Hello, this is Pastrinator64 with another chapter for the fanfic Hourglass!

Okay...so I went back on my promise about getting another chapter out before I left. Sorry about that, everybody! I'm terrible with these things, apparently. ^^' AND, I'm going to be leaving in less than 48 hours for another week-long trip! I'll be gone from FanFiction for...well, that long. And then I'll get back to writing, but I told myself I would DEFINITELY get one more chapter out before I left again! So, here I am!

Replies to Reviews...

Airas Slayer: Please...the descriptions are far from necessary... *shiver shiver* And no, I have not heard of Scatman! ...what is it? XD

Marshman101: It's got tentacles, lots of eyeballs, mouths, and other mob parts. Literally everything that makes mobs what they are all blended in a mixing bowl and set out to solidify...oh God, that's actually the most disgusting thing I've ever put into words.

Now, let the story commence!

Chapter 40: The Spectators and the Spectated

When Bailey's eyelids shuddered open, she quickly recognized the slow pounding in her skull and the numbness in her legs. With muffled hearing, she could make out the cry of an Enderdragon among several other monster cries. She was staring straight up at the sky, watching as countless pigs soared on overhead, everyone one of them leaving behind a trail of smoke.

"Ngh…" she grunted, pulling back her arms and propping herself up to get a better understanding of her surroundings. "That really hurt…"

At some point during the evacuation, some particularly rude individual shoved her into a compass vendor's stand and knocked her out cold. Now, however, that cart was blown to the sidewalk and embedded in the side of the nearest building; these structures, unlike before, were swaying in place as the living buildings blocks tried to support each other. Somehow, they'd lost their perfect balance from before and threatened to fall over and crush her into the ground. Bailey shook her head rapidly, trying to ignore the many aching parts of her body as she pushed the pile of hogs that had landed on her lower half.

"So that's why my legs're all numb…" she murmured, still mostly out of it.

With shaky knees, she gradually got back on her feet. She glanced to her left after noticing a glint in the corner of her vision and immediately spotted Silence clutched in the teeth of an upturned pig. She sluggishly made her way over and gripped the diamond-studded frame, pulling it out carefully so that she wouldn't snap the string. Once she had a firm grip back on her weapon, she turned around and faced the moving wall of unpleasantness headed her way.

"It's blowing over the entire city!" she half-laughed in her state of total disbelief. "This is more than a few steps up from our last Hell-thing."

She looked down at her hotbar for a moment, seeing if there was any food to help cure her fatigue. Thankfully, only her Blockpack had been stolen when she was unconscious, so she still had the primary supplies. After chowing down on three cooked steaks, she wiped a stream of juice from her chin and cracked her neck, mentally summoning an arrow from her hotbar and onto the bow in her other hand. Once she knew she was ready, she started sprinting toward the gigantic monster.

"Looks like somebody's already gotten started on it!" she remarked, taking note of the small chunk missing from Baal Reincarnate's boss tag. "That's a lot of health, though. 3,000…"

The longer Bailey ran, the more she came to make out a couple of separate entities moving around the outside of the monster. As she got closer, she was even able to distinguish the two.

"That looks like Astrid on the ground," she told herself, speeding up as she readied herself to join the fight. "and that has GOT to be Norman up there! No one else could get that high off the ground! …well, unless Auconi turned on that inner Slayer of his and started, I dunno, climbing it! Not that it would be unlike him, I mean…I'm rambling again."

She was only sixty blocks or so away now, and yet when she looked at the crumbling areas around her she still didn't see anyone else but Norman and Astrid. Since Auconi, Darcy, Alexander, and Adrian had all been MIA from the get-go, she couldn't even imagine where they were. Kelsey, Carol, and Sabrina she'd seen, though; where had they gone in all the confusion?

Kelsey took massive gasps of air as she dashed after Baal Reincarnate, which happened to be moving in the exact opposite direction. Despite the fact that every motion it made was slow as molasses, it was covering quite a bit of ground. She tried not to think about all the pigs that were being killed as the monster was plowing through the middle of New Pork City.

"Slow…down…UGH!" she groaned, suddenly noticing just how heavy her iron sword had gotten.

She looked up into the sky and got a good view of the health bar, her jaw dropping when she saw the health count.

"Baal Reincarnate, and…AND 3,000 HEALTH?!" she cried, glancing back and forth between the bar and the monster itself. "That's so many mobs…"

In her mind, she had to choose between Mark and a hundred thousand innocent creatures…obviously, no matter how much of an animal activist she was at heart, she knew that Mark meant so, so much more to her right now. And when the fate of the whole universe is at stake, too?

Eventually, she was able to catch up with Baal Reincarnate; now all she had to do was get around it so fighting the glob of muscles, bones, and flesh would be made easier for her. As she made her way around the side of the goliath, constantly wary of its flailing stub of a leg, she jabbed at its base with her own blade. With every strike, however, she could see no difference being made in the health bar.

"Its outside is so tough!" she grunted, shrieking briefly when one of the Blaze heads shot a fireball at her.

As she rounded an outwardly-jutting Ghast skull, she caught sight of Astrid less than thirty blocks away, standing directly in front of the beast and doing her best to fight it off—from a safe enough distance, of course.

"Astrid!" she called, waving her empty hand.

In one short moment, Astrid actually looked away from Baal Reincarnate and spotted Kelsey running towards her, sword in hand. She waved back in three rapid strokes, shouting,

"Hey, Kelsey!"

Astrid turned back to the wall of flesh approaching and was nearly caught underneath it as it surged over her. With a grunt of surprise, she threw out her hands and created a diagonal platform of silverfish stones, knocking herself into a backwards arc and just barely avoiding a literal crushing defeat. Kelsey winced as she witnessed Astrid's rough landing on a pile of hog carcasses, but was quickly reassured when she once again jumped to her feet.

"I'm okay!" she declared, smiling broadly.

That very moment, they heard yet another shout from a good distance off. Kelsey noticed the newcomer away since she was already turned in the right direction, but Astrid had to whirl around to see who'd just yelled at them. To their relief, it was the one and only Bailey Creeperwhisperer! As she came closer into view, she raised her bow to eyelevel and exclaimed,

"Watch your head, Silverfishstone!"

Astrid blinked once, slightly confused, and looked up as a shadow covered her entirely; the head of a zombie horse had stretched out from the main body and was opening its dripping maw just above her. Right as Astrid was about to have her head bitten off, a diamond-tipped arrow soared into view and embedded itself in between the abomination's milky-white eyes. It let out a gurgled whinny and bent back, flailing itself left and right in blind agony. Astrid gave a little yelp as a second arrow narrowly missed her right shoulder and made its impact in the horse's throat.

While the warped mob shriveled into white ash, Astrid jumped forward several blocks at a time so that she was at a safe distance from the hellspawn once more. Kelsey walked up next to her and joined in Astrid's awe, the two of them watching Bailey blow away a lock of blonde that had fallen in her way. The Creeperwhisperer proceeded onward, readying another arrow and passing the two young women in a confident stance.

"Seriously, Astrid. Make sure you're paying attention during battles. You're gonna get yourself killed…" she told her bluntly, letting loose her third arrow and leaving them alone.

Kelsey and Astrid turned to each other, both of them suddenly feeling giddy.

"Heh. Well, I guess since she's one of the original heroes…" spoke Astrid, giving a light shrug.

"Alright, alright!" said Kelsey, shaking her head yet maintaining her new grin. "We've got to get to work! There's still 2,820 left to go, y'know."

The three female fighters went back to slicing, stabbing, and dodging Baal Reincarnate, completely unaware that there was a fourth individual watching them from a distance. Almost seventy blocks away, Adrian peeked his head out from behind a pileup of paralyzed piggies, spectating rather than joining in. From this distance, he could barely tell the girls apart; they all had blonde-ish hair! Plus, he was pretty sure Bailey and Astrid were the same height.

"ADRIAN!"

The southerner jumped in place from the startling voice. He scrunched his eyes shut so that he only saw darkness, moments later being greeted with a pair of harsh red eyes inside his mind.

"Ben, ah can't do it! A-all these things you've asked me to do have been full o' bad intentions no matter what! That's not who I am! That's not who Adrian Grass…wh-who Adrian STEVENSON is!"

Ben's laugh, which was chillingly similar to that of the Glitch's, echoed painfully loud in both his ears at this response.

"Come now, Adrian! You know the rules by now, don't you? Either you do EXACTLY as the Glitch desires, or one of two things will happen: your beloved mother and father continue to suffer…or I take control myself."

Adrian shook his head violently in a feeble attempt to knock the demonic virus out of him.

"Everything that's happened…" he muttered, rage filling him up in an instant. "The awakening of Revelation's Horse, Kenneth's and Liz's deaths, ma parents' torture, that removin' of New Pork's protection, the torment ya've put ME through…it's all for the Glitch's own amusement, ain't it? We're all just its toys an' it's a little toddler, rippin' us apart for the fun of it…that's basically it, ain't that right?"

"Ah yes, the game…"

Adrian raised an eyebrow slowly, feeling suspicious about the very brief response, and then murmured,

"Er, what game?"

The glowing red eyes made a motion that looked like sarcastic rolling—though the lack of pupils made this hard to confirm—and he continued to speak.

"Just a little metaphor we higher-up members in Lord Glitch's forces like to use. It created the term itself, in fact! Our lord has always found that the most important part about consuming the multiverse wasn't the benefits of total rule or power or any of that: all that has ever mattered to it was the thrill, the MAGIC of watching worlds full of hope, dreams, and love…watching all of it die."

Adrian's eyes reopened as he came to a sudden realization. He paused for a moment, with Ben waiting patiently for the teen's final response. Five seconds later, Adrian cleared his throat and said,

"So…so all the terrible stuff the Glitch has done…literally all of it…is just for entertainment? Not just the suffering that you and it have caused us heroes and heroines? It doesn't even want to rule the dimensions…"

Deep inside of Adrian, Ben let himself grin the best of evil grins.

"Why do you think every depiction of Lord Glitch's plans have foretold total destruction? In its big, masterful, unforgiving, red as blood eyes, it sees the perfect world in a place where there are NO worlds. After all is said and done, and the universe is dissolved within Lord Glitch, it will cease to have a purpose." Adrian's heart started racing, both from fear and pure, unbridled rage as the truth began to sink in. "Of course, there ARE infinite dimensions, after all. As it stands, there will be an endless supply of despair for my master to feast on from now until the end of time…"

There was a cold and poisonous silence that expanded around Adrian as his entire body went numb from his emotions. He watched dead-faced as Astrid, Bailey, and Kelsey all got closer to him as they attempted to fight back the Unforgiven Spawn headed his way. Then, when they were possibly fifty blocks from him, his eyes focused on his very best friend as she swung her sword valiantly. Not a second later, Ben gripped Adrian by the heart and made him recoil, gasping in pain.

"But now back to whittling away at Norman's will…" he whispered, his voice positively dripping with satisfaction. "It's time to make your choice, Adrian."

Adrian shook his head roughly again, failing to do any real damage to his inner demon.

"Ah can't…"

"The next Discarded must be taken care of, Mr. Grass."

"No! Ah won't do it, I just won't! Kelsey's the greatest friend ah've ever had!"

"Then I suppose your "maw and paw" will just have to take the pain for you, hm? Or perhaps I could intervene and take care of the task; then you only have to be a spectator!"

"NO!"

Adrian stomped out from behind the pig mound and started to charge towards his three friends, sudden feelings of determination spreading through his entire body. As he made his way onward, his iron frying pan swinging with every step, he shouted,

"THAT'S IT! Ah've had enough of hiding! It's about time ah take control again and go help ma own friends fight this time! And there's nothin' you can do to stop me, Ben!"

All of Adrian's limbs then seized up without warning, painfully forcing him into a curled position on the floor. While he lay there, muscles twitching and his mind numbing, Ben's voice sounded loud and clear inside his head.

"Oh, I wouldn't be so cocky if I were you, Adrian!"

Adrian's surroundings shrunk out of view in a matter of seconds, plunging him yet again into complete darkness…

Then he hit the ground suddenly and gasped, eyes closing briefly from the uncomfortable landing. The moment he reopened them, he found himself sitting cross-legged in his rocking chair and holding his banjo like he was ready to start playing "Old MacDonald."

"GAH!"

His banjo dropped to the floor as he jerked out of his seat, causing it to splinter at the handle upon impact.

"You've been in this dilemma of yours for far too long, Grass. We're already way behind schedule with the Discarded! It's time again that I take over for a little while, catch things up a bit…"

Adrian gritted his teeth for a moment before bolting forward, gripping every surface and corner of his replica house as he rushed outside. When he reached the porch, Ben spoke another time and froze him in place.

"By the way, how do you like the new prison? That black hole of a cell seemed a little boring for you, so I took the time to create a setting that made you feel more…at home. Mmmhmmhahahahahahahaaa!"

Adrian, who'd begun to shake with fury even before he lost control of his body, was positively livid at this point and slammed his fist on the porch rail, growling,

"You bastard…"

"Anyhow," chimed Ben, whose voice now resonated inside the very walls of the house around him, "I've got a job to do—a very important one, at that—so I'd best get to it as soon as I can! Ciao!"

A loud pop rippled through the house when the virus left, greatly startling Adrian even amidst his rage. In the short moments of recovery, a robotic-sounding buzz made itself present outside the house. He zipped down the creaking birch steps and ran out into the field, immediately spotting the gigantic TV screen that was floating down from the sky. It eventually landed just in front of Adrian, emitting a static burst when it turned itself on.

Just as suspected, Adrian was given a first-person view of the battle going on in the real world. It didn't take long for those familiar feelings of hopelessness to settle in and Adrian quickly felt his limbs turn weak. He sat heavily in the dandelions growing beneath his feet and watched dumbfoundedly from his mental prison as Ben started to once again turn him into a puppet…and he had just gotten his body back, too.

"Kelsey…" he muttered, staring wide and teary-eyed at the ground. "Protect yerself, won'tcha?"

"Ah…I forgot that he can practically fly…" muttered Ben as he watched Norman blast himself right over the top of Baal Reincarnate's head, flying from one shoulder to the other in a breeze. "I'm going to have to push him off if he's ever going to end up around Ms. Ice."

Ben kept one of his host's eyes on Norman while the other searched down below for Kelsey; perhaps he was causing permanent damage to the Minecraftian's eyeballs, but what did he care if it wasn't his body? In a matter of seconds, he spotted the girl moving past the hellspawn's left flank, Astrid Silverfishstone by her side and Bailey Creeperwhisperer not too far from them.

"There you are!" he snapped, literally snapping his fingers in sync with his statement. "But how to take care of you…?"

His eyes separately scanned the immediate area while he tried to think of an appropriate method of elimination. Not only would have to have Norman witness her demise, but it would also have to be obvious that it was his master's doing. AND he'd have to make sure that his own cover didn't get blown.

"C'mon, c'mon…" he murmured, wracking his virus brain for an answer. "What to do…hmph! You know what?"

He shot a glance straight at Astrid—both eyes this time—and jabbed a finger in her direction. As she hacked away at an outstretched Diggoon drill, he reanimated a Ghast head thirty blocks above her and charged its next fireball with a couple special glitches. It targeted Astrid, who was completely oblivious to what was about to happen, and let 'er rip. With pinpoint accuracy, the flames connected with the back of Astrid's chestplate and exploded violently, sending her careening away from the main battle with a piercing shriek. She landed some hundred blocks away, even passing over his head in her midair trip.

"That'll keep her handicapped for a while!" Ben sniggered, returning his gaze to Kelsey. "Now you, young lady, had better stay put while I get your leader down off his high horse to meet you."

When he spotted Norman again, he was astonished to see him actually standing on top of an overgrown horse, beating it down into Baal Reincarnate's shoulder. Ben merely groaned and covered his face with his free hand.

"Stupid accidental puns…" he muttered, throwing out the same hand and sending another wave of invisible viruses in his direction.

High up in the air, Norman was just about to give the mutated mob its last needed smack on the head when it flailed with warning, hurling him off of the behemoth entirely and knocking Shatter out of his hands. If it hadn't been for Farixz's plans to turn him and Liz back into teenagers, no one would have heard him scream when he was spiraling towards his death; the agonizing shriek of a pre-pubescent boy was much louder than anything a fully-grown adult could muster.

Kelsey and Bailey both looked up to see him falling and stopped fighting immediately. From across the monster, Bailey wildly waved her arms and yelled,

"Kelsey, he's not slowing down! Use your Block powers to catch him!"

Kelsey looked back at her and screamed,

"I can't do that, I've only got ice blocks! YOU do something!"

"I'M A CREEPERWHISPERER!"

Kelsey looked back up at Norman to see that he was now less than fifty blocks from the ground. In a brief flash of surrealism, she saw Mark in place of his father and immediately felt her protective instincts take over. She dropped her weapon to the floor, where one particularly glitched pig swallowed it whole, and extended both of her arms skyward.

Just below the plummeting hero, a spiral slide of ice appeared and caught him, spinning him in a tight circle as he bumpily descended its slopes before shooting out the end—thankfully right-side up. He landed on his butt only a few blocks from Kelsey, who felt the weight of her creation push her to her knees in an instant.

Ben, who was standing an exact fifty blocks from the two, grinned and said,

"Just as planned!" he cracked his knuckles and eyed the Unforgiven Spawn, which was just above to steamroll both of them with its impossible weight. "Wait a moment, we can't have that! Let me just…"

Norman coughed heavily and sat up straight, staring over a Kelsey.

She stared back.

"Kelsey…thank you, really." he muttered, his shock still stunting his phrases. "I couldn't have done anything to stop myself…not while I was spinning out of control like that, of c—"

Suddenly, Shatter fell just next to them and buried itself almost entirely in the fleshy road, Knockback II doing its job and bouncing them ten blocks to their right. On the bright side, this saved them from being stepped out by Baal Reincarnate. At the same time, Norman was now unsure if Shatter would survive the trample. He shakily turned to Kelsey again, who was breathing just as heavily as she watched their foe pass them by.

"I could've died right then…AND just now!" Norman exclaimed, blinking hard. "That slide was a brilliant idea, by the way."

Kelsey cleared her throat awkwardly and just tried not to blush.

"I don't usually…wait a sec…mmHM! Sorry, scratchy throat. I don't usually use my Block powers! Not that much, at least."

Norman smiled and glanced over at the floating ice sculpture near them; despite the fact that it was almost about to be shattered by Baal Reincarnate, he took a moment to appreciate the beauty of it.

"Well, you did a seamless job using yours now! That's for sure!"

In the distance, Ben just kept on watching and listening, waiting for the perfect moment to strike.

"That's it, you two…keep on chumming it up." he whispered, taking a second a look up at the one building still left standing after being touched by the monster's rampage

This building was especially interesting in the fact that it was the only one that towered directly over good pals Norman and Kelsey.

"Heheheheh..." giggled Ben, his grin slowly widening. "Perfect."

I don't like Ben at all...then again, I do. I like his plot, but not his character. Character puppetry in stories has always been a true love of mine ever since I watched Total Drama: All-Stars. XD Guilty!

Will Ben succeed in his terrible plan to murder Kelsey, the supposed next member of the Discarded? Will Adrian ever be able to escape his own mind and beat the crap out of Ben like he wishes he could? And how are Darcy, Auconi, Carol, and Sabrina doing while they're still inside of Baal Reincarnate? Find out NEXT chapter of Hourglass!

This is Pastrinator64, your fellow writer and reader, signing out!

*throws sugar bomb and disappears behind its cloud of fine white sugar*

...Goodbye for now...

~Pastrinator64 [~]