Chapter 9 – Victory

Bolt simply stayed there, laying on the ground as a small puddle of blood began to pool. Dark Bolt turned his head slightly, his sword still in his mouth with a smear of Bolt's blood on the tip of it. Then, he flinched, his smile falling onto concern. He dropped the blade, the worn metal snapping in two as it hit the hard ground, and turned to his other side. There, sticking out of his side, wedged underneath his scaled armor, was Bolt's sword, the white blade piercing him about half way as his own blood traveled down it like a river. "So…" he grunted, "This is how it ends, our destinies intertwined until the death!" Bolt never moved, "At least, I can have the satisfaction…of hurting the one person I couldn't! Mittens, you're going to be so destroyed when we both don't come back!" Dark Bolt said as he turned his chin to the ceiling. Then he heard a grunt, one that startled him into glancing back at his enemy, Bolt was trying to rise to his paws. "No!" he said in shock, "This can't happen! I was supposed to…" Dark Bolt fell to his belly, his strength leaving him quickly as Bolt reached for his second wind. "I thought, that I was supposed to rule!" Dark Bolt said as he began gasping for air, "Suffering the weight of the sins of another, wasn't that supposed to be the mark of a hero? Wasn't I supposed to be stronger?" Bolt finally lifted up, pressing one of his front paws to his side as he tried to stop the bleeding, "A hero never wants to be one, they just do what they think is right. You never had that sense for right!" he told his darker half. "But…I am you! Wasn't I supposed to know what you know, wasn't I supposed to be the part of you that wanted to survive?" Dark Bolt asked. "You never had something that makes you a hero!" Bolt said, "I didn't figure out what it was until now!"

"And what was it?" Dark Bolt asked as he slowly let his chin rest on the ground. "I don't know what you call it, but it's a purity I think, a reason to keep fighting. A reason to stand up again!" Bolt told him as he looked to the ceiling, "A…a heart I guess, the Heart of the Hero! That's why I have four gem's and you only had three!" Bolt said and turned back to his other self. He found the black dog completely on the ground, chin and all. His tongue sticking out and the swords still stuck in his side, he wasn't breathing. Bolt sighed, relaxing as he turned from the body of his dark self, focusing on getting back to his body, not seeing it as the armor from around Dark Bolt faded, just as the body began to do.

Mittens kept shaking him, waiting for him to wake up, she had watched the spikes on his armor shatter for no reason, and now his side was bleeding. Rhino had opened up his holo computer, reading Bolt's life signs as Mittens tried to help her husband. "His brain activity is shutting down, and his heart is slowing, I'm sorry Mittens!" the hamster said sadly. "NO!" Mittens said as she let the tears flow, "He can't…I don't; have my magic!" The tears began to flow even faster as she pressed her face against him, "Don't you leave me!" she screamed, "Don't you dare leave me!"

Bolt continued walking, the fog once again thickening as he exited the "I'm not going to make it!" he admitted to himself, and flopped down, stretching his hind legs behind him and gripping his wound even harder, 'Is this really the end?' he asked himself, 'Is this how I'm supposed to go?' He imagined his wife, her precious smile and her charming giggles. He also saw her tears, the shining droplets of his paradise as they fell to the earth, 'I never got so say goodbye!' he said to himself as he shut his eyes tightly, his own tears beginning to stream down his cheeks, 'Why?'

"Is this really how you want to leave her?" he heard a familiar voice ask. Bolt opened his eyes, looking up at the voice. There kneeling in front of him, was the Solder of Neutros legend. Bolt shifted his tired eyes, seeing the Mage behind him, and the Scholar next to her. "What do you think?" Bolt asked as he let his mood darken. "You have the power of the Warrior's Soul!" the Solder said. "Nay, he has the soul of a Perfect Hero!" the Mage interjected. "Never has the Warrior's Soul been so stable, never has the three souls bonded so fully!" the Scholar pondered as he placed his hand to his chin in thought, "His power has surpassed our own, the souls have chosen the heart to bond with rather than force!"

"I ask again, is this how you want it to end? Is this how you wish to leave your wife?" the Solder asked. "No." Bolt said simply as his eyes slid shut, "I never…wanted…to…" he never finished, he slipped into death's grip silently as he relaxed, his heart stopping slowly.

Rhino and Mittens both heard the distinct sound of his heart monitor flat lining, a pool of blood surrounding Bolt as Mittens looked at the screen in horror. "No!" she whispered and turned to her husband, the breathless body still garbed in the golden armor, and shouted, "NO!" She quickly wrapped her paws around him, squeezing his neck as tightly as she could, her tears and sobs increasing to an unstoppable degree.

"We must help!" the Scholar said as he neared the Solder. "We can do nothing!" he said. "That is not true! We can use the forbidden spell, and give up our connection to our power." the Mage said as she neared her husband. "But, I'd never see you again!" the Solder said in surprise, and turned to his friend the Scholar, "Or you!" The Neutrosian man shook his head, "I beg to differ, Mittens came back from the reaches of death, and to me, that proves that there still is a chance, even for us!" he said. "We've pampered the souls of our people far too long. They no longer need our assistance to live in peace." the Mage reminded him. The Solder hesitated, looking to the faces of his friends, "So, we give our power fully to one, and leave him to his destiny?" he asked, "You know what that is!" The Mage shook her head, "No I do not!" she said happily. The Solder and the Scholar looked to her in shock, "But you prophesied…" the Scholar began. "I also prophesied the death of light, as darkness triumphed. Yet the battle that just took place has proved one thing to me as light has first conquered darkness. I see now that the hearts on this planet have a power fate cannot control! Only they have the power to change destiny!" she told them. "I do hope so!" the Solder said as he placed his hand above the fallen dog. The Scholar moved in, placing his hand on top of his friend's, "It will take all three of us to perform the spell!" he said as the Mage moved to be between them. "I'll see you two on the other side!" the Mage said as she looked to the both of them. The three of them smiled, and turned to Bolt, letting their hands shine a bright blue. The light brightened until even they could not see, "Save your world!" was all the Mage said.

Mittens continued to sob into the neck of her husband as Rhino turned his head down, the sound turned off as the line remained flat. Small tears fell to the bottom of his ball as he cried for his friend. Suddenly it moved, once. It was enough to catch his attention, but all he saw was a flat line again. He turned back down to the ground, preferring to stare at the pebbles at his paws instead. It jumped again, catching his attention again, and this time he kept looking, even as it remained flat. Again it jumped, this time again and again, the heart beat getting stronger and stronger as he watched. Rhino was at a loss for words, so instead, he tried waving at Mittens, only to notice her still crying. With only slight frustration, he turned up the volume, the bleep...bleep of the machine as loud as he could get it. Mittens kept weeping, but waved her paw at him, "I don't want to…" she began and lifted her ears, each bleep causing the tears in her eyes to stall in their journey across her cheek. The two of them listened to the bleeps for a few moments, forgetting the time as it passed by, excitement and happiness growing with each noise. "That's impossible!" Rhino whispered to himself as he looked back at the moving line, "He's been dead for almost ten minutes!" Mittens instead leaned forward, placing her ear against his chest trying to listen through the armor and hear the heart beat for herself. "He's alive!" she whispered, and then spoke louder as her smile grew, "He's alive!" Just then, Bolt coughed, let his eyes fly open and then took a deep breath in as he let the air refill his lungs. She frantically lifted herself from his chest, and gripped his cheeks with her paws, "I'm sorry!" he kept saying as he gasped for air. "No, no, no!" she reassured him as he began to shake from the shock, "You came back, that's all that matters!" Bolt let the shock of the revival slip from him, his breathing steadying and his heart slowing down to a normal rate as he steadied himself. "I love you!" Mittens said softly as she rubbed her head against his. "How?" Rhino finally asked as he turned off his computer. Bolt turned his head towards his hamster friend, "How are you alive? I mean don't get me wrong it's still the greatest victory of my life, but still!" Rhino asked. "Here!" Bolt said as he ushered his friend into the group, "Maybe this will clear things up!" Rhino rolled his ball in, curious as to what Bolt was talking about.

When he got there, Bolt lifted him up and pressed his ball to his and Mittens' foreheads. The crystal on his helmet began to glow, the light spreading to each of them and causing Bolt's armor to shrink and disappear. Instead all he had was his long red scarf. "There!" he said as the light surrounding Mittens and Rhino faded, "Now we all have the same power!" It was like a light bulb went off in Rhino's head, the knowledge flooding back to him, yet it seemed like it was all his own this time, instead of the soul feeding him. "Wow!" Rhino said in a gasp. "A forbidden Spell?" Mittens asked, "How come I never learned about it in Skylar's book?"

"I don't know, but I think the warriors of Neutros used it on me!" Bolt responded. "Farewell good friends!" Rhino said as he bowed to the air. They all had a moment of silence before they heard something roar from behind them. "Huh?" Bolt asked as the three of them turned to the noise. The earth quickly began to shake as they looked in the direction of the Aquarium.

End Chapter 9