Endgame at the Evervale's

During the time when Amory was first meeting his parents face to face again after fifteen years of being gone—Crowe, Raven, John, Donna, and Iggy were all seating themselves around their usual table in the cafeteria, eating their breakfasts and trading snide jokes and laughs.

Elaine seated herself at the end of the table enjoying a single orange for breakfast and lighting herself a cigarette, feeling a great need to ease some stress. In the center of the table, where the patients and commotion was, Raven laughed and ducked her head side to side as John tried to pelt fries at her, Donna reaching out and catching one with swift accuracy, eating it and flashing a prideful smile. Crowe laughed and applauded her, and then—he turned his head, examining Elaine down the table and quietly standing from his seat.

While the others continued to talk, he ventured over to her, pocketing his hands in his sleek black overcoat and giving her a look.

“Y’all right?” Crowe asked.

Elaine glanced briefly up at him and sighed, taking another drag and exhaling a smoke cloud into the air. “Since when do any of you care what you put me through?”

“Oh… c’mon, now, that’s not fair,” Crowe said, leaning on the table with one hand. “We’re just a bit preoccupied with the more hectic side of things.”

“Yes… which you never bother to tell me about,” Elaine mumbled disdainfully.

“Well… I imagined we could all talk those things out, now that everything’s calmed down a bit,” Crowe proposed. “Just gotta find Amory, and we’re all set. Speaking of… I was gonna ask… d’you care if we pop off into that magic closet for a while after breakfast? He’s still out in that other, uh… that other version of Mapleview. I dunno how to explain that, actually. D’you know much of anything about that doorway? How much d’you actually know?”

Elaine upturned her head again, this time slowly, giving him a long, caustic stare.

Crowe read her expression, nodding mildly and sitting down beside her. “Right, okay, so nobody’s told you anything since the last time I did… gotcha. I s’pose it’s time I catch you up on the rest, then… right?”

“That would be nice,” Elaine replied tonelessly.

Crowe took a breath and explained everything else he knew so far—everything about Amory, the doorway, the shootout, the angel, he demons, the mansion, and 2025. When he finished, Elaine stared directly forward at nothing in particular for several silent seconds, and then, she held the cigarette to her face again, this time taking a longer, deeper puff from it.

“Is that all?” she asked, smoke escaping her mouth.

Crowe choked out a laugh. “Whaddo you mean, is that all? Is that not enough …?”

Elaine turned her head and stared at him sarcastically again.

Crowe nodded. “Right, okay, you’re being funny…”

“I wouldn’t call it funny… I’d call it tired,” Elaine mumbled, flicking her ashes into the ashtray beside her. “And… no… you’re not gonna run off having an adventure through time today. That’s not going to happen.”

Crowe took back. “Why not? Ari said we could go there and look for Amory today if he hadn’t already come back by now…”

“Yes… but he has come back now,” Elaine told him. “Your friend Amory went with Dr. Chavan to go and… deal with something this morning…”

Crowe stared, this time with a touch of seriousness in his expression. He glanced down the table at Raven, then back, leaning slightly closer and hushing his tone.

“Why would they leave right now?” he asked intently. “After everything that happened last night? Why in the hell would they wander off now …?”

“Well… I told them it was a bad idea, but they seemed insistent on… mending some old wounds,” Elaine surmised. “With his and Raven’s parents…”

Crowe made a strange face. “What… really? ”

Elaine nodded. “He wanted to face them again. I suppose they’re not worried about the Canterbury club going there… since Amory hasn’t been there in fifteen years…”

Crowe glared down at the table, his mind suddenly working up a storm.

“I dunno,” he muttered. “Valek might not think to go there, and I know Victoria wouldn’t… but… his son. Valek’s son is a whole other story from the rest.”

Elaine stared at him, narrowing her eyes quizzically.

“Vincent Hawthorn knows Amory better than any other bloke working at Canterbury,” Crowe explained, his voice darkening. “He would know or at least suspect that Amory might follow his own bleeding heart back home. If Canterbury is watching the Evervale house, it’s because Vincent told them to. They might have people watching that place and waiting for him to try to go back there, for all we know.”

Elaine stared for a second. “How likely do you think that is…?”

“I dunno… but it’s possible enough that I don’t like them being there right now,” Crowe grumbled, glimpsing down the table once more.

Elaine paused for a second, sighing deeply. “All right, well… I have to take a taxi into town and get my car, and then I can go check on them, but I don’t know where this place is.”

“Oh… I do,” Crowe said grimly.

“Tell me where it is, then,” Elaine insisted.

Crowe met her gaze, looking intense. “No chance.”

Elaine’s expression flattened.

“No chance—because you’ll try to go there without me,” Crowe elaborated. “No. You’ll take me with you, and I’ll be your navigator.”

“Someone needs to be here ,” Elaine stated, planting a finger to the table. “Someone needs to be guarding Moonvale while I’m gone.”

“Right—and last I checked, there were two folks here with the mind-bending type of superpowers,” Crowe retorted, motioning at Raven.

“Actually… you separating won’t be necessary,” a raspy voice said from across the table.

John, Donna, Raven, and Iggy all stopped talking and eating, staring down at the end of the table. Elaine and Crowe did the same from the other end—all of them spotting a new person in the cafeteria, standing at the head of the table with his hands pocketed in his trench coat.

Zyon returned all of their stares somewhat expressionlessly, and everything fell silent.

Donna gulped, eyeing him strangely, John’s visage hardening in confusion. Iggy merely raised his eyebrows, and Elaine simply stared, Crowe slowly reaching his feet and looking even more serious than before.

“What’re you doing on this side of the doorway?” Crowe inquired. “Because I can’t imagine you’d come here for any good reason.”

“No… I have not,” Zyon affirmed. “But that… is not of import. Your determinations regarding Canterbury are not wrong. Certain elements of trouble are targeting Amory today… but… I believe I have just enough energy now to… mitigate it.”

“Well—let’s go then,” Crowe said impatiently, swatting the air and beginning to march around the table toward him. “Me and you—let’s go out to Amory’s place and tear them shadow government fucks a bloody new one.”

“Wait… what’s going on?” Raven questioned, glancing between the two of them.

“No. Not… yet,” Zyon replied, his eyes shifting from person to person, resting attentively on Donna and John. “You… must follow the orderly’s plan… and you three can meet me there. However… something needs to be done… about these two.”

He raised his hand, extending two fingers, pointing at John and Donna specifically.

Everyone else made an odd face.

“Why them?” Elaine asked.

“Because they don’t have what we have,” Crowe answered, still staring severely at the angel. “They have what Vincent and Valek do.”

“Yes. They are a danger,” Zyon confirmed. “They must be placed in confinement, for their safety and ours… and then… we can go.”

“Ummm… where does that leave me, boss?” Iggy mumbled, scratching his hair and raising his hand as if he was in school.

“The closet from your dreams, Icarus,” Zyon told him. “You may go through there, and wait for us safely on the other side. The doorway has just been slightly repaired—the timeline on the other side now matching the same time of day as here—and it has just been heavily warded by me. No demons or demonic human beings can hope to travel through it now.”

“Right. So, Ari and Amory have gone back to the Evervale house—and Vincent’s probably gonna go after them,” Crowe surmised for everyone. “So me, Raven, and Miss Morgan need to head out to get her car and go there—and Feathers is gonna go his own way and meet us there.”

“I see,” Elaine said, standing swiftly and straightening her white button-up.

“And I’m, ahhh… going to the future,” Iggy uttered, tossing up a hand. “Well, that’s more than I ever dreamed I’d do… how ‘bout that…”

“I do have one question for you,” Elaine said as-a-matter-of-factly, striding over to the angel and giving him a look. “Is it absolutely necessary for any of my patients to go along with me?”

“Yes.” Zyon returned her serious stare. “I cannot say for how long I can use my power today, or to what extent I can do it. I can only say that I feel rested and well enough to do a small fraction of what I usually could—meaning that Raven and Crowe will likely be needed at some point in time. We need absolutely everyone who is equipped to fight this. Everyone.”

“Understood,” Elaine replied with a nod, turning to the others. “John, Donna, I realize this is unfair to you—but we do need to prioritize your safety and security right now, and we need to keep you away from these people. Iggy—go through the doorway and keep that door shut once you’re on the other side. Crowe, Raven—I expect you both to stick closely to me and guide me exactly where we need to go. Do you all understand?”

Crowe and Raven nodded, Iggy giving a two-fingered salute and John rolling his eyes—and Donna was hanging her head low now, repeatedly slapping the surface of the table and cackling in a strange, grating voice.

There was a pause, and everyone stared at her.

“You fucking worthless people,” Donna snarled in a voice that did not belong to her, rolling her neck and gazing out from behind her messily-strewn bangs. “It’s not gonna make a lick of fucking difference what you do now… fucking angel .”

Her head snapped to the side—glaring hatefully at Zyon.

“You should’ve stayed where you were, Mr. Perfect,” Donna growled with a nasty look on her face. “Because now… oh, now we’re gonna be as merciless as we fucking can be.”

Zyon stared at her with no expression, his eyes beginning to glow brightly blue.

“Is that a challenge, Lilith…?” he rasped.

Raven, Iggy, John, Crowe, and Elaine immediately backed away from the table—watching the two of them with grave anxiety.

Donna grinned from ear to ear. “Is that pride I see…? Tsk-tsk. Big no-no for you , buddy.”

“Assurance is not pride,” Zyon stated, marching around the table toward her. “Nor is eliminating you murder.”

“Well… what is it, then?” Donna laughed, craning her neck and peering up at him.

Zyon glared, eyes shining brighter. “Pest control.”

He reached out to her head—and Donna suddenly jolted back, falling from her seat and scrambling to distance herself from his hand, acting as if Zyon had held an open flame to her face. She frantically crawled away and jumped to her feet, blowing her messy hairs from her eyes and giving him a searing, furious leer.

“You’ll kill her too,” Donna snapped hoarsely, jabbing a finger to her head. “You do that, and you’ll kill Donna and all her stupid fucking personalities too!”

“Only if she refuses to let you go,” Zyon replied, striding toward her with his gaze still aglow.

Donna tried to turn and run—then made an odd grunting noise—her shoe skidding on the tiled floor as she froze solid in her stance, suddenly unable to move.

Crowe and Elaine stared in befuddlement, Crowe glancing to the side—seeing Raven stepping forward, her hand outstretched, and her eyes locked firmly onto Donna, keeping a firm psychic grasp on her and not allowing her to flee.

“Oy—hey—do we really wanna do this?!” Crowe gasped, grabbing Raven by the shoulder. “What if it does kill her?!”

Zyon approached the frozen-solid Donna, his hand held outright, but he stopped with his fingers inches away from the immobile woman, turning his head and watching Crowe and Raven closely, listening and hesitating. There was a tense pause, Donna whimpering and grumbling, jerking and fighting to move, but she remained rooted to the spot, Raven keeping her hand out and her power fixated firmly onto her.

“Donna’s the sweetest person I ever knew aside from my brother,” Raven said with certainty. “The only reason anything bad ever got into her was probably because she thought it was just another personality emerging… not because she knowingly let a demon inside. She’s not gonna hold onto it. She’s gonna let it go.”

Crowe made a conflicted face, glancing between her and Donna. “Are you sure…?”

Raven nodded. “Yeah… and… besides. This has to be done no matter what.”

Then, she slowly guided her hand to the side—and Donna found herself moving forward, pushed towards the angel by a force unseen. She began to writhe and twist madly in place, screaming and releasing wild, animalistic yowls—just when Zyon’s hand met her forehead.

At once—Donna unleashed an earsplitting screech—convulsing terribly as Zyon grasped her skull—a flood of black and crimson fog suddenly billowing out of the woman—from her ears—nose—eyes—mouth—

Then—just as quickly as it started—the dark fog vanished—and Donna fell limp.

Zyon released her—and the woman staggered back and crumbled to the floor—Iggy standing nearby and just managing to catch her. He sank to his knee and held her there, Donna resting in his arms, fully unconscious now, and a long, somber silence fell over the cafeteria.

Raven let out a breath as if she’d been holding it, dropping her arm by her side. Elaine marched over to Iggy and examined Donna closely, seeing that she was still breathing, and Crowe merely watched with a severe face, John turning his head and giving Raven a strangely grim look.

Out of nowhere—John barreled at Raven and grabbed her by the throat—slamming her to the floor and positioning himself on top of her as he squeezed her windpipe with all his might.

Crowe looked at them—and instantly whipped his arm through the air—sending John flying far across the room and smashing harshly into the wall by the door.

John grunted—but he leaped to his feet in seconds—Crowe striding powerfully toward him with a wicked sparkle in his eye.

Just when John moved to run at him—Crowe cocked his head upright—and John became frozen just as Donna had, now still and motionless in an awkward running stance.

“I’ve tried hard… I’ve tried really damn hard,” Crowe glowered, stepping forward and raising his hand, a sudden invisible pressure beginning to tighten around John’s throat, making him croak out a noise. “I’ve given you a lot of mercy, and I’ve shown you a lot of understanding… but don’t think for one bloody second that anyone is gonna touch one of my best mates and fucking get away with it. Possessed—mentally handicapped—whatever you wanna call it—cry me a fuckin’ river. We all had the same shit happening to us, and we’ve all had demons trying to flood into our heads—and some of us aren’t fucking weak enough to give in to it.”

He strode closer, a trickle of blood crawling down his cheek, John beginning to kick and twitch as Crowe’s psionic grasp on his throat became even tighter.

“It’s your choice,” Crowe said flatly. “Let go of it all—or don’t.”

Then—he shot his arm to the side—tossing John across the room and throwing him directly toward the angel. The man skidded far across the white tiles, clutching his throat and gasping for air, stopping just at Zyon’s feet.

Raven coughed and straightened up, scooting over by Elaine, Iggy, and the unconscious Donna—and John blinked his vision straight, looking up just in time to see the figure in the trench coat kneeling over him.

Zyon placed his hand to John’s head—and a horrid yell exploded out of him—his arms and legs bashing relentlessly against the floor as his head trembled and shook rapidly—and every light in the room began flickering on and off at light-speed. His inhuman scream echoed across the cafeteria as he seized uncontrollably beneath the angel’s grasp—one of the lights shattering—and John’s body went fully tense and hardened—fists locked tightly shut as he smashed them into the floor—no fog or blackness escaping him—blood shooting out of his mouth as his eyes exploded in sick and revolting pops —crimson ooze spurting from his ears—

And then—with no sign of darkness leaving him at all—he fell suddenly still and silent on the floor, his head bloodied and his eyes destroyed, face smeared with crimson as a thick, metallic-scented puddle began to form under his skull.

A longer, graver quietness fell thereafter.

The lights became normal again, and everyone ogled John’s body, no one feeling the need or the want to ask, or state the obvious. They simply stared, sparing a moment of dark, morbid mourning for the man as Zyon slowly straightened up again.

“Icarus will take Donna through the doorway,” Zyon determined, facing the others. “And the rest of us will see to our plan as intended.”

Nobody argued. Iggy slid his arms underneath Donna and lifted her off the floor, Elaine and Raven standing there and giving John’s corpse a disturbed look before turning away and marching off. Crowe grimaced at the body expressionlessly before he did the same.

Zyon remained by John’s corpse, slowly lowering to one knee, placing his fingers gently to the man’s chest, and releasing a final bout of power—the man’s body slowly beginning to dissipate, burning into ash and dispersing in millions of tiny flakes of darkness before fully vanishing from the cafeteria floor altogether.

Then—feeling a deep, indignant anger at having lost yet another soul to the Legion—Zyon reached his feet and marched out of the room with a powerful stride, his overcoat shifting at his heels in his wake.

Aravali remained in the driver seat of his Oldsmobile Cutlass, the engine off and the air inside growing colder. He shivered slightly, his arms folded, but he smirked as he gazed out his window, staring across the property at the Evervale reunion.

Candice had just embraced her long lost son, and she and Amory stood hugging in the driveway for a long moment after, Joseph eventually wandering closer and collecting the fallen groceries from the gravel. Then, the father swatted loosely at the front door, motioning for them to go in.

So, all three of them turned and marched into the house.

Aravali’s smile grew slightly, deciding he didn’t mind at all to sit here and wait a while longer. It seemed that Amory’s parents were perfectly accepting of their son’s homecoming, and they all had some catching up to do now.

“Oh my gosh… oh, gimme that,” Candice said, choking out a laugh as a tear ran down her face, grabbing the grocery bags from her husband. “Here… let me put all that away, and then we can… oh, gosh, I just can’t even think straight…!”

Amory breathed out a laugh as well, wiping his eye and taking some of the grocery bags himself. He helped his mother to carry them all into the kitchen and set them on the bar counter, Joseph following them and puffing on his cigarette again, stopping at the end of the counter and leaning on it with one hand.

Candice stood on the inner side of the counter, facing all of her groceries as if she was prepared to put them away, but she couldn’t seem to focus on them; her eyes remained on her son, gazing across the counter at Amory and sputtering out another sobbing laugh.

“I can’t believe you’re here,” she said wispily, reaching over the bags and cupping his cheek.

Amory flashed a broken sort of smile, grasping her warm, soft hand and trying to force down another wave of tears.

“I… um,” he uttered weakly. “I have a lot to tell you…”

He glanced over at his father, Joseph merely leaning on the counter and watching him, not with anger or disdain, nor with overflowing emotion like his mother was. No, Joseph was simply staring thoughtfully, an expression he didn’t recall ever seeing on his father, as it was a look that required a bit more calmness and peace than the father he remembered was capable of.

“Here, let’s just… let’s do this first,” Amory said, opening the grocery bags. “And then we can sit and talk…”

He quickly began pulling everything out of the bags alongside his mother and father, and they worked together to put everything away—eggs and fresh produce in the fridge, bananas in the orange bowl on the counter, small canned goods in the far cabinet on the end, and condiments and bags of beans in the pantry. Amory acted on muscle memory, effortlessly remembering where everything belonged and placing the items accordingly.

When they were all finished, they walked into the living room and sat down.

Joseph sank into his old recliner by the window and facing the TV, though he didn’t move to turn it on like he usually did whenever he retired to his chair. Amory sat on the end of the loveseat, nearest his father, and Candice sat beside him, both of his parents staring at him rather expectantly now. There was a thick, rife atmosphere of emotions in the air, and he knew for certain that he had many things to explain, but he hardly even knew where to start.

In fact, Amory didn’t even want to talk about himself. Joseph looked so calm, and Candice looked so well-dressed and respectable, he really wanted to ask about them first—as they had both visibly changed over the past fifteen years.

“Where… um… where did you go , honey?” Candice asked softly, breaking the ice for him.

“And Raven,” Joseph added, pointing at him with his cigarette. “She all right…?”

“Oh… yeah, yeah,” Amory assured. “Yeah, she’s fine… she’s with Crowe and our other friends right now. Nothing bad happened to us. I mean… it could have, but… it didn’t…”

Candice and Joseph’s eyes met for a second, then shifted back to their son.

Amory swallowed painfully, mustering the nerve to meet his father’s eyes, his heart pounding, knowing without a doubt that the man expected not only an explanation, but an apology. It wasn’t as if Joseph was a saint back then—but Amory had wronged him, just as well as Amory himself had been wronged, and he truly wanted to make amends now. Perhaps he should be the first to open the doorway to apologies and forgiveness.

“Okay… I… listen,” Amory stuttered, scooting to the edge of the cushion and speaking almost exclusively to his father now. “I really didn’t… I really didn’t plan to run away that day. Everything just got so crazy… I finally just snapped… and we… I don’t know… the same kind of thing happened with Crowe that day, too, so we all just wanted to disappear for a while. I’m sorry. I really didn’t intend to stay gone for so long… and definitely not for fifteen years…”

Joseph gave him a long, surveying stare, taking a final drag from his cigarette before he snuffed it out in his overused ashtray.

“I know why you left,” he grunted, turning slightly in his chair, and facing his son a bit more properly. “What I wanna know is where you went.”

Amory blinked, glancing down and biting his bottom lip.

“We looked everywhere for you two,” Candice breathed, placing a hand on his back and stroking it lovingly. “You weren’t at your grandma’s, or Crowe’s house, or Uncle Terry’s house… you weren’t anywhere , sweety.”

“Yeah… that’s… another thing I have to talk to you about,” Amory sighed, frowning down at the old stained living room carpet. “We ended up at…”

“Whossat?” Joseph grumped, now gazing out the window on his other side, only just noticing the Oldsmobile Cutlass across his property.

Amory peeked out from behind him and squinted out the window. “Oh… that’s just my friend, and my… shrink… kind of. He gave me a ride here.”

“Well… you can invite him inside, boy, shit fire,” Joseph said, resting back against his chair and swatting loosely at the front door behind him. “Gonna leave him out there to freeze to death? I know you was raised with more manners than that.”

Amory laughed and stood, marching over to the front door and pulling it open. He waved to get the doctor’s attention—and Aravali noticed, popping his door open and emerging from the car.

Amory waved him over, gesturing for him to come in.

Aravali made a sideways nod and strolled across the property. Amory stepped aside, allowing him to walk into the house before pulling the door shut. Then, he returned to his spot at the end of the couch, Candice patting the empty space on the other side, motioning for the doctor to come sit and make himself comfortable.

Aravali gave her a polite smile and walked into the living room, sitting on Candice’s other side.

Amory scooted to the edge of the couch cushion again, sighing and glimpsing between his mother and his father. “Okay… the place was called Canterbury Lab. That’s where we all ended up going… the night we ran away.”

“What?” Joseph barked, making an odd face and narrowing his eyes at his wife. “Now… hold on… where do I know that name from…?”

“Amelia’s sister,” Candice replied, frowning down at her lap. “She underwent some medical trial thing there before she ended up in… um…”

“Moonvale…?” Aravali mumbled.

Candice turned to him and nodded. “Yeah… yeah, that mental hospital on the south side of town. Amelia is a friend of ours…”

“Friend of yours ,” Joseph grumbled.

“Oh—hush,” Candice said, smacking her lips and making a face before turning back to the doctor. “Amelia is a friend of ours, and her sister ended up in Moonvale after she was in Canterbury Lab. That poor woman has had serious mental problems all of her life… but Amelia swore up and down that lab made her worse.”

Aravali’s expression hardened. “Her name wouldn’t be Donna, would it…?”

“Yeah,” Candice affirmed.

Aravali fell silent, trading serious looks with Amory.

Joseph stared at them both, sensing something amiss. Then, he turned his attention fully onto the doctor, leaning onto the recliner’s arm rest and perching his brow at him.

“You’re a shrink, huh,” Joseph uttered, nodding once at him. “Who d’you work for?”

“Moonvale,” Aravali replied. “Not Canterbury. Believe me.”

“Ah… okay,” Joseph nodded, turning to his son. “And you and Raven both ended up in that medical trials testing place fifteen years ago? The day you left home?”

Amory nodded grimly. “They said they’d notify you guys and tell you everything… but… I’m guessing they never did…”

Joseph stared at him fixedly, wearing a vexed expression. “No, they sure didn’t. They just up and kidnapped you is what it sounds like.”

Amory averted his gaze, looking down and facing away.

“Did you ever try to… leave?” Candice wondered, patting him on the back again. “Did you ever try to break out, or get signed out and released, or anything like that…?”

Amory avoided her eyes as well, feeling a deep, festering shame beginning to grow from inside.

Joseph examined his son very closely, as if he was staring directly through him.

“You wanted to be there,” the father determined.

Amory hung his head lower, sighing deeply.

“I’m sorry,” he said softly.

“You’re sorry…?” Joseph rumbled. “Do you know what you put us through…?”

“I’m sorry ,” Amory said louder, raising his head and giving his father an angry, wounded look, eyes beginning to water again. “But I didn’t think you would even care. I really didn’t.”

He instantly held his head down again, finding it increasingly difficult to look either of them in the eyes.

Joseph opened his mouth to reply, but suddenly fell silent, his eyes wandering over to his wife. Candice now wore a downtrodden visage, frowning heavily and looking guilt-stricken.

Amory remained seated in silence, glaring down at his lap and expecting to be further berated, but the longer he sat, the longer his parents simply said nothing.

Eventually, he raised his head again, glancing between the two of them.

Joseph was now staring out the window, stroking along the stubble on his jaw, and Candice was staring at him sadly, a remorseful sort of expression on her face.

“Well’p,” Joseph said to the window glass, after what felt like an eternity of silence. “I didn’t think you’d care enough to come home… but here we are…”

Amory stared, eyeing the side of his father’s head and feeling as if he must have misheard him. He expected Joseph to continue to argue, to list all of the ways that the entire situation was Amory’s fault, and then inform him of all the things he should have done better—but, instead, it seemed that his father knew and understood why Amory had fled the house with Raven, and after everything that happened back then, he hadn’t expected either of his children to choose to come back here and speak to him.

Perhaps he actually recognized the wrong he had done—but, in typical Joseph Evervale fashion, he simply couldn’t say it or express it very well.

“I know what you mean, honey,” Candice said in a low, somber voice, stroking Amory’s back once more. “It got to the point where we couldn’t ignore it anymore… when y… you left…”

She paused, sealing her eyes shut and fighting back tears.

Amory stared over at her, his heart aching for her.

“We couldn’t ignore all the problems anymore,” Candice resolved, sighing heavily and forcing herself composed. “We did everything we could to make things better for w… for whenever you two decided to come home…”

Amory nearly choked out a sob, his breaths beginning to shake.

“I’m so sorry,” he breathed.

“No… honey, come’ere,” Candice said, scooting closer and draping an arm around him. “Don’t be sorry… don’t you ever be sorry anymore.”

Amory leaned into her, sliding an arm around her and savoring his mother. It took everything to keep from crying, his fingers tightening around the waist fabric of her smooth blue dress, and he took in another long, trembling breath.

“Started going to church… started going to therapy… started praying like the dickens every day, and we even got this one sober,” Candice smiled, waving over at her husband. “Well… he still has a beer or two at the end of the day… but he’s not pounding Tennessee Whiskey anymore.”

“Shit done lost its taste,” Joseph griped with a laugh.

Amory sniffed and straightened up, chuckling as well. “I don’t know how whiskey could ever lose its taste…”

“Drink it for twenty years,” Joseph smirked.

“No… I’m good,” Amory snickered.

There was a brief pause in the air.

“Okay… so… lemme get this straight,” Joseph said, gesturing as he spoke. “Canterbury Lab went and scooped y’all up the day you ran away… when you were thirteen. Right?”

Amory nodded.

“M’kay,” Joseph mumbled disdainfully, running a hand over his mouth. “Well, then I’m gonna have a word with some people…”

“Like a lawyer,” Candice muttered.

“Or to hell with the law,” Joseph growled. “I’ll just blow their goddamn heads off.”

“Okay… wait… listen,” Amory said, raising a hand. “They’re actually really dangerous people… and they did experiments on us that made us have—”

“ What? ” Joseph snapped. “What the hell’re they doing to people there?”

“From what I’ve been told, it sounds like a combination of MK-Ultra-type procedures paired with extradimensional experimentation,” Aravali answered for Amory. “It all sounds very unbelievable and insane, but I’ve actually seen some of it firsthand. Essentially, they expand a person’s mind and allow the person to be filled with something extradimensional… which, as it turns out… results in the person developing unique abilities.”

“They kept the kids separated from the adults, too,” Amory remembered. “I guess because them having the kids there was illegal, so… they never let any of the adults who signed up for medical trials see any of the kids that were in there…”

“And… fighting a legal battle with them would likely be difficult,” Aravali added. “The lab itself was destroyed when Amory left… and the operatives remaining are acting out of order with the law as it is. They’ve been trying to target the escapees ever since the lab went down… most of whom are now admitted to Moonvale.”

“Not the kids,” Amory murmured to himself.

Joseph fell silent for a moment, staring at his son as if he’d never seen anything as perplexing as him before.

“Why on God’s green earth did you stay there for this long?” he grunted.

Amory met his gaze, thinking of Zyon and feeling as if it was almost impossible to explain.

“Someone there needed me,” he surmised. “Raven and Crowe broke out and left before I did… but I had to stay, because… they were keeping someone else locked up in the basement, and I needed to help him break free before I could go.”

Joseph gave him a long, intrigued stare. “Did you…?”

“Yeah,” Amory answered. “I got him out. I got everyone out.”

Joseph slowly leaned back in his chair, examining his son with curiosity.

“And how did you manage to do that…?” he wondered.

Amory glimpsed down, sighing and wondering if he should show his parents everything he could do now, though he silently decided against it for the time being. He didn’t want to put both of them in shock the same way he had Aravali.

“I can’t really explain that,” Amory said. “I’d have to show you… and I don’t think I should show you…”

“Amory,” Aravali said intently, raising his brows at him. “They’ll have to know sooner or later… particularly if they have any run-ins with these things the same way I have. They also need to know that you and Raven are well-protected from all this… and they won’t know that unless you show them.”

Amory gave him a hesitant look. “But…”

“If it startles them… then you can calm them,” Aravali said, tapping his forehead. “Remember?”

Amory paused, then sighed and nodded, standing from the couch.

His eyes traveled across the small side table and the coffee table as well, searching for something he could lift with his mind, not noticing the thick, heavy overcast out the window, much to the contrary of the sunlight that had been shining inside a short while ago.

Then, a low rumble of thunder caught his attention, and he thought to glance outside—staring out the window, suddenly still, a cold, icy sensation slithering down his spine as he spotted what he most desperately did not want to see.

Outside, and across the gravel—three large black cars were parked in a crooked circle around the Oldsmobile Cutlass now, and a man in a long tan overcoat stepped out of the middle car, wearing a trilby hat to match and standing fully upright as he stared at the house before him.

Amory felt a terrible sense of dread, recognizing the man instantly despite that he was standing far away.

“Oh… no,” he murmured with chagrin, making a gentle shake of the head. “Not here…”

Aravali and Candice both stood and followed his trail of vision outside, Joseph turning his head and gazing out the window; all of them watched as several men in black suits began to emerge from the three cars, about four men per vehicle, strolling over to the man in the tan trench coat and positioning themselves on either side of him, most of them holding handguns by their sides, two of them carrying assault rifles instead.

“Oh goodness,” Candice gasped, clasping her mouth. “What is this…?!”

“The deep state,” Joseph growled under his breath.

Amory stood rooted to the spot, suddenly feeling as if he was dreaming; he’d been awake for a long while, growing exhausted, and now, here he stood, perfectly in the living room of his childhood home, gazing out the window and seeing the last people he ever expected to see on the Evervale’s property. Vincent Hawthorn stood out there alongside his and Valek’s men—out there, on the gravel patch, the Evervale driveway, where Amory, Raven, and Crowe used to run and play as kids, just across from the swing set they used to climb on like a jungle-gym, just beside the grassy patch where they would go hunting for turtles every time the summer came around. This was—for all its faults—his home, and now, the people whom he now knew to be his truest and deepest enemies were here, standing on that driveway, invading this place, walking on the gravel and tainting his good memories with his worst, brandishing their weapons and acting as if they actually had the right to be here.

Amory was certain he had never felt so invaded before in his life.

This was his home—his parents’ home—and here were the enemies, the villains, showing up here with the intention of killing him, endangering his mother and father as well.

He couldn’t believe how it came to be—how it all started on that fateful Halloween night in 1973, inside this very home—and now, it had all come full-circle, the ultimate endgame, destined to transpire at the very same place it began.

“No,” Amory glowered. “Not here.”

He turned and stormed toward the front door.

“ No! ” Candice shrieked—scrambling after him and pulling him back. “No, don’t go out there!”

“Mom—I can handle it, trust me,” Amory told her with a sense of confidence he rarely spoke with. “And that guy out there—the one in the trench coat—that’s Vincent Hawthorn. I know him. He was the first person from Canterbury I ever met. Let me go talk to him.”

“No… now… wait a second,” Joseph called out, pushing upright from his chair and giving his son a look. “This guy is the first person you met from there? Is that what you said…?”

“Yeah,” Amory affirmed.

“So he’s the one who took you there in the first place,” Joseph determined.

“Yeah,” Amory nodded, turning and reaching for the doorknob. “I’m gonna go talk to him. Nobody follow me.”

He pulled the door open and stepped out of the house, Candice whimpering and choking out a sob as her son stepped out of her grasp. Just when the front door swung shut, she turned away and closed her eyes, tears rolling down her face.

“Hey… he’s got a lot of tricks up his sleeve, believe me,” Aravali assured her. “He’s not in half as much danger out there as any of us would be.”

Joseph turned back to the window, squinting at the scene outside, watching as Vincent Hawthorn walked toward the house to speak with Amory.

“All right,” Joseph said, facing Candice and motioning to the back hall. “You go down to the basement and lock the door… and take him with you.”

Candice choked out a breath, giving him a pleading look. “Oh, what’re you gonna do…?!”

“Don’t argue with me, now—go on,” Joseph ordered, swatting Candice and Aravali away.

Without waiting for a response, he lumbered past them and started marching up the stairs with the pace of a man half his age. Candice and Aravali traded glances before heading into the back hall as instructed.

Amory stepped down from the front door, stopping just in front of the house and facing Vincent. The stormy sky overhead grew dark, the rumble of thunder on the air as a steady gust of wind began to strengthen all around them.

For a long, tense moment, neither of them spoke.

Just when Candice stopped at the final door of the first floor—the door leading into the basement—Aravali motioned for her to go in.

“I’ll stay up here and keep an eye on things,” he told her. “Go ahead.”

Candice sniffled and nodded, pulling the door open and stepping down into the dark, dingy basement by herself, the door closing quietly behind her. She reached the bottom of the wooden stairs and pulled a string in front of the washer and dryer, clicking the light on—and she gasped and jumped back—shocked to see another person standing down here.

Zyon stood just beneath the shine of the hanging light bulb, meeting her gaze.

“Be still. Be not afraid,” he said calmly, raising a finger. “Your prayers have been heard… and now… they will be answered.”

Candice returned his gaze with a sense of peaceful clarity like she’d never known before, and she gave him a slow, simple nod.

Outside—Amory’s brow hardened, eyeing Vincent coldly, glaring at him as if he had more audacity than anyone he’d ever seen in his life. He didn’t care about the scar on the man’s face, didn’t care how many armed men were standing nearby; his focus was solely on Vincent, leering into him like he was nothing but a betrayer.

“You have so much nerve to come after me again,” Amory said softly.

“Oh… come on, now,” Vincent replied dismissively. “It’s a lot easier to talk you down when you’re not around your tantruming friends, and I definitely didn’t think you’d bring them here. It was the best place to intercept you.”

“This is my home , Vincent,” Amory stated, jabbing a finger back at the house. “How dare you bring all this garbage here.”

“Your home…?” Vincent laughed at him. “No… Canterbury was your home, bud, and you seemed a lot happier there than you did here.”

“Times have changed,” Amory said.

“Yes… they certainly have,” Vincent agreed. “And nobody knows that better than you… you little timewalker.”

Amory frowned and sighed.

Vincent took a gentle stride closer. “Now… I really have to ask… why here? ”

He motioned to the house behind him.

“If even half the stories you told me were true… then why in the hell would you ever come back here?” Vincent wondered. “Surely, these people aren’t worth your time or trouble.”

Amory stared with a deflated sort of expression.

“In fact… when I met you… it seemed an awful lot like… you were desperate to get away,” Vincent said, lowering his voice and eyeing him curiously. “I really thought we were extending an olive branch… and helping you… far more than we ever hurt you.”

Amory continued to stare, saying nothing.

“Is that not what we did?” Vincent asked him.

Amory gazed into him with a stoic visage, feeling strangely certain that Vincent would simply not understand.

“You tried to kill Raven… and Crowe… and Ari… and I still haven’t tried to kill you,” Amory told him in a grave, breathless voice. “And there’s a reason. It’s the same thing… the same thing that brought me back here. It’s called forgiveness .”

Vincent scoffed.

“You’re so lucky. You really are,” Amory knew. “Because the fact that I ever cared about you is the only reason you’re still alive.”

Vincent fell silent, his eyes narrowing.

“But this is it. This is the last time,” Amory rumbled, cocking his head and glaring at the man with an animosity he’d never felt before. “This, right now—right this second—is your last chance to walk away, because I will never show you mercy again .”

Vincent slightly tilted his head, giving him an investigative stare and making a small step closer.

“Now… why do I find that hard to believe?” he exhaled.

“Hey,” a booming voice called out—a yell so familiar, Amory felt a jolt of anxiety shoot up and down his spine.

He turned around—seeing Joseph Evervale standing in the doorway of his home, his arm concealed behind it, glaring daggers at the man before him.

Vincent met the man’s gaze, eyeing him quizzically.

Joseph stared at him with a kind of anger he hadn’t harbored in over a decade.

“I only got one thing to say to you,” he said.

Then—he swiftly revealed his shotgun—and he fired off a deafening shot.

Amory swallowed a gasp—and the 12-gauge blast completely eradicated the side of Vincent’s skull in a bloody, morbid mess—reducing his head to a pulpy mass before his body crumbled to the ground.

Amory gaped down at the body in absolute shock—the men in black raising their guns and taking aim at Joseph—

Panicking—Amory snapped out of it and leaped in front of his father—eyes igniting blue as an earsplitting series of gunfire overtook the scene—bullets shooting across the driveway directly toward them—hitting something, making contact with what appeared to be nothingness, as if they were hammering into bulletproof glass—and they bounded off in other directions.

Joseph lowered his shotgun and glanced around, watching as the bullets were deflected away from him and his son by an apparent invisible forcefield—hitting the trees in the woods and sparking off the edge of the swing set—

Amory glared heatedly at the men before him, eyes shining brighter, summoning every ounce of his psionic power and quickly feeling drained.

None of them noticed the green car skidding to a crooked stop behind the others—people leaping out of it—

Amory maintained his deflection for as long as he possibly could—his vision beginning to blur—a heavy dizziness overcoming him—

“OY!” Crowe shouted across the scene—storming forward and making a jerking upright nod.

Suddenly—several guns were flung from the grasps of the men in black—some of them jamming and others exploding as they soared through the air—

Amory choked out a breath—hitting his knees and nearly falling face-first to the gravel—

Raven approached and let out a shrill yell—whipping her arm across the air and sending all of the men flying backward in a great, sweeping wave.

Amory found himself hunched forward, leaning on his hands, hairs flown over his face as he gazed drearily down into the gravel rocks beneath him. He couldn’t understand… he’d never gotten drained by his power before… no, he couldn’t let this… he had to keep…

Someone grabbed him by the back of the collar—jerking him off the ground and nearly choking him as his shirt dug into his throat.

Joseph dragged him back and shoved him into the house, Amory staggering and hitting the floor inside—then, the father cocked his 12-gauge and glimpsed around, manning the doorway and waiting for any further sign of hostility from the men in black, but the gunshots had ceased, and all the men in sight were now felled and unarmed.

Crowe, Raven, and Elaine approached the house—and Aravali knelt down inside, hunched at the foot of the stairs and examining the fallen Amory closely.

A tense silence overtook the atmosphere.

Crowe stopped in front of the front door, glaring at every single suited man around—watching attentively as they lumbered back to their feet, and preparing to kill or disarm any of the ones foolish enough to reach for a gun again.

As Crowe stood guard between the enemies and the house—Joseph looked down and spotted Raven, and the two stared at each other. Before either of them could say anything—Candice came running in from the back hall, gasping and falling to her knees beside Amory, surveying him worriedly and crying as she did.

Elaine and Raven both peeked into the house past Joseph—Raven clasping her mouth and stifling a gasp at the sight of the half-conscious Amory lying on the floor.

And while everyone else’s attention as on Amory—Joseph alertly narrowed his eyes, staring at something from far across his driveway, a single, lone figure, emerging from the driveway’s end and strolling casually forward, as if nothing at all was amiss here, the storm clouds above darkening steadily more.

Crowe was the second to notice the approaching figure—a man in a dark overcoat and a matching hat—and he recognized the man at once.

“Oh… I’ve been waiting for this,” Crowe growled, cocking his head and wiping the blood from his face with his sleeve before starting toward him.

“No— hell no ,” Elaine snapped urgently—grabbing his arm and yanking him back. “Get in the house, Crowe. Get in the house! ”

The orderly pushed and shoved, practically forcing Crowe and Raven into the house; all of them entered the home, but Joseph remained standing in the doorway, merely watching as the distant demon drew near.

Valek walked calmly across the scene, glancing over the felled and the disoriented men, the bloody messes scattered about, the bullet holes in trees, and—as he slowed to a stop in front of the house—his eyes landed on one particular figure nearby him, a bloodstained trench coat and a fallen, splattered hat, Vincent lying motionless at his feet, half of his head and face gone, his lighter-colored eye just visible amidst the blood and fleshy pulp, gazing out at nothingness.

Valek stood still there for a moment, gazing down at his son and releasing a deep cloud of breath. Then, his eyes wandered over to the front door, staring at Joseph, and spotting the shotgun in his hands.

“You do know this was my son , right…?” Valek said to the man, motioning down at Vincent.

Joseph raised his brows, then made a dismissive shrug. “Then I reckon we’re even.”

Valek scoffed out a dry little noise that might have been a laugh.

“Now… I hope you’re not implying that I took your son away from you ,” he said with a gentle rasp as he took another step near. “Because… your son… never got with the bloody program .”

Just when Valek’s eyes began to glow red, and as he slowly raised his hand—a stark, jarring lightning strike blasted onto the scene—a wicked rumble of thunder ravenously shaking the earth as a blinding flash of light exploded across the land—and then, Valek found himself perfectly facing Zyon, standing directly adjacent to him now.

Nearly everyone inside the house had jumped terribly—Joseph taking back, gazing outside in surprise—and Zyon and Valek glared into each other, facing one another at last in the driveway of the Evervale home.

“Ohhh… awake from our little cat nap, are we?” Valek smirked. “I know you’re not exactly healed up yet. How confident do you feel? Hm?”

Zyon stared, saying nothing, stepping forward as his eyes began to glow.

“I should tell you… according to all that tedious, extensive research… we determined that Devil’s Venom would take a very long time to leave the system, my friend, especially when you’ve had all those big, nasty doses of it over four long decades,” Valek told him. “So… generally speaking… I, uh… really wouldn’t do anything rash if I were you.”

Zyon stopped feet away, eyes aglow and piercing in their cerulean brilliance.

Then—as if from nowhere—two elongated shapes began to span out from either side of him, casting great shadows in the shape of expanding, magnificent wings.

Valek’s eyes flickered to either side of him, surveying the enormous wings, and his sarcastic sort of expression began to falter just the slightest bit. Then, he looked to Zyon’s face again, eyeing him, somewhat vexed by the angel’s power now.

“Oh… I know you can’t be well yet,” the demon grumbled. “Where is all this coming from…?”

“You know not the power of The Lord,” Zyon replied, his natural rasp seeming to quake with a low, subtle tremor.

Then—he took another step forward.

Valek made an involuntary fidgeting movement, now completely expressionless, watching the angel’s every move with rapt anticipation, seeming to be braced for any possibility.

“I’ll call your bluff,” Valek said bravely, raising his brows at him.

Zyon gave him a look, gently cocking his head, and then—if the demon wasn’t imagining it—the angel let slip a small, faint half-smile.

“Very well,” he said conclusively.

At once—the great white wings shot outright to either side—and a wild blast of power erupted from Zyon and spiraled across the entirety of the property in massive, blinding waves. It shot across everything—the driveway, the yard, the house, the trees, and the rest—an amazing force sweeping everything back that did not belong here.

The men in black—Vincent’s body—the cars—the guns—and Valek himself—all of it was sent flying back and soaring through the woodlands—a car smashing into a tree and snapping it in half—bodies limply flailing between the branches and vanishing into the woods—everything demonic expelled from the Evervale property in a fantastic great fell swoop.

A long, quiet, and strangely tranquil sense of peace overtook the atmosphere in the moments to follow Zyon’s definitive final move. His eyes became normal, his wings vanishing from sight, and nothing at all stirred across the Evervale’s property now, save for the gust of wind and the gentle sprinkle of cold winter rainfall that had begun.

Everyone else remained inside—some staring outside in awe, others hunched around their fallen friend—and Amory found himself lost to yet another dream, the most comforting dreams, the ones he so often looked forward to when the night hours came around.

He couldn’t know why, couldn’t even know where he was, but he felt as if he was at home again—here in the early 70s, with the sun shining brighter than ever outside, and little Raven and Crowe darting up to the house, hollering and waving for him to come out and join them in the yard. Seconds later, he noticed another figure—Zyon the angel, standing at the edge of the driveway with pocketed hands, watching them and wearing a calm, simple smile, as if he planned to babysit the trio of children throughout the entirety of their day.

Then, as his mind began to return to reality, and as he blinked his vision straighter, he found himself lying on the floor, at the threshold of the stairs, dazed and disoriented. He almost thought he was reliving another memory, until his bleary vision wandered to the side—spotting the people hovering over him.

Candice was hunched closely by his head, cupping his face, her eyes shining with tears. Aravali was beside her, seated on the bottom stair and monitoring him very closely. On his other side were Crowe and Raven, staring down at him with troubled and concerned expressions, Elaine lingering just behind the two of them. Joseph stood nearby them all, still holding his shotgun, saying nothing as of yet.

Amory’s sleepy gaze ventured from person to person, and then, he raised his head slightly atop the floor, lying on his back and staring directly behind his head—where another figure had just walked into his view.

Zyon stepped into the house, stopping just behind his head and staring down at him.

Amory let out a sigh of relief at the sight of him, closing his eyes and suddenly feeling safer than ever…

Zyon’s eyes moved between everyone in the room, wearing a serious visage.

“It is time… for us to take our leave of 1988, for now,” the angel announced, turning and staring at Candice. “Your home has been warded… and you will entertain no further visits from the Legion of Canterbury Lab.”

Candice gazed up at him, gulping and nodding, then glancing back down at her son with worry.

“Amory is fine,” Zyon assured. “He is fatigued. Not harmed.”

“Fatigued? How…?” Crowe asked, scrunching up his face. “I’ve never seen him get drained from his power the way we do…”

“It’s not exactly from his power,” Zyon informed. “Amory is human. Human beings need to sleep, and eat, and drink, and care for themselves… and, ever since he left Canterbury… he hasn’t been. Not enough. He’s been far too concerned with everyone else.”

“Oh… you’re just running on fumes, then,” Crowe muttered, flicking the side of Amory’s head. “Fuckin’ prat.”

Amory made a flattened sort of smile and smacked his hand away.

“I do apologize… for cutting so many meetings and reunions short,” Zyon added, turning and meeting eyes with Joseph. “But it is important that we go, and see to some things that we cannot afford to neglect. I assure you, your children can come back and visit again whenever they wish… after we do what needs to be done right now.”

Then, the angel turned, Candice now on her feet, and the two met eyes again.

“You know what to do if need be,” Zyon told her softly. “If you speak, I will hear. Always.”

Candice nodded and flashed a smile at him.

Zyon turned and faced the rest.

“We will return to Moonvale… and make our leave of Moonvale,” the angel told them all. “And we will remain safe and secure in Evervale Manor.”

Moments after, his eyes began to glow once more, wings appearing from nowhere—and then, many things began to change faster than anyone could process or comprehend.

Elaine and Aravali’s vehicles were suddenly parked at Moonvale.

Candice and Joseph were suddenly standing inside their house by themselves.

And—Zyon, Amory, Crowe, Raven, Elaine, and Aravali all appeared in the back hall of Moonvale, just within sight of the doorway through time.

Amory appeared there standing fully upright, feeling jarred and disoriented and nearly staggering back. Crowe clasped him by the shoulders and steadied him, and then, all of them began walking toward the door of the utility closet, Aravali pulling it open, and each of them walking through time, one by one—until all of them were on the other side, and the mental hospital became, for the first time in a long, long while, entirely uninhabited by patients or employees alike, as the time to leave Moonvale Mental Hospital had seemingly come to be.