The Thrill of Darkness

Part 37: Rising Shadows

Jericho's POV:

I held my hands over Atticus' hurt shoulder, healing it quickly before moving on to his other scrapes and abrasions. Despite the circumstances, I couldn't help but be pleased with my progress as a healer. The more I used my power, the easier it became. I only wished that I could show it off to Dark...

Feeling the apprehensive aura in the room, I glanced up briefly to see how the others were fairing; Marzia was fiddling with one of her kunai knives, while Virgil leaned on the wall beside her, eyes closed in a meditative way. Mark sat against the headboard on the other bed, staring somberly off into the distance while he absently petted Chica, who sat in his lap.

Most of the tense energy came from Felix, as usual. As fun loving and playfully snarky as he normally was, he had a tendancy to focus on the negatives when there was trouble. I figured that maybe that aspect of his personality may have had a little something to do with his gift and his, 'shoot first, ask questions later' style in battle.

"Felix," I said softly, smiling kindly when he turned to me, "It'll be okay. Sean knows what he's doing."

Though his expression was still grim, Felix nodded.

"Yeah, I know," he sighed. "After everything I've seen that man do, there's no doubt in my mind that he can take on Anti. But..." he trailed off, his eyes becoming pensive and dark as his gaze fell to the floor.

"But...?" I questioned curiously. Felix hestitated, his aura radiating with unease.

"Anti's not the issue here, Jericho," Mark cut in when Felix didn't answer. "The problem is Sean."

"What?" I asked, surprised by his statement. Mark shook his head, turning his worried gaze to the wall across the room. He seemed to stare straight through it to where Anti and Sean were currently hashing it out.

"Whenever Anti appears or even when we just talk about him, Sean gets this...this look," Mark tried to explain.

"Listen, we know Sean. We're practically family," Felix added. "But whenever Anti comes into the equation, it's like he's a different person. We're not worried that Sean will lose to Anti. We're scared that Sean is going to lose himself."

The room was heavy and somber under the weight of that last statement.

'Sean...'

Suddenly, an emormous thud coming from the wall across the room made us all jump. Atticus moaned restlessly in his sleep, grimacing in something like pain.

Without a word, we dropped everything and rushed out the door and over to the next room, prepared for the worst. But nothing could have possibly prepared us for the chaos inside that room.

Anti was pressing himself into the wall on the far side of the room, clutching his right shoulder that appeared to be (ironically) dislocated.

Sean was hunched over in the center of the room at the epicenter of a hurricane of acid green and black, screaming and clutching his head as if he was trying to keep his skull from falling apart. His eyes were wide open and unfocused, with nothing but pain and madness sparking within them.

None of us could enter the room, no matter how hard we tried. We were all pushed back further into the hallway by the powerful wind from the vortex of sheer dark power.

"Anti! What happened?!" I shouted, hoping he could hear me over the wind. Still grimacing in pain, Anti opened his mouth to answer before he was seized by some invisible force that threw him across the room and slammed him flat against the opposite wall, suspended several feet above the ground. His mouth opened wide in a cry of pain that he didn't have the breath to voice.
I tried to run to him- Demon or not, I considered him an ally despite everything he'd done. Virgil grabbed me by the shoulder and pushed me into the wall beside the door before I could even think about charging in.

"Are you fucking insane?!" He shouted, "Not even you can walk into that shit and come out in one piece!!" He gestured sharply at the doorway before continuing, "Anti is barely holding it together as it is, and he's a fucking Demon!"

"Sean... SEAN!! Fucking snap out of it!!" Anti managed to scream over the chaos, his face contorted in agony, "FIGHT IT, GOD DAMNIT!!"

Sean didn't respond, too preoccupied with whatever was happening to him. The rest of us stood staring in shock just outside the door, unable to help our friend without signing our own lives away.

Suddenly, the tempest of shadows reached a peak, spinning so fast that the furniture in the room began to tear itself apart. Small slices and abrasions began to appear on Anti's skin as the dark magic passed violently over his body. The Demon we had once considered our enemy called out desperately one last time:

"FIGHT IT!!"

And then... it stopped. With one final gut wrenching roar from Sean, the storm of green and black imploded, the shadows converging rapidly on my friend before disappearing into his skin. Anti was dropped to the floor as the force that trapped him disappeared. He grunted as he landed on the shoulder he'd been clutching so tightly before groaning and rolling over to his side, all the while keeping his weary eyes trained on his aggressor.

Sean fell heavily to his knees, his chest and shoulders heaving with deep, rasping breaths. A thin line of blood dripped off of his chin.

Shaking myself out of my shock and horror, both Mark and I once again tried to run to him only to have Felix grab us by our upper arms and yank us back.

"No. Not until we know what's up," he said firmly, keeping his voice low as he observed the scene suspiciously. I just stared up at him, confused; wasn't Sean his friend too?

The seconds ticked by in tense silence as Sean and Anti caught their breath. None of us moved a muscle.

Anti reached out weakly with his good arm, summoning a stream of... light?... That reached out to Sean and delicately brushed his forehead. In the next second, Sean was out cold, slumped to the side in a dead faint. Anti's own eyes fluttered shut as we rushed in. Knowing that Mark and Felix would take care of Sean, I went straight for Anti with Virgil and Virgo close behind.

"God fucking dammit," Felix muttered as he and Mark hefted Sean between them, "First Mark and Chica, then Atticus, then these two... if we have one more person pass out on us tonight, I'm gonna jump out that fucking window."

"Tell me about it," I sighed. I knew I would probably have to borrow some power from someone for these two, especially after all the energy I'd already spent on Atticus.

"I'm just glad it's over."