**Hey, guys! Hope you liked the plot twist last chapter :)
For the guest who asked: Eight's POV was in the middle of last chapter, starting right as Mar was hit with the Mog cannon. Usually, a line of 'xxxxx' marks character switches or an important thing to take in for my story.
Enjoy the chapter! (There may not be another for a bit)
The Time for Ten - Chapter 12
We have been fighting for ten minutes now, and the Mogs seem to be never ending. Suddenly, a time portal appears where Two, Marina, and Nine had jumped in earlier, and the three now jump out. All I have time to see is Marina waving a hand in front of her, and Two and Nine jumping into action. He whips out his staff and starts destroying Mogs. Then everything slows, as in goes in slow motion. I begin to turn around to see what had happened, and all that's left to see when time speeds up again is an empty spot where Marina once stood. I look forward again to see Mar fighting a group of Mogs to my left. She's fine, I think to myself, that was just a weird time thing. The five of us keep fighting.
"Wait... Where did Five go?" I ask, looking around cluelessly.
"Did he seriously let himself get fucking captured again?" Nine yells as he pounds the slowly dying down Mog army.
The five of us finish off the group, and then we huddle together.
Nine holds out the pyramid. "Lets bring this bad-boy to Johnny." He says with a grin.
"While you guys do that, I can go back in time to ten minutes ago to find out what happened with Five." Two offers.
"Then how will you get back to Paradise?" I ask her.
She shrugs. "I'll fly on a plane." She says nonchalantly.
"That's pretty dangerous." Nine starts. "Do you know how many Garde have nearly died on planes?"
"Don't worry, I'll be fine! I'll catch up with you guys later, okay?" She says as she creates a portal and jumps through it.
Now we are down to four.
"I guess we will have to go without them... Everyone grab hands-" I am interrupted by Five who is limping up the path.
"Wait!" He yells. "I was knocked down to the path below, and I had to fight my way back up." Five explains.
"We just sent Two back in time to look for you, though!" Nine says angrily.
"Calm down, Two is a strong girl. I'm sure she'll be fine." Five says calmly.
I scowl at him. "Just grab my hand."
Everyone links together, I think of Paradise, Ohio, and we teleport.
xxxxx
Five of the six Garde sent to the Himalayas appear before us. Eight leans over and retches on the pavement. Marina awkwardly steps away from him. Nine, Gregor, and Five have cuts and bruises all over, but Nine looks pumped.
"Where's Two?" I ask cautiously.
"There's no time to explain now, but we need to go get the other one of these." Nine says, holding up a Life Crystal.
"Great job, but lets get moving and then out of here, I still don't trust this place. Did you ever get the bugs off of Gregor?" I ask them.
"There were bugs on him?" Eight questions.
"Yeah, I told Marina." I look to her and she nods. "Well, someone take them off."
"I'll do it." Five says rather quickly.
The eleven of us walk down the dusty road toward the Goode's home. We are all rather quiet. The house slowly creeps up on us, and when we get there, Sam runs up to the door and knocks three times, solidly. A pudgy lady opens the door, widens her eyes, and hugs him.
"You're okay!" She says with tears in her eyes, but they quickly disappear when I come into view. "You... You're a terrorist and put my son to these evil ways!" Her talk slowly turns to a scream and she spins around to go call the police.
I stop her with my telekinesis and back her into the kitchen to sit in a chair.
"No, you're going to sit here and wait till we leave. We need something that Malcolm had." I tell her.
She nods quietly, and Sam kneels down next to her to comfort her. Sarah joins him, one for moral support the other for a bodyguard in case of attack.
I look at her and smile, and she does so back.
"Have fun." She says to me. "I love you so much, and am incredibly proud of what you've done."
I give her a strange look for saying what sounds like a mother would say after her son would accept a Grammy or whatever.
"I love you, Sarah." I tell her sincerely with a smile.
We kiss and then I step out into the backyard, the well a mere thirty feet away. The other eight Garde follow as well as Gregor.
"Marina and I will go into the well. The rest of you need to stay up here and defend us as much as you can. Got it?" I scan the faces of the group. All of us seem determined, and a couple nod in response. "Lets go."
I turn around and as soon as my foot touches grass, a massive alarm sounds. Instantly, Marina and I bolt for the well. I put in Sam's birthday code, and we glide down using telekinesis to soften our fall, and then we are in Malcolm's cave. Outside, I hear a storm brewing and many battle cries.
I look around the cave, and it is just as I remembered. There is a wall of computers with documents spread all across the counter and floors, and in the corner there is a giant skeleton, Pittacus Lore's skeleton. Marina paces around the room while rubbing her necklace. I look through some of the papers and electronics to find any new and useful items. I stumble across a grey sphere. When I pick it up, an image of One appears. It says her number, her age, where she currently is, and her legacies. I stare at the device in awe. If this had gotten into Mogadorian hands, we would have been doomed. I hold it and turn around. Marina has her pendant bouncing off her chest, as she had just let go of it. A little flap in the wall is now sticking out, and inside is a Life Crystal. As she goes to reach it, a cannon blast sounds and the blast goes straight through her chest.
"NO!" I scream and expect to feel the scar sensation coming along, but it doesn't.
I turn to the Mog who shot it and take him out with telekinesis, and then run over to Marina, who is now on the floor and not breathing.
"Wha... How... How are you still alive?" I ask her in amazement.
She looks up to me, and then starts to flicker and then fades away as if a broken television.
"What the hell..." I mutter in confusion.
I walk over and grab the crystal from the alcove. Then the sphere I dropped on the ground begins to ring. I pick it up, and a picture of Marina's face appears. It reads that she is in Washington D.C. A hand then touches my shoulder. I spin around to face Pittacus's skeleton directly behind me.
"Has this place gone mad or something?" I exclaim questioningly.
"Number Four, it is me, Pittacus." The skeleton says.
"I like it better as a daydream, not as a giant skeleton in a creepy cave." I respond.
"You appear to be mad and confused. Let me help. You see, when Marina unlocked the last crystal in the Himalayas, she also unlocked a new power, duplicatortion. The recently killed Marina right then was the copy of her." Pittacus explains.
"Wait, then where is the real Marina?" I ask.
"You saw on the sphere, Washington D.C." He answers. "Besides just her and Number Ten, you need to rescue another set of items. Each one of the ten Garde in prophecy was given a special weapon, one that can do extra damage if wielded by the rightful owner. Nine has been given the easy way out, as his has come within his chest."
"You mean his pipe?" I question.
Pittacus nods. "Yours is nearby, to be truthful, but now is not the time to find it. If you have not realized yet, either you or Marina is my rightful heir. That means one of your special weapons is the one that can kill Setråkus Ra, and therefore your two must be found last." He explains further.
"Wait, what?" I ask in both anger, shock, and glee.
"Good luck in this battle, and I will see you again soon." Pittacus says.
The skeleton walks back to its corner and goes to its old position.
"Oh, wait." The skeleton says with one final movement. "Your talisman, I know you've figured out it's important and how to turn it on, but have you learned what it does?"
I shake my head no.
Pittacus chuckles heartily. "Well, these next few weeks should be interesting. The talisman is one of three keys to defeating Setråkus Ra, and you own it. Number Ten's assegai manipulation is another. You have now learned that Number Seven has the third and final key to winning this war, now you have to find it." Pittacus finishes as his skeleton goes limp.
I stare at him for another few seconds, then shake my head and walk toward the ladder. As I am about to climb up, a rag-doll body comes shooting down the well. I jump out of the way, and the body hits the ground with a crack. I didn't have time to catch it. It is human, and its dead. I choke back tears as I turn over the limp body to see how it is. I already know though, and I should've seen it coming after what was said earlier. My last words to her... I love you, Sarah.
xxxxx
I've been driving in silence for ten and a half hours now. I've almost reached Paradise, Ohio. I can't stop thinking about what I let happen back in Mississippi. I let Ella get kidnapped, and I didn't react quick enough to the bomb falling to save Malcolm. I buried him back in Tennessee. I don't think he would've been one of the two we would bring back, so I gave him his proper burial and plan to take Sam there someday. In the trunk I have the nine chests stacked neatly, along with the Chimaeras. They sometimes enjoy being small bugs and talking to each other. They all seem pissed though that they missed the fight at the barn. Next to me in the passenger seat is the tablet and the blue cube. I've been keeping tabs on where the Garde are. As I'm checking on it, one of the Garde in the Himalayas suddenly appears in Washington D.C., next to Ella. I keep tabs on the Himalayan group, and soon they too teleport, but to Paradise. I am twenty minutes away from there at the moment. I was hoping all the Garde would once again reunite along with their trusted companions, but apparently not so. I keep speeding along the highway with nobody in sight, just me and the car. It's almost soothing to be on the road in the quiet, there is nothing to worry about and I can just blast the radio, so I do. I roll the top down and blast the music on full volume. After about ten minutes, the sky begins to get dark, and I hear thunder in the distance. There are also cannon shots being fired and people screaming as I approach the two minute mark. I floor the gas pedal and speed into Paradise, which never seems to be as lovely as it sounds.
xxxxx
I slam the break in front of Sam's house, where in the back a massive battle is going on. I leap out of the side and release the Chimaera, the lock the car to make sure no Mogs will get the trunks and bodies. Then I race through the already busted down door. What I see inside is something so emotionally intense, I almost break down in tears. Sam is holding his mom on the ground, and she appears to be wounded badly in the shoulder area. Standing on a chair is Sarah, and she has a gun pointed at her own head. Sam is bawling his eyes out.
"This is too much for me to handle! I'm just an ordinary teen trying to save some distant planet and its species who don't even stand a fucking chance! I am officially done." Sarah tells him.
"Don't do it!" Sam screams between sobs.
"Sarah, you'll regret that." I say calmly.
They both turn to look at me.
"Don't tell me what to do, Mog boy." Sarah says furiously.
Six runs up to the glass to see what the commotion is. I make eye contact with her.
"Tell John I loved him, but not enough to go through this SHIT!" She finishes with a yell that is almost as loud as the gunshot. She falls to the ground, dead.
Six and I stand in our spots, frozen and unknowing what to do. Sam is crying to his heart's content into his mother's stomach. The whole moment seemed to go by so fast. Six motions for me to come talk to her. I speed walk over Sarah's body and am careful not to look at it. I step outside to see Six has tears in her eyes, and then I notice I do too.
"I... I honestly don't..." Six starts stammering. Then something clicks inside of her, and she gives a little cough. "I'm sorry, it's just... C'mon, we need your help to finish off this round, then we have to get out of here." She finishes.
I nod solemnly and follow her to the battlefield. From that moment on started a new chapter in this war. I like to call it, 'The Unleash of Fury'. I call it that because from that moment on, Number Four realized what his destiny is, and what it takes to be the true leader of Lorien's Legacies. As he climbs the ladder from the well, without Sarah's body, I see a new look in his eyes, pure determination. Number Four is ready to win this war, and that means all of us need to be ready too.
**So, I'm sorry for any Four/Sarah fans out there, but this is for the plot! You've read about John's precognitions, this is not the end of Sarah Hart. Anyway, I've decided to make this story into two parts, and this is the end of the first part. How did you guys like Part One of The Time for Ten? Any ideas for the future half?
I'm planning on starting a second story soon, and I may out it's debut chapters out while I give an extended wait for Part Two of this story. Also, look out for one-shots and drabbles I'm going to be writing. Any recommendations for these?
So for now, thanks to everybody for the continued support and lovely reviews. I love the fanfiction community. Until next time, have a great day!
-Chase