Hourglass of Time (Chase Brody/Antisepticeye)

Four

I honestly didn't know what we were going to do with the information we got...but I knew that with a certain piece of it..it certainly helps. I wasn't going to give up..I promised him I would get him back..even if it meant doing what I thought was impossible.

***

I woke up to the sun shining in my face. Turning away from it, I sat up on the bed, rubbing the sleep out of my eyes. My brain immediately thought of what the task was: to save Chase before it's too late. Looking at the time, it read 9:50am on the alarm clock.

"Dammit.." I said, bolting out of bed. Not even bothering to fix my hair, I went downstairs, seeing Jackieboy and Marvin still nose-deep in the books they picked up from who knows where.

"Morning, sleepyhead." Marvin said, turning the page of a book he was reading.

"You said you were gonna wake me up.." I told Jackieboy, folding my arms. "What the hell?"

"Figured you needed your sleep." He said, adjusting the mask on his face. "I was just about to wake you because I found something."

Pulling up a chair, I sat next to him. "What did you find?"

"Well, I did some digging for a while..and I came across a part as to where they like to hang out." He said, lifting his head up to me.

"Okay, you wanna elaborate?" I demanded.

"They like to stay in 'cold, dark places. A place no human thinks of going to.'"

I scoffed. "And where the hell would a place like that be around here??" I showed him the time on my phone, seeing it now read 10am. "I have nine hours left. How the fuck are we gonna find a 'cold, dark place' in a big fucking town like this?!"

"Lucky for you, I know of one place." Marvin said, closing his book. "There's an old structure not too far from here..it's a few blocks but it's not a long distance. It would make sense if he was there."

"Why??"

"Because it's an abandoned building." Jackieboy said. "Good call, Marvin."

I stood from my chair. "Okay..let's go."

"Whoa whoa whoa, slow down cowboy." Marvin said. "We're not ready yet.."

"What do you mean we're not ready??" I hissed. "We got his location, let's fucking go!"

"By we, we mean you." Jackieboy said, getting me to look at him dumbfounded.

"What in the hell are you talking about?"

Marvin took a couple steps closer to me, his eyes bright in the sunlight underneath his cat mask. "This is probably going to sound weird but..you need to be trained on how to fight."

I laughed. "Are you kidding me?? I know how to defend myself!"

"Not for something like this." Jackieboy said. "He's right...we gotta teach you how."

"As if we haven't wasted enough time already." I said. "Look, I just met you two last night..and I don't need this kind of pressure with the nine hours I have left."

Walking away, I headed outside, needing to clear my head. This just feels like too much for me to grasp...I mean training me to fight?? Since when does something like that happen?? Since when did Antiseptic-whatever become a real thing?? When did angels and demons become real??
Sitting up against the tree, I took out my knife, unfolding the blade, and stared at it. I could see a couple dried up blood stains on it through my reflection. It didn't phase me one bit. It suddenly brought comfort to me through all these overwhelming feelings.
Lifting up my sleeve, it was like I could barely see the color of my skin anymore with all the scabs and scars from before. Pulling my other sleeve, it looked the same.
Tears filled my eyes as I looked up towards the sky, the sun covered by grey clouds. "I'm sorry, Chase...I'm sorry I let this happen. It's all my fault. I should've done something sooner.."

Looking back down, I gripped my knife tightly, beginning to carve even more wounds. Welcoming the pain like always, I didn't do as much as I have in the past. What else was I gonna do? I don't have anyone to talk to about this..Jackieboy and Marvin wouldn't even understand like Chase did.
Stopping, I stared at the fresh cuts, red dotting along the lines of them. Folding up my knife, I heard footsteps, and I quickly pulled my sleeves down, biting down a yelp of pain before hastily wiping my tears away.

"Lily?" I heard Marvin ask. "You alright?"
Taking a deep breath, I gave a small nod. "Yeah....I'm fine just..needed to think."

He knelt down in front of me. "I know it's a lot to take in..but you're going to be doing this alone. You have me and Jackieboy too. We'll help you through this..but you gotta let us do that."

"I know.." I said, turning my head to him. I knew we didn't have a lot of time left..that I needed to do what I didn't want to. "If I have to beat him somehow...then I am gonna need to learn how to fight."
He smiled at me. "That's the spirit." Offering a hand to me, he helped me get back on my feet. "Jackieboy's waiting in the backyard." He had a look of determination on his face. "Let's go train to win this fight."