Song: Fire Meets Gasoline by Sia
~~~~~~
I woke up to feeling oddly refreshed. It was like my mind had been turned a new page. It felt amazing. I turned over on my side to see if Sparklez was awake. He was fast asleep underneath the covers. I leaned over and lightly pecked his cheek. He had an odd look on his face. Maybe he was having a nightmare. My poor Sparklez. He never could catch a break. This was supposed to be our honeymoon. I'd been waiting for it for ages, but now we had to take care of that kid.

Wait. What happened to the baby last night? I remembered being in the mirror with Sparklez...and then nothing. Was the kid alright?

I stood up from my spot on the bed, shivering slightly at the cold air hitting my skin. I walked to the room where we kept the baby, and found him sleeping soundly in his crib. What? I don't remember putting him in bed. I don't remember anyone putting him to bed.

What happened last night?

"Tom?" I heard a tired voice ask. Sparklez stood in the doorway of the room, his eyes showed pure exhaustion.

"Hey. You have some bad dreams?" I gave him a smile.

"...something's wrong." He whispered.

"What? What is it?" I asked worriedly. He looked so pale. His eyes were wide with fear.

"I don't know. Somethings wrong but...I don't know what it is. She won't talk to me. I feel so sick...something's wrong with her Tom. I have to see her."

"Sparklez if you're sick then stay here. Who are you talking about anyway?" I began to guide him away from the baby room. He had that look. That look I'd seen many times before. It was when he had visions and episodes. That scared look along with a spaced out one too. If he was gonna flip out, I didn't want him to scare the kid to death.

"Ianite, she's-" he gasped suddenly and clutched his stomach. He almost fell but I caught him before he hit the ground.

"What? What's wrong with her? What happening?" Whatever was happening to Ianite, was happening to Sparklez.

I heard the front door open and Tiff along with Lola's voices flooded the room. They entered the hallway immediately. Their eyes went straight to Sparklez, who was holding on to me for dear life as he held his stomach. And then he jerked up from me. He ran out of my arms and shoved past Tiff and Lola, throwing the door open and flying into the sky with his large wings. I needed to follow him.

Lola tried to stop me before I ran out the door. "Tom what's-"

"No time. I'll be back." I took off out the doors and into the sky, trailing behind my husband as he made a dash to the town. Why was he going to the town?

"Sparklez! Stop!" I yelled to him. He didn't falter in his flight, continuing his path to the town.
He finally landed where the castle once stood tall and proud, now reduced to rubble.

And in the middle of that rubble was a portal. But it was missing something. The glow that usually filled the inside wasn't there. It was like someone had deactivated it. Beside the portal stood Gaines, a friend of Sparklez that he once introduced me to. I remembered when I asked Sparklez how they met and the two only laughed. I never understood why Sparklez liked Gaines. He was creepy and weird and worst of all he worked for Mianite. But Sparklez loved the dude. Whenever we hadn't been working on wedding plans, he had been hanging out with Gaines. And it always made me jealous.

And right now I was slightly angry that he once again stole Sparklez away from me.

"Gaines, what's happened? Something's wrong. What did you do?" Sparklez questioned him. Gaines scratched his head and looked at the broken portal for answers.

"I haven't got a clue! For a moment it lit up, and then nothing! Hunk of junk...I invested way too many hours on this abomination..." He kicked the portals frame and grunted.

"Are you sure it didn't hurt anything? It didn't blow anything up?" Sparklez looked around frantically, his face still pale and slick with sweat.

"I don't think so. Are you alright Jordan?" He put a hand on Sparklez back. I could feel my face getting hotter every millisecond his hand was on my husbands back.

"I'm fine...I just feel like there's some kind of off balance...it's hurting Ianite. She's okay now but...she doesn't know what happened either." He sighed and wiped some of the sweat off of his brow.

"Wow. This place is a dump. What have you done to it?" A voice interrupted my thoughts.

Wait. That's my voice. "What?" I questioned the two, but they were both staring wide eyed at something behind me.
I turned around and came face to face with someone I never expected to see outside of my mirror.

Me.

One part of his face was human, the other made up of creeper spores. I couldn't really see his expression because his red scarf was covering half his face and a flower crown was covering his eyebrows. He stared at me with his one good eye. The other was solid black. "See something you like, flesh eater?" He said with sarcasm leaking from his voice.
I already didn't like him.

"Oh nothing, just a monster wearing a flower crown. Pathetic really." I scoffed. He gave me a death glare, to which I grinned at.

"Mot? Is it really you?" Dianites voice broke my stare down with my double.

The dude seemed to lose all of his intensity as soon as he heard Dianites voice. "My lord? Where are you?" He looked around blindly for the source of the voice.

"Er Mot...things have changed a bit since you've been here. I am no longer alive. I am a spirit."

Huh. So this was my alternate self. I still thought I looked sexier.

"A spirit? Wait, what?! You died?! Oh my gods I wasn't here to help you!" He gripped at his green hair in exasperation.

"It's okay, boyo. It was brothers fault anyhow...not sure if you could have stopped him even if you had been here. He sent an assassin to kill me in the courthouse. Such a wimp he is, not doing the deed himself."

"H-how long?! How long have you been dead?!" He asked the air.

"Awhile Mot. But I'm glad to see your face again. And I assume you feel the same? I have learned much about you since you've been gone." Dianite chuckled.

"W-...what do you mean?" He asked the god quietly, the human side of his face now a reddish color.

"Your uh...your diaries kiddo."

"YOU READ MY DIARIES?!" He screamed at the sky.

"Well, Syn here read them aloud. So sorry. But they were quite interesting." The god mused.

Mot turned to me, his face full of hate and anger. "ILL KILL YOU!"

"I'll allow it." Dianite responded.

He swung at me, but I was faster. I shoved him hard to the ground and put a foot on his backside to keep him down.

"You know, you really shouldn't mess with me lover boy. Im a lot faster than a middle aged flower pansy."

"Tom, don't be rude." Sparklez said in a semi strict voice.

"He swung at me first!" I defended. I wasn't gonna be a wimp to him just because I read his stupid diary.

"Dia, please don't tell me you read the confession..." Mot groaned beneath my foot.

"Sorry laddy. We all heard it. And I promise once I get my damned body back, I'll take care of that issue of yours."

Mot shoved my foot off of him and sat back up, brushing the dirt from his jacket. "Can't believe I left Alyssa alone to come back here...I should've just waited."

"Um, if you don't mind me asking sir...how did you get here?" Gaines asked Mot.

"What do you think? I built a portal. It only allowed one person to go in though. And I sure as hell wasn't sending Jeriah or Alyssa. And I didn't have the heart to send Spark. I can't send an old man into another dimension when I wasn't even sure if the thing worked. And it did. So now I guess I'm trapped here until you idiots find a way to get my family home. And oh yeah, who are you idiots again? And why do you look like Spark when he was ten years old?" He pointed at Sparklez.

"Mot, why don't we go someplace like your old home to discuss what's happened in the last ten years. It is a very long story."

"Fine." He turned to me. "But later, you and me have things discuss." He shoved past me and began to walk in the direction towards Urulu.

I don't like Mot.

~

"Tom I felt it. I felt her get weaker and I don't know why. She still won't talk to me. I'm afraid someone's hurt her." I was trying to explain to my pissed off husband why I ran off to Gaines, but he wouldn't listen. I really didn't understand why he was so mad. I was worried about my god so I followed my heart. Was that so bad?

"If you felt her dying or something, then why the hell did you go running into Gaines' arms?" He retorted back with anger evident in his voice.

"She lead me to him. I didn't know he was in the town. I didn't even know the portal we've been working on was actually working! Why are you so upset?!" I yelled back at him.

"Because this is our freaking honey moon and we're babysitting, you're hanging out with other guys, and I now have to deal with my asshole of an alternate self! I wanted this to be special...and you've completely forgotten about what we had planned because of that stupid Gaines jerk..." He sat down on the end of the bed and put his face in his hands.

He was right. This was supposed to be really special. I remembered all the things we had planned for the week. And now we were about three days in and we hadn't even touched the bed. I was being selfish again. I sat down next to him and wrapped an arm around his waist, leaning my head on his shoulder. "I'm sorry. I'll make it up to you. But right now I can't really do that because there are two girls and a baby in the other rooms..."

"Then promise me this, next week I will have totally undivided attention from you. Well do all the honey moon stuff we planned and you won't run off on some adventure and ditch me. Promise."

I smiled and held his hand. "I promise. But first, you have to promise not to pick a fight with Mot."

"What?! That guys a jerk, he needs a good beating!"

"No he doesn't. He needs friends. And you two are so alike, you should know what he likes the most and what he hates. Please don't get in any fights with him?"

"Fine. But you better keep your end of the deal, or else I break mine."

"Deal."

~

Sparklez went shopping with Tiff and Lola to get more baby stuff, and so I was left alone with the baby. Again. Yay.
I decided to make a new weapon while the kid slept. We'd probably run into some trouble some time or another with Mianite and I wanted to be ready for it. I was just about to melt down the rest of the ores, when I heard a knock at my door. Must be Sparklez. Maybe he can help me with this and it'll be a lot faster.

I opened the door, and was greeted with a face full of fist. I fell on my back and hit my head as I was falling down on the kitchen table. Everything got blurry. Oh god. If this is a Mianite attack, I won't stand a chance alone.

"So this is your house, huh? Pretty shitty if you ask me. Get up and fight me, loser." I felt someone kick me in the side. I knew my own voice when I heard it. Mot. I wanted to beat the ever loving shit out of him. But I remembered my promise to Sparklez. I needed to keep that promise. And plus I couldn't fight the guy with a kid here. That would just be wrong.

"I'm not gonna fight you." I responded, getting back up and regaining my vision.

"Oh really? So you wouldn't mind if I just killed you right here? I've killed a lot of people Syndicate. And I'm sure no one would miss you if I did. How about it?" He smiled at me with a large sword in his hands, twirling the sharp blade in his fingers.
"I wouldn't. I got a husband whose got the rage of a killer when he's angry and there's a kid in the other room." I wiped away the blood underneath my nose. At this point, broken noses didn't bother me. I'd had so many before.

He stared at me for a long time. "You...you have a husband? You're gay?" His voice seemed to get softer.

"Yeah. And he sure would miss me if you killed me."

He went quiet. "What's it like?" He whispered.

"What are you talking about?" He went from full on murderer to a sad puppy in five seconds flat.

"Being married to him. What's it like?" I almost felt sorry for him. That face he was making was pitiful.

"Well...I've only been married for three days but...it's nice I guess." I shrugged. Maybe I could try to be friends with him...he looked like he needed a friend.

"I'm sorry I'm being such an ass...just think how embarrassing it would be if the guy you had a crush on for years read every loving thought you ever had about him...I feel like I'm going to die of shame right now." He groaned and ran a hand through his hair.

"Yeah...sorry about that. Didn't know you were coming back here anytime soon..."

Crying interrupted our conversation and I rushed up to go check on the kid. We probably woke him up with all the screaming. I could hear Mot following me as I entered the baby's room. Creep...

He was throwing a fit, his covers sprawled out everywhere and his pacifier thrown to the corner of the crib. Poor little dude. I picked him up and began to rock him. It was weird that Mot was watching me the entire time as I tried to calm the baby down.

"Is it yours?" He asked quietly, still staring at the kid.

"No. He's our friend's." I whispered. He nodded in response.

"God I feel horrible about his now...I wanted to kill you and you have a freaking family and someone who loves you..."

"S'fine. Are you uh...you probably want what I have, don't you?"

"Yes. I really do. But Dias a god. He can't marry a mortal, or even date one." He sighed.

"Then how come Ianite got to marry your friend Spark? And have two kids with him?" The baby was asleep again and the room was completely silent now.

"She's a goddess...I guess they have different rules for women...it isn't fair."

"Not really. But I think Dianite likes you. He never stops talking about you. And he wouldn't let me steal your crap. That's saying something." I laughed.

"I know he likes me. But he will never love me. That's my problem. And I can't just love someone else...who would even want to date a guy with a diseased face? But I suppose I shouldn't be one to talk. You're entire body is diseased." He gestured to me.

"So you're saying no one likes you for you except Dianite?" That's a little sad actually.

"Exactly. But if he doesn't give me a straight forward answer soon, I may die of depression."

"I don't mean to be completely random, but what's with the flower crown and the scarf?" I pointed at the flowers on top of his green hair.

"My daughter makes them. This was her latest one...I miss her already. And the scarf is to hide my face. Stares from idiots makes me angry."

"Looks like we both want what the other has. You want a husband, I want a daughter." I smiled bitterly.

He laughed. "I suppose that's true. But I'd take Alyssa over any husband I could ever want. Even Dia. And he's all I've ever wanted."

"Yeah...why are you so obsessed with him? I mean I know he's your god but...I never had any feelings for my god."

He seemed to get slightly angry at that. "I'm not obsessed with him. And I love him for reasons no one should know but me."

Hmm. I wanted to know these reasons, but he still obviously didn't like me that much. Maybe I could get it out of him by giving him tea and food. That always worked with Sparklez.

"Hey I'm gettin thirsty. Would you wanna go for some tea? I know a place where you can get the best tea in all of Dagrun."

"That sounds excellent, but don't you have to take care of a child?" He motioned towards the baby.

"TOMMY! WE'RE HOME!" I heard Tiff yell from the front door. Well that solved that.

"Who is that?" Mot asked with a cocked eyebrow.

"The baby's mom. Er, foster mom. I don't really know what you call her."

Tiff poked her head in the doorway a few seconds later. "How's my favorite boy doin?"

I smiled. "Which one?"

"My baby, you idiot. Give em' to me." She smiled and held out her hands and I gave her the kid.

"So now that your loved one is returned, where's mine?" I didn't hear anyone else's footsteps except Tiffs.

"He went to that place called the end. He said he wanted to check on something. But he wouldn't tell us what it was. And Lola went to that girl Sonja's house. She likes to make friends...I don't really like to. Plus I wanted to see my Nicky!" She squealed and nuzzled Nicky's nose and he squealed as well.

Sparklez went to the end without me? That sausage. He knows I worry about him going places without me. I guess I'll check on him later. He wouldn't want me to follow him everywhere I guess...

I turned to Mot, who was standing awkwardly beside Tiff while she squeaked and giggled at her baby. "Hey Mot, you still up for tea?"

~

"So Mot, tell me about the big booty bitches." It was meant to be a joke, but he took it literally.

His face immediately covered itself in blush. "W-what?! No!" He stuttered nervously.

"Come on, tell meh!" I sipped from my cup so he wouldn't see my smile.

"Do you really want me to talk about Dianite, our lords butt?" He narrowed his eyes at me.

"Not just his butt, about him. You know him better than I do."

"Oh I know what you're doing. You took me out here to get answers from me. I told you already that I wanted no one to know." He crossed his arms and huffed.

"Dude, don't get all uptight. I just wanna know why you love the guy. That's all." Taking a gentler approach seemed better.

"I just...it's embarrassing okay? I have it a secret for a reason." He took a drink of his tea and avoided my eyes.

"What if I told you why I loved my husband and then you could tell me why you love Dianite? Seems like a fair trade."
He thought about it for a moment. He finally sighed and sat his cup back down. "Fine. But you can't feel pitiful for me after, alright? I hate people who give me pity...tell me why you love your husband."

"For one thing, he's terrific in bed." I laughed, and Mot cracked a smile. I knew if Sparklez had been there, he would've blushed himself to death.

"Another thing, he's a cheeky nerd who's an idiot ninety percent of the time. Alright, now tell me about your man."

"That was not a good explanation on why you love him. I don't think that's fair trade."

"Do I really have to talk about my feelings?" I groaned.

"Yes, if you want to hear mine. Now spill it, fleshy."

"Er...did I already say he was an idiot?" I am not very good at this.

Mot sighed in annoyance. "Yes you did. Let me help you out. Where did you meet him?"

"Oh! I met him on a beach, when he washed up on the shore of my home land."

"Oh...that's nice I guess. What are some of your best memories of him?"

I had to think about that one for a bit. Some of my favorites happened a long time ago. But there was one in particular that I remembered. "This one time a while back...he sorta went into depression. He wouldn't talk to me. He wouldn't stay in the same room with me. Hell, he wouldn't even look at me...it really hurt. I mean I know he was hurting and everything, but god was I lonely. I remember the nights I cried myself to sleep because he wasn't there...Then one night out of the blue, he came into our room and laid down beside me. And it was the happiest I'd ever been. And he actually talked to me and let me hold him..." Was I freaking tearing up right now? God I'm a wimp. I hope Sparklez never goes through that again. It would tear me apart.

"That was a very sad memory, I must say. I suppose that's good enough for me to say my share..." He let out a deep breath and began. "I met Dia when I was eighteen. My village was being attacked by an extremely large amount of creepers. And I remember just sitting in my house with my parents while we waited for Mianite to show his sorry ass and save us. He promised protection...but he lied. I watched my parents die from their wounds. I watched my neighbors and my friends all die horrible deaths. I tried to run. I was halfway out of there when one of them got me. My entire right side burned...and I just laid there in a ditch and waited for death so I could be with my parents. And then I saw Dia. He was fighting them off single handedly. And when he killed the very last one, he saw me. He didn't show pity. He didn't show sorrow or guilt. He was just...he was just inspiring for some reason. Seeing him made me think that I didn't want to die anymore. He pulled me out of that ditch and took me away from it all. He saved me. And there's an even longer story after that but...I don't know if you'd want to hear it."

"Dude you have to tell me now. This is just gettin good." I ushered him on. He smiled and kept going.

"We didn't talk much after that though. He took me to an infirmary and let them take care of me. And after I got better and I could actually see and walk again...I was alone. I didn't have anybody or anything. I tried to get a job but no one wants to hire a guy with creeper spores covering his entire right side. I was alone and broke and hungry. So I did something I still regret to this very day. I sold myself. There was a lot of people who did that in Urulu. They were mostly women but...people still went to me a lot. I hated it but I managed to get enough money to not starve to death. And one night after a session...I wanted to kill myself. I didn't matter to anyone and I was dying from the spores spreading and my hunger. I laid in an alleyway for a long time. It was freezing because it was really cold at night in the desert. I remember just laying there and shivering and wishing someone, anyone would kill me. And then I saw him again. He was walking with a couple other men. The other men when they saw me, laughed at me and threw dollar bills at me. And Dia...he just seemed angry at me. And he asked me something that really confused me. He asked where route sixty six was. And I told him. I knew a lot of routes because of all the places my sessions had been. He took his coat off and wrapped it around me and he walked me to his home."

He stopped for a minute and smiled. "I still remember the exact words he said to me when I asked what he wanted. 'I want you to make something of yourself. And if you can tell direction, then you can work here.' And then after a week of working there and making maps for him, he declared me his champion. I didn't know what it was at first. And actually after receiving it, I didn't want it because it made all of his other workers hate my guts. I still don't understand why he chose me...I was scrawny and dumb and diseased. Who would want to hire that as their champion?"

"I chose you because even though you lost nearly everything, you still worked just as hard as my other men. And I knew you'd turn out to be an amazing person one day. And you did."

Dianites voice startled Mot and he dropped his tea on his pants. "Were you listening this entire time?!"

"Yes my boy. Sorry, being a spirit can make you become extremely curious. And I do enjoy that little tale myself. I'm glad you two are playing nice. I worry about my champions." He chuckled.

"Oh my gods I hate my life..." Mot put his head in his hands and groaned.

"Well now this awkward. How about some music?" I got up from the table and walked to the large jukebox sitting in the grass. I didn't really know any records that were good. Martha and Ianite had set this up awhile ago for a small party and they had brought the records. I had no clue what they were. I chose a random one and put it on, pulling the needle onto it. Weirdly distorted music began to play and Mot laughed at it.

"You have no idea what music you're choosing, do you?"

"Not really. I'm more of a tape recorder kinda guy." I pulled the needle off the record and the music stopped.

Mot walked over to the large jukebox and after a few looks at the records, pulled one from the middle and placed it on the box. "This is the kinda music you take someone to bed with." He smiled and pulled the needle on the record. A smooth tune began to play. He was sorta right. It was a good song.

"Good song, not sure about the bed thing though." I laughed nervously.

"Oh I'm sure of it. I've heard this record many times before. It was a good song back in the old days..." He smiled as if he was thinking back on a memory. I didn't ask. He was most likely thinking about a session or something.

I was starting to think about Sparklez. He hadn't called me or texted me or anything all day. Maybe I should go check on him. I haven't seen Ianite in awhile anyway.

I never could have imagined the horror that awaited me when I went through that portal.
~~~~~
I think I'm gonna try to start the schedule starting now...BUT PLEASE FORGIVE ME IF I DONT GET A CHAPTER IN ON TIME!
Marching band starts Monday and practices last from 8 in the morning to 6 in the afternoon ._.

I probably won't have a lot of time to write but I'll try my hardest to keep with the schedule of posting once every two days. Chapters may be shorter though...sowy ;(

I hope you enjoyed the chapter! Leave a favorite or a comment if you did! Thanks!

- Lee