Aidan

Every muscle and bone in my body was locked in place. I looked at the sword of light in Chris' hand along with a passed-out Dante slung over his shoulder. "What. The. Hell?"

Chris was obviously nervous. "Hey there, Aid." His southern twang was higher than normal. "So, a couple of thing--."

I waved my hands up at him to cut him off. "Just come inside before the neighbors see you holding a flaming lightsaber."

Chris hustled into the house, easily carrying Dante into the living room and laying him down on the couch.

Lana came back to the front of the house with her purse and keys in hand but stopped when she saw the three of us. "Um, " was all she said before she locked in on Chris' sword.

"Not to be a burden, " Chris said before anyone could ask questions. "But your sexy, scruffy friend here passed out about an hour ago and I can't seem to wake him up. Also, I am stepping in this dead person's blood and feeling very disrespectful."

I moved towards the couch and bent down to take a closer look at Dante. "The body is Lance’s and don’t ask. Guys, Dante is barely breathing."

Nadia came rushing into the room with Lyric in her arms while rifling through a baby bag hanging from her shoulder. She had even managed to get the baby to stop crying. "Alright, Lana, I called my mom, so we need to get going." She looked up directly onto Chris' sword of light. "What the hell?” She exclaimed putting a protective arm over Lyric.

I stood up from Dante and put my hands up to tell her everything was alright. "Easy. It's the same sword of light from our trip to the past. The one Galahad had in our visit to the forest." My eyes moved up and down Chris for a moment. "Say hello to another warrior. How long has your soul been awake?" Part of me was relieved while the other was on guard.

Chris seemed sheepish. "Kind of always."

My face froze as the shock settled over me. "I beg your pardon?"

"Aidan!" Nadia made me jump with her volume. "I don't care about any of this! You need to get Mr. Serious so we can go find my sister!"

I took a heated glance at a guilty-looking Chris before teleporting away. My aim and landing were getting better. I materialized behind a large tree on the estate grounds away from the cops swarming the area. With my enhanced sight, I kept my distance while locating Mr. Serious. There you ar—what in the world? Mr. Serious was standing in front of a group of officers. Each one was in a trance, but more disturbing was Mr. Serious' face. He had red glowing irises and a dark shadow across his face. I rubbed my eyes, but when I opened them again, he was gone. "Huh. Pretty sure I didn’t halluci--."

A voice came from behind me. "What are you doing here?”

I let out a small yell and spun around, claws at the ready. "Please don't do that!"

As usual, Mr. Serious was alarmingly calm. "If you had been more aware of your surroundings, you would have noticed--."

I threw my hands up to stop him. "No. We don't have time for this. Shit is going down at the house and I need you to come with me right now."

Mr. Serious scowled for a moment, but I grabbed his hand before he could rant. A second later, we arrived back in the living room with Chris and Dante.

As soon as Mr. Serious saw Chris' sword of light, he actually gasped. "Galahad?"

Chris propped his chin up with a grin. "Call me Chris, hot stuff. Pleased to make your acquaintance," he said extending his hand.

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Mr. Serious took one look at Chris' hand before his eyes moved to Dante on the couch. The next thing I knew, Mr. Serious grabbed me by the back of my neck and pushed me towards Dante. "Aidan, you need to heal him immediately."

I rubbed the spot on the back of my neck he left freezing cold and glared at him. "You need to invest in gloves."

Mr. Serious' eyes bored into me.

I shut my mouth and placed my hands over Dante. "This might take a minute. I've only done this on--." A feeling comparable to ecstasy rolled through my body and worked its way to my hands. My head fell back at the sensation. This is disturbingly pleasant. The euphoria moved from my hands and connected with Dante's unconscious body. Everything was fine until there came a backlash of energy. Something dark and malevolent in Dante was fighting my ability to heal him.

Bringing my head back down to focus on Dante, I pushed with as much strength as I could. My power alone might not have been enough, but I wasn't doing this by myself. The Nexus Stone activated, pulsating with red light and amplifying my power. My hands changed to claws and the healing light turned to a ruby hue.

The darkness in me wanted to take over. My face contorted from trying to stay in control. Just a little longer. The malevolence inside Dante moved under his skin and oozed out of the pores across his body. Once it evaporated, Dante's eyes shot open. My hands fell to my side while the ferocity within me died down. Dante and I looked at each other, but when I smiled with relief, he quickly pulled his fist back and slammed it into my face. Everything went black.

I opened my eyes to see the living room floor pressed against my face. Ugh. This is becoming a much too frequent occurrence. Remembering Lance's body, I jumped up to make sure I wasn't lying in his blood, but he was gone. So was all of his blood. Looking around the room, I found Dante on the couch staring at me. "Feeling better?"

Dante finished drinking the bottle of water in his hands before answering. "Yeah, bro. Listen. My bad knocking you out like that. Your face spooked me." He stood up and approached me. "Hug it out?"

My head cocked to the side in confusion. "Since when are you a hugger?" I backed up a little because I really wasn't much of a hugger myself.

He opened his arms and basically rushed me before giving me a bear hug. "Come on, man. You know you want a hug." He paused for a second as we embraced. "Dude, you’re like an oak. When did you start juicing?"

I let out a sigh and pushed him off. "I didn’t. It’s just one of the many changes from becoming a—wait," I said looking around the house. "Where is everyone?"

Dante plopped himself back down onto the couch, looking like he hadn’t just had an exorcism. "Well, the intense-looking dude went to get rid of the dead body and Chris is outside talking to a client. I'd ask why there was a dead body, but I just spent a week being held hostage by a psycho. So, I figure the world has gone to hell."

My head was spinning. "Okay, you're being just the slightest bit too calm about all--." Mr. Serious re-appeared right in front of me, and I jumped back. "Seriously? We just talked about this."

He turned around, showing no sign that he heard anything I had just said. Nadia, Chris, and Lana came barreling into the house, with Nadia seeming frighteningly determined.

Nadia was looking at me like I was crazy and started waving me towards her. "Let's go. Why are you wasting time?"

I demonstrated taking a deep breath to her. "Alright. It's gonna be okay." Nadia, Lana, and I turned to Mr. Serious. "Nadia's sister was taken and we have no idea where to start."

Mr. Serious looked at me expectantly. "I am not needed for this. You already poss--." A massive bolt of electricity blasted Mr. Serious into a wall.

I turned around to see Nadia pulsating electricity all over her body. It crackled off of her skin as she quickly moved towards Mr. Serious. She grabbed him by his throat and raised a hand of blazing fire. "So help me god, if you don't tell me where my sister is right now, I will roast your testicles."

I was at a loss for what to do. This was the second time in less than 24 hours that Nadia had attacked Mr. Serious. There was no telling when he was finally going to lose his patience.

In a blur, Mr. Serious was out of Nadia’s grasp and standing next to me. "I have no knowledge of the whereabouts of your sister as this is the first I am hearing of this. However, you already have the means to find her." He finished by turning to me. "Aidan. Think only of Nadia's sister and then teleport.”

I went bug-eyed and stammered for a moment. “Wait. Really? What if I teleport into a wall?”

Mr. Serious didn’t have a second to answer because Nadia grabbed both Lana and I before pulling us away from everyone. “Let's go. Start picturing Noelle.”

Chris rushed towards us. “Wait for me.”

Nadia looked ready to protest, but I cut her off. “Like it or not, and right now I don’t,” I said coldly staring at Chris. “We have no idea what we are teleporting into and can’t afford to turn down any help.”

Lana raised her hand to get our attention. “What about Dante? We can’t leave him alone. The barrier only works when one of us is home.”

A rather loud and obvious huff came from Mr. Serious. “Go. Dante will be safe under my care.”

Dante had grabbed the TV remote and was already scrolling through channels. “Whatever, dude. Aidan, you got Netflix on this thing? I’m way behind on Stranger Things. Like season one behind.”

I let out a heavy sigh, but nearly jumped back when I caught sight of the vehement look on Nadia’s face. “Jesus, woman! We are going! Damn!”