Hourglass of Time (Chase Brody/Antisepticeye)

Five

Chase was downstairs on the couch, watching some little kids show with his daughter, Nicole when she turned to look up at him.

"Daddy, where's mommy?" She asked.

He smoothed down her hair gently. "She's upstairs right now, honey. Why?"

"I want her to come down here by us." She said.

He lightly smiled at her. "This not as fun?"
Nicole giggled. "I didn't say that, silly."
Standing up, he took her in his arms, spinning her around as she laughed even more. "Well I'll have to change that now, won't I?"
Spinning her around a little more, he carefully held her almost upside down, a huge smile on her face before he started to tickle her stomach.

"Haha, who's got you now?" Chase teased, Nicole laughing harder, squirming in his grip.

"Daddy!" She giggled before he set her down on the couch, only to tickle her more.

"I'm the tickle monster! Rrrr!" He said, doing it for a few more seconds before stopping, letting her catch her breath.

"I'll be right back, silly goose." He said. "Stay here, okay?"
Nicole nodded, Chase walking upstairs. He still can't believe this is happening. He gets to be with his family again! Does this mean he's been given a second chance? Another chance to redeem himself? To fix his mistakes?
Walking past the bathroom, out of the corner of his eye, he caught a silhouette standing by the doorway. Stopping in his tracks, he backed up, his eyes widening, his heart beating faster.

"No....you can't be here.." Chase breathed.
He took in the sight of the black shirt and pants, the messy dark green hair...and the slit throat. His depthless black eyes stared into his ocean blue ones.

"Oh yes...I can be." Anti said, his lips spreading into that evil, devious smile. "And it's only going to get worse from here."

Chase grabbed him by the collar of his shirt, looking at him with fury. "What the fuck are you talking about you narcissistic dick??"

Anti giggled. "I can't tell you. It'll ruin the surprise." Grabbing his arms, he shoved Chase away. "Have fun...puppet."
He vanished into thin air.

***

I let Jackieboy lead me to the backyard, where Marvin stood, waiting for us, his hands behind his back.

"You ready to get trained?" He asked, the slight sarcasm in his voice gone, sounding more serious.
I gave a small nod. "Well..if I wanna beat him...I kinda have to be."
Marvin smirked. "Alright. Lets get started."

He immediately summoned what looked like a blue ball of energy with his hands, shooting it at me. Flying back, I landed hard on my side, giving him an angry look.

"What the hell??" I yelled.

"This is what he's going to do if he feels like it." Marvin said. "He will attack without telling you."
Letting me get back up, I charged at him, shoving him hard. Once he fell over, I knelt above him, my knife in hand, the blade resting at his throat.

He smirked. "Not too bad. Could've been faster."

Flinging my arm away, he punched me across the jaw, causing me to roll off of him, feeling him grab me in a choke hold from behind.

"You need to be quicker on your feet." Jackieboy said. "Think ahead."

"It's not that fucking easy!" I snapped.

"It can be easy if you don't overthink it, like you are right now." Marvin said, letting go of me. "Now...I want you to do something." I breathed heavily as he looked at me in the eyes. "Clear your mind...of all the bad things. Focus on what's in front of you, and like Jackieboy said..think ahead. Know what your enemy is going to do. Most importantly...breathe."

I tried to concentrate on what he told me, closing my eyes, clearing my mind. I pushed out the thoughts of not being successful, failing at the mission. I pushed out all the thoughts about Chase, all the steamy moments we shared. I pushed out my thoughts of depression...of always feeling alone..feeling like I had nobody to talk to.

Opening my eyes, Marvin was on his feet, ready to swing another ball of energy at me when I suddenly flew, flipping over him, landing perfectly on my feet. Confused, I didn't dwell on it as I saw Jackieboy come into play, throwing a boomerang at my face. Feeling it catch on my cheek, I hissed in pain when he tackled me to the ground, throwing his fist across my jawline. Trying to fight back, Marvin hauled me to my feet, blood trickling out of the corner of my mouth.

"Stop taking hits like this!" Marvin snapped. "You're going to lose against Anti!"

"I'm trying!" I said with frustration. "You two are stronger than me!"

"That doesn't matter!" Jackieboy said. "Doesn't mean you can't beat us."

Letting go of me, my knees gave out, staying down, hearing them sigh.

"You give me no choice..." Marvin said, kicking me in the gut. Grunting in pain, he did it again. "FIGHT!" Again. "STOP RESISTING!" Again. "STOP BEING WEAK!"

The anger boiled inside me, and I yelled, Kicking him in the legs, taking his feet out from under him. Doing the same to Jackieboy, I stood over them.

"Don't...call me weak...you bitch." I breathed, grabbing them by the collars.

"Good move, Lily." Jackieboy said. "I'm impressed."

Letting them go with a shove, they turned around to face me.

"Keep going." Was all Marvin said, this time throwing a ball of fire, but I dodged it, ducking aside. Jackieboy tried to swing his fist again, but I blocked it, tossing him away. Whirling back around to Marvin, I kicked him in the shin, throwing another on his side. Jackieboy grabbed me from behind, throwing me over him. Landing hard on my back, I moaned in pain, trying to get back up, but my body won't let me.
I heard their footsteps running to me, knowing they're going to attack once more. I felt too weak to get back up, too sore to move. Maybe this was a mistake...letting them train me, only to fail in the end. Maybe I really am not enough for this...and Anti really is going to win. I never should've fallen in love with Chase...then this bullshit wouldn't have happened...and I wouldn't be here on this earth...

I suddenly had an urge..like a light-bulb turning on in my brain. Energy ran through me, numbing the pain in my body. A fire burned in my belly, feeling the need to do something. Their footsteps were closer to me, suddenly going on auto-pilot, and I did an action I never thought would be possible.

My fist clenched, and I shot up, pounding my fist down onto the ground, watching it level them off their feet, a big circle extending around me, everything like it's in slow-motion.

What I didn't notice until I stood up straight, was that, as my fist was clenched, it was glowing...but not in the slight sunlight...no.

It was glowing white.