A/N: Hello all my lovely readers. Umm, I'm not so sure what to say here. I guess I can say that I put the extra in front of the chapter to see if I like the flow better. So please enjoy this new chapter.
Catalina sat on top of the bookshelf with her legs crossed. She flipped through the book in front of her. The woman was so entranced by the tale of adventure that she jumped when the door to the library opened.
Catalina watched as Alex walked into the library. The teen didn't notice which wasn't surprising considering that the bookshelf was taller than the teen. The woman didn't say anything, but just watched him. She grinned mischievously as she planned to pounce on the teen and hopefully startling him.
Catalina closed her book quietly and shifted to a crouch. She focused on the teen as he plopped down in one of the armchairs. The woman stiffened as she could sense the misery dripping off the teen. Catalina sighed knowing that she couldn't scare the teen at least without feeling guilty.
The woman sighed before dropping herself to the ground quietly behind the book shelf so Alex wouldn't see her; she didn't want to startle him. She walked slowly around the shelf to look at the books nonchalantly. "I'm sorry I didn't realize you were here," the woman fibbed. "I can leave if you want me to," she added.
The teen shrugged, "Whatever it doesn't bother me." Alex then returned his gaze to a book he definitely wasn't reading. Catalina floated to sit on the back of the chair.
"So I think Thalen enjoyed that little festival he planned for him," Catalina began nonchalantly.
"I guess," Alex said still not looking at the woman. Catalina pressed her lips together. She became quiet as she thought of ways to make the younger halfa speak to her. "Can I help you?" the teen asked clearly getting irritated at the woman's presence.
Catalina narrowed her eyes; she could be honest or fib. "I'm wondering the same thing," she answered, "Is everything okay?"
The teen turned to face the woman. His eyes narrowed. "There's nothing you can do," the teen said. He got up to leave. Catalina grabbed his arm; she tried to ignore the misery that seeped off of the teen. It was tempting to consume the delicious emotion, but the woman restrained herself.
"Can you at least let me try?" the woman asked. The teen sighed before sitting back down.
"Today is the day that…" the teen got quiet looking down.
"Your parents died?" the woman finished. Alex didn't look at her, but nodded. "They must have been wonderful people."
"You didn't know them. How would you know?" the teen asked his tone cold.
The woman shrugged, "Because of you. Your parents raised you and from what I've seen they did a good job. If you were my kid, I would be proud of you." She smiled at the teen. "I bet they're looking down and feel the exact same way."
"I wish they were here," Alex admitted. "I wish that everything could be the way it was before."
The woman's smile faltered; those were words she often heard herself thinking. Her wishes might as well been as hopeless as his if she actually gave her doubts time. "As do I," she whispered to herself before shaking off those doubts. The woman not knowing what else to say wrapped her arms around the teen as if she could pull together the teen's broken heart. Alex stiffened as if he was going to push her away, but didn't do it. The woman broke the embrace and the two halfas sat in silence for several minutes.
"My mom was very crafty. She was always sewing or creating something. She made my costumes every Halloween," the teen began a small smile on his face at the memory.
Leon swung his right fist while the ghost dodged. The teen halfa swung again and the ghost became intangible. Leon's fist passed through Dan as the other ghost floated through Leon sending a chill through his body. The halfa spun quickly to face the ghost who shot an ectoblast. The teen dodged just barely as Dan took the time to duplicate.
Leon looked from one to the other. The past couple of fights with the halfas were definitely helpful; Leon learned to be hyper vigilant when fighting multiple opponents. The teen dropped quickly as two beams of green ecto-energy crossed above him through his previous position. Leon swallowed that was closer than he expected. The teen spun just in time to avoid a disc of ecto energy and shooting a multitude of tiny blasts in a shotgun manner.
Dan dodged these by disappearing with a dramatic twirl of his cape. The green spheres passed through the empty air much to Leon's surprise. The teen had less than a second to be shocked before something slammed into his back hard knocking him to the ground. Leon heard something else land roughly beside him. The teen turned to see the teenage girl laying on her side not moving.
Leon clenched his fists and blasted into the air swinging at the ghost adding a couple kicks for good measure. The ghost expertly dodged them only to be stopped by a blue ecto-blast to his side. "I'll distract him. You can do more damage than I can," the woman said before darting toward the ghost performing loops and flips while shooting ecto-blasts that the ghost avoided. Leon used the distraction to land a couple of punches before Dan disappeared completely.
Catalina floated next to him as both halfas looked around nervously. They heard a loud whistling sound as a large blast of cold ectoplasm hit both. Leon flinched as the cold burn and stopping all of his movement as if he was frozen solid. The teen could feel himself falling. He glanced at the female halfa who was surrounded by blue flames that melted the ice. The woman's red eyes widened as she caught herself and Leon fell past her.
Leon struggled against the ice trying to break through it with his own attacks. The ice was chipping slowly, but he ground was coming too fast. The teen gathered energy to create a shield beneath his body to hopefully break most of the fall. A flaming blue fireball struck the ice covering the teen. The teen could feel the flames' heat before crashing into the ground.
Leon gasped in pain. He got his feet underneath him with difficulty. A hand on his shoulder sent a flurry of pain down his spine. "I'm sorry I thought I could get you out of there," the woman's voice said. Leon looked at the woman whose shoulders were slumped. The emotion was clear in her face; defeat. "Please, get them out of here."
The woman didn't need to explain; the teen nodded. "I'll buy you time. Just get them away from here," the woman repeated.
DP~DP~DP~
Catalina lowered her head grateful that she couldn't cry in her ghost form. Leon didn't say anything to her but took off. The woman clenched her jaw; she knew what she had to do. She didn't like it, but it was necessary. The halfa took a deep breath and reached out to the misery that clung to the air. The last emotions of the dead and dying were sweet in a sickening way.
"What happened to your self-righteous self-restraint?" Dan mocked floating above the woman. He only spared the teens a bored glance.
Catalina shrugged and gave a fanged smirk, "When you provide a feast, it's a little hard to resist." The woman clenched her fists as energy surged through her body. Dan disappeared in a swirl of energy. Catalina focused before also teleporting. She rematerialized between Dan and the retreating halfas.
She put a protective shield in front of her as she rematerialized stopping Dan's attack. The woman dropped the barrier to conserve energy. "You're doing them no favors, Cat," Dan said, "Their deaths are inevitable." The woman shot a blue ectoblast at the former halfa. Dan dodged as the woman expected, but it was distraction enough for the teenage halfas to turn invisible.
Catalina spun out of the way of two ice-based attacks while sending slivers of energy at Dan. The ghost dodged and Catalina gathered energy around the evil ghost to form an electrified field. Dan looked amused before squaring his shoulders and releasing a wail. The normally green sound waves were now blue, but the color didn't matter. The attack shredded through the shield and the waves crashed into the woman. Like before this attack froze the halfa woman.
Catalina melted the ice before hitting the ground as before. The woman flipped in the air to right herself before a green blast crashed into her chest sending her into the ground. She gasped as her core lurched out of control for a second. The woman caught sight of Dan with a fist of ectoplasm speeding toward her. Catalina focused teleporting herself out the way. She sent a bolt of blue lightening at the ghost who turned intangible causing the attack to pass harmlessly by.
Catalina dropped to her knees; all that excess energy from before was nowhere to be found. She pushed herself to her feet quickly only to be struck by another blast. The woman skid across the ground. As she stopped, Catalina levitated herself to a standing position. She looked at the ghost before it struck her. She couldn't get away at least not fighting the way she was. She needed to fight as if she intended to destroy the ghost. Twirling to avoid another attack, the woman picked up a metal rod off the ground. As Dan sped by, the woman shot a blast at his back. The attack missed, but that didn't matter. Catalina spun again disappearing into thin air as an ice-blue attack sped by.
She rematerialized behind Dan to impale him on the rod she had picked up. She poured as much of her electrical energy as she dared before plunging it into his unprotected back and hopefully through his core. At least, that was the plan.
Catalina stared down the rod at the gaping hole in Dan's chest. The blue sparks that danced on the metal jumped harmlessly through the hole. The woman dropped the weapon in shock as she involuntarily turned human. She dropped roughly on the ground. Dan twisted his head so it faced the woman before he turned the rest of his body. "One nice thing about being a full ghost, I can voluntarily move my core," the ghost explained before he grabbed the woman by her throat.
Catalina could do nothing but hang there; she didn't even have enough energy to turn intangible. The woman ignored the fingers tightening around her neck as she looked directly into the red eyes of Dan. She tried to find any scrap of Danny or even Plasmius, but the red eyes that bore into her own didn't held a speck of brilliant green or even dark crimson. She took a desperate gasp for air as the ghost's face twisted into a cruel fanged smile that was neither Danny nor Plasmius. Catalina could feel tears build up behind her eyes before sliding down her face. She was wrong; they were gone. Gone was the teen that would stay up all night with her talking about nothing, gone was Plasmius who was by her side as she learned about her ghost half, gone were those simple day. There was no piece of Danny or Plasmius in the ghost before her. The woman stared at those cold red eyes as her vision darkened.