X. The Trails Of The Earth

Louise stepped into the darkness, vaguely uneasy. She could see some illumination forward because of the cracks in the ceiling, but further on only darkness awaited her. Anything would be lurking out of there. And she didn´t know where It was exactly, which was more of problem. She might get lost in the tunnels of the cave and never find her way out. Then again, there was always the possibility It would lead her to It, so they could have a proper fight. She thought It was prideful enough for that.

She walked onwards, not letting out any external signs of her hesitation, with a hand against the wall for guidance and balance. A meter in the cave, she became aware of a sudden source of light above her. She looked up and saw one of those hideous

(Moon Ballons)

balloons hanging from a stalactite, floating gently from side to side. Slowly picking up speed, more balloons started to appear above her until she could only barely see the ceiling through that mess of white light. She looked down, dimly aware that she was suddenly short of breath. She couldn´t allow It to get her like this. If she was already scaring herself before she saw It, that monstrous spider, face to face, she would surely lose. She held her high, and continued to advance through the cave for what feel like days, nervous, wondering when It would grow bored of this game and come after her. It wasn´t dark anymore, but it still didn´t mean she could see it coming. And, since she didn´t know the terrain, in her haste to defend herself she would trip over a rock or lost her balances somehow and then It would just gobble her up like a snack, nothing more that another dead body to hang in It´s lair like a trophy, and leave her to rot.

After a while, she started hearing the sounds of battle from somewhere below her. Since then, she advanced more slowly, making sure to guide herself by those sounds. She thought that the balloons were not trick to lead her to a death end, make her get lost or fall to her death. It was already too late to turn back, and if it was such a trick she would have fell to her death already. Is just that, even though she was fairly confident about it, she couldn´t be sure. Better to guide herself by the sounds of battle from now on, just in case.

Not long after, she came to a stop. In front of her, there was a door. And not just any door either, but that fairytale door, the same one the Loser´s Club had encountered. A symbol was also there. They had saw many different symbols, but she didn´t see any of what they had saw. She just saw a zero. There was a sudden crack. She looked up, startled, and saw the balloons popping off with increasing speed, until she was left in darkness. She held her breath, sure that she would soon heard It´s breath or It´s legs scrapping on the earth or maybe both.

(who is that trip-trapping over my bridge)

Nothing happened. She opened the door, and stepped through it.

Inside the unnaturally expansive room, bathed in the harsh light of a few torches, a battle was coming to its end. Corpses with many parts missed littered the floors, and were hanged from the ceiling and in the center of It all stood It, clad in the shape of that nightmarish giant spider. There was a soldier impaled in one of Its legs, hanging out of it like a decoration. There were still some soldiers battle, just some, and it was clear that those few were not going to last much more. She ran after them, trying to at least get some people out of there, but they were far off, and some kind of magic, the same one It had used in that house of Neilbolt Street, made it so that she didn´t advance at all no matter how much steps she was taking.

She tripped over her feet, and fell to her knees, far too exhausted. Helpless to stop it, she watched the remaining survivors being torn apart before her very eyes. Their dying screams sounded more like those of animals rather that human beings. She could almost felt her mind being teared off. Their screams faded, but somewhere inside of her they would always resound. Just like every one of It´s words, It´s shapes. Cattleya´s dead, Mother´s treatment. Just one more thing in the list of what would follow her to her deathbed. The torches they carried hit the ground, and snuffled out, leaving her in a final darkness stuffed with corpses. One of them must be the corpse of her father. Alone. She took a deep breath.

"Well, well." It drawled out, from somewhere in front of her. She could heard It moving slowly towards her, Its legs dragging across the earth of the ground. "Come into my parlor, said the spider to the fly. And here you are. All set and ready for the main event. How brave, how noble, how... foolish. I am going to leave you half death, just half death. I still have plans for you. I will let you watch as I consume this world, and then you will join the deathlights."

"You are far too confident, bitch." she replied, with a calmness she didn´t really felt. "And you know what they say about pride, right?"

"You are insolent and prideful, just like that stupid whore you called a mother." It said. Louise winced for a moment, then schooled her expression back to a calm mask. "But it doesn´t matter. You all taste so much better when you are afraid, so breaking that spirit of yours will be delicious."

"Try it. Just try it. You do realize that you are not the only one who lead me here, right?" Louise said. There were a few moments of silence, and then:

"What?" her smile widened.

"You can´t read my thoughts." she said, drily. It wasn´t a question, but affirmation. That Other, whatever being it was, was protecting her. It let out a strange scream of fury, and dashed towards her. She wanted to run, run to any other place. A nightmare beyond her puny reality was coming towards her, fully intending to kill her. But she forced herself to stay still. She hadn´t come this far to fuck things up here. It came to a sudden stop near her, reared up and buried her in Its´s shadow.

She took that chance, and so the Ritual of Chud began once again.

Louise had saw the void of the macroverse in her visions numerous times, but experiencing it, truly experiencing it, was something completely different. This solid darkness over her, like it would rewrite her at any moment... No. She couldn´t focus on something like that. Even a tiny mistake could make her fail and, unlike Bill had, she didn´t have anybody to back her up. If she failed, everything was over.

'You are terrified of me. I know it, saw it, felt it, sense it. And you only know but a fraction of my powers. Presumptuous little brat, felt my power and then speak about how you came to kill the Eternal.'

'You said pretty much the same to Bill, and look at what...'

She was picked up and throw back, towards that unwavering darkness, with the speed of a bullet. She hit the floor. She felt pain, great pain, through her whole body as she spun through the floor like a discarded toy, with even greater speed that before. She could almost felt it, crawling in her skin, the all consuming deathlights getting closer and closer. The instant those panicked thoughts crossed through her mind, she almost felt her speed increasing even more. No, no, this was illusion, nothing more that illusion. She knew that. They were standing face to face, without moving. Nothing of what was happening right now was real. It was all in her head...

(of course is in your head but why the hell should that mean it is not real?)

No, no. She couldn´t listen to It, to her. Be brave, be true, stand. That was all she had left. She had to do this.

'Do this? What can you do? Nothing at all. You are useless in every way that matters. Nobody can stand you, and you can´t stand anybody. Only recently you have learned to be honest with yourself, and you have lived your entire life to this point trying to be like a woman who only had a scorn for you, that never showed a scrap of kindness.'

'Shut up.'

'Oh, you know that I am right. She was always saying without shame that you were a disappointment, and I don´t need you to remind you about the drawing, don´t I? But lets not concentrate of that. That just only a small part of your life. Let´s talk about the truth of your life, the truth of the wonderful Valliere family. A father that is never at me, and when he is he believes you should been perfectly happy that he even looks at you. An overachieving sister that it always treating you with contempt, one that didn´t even want you to go to the academy because you never amount to anything, and she was right, wasn´t it? This is nothing. And then Cattleya, the supposed loveable big sister. But you are wrong. She is just as disgusting as the rest.'

'Shut up.'

'A useless, frail girl who can´t never amount to anything. Does that sound familiar? That´s right. For all of Cattleya´s potential, she was tied down by her sickness up to the moment I killed. She didn´t love, you foolish little girl. She just saw herself in you. She only wanted your to succeed so she could felt better about herself, who couldn´t never have a familiar, or got to a magic academy nor even marry and raise a family, since no man would want a cripple like. All the kindness she showed to you was but...'

'I said shut up, damn it!' Louise screamed, pushed and metaphorically wrapped her tongue around It´s tongue, trapping It, just like she had seen Bill do twice and then Richie, too.

'You...! You dare..:!' It tried to pull Itself back, but be she keep in Its place, digging the teeth in her mind hard into Its metaphorical tongue.

'Its useless to struggle. It´s over.' At upon saying this, It let out a scream of impotent rage, but mostly of pain. It was losing this game. She struggled against It, against that immeasurable existence, and managed to push It back through the void of Its macroverse. She shrieking hysterically at that, from some reason that was lost in the haze her mind had be covered in.

'Let me go, let me go, let me go right now! I command it!' It screamed, almost begging, gave one strong push against her and...

She lost her grip on It. A croaking laugh resounded inside her head, washing away her thoughts, leaving nothing but all the idiot truth of what had happened, and what was about to happen because of it. She was...

brought back into reality. She staggered back, tripped over her own feet and felt down on her ass. The ground was really fucking cold; it almost mad her jump. Before she could get herself back together, something on the side over her stomach, sending her flying against the wall. She slid off, her whole body burning, suddenly all to aware that she just couldn´t take another breath. Some part of it was almost glad, because enough was enough, but she couldn´t. She just couldn´t. It was somewhere in that final darkness, approaching her to finish her off. She had to move.

"That was all your boasts came down to. You understand now, human? I am eternal. I am the Eater of Worlds. Somebody like you can´t challenge me."

Louise stood up slowly, painfully, cradling her useless right arm with her other arm. She dragged herself forward, not even knowing where she was going. She thought this time she was making progress, but in this darkness she couldn´t be totally sure. She swallowed. There was a click in her throat. She felt a small, soft hand wrap around her and nearly screamed.

"Let´s go, Louise." it was Eddie Kaspbrak´s voice. The last time she had heard his voice, he had been bleeding out in the ground, armless and now he was here, clearly alive, still with two arms and with the body of a kid. How? She was still hearing It approaching, so it wasn´t that. "Over here."

She let him lead her to whatever he was going to take her. She didn´t know what was happening, nor how, but there was something clear: It wasn´t it, so it was okay. Besides, some part of her was telling her that-no matter how impossible it was- that the kid leading her through the darkness was really Eddie, not just something that looked like him. He suddenly came to a stop, put his free hand on her shoulder and turned her. She let it. Together, they slipped through a narrow gap in the wall that she hadn´t even noticed, and into a small, cramped space that didn´t seem like it had an exit. Eddie had stopped moving, so this had to be the destination. But why? She doubted for a moment. It might heard her, and if It knew she was here It would surely kill her just like that, without

"Why here?" she whispered; there was no answer. After a few moment of silence, she felt Eddie vanish, leaving her alone. Her eyes stung suddenly. She didn´t want to be alone anymore. She had gone here like this because she didn´t have anybody, but she really didn´t want to be alone. Bill had friends who loved him to back him up, and yet she didn´t have anybody at all, even thought she was working for the good of everybody. She wished he would have remained, that everybody else would have remained by her side.

She sat down, still cradling her arm, and put her back against the wall. She tried to steady her breathing. She wasn´t tired at all, but completely terrified. Could It heard her heartbeat? Ah, no. This wasn´t the time for questions like that. It would just make her more nervous. For now, she just had to concentrate in no making much noise. And even if It heard her, It had to widen the gap and make Its way to her first, which would give her enough time to launch several powerful spells. If even that wasn´t enough, then maybe she could try performing the ritual again once It got close enough. If she could; she wasn´t sure. Bill hadn´t tried again after losing, but then again, that hadn´t been necessary...

Violent winds raged on all across Tristania, tearing trees off from the ground and sending them flying away into houses, other trees or just the ground, the speed of it growing more and more. This world hadn´t not metric for it, but in the world where Bill and the rest came from the expert would easily have been able to tell that the wind speed had reached thirty five miles per hour and was still growing. That started soon after the initial force was send to battle It, and only got worse when Louise entered Its lair. It was a horrible disaster, and together with the death of so many people at It´s hands, it was an accident that would leave a possible unsealable scar in Tristania. But that wasn´t the worst of it. Deep underground, deeper that any person in this had gone before or even could, the wind stones reacted to the energy released and started tearing their way towards the surface.

They were walking in the darkness, with naught but a pack of matches and Eddie´s skills to guide them, but they had been walking for long, far too long, and then Eddie broke the silence, admitting that for the first time in his life he was lost. Though, he sounded more bewildered that frightened. They were all confused and scared, she could heard it clearly in their tones. It hurt her. She heard Ben- who had written that lovely haiku to her- stifle a sob. That hurt her the most.

It wasn´t Eddie´s fault, none of their faults. They were simply drifting away from each other. The Other had made them strong, strong enough to face that horrible nightmare they had left behind, but now the bond that held held them together through all this horrible summer was breaking apart. Louise couldn´t even stand the thought of it, and now it was really happening. She couldn´t let it happen. She loved them. She loved all of them, very much.

"I have an idea." she spoke out suddenly, and even though her thoughts about the issue had been hazy but a moment before, suddenly everything was clear to her. Yes, keep them together. That was exactly what she had to do, and the answer was simple

(I want to see if you are intact)

She brushed aside her father´s words easily, even though that accident was still fresh in her mind. It didn´t matter. Father didn´t understand anything, so she couldn´t let him drag her down at this important moment.

"I know something." she confidently continued, and started unbuttoning her blouse without an ounce of doubt nor embarrassment. And why should she? She had shared this summer with all four of those boys, fighting, laughing, crying together. She didn´t have anything to hide from them. This was just one more step. And she truly loved them. "I know because my father told me. I know how to bring us back together. And if we're not together we'll never get out."

She unbuttoned the last button, and let her shirt fall to the ground. She shivered slightly, it was just so damn cold in these damn sewers, but controlled herself. If everything went smoothly, the boys would keep her warn. She distractedly unzipped her skirt. It fell to the floor, pooling around her feet.

"What?" Ben asked. Oh, poor boy. "What are you talking about?"

"Something that will bring us together forever. Something that will show-"

"Nuh-Nuh-No, B-B-Beverly!"

"-show that I love you all, that you all are my friends."

"What she is tal-" Mike interrupted her, this time. She could understand his confusion, but they didn´t have any time for this.

"Who is first? I think..." she cuts herself when she realizes Eddie comes to her first. Is not out of desire, or even to dissuade her off her idea as her friend from this summer, but as a kid would come for his mother. He is nervous, shuttering like Bill at his worst moments, and she has to coach every moment out of him, but in the end he enters inside of her. It doesn´t happen with him, whatever It is, but his parting words were his confession. Mike comes next, then Richie and when Stan approaches she closes her eyes. She felts some pleasure out of doing It with all three of them, but is more mental that physical.

Then Ben comes to her. He is trembling, but not out of fear. Not like Stan had.

"Beverly, I can´t."

"You can. I can felt it." and she sure can. The bulge she felts pressed against her belly is larger, harder. She curiously touches it, and Ben groans against her neck.

"Beverly, dont..."

"Show me how to fly." she breathes out, somewhat huskily even though her tone is calm. Yes, she thinks. That is. This all is about flying. Love and desire would teach all of them to fly. She felts his tears fall on her cheek and neck. "Show me, Ben."

"No."

"If you wrote that poem, show me. Feel my hair if you want to, Ben. It´s all right."

"Beverly I... I... I..." his trembling gets worse, but is still not out of fear even now, but of desire for her. And he shows her to fly. It hurts at first, but that Pain goes away and leaves only pleasure. The silence is only broken by their moans.

"Oh Ben, oh my dear, yes. I love you so much, dear. Yes! Yes! Yes!" when everything finishes they are holding each other. Ben opens his mouth to say something, maybe some stupid apology, but she shuts him with a kiss and then he goes away. Bill is next. He tries to say something, but she is not the mood to try to convince her, so she cuts him off. She wraps her arms around his neck, and presses herself against him. They go at it.

Bill is passionate though, but not as much as Ben. He is gentle, maybe far too gentle, but it wasn´t unpleasant at all. Far for it. All in all, it felt even more intimate that when she did it with all the others. When they finished it, she drew him to her. He whispered to her that he loved her, over and over again, without shuttering at all.

She felt darkness settle down on her like a physical weight, taking her away from that heat, the pleasure, that all consuming sense of completeness. She saw their faces slowly drifting away from her, and she suddenly felt small, crushingly alone. She couldn´t never see them again, heard them again, touch them again. She couldn´t never again love and be loved by them. Louise opened her mouth.

"I love you guys." she said, all to aware that she was crying. "I love you a lot."

The last thing she saw before darkness overtook her was them smiling.

Louise consciousness returned slowly. She muttered something incoherent, and opened her eyes. It took her a moment to remember where she was and why. It. That´s right, she had to dealt with It. She tried listened it, and only heard scrapping. She guessed it was It´s legs on the ground, but it may be something else. Like the wind through a crack in the wall, or something like that. Still, it didn´t seem like It had discovered her. She slowly sat up, trying to not make a noise.

The darkness that had seemed to settle down on her, shallow her, dissipated before her eyes until she saw everything clearly. Not like there was suddenly light, but that the darkness had grow visible. Oh. It was a comforting thought. That behind every darkness, every horrible truth that made your heart race and your hands tremble, there was nothing. Not a hideous light that would delete it all, just... nothing. She grasped her wand, knuckles turning white and raised it to eye level. Suddenly, everything made sense. She would unmask It, just like the darkness had be unmasked. The Loser´s Club had defeated It before, not once but twice. Despite of everything It said, It was far for unbeatable, so she could do this.

Louise started chanting beneath her breath, feeling much like she did that dreadful morning. Brimming with a calm she didn´t really felt, wrapped in a rushing wave of power beyond her understand. But at least, she understood one thing: this was a different spell. Not to dispel, but to destroy. An explosion that would blow the rotten world It had created in the deeps of La Rochelle sky high. When the power bumbling inside of her got near it´s breaking point, she started moving through the crack in the wall, without stopping chanting. Right hen she got outside, she accidentally stepped on a rock. The sound it made sounded like a gunshot in the silence of the dark, even though it hadn´t been that loud at all. That monstrous spider turned towards her, Its mandibles hanging open, foam dripping from them. The foam fell to the ground, burning a hole through the earth. She winced.

"Oh, here you are. What´s wrong? Decided that you wanted to die already? Well..." It trailed off, and laughed. "I don´t mind. There were only so many places you would hide it, after all, little zero. This is only going to make things easier for both of us."

"That´s right." Louise replied, aiming her wand firmly at It. "I am zero. Just a zero. A Void in all things. But this Void will shallow you, and destroy you. Die here."

"What are you..." It asked, confused. She pointed her wand upwards. "You are just going to..."

"Yeah, die. So what? Is not like it be meaningless." she cut It off, and released the spell. A loud, deafening noise. Pieces of the ceiling started raining down on them. La Rochelle itself was about to crumble away. Through the hideous cacophony of all those noises, she thought she heard It scream in fear and pain. Though maybe it was nothing but her own scream.

Then white.

Author´s Note

The story is not over just yet. After this chapter, there will be a short epilogue to wrap things up.