Blog of the Moogle

So, here's the finished product guys! Gah, I've just successfully finished my first novel!

Though, currently I'm running into trouble about what I'm doing to do in the sequel, I'll think about it more when I go to sleep...

Anyway, I hope you enjoy the ending....

Night!

Chapter 36

I awoke to the sound of my cell opening. Blinking rapidly, I looked up through the dim lighting to find someone standing over me.

The person above me gave no indication that he knew I was awake. He gave me a rough shove, and picked me up.

“Hey, where are you taking me?” I asked.

“None of your business.” He replied, I looked around the room to find that Jesse and Hayley were still sleeping, though their sleeping faces did not look peaceful at all.

The person slammed me down on a chair in a brightly lit room, I went to cover my eyes, but they were grabbed by the person, who I could now see was a man, and tied them up behind me on the chair.

As my eyes adjusted, I looked around the room; there was nothing in the room, besides the man and me.

The door opened at the far end of the room opened, letting a man of his early forties to enter. Though I did not recognise the body at first, having never seen him in such light before, I recognised him the second he turned to face me.

Nicholas.

“Ah, Danny, nice to see you up so early.” He sneered looking at me.

“I’m not sure it’s that nice seeing you.” I replied. The man beside my punched me hard across the cheek. The chair swayed slightly, but didn’t topple over, thankfully.

“Now, Danny, there are a few ways we can do this.” Nicholas said, his mixed accent coming in a drawl. “The first way is the nice way. The cooperative way. That way, we don’t have to kick your ass that much.

“And the second way, is the painful way. The more you defy, the more painful it gets.” He finished.

I gulped.

“Is that clear?” He asked tauntingly.

“Yes, sir.” I replied.

“Good.” He smiled at me, showing me his white teeth. “So, what about our deal?”

I remained silent.

“Well, I guess you chose your path.” His smile grew even wider if possible.

From the cells in which Jesse and Hayley sat, screams of terror and pain could be heard.

“It’s started again.” Hayley whispered, tears weeping from her eyes.

“Yeah.” Was the only thing Jesse could manage to utter. His dark eyes widening art the sounds coming from the room.

“We can’t find him, Jamie. Where’s he gone?” Maggie shouted, her voice reaching hysteria.

“How am I supposed to know?” Jamie shouted back. She hated lying to them. She thought Danny would be back by now, he said he wouldn’t be gone that long. She still had hope that he’ll make it back. She knew he’d come back. He’d come back last time.

“Inspector Malcolm? Yes, it’s Maggie Smith.” Maggie talked in the calmest voice she could muster. Her nerves had gone haywire. Danny had been missing for over a day now. They didn’t know where he’d gone. She was worried.

“Yes, we can’t find him.” Maggie said.

“What do you mean, can’t find him?” Inspector Malcolm asked.

“He’s gone. Disappeared.” Maggie said, tears leaking from the corners of her eyes.

“I’ll be right over.” He replied, hanging up the phone, not giving Maggie time to reply to him.

“What were you arguing over?” Inspector Malcolm asked. He’d been filled in on most of the events that lead to Danny disappearing.

“We were arguing over his drug use. He was trying to sneak away, I stopped him.” Jamie said, her voice steady and calm.

“Okay.” Malcolm replied. There wasn’t really much he could say to the girl. It wasn’t her fault; after all, she was only trying to look out for her brother.

“Have you heard anything from Mrs Connors?” Maggie asked. They’d tried ringing her before, but there wasn’t an answer at home. Maggie was hoping that Danny had gone to her, though she knew that it was highly unlikely.

“No, we’re sending people around there later on to see what’s going on with her.” Malcolm replied.

“Okay.” Maggie answered methodically. This last two days were not going well at all, just when she thought she could start relaxing, that Danny had been cleared from his trial, he was settling down, he’d been studying hard over the course of the week to make up for lost time in school. Then, something like this had to go and happen.

“When was the last time you’d heard from Mrs Connors?” Malcolm asked.

“Um, about a week ago now. When Danny went to see her last.” Maggie replied, it was strange that Danny had never mentioned any return appointments, and that she’d not had any calls from Mrs Connors to confirm with her that the times were okay. She hadn’t really given it all that much thought because of what was going on with her life currently.

“Well, we’ll keep you updated.” Malcolm said.

“Would you like something to drink?” Maggie asked, turning around to the kitchen to get herself a drink.

“Yes, please.”

“Anything in particular?”

“I’m not fussed about what I drink.” Malcolm replied, sitting himself down on the chair in the living room.

The screams had slowly died down.

“He refused them again.” Hayley whispered.

“Memories or not, he’s definitely not lost his stubbornness.” Jesse said, attempting to make light of the situation. He hated to be so depressed all the time. He just wanted people to be happy, though happiness didn’t come too often when you were trapped here.

“Yeah, I hope they haven’t hurt him too much.” Hayley said.

“They wouldn’t have done anything too serious, they need him.” Jesse assured.

“Yeah, that’s the only reason Danny managed to live through a year of this.”

An hour passed and an unconscious Danny was thrown back into his cell, landing awkwardly on the mat. No one made any indication that they were going to straighten him out, and walked out of the room.

Hayley and Jesse crawled up to the bars that separated them from Danny and looked at him. He was bloodied, his body covered in cuts and bruises. There was blood running freely out of his nose and mouth, and his arms were black and blue.

It definitely looked like Danny would not be waking up soon.

Another hour or two passed, Hayley and Jesse couldn’t tell, and Danny finally made sounds of stirring.

“Danny?” Jesse whispered through the cage.

“Yeah?” A croaky voice answered.

“You okay, man?” He asked, concerned for Danny’s health.

“Everything hurts.” Was Danny’s small and simple reply.

They didn’t know how to answer that.

Everything was painful. I’d got my memories from this time of my life back clearly, but obviously the pain was something that I couldn’t quite relate too. I could vaguely hear Hayley and Jesse trying to make conversation with me, but I didn’t have enough energy anymore to reply to them. I wanted to go back to sleep.

Darkness soon followed.

I woke up again from a restless slumber. It’s hard to get comfortable when everything hurts.

“Hey, guys?” I croaked, raising my body from the awkward position I’d been sleeping in.

“Yeah?” They answered back eagerly.

“What was my life like before any of this happened?” I asked.

There was a silence.

“You weren’t exactly the smartest kid around. The one thing you should pride yourself in was your loyalty. You were loyal to us through everything. We can see that hasn’t changed even though you’re memories have gone. You didn’t abandon us.” Hayley commented.

“I’d never abandon you.” I assured them.

“We know that.” Hayley replied.

“You were naïve, you placed so much trust in the people around you, and most of the time they threw that trust out of the window. You got a hard time from Simon, but everyone else was all right with you. You went relatively unnoticed.” Jesse continued.

“And what about my powers?” I asked.

“You tried to hide them from us at first. You started off the fighting on your own. It wasn’t that you were ashamed. From the moment that you got them, and started getting into fights over your powers, you knew that it was going to be a dangerous life to live.” Hayley said.

“Yeah, but we found out after a few months. You’re other side was beginning to get more and more famous. There was an incident, we were involved, and you were involved. They forced you to fight us to save our lives. Of course, you being you, changed in front of us. We’ve known since and have been helping you get control of your powers.” Jesse finished, a small smile gracing his face.

“Things got pretty dark though. We got involved when we were thirteen, things got steadily darker over the course of two years. We started discovering things. People got into more trouble, it seemed the more trouble people got into, the more famous Istari got, and the more complicated it got for you to keep it all a secret.

“We were just a group of kids, you were just one magician fighting off more than what any normal teenager should be fighting. You started to become submissive. You’re powers were growing rapidly. So fast, that you’re body couldn’t keep up, and you were getting tension headaches, and you’re body would be in pain all the time. We didn’t know who to go to, you had few friends in the magician world. They had never experienced something like this before.” Hayley continued.

“Then, all this weird stuff got even weirder, and before we knew it, we were at the camp, and you got into a fight with Nicholas and his men. We’d only heard of his power, we’d never fought him before. He overpowered you pretty quickly. We were kidnapped then. We’ve been here ever since.” Jesse finished. I guess this was the closest I’d had to a life history since getting back home.

“So, Danny, tell us about you’re life since escaping here.” Hayley said, a hint of a laugh on her voice. It’s glad to see they can still laugh even after being here for so long.

“Not much.” I replied.

“Oh, come on, something must have happened there.” She insisted.

“Nothing important, maybe you’ll find out when you get back.” I said vaguely. I didn’t really feel like telling them all about my problems I was definitely going to have to face when I get back.

“I have to ask one thing though, Danny.” Hayley said quietly.

“What’s that?”

“How did you ever manage to convince Maggie to leave you alone long enough to come and get us? Did you tell her about Istari?” She asked.

“No. I didn’t. I let them think I ran away. Jamie helped.” I said, looking at the cold, concrete floor.

They didn’t reply. I guess that wasn’t a good answer.

Chapter 37

We weren’t sure about how much time had gone past, but Hayley and Jesse estimated it to be around two weeks. They had, over time, noticed a routine to the way everything had worked around her and had estimated around 14 days since I’d been ‘re-captured’.

Though, we weren’t being as restless as they thought we were being.

Everyday, I’d go into that damned white room, get the shit beaten out of me, and return me to the cell.

In the few waking hours of my current life, I’d spent it getting the plan run over with Hayley and Jesse. They knew what was going to happen of sorts now.

One thing I had noticed over the first week was that there was something in the food making me weaker. Hayley and Jesse said that those precautions hadn’t been taken before. So, I’d stopped eating my food, I’d swap with either Hayley or Jesse, and they’d get my food, I’d pass it through the bars to them.

It didn’t seem to have an effect on them.

It was nearly time. My powers were nearly ready, and I could feel it zipping through my body. I’m pretty sure that Nicholas and his men were beginning to get suspicious of us, they kept checking on us more and more often. So, that just meant, getting out of here fast and closing the portal.

Nicholas came to get me for my daily ‘meeting’ as he’d called it. It was another chance to redeem myself and tell him the information that I’d told him I knew, but in reality I didn’t have the slightest clue of.

I’d always give the same answer. That I wasn’t going to give him anything unless he let my friends go. He wasn’t willing to let them go without the information. We’d come to stalemate, and he seemed to have the advantage in the home territory.

The beatings were always the same. I could never really get used to them though, every bone in my body ached in pain, and my head throbbed, my body spasmed. He’s started to use electricity now, thinking of shocking me into revealing the truth.

The only problem that there wasn’t any truth to tell. I knew he’d come after me, and that worried me. I didn’t know what I would do if he came back for me again, especially if he knew that I didn’t have the answer.

Hayley and Jesse sat on their respective mattresses on the floor. Both with a grim expression on their faces.

“He’s getting quieter.” Jesse commented.

“I know.” Hayley responded. “There’s not much we can do. He’s determined to get us out of here, no matter how much pain he goes through.”

“I wish he didn’t have to do this.” Jesse continued.

“It’s who is. It’s who he’ll always be.”

“It’s not who I want him to be. He should have a chance at a normal life.” Jesse whispered.

“I don’t think, normalcy is something that’s going to come easy for him. Especially with how famous Istari was before he was taken. I wonder how that’s going over.” Haley replied, busying herself with looking around the room. She wanted to make sure nothing was left behind, though this was a pointless routine as there was nothing for her to take home.

“Do you think he’ll manage it?” Jesse asked.

“I think he will, but he’ll put us first, as per usual.” Hayley replied. She looked at the floor, tears creeping up on her. “I worry about him sometimes, Jesse, it’s just not fair.”

“It’ll never be fair. That’s just the life he’s been thrown into. He’ll understand one day, that he’ll be an image of perseverance, that he’ll be idolised for what he stands for. People will want to thank him for all he’s done for them.”

“I’m not sure if I agree with that. I think people would rather point out his flaws that congratulate his bravery.”

“That’s just being cynical.”

“When have I not been cynical?”

“Good point.”

“It’s time.” I said to Hayley and Jesse. I’d not long woken up, but something was telling me that now was the time to go.

“Are you sure?” Hayley asked hesitantly.

“Yes, something’s telling me now’s the time.” I replied. Channelling power into my arms and turning myself into Istari, I walked up to the bars between my friends and me, and pulled them apart, leaving a gap in the room.

I walked into the cell that Hayley and Jesse had been living in for the last year, it definitely wasn’t something I was going to miss.

“Going to miss it?” I asked.

“Not really.” They replied together.

“Okay, here we go.” I said. I focused all my powers again, focusing on creating the portal. This was it, a rush of excitement overcame me, and we were going home! I never thought I’d be excited to getting back to Maggie, Jim and Jamie. The portal opened up in front of us, settling itself against the wall of the cell. “Okay, guys, you first.”

“You’ll be behind us, right?” Hayley asked.

“Yes,” I reassured her.

“Okay, lets go.” Hayley and Jesse said, walking through the portal to their first signs of freedom.

“You didn’t really think that I’d let you get away that easily, did you?” It was Nicholas. I should have checked that there was no one looking when I started making the portal.

“Kinda, yeah, that’s what I was hoping for.” I replied to him.

“You need to learn manners, Daniel. It’s not good to be so rude to people.” Nicholas sneered at me.

“I’m guessing people never told you that he was rude to torture people.” I told him.

“No, I guess not.” He said smugly. A staff appeared in his left hand. He wanted to fight.

I called forth my sword; the silver glistened in the lighting. Nicholas took the first swing, his staff lighting up purple; ad a beam of energy came shooting out at me. I narrowly dodged the blast. I looked at the portal. It was closing, I couldn’t waste much time here or I’d be stuck again. They’d definitely make sure I didn’t have my powers then.

Running at Nicholas, I swiped at him with my sword, he blocked the onslaught with his staff, and shot an energy beam at me at the same time.

“This is why you’ll never beat me. You have no experience. You’re nothing in comparison to me.” He shouted, a maniacal laughter following after him.

“You’re wrong. I will beat you.” I shouted, charging at him for a second time. I feinted to the left, he parried my blow, and I did the same to the right, and got the same result.

“Damn,” I hissed, some old wounds from the previous days were starting to open and blood was starting to run down my back. This needed to end now. The underlying question was how? I needed to get rid of him, make sure he would never come back for my friends, anything, or me again. That would mean killing him; I could never kill him, even after everything he’s put me through.

I guess morals don’t count now.

Nicholas charged at me this time, his staff pointed out. I noticed that he had a wait whilst his staff was channelling his energy before it fired at me. Okay, I can do this.

The energy beam shot out and I dodged it. I looked at Nicholas, and saw that he drew back into a defensive position.

Charging at him, he blocked. Repeating the motions I’d done last time, I charged at him again. I landed a blow. I scraped his right arm. Nothing serious, he would recover pretty quickly.

This was not what I was looking for though; I was waiting for him to go on the offensive.

Whilst I’d been making my attacks, I’d been slowly conducting some of my power through my sword. Building up some energy into it, I was hoping and praying that what I’d planned in my head would work just as well in life.

Nicholas moved to the offensive again, pulling his arm out and leaning to attack. I saw my opening and charged at him.

A look of shock took over his face as he saw me approaching, my sword glowing blue with my immense power I’d surged into it at last second. My sword went right through his stomach, and Nicholas’s face paled.

“You stabbed me.” He stated, looking at me in the eye, his eyes turning purple.

“I’m not done yet.” I told him. Looking him in the eye, I let loose the power, causing an explosion.

I distantly heard Nicholas’s scream, but I was being propelled backwards from the sheet force of the blow I’d dealt. Energy was pulsating through me, and I looked around for the portal, noticing it was barely there, and ran for it.

“Danny? Are you okay?” I heard a voice calling to me.

“Sure.” I replied, opening my eyes and looking around. I was on the beach. I wasn’t sure where the portal was going to take them, I’d only thought of going home.

Hayley and Jesse stood over me, I could finally see their faces properly, and it made me smile. Jesse’s dark skin gleamed in the sunlight. His dark eyes shining with what I hoped was happiness. Hayley’s pale face and green eyes started at me.

I was happy.

“What happened back there?” Jesse asked.

“Nicholas got to me.” I said.

“Shit. Is he coming?” Jesse cursed.

“No. At least I hope not, especially not after that explosion I put on him.” I smiled.

“So, that’s why we heard this huge explosion. It was you. We thought that something had gone wrong with the portal.” Hayley commented.

“Was it loud?” I asked.

“Loud enough to wake the dead.” She replied, grinning.

“Shit.”

“Did you hear that?” Jamie asked, looking around the room.

“Yeah, what was that?” Maggie replied, looking over to Jim in confusion. He looked back at her with the same expression.

“Sounded like it came from the beach.” He commented.

“Should we go look?” Jamie asked.

“Yeah, someone might need help.” Jim replied, picking up the car keys from the table.

“Oh, my God, it’s them.” I heard someone whisper.

“He got them back.” I heard another whisper. A large group seemed to have formed in the few minutes since I’d woken up. Luckily, I wasn’t in Danny Istari form. It seems like I changed back on the way out of the portal.

“I don’t think he would have done it alone. Maybe Danny Istari went with them.” I looked at all the people around us. Most of them were smiling at us, and others were looking at us suspiciously.

“Danny?” I looked around and there was Jamie, beaming down at us. I stood up to see her.

“Jamie!” I shouted. Hayley and Jesse turned around to look at her too. Both were smiling brightly.

Jamie ran and hugged all of us.

“Danny.” Maggie said, looking at me with tears in her eyes.

It looked like this was going to be a long hour or so.

The sun was setting by the time that the crowds had thinned out, Maggie and Jim were insistent on taking me to the hospital, I’d told them that as I’d ran away, Danny Istari had found me and told me he was going back to get Hayley and Jesse. He asked me if I wanted to join him, knowing how important they were to me. This all ultimately led to me telling them that I got tortured again, with Istari.

They freaked out and demanded that they take me to the hospital to have me checked out.

I was walking to the car, smiling softly thinking about how I might actually have a chance to get to know Hayley and Jesse a bit better now. Get my memories back. Try to be normal, though, deep down, I knew there was never going to be any normalcy for me.

“Danny Istari,” a male voice said to me from behind. I turned around to face him. I didn’t recognize him. He wore a long trench coat and a pair of dark trousers; he was an old looking man. I didn’t feel that there were any magical powers on him. He was normal. Behind him, was a group of men, equally wearing long trench coats and dark trousers. None of them seemed to be magical of any sort either. Weird. “We are the Resistance.”

To be continued…

Blog of the Moogle

Tuesday, 9 November 2010

There is a reason

Sunday, 7 November 2010

Did I forget to mention

Saturday, 6 November 2010

I have made a pretty pathetic attempt

Thursday, 4 November 2010

Thus concludes

Wednesday, 3 November 2010

I haven't actually

Tuesday, 2 November 2010

So, it's day 2 of NaNoWriMo

Monday, 1 November 2010

Chapter 36 + 37. Now a finished draft!