Drumheller

Chapter twenty-three - the get together

The next morning was a clear one, a nearly cloudless blue sky above the small Canadian town. Steph stood in front of the mirror, as if staring at herself long enough would cause her to wake up from this seemingly never-ending nightmare. Ziz preened himself, smoothing out his nearly invisible looking feathers "do you think it's gonna hurt?" Ziz asks, hopping up onto the dresser that Steph stood at. Steph shrugged "...I don't know. I sure hope not" she looks down at Ziz "today is gonna be quite the day, and it's also going to be the day we set everything up for the best possible scenario. So...I want you in good spirits, at least for now. Can you do that for me?"
​Ziz was hesitant, but nodded "right!
​Everyone met back up at Gabe's house. Kathy was at the dinner table with Eric, trying to practice balancing a salt shaker in mid air. Gabe was on the phone with someone in another room, and Pam was with Sam with her eyes closed. She looked to be focusing on something, only for Pam to suddenly shift forms to her wolf form. When she opened her eyes, she looked amazed "hey guys, my girl is gonna be back from Calgary in a few hours. we should have the meeting before she realises that I'm in a cult again" Gabe says, hanging up the phone. Sam nods "right. Everyone, sit in your circle" he says, sitting on one of the free-standing chairs
​Steph took a look at the group. As crazy as the situation she's in is, and how much of a chance she, and the universe, will die tonight, Steph is weirdly proud of the group. Different personalities all working together to combat such a big threat "it's like a movie or something" she mutters to herself, chuckling
​"if it's okay, I'd like to speak first" Eric says, raising his hand "can someone tell me what we're going to expect tonight? Is Chaos just...gonna appear?" "well...yes" Sam says, clasping his hands "you see, Chaos' goal is to enter the physical real world and wreck havoc on our universe. Tonight, Chaos will use his anchor to do this, and when he does it, we'll have to defeat Chaos and drive him out of Steph's body, which will be the only way to do this mission without actually...killing Steph" Sam explains. Steph furrows her brow "I'm not gonna...like...actually turn into him, am I?" she asks, genuinely frightened. Sam laughs "that would be quite the ride, wouldn't it? No. Chaos will materialise out of the spirit that will leave Steph, but will still be connected to her. This means we have to keep Steph safe from harm while we fight Chaos, so she doesn't take too much unnecessary damage" Sam looks to Steph "this...means you won't be in the fight. We want you to be harmed as little as possible"
​Steph hesitated, but nodded. She understood the fact that she was going to be at the centre of all the action and these people were doing so much to not simply...kill her. Steph knew that if her life ended, then none of this would happen, and that was the crazy part. Steph stood up "...I think I need to just...think for a moment. Please excuse me" Steph quickly left the living room and walked out onto the porch. She sat down and covered her face. She didn't deserve any of this, any of what people were doing for her sake. God himself was even trying to save the life of one person for potentially the lives of everyone in the entire universe "are you...okay, Steph...?" Ziz asked
​Steph sniffed, wiping her eyes "n-no" she said "I'm not okay. None of this is okay. I feel like I'm risking so many people's lives just by staying alive...and...I bet the afterlife is better than this" "Steph what are you saying?" Ziz says, quickly hopping onto her lap "you're not considering...what I think you're considering, right?"
​Steph doesn't answer. She sniffs again, before speaking "tell me Ziz...what else do I have? I don't have a boyfriend, or a real passion outside of just...taking pictures, and here I am risking the entire universe just because a few people want to keep me alive?" Ziz then hugs Steph. Suddenly, Gabe comes through the sliding doors "hey, Steph? Are you..." Gabe sees what's going on "h-hey, Steph are you okay?" Gabe sits next to Steph. Steph leans against Gabe, who flinches at first, but lets her "hey...hey Steph, it's going to be okay. Everything is going to work out. We're going to do everything we can" Gabe said, patting her on the back as she leans into Gabe
​After a little while longer, Steph finally regained her composure and found the energy to go back inside "I didn't mean to strike any chords with you, Steph, if that's what I did" Sam said, sitting up. Steph shook her head "it's okay. I'm fine...just a bit stressed out"
​And the meeting went on. Steph found it easier to simply ignore what's going to happen to her if she simply goes along with how the plan will work. She's going to meet everyone down a side street, away from main street to avoid casualties. The second the clock hits midnight, Chaos will appear, and Life will take the main offence against him. Gabe will take Steph into Kathy's café to keep her from harm as Kathy, Eric, and Pam keep Chaos from moving into the much more populated main street. The plan was set. Everyone was nervous, but at the same time, confident "if this works, I'm treating everyone to free pancakes" Kathy says. Everyone cheered
​After the meeting and everyone went home, Naomi finally arrived home again "hey babe, I'm back" she says, putting down her bag "I know you're probably working tonight so I thought I could maybe-" all of a sudden, Naomi is interrupted by Gabe deeply kissing her. She moves his hand, holding the back of her head as he softly tilts it up to meet his. After a few seconds, he moves back, meeting her eyes "thanks for being patient with me" Gabe said, smiling "I'm going to be really busy tonight. Do you think you can wait for me?"
​Naomi, flustered, looks around, then at Gabe, before snickering "well...alright, but only because you kissed me like that. I wanna do that again sometime soon" she says, teasingly hitting him on the waist. Gabe nods "I promise" he says, before heading out the door.