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To Forgive "Motarius," Mandragon said. "Based on some old records and reports, I have estimated Fire's chance of survival in the subterranean water drainage system." "Tell me," Motarius replied. "He has a ten percent chance of survival," Mandragon reported, "but only because he has an eight percent of avoiding encounters with the Magic Mutants." "Wonderful," Motarius said. Down in the dark, deep sewers, Vince continued to lead Stephanie as the Dark Fiend of Fire. It had been a few minutes since they had spoken. Suddenly, Vince stopped. "Steph, do you see that?" Vince asked. "I'm not wearing my glasses," Stephanie replied. "Right, sorry," Vince said. "There's a ladder and a manhole just ahead. I think we can use it to climb out of here." This area of the sewers was flooded with slimy water up to their knees. Stephanie hadn't wanted to get wet, but this had been the least flooded area. She had to lift her skirt up in order to keep it from getting too wet. Above them, pipes tangled everywhere. Some of them were large, and some of them were small. Some of them were sealed tightly, and some of them were leaking water profusely. Vince began walking faster, anxious to reach the ladder. However, from a large pipe above him, a beast suddenly jumped down. Vince hopped backwards to get out of its way. In light, he couldn't really see the beast clearly, but it resembled a large, dark-colored alligator. Unlike an alligator, its back and sides were covered with long spines, like a porcupine, spines as long as Vince's arms. Vince and Steph stood on one side, facing it, while their ladder to freedom stood behind the spine alligator. "Steph, stay back," Vince said. "I'll handle this." Despite his injuries, Vince ran up to the spine alligator to attack. Stopping just in front of it, Vince fired a blaze toward the alligator. However, the alligator quickly submerged so that only his spines were above water. As the fire couldn't penetrate the water, only the alligator's spines were singed. Seeing his attack failed, Vince swore. Then, the spine alligator quickly ran around Vince. At incredible speeds, it ran around Vince, stopped as Vince turned around to see it, then ran around Vince again. By running quick circles around its target, the spine alligator was able to confuse Vince. The Dark Fiend of Fire was quickly disoriented. Then, the alligator saw its chance. When Vince had his side turned toward it, the alligator sprang out of the water at him. It snatched Vince by his upper arm and dragged him underwater. "Vince," Steph cried at when she saw Vince go down. The spine alligator dragged Vince around underwater, shaking him, swinging him, trying to tear off his arm. Vince tried to resist, but the alligator was too a powerful swimmer. Although they were in normal water, it still prevented him from using his fire attacks. In less than a minute, Vince felt a biting soreness in his left arm, and his lungs burned for lack of air. Desperately, Vince swung his right arm out, searching for something to grab. He right hand found a small pipe and caught on to it. The alligator still tugged on him, bringing a searing pain into his left arm, but Vince wouldn't let go of the pipe. Finally, the chunk of pipe tore off. Vince smacked the alligator in the head with the pipe, but the alligator still held on to his arm. Vince then tried warming the pipe with whatever heat he could summon and poking it into one of the alligator's eyes. This pain finally caused the alligator to release Vince. Free, Vince sprang to the surface and gasped for air. Stephanie gave a sigh of relief when she saw him emerge. However, Vince had far from succeeded. The spine alligator swam circles around him again, trying to confuse its victim again. With an abruptness, the alligator shot out of the water toward Vince. This time, Vince reacted on time and jumped upward. However, the alligator, instead of passing under him, stopped and positioned itself directly below Vince. Submerging itself, it became a bed of spikes, waiting for Vince to land on it. Quickly, Vince fired off a burst of flame, redirecting his momentum to the side. He landed next to the alligator instead, then hastily leapt away from it. Again, the spine alligator submerged and swam circles around Vince. This time, when it leapt out of the water, Vince leapt swiftly to the side. He just barely avoided the alligator, taking only a few scratches to his arm. Vince wasn't winning. He was only barely surviving and slowly becoming exhausted. If he kept this up, he'd eventually lose for certain. He needed a plan. Unfortunately, as the spine alligator submerged again, this gave Vince little time to think. Vince worked to keep up with the alligator, turning with it whenever it moved. When the alligator dove out of the water, Vince ducked. Then, he pressed his body even lower so that he was mostly underwater. The alligator shot right over him, missing him only by a couple inches. With this opportunity, Vince shot up from the water, dealing a flaming uppercut to the alligator's exposed belly. The alligator gave off a grotesque cry of pain as Vince's punch knocked it into the air. Smashing into the ceiling, it came back down and landed on its feet. Seemingly angered, the spine alligator then pointed a few of its spines forward and fired them at Vince. The Dark Fiend easily dodged these projectiles. The alligator tried again a couple more times, only to miss a couple more times. Apparently frustrated, the alligator chose a new target. It turned toward Stephanie and pointed its spines at her. "Stephanie!" Vince called out to her. "Look out!" The spine alligator fired a volley of spines at Stephanie, who screamed and covered her face with her arms. Vince leapt through the air and landed in front of her. Stephanie opened her eyes to see Vince use his body to block the attack. Several spines pierced his hide and embedded themselves in his body. "Vince..." Stephanie thought to herself. "You took the blow to save me... again." Then, she remembered when Vince had taken the bullets when Steve had tried to shoot her. She remembered every time Vince had protected her, whether from bullies, psychotic murderers, or savage beasts. Then, she thought of everything Vince had done from her. She thought of all the time they spent together and all the fun things they had done together. "Vince!" she desperately cried. The spine alligator, seeing its target wounded, ran in for the finishing blow. Dashing toward Vince, it opened its mouth to bite. With a yell, Vince pulled a spine from his chest and skewered it into the alligator's mouth. With another yell, he channeled flames through the spine and into the alligator's head. As it gave a grotesque scream, the alligator's body burst into flame. Then, with one final pulse of flame, Vince launched the flaming mass of mutated scales and spines down the long corridor that was the sewers. "Vince! Are you all right?" Stephanie shouted, running up to Vince. "Wait," Vince said. Slowly, he pulled the spines out of his body, one by one. When, the last spine was removed, he fell onto his knees. His black hide and red hair suddenly melted into blood and drained away, flowing away with the sewage water. Vince was human again, covered with severe wounds. "Are you all right?" Stephanie asked, fear in her voice. "I just need a little rest is all," Vince replied. With effort, he stood up and walked over to the ladder. Slowly, he climbed to the top, then forced the manhole cover open. Vince climbed to the surface, then helped Stephanie up. As Stephanie followed behind him, Vince walked over to the sidewalk. There, he collapsed. Before everything blacked out, Vince heard Stephanie cry out his name. Jagged lightning and spiraling winds tore through the walls at a government research facility. Two Dark Fiends, Air and Lightning, walked across the room. Behind them, several Ragnarok soldiers and a few Mystics, Paladins, and Priests of Alliatus lay on the floor in a pool of blood. The Dark Fiends walked up to two cells. In one of them, a man with an unshaven face and dirty blond hair sat against the wall. The Dark Fiend of Lightning let loose a bolt of lightning, which fried the lock. All around the cell, various wires threw out sparks and a few mechanisms exploded. The man in the cell stood up. "Gregor," the Dark Fiend of Air said. "You're coming with us." The man turned to stone, and the stone shattered to reveal the Dark Fiend of Earth. Earth and Lightning walked over to the other cell, where a young blond woman slept. The Earth Fiend, turning his fists into stone, smashed open the door. Then, the Lightning Fiend fried the wires and devices that entangled the cell. The Air Fiend walked up to the sleeping woman and shoved her. "Jennie, wake up," the Air Fiend said. "You're coming with us." The woman opened her eyes. Water appeared and surrounded her body. When the water cleared, the Dark Fiend of Water lay there. Vincent Zeng opened his eyes and found himself in a car. In the front seats, he saw Robert driving and Alice sitting on the passenger side, playing a video game on the car's built-in TV set. Then, he realized that someone had wrapped up and bandaged his wounds. He found himself lying across the backseat of the car with his head on Stephanie's lap. She was sleeping, leaning against the door. Her hair was neatly tied with a ribbon again, but she didn't wear her glasses, for they had been broken when Ragnarok kidnapped her. "Stephanie?" Vince called out. Stephanie woke up, startled. "Oh, Vince, you're awake!" she said happily. "Yeah," Vince replied. Alice spun around. "Oh, Vince!" she said. She turned back to her video game and said, with a horror, "Oh, no, I just died!" Not looking away from the road, Robert said, "Good to have you back, Vince." "Thanks, guys," Vince said. "How long have I been asleep?" "A couple days," Stephanie replied. After a short pause, Stephanie then said, "Oh, Vince, there's something I need to tell you." She hesitated, then continued, "I'm sorry for being so hard on you and doubting you and all that. I guess deep down inside I never stopped loving you. It's just that with that white girl and all making me angry, I kind of forgot. I'm sorry, Vince. Will you forgive me?" "Yeah, Steph," Vince answered. "Of course I'll forgive you." Vince smiled. Stephanie smiled. For that moment, everything was happy. Then, Vince tried to sit up. A sudden, sharp pain tore through his body. Vince grimaced and fell back down onto the chair. "Oh, no," Stephanie said, worried. "Don't overexert yourself, Vince. You need to get some more rest." "All right, Steph," Vince said. Overcome with sleep, he then closed his eyes. The four Dark Fiends of Earth, Air, Lightning, and Water faced a humaniform robot that carried a long sword. The Air Fiend caught the robot in a net of wind to stop its attack. Then, the Lightning Fiend fired off a large lightning bolt, frying the robot. The Earth Fiend followed up with stone fists, bashing the robot down. "Gregor, block off the hallway," the Air Fiend commanded. "I don't want any more soldiers to follow us." With that, the Earth Fiend placed his hands into the ground. Emitting seismic energies, he collapsed the hallway. The four Fiends entered a room, where a young girl with light brown hair sat in a cage. The Lightning Fiend fired lightning into the cage, short-circuiting the cage's special equipment. The Earth Fiend then used his stone fists to bash the cage open. However, the girl did not move, so the Air Fiend entered the cage. "Get up, Chrissy," the Air Fiend ordered. "You're coming with us." "What's the use?" the girl replied, overcome with depression. "Vince ditched me for Stephanie." The Air Fiend shook her head, muttering, "Foolish little girl." She then pulled out a needle and injected a glowing fluid into the girl's arm. The girl's body tightened from the shock of the injection. Then, she stood up. "Come with me," the Air Fiend said, "and you can have your revenge on Vince for betraying you." "Yes," the girl responded sadistically. "Sweet revenge..." Over the next few days, Vince mostly slept, but he woke up every now and then. He stayed awake only a few minutes at a time, but it was mostly to get something to eat or some other body function, and he never had the strength to sit up. Finally, after lying in the car for several days, after Robert had been driving around for several days, after Stephanie had been worrying over him for several days, Vince woke up and sat up on his own. "Vince!" Stephanie cried happily. Vince stretched out his arms as he said, "Yeah, I'm feeling much better now. No more pain. No more tiredness. You know what? I feel like going down to the track and running around a bunch." "It's great to see you nice and healthy again," Stephanie said. Vince and Stephanie then hugged and kissed for the first time in a long time. Alice looked back at them and said, "Awww, how sweet!" Looking back to her video game, she suddenly cried out, "Ack! I died again!" Robert chuckled. "Wait a minute," Vince suddenly said. "Why are we on the road? Why did we leave Trioustan?" "Oh, uh, right," Alice said. "Here, let me get you the notes I took on the news, but first, I should probably pause my game." Thus, she paused her game and handed Vince a sheet of paper. The paper was in Alice's handwriting, a quick scribble, but still quite neat and legible. "So, basically, we left Trioustan 'cause there's a war between Alliatus and the Shadow going on?" Vince asked. "Yeah," Robert explained. "It happened like the day after you rescued Steph. Lots of people are fleeing to avoid getting caught in the crossfire. That day, Steph, Alice, and I ditched school to come get you. We kind of ran away without letting our parents or anyone else know about it 'cause you know how a lot of people don't like you?" "Yeah, the Dark Fiend thing," Vince quietly said. "I already know. Steph's parents took away Tina 'cause they really hated me." "It's not your fault, Vince," Stephanie said. "I know," Vince replied. "But still--" "Speaking of Tina, she's our second goal," Robert said. "Our first goal is to survive. Our second goal is to find Tina. Besides, if we die, then we wouldn't be able to find Tina anyway, right? So it works." "Yeah, I know," Vince said. Vince reached over to hand the paper back to Alice. However, in doing so, he gave himself the perfect view of the road ahead through the windshield. "Holy Hell!" Vince shouted. "Robert, stop the car! Now! It's Chrissy!" |