Paternal Bonds Shattered

Disclaimer: Do I need to say it? I don't own iCarly

A/N:

Chapter 37 (Goodbye Gibby)

Gibby and Nevel winced as they heard Jeremy's scream and sickening thud. The building had ceased to rumble and everything became still and quiet. Gibby looked at Nevel with a look of sadness in his eyes. Nevel closed his eyes and let out an exasperated sigh , he knew what was coming. Death. Ten years, and it all led up to this. Gibby gave him a serious nod and pulled a magnum pistol from his pocket and gripped a dagger in his other hand. It was not as though they wanted to die, they had to die. "You're going first, Gibby?"

"Yes. After this…you're up." Nevel felt his stomach clench up. He hated to have to watch Gibby die. "Let's just hope we don't suffer as badly as Jeremy." They weren't sure if he did suffer. A fall from that height was bound to kill him instantaneously. "You know we would die anyway if we made it through this. Hector would come after us." What did they have to live for, anyway? They'd given it some serious thought and debate, but neither man could think of anything. "Valerie's safe, Sam will be safe too. That's what is important, do you understand, Nevel?" Nevel slowly nodded his head and swallowed hard. He knew he'd give a good fight, just as Gibby would. They didn't want Freddie's group going soft on them. Not that they thought they would. Gibby closed his eyes as Freddie and Carly turned the corner and came into view. Spencer and Amy were not far behind. "Sylvia, I'll be with you shortly." He looked to Nevel one final time and breathed out. "Nevel, you remember what we talked about?"

"Yeah, God and everything?"

"Right." They'd recently become believers in an almighty God and the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. It was Sylvia that converted Gibby, and Gibby had read Nevel some scriptures. "Have you…prayed for forgiveness?" He turned his head and frowned. "Sorry, that's between you and God." They didn't think Sam would ever forgive them. Hell, nobody would ever forgive them, probably. But they were changed men as far as they were concerned. Gibby grunted and leapt from behind the wall, scaring both Freddie and Carly as he slashed at them with his knife. "Die, you two!"

"Gibby?" Carly dodged his attack while Freddie ducked under him. Carly growled and Freddie aimed his revolver towards him. Gibby huffed and narrowed his eyes, glaring at Freddie as he stepped forward. "Now Gibby, I don't want to have to kill you. Let this end peacefully. Just let us grab Sam." Gibby closed his eyes and frowned heavily. The immense guilt he had felt as though he had heavy weights just dragging him down. He wanted them to rescue her, he wanted them to get her out. He would love to let this be peaceful, but there was no chance in hell of that happening and his remaining alive.

"Over my dead body." It was to his advantage that Carly and Freddie did not know too much about how he treated Valerie, or how he'd, in recent years, become the sworn 'protector' of both the girls. He didn't want them to know, not now. In order for him to ensure his death, they needed to hate him, or at least have no other choice but to kill him. He aimed his pistol and fired a shot at Freddie, making sure not to strike anywhere serious. Freddie dodged his shot and growled.

"You're not making this any easier!"

"I'm sorry, am I supposed to want you to save Sam, thus pissing Hector off to the point where he wants to kill us all?" Freddie scowled as Gibby ran behind a post. Freddie crouched behind a couch while Carly moved behind a post, ready to try and swing around Gibby.

"Come on Gibby! It doesn't have to end this way!"

"The fuck you think it doesn't!" Gibby stepped out from behind his post and fired a shot at the couch Freddie was hiding behind. Freddie quickly got up and fired off a round of bullets at Gibby. "Ah shit!" He ducked back behind his wall and looked to his arm, he'd been hit. He paused momentarily to look up to the sky. "Sylvia, look after me. I'll be there…God, Sylvia, if you can make this painless, I know I have no right to ask that after everything…" A gunshot hit the pillar he was hiding behind and jarred him back to reality. He shouted and looked over just as Carly came swinging her knife around on him. Thinking fast, he ducked under and kicked Carly in the abdomen.

"Damn it Gibby!" He smirked and ran from the pillar. Freddie opened fire upon him and he quickly rolled underneath a table. Freddie narrowed his eyes and shifted his gaze to the table, ceasing his fire.

"Gibby, why do you persist? You're outnumbered." Gibby smirked dangerously and the sun glinted off his tooth.

"That's what you think. I can be a fucking one man army!" He fired a gunshot and Freddie ducked behind the couch, holding his revolver close and growling. "So I guess Jeremy's dead and they got Valerie. Well, one down and one to go, right Freddo? I bet you want to kill Hector more than anything, don't you?" Freddie narrowed his eyes as Carly pressed her back against the pillar. "Think you're good enough to do shit? You're not! You're pathetic, that's what you are!"

"Gibby, that's enough!" He knew Gibby was trying to provoke him, and as much as he didn't want to admit it, it was working.

"I'm not sure what's more pathetic. You waiting ten years for one girl, or the fact that not once did you suspect Hector and you let him get so fucking close! I thought you were smart, Freddie! You're dumb as shit!" Freddie growled and Carly looked worriedly at him. "I guess you're nothing. What do you think's going to happen when you get Sam? You think it's going to be easy?" Gibby rushed from under the table and charged toward the couch. "Come on Freddie! Let's see if you got what it takes!" Carly swirled around as he passed her and dug her knife into his back. He grunted and the pain hit him, but dissipated almost as quickly as it came. Freddie rose from the couch, his face twisted in pure anger.

"Fuck it Gibby, there's no saving you!" He fired a gunshot into Gibby's abdomen and frowned. Gibby smiled as he staggered back and placed his hand on his stomach. The cool, inviting blood gushed through his fingers and he looked up into the sky. It didn't hurt much, but it was just another step closer to his ultimate goal.

"Is that what you think? Really?" He turned his gaze onto Freddie and fired another gunshot, grazing his shoulder. "You think I want to be saved, asshole? There's no need to 'save' me, fucker." Freddie frowned as Gibby swung around him and punched him swiftly in the back.

"I've tried telling you that you don't have to go out like this!" Freddie wrapped his arm around Gibby's neck and started to twist him. Gibby struggled and threw his fist into Freddie's chest. Freddie shouted as he was thrown against the back of the couch.

"If you think you're going to save Sam, you have to go through me first!" Freddie groaned and wiped the blood that was trickling from his mouth off. Carly wanted to tell Freddie to relax, she could see from the look in his eyes that he was getting too serious. Sure, nothing was going to stop him from saving Sam, and Gibby was making it more difficult.

"If that's what you want, Gibby. So be it." He didn't think it was necessary to kill Gibby, he knew that the guy looked like he wanted to die. "Carly, let's get him."

"Right Freddie." Gibby shouted and turned to Carly, firing off a shot. She shouted and ducked away from him. What the hell was he doing? Didn't he know fighting them right now was suicide? She had all her grenades around her hip, Freddie had the damn good gun, and all Gibby had was a knife and pistol. Gibby charged Carly and raised his dagger.

"Die, woman! I have news for you. One, all your movies suck ass, and two…you're the most fucking shallow actress on the face of this earth!" Carly's eyes widened and anger spiked through her. How dare he say that about her! Her movies weren't that bad, but she could understand someone saying that. Hell, she'd endured some of the harshest critics on the face of the earth, but to say she was shallow. Oh no, that was unforgiveable. Freddie raised his eyebrow as Gibby brought his knife down onto Carly. She roared with anger and clashed her own dagger with his.

"I am not shallow!" She punched him hard in the abdomen, brought her knife down and slit him across the chest. He moaned and started moving backwards as she continued to press onward, slashing him in the sides, the stomach, the chest, and punching him in the face multiple times. This was more than he'd asked for, but he felt that he deserved every cut. "First you take my best friend away from me, you torture her for ten years, you willingly work with Hector, even after he killed your family off, and now you decide to fight us so we can't save Sam? I don't think so!"

"That's it!" Gibby laughed and looked up to the ceiling as Carly kicked him across the room. "Keep it coming, Shay!" He shouted profanities at her, cursing her and downing her movies. "I hated every minute of iCarly, I hated it all!"

"You asshole!" That one struck her deeply. Freddie knew this was going on far enough and was ready to step in. He knew what Gibby was doing now. Gibby didn't mean anything he was saying, he just simply wanted to die. He knew he wasn't going to be able to get Freddie hard enough, but he knew how to hit Carly deep enough to make her want to kill him.

"Carly! Carly that's enough!" Gibby moved onto his hands and knees, coughing as blood flowed like rivers onto the floor. His left arm fell and his body shook horribly. His eyes drifted over as a grenade rolled next to him.

"Shit…" Freddie grabbed Carly aside and watched with terror as the grenade went off. Gibby cussed as he felt his right and left leg being torn from his body, going one way as he flew in another direction.

"Gibby! Carly, that was a bit much!" Carly frowned as Freddie ran over to Gibby's body. Gibby was staring up at the ceiling, with only Sylvia on his mind. He smiled serenely as Freddie and Carly surrounded him. "Gibby, Gibby man…"

"Freddie…Carly…Thank you." The two looked at each other in confusion, then back to him. Tears streamed from his eyes as his pain began to go away. "I knew you wouldn't kill me otherwise…I had to…" He coughed as Freddie clenched his eyes shut. Carly frowned and guilt nipped at her from all over. "I protected Valerie up until now, I started protecting Sam lately…I know what I did was wrong, and there is nothing for me to return to. Death…only choice…"

"We could have helped you, Gibby." Gibby slowly shook his head as a figure clothed in white approached him. He smiled when he saw her face, it was Sylvia. Behind her, his mother, and his father. His little brother was nowhere, and it wasn't until then that he realized it. The day they died, Guppy was with his grandfather for that week.

"But I had everything to die for…please…don't let Valerie see my body like this. It would devastate her, as for the last ten years…Sam and I were her only friends." Freddie held his eyes shut as Spencer and Amy ran up behind them. Gibby coughed and blood streamed from his mouth. God he didn't want a painful death. "Please…I want to be with Sylvia…with my family…"

"Gibby…" Freddie opened his eyes and tears streamed out. "I don't know what it was like for you in the past ten years…" He moved his revolver to Gibby's chest, his body shaking. He hadn't wanted to have to do this to anyone and never dreamed he'd have to actually shoot Gibby. "But if you truly did protect Valerie, and then even Sam…then…thank you." Gibby looked at the apparitions before him and smiled as he closed his eyes. He felt them reach into him and grab hold of his soul. "Goodbye Gibby." Freddie shot into Gibby's heart, killing him instantly. It was for mercy, so he wouldn't have to die a slow, painful death. "You don't have to die alone."

"I wasn't alone." Gibby's apparition stood next to those he loved as they hugged him close. He smiled happily and looked over to see a red ghost glaring spitefully at him. "You don't need to watch, Jeremy…just let yourself go. You know they'll save her now, it's over." Gibby watched as Freddie and Carly talked, moved his body to hiding, then started to head to the basement door where Nevel jumped in front of them, tears in his eyes and a heart ready and willing to die. Freddie and Carly went on to the basement while Spencer and Amy dealt with Nevel.

It was not long before Nevel too was dead, having been gunned down by Spencer's sniper and Amy's Barrett gun. Nevel's apparition appeared next to Gibby and he saw his mother waiting for him. Tears in his eyes, he ran to her and she hugged him tightly. Gibby smiled at the sight and looked over to see Jeremy scowling at them. He lifted his head and howled as pain surged through his body and the cracks he received from his fall shone bright on his arms, legs, head, torso, and back. Red smoke flowed from them and poured out of every hole on his body. Gibby and Nevel looked away, disgusted and afraid. Jeremy's howling increased and a black hole opened beneath him.

"No! I'm not ready! No! No, no, no! Help me! Somebody help me!" He scratched his hands in the air as his body slowly began to sink. Nevel and Gibby knew this could have been them, and were grateful that they'd changed their ways and beliefs. They couldn't help but to feel bad for Jeremy, but it was the life he chose. A light appeared above Jeremy, an unreachable light. "God? Oh please, God! Save my soul! I beg of you, pardon me!" The light held its position as Jeremy continued to sink. His face quickly turned to horror as the light started to fade away. "No! God please shine your heavenly light on me! No, God, no, no!" He started to weep and brought his hands to his eyes as his face sank underneath the black hole.

Gibby and Nevel winced as the black hole closed up, shutting away Jeremy's soul forever. The spirits around them held their hands and smiled at them. They pointed above and the two men looked up to see the heavenly light above their heads. Suddenly an explosion rang out, it was the bombs that Ms. Briggs planted about the mansion. Now that Sam and Valerie were finally out of the house and on the plane going away, it was safe to destroy the home, to destroy their prison once and for all. The two men closed their eyes as they were lifted, with the other spirits, into the heavenly light. Hopefully this meant Hector would lie low for a while. Everyone who was under him was now gone. The heavenly light faded away once everyone was in. It was then that the mansion crumbled down to the ground. For them, this was a metaphorical sign that their prison was gone and the pain and suffering they'd endured was finally over.

Now you see in the original PB, I didn't have Guppy (Obviously, since he was nonexistent at that time). In this story, you will be seeing him. Much, much later. This story should have a total of 48 chapters. Gibby's death, a somber one. Freddie and Carly wouldn't have killed him if he didn't act the way he did, he knew this about them. Wont see Guppy until "Rewriting History" and you will love it.