361: A Plague of Phantoms: The King of Lies and The King of Revolution XVI

"MOM! MOM! PLEASE WAKE UP! MOM!" I screamed.

I suddenly felt hands on my shoulders pulling me away. They belonged to Iris, her grip was firm but not too tight as she pulled me back. Anders was beside my mom the next moment, touching her neck. His expression softened and he let out a sigh.

"She's alive. Just knocked out." Anders announced. I felt a wave of relief wash over me and I yanked myself out of Iris hold and collapsed on my knees next to my mom.

"Mom…" I breathed, my voice so soft even I wasn't sure I actually spoke.

Mom stiffened as she started to come around. Her eyes fluttered open as she gasped and jumped up to a sitting position. She winced immediately and grabbed her head.

"WHOA! Slow down, you were knocked out. You might have a mean bump on your head." Anders said bracing mom.

I suddenly felt that void in my consciousness that had been occupied by Gargesh fill with a rush of pain. It's so sudden and powerful that I grab my chest and fall to my knees, my mouth open to scream but no sounds coming out. It felt like my chest was on fire, every nerve searing itself from the inside out. It disappeared as quickly as I felt that pain.

"BO! What's wrong?!" My mom and the others all exclaimed.

'No…no, no, no! Please no! Please no!' I thought as realization started to sink in. My head turned slowly to gaze at Gargesh still lying face down on the ground, the odd way his arms were folded under his chest like he was grabbing and holding something.

Gadget started to tell me then stopped, his voice sounding on the verge of tears inside my head.

"GARGESH!" I screamed and scrambled over to my evo, Gadget running over with me.

I tried to roll Gargesh over with Gadget's help but his body was too heavy. I felt arms wrapping around my waist and lifting me off the ground away from Gargesh.

"LET ME GO! GARGESH! GARGESH!" I screamed and thrashed against the person holding me. They were saying something but I couldn't hear them, all I could focus on was Gargesh. Someone covered my eyes, shushing me and holding me tightly.

I thrashed, flailed, screamed, and struggled as hard as I could. I needed to get to Gargesh, I needed to help him. He was my evo and it was my responsibility to take care of him.

"Bo…he's gone…" A voice whispered, cracking slightly as it spoke. "I'm so sorry…I'm so, so, sorry! I'm sorry!"

I felt my body go numb and sag into the embrace of the one who held me. I couldn't think, couldn't breathe, I just laid limply while someone held me and whispered apologies in my ears. Tears streaming silently down my cheeks.

Indy

'Bo…' I thought as I watched the older boy. He was being held by his mother while she also covered his eyes and whispered apologies into his ears.

I glanced over to Gargesh's body. Gadget was sitting by Gargesh's head, nudging him softly with a paw. As if he was telling Gargesh to get up. He squeaked softly before finally nuzzling his fellow evo's head with his cheeks. A final goodbye.

I felt a strange sensation burgeoning in my chest. A frosty blaze flickering frantically like a candle in the wind. It sent a wave of scorching rage coursing through my veins followed by a wave of icy calm. The two emotions ebbed and flowed through me like the tide until they merged into a new emotion, frigid fury.

I have been angry before, at my own performance or the ineptitude of others. Those were quick burning flashes of anger that normally fizzled out after a time. I've even felt rage before. When my grandfather took me away from my mother, that feeling flared quickly and intensely and was nearly all consuming.

This feeling however didn't burn, didn't make my temper flare or tugged at my control. I was clear headed, present, and in control of my actions or so I thought.

"I'm so sorry Gargesh! It's all my fault! I'm so sorry!" Bo suddenly wailed.

I clenched my jaw so tight I could hear my teeth straining and groaning under the force. That frosty fury making it feel like pinpricks were dancing over my nerves and muscles.

'I'm going to kill the one that did this. HOW DARE HE MAKE BO CRY!' I thought, having to consciously control my breathing to keep from panting with rage.

"Where did the captive go?" Iris asked as she looked around the car.

"I don't know…" Jade replied softly. "…Gargesh killed the other two captives but the third one managed to get free. He nearly stabbed me with a piece of wood but Gargesh…took the hit instead. He knocked me out and I didn't see where he went."

"He has to be somewhere on the mana train then…" Iris said.

"Can he get off the train?" Anders asked. Iris nodded then gritted her teeth.

"Chase had to disable the security on the train's doors to let you and Reagan move about." Iris replied.

"So he could already be outside the train and running away." Anders said. Warming lights suddenly started flashing inside our car as a alarm blared.

"Warning! Warning! Distressed toddler detected! Distressed toddler detected! Location Gents personal car!" King's Glaive announced.

"KC!" Iris, Anders, and I all screamed in unison. We rushed to the door, Iris leading the group as we ran through the train. As we opened the door leading to the hallway outside the Gents car I hear Iris suck in a breath then run with more speed than I thought possible.

"ANGIE!" Iris screamed. I froze, mid-step even while Anders ran.

Angie was leaning against the wall with a bloody gash on her forehead, a bruise already starting to form on her cheek. The door to her family's quarter car was open. Fear flooded my veins as my body moved on its own and rushed in the living quarters, weaving around Iris and Anders. Louie laid sprawled out on the floor, his face bloody and beaten, his breathing ragged and rattled. I rushed to his side, thankfully he wasn't unconscious. He craned his neck to look at me and coughed up blood.

"K…C…h-help…KC." Louie coughed.

"Where is he? Where did he go? Which way?" I asked frantically. Louie lifted his hand and pointed towards the front of the mana train.

"K-k-knife…throat…KC…" Louie wheezed then launched into a coughing fit.

'He took KC hostage and is holding him at knife point while trying to escape.' I thought.

"IRIS HEAL LOUIE! HE'S BADLY HURT!" I yelled then jumped to my feet and ran out the car. Fear and icy rage coursed through my veins, quickening my steps and making me run faster.

'The only cars with doors leading outside in this direction are the kitchen car, Chase's car, the control car. This bastard has KC who is small but a toddler and likes to squirm. He'll want to take the first door outside he sees, the kitchen car would be that car.' I rationalized.

Bizarro called out.

I snapped, too worked up to answer calmly or politely.

Bizarro informed me. I ran through the door into the Kestral's sleeper car hallway, making a mental note that I only had three more cars until the kitchen.

I demanded.

Bizarro replied. I ran through the hallway and quickly ran into the next car which was Iris and Astrid's car.

I all but screamed back at Bizarro.

Bizarro suddenly stopped mid-sentence. A gunshot rang outside, at the same time the section of my brain that Bizarro's connection occupied fell silent and then fizzled into a empty void.

"" I yelled both through the mental connection and out loud. Several more gunshots rang out making me panic even more as there was no reply.

I pushed everything out of my mind expect making it to the kitchen car. I flew through the last two cars and saw the outside door open beside the sink. When I reached the door I saw Bizarro lying on the ground, part of his skull blasted open with his brains leaking on the ground.

"BIZARRO!" I screamed and rushed over to him. As I approached I saw that he had been shot several times in the chest and head. I felt my heart leap into my throat as I looked down at my evo.

'No….' I thought as I buried my face in the fur of his neck. That numbness and void I felt in my brain suddenly disappeared and I felt a wave of pain radiating in my skull and chest followed by Bizarro's familiar presence.

Bizarro whispered.

I gasped and raised my head. Bizarro's skull was starting to regenerate, the bullet wounds in his chest healing and pushing out the bullets still inside before closing up completely. Within a few moments Bizarro was fully healed. I couldn't help but hug him around the neck.

"Oh thank the gods!" I cried out. After seeing Bo become an emotional break from losing Gargesh I didn't think I could handle losing Bizarro.

"Little Shadow! That soldier ran off with Youngling KC!" Bizarro reminded me. I jumped up and looked towards the roads into the forest.

"Which way did he go?" I asked him.

"I was not conscious when he ran off…I don't know…" Bizarro replied then sniffed the air. "I can try to follow them via scent."

"That'll take too long!"

I turned around and saw Bo standing in the open door of the King's Glaive' kitchen. His eyes were red and puff from crying, his fist were clenched with rage. Gadget sat perched on his shoulder, however he wasn't in his normal form, he'd temporarily evolved into his true transcended form.

"What other choice do we have?" I asked.

Bo jumped off the train and stomped over to me. It was then I noticed he had KC's lunar liger shark onesie. He started casting an axiom spell sigil and a black mist flowed from the sigil and enveloped the onesie. The onesie then floated in mid-air and folded into an arrow that pointed down a road in the forest.

"A locator spell? Since when can you cast that?" I asked.

"I stole a ring from big brother Chase…" Gadget spoke up then chittered softly before adding. "…I mean borrowed."

"Lets go!" I exclaimed then climbed onto Bizarro 's back. I held a hand out for Bo to grab. I pulled him up onto Bizarro behind me. "Bizarro follow the arrow. I'm not losing my little brother!"