The Return

Chapter 5

Hey guys! I am so sry I haven't posted in a while. School's becoming a hellhole, and is driving me nuts. But here is the next chapter! Enjoy!

"We were just planning to visit you, when we heard her scream. We ran as fast as we could to her, and when we found her, she was pale, and passed out on the ground. Standing over her was Zack, but when Chaos is in him. He ran off, and broke the bridge." "Then how did you get down?" Muffin interrupted. "We had to find a way down without hurting ourselves, so we decided to rebuild the bridge. But it takes a while to do it. That's why you couldn't go to it. Because there wasn't one." Eclipse finished talking, when he was suddenly tackled by Aphmau. "AHH YOU'RE SO CUTE!!" she shrieked. Eclipse felt his face get very hot. "Aph, let him go." Aaron sighed. She did, and Eclipse was in shock for a few seconds when he realized they were all waiting for him. "Anyway, she needs your help, and you three need her help." Eclipse said looking at Socks, Laff and Jooice. "What happened to Zack?" Jooice asked. He'd known Zack for a while. They both had dealt with Chaos, and the weird thing was that they each had some of the other person's memories. Whenever he fell asleep, those memories popped up. He didn't exactly hate them, just didn't like having it. "We don't know. Chaos did something to him, and we believe it is worse than last time." Eclipse said gravely. Everyone got quiet. "Where's Natalie?" Socks asked. "Still on the island. She hasn't woken up yet." Eclipse said. "Any idea how to wake her up?" Socks asked. He was worried. If she didn't wake up, they were in a heap of trouble. "No. Chaos did something to her." Eclipse said. "Let's go see her then." Woolfster said. "Wait, what about us?" Kim said. "I honestly don't know. If your crystal was destroyed, then we need to find another one, but the likely chance of that is very unlikely." Eclipse said gravely. Aphmau looked down. Aaron held her close to him to give her some comfort. "Maybe Natalie has some?" Zane wondered. "Highly unlikely." Eclipse said. His ears flattened. "I'm sorry." There was a few minutes of silence, as everyone took the time to process everything. "Let's go see Natalie." Socks finally said. Eclipse nodded. "You guys can come with us. I mean, the cat's out of the bag." Socks said. "Yeah, and maybe we can help." Aphmau said. So they all left, and started to the bridge. They walked in silence for a long time. "Hey, Jooice. How are you feeling?" Ein asked. He sighed. "Just tired. This is the second time he's been in me. And I hate it. I hate it." He punched a nearby tree. Ein felt a tiny sliver of fear go through him. Jooice noticed this. "Sorry, it's...it's been a difficult thing." Jooice apologize. "It's fine. But...what happens now?" Ein asked. Jooice got quiet. "Pray that she's going to be fine, and we get Chaos killed," he said. Near the back, Laff had gone very quiet. In fact, he was so quiet Zane got worried about him. "Laff, is everything alright?" he asked. Laff still didn't say anything. "Laff, you're kinda scaring me." Zane whispered. Laff didn't even seem focused. "Socks, is he okay? Cause he is not saying a word about anything." Zane asked Socks. Socks sighed. "Before any of this, we were at war with each other, but it was Laff who was behind it all. But we just found out that it was Chaos that twisted his mind. He...I think he's trying to process this." Socks looked at Laff. He couldn't believe that Chaos made Laff hurt his friends. "Man, I hope he's okay." Zane said. "Yeah, me too." Socks agreed. They finally came out to the clearing. "Where is the bridge?" Noi asked. "It's made of glass, so you can't really see it." Eclipse said, and walked up onto the bridge. "Whoa." the group said. Nadwe hid a laugh. "Do you always think that you're about to die just walking onto it?" Zane asked Nadwe. "I mean, I can just transform into a bat and not walk onto it altogether, but I prefer to walk on it." Nadwe said as they both went up the bridge. "Why?" Zane asked. Nadwe got quiet. "Why did you even become a vampire?" Zane asked softly. Nadwe was shocked by that question. No one ever asked him why he did it. "When the war broke out, I guess I wanted to help, but...I found the wrong kind of way to help. And I guess why I walk on the bridge instead of flying is because it makes me feel more like a human than a crazy blood-sucking vampire." The two walked in silence. "Then how do you not burn? I saw you in the sun a month ago, even after that." "Oh yeah. When we got our abilities, I found out that I could make the sunlight go right through me, so I am constantly using my ability, just to live. Guess I got lucky." Nadwe shrugged. "How do you guys even handle all this?" Zane asked. "I don't know. Honestly, there is a lot I don't know. But I guess I just wait to see what happens next, hoping for the best." They walked the rest of the bridge in silence. When the island came into view, everyone, including Aphmau and her gang, knew something was wrong. The island lost its usual bright color, and was replaced with a sad, gray color. The trees that used to be a bright green, now stood dead. "Oh my God." Aphmau whispered. Socks ran to the castle before anyone else could react. "Socks!" Meme yelled, chasing after him. Socks burst into the castle, and ran to Natalie's room, and he was the only one in the group that knew. "Socks, we don't know where she is! Hold up!" Meme yelled, but Socks ignored him again. He ran to her door and burst it open. What he saw made him sick. Natalie was laying in her bed, her skin as pale a white could be. Her hair was losing its glow, and her face seemed strained. Socks approached her bed slowly. "Socks, how did you know she was here?" Meme asked. "She showed me something here." Socks mumbled. He didn't feel like explaining it all to Meme. The others arrived, and the shock of seeing Natalie left the same sick feeling as it did to Socks. "What did Chaos do to her?" Dino whispered. "I don't know, but she's been like this for the past month. We have no idea how she hasn't had the need to eat or drink." Eclipse said. Socks sat on a stool next to Natalie. "How the hell did this happen?" He said, rubbing his face. Everyone was quiet. This was a dangerous time to be in. With Natalie unable to talk, they had no idea what to do to defeat Chaos. Natalie's face looked like she was having a dream, but it varied from relaxed to worry. "Do you know if you could talk telepathically?" Socks asked. "We don't have the ability to do that. Only humans are able to." Eclipse said. Socks began to think of a plan. "Socks, you're thinking of something." TBH said. "How did you know?" Socks said. "You got the look on your face. It's pretty easy to tell when you're thinking of something." TBH smirked. Socks chuckled. "Well, what if we were to talk to her telepathically? If we could, we could find out what happened to her and find a way to wake her up." "Well, what if she was completely asleep, like, whole mind and body?" Noi wondered. "The only time when you mind is asleep is if you are dead. Your mind is always awake. But sometimes, it can be muted by dark magic. It silences your mind from thinking and doing other things that you need to live. It was banned when worshippers of Chaos began to use dark magic, and some people began to fight fire with fire. The Protectors did not agree to this at all. They made sure that anyone caught doing it was sent to jail, and rid of all ability to harness black magic." Eclipse explained. Everyone got very quiet. "Wait, what do you mean by 'worshippers of Chaos'?" Muffin asked. Eclipse sighed. "I wasn't one who was told of that, but Angel knows." He nodded to the door, and when they all turned, they saw the small, sweet, green wolf. "Wait, you know about this?" Jooice said. "Yes. And let me say that this is not a pretty subject. I can tell it to you if you want. But that would require me to go to the very beginning." "Well, I guess we might as well get answers. If Natalie can survive a month, she can live for another few hours." TBH said. So they all sat somewhere, and Angel began her story.

Yep. Natalie is now Sleeping Beauty. And now they are finding out who the hell are worshippers. And Aphmau likes Eclipse. See yall next time!

(1556 words) Oof