Okay. Um. Posting. Yay!

I am terrified that this will turn out badly... But I'm leaving for overnight camp tomorrow and I won't be back for four weeks. So... okay. Cool.

Also, please please PLEASE don't let this story die when I'm gone. It has almost died so many times and I'm very attached to it. Let it live! Thank you all. See you in four weeks.

Andy

~

I don't know who thought an ex-villain recovering from a knife wound would appreciate being provided with a DVD version of season three of Thomas the Tank Engine. But here I am, and here it is. I want to throw it across the room or smash it, but then I might be put in a straitjacket.

A nurse walks purposefully over to my bed, distracting me from my annoyance. "Mr. Marquiner," she says.

I find it a little funny that she's now switched from spitting out the name "Rex" to addressing me ridiculously formally. "Yes?" I say.

"One of your... cohort... has requested to see you."

"What? Who? Why?"

"A girl – I can't remember her name. She was granted a last request before a jail sentence; told she could talk to anyone in private, for an hour."

I swallow, concealing emotion. Saana. "Okay. Right now?"

The nurse nods and strides away. A few minutes later she returns, ushering Saana into the room then disappearing. The door clicks shut.

I get up from the bed. "Hey." 

"Hey." She has a look on her face like she's scanning me from head to toe.

"What, do I look that bad?" I joke.

"Terrible."

"Love you too."

She laughs, but her expression is somber. "I have an hour until I'm taken to jail, Andy." 

I sigh. "I know. And I'll probably have to go, if I, you know, survive." It was intended as a dumb joke but the words come out grim. I catch myself. I don't want what could be my last memory of Saana ever to be a sad one. I want to remember friendship, laughter. "So what do you want to do?" I ask.

She frowns in confusion. "What do you mean?"

I grin. "Well, we have an hour. And the window's unlocked."

She smiles slowly. "Even hospitals have fire escapes."

"And fire escapes lead to the roof."

She's already halfway across the room, flashing a mischievous grin over her shoulder. "Come on."

In a surprisingly short time for two recently dying people, we've scaled the fire escape and are sitting on the hospital roof. The sun is strong and the day looks like a postcard, with gleaming skyscrapers against vividly blue sky.

"You know what?" I say, forcing Saana to meet my eyes directly.

"What?" She crosses her arms.

I touch her arm. "Tag. You're It."

"You can't play tag with two people!" she laughs, but I'm already off, sprinting across the empty roof.

We almost lose track of time, methodically going through every childhood game of ours. We used to play on the rooftops, chasing each other across the whitewashed cement; our building, a restored tenement, didn't have a yard, so we made do. I always thought we city kids were somehow luckier. Our urban jungle gym seemed way more fun than a tame rural playground.

I glance down at my watch. "We have to go back," I say regretfully.

Saana nods resignedly, still smiling a bit. "Thanks, Andy. I... kinda forgot what this was like."

"Me too." We linger in the sunlight for a moment, unwilling to go back inside. "It was great... knowing you. As a friend. A best friend." My words are coming out stuttered in my effort not to – I don't even know. Not to cry? Or not to believe that this is really happening, that I might never see Saana again. How will I live?

She turns away and climbs quickly down the fire escape ladder and out of sight. I follow her. My room's window connects to the second landing down, so soon we're back inside.

Less than five minutes after we make it back, the door opens and a nurse enters, followed by a pair of cops. "Time's up," one of the policemen says.

"Wait! I –" I don't mean to cry out. I cut the words off. For what may be the last time, Saana and I face each other. I've known her my whole life. I love her. I don't know what I would do if something happens to her...  

We hug. Only for a few seconds, but it feels definitive. Like the end of something.

Saana walks to the cops, head held high. She puts her back to them, allowing them to handcuff her. I hold her gaze. Her dark eyes look sad. Not scared, but sad.

As the policemen push her out the door, I could swear I hear her call out, "Goodbye!" Her voice is shaking, just slightly, for the first time I can remember since we became criminals and got hardened. I wish I could be comforting. But the door clicks and she's gone.

"Goodbye, Saana," I whisper to the empty room. 

Ok, so my post is going to be kind of a brief recap of everything. I was re-reading, and Zeus, did you remember Leslie's name was originally Samuel? Check here. Also, the post is almost done!

http://www.cricketmagkids.com/chatterbox/inkwell/node/256394?page=22  

Sorry, it's really long. 

Zandibar~

It's been about a week since the battle. One week since I woke up after surgery with my hands bandaged so much that I couldn’t use them. It’s been three days since they sent me home. My mother was allowed to visit me in the hospital, which was lovely. Now I’ve gone home to her. She knew I was a vigilante, which has saved me from some awkward explanations.

I think I'm finally healing. I still have trouble using my hands, and frequently I get so dizzy I can hardly stand, but overall I feel better. Of course, I still have to go back to the hospital for daily appointments so the doctors can check how I’m doing. I know which of my friends are in the hospital; the doctors have told me that much. But whenever I ask to see them, I get strangely evasive answers. All they will tell me is to wait until the police question me. When I ask when that will be, the reply is always,

"When you are well enough to handle a visit." So, I wait and recover. I spend my time practicing my drums on the bedcover, reading, and catching up on schoolwork. It wouldn't be so bad if I wasn't so worried about my friends. I ask the doctor about them whenever I come in for an appointment. He still refuses to answer any questions about them. Finally, one day he asks,

"Do you think it would aid your recovery if you were allowed to see them?"

"Yes," I answer immediately.

"You realize that this will mean you'll have to talk to the police sooner, don't you?" That makes me pause for a second. I'm really not in the mood to be interrogated. But it's going to happen eventually, whether in a month or tomorrow. If not now, when? Besides, I've done nothing wrong. They can't touch me.

"I understand," I reply.

Sure enough, three days later two police officers schedule a visit. They awkwardly settle at the kitchen table. The older officer smiles at me, while the younger one turns on a tape recorder.

“So, Ms. Overlook,” she begins, “do you mind telling us exactly what happened the night of the battle?” I take a deep breath and explain everything. It started with a simple mission to get Saana from the villain's base. Gem got bitten by one of Shaia’s snakes and Will cured her, then traded hostages with Rex: Saana for Gem. Rex and Saana got chased off a cliff by Shaia. Will and I rushed to the rescue, I fell off the rope while carrying Saana.

“And then Will… she caught us. With her mind.” The two officers exchange glances.

“Could- how in the world- how is that possible?” the younger one splutters.

“I’m getting to that,” I say as the other officer hushes him. “We learned later where the powers came from. The Scientific Institute experimented on us when we were babies. Anyway, we went back to our headquarters and found that the Scientific Institute had kidnapped Gem. So Will and I left Saana and Rex and went to rescue her.” I describe meeting Dawnstreak and how she helped us find the scientist’s laboratory.

“Then Saana and Andy got captured, too, and I figured out my power, which is shapeshifting into animals. I turned into a hawk and flew after them.” The younger officer’s eyes bulge.

“Can you do it now?” I shake my head.

“I’m not well enough, I don’t want to hurt myself. Maybe another day,” I explain how we broke out and faced off in the street. And then Will…

“Her power was consuming her. Leopold- the head scientist- was controlling her. He was trying to make her into a murderer,” my voice breaks. My poor Will. I take a breath and continue, stronger, “I wouldn’t allow it, even though the one she wanted to kill was Leopold. Nobody could understand why I was trying to stop her.” The female officer leans closer across the table.

“Why didn’t you want her to kill him, Ms. Overlook?”

“Because- because I almost killed him, but I didn’t. I resisted. Killing isn’t who I am, it’s not who Will is. I know her. She wouldn’t normally kill someone. Besides… if we kill, we are no different than the villains we devote our lives to stopping.” She nodded, but I didn’t get the impression she really understood. I continued, “She used her power to fly, so I chased her. I called her name, I reasoned with her, I begged her. She wouldn’t listen and she threw me off her. I was falling and- and Willomena saved me again. But then she started flying and I was too weak to catch up…” I trail off, remembering the turmoil of feelings. “Then Gem, Dawnstreak, and I followed her. Back to the lab. We met up with Saana and Andy again, but- but Will…” I swallow, “Will was on their side. Leopold had corrupted her, controlled her. We knew we had to fight, but I made them promise not to kill anyone. And then… we fought.”

I tell all that happened during the battle.

“And then Will came back and Tariana got the police.”

The male officer leans in, “So, do you believe Willomena was responsible for her actions?”

“No. Her mind wasn’t in her own control.”

“You mentioned that you made the others promise not to kill, yet Saana killed Leopold. But you’ve been portraying her in a positive light this whole time, why is that?”

“He was going to poison us! She saved our lives by killing him! She and Andy saved each of us so many times; weren’t you listening to me? They’re heroes.” The officers nod.

“We’ll take this into consideration. Thank you for your time and your service, Ms. Overlook.”

“No, I don’t want you to consider it, I want you to do something about it! Don’t put them under arrest. Help me fix this pitiful city of ours!”

“They’ve committed crimes, Ms. Overlook. Killed people. They need-”

“I am Skylock!” I shout, “I know what they’ve done, but I say they are good people! If you lock them up you are the ones committing a crime! They saved us.”

“Thank you for your input."

Please, please, please post, someone. I don't want this story to die. I've posted, have you seen it? I'm Cockleburr. Just so ya know. 

This is the last thing I can write for now or I would post – my computer is going to get fixed at the Apple store. Please post and don't let this die!

-Zeus 

Saana~

During that last hour with Andy, I try to enjoy myself as much as I can. It's been years since I've allowed myself to be so carefree. Its nice. As we race around the roof it feels like once again we are lighter than the birds, like we could lift up into the air at any moment and fly away towards the setting sun. We play the same games that we used to when we were little and happy. We've both gotten stronger and faster, but also more careful. Again we are invincible, the king and queen of the world - nobody can touch us while we're up here, nobody can bring us down.

But all too soon, it's over.

As we slip back through the window the walls feel like they're closing in on me, trapping me like the walls of prison will be doing too soon. My breath runs short, the clock runs too fast, and I wish with all my might that it would stop and freeze me in this moment forever. But the clock keeps on ticking at the same speed, and five minutes later a police officer opens the door. "Time to go," he says gruffly. He doesn’t even seem like he cares, really, that he’s tearing two people who’ve known each other for their entire lives apart. Andy starts, panicked. “Wait, I-”

But he cuts himself off before he finishes. Just before I leave we hug, tightly, and I whisper - “I will see you again.” Then I turn, and walk toward the cops, allowing them to handcuff me. The last thing I see before the door snaps us apart is Andy’s face, staring anguished after me. “Goodbye,” I say, quietly, but before he replies the door is closed, and I am led away.

~~~

I have a one and a half year sentence. I’m only fifteen, so the longest it could have been was two and a half years before I’d have to be released at eighteen. They said something, something about how they had talked to “Ms. Overlook” and decided to take a year off of my sentence. I’ll have to thank her when I get out - she, and the other vigilantes, and Gem, all of them are the reason any of this happened, and though it’s ending with me in prison, at least I have a future now. I got the real Andy back, the one who calls himself by his real name instead of by Rex, the one who I have loved my entire life and only just realized. And though most would disagree upon seeing my position, I feel strangely lucky. Of all the times I nearly died, none of them killed me. But most of all I feel lucky to have these people as my friends.