Well this chapter has a lot of things going on. But this chapter is going to start leading into the next story. I really liked how this chapter turned out and I hope you all do to.
And before anybody starts questions, I changed the one mask into a female in the wrath of cortex I originally that it was a female, so I guess it just stuck with me.
Apart from that I've got nothing else to say except but enjoy the chapter, I think you all will
Crash and related characters are not mine. OC's are mine.
Chapter 5 Amends
Later that evening, Crash had returned to his apartment. The uneasy feeling still had not left him; although he did feel a little better, just a little.
Crash was proud that he decided to accept things as they were; running away was not going to change anything, it would only make them much worse. He wasn't sure what was going to happen next, but he would face it head on with a brave smile on his face, no matter how scared he would be on the inside.
Crash continued to stare out the window, watching as the cold evening rain fell from the sky. Sometimes he had to wonder if the rain had a symbolic meaning behind it. Almost as if the rain was washing away the cold cruelties of the world, leaving something new and clean. Maybe this is what may have lied within him; the rain could be washing away his pain and suffering, leaving a clean slate to grab and accept the world that was around him, but then again who knew.
The bandicoot was taken out of his thoughts when he heard banging on his door.
"Crash! Please let me in!" Came a familiar accented voice.
"Kage!" Crash ran and opened the door to see Kage sitting in her wheelchair, tears were streaming down her face.
"Oh Crash! I was starting to give up hope, but here you are, alive and well!" She sobbed.
Crash smiled through his tears. "Of course I'm okay. You didn't doubt me, did you?"
Kage smiled. "No! I did what you said; I left fate up to chance."
Crash grinned, goofily. "That's the Kage I know; a warrior."
The red head laughed.
Jan walked down the hall.
"I remembered you mentioned that you claimed that met Kage somewhere before; so I sent her a text message, and she insisted that she come and see you straight away." Jan said quietly.
"It was a miracle that this news was to come; I thought I would bump into by chance, but here we are." Kage said, still in shock that Crash was back into her life.
Jan chuckled. "I was just as surprised as you were when Crash had come home with my parents, I thought it was all a dream."
Crash chuckled, although his was much more bitter.
"Crash..." Kage asked. "What's..."
"Why does everyone keep asking me that?!" He demanded.
"Crash did you get your memories back?" Jan asked.
Crash lowered his head.
"Yeah, I did."
"So how was it?"
"It wasn't the experience I thought it would be; I'm kinda wishing I remained in my naïve little bubble."
"What could have happened that had been so bad?" Jan asked.
Kage looked incredulous.
"Jan... Are you serious; don't you remember what happened about a year ago?"
"No... I haven't seen Crash in two years."
"Jan you came into Brio's lab in hysteria claiming that all of us were conspiring against Crash; and that we couldn't be trusted." Kage explained.
"That's ridiculous! I have no recollection of that at all. I was told last year that I had hit me head at an event and wondered off before passing out."
"Jan! N. Gin bashed you in the head and took you to Cortex; he held a gun to your head and used you against me as blackmail!" Crash said, stunned.
"Crash, Cortex died two years ago."
"That's not true; Cortex survived that encounter at his castle; and he survived his space station being destroyed; and he escaped when the time twister was demolished, although that kinda was my fault." Crash sighed.
"That's not possible Crash, I was there; I saw him fall!" Jan stated, her eyes frightened.
"Janny I wish that I was lying, I really do; but Cortex is out there, and I know he's hunting for me even as we speak." Crash turned to Kage. "Kage did you see Coco or Aku Aku at all?"
Kage lowered her head.
"I actually talked to Milo a couple weeks ago. He said that there has been sign of them anywhere; he and Linda even went back to the islands, they saw nothing."
Crash lowered his head; his sister and father figure were nowhere to be find, and the possibility was strong that they were dead by now.
"Crash this can't be happening, this can't be real; there has to..." Jan was stopped on her tracks when Crash wrapped his arms around her.
"Jan, I'm sorry we had to meet again under these circumstances. You are my best in the whole wide world, and I don't know what I would do if anything were to happen to you..."
"CRASH! I'M NOT GOING TO LET YOU PUSH ME AWAY AGAIN! NOT WHEN I WAS SO AFRAID I WAS GOING TO LOSE YOU FOR GOOD!" She screamed, her heart breaking.
"Jan let us explain..." Kage tried to say.
"No! You guys are all buddies, and I don't fit anywhere in the equation, forget it; I don't want to hear anymore of your excuses!" Jan stormed out of the apartment in tears.
Kage looked at the bandicoot in shock.
"I only want to keep her safe; Cortex is more than willing to use her to get me." Crash sighed. "I wish she would understand that."
"Do you want me to talk to her?" Kage asked. "I'm her cousin, I think she'll listen to me, hopefully."
"Do what you can." Crash stated, quietly. "I'm going to go for a walk." He walked out the door.
Kage wheeled herself back to Jan's apartment; hoping that she could talk some sense into her cousin's head. The girl sighed as she opened the door and could see her aunt and grandmother looking at her as she wheeled herself inside.
"Grandma, Aunt Emmy..."
"Why was Jan in tears!?" Dr. Starling demanded, obviously drunk. "That thing did something to her didn't he?!"
"Emmy!" The older woman demanded.
"Is she in her room? I need to talk to her." Kage asked.
"Yes she is." Kage's grandmother replied.
Kage wheeled herself to Jan's door before opening it.
"Jan..." Kage started, gently.
"LEAVE ME ALONE!" Jan demanded, her face soaking wet.
"Jan, Crash didn't want to abandon you; he knew you had to leave. It broke his heart to watch you go."
"He's made no attempt to contact me; but he had his posse with him that he doesn't mind to have around!" Jan snarled.
"Jan will you please just listen to what I have to say?!" Kage demanded.
"What is there left to say?!" Jan shot back.
"Lots Jan, lots!" The wheelchair bound girl stated. "Look the only reason Crash has stayed away from you was because he wanted to protect you; do you even realize that Cortex is more than willing to use you to hurt Crash?!"
"That's not possible; Cortex is...!"
"That's what you thought Jan, but that's not the case; Cortex is alive and well, and will do everything in his power to take Crash out of the equation. If anything were to happen to you, Crash would have a nervous breakdown. That's something Cortex wants; he wants Crash to experience both physical and emotional pain. Do you understand that?"
Jan remembered Cortex had said those exact words back on the islands; he had said that he was more than willing to use her as a pawn against Crash. She represented his sanity.
"You're right; Cortex told me that... How could have been so stupid?!" Jan snarled.
"Crash didn't want anything to happen to you, it wasn't you personally." Kage said, soothingly.
"But it hurt." Jan sobbed.
"He didn't know what else to do; you were all he ever talked about. He never stopped thinking of you, not even once."
Jan looked out the window. So that was it the entire time; he only wanted to keep her safe? She was about ask more when the lights began to flicker off.
"What's going on?" Jan demanded, looking at the now lightless lamp.
"I don't know; maybe a power outage." Kage said, although she had a feeling it was something much worse.
"But there was no call for any major storms. So what could possibly..."
Suddenly there was an enormous quaking; shaking the entire building in a violent matter. The two girls held onto something sturdy for dear life, as they waited for the shaking to be over. After about a minute and a half, the shaking had stopped, but Jan's room was a mess.
"What was that!" Jan demanded.
"I don't know; I've felt an earthquake like that before!" Kage replied, just as shocked.
Dr. Starling and her mother ran into the room.
"Are you girls all right?!" The old woman, asked.
"We're fine, Grandma." Kage answered.
"Darling, you look so pale." Dr. Starling said, looking at her trembling daughter.
"I'm fine mom, it was just an earthquake." Jan walked to her window and looked outside but saw a horrifying sight. The streets had been torn up and several buildings were burning ravenously. The sky was filled with horrifying lightning and waves in the ocean were dangerously high. Something was wrong.
"This isn't normal; there has to be more to the story." Jan grabbed her coat and ran out the door.
"JAN GET BACK HERE!" Her mother screamed.
But Jan ignored her and ran down the steps and out the door.
When she was outside, she numerous cars had been totaled, the power had completely shut down, and everyone was standing around in shock and horror. The entire city had been brought to a stand still.
"Hey what's going on?!" Jan asked a man who was walking by.
"I don't know but there's no power, so nobody know if this just happened here or anywhere else." The man then kept walking without saying another word.
"I have to find Crash! He might know what this is about!"
Jan ran as fast as could to find her friend, but that was proving to be difficult with the destroyed roads and icy cold temperature. Sirens were blaring everywhere responding to emergency calls and fires. Jan tried to ask someone for help but everyone seemed to preoccupied with the something else to help her.
Jan found herself in time square, only it was completely empty and desolate Jan was alone.
"This is so unreal; it's like I'm walking through a nightmare."
She then heard a rumbling sound behind her.
"Whose there?!" She demanded, turning around.
The ground to shake and slightly split apart, the movement had come so fast that red had not seen it coming when she was knocked off her feet and landed face first on one of the large debris.
With a bloody nose, Jan lifted herself to find herself staring into the face of what looked like a rocky mask.
"What are you staring at little punk?! You never see a mask before?" He smirked.
"I...uh..." Jan couldn't find her voice.
"Maybe I should just burn your face off..." He said, sadistically. The mask prepared to charge up a beam.
"NO!" Jan screamed, running away.
She ran a rather far distance before hiding herself behind a totaled car. She stayed still, hoping the mask hadn't followed her. She turned by behind her to a raindrop looking mask; glaring at her with great intensity.
"YOU CALL THAT RUNNING!? YOU COULDN'T RUN ACROSS ASIA WITH LEGS LIKE THOSE! I SHOULD WHIP THE HELL OUT OF YOU!" The mask screamed in the manner of a drill sergent.
"What the!?" Jan asked, her mouth wide open.
"DON'T SASS ME WHEN I'M TALKING TO YOU! I'LL PUT YOU IN YOUR PLACE!" The mask sent water gushing towards, but Jan managed to avoid it and ran away.
Where were these masks coming from; and why were they following her? Jan had more questions on her mind when the wind violently picked up and knocking her off her feet. Jan cried out in surprise when she looked up to see a cloudlike mask grinning insanely at her.
"I know the saying that people have two left feet, but this is ridiculous!" The mask laughed, her cheeks puffing out in an almost demonic way.
Jan stared at the mask's deranged smile, wondering what was going on.
"What's the matter, sweetie? Cat got you tongue?" The mask asked in a rather sickeningly sweet voice.
Jan started crawling away; wanting to get faraway from these masks as possible.
But when she got her feet and tried to run, a stream of fire rose from the ground. Jan screamed, turning around to herself staring into the eyes of mask made entirely of flames.
"Where are you running off to, little girl? The fun has only just begun!" The fire mask laughed, manically. The other three mask began to circle her.
"What do you guys want with me!?" Jan demanded. frightened.
"We only want have some fun!" The cloud mask giggled.
"But you're being such a buzz kill." The rock mask, said.
"DON'T YOU HAVE ANY MANNERS, WHEN SOMEONE WANTS TO HAVE FUN?!" The water mask screamed.
"I don't think she understands our concept of having fun!" The cloud mask said with slight disdain in her voice.
"Let's put a smile on that face!" The fire mask grinned, insanely.
"You will do none of the sort!" A dark voice came from behind.
Jan turned to see a black wooden mask floating in the air; and although she had never seen him before, his voice was enough to get him away.
"It's you; the voice in my head from the islands." Her mouth wide open.
"Hello Jane." The floating mask said.
"..."
"It's so nice to meet you face to face after all this time; I can see why Crash is so interested in you." The mask laughed.
Jan didn't know whether to be flattered or disgusted.
"Why are you here?!" Jan asked.
The floating mask charged up a dark energy beam, before firing it at her.
"WHERE IS CRASH BANDICOOT!?" He cried.
Jan shut her eyes waiting for the impact, when she felt someone pull her away.
"I'm right here!" Crash's voice could be heard. Jan opened her eyes to see that Crash had pulled her away from the mask's beam.
The two stared at each other for a rather long time.
"Crash Bandicoot." The mask said, intently.
"Uka Uka..." Crash answered, bravely but rather uneasy.
Sorry for the cliffhanger ending but I want to save it for the next chapter. And after that chapter, Memories will be completed and then we will be on the next installment. Until then Read Review or PM. Don't forget I still have my poll going on, so head over to my profile and check that out. DUECES!