Let Us Endeavor So To Live
That When We Come To Die
Even The Undertaker Will Be Sorry.
-Mark Twain
Celine whipped her head around so fast that everyone just assumed it had been that way the whole time.
Krystal was still coughing and gagging on the floor.
Becca was too interested in Arya to help her.
Jasmine was focused on Celine; and Jo-Lynn, Connor, and Nikki? They were just too stunned to move. All they did was gape at everyone in the room.
Celine felt bad for Krystal suddenly- even if she was the creator of her and the Great Ones greatest enemy. "Someone get her some water." she told them.
Connor immediately snapped to, and ran into the hallway. He came back a few seconds later. "Oops. Forgot the cup." he grabbed what he needed and dashed out the door again.
"Why are you here?" Jasmine asked Celine.
"I had reason to believe she came here."
"Why?" Nikki, now back from stun-land, interjected.
"The fact that we, meaning Arya and I, can come here in person is just a latest invention. Normally we just emerge as you," she pointed at Jasmine, "or you," she pointed at Becca, "when we are called. We don't get our own body; we just come out as you, in your body, since we share the same mind and really are just a part of your imaginations. But this-" she motioned with her hand the length of herself, "-is a breakthrough. The first person we used the machine on was actually Kasha...and one other."
"What machine?" Jo-Lynn wondered.
"The Dream Machine." Celine answered.
"And that..." Jasmine urged.
"That allows us to be here like this." Celine listened closely to the sound she had heard earlier that caused her to move her head. "She's back." she finally muttered after a few moments.
Connor came back in the room and helped Krystal drink the water.
"What took you so long?" Becca asked him, hands on hips.
"I-I..." Connor stuttered and cleared his throat, then mumbled something incomprehensible to human ears, Celine was sure, though she understood it.
"What?" Becca said. "I heard something...pickle?" she tried to decipher his mumbling.
Celine laughed lightly at Arya's look on her face.
But then another sound came from outside. She got up to leave.
Connor breathed a sigh of relief as they forgot about him for the moment.
"Arya." Celine called, and Arya zoomed to her side. They whispered words too fast for human ears.
"Watch over the human creators." Celine told her.
"Why?" Arya growled softly, irritated at the thought.
"Kasha is back." Celine told her, opening the lounge door and peeking outside.
"Then I will not stay here." Arya pushed past Celine.
"You will." she ordered her, grabbing Arya's arm as it brushed past her own.
Arya glared at her. "I am of the same rank as you. Your orders have no effect on me."
"I need to talk to Kasha alone."
"And I need to hurt her. But that I don't care if I do it alone or not."
Celine turned to Becca.
"Don't." Arya cautioned with a growl, louder than before.
"Becca, tell Arya to stay here. Please." Celine smiled as Becca turned to Arya.
"Stay here." Becca ordered Arya.
Arya zoomed over to Becca before she could blink. "I am not a dog." she grabbed her neck.
"Geez, what's with you and strangling people?" Connor cringed.
But as Arya's grip tightened on Becca, Arya's strength also waned. Soon, Arya let go of Becca and collapsed to her knees.
"What did you do to her?" Jo-Lynn's eyes widened with shock.
Becca rubbed her neck. "I did nothing."
"You don't have to do anything." Celine answered for her. "Arya knows nothing of this place. She does not realize that if the creator and created are in the same place, same world; if anything happens to the creator, it affects the creation. After all, we are in the creators mind."
"It makes sense." Connor said.
"Yes, but, how did you have reason to believe Kasha was here?" Jasmine wondered still, as the question had gone unanswered from before.
"We see what you see, when we are not here in person. Or we can, if we choose. When earlier today you had looked at the paper article about the car crash, I knew Kasha would want to meet up with Axel once again." Celine answered, and then lowered her voice before she continued. "They used to work together back when Kasha worked for the Great Ones."
"Axel worked for the Great Ones?" Connors eyes widened.
"Long story...which I don't have time to explain right now. I must get to Kasha before she gets to Axel." Celine turned to leave.
She opened the door a little wider and stepped out cautiously.
"Wow! What's happened?" Nikki poked her head out the door after Celine.
Kids were frozen in place.
Nikki stepped out and poked the closest person in interest, before Celine shoved her back inside the room.
"If you leave here you will be frozen like them." she said, stepping back inside the room and closing the door behind her.
"Frozen?" Nikki crinkled her nose, not liking the thought. "You mean like ice?"
"Not exactly. I mean, frozen like time has stopped."
Jasmines head turned towards Celine. "The only person I know who can stop time is Ellsmera."
Arya reluctantly took a seat in one of the lounge chairs, since she couldn't leave the room. "Yes. Ellsmera has been taken captive by Kasha."
"That's just like in the role-play." Jasmine said.
"That's because certain aspects of our lives are the role-plays." Celine glanced out the room window.
"Why are we still...not frozen?" Jo-Lynn wondered.
"Because I'm here, and Ellsmera is here...Jasmine is awake. Because Arya is here, that's why Becca is awake." Celine glanced at Krystal. "You're awake because Kasha is here." she turned to Connor, Nikki, and Jo-Lynn. "You three however, I'm not sure why." she paused. "Unless..." she trailed off.
"Unless what?" Connor prompted. "I'd be awake because of Axel, wouldn't I?"
"No." Celine answered. "It only works if the creation is in the vicinity of the creator; actually in this building..." she looked distracted. "The only way you three would be awake is if Kasha left the portal open to our world." her eyes grew wide. "I have to go." Celine turned and opened the door once again. "But it may already be too late."
Then like that she was gone- the door shutting behind her with a loud and swift bang.
****
Tripp practically ripped his hair out.
The lair was no more than a rock cave- long and narrow. No personal objects of any kind.
Had Kasha simply teleported away with Ellsmera? If that was the case it would be hard to find them again- though Tripp refused to think 'impossible'. She must have teleported away. How else could she have disappeared like that?
But didn't only certain kinds of Snydes have the ability to teleport? And Kasha wasn't a Snyde.
Of course, she did have some of her Snyde abilities...so Tripp didn't know exactly what to think of her. But Ellsmera couldn't teleport, so he knew it wasn't her doing- it was Kasha's.
"Nice going."Raven walked up to Tripp, crossing her arms across her chest. "That wasn't the place at all. No wonder she got away."
Tripp was not going to apologize to her. He couldn't help that he had lost his train of thought as soon as he saw Ellsmera. All he could think was "Save her! Save her now!"
Of course, that had been his downfall.
"I failed her." Tripp leaned his head in his hands. By now, Ellsmera would more than likely be dead. Not only did Kasha know he was coming and would kill Ellsmera to make him suffer, but also, neither Kasha nor Ellsmera had eaten anything.
And Tripp knew exactly who would be the main course if Kasha got too ravenous.
"Oooh. What's this? Pretty. Shiny." Amelia reached her hand out into the air and in a split second, she disappeared.
Just like Kasha and Ellsmera had.
"AMELIA!" Kell and Talula shouted, running to where she had been sitting.
"Oh my goodness! She's gone!" Kell clasped a hand over her mouth in utter disbelief.
"What's this?" Talula asked, pointing to an object in the air.
"Don't touch it!" Kell warned.
But it was too late.
Talula disappeared too.
"OH NO! WHAT IF THEY ALL DIED!!?" Kell screamed.
"Oh be quiet." Raven walked over to the light and her face drained of color. "That is not just a circle of light in the air. That is a portal."
"You know of it?" Tripp asked, rushing to Raven's side to stare at it. His hope flickered back to life. Maybe he could save Ellsmera after all.
"Yes. I do." she turned to the group. "Touch the light." she commanded, and then without another explanation she was gone.
Tripp touched it next, as did Kell.
One by one the group disappeared, until they were all gone.
****
Celine zoomed through the hallways of the high school, her black cloak flying behind her.
Finally she saw Ellsmera.
Walking up behind her silently, she covered Ellsmera's mouth. "Where's Kasha?" she whispered low enough that she knew all non-Snydes couldn't hear her voice. That meant Kasha.
Suddenly Celine felt a presence behind her.
"Hello Celine." The voice was Kasha's, Celine recognized.
Dropping her hand from Ellsmera's mouth, she turned to Kasha. "What business do you have here?" she demanded.
"I could ask you the same thing." Kasha told Celine coolly. "But I'm not going to, because I really don't care." she walked towards Ellsmera.
Celine looked at Ellsmera's face. She could see the sheer horror and pain painted on it, and Celine's heart reached out to the girl. Why didn't the girl just run? Ellsmera caught Celine's eye and quickly looked away. Ellsmera could just run and Kasha would never catch her.
But maybe Ellsmera not only feared for her own life but also her friends and families lives; better her than them. And for that, Celine's anger towards Kasha grew.
Ellsmera did not need to go through this.
"This chat was nice. I need to leave now." Kasha grabbed Ellsmera's arm and pulled her back.
The Snyde could have easily broken free, but she didn't; and instead went willingly.
Celine grabbed Ellsmera's other arm. "I'm not done talking to you."
"Feel free to talk. I just won't listen."
"You never listened, Kasha." Celine's voice suddenly grew soft.
"Don't pity me, Celine. When I needed it I didn't get it. But I don't need it now." Kasha growled. "What I need is support. And Axel promised me that."
"He left you as much as we left you."
Kasha's anger flared and she gripped Ellsmera's shoulder hard, making the poor girl cringe in pain. Anger equaled strength for her, and for her grip to hurt a Snyde meant she was really mad.
"NO!" she bellowed. "The Great Ones left me. LEFT ME TO DIE! They did the same to Axel. I left him to get help. It's different."
"He never came back." Celine remembered.
Kasha took a breath, and spoke through gritted teeth. "He's back now."
"You can't trust him." Celine cautioned her.
"I have reason to not trust you more." Kasha glared at Celine, wanting to paralyze her. Celine felt the power and pushed it away.
Kasha's eyes grew wide. "What?" she fumbled, trying again and again.
"You don't think I'd be stupid enough to talk to you without resistance, do you?" she raised an eyebrow at her.
Kasha was in shock. "I-I..." suddenly she tilted her head to the side. "Yes." she answered herself. "It is time." she glared at Celine.
Celine glared back. "Time for what?"
Her question was answered with a semi truck smashing through the school wall.
As Celine dived out of the way, she heard Ellsmera scream. She quickly stood and there, standing off in the distance, past the wall rubble and into the school parking lot, stood a man- tall, and dark, and sinister.
"Axel." she breathed. She looked around for Kasha and noticed both her and Ellsmera making their way across the parking lot, unharmed.
Celine knew that Kasha had known it was coming. Was it planned? Timed just right for Kasha to make her get-a-way?
Or what she thought was her get-a-way.
Celine zoomed after them, catching up quite easily, closing the gap between the three of them. She reached out to Kasha, about to throw her to the ground, when she rammed into a flying car.
It smashed on top of her, followed by a series of one car after another car, on top.
****
Raven entered a big, square room; wooden floor with benches on either side of her along the walls.
"Of course, it's the gym." Raven said indignantly.
Kell's eyes grew wide. "THE GYM!" she paused. "Wait, what's a gym?"
"Something humans use." Raven turned to look at her. "Where have you been? Living under a rock? They even have these in our world."
"Well, so-r-r-r-ry." Kell mumbled, a bit annoyed. She rolled her eyes. "I have better things to do." she peeked out the gymnasium door. "Oooh, so, does this mean we are in a school!?"
"Yea." Raven pushed past Kell and out the gymnasium door.
"Where is everyone?" Kell asked confused.
"I don't know. Stop talking to me." Raven took off down the hallway.
Tripp waited for the rest of the group to come through the portal. Then they all followed Raven down the hall.
Tripp walked faster than everyone so he could catch up to Raven. "Do you know where they are?" he asked her.
"I have a fee-" Suddenly the mass of frozen students came in to view, causing Raven to stop talking.
She walked cautiously around each student.
"What is this?" Kell whispered to Raven.
"Time has stopped. DON'T TOUCH THEM!" Raven yelled at Kell as she started to bend a person's hand into a "thumbs up" sign. Kell dropped the person's hand instantly.
"They seem to be coming out of one particular room." Raven followed the throngs of students until she reached the door to the lounge. "Shh." she motioned to the group.
Raven's blood was speeding, her heart pounding. Her body sensed another pureblood inside the room. She sniffed the air, but smelled nothing. Was the pureblood alone?
As Raven reached out to open the door, it opened instead from the inside; and a lounge chair came flying at her head.
She quickly ducked out of the way.
"Stop!" It was Arya's voice. "It's Raven."
Raven entered the room with Tripp close behind.
Arya's face changed as soon as she saw Tripp.
Then as Ataile and Elizabeth entered the room also, Arya got even angrier.
"How dare you show yourselves here! TRAITORS!" Arya yelled at them, rushing towards them, but suddenly halting as she got close to the door frame.
Ataile raised an eyebrow.
"Come closer." Arya growled- a little embarrassment on her voice.
"She can't leave this room." An Arya look-a-like clarified.
"You must be Becca?" Raven asked the girl.
"Yes." Becca smiled. "Hello Raven."
"Hello Raven." A girl, who looked like her own self, flashed a smile at her.
"And you must be Nikki." Raven bowed her head slightly in respect. "Hello Creator."
Arya growled again.
"I thought you said you smelled no humans?" Tripp asked Raven.
"I don't. Do you smell them?"
Tripp sniffed the air. "No. Interesting."
"It might have something to do with who we are." Jo-Lynn said, standing up from her crouched position.
Saber barged in the door. "Who said that?"
Jo-Lynn smiled. "Saber!"
"You look familiar..."
"It's me, Jo-Lynn. I created you!" Jo-Lynn's eyes gleamed with happiness.
"Awesome." Saber smiled at her.
"I wonder how you look in shape shifter form, in real life?" Jo-Lynn wondered.
"I could show you..."
"NO!" Everyone screamed at once, cutting her off.
"Awww..." Jo-Lynn whined, frowning.
"We don't have time for this right now! Explanations and introductions later. I need to get to Ellsmera." Tripp raised his voice.
"Well, I know where they're at, but I can't leave this room. Arya looked at Becca hopefully.
Becca ignored her.
Suddenly, Talula came barging into the room out of breath.
Everyone stared at her.
"What's wrong?" Krystal asked the girl.
"I...I..." Talula breathed in and out, trying to calm her breath- the lack of it caused more from what she'd seen then from her running. "Okay. While you guys went one way to find people, I wanted to explore a bit. So I went the other way. And...and..." Talula finally caught her breath. "...the one wall was destroyed and I think Kasha is out there with Ellsmera. But I couldn't-"
Tripp was already gone at the sound of Ellsmera's name. A few others followed. They listened to the noises coming from the outside, and went to those.
"-really tell because cars were flying everywhere." Talula finished.
"Where is Celine!?" Jasmine asked, worried.
"I-I don't know. I didn't see her. The only other person I saw was a man. I believe he was the one throwing the cars around."
Jasmine gasped and pushed her way through the doors.
Becca grabbed her arm. "Don't! It's not safe!"
Jasmine shook her off. "Arya can't hurt you. So I don't think I have to worry about it. I'm a creator. Why do you think I'm not frozen?"
"You aren't frozen because the portal is open. Because your creations are here. Do you not remember you were frozen before?"
"Actually, I wasn't frozen. I just followed you guys. I wasn't sure what else to do." Jasmine confessed.
"Of course. Because Ellsmera and Kasha went through the portal, and were both in the vicinity of their creators, Krystal and Jasmine both would have been awake. I should have realized." Arya whispered.
"It doesn't matter." Raven snapped. "The creation cannot harm the creator. That does not mean someone else's creation cannot harm you."
"I don't care." Jasmine glared at her. "Two of my creations are out there." Jasmine jabbed her finger at the door. "And I should try to save them." Before anyone could stop her, Jasmine ran down the hallway.
Arya glared at Krystal. "Your creation did this!"
Krystal whimpered. "I'm sorry."
Arya turned to Becca. "Let me out of this room. I have a job to do. What I came here to do in the first place."
"I'm coming with you." Becca told her. "Let's go."
"I'm coming too." Connor replied, standing.
"Me too." Jo-Lynn agreed.
"Don't hurt Kasha!" Krystal cried.
"She's the one causing this turmoil." Raven told her. "She has to be punished."
"Hey! That's my sister you're talking about!" Kell yelled at Raven.
"I know." Raven answered as her and Dante took off down the hall, followed by Saber and Jo-Lynn.
Ataile and Elizabeth were already gone. They had left when Tripp left.
Connor, Becca, and Arya left behind them.
"Are you coming?" Kell asked Krystal.
"I must save my creation." Krystal smiled at Kell, but soon turned serious, as they left the room and saw the destruction ahead of them.
****
Axel threw car after car on Celine.
Celine pushed the pile of cars off of her using her Snyde strength. "Seriously?" she mocked Axel. "Is that the best you can do?" she started to twirl to show she was unmarked, when she felt heat tunneling towards her. Celine jumped out of the way just as flames spit past her.
"Forgot about that, didn't you, Celine? You forgot about a lot of things." Axel brought in more fire and flames, making them rain upon the parking lot.
"Axel!" Kasha called to him while dodging the flames.
The flames stopped. Axel turned towards Kasha. "You have finally come." he said.
Kasha dragged Ellsmera by the hair and dropped her on the hood of the car by Axel's feet. "I have brought her."
"Only one?" Anger flashed in Axel's eyes.
Kasha stepped back. "Yes..."
"Is she a pureblood?" Axel demanded.
"N-No..." Kasha squeaked, adverting his gaze now.
"You are useless! A sorry excuse for a Snyde Hunter!" Axel jumped off the roof of the car where he had been standing, and walked towards Kasha as she backed away.
"I only kill Snydes. I am not experienced in capturing them." she tried to explain softly.
"I knew if I wanted something done right, I'd have to do it myself!" Axel yelled at her.
Kasha tried to be strong at this moment. She glared at him now, narrowing her eyes and meeting his gaze. "You can't leave this place. You're stuck here. I'm your only chance for escape."
Axel pondered this for a moment, memories and past experiences passing through his mind- out of his control.