Chapter 15: Gone

Rocky's eyes widened as he realized what Maniac had been talking about. He was gone now, but not fully. He understood now. Maniac was coming back into him to avoid dying fully. Rocky didn't know if he'd get his real form back if he got out again, but he didn't care.

"He let go of his life so I could have it back. He could have left me without him…but he didn't." He thought.

He felt bursts of energy come back to places that he felt were completely dead inside. His mouth arched up in a smile as he sat there, gaping in amazement, he felt so overwhelmed. He hadn't felt this way in…forever. He laughed. The sound only energized him more. It felt so good to laugh and smile again.

"Thank you, Maniac!" He thought as he laughed with glee. There was nothing in the world that could take this moment from him. Oh, well maybe except the fact the whole house he was currently in was burning down.

"Rocky!" He turned to see Mizzi, a little embarrassed for forgetting she was there. So much had happened…

She ran over to him, concerned. "What happened? Where is Maniac?! We need to get out of here!"

"Don't worry. It's ok, Miss M. I have everything absolutely under controooooolllllllluuuuggghh…"

What Rocky hadn't thought of was Maniac dying and now that he was inside Rocky, the pain and wounds were passed on to him. He suddenly felt exhausted, and fell into a collapsed heep on the floor, unconscious.

Mizzi gasped, and checked his pulse. Then she dragged him out of the burning house, and into the car that was spared from the raging fire.***

Freckle and the others waited anxiously for Mizzi-and possibly Rocky-to come back. Freckle was pacing back and forth, sweating, trying to block all possible threats to Mizzi in his head. Every second was an eternity for him.

"Will they ever come back? What if Marigold just kills them both?! What will we do without Mizzi?! What will I ever do without Rocky?! What if-"

"Hey! What is that?" said Wick.

"What's what?" grunted Vector.

"Over there! On the horizon!" He pointed.

Freckle strained to see. Was it? It was! The group cheered and high-fived as they saw a little car bumping along the road toward them. Ivy picked him up, and twirled him around, then blushing as she set him down.

Instead of feeling embarrassed, Freckle laughed, overcome with relief and joy. Lackadaisy had won today.

A couple of minutes later, the car stopped near them. Everyone held their breaths as Mizzi stepped out of the driver's seat. Then everyone started asking questions all at once. Mizzi looked overwhelmed.

"Ok, ok, settle down. I'll tell you all what happened. Just…get in."

Vector, Zib, and Freckle all piled in. At once they all noticed an unconscious-looking body in the backseat. Zib looked at Mizzi with a confused and concerned expression. "What happened? Is he just sleeping or…"

Freckle wasn't sure what had happened, but by the scars, bruises, rips, tares, and blood, it was probably anything but good.

Mizzi let out a sigh as she started driving and talking at the same time. "I'm not even sure of what happened myself. There were two Rockys and they started fighting each other, and then Rocky won, and the other was dying when he started…fading away? I couldn't tell because the two had started a fire and there was so much smoke…I ran over to Rocky, but he fell, unconscious. I-I'm not sure how much he hurts. I'm not sure about anything!" Mizz sobbed.

"I didn't think it would turn out like this!" She sobbed even harder. "I-I don't know what to do anymore!" She wailed.

Everyone exchanged worried looks. Freckle just sat there, paralyzed. He checked his friend's pulse.

"He's still alive."

He sighed, with some relief. "For now. We need to take care of him. He might still be living, but could also be on the edge of life." He thought. He wondered just how far Rocky was to death.