Cooling Down

Jacob:

I scream as A swings me through the air. Pulling back my hand, about to blast A with a telekinesis ball, he must have seen it coming. A lets go of my leg and even before I realize it, I'm skidding against the parking lot, leaving behind a massive trail.

Moaning as I push myself up, I hear the sound of heavy stomping. Still pushing myself up, I turn to see A walking toward me, leaving deep footsteps on the ground. Reaching me before I can get up, A kicks me into the air. While flipping through the air, A shoots out his hand and grabs me.

Squeezing me now, forcing the breath out of me, A then pulls his hand behind him. I follow, flying higher into the sky. As A throws his hand back in front, I'm being thrown back onto the parking lot.

Despite the headaches, back pain, and everything else, I still raise my head. I now see A swinging his hand back and forth. As he does this, I'm now being dragged against the cold black ground. As A drags me around, I scream into the air.

Powering myself up, encasing myself in a holy glow, I shoot out my arms and break out of A's telekinesis grip. Quickly pushing myself up, before A can do anything else, I turn around and face A.

A is slightly red and steaming. I am glowing a pale yellow and white. As we stand and stare at each other, we both pull back our hands. Throwing our hands out, we both unleash attack.

Even with his memory loss, A somehow shoots a blaze of fire at me. I fire a beam of light at A but the fire quickly eats it. Seeing the blaze as it gets closer to me, I change plans and stomp my foot on the ground, cracks appearing all around me. I slam my hands into the cracks and pull out a large piece of ground.

Throwing the piece, it travels through the fire and at A. The piece of ground hits A, knocking him back a little. It forces A to pull back his hands and stop the fire. The second the fire stops and I can see A, I charge toward him. Screaming as I charge, I pull back my fist before throwing it forward.

A flips through the air after I hit me. He bounces up and down a few times before catching himself. I follow him, pulling back my arm. Throwing it forward, hoping to punch A again, A moves faster than expected.

A steps back and dodges my punch. As he steps back, A turns around and swings his arm. I shoot my arm up and block A's swing. A turns counter-clockwise and jumps into the air. He shoots out his hands and unleashes another blaze of hellfire.

To dodge the hellfire, I jump and fly into the air. I try to fly away from the hellfire but A grabs my foot before I can and throws me into the hellfire. Immediately, I feel the effect of the hellfire as it burns its way through my glow.

I scream and shake as the hellfire cooks me.

"Ahhhh!"

A:

I scream as I shoot fire from my hands, burning Jacob. As the hot flame hits me, Jacob loses his glow and starts turning red.

"Ahhh," he screams, his skin catching on fire. He shaking and twitching uncontrollably. He screaming so loud, it is the only thing I can hear. As I watch Jacob burns, I could not help but smile.

"Hahaha," I laugh. "Hahahahaha!"

There is something oddly satisfying about this. The more I watched it, the more I could not stop laughing.

"Why am I laughing," I ask myself. "I have never laughed before. And why am I laughing at this? Jacob. He...he took Alieen. He took Alfred. He took Matt. He hurt Lafayette. He is my enemy but still. I should not--I should not be doing this!"

I try to stop. I try to take a step back but it feels like something is keeping me still. It is keeping my feet glued to the ground. It is keeping my hands out. It is telling me not to stop.

"A," someone yells. "A!"

I turn around and see Lafayette standing in the destroyed dinner. She is standing but barely. With one hand on her hip, Lafayette is using her other hand to grab onto a seat for support.

"A," Lafayette says, looking right at me. "Stop."

"Stop," Lafayette tells me.

"Stop," I tell myself. "Stop!"

I do not know what it is but whatever it was, I break free of it and stop. I stop shooting fire at Jacob. I pull back my hands and take a step back. As I step back, away from Jacob, the fire around him dies down. However, even with the fire gone, Jacob is still red. He is smoking and shaking uncontrollably.

I waste no time and run to Jacob. Dropping to my knee, I hold my hands over Jacob and heal him. Jacob is encased in another glow but this time, it is mine. The glow slowly heals Jacob's wound. His skin turns back to its previous color. Jacob stops shaking. A few seconds later, his eyes snap open. When they do, I step back.

"Did you," Jacob says, pushing himself up. "Did you heal me? Why?"

"It is because you are important to her," I answer, pointing. Jacob follows my finger and sees Lafayette. "Despite what you did, you are still important to her. She told me to stop and I did. And that is the only reason."

I turn when I hear something and see Lafayette limping toward us. She stops by my side and I act as a support for her.

"Jacob," she says. "Please. Listen to me. Even if you have no reason to."

Jacob, now back on his feet, prepares a telekinesis blast. He pulls back his hand and holds the blast but does not throw it. He looks at me but I do not move. My hands are busy making sure Lafayette does not fall over.

He looks at me and then at Lafayette for a few seconds before sighing. His hand opens and the telekinesis blast vanishes.

"I'm listening," Jacob says. Lafayette looks at me and then at Jacob.

"I know I broke the most important rule," Lafayette starts. "Bonding with people. And even worse, I worked with a demon. And not just any demon, but a demon leader. But even with all of that, I need you to stop everything. I need you and Moses to stop everything. Leave A alone. He's not a threat anymore. And I need you to let go of our friends. And not erase their memories. I want them to remember everything."

"Leia," Jacob says. "You know I can't do that. A. He is--"

"He is not the demon leader anymore," Lafayette shouts, cutting Jacob off. "If he was, then he would have destroyed him, but he didn't. A stopped. He stopped and healed you. I don't know what happened but A and the demon leader from two years ago aren't the same person. A is someone else. He chooses to be someone else."

"Maybe," Jacob says, "But even if that is true, I can't just let him go! We both know what the demon leader is capable of! He was one of Lucifer's top demons."

"I was?"

Lafayette puts up her hand. I think she wants me to stay silent so I do.

"Then I'll watch over him," Lafayette says. "I'll stay here and watch over A. He...He trusts me."

Lafayette turns to me.

"Do you?"

I look right back at Lafayette. I then look up and meet Jacob's eyes.

"I do," I answer. "I trust Lafayette."

Seeing this, and hearing my answer, seems to ease Jacob. He lowers his hands and stands up.

"I can't believe I'm doing this," Jacob says with a shaking head. "But fine. Your mission was to find A to begin with. Now, Lafayette, your mission is to watch over him and make sure A stays A. Got it?"

"Yes," Lafayette nods.

Jacob turns but stops. He looks at Lafayette. As Jacob looks at her, he raises his hand. A bright glowing ball appears, hovering over Jacob's hand.

"Here," Jacob says, throwing the ball. It flies through the air and into Lafayette, hitting her in the chest. As soon as it hits her, Lafayette glows. She glows brightly and can stand up fully now.

"What happened," I ask. I take a step toward Jacob but Lafayette stops me.

"No," she says. "It's not what you think. Jacob just give me my powers back. Thank you, Jacob."

"Don't mention it," Jacob says. "I mean, like literally, don't mention it. To anyone!"

Lafayette nods her head. We watch for a bit as Jacob walks over to Moses. He shakes Moses and wakes him up. The two talk for a while before Jacob helps Moses onto his feet. The two then start to walk away.

"Wait," I shout. "What about Alieen and the others? Where are they? Are they okay?"

"They're fine," Jacob answers. He nudges his head toward the diner. "They're in the cooler."

"The cooler," Lafayette repeats.

"Don't worry. They're in the cooler but they're fine. A little holy protection, if you will."

Lafayette and I turn our heads to the dinner. When I turn back, I see that Jacob and Moses are gone. Whether they flew away or teleported, it does not matter.

"Come on," I say, running toward the dinner. Lafayette follows me and together, we run through the giant hole in the side and around the counter. Now in the back, we come across a large metal door. About to grab the door and rip it off, Lafayette stops me. She leans forward and grabs a metal stick with a chain attached to it.

"It's not locked."

Pushing me to the side, Lafayette grabs the metal door and pulls it open. The second it is open, we run inside and see the three.

"Alieen," I shout. "Alfred! Matt! And you?"

For some reason, with the three is an elderly, bald man with an apron, a white shirt, and striped pants.

"Who is this?"

"That's Samo," Lafayette answers. "He's the owner and chef of this dinner."

"Oh. Well, uh..."

I step over the owner and kneel in first of Alieen. I did not see it at first but now that I am right in front of Alieen, I see a strange glowing coming off of them. As I place my hand on Alieen's shoulder, the glow vanishes and Alieen wakes up. Lafayette places her hands on Alfred and Matt and their glows disappear too.

"Ahh," they moan. "Lafayette? A! Wait, what's going on? Where are we? Who's this guy?"

"His name is Samo," I answer. "Apparently. I cannot be sure."

"A," Alieen says. "And Lafayette! Wait, are you two--"

"We're okay," Lafayette answers. She looks at me and smiles. I smile and nod my head.

"Wait," Matt says, pointing at me and Lafayette. "Are you two--"

"No," Lafayette shouts. "No! Oh, come on Matt."

"Okay," Alfred says, using the frozen shelves to climb up. "Cleary, we're missing something. So, before the three of us freeze to death, let's grab this guy, carry him out of here, go home, and then you two can explain what the heck is going on. Deal?"

"Deal," Lafayette says. Lafayette and I then carry Samo out of his cooler. He wakes up when we pick him up but Lafayette does something and he is sleeping again.

"I'll explain at the apartment," she says as she and I gently place Samo down in one of the booths. After we place Samo down, Lafayette sighs and looks around the diner.

"Aw, man," she says. "I like coming here."

She sighs again before we all leave.