Abby felt kind of... empty without the Living Inferno around. Eveon was off to school
and her ever amusing companion had left after tucking her in. A purpose... sure, nothing she
did would make Terry come back, but it felt like nothing could replace that ever missing
piece. The Living Inferno was nice to have around because... he may not fill that hole, but
he sure made her feel a heckuva lot better. She was currently getting dressed to go out to
the grocery store. Tonight, she was sure he would stop by and she would thank him for being
there for her.
How strange; who knew she'd get so attached to the weirdo that hung out in her
backyard? As she started to put on her shoes, she heard a familiar greeting. "Hello! Abby?"
Tycara opened the front door, only to see the young mother was right there, all set to go
out. "Oh, I didn't come at a bad time, did I?" Abby just laughed and shook her head. "No,
it's fine. I was just going to go grocery shopping. You want to come along?"
The silver haired girl nodded enthusiastically and followed Abby out to the car. "Ooh!
I haven't ridden in a car for awhile since I can manipulate my powers and go wherever I
want..." Tycara said, looking at Abby's typical blue car in awe. "Yeah, it's not that great,
but let's go." Tycara sat down in the passenger's seat and as Abby drove, the angel demon
hybrid was busy staring out the window.
They talked of small things during the drive and as Abby parked, she noticed Tycara
was staring at her in particular interest. "What? Do I have something on my face?" Abby
asked, shutting off the car. "No... it's just... hmm... you seem a lot happier!" Tycara
said, smiling brightly. Abby just stared at her. "Oh really. That's a... strange compliment,
but thanks." The silver haired girl started to get out of the car. "I just... oh, it makes
me glad to see you like this. You're usually... more depressed." Abby found that
interesting, but shrugged as she locked the car.
Suddenly, Tycara grasped her hand. "I haven't been to a supermarket in a long time,
either! Seth usually does all the shopping." Abby opened her mouth to question why Tycara
was holding her hand, but she could see the childlike glee in her silver eyes. Instead, she
said, "Is Seth studying again?" Tycara just nodded and the two entered the store.
Granted, they got a lot of stares. Mostly because Tycara had silver hair and eyes (the
white sundress she was wearing wasn't helping either), but Abby shrugged it off. Tycara was
looking at everything with a curiosity akin to that of a young child. Go figure. Abby let
out a sigh and got a shopping cart. "If you see anything you want, go ahead and grab it."
Tycara just looked at her in mild surprise. "Really? Are you sure?" Abby smiled and nodded.
"Yep, my treat."
Speaking of treats... Abby had an exasperated expression on her face as she stared at
all the snacks being rung up by the cashier. Sure, they didn't cost that much all together,
but it was all sugar and ice cream and just... junk food. Tycara smiled sheepishly, until
she saw the rack of candy. "Ooh! Can I get a candy bar, too?" Abby just looked at her,
extremely amused. "Why not? You already cleared out the junk food aisle. Why don't you take
two, just to be safe?"
Tycara nodded and chose two chocolate bars. She kept one for herself and the second
would be for later. They took the myriad of bags back out to the car. "Thank you so much,
Abby! I know I shouldn't have gotten this much stuff, but everything looked so appealing
and... and I think this is why Seth doesn't take me shopping with him..." Tycara murmured,
closing the trunk after they loaded in all the groceries. The older woman just ruffled her
silver hair. "It's alright, don't worry. C'mon, let's get going. I'll make you some lunch
when we get back."
There was huge smile on Tycara's face as they started to drive back to Abby's home.
From the corner of her eye, Abby could see the young girl eating one of the candy bars they
got at the store. "Watch out, Tycara. You don't want to spill chocolate all over your
dress." Tycara just smiled and gulped the rest down. "No worries! Plus, Seth has great stain
removers at his apartment if anything does happen." Abby just chuckled to herself and kept
driving.
It was then that their peaceful drive home ended. Abby looked to the side, peering out
Tycara's window, if she wasn't mistaken... Tycara jolted in her seat as Abby drove the car
partway into the nearby field and parked. "A-Abby? What's going on?" The blonde mother said
nothing as she got out of the car. She took a look into the field and realized that her eyes
hadn't been playing tricks on her. What she saw through the window was the Living Inferno.
Tycara scrambled out of the car and stood next to her. "Abby...?" The young mother was
too focused on what was going on. The Living Inferno was fighting someone... and losing
badly. He was fighting a young man on the defensive and obviously losing ground. "It's the
Living Inferno and he's in trouble...!" Abby said starting to run towards him until she was
stopped. Tycara had grabbed her wrist. "Don't! He... I... I'm scared Abby." She looked into
those silver eyes and for a second, she considered leaving, but... but...
"He's my friend and I don't have any powers Tycara... please." The angel demon hybrid
looked extremely reluctant, but she nodded. "O...okay... for you Abby, I'll do it for you."
*****
"Exactly what do you think you'd hope to accomplish by attacking me out here?" asked
the young man, currently perched on a tree limb. The Living Inferno only stared up at him in
contempt. He himself was dressed casually, in jeans and a dress shirt, but his black eyes
betrayed his maniacal nature. "The Living Inferno, was it? This is a fun game and all," he
said, running a hand through his red streaked black hair, "but I'm tired of this. The least
you could do is tell me where that precious girl is."
Instead of answering, the Living Inferno shot a barbed chain out of his armored wrist.
The man dodged with a bored sigh. With the flick of a wrist, glowing black knives appeared
in between his fingers. "Not one for words are we?" He threw them at the Living Inferno with
frightening speed, but...
"Heed my call...! Blades of Heaven and Hell!" The Living Inferno looked to see the
knives had been blocked by the swords now in front of him. They each glowed with an ethereal
energy, three of them white, three of them black. The man up in the tree frowned in
confusion. The Living Inferno looked behind him to see none other than Tycara standing
there. The blades went back to their master and circled around her.
"Ah, I figured you'd need help," Abby said, giving the Living Inferno a cool wave,
standing next to Tycara. The Living Inferno looked from Abby to Tycara and back to Abby
again. "What are you doing here?!" He said, looking none too happy. "Well, we could see you
from the road," Tycara murmured sheepishly, but her expression became serious. "Abby, I want
you to leave, okay? I don't know who this guy is, but he's really strong and..."
The blonde mother let out a sigh. "Yes, yes, I'm a huge liability. I'll see you when
you get back, okay?" As Abby turned to run the man still on the tree branch grinned. His
hand started to glow with an ominous energy and he merely clenched his fist. Tycara and the
Living Inferno froze, but neither sensed that anything had changed. "I'll get up close and
you cover me," The Living Inferno said, before launching himself up at the young man.
Tycara sent her swords after them without a moment's hesitation. The Living Inferno
grabbed the young man's shoulder with one claw-like hand and used the other to dig into his
side. He only grinned and the Living Inferno suddenly realized it was a little too easy to
catch him. Tycara's swords floated nearby before diving in and capturing the young man in a
tangle of blades. Just as she was about to command the blades to stab him, the young man
conjured up three more knives in his free hand.
Abby had just realized something. While she tried to run back, she only got a few
meters away from the battle because there was something obstructing her path. She splayed
her hands upon the invisible blockade. Where did it come from? She remembered back to the
energy the man had summoned and realized that he had created this barrier... but the only
reason he would want to trap Abby near the battle would be... The young mother turned
around, knowing it was too late for her.
"I think it's time for me to make my grand exit," the young man said, smiling before
launching the knives. The Living Inferno pulled away, intent on dodging the knives, but mid
air, he realized the knives weren't going towards him at all. Out of the corner of his red
eyes, he saw them head down to where Abby was standing. "Too bad she got caught in the
barrier I made around us, but she makes a perfect distraction, wouldn't you agree?" The
young man said, his grin growing wider. "I'll be seeing you soon..."
Tycara had pulled her blades away in shock, noticing that Abby was a sitting duck. She
didn't care that the young man had escaped... all she cared about was that the Living
Inferno was still in the air and Abby had no way of dodging those knives that would kill her
in the next second... Tycara realized that her swords were too far away to save her.
Abby could only watch as the knives came near her and she briefly mused at how slow
they seemed to be going. The only thing she could pray for is that it would be quick. She
thought she heard them calling her name, but... but... There was a flash of white and Abby
blinked as the blood spurted on her. She flinched and wondered as to why it didn't hurt...
those knives looked like they would have torn her apart.
It was then that she remembered Isaka telling her once that Tycara was quite fast and
could move to places in incredible speeds... and... She watched as the white figure in front
of her fell over. "Oh... no..." Abby murmured before scrambling over. Hadn't Tycara been
wearing all white today? Her vision focused and she realized she was kneeling over a very
bloody girl. All she could stare at was the blood. Everywhere... it was all over what had
been Tycara's abdomen. The young girl had absorbed the blow and it...
"...Abby...?" That was all it took to break her out of her stupor. Tycara looked
perfectly fine, so long as you didn't look at her midsection... The hybrid was breathing
heavily and she looked scared. "Tycara... Tycara..." Abby said, trying to stop her voice
from shaking. "Are you alright?" It was a stupid question, seeing as how she wasn't alright.
Not one bit. "I... don't think so...!" Tycara murmured out before crying.
"I'm scared of dying...! I don't..." Tycara said, looking up at the sky. "It's okay.
It's going to be fine. Did I ever tell you that I'm a registered nurse? Just trust me and
we'll make it through this," Abby said, keeping her voice steady. Even though she was a
nurse... she highly doubted... oh, but she didn't want to doubt! She wanted to think that
Tycara was going to be okay... that she was going to be fine. As blood continued to seep
out, Abby was vaguely aware that it was touching her knees.
"Just stay calm and stay awake, alright? Don't try to move," Abby said taking her
hand. Tycara just looked over at her. "...It's bad isn't it? Really bad? I guess my lungs
are okay, but... oh... why doesn't it hurt? It doesn't hurt so much...? Why...?" Abby
briefly looked down at her destroyed midsection before looking back up at her face again.
She bit her tongue. She didn't want to tell Tycara that it didn't hurt because there was
nothing there... how the girl's spine was still intact was a miracle...
Oh God, Abby wanted to stop thinking like that. She was broken out of her thoughts
when the Living Inferno kneeled down across from her. Tycara looked up at him fearfully.
"I... I'm not going to die, okay? I-I'm not going to die so you... you don't have to take me
away..." she said bawling. "Of course not. I'm going to call Krystal and she'll patch you
up, okay?" Abby said soothingly. Tycara tried to nod but failed. The Living Inferno shook
his head.
"Even though she's a powerful being, she'd going to die." Tycara squeezed her eyes
shut, still crying and Abby only stared at him. "No... no she's not! Don't say that..." He
just stared at her with his red eyes and Abby knew he wasn't lying. She looked back down at
Tycara and her pretty white sundress. Abby started to cry and laugh at the same time. Wasn't
it silly that a few minutes ago Abby had worried about Tycara spilling chocolate on her
dress? Oh, she was sure Seth wouldn't have a good enough stain remover to get all that blood
out of her dress.
She was giggling like a crazy woman, she knew. It was so horrendously funny... just so
funny. Abby stopped when she felt Tycara grip her hand. She looked back at her face and into
those helpless silver eyes... so childlike and so needy. "I... I'm not going to die, am I?"
Abby knew nothing they did was going to help her. "Tycara... why did you step in front of
it? You didn't have to... I probably would have died a few years later, anyway..." The
silver haired girl smiled. "Because you've been so nice and I want you to be happy."
"You dying isn't making me happy!" Abby said and watched as Tycara continued crying.
"I'm getting tired... I'm sorry... I'm scared, Abby." Never had she sounded more like a
child. Abby looked up at the Living Inferno and she could see her own distraught emotions
reflected in his eyes. "There has to be something we can do..." He shook his head and
brushed some of Tycara's hair out of her face. "The most... the most we can do is make her
comfortable."
Abby shook her head. "No! There has to be... has to be something! It's all my fault,
don't you get it? She... she was scared and she didn't want to get out of the car... but I
made her come here to help you and it was because of me she... she jumped in front and it's
because of me she's going to die in a field in the middle of nowhere! So don't tell me we
can only make her comfortable because you're the goddamn grim reaper and you have to be able
to do something."
He only looked at her with solemn eyes. "Abby... there's..." He let out a sigh as
though contemplating his decision. Abby watched him with hope and noticed that Tycara was
starting to lose consciousness. "Tycara... has died before so her soul is already loosely
connected to this body. If... Abby... I... Tycara's the one I was supposed to protect... and
I failed..." Abby looked at him with sympathy, but said sternly, "Then you should have no
qualms with telling me what we can do."
He shut his eyes and made one the biggest decisions of his life. To save Tycara...
Abby would have to... "It's possible to transfer Tycara's soul to suitable body... at the
cost of that person's life." Abby stared at him and took less than a second for her to say.
"My life and body for hers? Do it." He stared at her, obviously torn. "...are you sure...?"
He asked, his raspy voice small and choked up. "Yes. She's going to die because of me and I
can't let that happen... I told her that she wouldn't be dying anytime soon and I know my 34
year old body may not be the best thing, but... it-it's in good shape so it will work."
The Living Inferno nodded and looked down at Tycara. Her eyelids were fluttering open
and close, but he knew she was barely with them. He took one of Abby's hands and placed it
upon Tycara's forehead. The dying girl unconsciously leaned closer into it. Her forehead was
growing cold. Abby tried to swallow, but her throat felt too dry. The Living Inferno had
placed his own hand over Tycara's destroyed abdomen, carefully chanting something in another
language.
Abby thought it was Latin, but hey, she decided not to worry, seeing as how she wasn't
going to be alive in the next couple of minutes. The thought almost brought another laugh
out of her. She briefly thought of how Eveon was going to throw a fit and it brought a small
smile to her face.
She watched as Tycara started to glow and a strange energy started to permeate around
them. The Living Inferno looked at her sadly. "Abby... I think... I..." He looked at her
with distraught eyes and she only nodded. "I... I understand. Thank you... I feel the same
way, but... it might be better if you don't say it," she said, her last words coming out as
a hoarse whisper.
The energy around them picked up in intensity and Abby had one last thought as she was
swept up by the glowing warmth. I think I love you too.
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