FicWad

When darkness turns to light,

It ends tonight, it ends tonight.

Just a little insight won't make this right,

It's too late to fight, it ends tonight.



It Ends Tonight - The All-American Rejects





Reaching the top of the steps I stopped to catch my breath. I looked down both ways of the hallway wondering which path to take. Last time I had stood on that very spot with Gerard we had chosen to turn right and ended up being captured by the Ruins. I didn't doubt Gerard remembered that little detail just as well as Idid.

I turned left.

Picking up the pace, I began to jog down the hallway not knowing where it would take me. I was on the lookout; my eyes scanned the walls in every direction. I didn't want to be caught off guard again.

The stony gray walls opened up finally towards the right. It gave place to a dirt field that stretched out over several acres. In the center of the field was a large building made out of the same stone as the hallway I had just come out of. On the other side of the field, and closer to the building than I was, I could see another entrance to the field. I figured that if I had turned right at the top of the staircase instead of left I would have ended up there. At the far end of the underground field, behind the building, was another entrance - or exit, depending on how you looked at it - but this one was made into a large and rather elegant arch. Around the building there was nothing; nowhere to hide.

Crouching, Iawkwardly took quick steps along the wall trying to near the building. Istopped once I was directly in front of the building door with only open space separating me from it. Several columns were located in front of the door on either side holding up the part of the roof that hung over and would protect the entrance from a downpour. I highly doubted its day of usefulness would ever arrive, seeing as we were underground.

Taking a deep breath I made a run for it. I stopped next to one of the huge columns closet to the door. Suddenly, I heard rough voices coming from inside the building and hid behind the column immediately. The rugged wooden door was thrown open as adozen Ruins burst out. I tried to control my breathing but thought the sound of my heart slamming against my ribcage would give my location away. It didn't. The Ruins ran towards the entrance of the hallway that would lead them to the battlefield.

One of them yelled, "Hurry up! Mauritius is waiting for us!" as they ran into the hallway.

I let the breath I was holding out and snuck a peak towards the door. There was only silence. If there were anymore Ruins inside I'd just have to deal with them, because I was firm on going in. I walked over to the doors and pushed them open with all my force, jumping in like and secret agent would. Nobody was there.

I walked down along hallway. There were many turns to the left and right, but since I didn't know the way to go, I continued forward. As I gazed around the walls and different rooms I found along the way, a sense of familiarity slowly came over me. /I have been here before/. Of course I had! During my short life as aRuin I had walked down these very halls. I picked up my pace down the long hallway. At the end I reached the largest room of the building. In its center was an almost an equally as large glass room; the Ruin training room. It was placed in the center to allow Ruins to watch trainings from outside the glass, away from harm. I heard a man shout. /Gerard/. On the other side of the glass room I could see him arguing with someone heatedly. I jogged around the room and saw Alyssa touching Gerard's face lightly with the back of her fingers.

"Come on, Gerard. Don't tell me you don't miss me because I won't believe it..."

Gerard grabbed her shoulders and slammed her against one of the thick glass walls. "I'll ask you this one last time: Where. Is. Mauritius?" With the last word a burst of energy unintentionally escaped, making the glass walls crack all the way up.

"Frank!" Alyssa exclaimed surprised and startled.

Gerard turned as I arrived next to him. "I thought I told you to stay and help the others."

"I did, and now I've come to help you."

Gerard smiled slightly. After a short silence he said, "I'm trying to find out where Mauritius is but Alyssa here just won't cooperate."

"I heard Ruins say he was waiting for them on my way in here. And they headed out to the battlefield. Mauritius must be out there with the rest of them, or maybe cowering in a corner," I said with a snicker.

With afrustrated groan Gerard let go of Alyssa. "Let's go then."

Alyssa looked alarmed. She grabbed Gerard's arm as we turned to leave. "Wait! You can't just leave me and go with /him/," she stated with disgust, gesturing towards me. "I still care about you, Gerard, and you have to feel the same about me."

Gerard rolled his eyes. He pulled his arm away from her and was about to leave but stopped and turned back to her. "I wasn't going to tell you this, because I know it'll piss you off... so I will tell you. I don't think I ever loved you, Alyssa." Gerard stated gleefully. "I mean, compared to how I feel about Frank now, the supposed affection I felt for you was comparable to how I feel about...my toothbrush. Actually, I do kind of like the purple stripe it has, so maybe you're not comparable to it at all..." He pretended to ponder on that for amoment, and then with a laugh shrugged his shoulders. "Oh well."

Gerard turned and walked away, winking as he passed by me. I took a moment to smirk at Alyssa before following behind him. Alyssa's mouth was open in disbelief and utter fury. I found it hilarious.

We were just about to reach the hallway entrance when Alyssa let out a loud screech of rage. Out of the corner of my eye I saw her transform into a massive Ruin right behind me. She lunged herself at me. Gerard reacted before I could even /think/about doing so. Throwing both hands towards Alyssa, Gerard shot out the most powerful energy field blast I had ever seen. The walls and floor trembled as Alyssa was thrown backwards against the glass. The sound of crashing glass and Alyssa's wails were deafening as she broke through the glass and fell to the floor in the training room. The absolute silence that followed her fall hurt my ears just as much. I couldn't say she didn't have it coming to her, but I was stunned just the same.

I looked at Gerard. He gulped hard, lowering his hands resolutely. He had done what he had done to save me. And by the look on his face, he didn't regret it at all. We walked over to the girl on the floor carefully avoiding the larger pieces of glass that remained scattered around the floor, many of which were covered in abright red liquid. Alyssa lay on the floor sputtering and coughing up blood. As we neared her I saw all the pieces of glass that were stuck in her flesh throughout her entire backside and sides. A rather large piece was sticking out of her left side and another between her neck and head. Her eyes filled with tears as she looked at Gerard, trying to hold back the coughing.

Her mouth opened but no sound was made. She began to sob softly between coughs. Finally, she spoke. "I-I'm ssso sorry, for... everything. I guess- I. I chose the wrong friends... in the end," she said with an ironic chuckle.

Gerard stood above her without saying a word. Just... staring. He seemed frozen in place, not even being able to take his eyes off her during her last seconds of life. He swallowed thickly.

Without another warning, Alyssa weakly spat up blood once more. Her body turned limp as she could no longer fight the spazzes or coughing. A horrible gurgling sound came out of her throat as she drowned in her own blood. Silence filled the room once again.

I finally looked away from her face and saw the small lake of blood forming all around her lifeless body as it flowed freely from her neck and side.

Her last words were - to say the least - disturbing. Had she really regretted everything she had done just a little too late? Or had she said that in hopes to make Gerard feel bad and remorseful the rest of his days? I hoped the first one was true, even though it was a sad thought.

As I thought about it, I knew this was how it had to end for her. It was one of the steps in the path of ending the war. If Gerard hadn't stopped her she would've attacked me and maybe even ripped me apart. Or I would have reacted and done the same thing Gerard that done, resulting in an identical ending.

We had amission to complete, I reminded myself: locate Mauritius. The one behind it all, the brain behind the evil scheme, the boss ordering his followers around.

"Gerard... we have to find Mauritius," I stated softly. I felt goose bumps as my voice traveled around the room, seeming awkwardly loud and out of place. I instantly regretted talking. Gerard didn't seem to notice; he continued to stare at the now lifeless eyes that were once filled with sparks.

I placed a hand on Gerard's arm repeating his name. He looked at me alarmed, as if he had forgotten I was there.

"We have to go, Gee," I said carefully. "We have to find Mauritius... remember?"

Gerard gazed at me for a few eternal seconds without saying a word. I was dying to know what he was thinking. Finally, he gave a quick nod and looked away. I turned around back towards the entrance to the hallway, carefully avoiding the shattered glass on the floor. Gerard followed me, glass crunching under the thick soles of his black boots.

I slowed down enough to allow Gerard to catch up to me. Out of the corner of my eye I watched him. He had a determined look on his face, which faltered every few steps. Iwanted to ask him how he felt, to hug him, to push whatever perplexed thoughts he was having away, but thought it wasn't the time nor the place. We were in the middle of a fucking battle - hardly the ideal spot to have Gerard open up and share his feelings. No, it was better to keep them bottled up until afterwards... until the war was over and one side had finally managed to survive the other. Or so I thought. What I didn't know was that all this bottling up could and would result in Gerard exploding - and not so metaphorically.













Long wait -again. College sucks your time away. Don't blame me for a lack of updates, blame our educational system.

The end is nearing. Can you see it? I have thought about it so much... I know what lines I want to put in, what ideas, so many details I have to fit in there that I have it practically written in my head. All I have to do is type it out. I hope you'll love it as much as I do. I'm really psyched about it... it'll be so exciting! xD AND you'll all find out something really important... something that changed the entire story, actually. Can't wait!

By the way, everyone should just pretend that all the chapters except the one of Mikey's memories are in 1st person... I'll get around to fixing them once this story is done.

So anyway, Ihope you enjoyed this chapter although it's a bit brief. I had to end it there(I always say that, I know). Rate and review and tell me what you think about it. Thanks for reading... it means the world to me. It means more to me than Gerard does to Frank. Wait... is that even possible?!