Chibiyu: I fear I may have a problem...
Nick: You have many, but go on.
Chibiyu: This story is my drug. I cannot stop writing it. Or thinking about it.
Nick: Yeah, you have a problem. It's called writer-itis.
Don't own Jonas.
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Tom shook his head. "No, it won't. You aren't a Hero," he spat out as he pushed his way out of the room. "You're worse than Necrophere."
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The world was his kingdom; everything that glowed in the sickening red of spilled blood and ignited fires was his to rule. Many begged for mercy, their knees stained with the filth on the streets, but many still cheered in praise. But there was still something that held him back.
'Something that will never be a problem again, master.'
He stood on top of the carnage he had created, his foot on the chest of his own mother. He stared into her fearful eyes without mercy as the Four egged him to do what he knew he shouldn't want to do. Her mouth moved to beg, but he heard none of her words nor did he see the look of love on her face when she tried to reason with him. He only saw what the Four wanted him to see: red. Red and the color of gold - the color of the world he so desperately desired to create.
'Do it, and everything will be the way you want. The utopia will be built. Nothing can stand in your way.'
He felt the warm tingle as flame ignited his hand and as the cold look of a merciless spirit entered his face.
"Nicholas," his mother tried, but he wouldn't have it. Nothing would be allowed to stand in his way; not even his own family. He had made sure of that just moments previously. She was the only one left now - the only thing that could stand in his way. "Please sweetheart," she whispered without a trace of begging in her even tone, "Don't listen to it."
The pendant on his chest flashed, and Nick's vision followed with one color: the woman's eyes which used to be such a kindly brown, the glow to skin that showed her still striking youth, and the look of such love and pride in her eyes; it was all red.
"Goodbye, mother."
Even the Bane started as its Master flew up into a sitting position, hand on heart and cold sweat stained the back of his neck. The Bane was quick to make a small light and land on its master's knee, in hopes that its slight for would offer some comfort to what it didn't know. But Nick's breath did not slow and his eyes did not lose their wide-terror.
What happened, young one?
Nick only shook his head at the question. He kneaded his eyes with his palms, pressing so hard that a few tears leaked out. He shivered violently when he began to see red behind his closed lids and immediately stopped his actions and forced his eyes open.
Nicholas?
"It's nothing," he lied. He turned his head away from the dove with the vain hope that it wouldn't see through his facade.
Hardly nothing, child.
"Just a dream," he dismissed again as he forced his breathing to slow and steady.
It could have been a memory.
"I hope not," Nick breathed before he clamped his lips shut for the words left him without his consent. The Bane was silent, for it knew its master had backed himself into a corner. So Nick sighed and explained his dream in the same quiet and shaky voice, unable to stop talking in fear that it actually was a reality. He wanted to talk himself out of it - tell himself that it was nonsense - or to delay the terrible news of its reality.
The Bane maintained its silence for a moment when Nick fell into a shaky silence. Do you remember me telling you that you weren't in here for punishment of your actions?
Nick slowly nodded as he braced himself for the Bane to contradict what may have been a lie.
I don't lie, child. That was not real. Just a nightmare. Your mother is alive and well, as is the rest of your family.
The instant relief that coursed through the teen was astonishing: his shoulders instantly dropped, head fell forward, and a giant breath was released. "Just a dream?" he repeated to himself as he let his hands fall from his chest. "Thank God."
But it is more than that, child.
Nick nodded once. "I know," he muttered as he looked to the unseen walls, too tired to think of the skeleton that stared back at him. "It was my greatest fear."
Something that could have happened...
"If the Four managed to control me," Nick finished smoothly. "But it didn't happen. The Four never controlled me."
Popular belief is not on your side.
Nick groaned as he laid back down again, aggravation written clearly on his face. It never is, he thought as his anger simmered just below his skin, just because I am a Normal.
Not this time, child. Not only because of that, but because the Four chose you, just as I did.
His eyes flicked back down to the dove, confusion written over his face. "The Four chose me to carry it."
Once upon a time ago, it did.
Nick fought to keep the astonishment from his face at this relevance. So I could use it? he dared ask the Bane, afraid of what the Heroes would think of this sentence if they heard it.
That is why you are in here. You did use it. But only for the protection of your loved ones.
For the right reasons, Nick added in to echo what the Bane previously told him. But why did it choose me?
The Bane sighed at this question. I do not know. I don't believe you did either.
"And now the Four is gone," Nick spoke aloud again; the silence around him had begun to unnerve him. "What if it planned this? Planned to have me locked away and out of the picture? That way you wouldn't be a threat to it?!"
It is an interesting theory, young one.
"But then why," Nick asked, unaware that he had stolen the Bane's next question, "Would it take my memory of it?"
Both were silent for a long moment before Nick tried to cover a yawn with his hand.
You can dwell upon this later, child. But I will tell you this: I do not believe that the Four is done with you. Not yet.
No, Nick thought as his eyes slinked closed, I don't think it is either.
And when it does reveal itself again?
We will be ready.
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"He is putting ideas in our head!" The Elder told the council members as they re-watched the footage of Nicholas talking with the Bane. Though they could not hear the spirit, the conversation had been easy enough for them to follow. "We must not lower our guards - he carried it. He is a threat."
"But what if he's right?" Loraine hesitantly asked, her mind on Nick's theory of the Four getting the Bane out of the picture. "What if we really did unknowingly just follow Necrophere's plan? Talis said he was still alive!"
The Elder looked at her, a sympathetic gleam in his eye. "Talis is a Villain, dear. Villains lie."
"No," Sandy Lucas finally stood up, the seat next to her where her husband normally sat was vacant. "Talis never lies about death. You know how serious that girl is about the subject."
A stir ran through the council members, though the Elder remain undisturbed. "Sandy, you could not read your son's mind due to the Four. You could have read Talis's mind to see the lie, but you did not. And Necrophere, well, you couldn't sense his thoughts so he is very much dead."
"Unless he is being concealed!" Kevin stood too, fists slammed hard on the back of his mother's wooden chair. "Nick is smart; even without his memory of the Four he may have just discovered Necrophere's plan!"
"It could all be an act!"
Sandy and Kevin Lucas both shook their hands. "It's not," the both chorused.
"His mind is his own," Sandy confirmed, "And his memories are indeed being concealed from him. He is not lying."
"And the Four isn't anywhere near him. I can only feel the Bane," Kevin backed her up, failing to mention that even though he felt the Bane, it was weak due to the containment it was forced to endure.
The Elder scowled at them and rolled his eyes. "Suppose we release Nicholas and let the Bane go? Who is to say that the Four isn't concealed around his neck and the Bane, in its corrupted state, wouldn't turn on us? Nicholas could have planted that idea in our heads to make us release him. He stole the idea from Paragon - to put false images in another's head. Villains are uncreative; they recycle ideas. Nicholas cannot be trusted."
"And even if this is Necrophere's plan?" Sandy demanded, her voice hot with fury. "Even if he only wanted the Bane to be locked away?"
The Elder bowed his head. "Then we kill your son to purify the Bane. Only then can it be free."
The Lucas' stepped back as if physically hurt by this. "You wouldn't," Sandy hissed, eyes darkening as she silently threw every insult she knew at the Elder.
"He is a threat to us and so is the Bane, when it is in his hands."
"What if it isn't corrupted?!" Kevin yelled. His fingers dug into his mother's shoulders - the only thing that kept him from launching himself at the Elder.
The man shrugged once. "He will then do what Normals do best: die for unjust reasons."
"You're an...!" Kevin began to shout, but his mother's hand swiftly covered his mouth.
"Let's go, Kevin. We have to bring home the news that the Council is worse than all of the Villains combined."
"Do you even listen to yourself?" Kevin questioned with rage as he was all but dragged to the cement double doors. "Talking about killing an innocent boy so easily? That isn't Heroic! That is just sick!"
The doors closed and blocked off the rest of the brother's tirade.
"He's right, you know," a woman whispered as she coolly regarded the Elder. "Any innocent should be spared, even if he once carried the Four."
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Joe stared at the girl who lounged on their couch and willed her to meet his gaze, but for once, she seemed afraid too. Her face, which was once so intense with confidence and taunt, had fallen deeply. Even her eyes lacked their normal mischievous sparkle.
"Paragon," he tried again as he kneeled in front of the girl.
She looked away.
"You know Nick wouldn't have hurt you."
She shrugged once before she scoffed incredulously. "I know Nick wouldn't have, but that wasn't Nick."
Joe shook his head. "Yes, it was."
The girl glared at him for a second before the emotions became too hard for her to keep. "You're all so convinced, but I know Nick. He wouldn't have just walked into that battle. Necrophere couldn't have forced him to do anything after he got his hands on the Bane. He wouldn't have forced it in fear of Nick destroying the Four. So why would Nick do what he did?"
"Because he had a plan?"
Paragon stubbornly shook his head. "No, because the Four had a plan for Nick."
"You didn't see him!" Joe suddenly rounded on the girl, his words smacking her in the face. "You didn't see how controlled he was when he used the Four. You didn't see how much it bothered him to use it. And how much it destroyed him. You left too soon to know."
Paragon just looked at him sadly. "What if the Four made him feel that way on purpose, Joe? After all, the pendants have a mind of their own - they don't have to force their master to experience what the spirits do."
"You don't know that. Like Nick said, you never carried it."
Paragon sat up, a grim look on her face. "And I never want to. That kind of power corrupts people, Joe. It happens to the best of us. And chances are that it happened to Nick. He's never been exposed to something like this before - he would have been powerless to stop it. All of that before the war - with the Bane and the Four talking to Nick - it was probably all for show. To sell the act."
"Paragon," Joe sighed, hand running over his face as he tried to force a level of calm into his voice, "I know you love Nick and I know you know him better than I probably do, but he is my brother. I know how strong he is. I know how smart he is. And I know when he is acting on his own accord. He isn't Necrophere. The Four wasn't controlling him."
Paragon pursed her lips. "Then why," she patronized, "Is the Bane locked away and the Four running free?"
She had expected Joe to be speechless at this, but for once, he was ready for her. "Perhaps it is like you: it can't be tamed by Heroes. Maybe it is bidding its time and out fulfilling the plan Nick had. It's master may be locked away, but maybe Nick sent it away. After all, we both know that Nick never planned anything without thinking of every possibility."
"Comparing me to the Four?" Paragon asked with a hint of amusement.
"Well you're both devious, cunning, and like to have things go your way."
The girl forced a smirk. "Why Joe, I am flattered and all, I mean I like you, but not in that way. More in the 'I'm going to make your life a living hell' kind of way."
Joe rolled his eyes at this. "Shut up," he told her as he ignored her bait. "We can't assume anything about the Four or about Nick's plan. It's too early."
Paragon placed her hands on her hips and huffed. "So we wait?"
Joe nodded once. "That's all we can do until the Four shows itself again."
"And when it does," Paragon asked, voice suddenly hesitant, "What happens to Nick?"
Joe was about to answer, but was cut off by the enraged voice of his older brother. "They'll kill him."
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Chibiyu: So is anyone bored of Nick death threats? I know Nick is! Until Next Update!
