Mending:the ability to fix damage to inanimate objects, by touch, word, thought or gesture.

At the sight of her, Tyler goes completely still, eyes bulging out of his head. He shudders and steps off of Josh, turning to completely face the image in front of them. The spikes on his spine shrink down.

Tyler's mother shimmers lightly, and Hayley appears through her translucent legs, collapsed on the ground. Josh rolls onto his stomach and phases through the asphalt, falling to her side.

Hayley's on her knees, one hand shaking as it holds herself up with the other extended in front of her, projecting the image. Tears roll down her scrunched up face, blood from the puncture wound trailing down her thigh. She sobs quietly as she mouths the words the image speaks.

"Baby, this isn't you," Tyler's mom says.

"M-mom?" He whimpers, his animalistic feature slowly melting away.

"You're scared and you're angry, I know," she continues. "But you don't need to let this control you. You control the power."

"I'm so sorry, mom," Tyler sinks to the ground, staring up at the glowing familiar visage. "I didn't know you were in there. If I'd known-"

"It's not your fault. None of it was your fault." She reaches a hand to his face, which passes through his cheek.

He gasps softly, tears smearing the dried blood on his face. "I know. I just miss you."

"That's okay to miss the life you had before. But don't destroy the life you have now in hopes of gaining it back."

"I love you, Mom. Good bye."

The image flickers. Tyler's mother smiles then vanishes. Hayley's eyes open and immediately roll back, arm and legs giving out. She face-plants into the street, lying completely still. Luckily, she's breathing.

Tyler blinks, now completely normal, and makes eye contact with Josh. There's so much guilt on his face that it even radiates off him.

That was what he needed. A proper goodbye. How Hayley was able to summon her ghost even when she was 'technically' alive, he doesn't want to think about.

But now Tyler's- well, he's not okay, but it won't be like that forever.

"Nice to have you back," Josh says.

"Josh, oh my god, I am so fucking-"

Before Tyler can finish, a large metal shard pierces his chest. He jolts forward, and Josh sees Alley Cat standing beside him, pissed beyond belief. He stands Tyler up and buried the shard deeper into him before pushing him forward.

Josh freezes. He can't move. He can't breathe. He can't fucking function because so much has happened in only a few hours that all he can do is scream and stumble forward, falling to his side when the same metal shoots from Tyler's body to Josh, stabbing into his hip.

But he can do one thing. Scream.

"Tyler!" He sobs, reaching out a hand at Tyler's limps form. Alley Cat walks up and stomps on his hand, a snap making him scream even louder.

"You can't tear us apart!" He bellows in Josh's face, the scar tissue reddened with anger. "You can't help us! You are just a bunch fo thieving kids who can't control what they have. Selfish. Cowardly. Weak."

"Y- you're right," Josh stammers, fear and pain melting away into curdling, abundant rage, ready to explode out of him.

"We're just kids." Tiana stands up somewhere behind Alley Cat, surrounded by a tornado of black energy. He turns to her, as if realizing that she was still alive, and Josh takes the opportunity to teleport closer to her, putting space between them.

"But don't underestimate us because of that." Josh forces himself up, pulling the metal and of his side and shrinking it into a chip. "We are a hell of a loser stronger than you think."

"We're heroes, after all."

Tiana waves the red crystal in the air. "And now we've got the upper hand, bitch."

Josh holds the blue crystal up as well. Alley Cat goes from pissed to outraged. He raises a hand, all the metal discards on the ground floating up, and flings it forward. They jump back in opposite direction, but the scraps follow Josh. The metal zips his way like flying knives, and he flinches because he's him, but he throws his arms up instinctively.

A small ring of blue surrounds the projectiles, and they disappear from the air, reappearing somewhere behind Alley Cat. He doesn't even see it coming, his whole backside being pelted.

Tiana throws a rope of black mass at him, whipping at his ankles and burning through his skin. Roaring in pain, Alley Cat turns and grabs the end of the rope, uncaring of how it sends icy flames down his arm, and yanks it. The momentum throws her off balance.

The villain bolts forward and tries to grab her, but Tiana jumps out of his reach. Hands planted firmly on the asphalt, her foot swings off the ground, aimed right for his face. A crack reverberates in the empty street.

She lands on her back, passing right through the shadow of the robot fox and stumbles to Josh's side, breathing heavily.

"I didn't know you could do that," Josh says, impressed.

"I didn't either," she huffs breathlessly. "I got that move from Soul Eater."

"Yeah, I know."

Alley Cat growls at them, vanishing in the air. They end up back to back, Tiana's single wing brushing against Josh's pair. He can feel the heat of the dark energy emanating from her hands, flicking and rolling off her like fog.

"I'm scared, Tia," Josh confesses. "I'm scared all of this is going to be for nothing."

"It won't be. And I'm just as terrified as you. It's going to be okay. Maybe not for us, but in the end, everything will be okay."

He grins. "I love you."

"I love you too," she responds without skipping a beat. "And I know you and Tyler are dating."

"Of course you do."

"Do you think this is it? You think this is how we bite the dust?"

"Honestly, it's not the most fitting end for us, but, yeah. I do. You?"

"Oh, most definitely," Tiana laughs. "We're so screwed without Tyler and Hayley."

"We ran out of second chances, didn't we." He says it as a statement, not a question.

She hesitates before following up with, "I guess we did. But at least I get to die fighting beside you. My other half. So this ending can't be so bad."

"Well, if this is the end, I'm glad I'm not alone," he says. "And I'm glad it's with you."

Something pangs in his chest. It hurts, of course it does, thinking that they could die here. They're just a pair of no good kids who were in the wrong place at right time, and somehow ended up being the vessels of mother fucking time and space. A pair of best friends who do everything together, even die together.

And funnily enough, they almost made it. They even have the two halves of the Philosopher's Stone.

The Philosopher's Stone.

"I have a really stupid idea," he says.

"What is it?"

"We should try and put the stone back together. That might give us enough juice to kill him."

Josh can't see her face, but he knows she's wide eyed. "Do you think it'll work?"

"I'm not sure," he answers honestly. "But were down two players and our big talk is just that. Talk."

They face each other. The energy leaves Tiana's hands and she holds her crystal up to Josh's. He hears Alley Cat shouting something above them.

"On three," he says.

Tiana rolls her eyes. "Do we have time for that?"

"I just don't want to mess it up-"

"One two three!"

The stones slot easily together, like laser cut puzzle pieces. Two halves of the same whole finally reunited.