Whoo! Lots of dust in here!
Well, I haven't updated in 2 months...so I can imagine that some people are ready to lynch me here :/
Anyway, I'm hoping that I can get this updated more often, but I don't want to make promises only to have to break them.
So! Just to remind everyone of what happened:
James and his father talk a bit, and James agrees to give his father something.
With our heroes, Bridge goes to school and tells her friends who she really is, and they have a grand time hugging and catching up.
Emma gets enrolled in school, and Haley scares all the students by her niceness.
Meanwhile, the adults are getting ready to have the shouting match of the century.
And someone's pleading to Bridge to forgive them!
Ok, so hopefully I covered everything :D
This chapter's nearly 2,100 words long, so I hope this makes up for it :)
Anyway, as for my next story after Of Sacrifices And Lies, it's going to be something with Homecoming, I already told you that, but here's a summary:
10 years ago, the Hunstclan nearly destroyed all magical creatures with a single curse, but instead, it forced them into hiding to save themselves. Now, magical creatures are coming back out into the real world, and they're coming back with a vengeance. They've promised revenge on all Huntsclan, but what happens when they find out that not everything is as it seems?
Cue suspenseful music here! Haha, well, we'll see how that goes :D
Anyway, please enjoy this chapter!
Buddyboy98: Thanks! And I still need to catch up to your stories, so sorry for not reviewing! :P Well, here's the new chapter!
Wolvmbm: Thanks! Yep, Art and Fitz will be crucial to helping her out :) Hmm, maybe not so strong...we'll see ;) Thanks! And Fitz's parents are two psychologists that moved to NYC 3 years ago.
BlueserDragon: Yes! Lot's of suspense :D Yep, you're right about that! ;) Hmm, you'll see. Yeah, things are looking better for her, but not so much in this chapter :/ Thank you! Not so much comedy here though. Argh, well, I didn't update soon, but I updated! And it could very well be...or not ;)
Luiz4200: Oooh, nice guess! And you'll see what happens.
Onej6: Thank you! Hmm, well, hopefully sometime soon we'll find out.
Ada69: Ah well, hopefully the coming chapters help to clear that up :D Well, better late than never!
Everyone else: Please enjoy, and don't forget to leave me a review!
==Violet's House
Jake was walking through the house, trying to find Rose. He knew that she was here somewhere, but ever since they had found Bridge, Rose had kind of seemed lost, Jake even hazarded that Rose was scared, but he'd never ask Rose to confirm that, because he knew that the last thing the Huntress would admit, was to being scared.
He finally found her at the guest bedroom that they had shared last night, and found his wife standing on the other side of the room, staring out the window.
Before Jake could step much further he heard Rose ask, "What if we lose her again?"
Jake smiled sadly, as he walked up to Rose and embraced her from behind. "You said it yourself, she's safe at school with Haley and Emma."
"No Jake, I mean, what happens if Avezon manages to get her again?" Rose clarified, not looking at Jake.
"He won't. We'll all make sure of that." Jake smiled a bit wider now, and turned Rose around to kiss her softly.
Suddenly, someone cleared their throat, and the couple turned around to see Violet standing in the doorway. "Sorry to interrupt, but can we at least get our started? The tension in the living room is getting so thick I can hardly breathe in there."
Rose smiled a bit at that, and with Jake beside her, they all returned to the living room where indeed there was a big tension in the room. Jake and Rose went to sit by the empty couch, wondering what was coming next.
Lao Shi had declined from participating in this discussion, since he believed that he was not the right person to get involved in this. Fu Dog had been originally reluctant in going with Lao Shi, since he wanted to make some bets with Big Ernie, but a glare from the Old Dragon Master quickly silenced him, and the two left to their own abode.
"Alright," Violet started, getting everyone's attention. "So, I just want to set some ground rules here, because I don't want us to be the cause of World War 3 alright?"
As everyone nodded or shrugged nonchalantly, Violet smirked. "Such enthusiasm! Anyway, I just don't want you guys to start going physical. I want the house to be in one piece when all this is finished. Also, try to listen to everyone, and don't interrupt. Keep your language relatively clean, and use your indoor voices. You may begin."
Rose looked at everyone and took a deep breath. "I know everyone thinks of me as a monster, or much more, but I was just trying to help magical creatures out!"
"By killing them?" Jeff sceptically retorted.
"She was killing off evil creatures! She was helping us!" Jake growled.
"Jake, how can you defend her?" Susan was appalled.
"How can I not?" Jake exclaimed. "You might have your opinions on her, but quite frankly, you didn't see how she was with Bridge, you didn't see how, the night that Bridge was born, Rose wanted nothing more than to stay with her. Bridge could've easily been aborted, or anything, if she was embarrassed from having a child with a dragon, and yet, she helped me to raise her-"
"By scaring the hell out of her right? Yeah, she wins mother of the year Jake." Jonathan sardonically interrupted.
Violet growled. "No interruptions."
"You seriously expect me to handle all this bullshit thrown at me?" Susan groaned.
"It's not bullshit." Violet replied, narrowing her eyes.
"In other words," Diana stated. "You're on her side?"
"Yes I am." Violet proclaimed proudly.
"Then you're on the wrong side." Jeff concluded.
"Or maybe it's you guys that are on the wrong side. Are you guys that proud, not willing to admit that the leader of the Huntsclan, your daughter, might actually be doing something effective?" Violet questioned.
"Effective?" Susan thundered. "Your sister is not doing anything to help out magical creatures-"
"Well, then , maybe I should've left the some monsters to continue preying on innocent creatures, I'm sure that'd have been much more effective." Rose commented sarcastically.
"Rose, we're not denying that you're doing some kind of good, but your methods are questionable at best." Diana attempted to counter.
"Because your method is so much better?" Jake retorted.
"We don't kill." Jeff curtly replied.
"No, but you do banish your daughter-" Jake started to drive his point home.
"For re-joining, no, leading the Huntsclan!" Jeff exclaimed.
"And I explained that she wasn't betraying us!" Violet retorted.
"HEY!" Henry exclaimed. No one had really noticed that he had been here the whole time, but now that everyone was getting passionate, he had to break this apart. "So, indoor voices, and no interruptions, how many people still remember those rules?"
No one replied as they realized that they had been getting way too over-worked.
Henry took a deep breath. "Look, I know that all families have issues, and we're clearly no exception. Although I'm quite sure that families don't have issues with a family member joining a villainous cult group, it's an issue nonetheless.
"And on top of that, we're trying to find out what happened to Bridgette, and bring that Peter Avezon down any way we can. While talking this out would've been nice to solve issues, we're not getting anywhere by blaming Rose for everything bad that's happened in the past 16 years, or more.
"So, please, let's just try to help Bridge out, and then to solve our own problems?" Henry finished his discourse, and all the other adults were left sitting there, unsure of what to say or how to react.
Finally Rose sighed, and stood up. "Henry's right. Look, I know that we'll get no further with arguing, even when we're done, so therefore, just try to accept my apologies, and I hope you'll learn to forgive me too. It was never my intention to get my own family to perceive me as the villain, and although it's not the best idea, I thought myself a better leader than having Peter Avezon at the helm."
Jeff and Diana looked at each other, and were silently having a conversation with themselves.
"Alright!" Violet cheerfully exclaimed. 'So, back to solving Bridge's mystery. Mom, dad, tell us how you came to have Cassie with you."
Jeff took a deep breath, and tried to recall how they had wound up with their unknown granddaughter. "I guess it started at that meeting with the Richards. They had heard it from a friend of theirs, who also housed an orphanage, that there was an orphan in the Michael Winterton Memorial Hospital who was an absolute nightmare."
Diana nodded. "Yes, all she'd ever talk about was revenge, and it scared potential candidates as well, so we decided that a child like that would do well to focus her energy on something positive, and we went to the Hospital to go talk with her."
"She was something else. Not in terms of looks, but in character and spirit." Jeff thoughtfully added.
"In fact, she reminded us of you, Rose." Diana sheepishly stated.
"Me?" Rose looked surprised.
"Well, now we know why, but at the moment, we just saw a poor girl that wanted nothing more than to bring justice to all the wrong in the world. Well, the rest I imagine you know. We took Cassie in, and she lived with us for 3 years."
"Well, it's a start." Jake sighed. "At least we can do a search for the hospital."
"On it." Violet smirked, having just returned, with a laptop in hand.
"Meanwhile, do you remember the doctor's full name?" Rose asked, turning back to her parents.
"No, but we can go look for the certificate. I remember that the full name was on there, so it shouldn't be a problem." Diana nodded.
"Was there anyone else in the hospital that day?" Jake asked.
"What do you mean? With us, or in the hospital as staff?" Diana asked back.
"As the staff." Jake clarified. "Bridge told us that the hospital was empty, save for the doctor and the nurse."
"No one specific that we remember, quite frankly, now that you mention it, it was kind of empty. The doctor assured us that the reason was that there was a big annual field trip for the patients, so they were all out. But even though, there'd have still been more people."
"Well," Violet spoke out, looking at the laptop screen. "There's no hospital."
"What?" Was the collective cries of everyone in the room.
"Yeah, it was demolished a couple of years ago, and it's now a mall. But get this. The hospital's apparently been closed for over 17 years!" Violet concluded, looking surprised.
"So, our mysterious doctor must clearly have been part of this ruse." Susan theorized.
"Yeah, but then, why would they have let her go?" Rose asked, perplexed.
==At School
The bell had finally rung, and everyone was crying freedom for the day, and James was hurrying to catch up with Cassie.
"Hey Cassie!" James exclaimed, this time getting the attention of said girl.
"Hey James!" Cassie smiled, seeing James approach.
"So, you never answered me, do you want to go out with me?' James asked, hoping for a yes.
"Yes!" Cassie exclaimed, jumping up and kissing James.
James had tried to mentally prepare himself for this, he knew he wasn't kissing Bridge, and yet, when he closed his eyes, and hugged Cassie to him, he could've completely believed that he was kissing Bridge, it was scary how much Cassie reminded him of Bridgette.
As they broke apart, James smiled sadly.
"You still keep thinking of her right?" Cassie asked, her eyes narrowing.
James nodded. "Yeah, I'm sorry Cassie-"
"They can be damned, with their decisions." Cassie muttered. She then grabbed James' arm. "Come on, I want to show you something."
James allowed himself to be dragged, and wondered what Cassie was going to show him.
==Down the hall.
Haley was looking for Bridge, and when she saw her niece get angry, and drag James off, after they kissed each other, the young teacher ran after them. She had an idea as to what Bridge was going to do, and she had to stop it.
==Outside
Cassie had dragged James out to a nearby alleyway, and took a deep breath, getting ready to tell James the truth.
"James, I-"
"There you are young lady!" Haley exclaimed before any more damage could be done. "I was looking for you. I wanted to talk over with you something that you pointed out in your last test."
Cassie was giving her aunt a death glare, and while Haley was sure that Cassie would never forgive her for this, she wanted to keep her safe.
"Sure thing, Mrs. Norman." Cassie muttered. She turned to James and said, "Sorry, I promise we'll talk soon ok?"
James smiled. "Sure thing, you still have to tell me when we're going on a date!"
Cassie smirked. "Sounds good."
==Some minutes later
Haley, Emma, and Cassie had all been transported to Violet's house, since they all had agreed that this was the safer, faster method.
Now that they had arrived, Cassie unleashed her fury, taking the bracelet off. "Why did you stop me?"
Emma awkwardly moved aside. "I'm not getting involved in this one."
Haley sighed. "Look, I know you like him a lot, and that you want to tell him, but the thing is, we can't trust him!"
"Just because his father's an idiotic monster, doesn't mean he is one too!"
"No, but he might be reporting to his father!"
"James would never do that!"
"He's changed! You never know what could've happened!"
"Argh! Why must I be treated like I'm made of glass! I can take care of myself!"
Meanwhile, Emma was having to explain to the adults in the kitchen, what exactly had happened to cause this arguing match.
"We know you can, and we're not denying that, but we're scared of losing you again Bridge!" Haley exclaimed. She then lowered her voice a bit, as though she was trying to not cry. "Do you know how hard it was to think that you had died, or worse?"
"Yes! Do you know how hard it was to think that you had no one in the world for you?" Bridge countered, and she then growled. "No, you don't. I can make my own decisions, so let me make my own mistakes." Bridge got her bracelet back on, and ran out of the apartment.
"Oh crap." Haley groaned.
Alright! Yelling match right here! Woot! :/
Now, to explain. I know that Rose's parents were kind of ready to forgive her for realizing that she wasn't responsible for what happened to Bridge, but the thing is, they're still not quite sure for everything else. I mean, what no one can really understand is that, sure she killed evil magical creatures, they can understand that. But what scares them, is the fact that it seems like she'd just as easily kill bad, as for good. They're scared that she'll just go mad and kill good magical creatures, and that's what makes all the parents scared of her.
Anyway, some more stuff on Bridge...this is the recap, and what's bolded is what has been added.
-Bridge has fight with parents, runs away, meets a mysterious creature, and is kidnapped.
-Sometime later, somehow, Bridge winds up in the hospital, with the belief that she's Cassie, an amnesiac teen who has just survived a terrible crash which has claimed her 'parents'' lives.
-Beatrice, the 'doctor' in the hospital seems to be part of this whole plot, since she's the one who gave Bridge the bracelet, and has also been operating out of a closed hospital that has now been demolished.
-The bracelet, which is a modified version of Vi and Rose's bracelet, but is unstable to an unknown degree.
-Cassie lives out 3 years, unhappy, unaware that she had caused a lot of drama to her real family.
-Somehow, Cassie's cover [we'll call it that for lack of better word] was destroyed as she was unconscious with the Huntsgoons.
-Bridge, still thinking she's Cassie, goes a takes a shower. Once she looks in the mirror, her memories flood back to her, piece by overwhelming piece.
-Her birthmark has appeared once again, due to the fact that she no longer has the bracelet, and Rose recognizes her because of that.
Anyway, now for a snippet:
I won't lose her again.
Honey?
I know, but please just trust us.
I promise you.
Agh!
Bridge?
Right, who'd believe that!
Murderer!
Oooh, I wonder what'll happen next?
Stay tuned, and I hoped you enjoyed this chapter!
Hezpeller