Kai rushed through town as quickly as he could, trying to somehow politely shove people aside with quiet 'sorry's. He kept a wary eye out for Moon, but thankfully didn't see her. He wasn't too happy about that, either, because that meant he didn't know where she was, meaning she could be at the library where Falte worked. As Kai pushed through crowds, Chase murmured apologizes as he rushed behind Kai quickly. 

As soon as the library came into view, Kai wasn't being wary anymore. He was just running full-speed toward the doors, with Chase yelling at him from behind to slow down. Kai ignored him and pushed the door open without hesitation, immediately looking around the aisles for his father. Chase entered in a more polite manner, apologizing to the library security guard, who was scowling in Kai's direction. 

The library thankfully looked undisturbed, but Moon was crafty, so Kai knew she could still be in here. He checked passing women for any signs of her, but no one resembled her. He breathed a sigh of relief and rushed into an aisle, scanned the long space, and when he didn't see Falte, did the same to all of the other aisles until he found his father with a rolling cart of books, standing on his tiptoes, trying to shelf a thick book that was too high for him to reach.

Relief like Kai had never felt before flooded into his chest, and he relaxed as he walked forward. Falte spotted him and stood correctly, giving up the book onto the cart. 

Chase floundered into the aisle, gasping for breath and looking quite flustered. He too looked relieved when he saw that Falte was unharmed.

"What's going on?" Falte asked curiously. "What are you two doing here? I thought you hated reading, Kai." He shot a playful dismayed look at his son, but it faded away when he saw how disheveled the two boys looked. "Are you guys okay?"

Kai nodded. "We're fine, now that we know that you're fine too." 

"Huh?" was all Falte could come up with. 

Kai took the thick book and shelved it for his father, who gave him another playful steely glare, as Chase explained.

"Gabriel came to our house, saying that Moon had chased him through town," he said to Falte. "We're pretty sure she knows exactly where we live now, which isn't good. Then again," he said mostly to himself, "she probably already knew. Anyway, she tried to kill Gabriel, but probably mostly to scare him. So now she's taunting us again." 

Falte visibly shivered. "I know I've never met this woman, but I already hate the sound of her. What do you think she wants?"

"To play with us," Kai replied, crossing his arms over his chest. "She likes doing things like this. Taunting people by hurting others. Messing with past trauma or anything you've dealt with before. She likes to poke at all the bad things that have happened in your life."

Falte shivered again, and Kai remembered his father confessing briefly to his son that his family hated him and abused him daily. When Falte had told him, Kai had felt more anger than he'd ever felt in his life. That was why he never got to see his dad's side of the family, and he didn't really want to. He had vowed that his father would never again be hurt like that, and he planned to keep it that way. Just thinking about Falte's parents beating up such a kind-hearted, innocent, sweet boy made Kai seethe with anger. 

"I'm not letting her get to you, Dad," Kai said quietly, making his father look in his direction with a smile. "She's not getting to any of us. We're going to do something about this - as soon as we figure out what." 

Chase nodded. "Well, now that we know you're alright, we should head back. The others are probably freaking out." 

"No," Kai said. "I'm staying here until he gets off. I want to stay with him, to make sure Moon doesn't show her butt up here." 

Falte gave his son a small glare, and Kai shrugged to say What? She deserves every terrible name I can think of. 

Chase sighed. "Suit yourself. We'll talk more about what we should do when you two get home." He turned to leave, paused, and turned around to meet Kai's eyes. "If Moon does show up, please don't go doing anything stupid. We don't need you in the hospital by the end of this." 

Kai smiled a little, grateful that his friend was worried for him. Truthfully, he was worried for Chase too. How long would he be able to fight off the Dark magic? Moon was a Dark, and so was Kai. He really felt terrible for making Chase strain himself every single day. 

"Um," Falte said from behind him. "That was a really interesting five minutes." He shrugged it off as Kai turned around. "Come on, since you're here, you can help me out." He picked up a few more books and pointed to a space in the shelf that was too high for him to reach.

Rolling his eyes playfully, Kai took the books and shoved them into place. He kept his eyes peeled for Moon at all costs, but also watched his father very closely. 

He couldn't lose him too.

~

By 5, Kai was ready to go home. He was tired from reaching up so high and the library was cold. Thankfully, he didn't see Moon anywhere, meaning she was probably backing down for the day. He never let his guard down, however, even after Falte had clocked out and the father and son were walking through town to get back home.

They didn't make it far before they heard a man's voice screaming. Falte jumped out of his skin, while Kai immediately searched the area. The crowds around them scurried away from a section to Kai's right. He whirled immediately and ran toward the commotion, ready to fight. Falte yelled after him, telling him to stop where he was. 

Kai ignored and shoved the last person aside, the scene coming into view.

A middle aged man was wrestling with a slender woman holding a knife and cackling like an idiot. He was pinning her arms down with amazing strength, but he was losing it. There was a small rip in his shirt by his rib cage that was stained red. Huddled in on the wall of a building was a young girl - the same girl from early that morning, Kai realized. She yelling for the young man, but wasn't moving. She looked to terrified to do anything.

Moon! Kai felt anger bubble up in his chest as he watched the young man lose one of her arms. Kai dashed forward and took it in his grasp, reaching over her body to grab at the knife. He missed, and Moon kicked the middle aged man - who was surprised to have someone helping him, it seemed - square in the back. 

Kai slammed his elbow down on Moon's chin, but her laughing didn't falter. She seemed to be even more insane than she had been when they first met her. Her white eyes were wild with triumph and liveliness. 

Moon surged up with sudden strength, throwing both Kai and the man off of her. The man landed harshly on his side, while Kai scrambled to land on his feet. He straightened up immediately just as Moon did the same. 

"Look who we have here," she sneered at Kai, twisting the knife in between her fingers. "Here for a death wish, boy? I have other plans. I don't need to you interfere right now." She cackled again as the man behind Kai groaned and the girl scrambled over to him. 

"Daddy," she whimpered, and Kai felt another rush of anger. That was the same man who had come to retrieve his daughter early that morning. Why was Moon killing off her family? 

"I planned on getting in your way as soon as I heard you showed up here," Kai snapped. "Don't think you can get away with this, Moon." 

The woman laughed again. "I can get away with this, dear boy. I will, no matter what the cost is. Besides, you can't even kill me, so don't even think about trying." She touched her chest with the knife, creating a stain of red immediately. Kai wanted to look away, but he couldn't as the wound suddenly disappeared. "Let's just call it my superpower." 

Kai took a faltering step back. What? How was that possible? She couldn't die? What in the world?

"Oh, dear," Moon said, her eyes following him until they met something behind him. "Is this the man I've heard you talk about in your sleep, Kai? Aw, he's much tinier in person."

Kai whipped around and saw that his father was behind him, staring at Moon with wide eyes. When Kai turned around, he met his son's eyes and opened his mouth to say something, but Moon cut him off with another cackle.

The man suddenly jumped to his feet, charging toward Moon with a new anger. He tackled her and wrapped his arms around her, bringing her to the dirt. She yelped in shock, but he hadn't pinned her arms - she brought the one holding the knife up, readying to stab the man's back.

"NO!" Kai screamed, lunging forward. He reached up to try to catch the knife, but he missed, and his fists collided with Moon's face. She stumbled backward, just as the knife plunged into the man's back. He let out a yell so loud that Kai's head started to pound. 

The three of them tumbled to the dirt, and Kai could hear the girl and his father shouting as loud as they could for their family. Kai shielded his eyes as he landed hard on his left side. Searing pain flew up and down his arm, and he thought with a wince, It had to be that arm, didn't it? He heard the man's yell cut off abruptly as he and Moon landed harshly below Kai. 

Just as they landed, Moon scrambled to stand up again. Before Kai could reach out to grab her, she was gone, running through the town. She had ditched the knife that was still stuck in the man's back. 

Kai struggled to sit up, pain blurring his vision. He ignored his father as he knelt down beside his son and said something that Kai didn't even hear. He scrambled over to the man, who was lying on his stomach, gasping heavily. The girl was over him, her hands hovering over the knife and her eyes wide.

Panic seized Kai, and he looked around frantically. What was he supposed to do? If he pulled the knife out, that would only make the wound bleed faster. What was he supposed to do?! 

Before long, Kai realized that he was sitting beside the man in shock, watching him die. Falte had gotten up and was yelling at someone to go get a doctor. That person ran off, and Falte knelt down beside his son again. 

Stop the bleeding, Kai realized. He knew he couldn't take the knife out, but he had to stop the bleeding. Without hesitation, he yanked off his shirt and pushed it onto the bleeding wound, working around the knife. He shivered as the cold air touched his skin, but ignored it as the man winced in pain.

"I'm sorry," Kai whispered, his voice shaking. He was watching someone die. Again. He hated death. He hated it when anyone died, whether he knew them or not. Why did so many people have to die? What was the purpose in that? 

Twenty minutes later, before the doctors even arrived, the man took a long, shuddering breath and went completely still. Kai, shocked and angry, let go of the shirt and took his shoulders. Before long, he was shaking so hard that he couldn't even hold onto the man's shoulders anymore. He felt tears rise in his eyes and didn't even try to stop them. He knew what this was like. If he tried, he would look even more stupid. So, he let the tears fall and the sobs escape. Every time something like this happened, he cried so hard until he could hardly breathe. He got to that point when Falte dragged him back and wrapped him in a fierce hug. He rested his head on his son's shoulder, and Kai felt that he was shaking a little too.

The girl was wailing so loud that Kai thought his ears would break - but he couldn't blame her. She'd lost both of her parents in one day to some insane woman who was out to play with her toys. 

When the doctors arrived only to find out that it was too late, Falte pulled Kai upward and tugged him away from the scene. Kai was still sobbing too hard, so he kept a firm grip on his father's arm as Falte led them back home.

Right now, Kai just wanted to collapse into Abby's arms and never let her go. He wanted someone to tell him that it would be alright, that no one else would have to die because of Moon. He wanted Moon to get bored and leave, never to mess with them again. He wanted that girl to be alright. He wanted that man to be alright. He just wanted peace. That was all he wanted right now.

~

This isn't the main sad part, if that's what you're thinking. Yes, I did make it pretty sad, but this isn't the main one. If you found this extremely sad... Well, good luck, I guess. XD

Well, I hope you guys liked this chapter! I enjoyed writing it. It was actually a really long chapter, though not my longest. Longest chapter was 3000+ words... Don't plan on doing that again... LOL

Anyways, until the next chapter!! :3

Peace!!~~