The Return

Chapter 12

Hey guys! So I hope you guys had a good day because I did. We finally got to use lockers again in my school, and we got to move around classrooms so it was a fun day! But pls, if you do not want to have a bad day, read this later, cause I PRETTY MUCH MADE ONE OF THE CHARACTERS SUFFER. AND BY SUFFER I MEAN COME MILLIMETERS TO DEATH. So enjoy.

Natalie locked herself in her room after hearing Meme wasn't talking. She felt the guilt weighing her down. She was too late to save Nadwe, and now his memory was gone. Oompa and oof tried to get her to come out, but she didn't say anything. She didn't deserve to be with them anymore. She lay on her bed, wishing that her parents were here. They always knew what to do. But they were gone. Leaving her and her brother by themselves. And her brother was gone, being used as a battery for Chaos, making him stronger. She sighed. She turned on her side and looked at a small box. Her brother had given it to her a while ago, the same one that he gave her with the book when she found out he was still alive. She grabbed it, and looked at it. She hadn't opened it at all. She felt like because he was back, she didn't need to open. She sat up, holding the small box. It had an aged look to it, and wasn't sure what was in it. She shook it, and the sound of something jingling reached her ears. She sighed. "Should I open it?" she thought. Before she could change her mind, she opened it. Inside, a piece of paper lay in it. She took it, and read it. It said "Happy 12th Birthday Natalie! From Zack." 8 years ago, that day was supposed to be happy, but ended with her heart broken. The pieces came together. Her brother left to get her present, which he hid somewhere that she would never find it, and where he could finish it. But he never came back. Her parents searched everywhere for him, but in the end, never found him. "Oh Zack." she whispered. Beneath the paper was a ruby necklace. Her brother had a blue sapphire one, which he got for his 12th birthday. She put it on, and felt some joy fill her. She would cherish this for the rest of her life. Suddenly, someone knocked on her door, making her jump. Should she answer? "Yeah?" she said. The door opened, and Nadwe came in with Dino. "Nadwe." she said, stunned. "Natalie, are you okay?" Nadwe said. "Wait, you remember?" She stammered. "Um, yeah. Meme helped me remember." Nadwe said. Jooice came in, and was glad to see Natalie was finally talking. "Nadwe, maybe tell Natalie what you found?" Dino said. Nadwe looked confused at first, then realized what he was talking about. "Oh, yeah, um." He took something off his wrist, and gave it to Natalie. Natalie looked at it. It was a bracelet. But something about it seemed off. "What is it?" Natalie asked. "We were hoping you knew." Dino said. "I found it in a small library here in the castle. I put it on, just because, but I realized it made me seem to heal faster than normal. That's why I didn't die. It was because of that bracelet." Then Nadwe winced as pain went through his body. "You good Nadwe?" Jooice asked, worriedly. "Yeah, I'm fine. It's just when I take the bracelet off, I feel more pain, so it just bothers me sometimes." Nadwe said. Natalie looked closely at the bracelet, but nothing in her mind found a connection to it. "I don't know anything about it." Natalie sighed, and gave it back to Nadwe. What surprised her was that Nadwe was hesitant about taking it back. When he put it back on, he seemed to grimace. "What's wrong with the bracelet?" she asked. Nadwe realized he showed how much he hated it on his face, and regretted it. "Um...okay, fine, but I think it also may be the reason...why I lost my memories." Nadwe said. Silence hung in the air. "Give me the bracelet Nadwe." Jooice said, holding out his hand. "Wait, Jooice. He promised to give it back to us, after he's better. That...thing, it's healing him faster, and making him able to do stuff he wouldn't be able to do without it, which we really need. So after he's done healing, he's giving it back, okay?" Dino said. Jooice closed and took a deep breath. Dino knew he was in dangerous waters, but he just told Jooice that Nadwe would give it to him. Jooice felt rage wanting to explode in him, but he knew he could trust Nadwe. He counted down, and felt the rage fade. "Okay, fair enough." Jooice said, opening his eyes. Dino and Nadwe tensed up. "What?" Jooice asked, perplexed. "Jooice, your eyes." Nadwe said. Jooice looked into Natalie's mirror, and saw that his eyes were not light blue and white, but yellowish green and black. His blood froze. "Still me guys. I think it's just Chaos playing with us." He said. Then he felt the tugging sensation in the back of his head. "No. No no no no." He whispered. Not that place. "Jooice, what's happening?" Dino asked, his eyes starting to glow forest green. "He's making me go back there, he wants to take over." Joocie said, the tugging getting stronger. "Please, don't make me go back." Jooice said. "Jooice, what do I do?" Dino stammered. "Anything, just make him stop." Jooice said, then the pain started. It blinded him, making him fall to his knees. "Jooice!" Dino yelped. Natalie got off her bed, and went over to Jooice. "Jooice, breath." she said. Jooice took deep breaths, but Chaos was whispering to him. Telling him that it was no use fighting. "I can't." he whispered. "Yes, you can. Just relax. Forget Chaos even exists." Natalie said. Jooice felt the pain starting to increase. He imagined life before anyone took sides. Where they all trolled each other, playing stupid games, and having fun and not a care in the world. The memories floated in his head, and they brought him comfort. His breathing slowed down, the pain lessened, and Chaos muted. He just wanted life to be normal. Not with Chaos, but with his friends. "It's okay Jooice." Dino said. Jooice didn't open his eyes, but nodded. He felt calm and relaxed. Then the unthinkable happened. Chaos grabbed his conscience and pulled him away from his friends. "No!" he heard Dino say, but it sounded far away. He landed in the hellish landscape, and he saw Chaos take his place. He screamed in pain, in anguish, in grief. Everytime he let his guard down, Chaos took advantage. "Jooice!" Dino said after his friend went limp. "Jooice, don't you dare go out on me." Dino said, shaking his friend. Jooice grabbed Dino's arm, and his eyes opened. They were yellowish green and black, and an evil smile was on his face. "So, we meet again, Dino." he said. Chaos had taken over. Nadwe transformed into a bat, and went to fly away, but Chaos stopped him by shocking him. Nadwe fell, but Natalie caught him. "Ow." he rasped. "I don't think so." Chaos said. He let go of Dino, and stood up. "Chaos, what are you doing to Jooice, you'll kill him!" Dino yelled. "Oh, poor Jooice is dying, and does it look like I give a damn about it?" he said in a mocking tone. "Why do you do this? No, I don't want to hear the same old 'showing true chaos' no, not that. Why show true chaos, there has got to be a better answer than just showing that you're better." Dino said. Dino thought he would lash back, but he was surprised when he didn't say anything at all. "So you don't have a reason? You just like to see people suffer?" Dino pressed. "I suggest you shut up if you and your friends want to live." he said slowly. "Dino, don't." Nadwe whispered, but Dino lost it. "You know, I thought that one of my friends actually hated us and wanted to hurt us, but I was wrong. You made him, against his will, hurt us, and now, he can't live with it. Every single one of us is scared for life, because you enjoy just hurting us. But you know what? Every one of us wishes you never existed." Chaos pounced on him, sword in hand. He pinned Dino down, and stabbed him in the shoulder. Dino ignored the pain. "Sorry Jooice." he said. A vine shot in his shoulder. He gasped in pain, and got off of Dino. Dino got up, and made vines trap him. Chaos was stuck, and the only way to get away was to let Jooice back in control, but he wouldn't. "Just let him go, it's not hard! Haven't you done enough already?" Dino yelled. Chaos got quiet. "Just leave him alone." Dino said. Chaos looked away. He repressed a sigh, and left the body. He looked at Jooice, who was kneeling, clutching himself, tears falling from his face. "Have you had your taste of blood?" Jooice asked, his voice breaking. Chaos didn't say anything. Just faded. Jooice looked up and saw he was gone. But he didn't want to go back. Why go back just to suffer even more? He decided to stay down here. Everyone was better without him, right? "Jooice, please, come back." Jooice heard Dino, but he still sounded far away. Jooice wanted to stay. He would be safe, but his friends? He could just let go of life. But risk endangering his friends? He sighed. "Please let this be the right choice." he whispered. He felt the landscape disappear. He gasped awake, breathing in the cold air. "Joocie." Dino said, and grabbed him in a hug. "Holy crap. What happened?" Jooice said. A sudden pain distracted him. "What the?" he winced. He looked at his shoulder and found a ripped vine in it. "Um, yeah, he kinda made me do it." Dino said, and showed Jooice his own shoulder wound. "Oh man. I hate that place." Jooice said. "Hey, he's gone, no one else is hurt, well, he shocked Nadwe." Dino said. "I'm good though." Nadwe said, who was sitting in Natalie's hand. The pain he felt while down there came back, and tears started to fall. "Jooice, what's wrong?" Dino asked. "Everything," he said. He stood up and went to the window. "What do you mean 'everything'?" Dino asked. "You don't understand. Everytime I go down there, I am by myself, knowing that Chaos is hurting you guys. I go down there, and all I know is I am a puppet. A stupid puppet for Chaos! I can't live with that! If I go down there one more time, I won't come back! I'll be dead!" Jooice yelled. It felt like a weight was crushing him. Why did he come back? "I'm done with this." Jooice said. "Jooice, just stop. Don't do something stupid." Dino said. "Oh really? Why do you think I am going to do something stupid?" Jooice said, the rage in him ready to burst. "I'm done with this! I can't handle this any longer!" His hands started to spark with electricity. "Jooice." Dino warned, but Jooice didn't stop. "I'm tired of being his puppet! I just want to relax without fighting him just to survive! I'm done!" Suddenly he went flying back, hitting the wall. He yelled in pain as he fell to the ground. "What the!" Nadwe said. Dino was stunned. He knew what had happened. Jooice's hands touched his own chest, shocking him. How bad it was, he didn't know. He went over to Jooice. "Jooice, come on man." Dino said, shaking him. The sound of something cracking made him stop. "Oh no." he whispered. Nadwe flew over, landing on Dino's shoulder. He carefully turned Jooice on his stomach, and what he saw made his heart stop. The back of his head was severely cracked. Any more movement, and it would shatter. "How did this happen?" Natalie asked. "When he got angry, his hands started to make electricity, so when he put his hands on his chest, he shocked himself without knowing. The shock and the hit must've both been the reason his head is cracked." Dino explained. Jooice was still conscious. His face was filled with pain. "Jooice, you gotta hang in there." Nadwe said. Natalie had run out of the room, trying to find Meme. "Wh..wha..." Jooice tried to speak, but the pain was too much. "Don't talk at all, you're not in good shape." Dino said. Jooice was confused. What had happened? The thinking made his head hurt even more. Natalie came back, and Meme came. "Holy shit, what the hell happened?" he asked, rushing to Jooice. "He shocked himself, flew back, and hit the wall." Dino explained quickly. "Jooice, just breathe. It's fine." Meme said. Jooice was confused. How did he shock himself? What was happening? "Oh man, this is bad." Meme said to himself. Jooice's head cracked more and he yelled in pain. "Jooice, just breathe." Natalie said. She was scared to death, as this may be a replay of her family fading. Jooice felt so dizzy, so sick. "It's too cracked for it to heal itself fast enough, we need to add glass to fix it." Meme said. "I know we have sand in the castle, but we need to heat it up, and fast." Natalie said, looking at Jooice. "TBH." Nadwe said, and flew off to find him. "Natalie, go get the sand." Meme ordered. She nodded and went off. Meme looked back at Jooice. "Why is this happening? Chaos is basically picking us off one by one." he murmured. Jooice tried to move, but they stopped him from doing so. "Don't. You'll make it worse." Dino said. Jooice was tired from everything. "Don't fall asleep." Meme said, seeing Jooice's eyes flutter. Nadwe came back with TBH. "Oh my God, Jooice." TBH ran over to him, tears forming. "Oh God, how did this happen?" he asked. Dino told him everything as Natalie came back with the sand in a bag. "This should be enough." she said. "If that top comes off, or it fully cracks, he's gone." Meme said. "What do I need to do?" TBH asked. "We need to make more glass, it's far too damaged to heal itself right now. We'll just cover it for now, make it act like a cast, and it will slowly heal." Meme said. Nadwe changed back to human, and sat next to Jooice. The same feeling of death came to him, and he shivered. "What is going on?" They all heard him, but he groaned in pain after sending it. "Don't do it. It'll make the pain worse." Natalie said. Jooice just wanted to talk. He just wanted to talk to them and ask them so many things. Wait, was he talking nuts now? He sighed. "Okay, I think this is good enough." TBH said. The glass in the metal bowl was finished. "Okay, Jooice. This is going to hurt like hell." Meme said. Jooice was confused. What would hurt? Meme took the bowl with mitts and sighed. "Here it goes," he said. He slowly poured the liquid onto his head. Jooice screamed in pain as it blinded him, wanting it to stop. He tried to move out of the way, but Dino and TBH held him down. Meme continued to pour the glass on, making a glass cast for the cracks. The doors burst open, and Laff and Socks came in. "WHAT THE HELL!" Laff yelped. "Shut up guys!" TBH said, Jooice fighting to move. "Laff, get oof in here now!" Meme ordered, still pouring the glass. Laff ran out of the room, and Socks stayed behind, looking in horror. Very soon, Laff and oof came in. "Almost done." Meme whispered. Oof didn't say anything, but simply looked at Jooice, horror in his face. Meme was three quarters done, when Jooice jerked hard enough the TBHs hand got covered in liquid glass. He clenched his teeth as pain went through him, and held Jooice back down. "Come on Jooice." Dino said. Jooice was still screaming. The pain was horrible, he wanted it to end. "Done!" Meme yelled, pulling the bowl away, and oof put his hand on the glass, cooling it. Jooice stopped screaming, the coolness numbing the pain. "It's going to be fine Jooice." Meme said. "Holy shit." TBH said, letting the pain get to him. Meme went over to him and looked at it. He carefully wiped the liquid glass away, and saw he had a 2nd degree burn. He focused, and some water appeared in his hand. He carefully wrapped it around TBHs hand, cooling the burn. "Thanks." TBH said, looking at his water glove. Meme looked back at Jooice. Jooice was breathing heavily, but his plan worked. The glass protected the shattered glass, leaving it to have time to heal. "Jooice, please say something." Dino begged. Meme was about to say he may not be able to talk, but then Jooice rasped. "That...was...painful." "Yeah, you definitely let us know that." Dino said. Jooice chuckled. "How are you feeling Jooice?" Meme asked. "Um...just...completely awful." Jooice whispered. Oof let go of the glass, and they saw that it had covered the cracks perfectly. They helped Jooice sit up, and put him against the bed. Jooice felt very dizzy, and sick. "Okay, so maybe you could explain why Jooice almost died." Socks asked. "To be honest...I don't remember...what happened." Jooice whispered. His head began to be heavy with pain, so he just closed his eyes and stopped talking. "Well, me, Nadwe, Jooice and Natalie were talking when...Chaos tried to take control." Dino said, touching the sword that was still in his shoulder. Meme, just realizing this, and seeing the vine in Jooice's shoulder. "At first, Jooice was fine, but then he took control. That's why he has a vine in his shoulder and I have a sword, which I should take out." Before anyone could stop him, he pulled it out. "Dino!" Meme groaned as Dino winced in pain. "Yeah, that was stupid, I know." he said. Meme went over to him, grabbed some bandages, and began to wrap up the wound. "Anyway, Chaos left for some reason, and Jooice came back, but..." Dino stopped and looked at Jooice. His face was filled with pain, and he looked like he was so tired. "I think the place that he goes to took its toll on him." Dino said softly. Jooice sighed. "Jooice...what is that place?" TBH asked. Jooice looked away, the pain he felt there coming back to him. "Maybe we should let him rest." Meme said. Jooice immediately agreed to it. He tried to get up, but his vision went blurry, and he just settled back down. He was so tired. "Listen Jooice, Laff and Socks are going to help you up, but it will definitely hurt." Meme warned. Jooice nodded. Laff and Socks went over to him. "Ready?" Socks asked Jooice. "Yeah." he replied, bracing for the pain. "One, two, three." Laff counted down. They helped him up, and Jooice felt the world flip and mess with his vision. He felt pain in his shoulder, and ripped the vine out before anyone could stop him. He felt sick, and took some deep breaths. "You good?" Socks asked, quickly wrapping bandages around the shoulder. Jooice shook his head. "Okay, just breathe. We'll wait." Socks said. Jooice was starting to shiver, and the strange but awful feeling of death came back. Tears started to fall down his face, the pain adding on to this head pain. "I can't." Jooice said, and his knees buckled. Laff and Socks held him steady, stunned by what was happening to Jooice. "Okay, we'll stay here for now." Laff said. Jooice sat back down, the pain so intense. Everyone was quiet. They all were worried about Jooice. Jooice was so tired, but the pain had settled down. "Okay...let's try again." Jooice said. Laff and Socks got ready, and they helped him up. The world flipped again, but he was ready this time. He closed his eyes and took deep breaths. Laff and Socks waited to see what would happen. "I'm good." Jooice said. Laff took one of Jooices arms and put it around his neck, and Socks did the same with his other arm. They carefully took him out of the room, and started to his room. TBVG was walking around, trying to find what all the noise was about, when he turned the corner and saw Socks and Laff carrying a very awful looking Jooice. "Guys, what happened?" he asked. "Just had a very bad crisis, and Jooice is not in the best shape." Socks said. TBVG looked at Jooice and noticed the back of his head had more glass on it. He knew something had gone very wrong. "Let me help." TBVG said. His eyes glowed purple, and Jooice was slightly lifted off the ground. "Thanks TBVG." Laff said. TBVG smiled a little, and brought Jooice with Socks and Laff to his room. He carefully lay Jooice on his bed. "What happened?" TBVG asked. "He shocked himself, went flying back, hit the wall, and..." Laff trailed off. "How you doing Jooice?" Socks asked. "Everything hurts." Jooice mumbled. Socks sighed. TBVG bit his lip. "How bad...is the crack?" Jooice asked. "It was pretty bad. But this is going to be like a cast while it heals." Laff explained, pointing to the newly made glass on his head. Jooice sighed. "I'm done with all this, I just wanna stop." Jooice said. "We all do. It's going to take a while." Socks sighed. Jooice felt rage inside him wanting to fight back, but his mind was too weak. He just sighed, closing his eyes, wishing that this was all a dream. "Just rest Jooice. We'll check on you in the morning." Laff said. As they left, Jooice felt alone. He wanted someone to be near him. Yeah, it sounded weird, but he felt exposed to everything right now, and someone near him would be nice. Suddenly, Nadwe flew through the window, and changed into a human. "Jooice?" He called quietly. "Hey Nadwe." Jooice said. Nadwe went over to the bed. "You okay?" Nadwe asked. Jooice could clearly hear the worry in his voice. "I'm fine, just tired and sore." Jooice said. Nadwe sighed. "What's wrong?" Jooice asked, concerned now for Nadwe. "It's just...Chaos isn't just trying to hurt us anymore, right? He's making us doubt ourselves, and next thing you know, someone nearly dies." Jooice was confused, but realized what Nadwe was saying. Nadwe nearly died, now Jooice nearly died. Chaos definitely had a full plate. "Hey, Nadwe. It's fine. I mean, if you didn't get TBH, I would've been screwed." Jooice said. Nadwe chuckled. "Listen, it's fine. You're going to be fine, I'm going to be fine, it's all going to be fine." Jooice said. Was it him, or was his vision getting more blurry? Why was it harder to breathe? "Jooice?" Nadwe asked, worried in his voice. Jooice wanted to speak, but found he couldn't. What was happening? Why couldn't he feel anything? "Jooice!" Nadwe yelled. He sounded so distant. He needed to let Nadwe know that he was okay. Was he? Nadwe began to panic, and thought of one person that came to his head. Jooice felt everything fade. "Am I dying?" he wondered. He thought it wasn't bad. It was painless. He sighed with relief.

WHY THE HELL DID I SHATTER JOOICE'S HEAD?!?! I AM A HORRIBLE PERSON. But I hope you "liked" this chapter. NOW I'M GOING TO GO INTO A HOLE AND CRY TO DEATH.

(4012 words) FILLED WITH PAIN