much character development, which is why my little sister is against fanfiction. In this case, she was kind of right, although for a different reason than she says there is no room for character development. She says that if you use the same universe, this means less room for creativity. In any case...

Mike: The same as Will. A filler character. I feel just the same way about him. Mike was a little nerdy, and I always pictured him as looking similar to another boy in my school. I pictured him as small with glasses, a few months younger than me. And he'll never reach 17 now. Sorry, Mike. You and Will were kind of just...there.

Mrs. Hooter: I LOVED this owl! She was very hilarious, even when she had her bow and arrow on hair-trigger alert, ESPECIALLY when it was on hair-trigger alert. As soon as I noticed that she didn't have much of a part (despite her plan to use the tranquilizer arrows being pivotal in rescuing Konstantin), I realized she had to go. If the character isn't interesting to write anymore, they end up in my firing line. That's how it goes with me.

ONE LAST IMPORTANT THING: I do not own any songs that are sung in any of these stories. The ones from this chapter belong to Billy Talent and Foster the People, respectively.

With that, my longest chapter so far has come to an end. I hope that you all take the time to review and tell me your thoughts, and I will see you for the next update.

Also: In case you're wondering, Ian is 19 in this story.

One last thing: Once I'm done with this story, I've got an idea for a Pokemon fanfiction. It'll be about a pair of teenage siblings. The boy turns into a Growlithe, the girl turns into a Vulpix. It'll take place in an AU with Pokemon in the real world, and if anyone wants to PM me ideas for the siblings, please do so. I'd only work on it during weekends. During the week, I'm going to write Book 3 of the Wing And A Scare trilogy.

P.S. I just finished Chapter 12 yesterday.

SnowLucario out.