Chapter Four: The Hands That Kill
Axel and Olivia were fast asleep, both leaning against a wall with their hands and feet chained together. A man came up in between the two and kneeled down to feel their foreheads. They were cold, their skin was gray, and blood covered their clothes, but they were still breathing. The man took his hands off their foreheads and stood up; he smiled and then spoke.
"And now for mister kitty cat."
At around two o'clock in the morning, almost every home in a nearby village were destroyed and people were running aimlessly to try and find a safe place; sadly, there was nowhere to hide from this one man. He always found a way to find his prey. At one point, he came across a family with a young child. The family fortunately escaped him, but he found them. They begged for him to spare them.
"Please, at least leave our son?!" The mother of the young child begged. The father of the boy was already gone for good. The man just stared at her, his eyes starting to fill up with tears. He thought for a few seconds, but then he came to a decision.
"If I left him, then he would be alone, and a child would rather be with their parents in any situation, good or bad, than to be alone in any situation." The man said, holding his hand up as pitch black mist started to cover it and the whites of his eyes disappeared into darkness, "And I know this from experience."
One hour later, the man walked away from the now empty village with black goo all over his blue and white jacket and teal t-shirt. He walked across the dying village he was staying in towards a tall skull building with lava spilling out of the front of it.
"This must work, it has to!" Exclaimed Ivor from inside, trying to find a way to cure himself. He had tried milk, but it didn't work. He gulped down a potion he made in one go, hoping it would cure him, but it didn't work, all it did was make him cough a lot.
"*COUGH*Why isn't this working?!"
"Knock knock." Said someone at the top of the stairway to the room Ivor was in. Hearing that made Ivor jump out of his skin. He faced the source of the voice to be met with the man who had infected everyone and who Ivor recognized.
"How did you get in here?!" Asked Ivor, pulling a potion of weakness out.
"One: you don't through weakness potions at a Wither Spawn, two: there's no door, and three: I'm the one creating chaos across the area." The man replied, walking closer to Ivor, which made Ivor start to back up.
"Y-you've done all this single handedly?!" Ivor was starting to get closer to the wall that separated him from the lava. The man ran at him like he had a swiftness potion equipped (which he didn't) and pushed Ivor up against the wall.
"I want you to do something." He said.
"I won't do anything to help you!" Ivor replied, his heart beating faster.
"You're the creator of the one that mutated me and if you don't help me, there's a perfectly good stream of lava right behind this wall," The man threatened, "I destroyed a nearby village and tomorrow you and the new order are going to go investigating, and I want you to make sure they don't discover the village, you understand?"
"They should go, if it helps them realize it's you!"
"Maybe you didn't hear me correctly," the man held up his right hand as his fingers turned into ten inch spikes and held them up next to Ivor's head, "Maybe I should put the plan in your brain manually."
"Okay okay!" The man let go of Ivor, letting him fall to the ground.
"Good, and if you fail, your wither sickness has a lot longer to go before it kills you, and I can speed that process up." Said the man as he walked back to the stairway to head back to where he was staying.
BANG!
Blood went everywhere. Petra fell to the ground after the second hit as Jesse called her name.
"This was too easy." Voices surrounded her as her head hit the stone ground. Pain surged through her stomach and leg as she laid there, dying.
"PETRA!" She was losing sight of where she was; she was going into the light.
"PETRA, WAKE UP!" She opened her eyes as her body stopped jolting around. Her heart was beating quickly and her face was completely white. She raised herself up in the bed to see that there was fresh blood all over her pillow. She looked over to her left to see Jesse staring at her from his side of the bed; complete shock on his face.
"What happened?" Petra asked, rubbing her sore head.
"You were jolting around like crazy and you were throwing up blood in your sleep," Jesse replied, "What were you dreaming about?"
"Nothing."
"Petra, obviously something happened." Jesse put his hand on Petra's shoulder.
"I said I'm fine okay, nothing happened," Petra got off the bed and walked towards the door, "I'm going downstairs." Petra knew what she saw in her sleep wasn't nothing, but she didn't want to worry Jesse. As she went into the kitchen to get a drink of water, she heard the front door open. She went to see who it was and to her surprise, it was Ivor.
"Ivor, what are you doing here this late?" Petra asked, walking up to him. He didn't answer; he just stared at her, leaning against the doorway… and then he passed out. She grabbed him by the arms and dragged him into the living room. As she tried to pull him onto the couch, she saw that he had the same black goo on his robes that was in Olivia's room. Memories of the vision she had had came flowing back into her head, as well as the same powerful headache. She dropped Ivor and grabbed her head tightly as she started to feel lightheaded. She ran out of the room as fast as she could. She was starting to find it harder to breath and purple veins were starting to appear on her arm. She ran to the stairs, and all of a sudden, her headache stopped. She took her hands off of her head and looked at her arm; the veins were starting to disappear. Curious of why it started and stopped, she walked back over to the living room, and to her surprise, the headache came back. She backed up from the room, and as she did that, the headache started to go away. She ran upstairs to go get Jesse, Lukas, and Jonathan. She opened up the door to her and Jesse's room and pulled the covers off of Jesse to wake him up.
"Ugh, what?" Asked Jesse, just starting to open his eyes.
"Get up and go downstairs, I'll meet you there in a second!" Exclaimed Petra, pulling at his arm to get him off the bed. Jesse got up and rubbed his eyes, and when he opened up his eyes again, Petra had already ran off. She ran into Lukas's room and pulled the covers off of him.
"Hey Lukas, wake up!" She exclaimed. Lukas stayed fast asleep anyway. Getting frustrated, Petra slapped Lukas across the face twice, and that woke him up.
"What was that for?!" He asked.
"Go downstairs now, I'll meet you down there in a second!" Petra then ran out the door and went to Jonathan's room, where she stopped before opening the door. She decided to knock on the door instead.
"Hey Jonathan, can I come in?" She asked. All she could hear was Jonathan singing, or something.
"Doo-doo-doo-doo-doo, picking goo off my shirt, la-la-la-la-la-la, or I'll get caught…" Was what was coming from inside. Petra was getting impatient and decided to open the door, and what her eyes were met with was a shirtless Jonathan sitting with his legs crossed on the bed, screaming at the girl who had just came in.
"GET OUT!" He screamed, trying to cover up his torso. Petra slammed the door shut, completely embarrassed.
"You ever heard of locking a door?!" She exclaimed.
"Have you ever heard of knocking?!" Jonathan replied.
"I did knock!" Petra waited a few more seconds to know if she could come in.
"Okay, you can come in now." Petra opened the door again, and this time, Jonathan was wearing a shirt.
"What's up?" He asked.
"I need you downstairs now." Petra replied, pointing to outside the room.
"Okay." Jonathan jumped off the bed and walked out the door Petra was holding open. She followed him out the room and closed the door behind her. Not bothering to go down the stairs, she decided to jump on the banister and slide down. Once she got to the bottom, Jesse and Lukas were already there and Jonathan was still walking down the stairs.
"So what is it," Asked Lukas, "'Cause if it's not important, I'm going back to bed."
"Why wouldn't this be important!" Petra replied, motioning for them to follow her into the living room. Once she got in there, she pointed at Ivor, who was still unconscious.
"What the heck is Ivor doing here… and not conscious?" Asked Jesse.
"I don't know, but…" Petra's reply was cut short by the headache's uninvited return.
"Petra, are you okay?" Asked Jonathan as he walked into the room. Petra grabbed Jesse and Lukas by the shoulders and pulled them out of the room with her, and Jonathan just followed. As the headache started to go away again, she explained what she thought happened.
"What happened was that I came downstairs and then Ivor came in; I asked him why he was here, but he just passed out. I tried to pull him onto the couch in the living room, but then I noticed the same black goo on his robes that was in Olivia's room," Petra explained, "And Jonathan, remember when my wither sickness was triggered?"
"Yeah." Jonathan replied, a guilty look on his face.
"Well, I think I know why it triggered," Petra continued, "The same thing happened when I was near Ivor, and I think it's the goo stuff."
"It was also on The Wither Storm." Jonathan added, looking down at the ground. Petra wanted to mention hearing Jonathan singing about taking goo off of his shirt around a minute ago, but by what her visions have shown her, she wanted to stay on his good side. Jesse and Lukas then walked back into the living room to check on Ivor. They pulled him onto the couch and checked his pulse. Meanwhile, Petra was leaning against the wall out side of the room with her arms crossed, while Jonathan bashed his head against the wall multiple times. Petra wanted to say something to him, but she just couldn't bring herself to do so.
"What exactly do you think this stuff is?" Asked Jesse, scooping up some of the black goo with his index finger.
"I have no idea." Replied Lukas. All of a sudden, Jesse's finger started to sting and burn.
"Ah!" He threw the goo off of his finger as black particles started to emerge from his burning finger. He looked at his finger to see that where the goo was, was now a purple mark starting to appear. Jonathan then walked in and grabbed Jesse's hand.
"Wither sickness." Jonathan muttered. Jonathan all of a sudden felt something grab his shoulder. He turned around to see Lukas staring at him.
"What?" Asked Jonathan.
"I heard you screaming at Petra a few minutes ago," Lukas replied, "What were you doing up at three in the morning?"
"None of your…" Jonathan's sentence was cut short as Ivor finally woke up and started groaning. He immediately looked over to Jonathan and gave him a look that said 'I won't do it'; in response, Jonathan gave him a look that said 'do it or else'. It was almost like they were reading each others minds.
"What happened Ivor?" Asked Jesse, squeezing his now extremely painful finger. Ivor didn't reply, he just grabbed Jonathan by the collar of his shirt and pulled him in.
"You can't threaten me." He said.
"Says the dying old man." Jonathan replied.
"I am not old, I'm fifty!" Ivor raised his voice, "And even if I'm dying, I can take you down." Jonathan grabbed Ivor's hand and pulled it off of his collar, threw it to the side, and put his arms out to the sides.
"You wanna go mate?!" He exclaimed, "Let's go right now!" Ivor lunged at Jonathan, but Lukas and Jesse grabbed his shoulders and held him back; it wasn't too hard to do, since Ivor was weaker than his usual strength.
"I will tell them!" Ivor exclaimed.
"Remember what I said I could do?!" Jonathan replied.
"Tell us what?!" Asked Lukas, starting to suspect Jonathan more and more.
"I need to tell you that he's…" Ivor was cut off by Jonathan's ear piercing screams.
"SHUT UP!" Lukas let go of Ivor's shoulder and came up close to Jonathan.
"What was he trying to tell us about you?" He said.
"That, um… I let Aiden out of prison!" Everyone's eyes widened at his response.
"Wait, what?!" Petra came into the room, trying her hardest to ignore the headache.
"I'm just kidding!" Jonathan scratched the back of his neck, starting to feel nervous.
"Even so, how do you know who that is and that they're in prison?!" Asked Lukas, pushing Jonathan slightly. Hesitant of replying, Jonathan just punched Lukas in the stomach, making him crouch down in pain. Jonathan then leaned closer to Lukas's ear.
"Don't get into my business." He said, but then Lukas grabbed his head and squeezed it tightly.
"So you are hiding something." Lukas then pushed Jonathan backwards into the coffee table and knocking him over.
"Both of you quit it!" Exclaimed Petra. Jonathan then jumped up on top of the coffee table and lunged for Lukas, landing on his head. He tried to get him off, but it was almost like he was duct taped to him. Jonathan then started slapping Lukas's face multiple times that he actually started to create wounds where blood was becoming visible. Jesse and Petra then tried their hardest to help pull Jonathan off of Lukas, and finally, he fell off. Lukas put his hand on his painfully red face to cover up some open wounds.
"What's wrong, ocelot got your tongue?!" Jonathan mocked.
"Jonathan, shut up!" Exclaimed Petra, feeling extremely lightheaded, "And Lukas, leave him alone!"
"I will lock you up, and if the attacks stop, then you're the culprit!" Lukas threatened as he left the room to go clean up his face. Jonathan tried to follow him, put a hand grabbed his arm and stopped him from following.
"You two are like what Axel and Lukas used to be, but worse," Petra said, her face starting to turn gray, "You need to stop!" Jonathan just looked at her. He raised his hand and flicked his fingers, and she, as well as Jesse and Ivor, passed out. Jonathan then picked Petra up and brought her out of the room and into the kitchen, away from the black goo on Ivor's robes. He then walked towards the downstairs bathroom, where Lukas was washing his face off. Lukas was really embarrassed about what had just happened. As he splashed some water onto his scratched up face, he heard someone come in and lock the door.
"I thought cats were afraid of water." Said the person. Lukas turned the faucet off and dried his face. Once his face was dry, he turned around to see Jonathan standing there with his arms crossed. Lukas took his sword out and held it in front of him.
"I know you were the one who kidnapped Olivia and I know what you said about Axel wasn't true!" He exclaimed. Jonathan just looked to the side and started chuckling, and then he turned back to look at Lukas.
"You really are clever aren't you," He said, "But not clever enough to have stopped me when you had the chance."
"What did you do to my friends?!"
"Oh don't worry, they're not dead… yet, and soon, you'll share the same fate." Lukas grit his teeth together as he got angrier and angrier.
"Trust me, I know everything about you," Said Jonathan, "All your strengths and weaknesses, who you hate and like, I even know about when you made a mistake with Aiden."
"Shut up!" Lukas swung his sword right at Jonathan's face, but somehow, he grabbed the blade with his bare hand. Getting even angrier, Lukas pushed harder on the sword, determined to kill the short villain, but, no matter how hard Lukas pushed on the handle, Jonathan was able push it backwards towards Lukas's face. As the blade got closer to his face, he pushed harder, but nothing was going to stop the blade from breaking into the flesh in the middle of his face.
"Ahh!" Lukas let go of the handle and grabbed his face as blood started to spill out of the deep cut the sword had left behind. Before he could do anything, a foot kicked him on the side of his torso and knocked him into the bathroom cabinets and onto the floor. As his his head hit the quartz ground, Jonathan leaned down into Lukas's vision and spoke to him.
"If you thought The Wither Storm was powerful, just double that power and add it to me." Lukas couldn't remember anything after that besides darkness and pain, and shackles around his hands?
Authors Note: Well then, looks like Lukas was right to have a suspicion of Jonathan, he was just too late to do anything. I would love to hear what you think Jonathan's doing and why he's doing it. Also, sorry if this chapter felt a little all over the place, I kind of rushed to post it, but hopefully, it was okay. See you in the next chapter.