**Hey, guys! I'm back and ready for action :D. Quite literally because this chapter still has lots action... The collab is still continuing here too, just FYI. I hope you enjoy!
The Time for Ten - Chapter 16
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I sprint down the hallway, knowing I need to get the vial. If it helps me get my memory back, then I'll do anything. I can hear the Mogs' cannons and guns in the distance, back where Eight and Ella are, but I continue to carry on running. I need to get that vial.
I reach a flight of stairs and race up them, super speed coming in handy. I race down the following corridor and reach the door of the room with the vial.
I'm so close.
I enter the room, my stomach and nerves on fire as I reach for the vial. I heard nearby explosions earlier and I know I need to hurry up, but seeing the vial just makes everything much more serious.
I hear another, much louder explosion and I reach for the vial, unstopping it and gulping it down.
I fall to the ground at once, feeling as though my mind is being ripped apart. A strangled scream comes from my throat as I desperately twitch around on the floor, trying to control myself.
And then the memories hit me.
Eight and I by a lake... Adelina and I in the convent...Hector and I in the cafe...
"Stop, make it stop." I think that's me whimpering, but I can't be sure anymore. Nothing is real but these horrible memories. So much pain, so much grief.
Eight and I in India... Eight and I at Stonehenge... Crayton dying... Hector dying...
"Leave me alone, please leave me alone." Again, is that me?
Adelina dying... Hector dying... Crayton dying...
I gasp, my eyes flying open. I can feel my stomach clenching and I roll over in time, throwing up on the floor. My body is shaking and I've got tears streaking down my cheeks as I throw up on the floor.
So much pain. So much grief... How did I bear it?
"Marina?" I can feel someone stroking my hair as I begin to sob, curling into a ball and hiding from the world. All those memories at once; it had been too much.
"Go away" I whisper weakly, even though all I want is for Eight to hold me.
I feel an arm wrap around my waist and help me to stand up.
"I know you feel like shit, but we need to get out of here." Eight tells me.
I give a faint smile. "All right. Thanks for not leaving me." I say tenderly.
He turns and kisses me again. "I would never think of it."
Then I notice Hayley standing awkwardly nearby.
"We should probably get out of here, and quickly." She says. I notice she is holding the vial I drank.
I look at it skeptically, and she notices and hides it. Something weird is going on there. We then leave the vial room.
I smile as I stumble along, Eight helping me walk. Every second a new memory comes back to me, and I want to cry, to curl up in a ball and hide, but we have to get the hell away from this base. We continue to run as I cling to Eight.
"I'm sorry... For everything I did earlier" I whisper to Eight.
I hope he forgives me. I don't know if I can forgive myself.
"It wasn't your fault- you were practically a new person to this world, you didn't know what was happening!" He responds.
Then the other three Garde come into view.
"Marina!" Ella and Six yell in unison as they come charging toward us. They each give me a deep hug.
"My memory is back." I say with a smile.
Ella and Six hug me fiercely, thrilled I'm back to normal. I smile at them all, even though I feel a little shaky. I was cruel to Eight, no matter what he says and all I want to do is sleep. I want to get the hell away from here and then curl up somewhere with Eight.
"We better go." I say once they pull away, trying to be brave and smiling at them.
"Let's go." Six agrees
The six of us charge toward the exit, turning right at the next intersection and continuing to run. I stumble along, still exhausted.
The exit is straight in front of us, I can see sunlight. John and Six run out, followed by Eight, Hayley and myself. But then Ella trips, and the door begins to slide down. She appears to be knocked out. I run out of Eight's grip, and before he can do anything, I slide under the door just before it closes, and us two are once again trapped inside the base.
This time, though, there's no easy escape.
xxxxx
I shiver as my wrists are pulled above my head, chained to the wall. My feet are bound and I've been gagged. Ella's nearby, as tied up as me, but she's unconscious, exhausted by everything.
I wish Eight were here. I wish he would come and save me, but then that would put him in danger.
Now I'm being dragged along the corridor, the Mogs' grip on my arms vicious and tight. Every time I go to walk myself, they trip me up, so now I'm being dragged along, my feet bleeding at the cuts and bruises I'm getting.
"Where are we going?" I ask nervously, but none of them reply. I'm shivering from fear and pain, but I try not to let the panic be seen in my voice.
"Where are you taking me?" I ask again. I'm replied with a slap to the face, and I slump in their grips, waiting to find out myself. I'm dragged along further when a door opens, and then I'm thrown into a room, landing on my knees.
"Hello, Marina." Five says, sauntering forward with a knife. "You and Eight put up quite a bravado yesterday... But it wasn't good enough to get away, stupid girl. I was going to kill him, again, right then and there in the hallway, and then you had to go and save him."
Five lunges forward and stabs me in the arm. "You IDIOT!"
He continues talking and explaining his anger as he stabs me in more places. I sob as I curl into a tighter ball, my blood becoming a puddle around me. Five is good at knowing places to stab without killing anyone, but only causing them agony.
"Look at me when I'm talking to you!:"Five roars.
He drags me up by the hair and I scream, trying to fight him. If only I had my legacies...
"You stupid little girl! You're pathetic!" He stabs my shoulder and I howl, collapsing onto the ground again.
Eight... I need Eight...
Five walks toward my limp body and crouches down.
"You have no idea how much I've wanted to do this."
Five's blade is near my eye.
"After what you did to me, I can't wait for you to feel the insufferable pain I went through."
I try hard not to sob and scream.
Five is leaning over me. I'm lying on the floor, tears streaming down my face. Five's blade is millimeters from my eyes. That's when the door flies off its hinges.
"What the-?" Five begins, and then he's soaring through the air, slamming into a nearby wall.
Someone's here. To help.
Somebody runs to my side. It's Six.
"Mar, wake up!" she commands. I try to move but I'm in so much pain.
"Three!" Six orders, and suddenly I'm lifted up in strong arms.
I'm not aware of much anymore, but I can here muffled groans from Five and I assume Six is there, beating him up.
"Where's Eight?" I murmur.
"We aren't sure at this point." A new voice says. It is deep and raspy, like someone who needs water.
I manage to take a look at Three. He has short, brown hair, and brown eyes. His skin is a similar pigment to Eight's.
Six joins us shortly, and we run through the corridors. We have no idea where Five went; he made a hasty retreat through a wall, apparently. Something tells me he wants a rematch with Eight.
My body is in agony at every step Three takes. I haven't had the energy to heal myself, and I know things look bad for me, since I'm covered in blood. But I'm holding up before I pass out.
I have to see eight.
I struggle to my feet since Three needs to fight the Mogs ahead of us. I try to heal myself as Three and Six battle the rest of the mogs, having no trouble with them. I'm watching them fight when I see a door open down a small corridor to my left. Five is hurrying through and I realize with a shock that he's limping. Anger burns through me over what he's done to me and the others. My healing then finishes.
I know it's stupid, but I turn and run after Five, easily kicking down the door as I enter the room, my legacies ready to attack, ice already forming on the floor.
"You bastard." I snarl.
Five spins around in shock to see my up and ready in the doorway.
"You're alive?" He asks with surprise.
"You didn't feel a scar, did you?" I sass.
Then Six runs in through the doorway behind me.
"I see you've found the traitorous bitch." She says to me.
I smile. "Shall we get him?"
She nods, and we turn our full powers toward Five, whose eye's are now wide.
With a combination of ice and invisibility, we give Five a good bruising. Right as we are about to pin him down, somebody walks through the door.
"Marina!" I hear Eight yell.
Six and I spin around, and then Five punches us in the back. The pain is unbearable, and I can't control my legs. We fall to the ground, Five standing triumphantly behind us. A new door slams into place with a loud, hollow thud.
"You guys seriously need to work on you fighting skills." Five says to us.
"Says the guy who was being beat up by them." I retaliate.
Five, now in metal form, lunges forward.
Eight meets Five's lunge, an uppercut throwing Five off towards a nearby wall. Eight teleports over, dragging Five up and throws him against another wall, distracting Five enough for him to drop the metal ball. He's turned normal again.
I pull myself over to Six and press my hands against her back, healing its crooked angle. She groans but straightens out, her back fixed once more. She's on her feet at once, turning invisible and prowling towards Five.
I make quick work on my back, watching as Eight, in giant lion form with loads of arms, corners Five, who's metal once again. They're having a stand off, and I need to help. I stand up and grab a nearby knife, throwing it at Five.
Instinct makes him dodge and Eight attacks, using my distraction.
Eight uses two of his hands to hold Five by his neck, two for pinning his legs, and two for punching him. He is taking a horrible beating, again. Then I notice something horrible.
"Eight, stop!" I yell, and then I take another look at Five.
He is bloody and bruised all over, especially his head area. Eight clearly didn't mean to hurt him that much, in fact, Eight looks terrified about his fists. He drops Five.
Then I realize something else, his fist has a rock the size of a head in it. Eight never picked up a rock. I stare at Eight stunned as he drops the huge rock, narrowly missing Five, who's in a pretty bad state. I stumble forward, not sure what to do.
Do we kill Five, who's a traitor and who tortured me? Or do we let him live?
"What are you waiting for?" Six reappears and drags Five up with a snarl. "Let's finish this pain-in-the-ass off!"
Eight stares first at the rock he dropped. Then at Six, who wants to kill Five. Then at Five himself, helpless and brutally battered. And last at me. I am still on the ground, and I'm pretty sure my eyes are wide. Then he looks back to Five.
I bite my lip as I slowly stand up. Five suddenly loses his anger, and tears leak from the corner of his eyes as he leans forward, putting his head in his hands.
"It wasn't supposed to be like this." He sobs desperately.
I go over to Eight, linking my hand in his as I watch Five, puzzled.
"Don't try to make us fucking sympathize, you rotten little piece of shit." Six spits in his ear.
"Woah, Six, cool it. Let him talk." Eight says.
Five looks up at us, confused. "You should hate me you know." I have no idea if he's putting on a show or not.
"Of course we hate yo-" Six starts, but I interrupt.
"Why should we believe your sudden change of heart?" I demand. Five smiles sadly, happy I understand what he is going for, but for some reason still sad inside.
"I haven't changed my mind... I've given up." He says flatly.
"Wait, you want to die?" Six asks. "Fine, hand me that rock, Eight."
Eight crushes the rock underneath his foot, letting her watch it disintegrate.
"We can't kill a fellow Garde. One, because it's wrong, and two, because we need him to jump-start the planet." Eight explains.
"I think we should kill him and just get all this traitor bullshit out of the way." Six says angrily to both Five and Eight. Then she looks at me. "What do you think we should do, Mar? Should we keep him or kill him?"
Eight, Six, and Five are all looking at me with question in their eyes, but all three a different type of questioning.
Are you really going to kill him?
Are you really going to let him go?
Are you really going to listen to these two crackheads?
I bite my lip as I stare at Five. I know he's one of us... But I think of what he did to Ella, to me, to all of us. I just can't forgive that.
"I think..." I pause as I bite my lip. "I think he needs to die." I say finally. He's a threat to us all.
Five snarls and then lunges forward, tackling me. Before I can react, Six lunges forwards and stabs him in the back.
I scamper away from his body, watching as he gasps for breath before collapsing.
Another scar burns on my leg.
We just killed a Garde.
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**Hey, guys! So, I hope this change of events is interesting! It was loads of fun writing this part with IwishIcouldbeNumberFive. The last area with our collab on this story is in the next chapter, so hopefully we can make the most of it! Anyway, please review, and have a great day! :D