Swan Song

Chapter Forty

Helloooooooo! Yeah, I know- this is fast! I felt kind of bad about leaving you guys with that trashy, plotless last chapter (even though you guys all assured me that it was great, you're the bEsT), and for fOrGeTtInG tO pOsT oNe ChApTeR (I added a #38 so go check that out please). And I didn't want to disappear for a month with you guys hanging off of that cliff, so I decided to sit down and start writing. Of course, once I started writing without any interruptions, I managed to churn out 1300 words. So here you go!

Okay, here is my attempt at a battle scene- it's like, halfway decent.

Crowd: Eh, more like ten percent.

Me: SHUT UP!

Okay, enjoy!

Fintan's eyes widened in surprise as Sophie stepped out of the hamster ball- sorry, Paragon. "Sophie Foster, trying to 'save the day'. Why am I not surprised?"

Sophie gritted her teeth. "Because I will always do the right thing. No matter how hard it is."

"The right thing?" Fintan repeated. Sophie clenched her fists, willing herself not to betray any fear. "What makes you so sure you know the difference between right and wrong?"

"I-" Sophie started, the words dying in her throat. She swallowed and tried again. "Killing people is wrong. Genocide is even more wrong. And saving people is right."

Fintan stroked his chin. "Interesting. But you don't have any regrets about killing us, of course. Doesn't that make you just as evil?"

"Sometimes you have to do bad things to stop others from doing worse things. And I don't want to kill anyone- but if it's the only way, I will."

Fintan grinned, a maniacal look on his face. "But you see, Miss Foster, that's what we are doing. Are you not aware of the horrors humans cause? War. Destruction. Hatred. And the only way to stop that is by killing them. We're just doing the same thing you are, Miss Foster, simply against a different enemy.

Sophie froze as his words echoed through her mind. She opened her mouth to debate them, but found that an argument wouldn't come.

Was he right? Were Sophie and her friends doing the wrong thing?

"CAN YOU GUYS QUIT IT WITH THE TALKING!?" Biana screamed, drawing all eyes to her- and then she turned invisible. "Seriously, that is the most boring part of any battle. We get it, you guys hate each other, you disagree on concepts of good and evil, now can we move on to the fighting?"

"Biana's right," Stina said, causing Sophie's mouth to fall open in shock- and she doubted that she was alone. Even though Stina had definitely been better recently, she and Biana had absolutely despised each other. But there they were, standing side by side, ready to fight together. Stina reached into her pocket and brought something out enclosed in her fist so that no one could tell what it was. Another shock came when Stina yelled "Thanks, Dex!" and threw the object in the general direction of the Neverseen.

As soon as it hit the ground, it made a noise like a gunshot before exploding into thousands of brightly burning sparks. Loud cursing came from the voice of Ruy Ignis.

"Everything is better with sparkles," Biana whispered under her breath. Sophie fought down the bizarre urge to laugh, but as Stina's explosive thing continued to burn and the rest of her friends emerged from the Paragon, Sophie couldn't help but smile.

Somehow, and much to Sophie's disappointment (of course it couldn't have been that easy, but couldn't she hope?), the Neverseen managed to extinguish the flames. Sophie took a deep breath and watched as the other Neverseen members stepped out of their Paragon.