8. An Attack in the Night

The subordinate's plan had been so simple, so basic, that Courtney had almost killed her for thinking of it before she had. "Why don't we just attack them in the middle of the night?" she had asked during their strategy meeting that morning. "We know where they live, and Stump won't be using his powers if he's asleep. We can just slit his throat in bed and collect his soul. Then we can focus on finding those of the other members. Wherever they are..."

"Solid idea..." Courtney had grit out. She couldn't stand others being smarter than her. It bruised her very fragile ego. Still, she had no choice but to listen to the girl's plan if she wanted to fulfill the boss's wishes by the night assigned to her. So that evening at around midnight, Courtney and a few more girls found themselves at the tree line behind Patrick's house, waiting for their moment to pounce. All conditions seemed ideal. The neighborhood was deathly quiet so that only the sound of crickets could be heard and just about every light in every house was off, including Patrick's.

"So, this is the plan," Courtney was saying to the two girls under her command. She always had someone with her, doing the dirty work. "It's going to be a quick operation, alright? In and out, that's all. We open the window, we stand over the bed, we slit his throat. Got that?" The girls nodded, held up their knives to show that they were ready. "Are you sure Stump's house doesn't have alarms? You checked and double checked?" Once again, the girls nodded. "Good. Then let's get this over with. And do it quick, before he wakes up."

With that, the girls took off running towards the house. The soft grass muted their footsteps as they approached the bedroom window. They looked inside. Patrick was fast asleep, of course. They couldn't see his face, but he was dressed in simple clothes. Moonlight fell on his face and hair, casting them in soft, silver light. His lips were slightly parted, his eyes closed gently. A woman had her fair arm wrapped around him, though her chest rose and fell softly. She was asleep as well.

"The woman!" Courtney hissed at the girl who had proposed her plan earlier that day. She had, of course, been one of those to come with and execute the plan. "You didn't account for the woman!"

"I, I didn't know there was a woman," she whispered, looking worried. "Patrick was alone when we came to his house yesterday..."

The girl was technically right, Courtney realized. She scowled viscously. "Oh, whatever. Just kill both of them then. And remember, don't wake them." The girls nodded once more, activated their wands and phased through the walls of Patrick's house with a simple spell. All was quiet inside, the only sounds being the hum of the fridge, the ticking of the clock and of course, the couple's soft breathing. One girl signaled to the other and she circled round to the other side of the bed. "Good thing there are two of us," the second girl said. The first shushed her softly. It was time to get to work.

As if in sync, the girls turned both Patrick and Elisa's heads gently, exposing their necks to the silvery moonlight. They pulled out their knives, looked to each other with determined expressions and nodded. The first girl went slowly, carefully as she pressed the knife to Patrick's neck, drawing blood, a single, deep red drop that shone softly in the moonbeams streaming in through the window. Patrick groaned in pain, but did not wake. The girl prepared to dig the knife in deeper, to finish the job...

Phoenix squawked from the other room.

Both Patrick and Elisa's eyes flew open. The girls stumbled back as they sat up in bed, eyes wide. Elisa shrieked.

The girls went for it anyway, but Elisa bit the arm of the girl with her knife raised at her. Patrick tumbled out of his pursuers' way as Phoenix descended on her and clicked the light on. When he did, he yelped once more. He recognized his attackers. Silence the Noise was back!

"GODDAMMIT!!" shouted a voice, the first since Patrick and Elisa had woken. It was Courtney, clambering in through the bedroom window. "I told you to slit their throats quietly! What about any of this is quiet‽"

"Who the fuck are you‽" Elisa screeched, hysterical. "And why are you trying to slit our throats‽"

"Oh, wouldn't you like to know sweetheart?" Courtney asked, smirking down at her. "Well, why don't you ask your precious little boyfriend there, he might have an idea."

Elisa turned to Patrick, eyes shining with worry and fear. "Patrick, do you know what's happening?" she asked him.

Even in the midst of everything, Patrick's heart sank. He really didn't want to have to tell Elisa about this, certainly not so soon and under these circumstances. He supposed now he had no choice. But what was happening wasn't something explained so easily. So, he simply had to say, "I promise I'll tell you everything soon. But right now, we have to get out of here." Patrick grabbed her hand then to help her up and Elisa didn't protest. How could she when their lives were in danger? The two dashed into the hallway, then the dining room, then the living room, flipping the lights on as they went. But Silence the Noise followed them, shooting sparks of red magic behind them. One almost hit and they each had to dive out of the way. Courtney came into the living room soon after.

"You can run but you can't hide," she said, smirking as she and her subordinates turned over furniture and knocked over various trinkets in search of their targets. In response, Patrick grabbed a discarded mic stand and brandished it as his attackers.

"Don't step any closer!" he demanded, his voice shaking slightly. "You remember what happened last time, don't you?"

"Yeah, and let's see if you'll have enough time to say the magic words before I kill both of you!" Courtney retorted. One of the girls lunged forward at him then, but Patrick responded by hitting her in the shins with the mic stand. She went down, groaning in agony and Elisa and Patrick hit the ground, scrambling to hiding places. "You fucking idiot!" Courtney screamed at the groaning girl. "It's a mic stand, it's Patrick Stump, it cannot hurt that bad!"

"It's also my fucking shins, Courtney!" she shouted. "Just... give me a minute..."

"You two are fucking amateurs," Courtney grumbled. "Must I handle everything myself around here?" She stomped around the room, probably looking for Patrick but came across Elisa instead, cowering behind the kitchen counter. She smirked anyway, grabbed her and pulled her into a headlock before pointing a wand at her head.

"Hey! Let go of me!" Elisa shouted as she struggled and tried to break free. She tried to bite Courtney, but she just held her mouth shut.

"Oh, Patrick!" Courtney shouted across the kitchen in a sing-songy voice. "I have your beloved girlfriend here. And if you don't come with us or give us the gemstones, we'll be forced to take drastic measures, if you know what I mean," and she pressed the wand harder into Elisa's temple.

"What‽" Elisa shouted, going pale. "Is that a magic wand‽ What do you want Patrick for‽ Someone please tell me what is going on!!"

Meanwhile, behind the armchair where he was hiding, Patrick was panicking internally. Not Elisa, he thought desperately. Please, no, anyone but her! But if he were to step forward, give himself over to Silence the Noise, he'd be putting all the world's music in danger. His friends' souls would never know peace, never move on. Patrick trembled where he crouched, paralyzed by indecision. It was the cruelest, most sadistic of choices.

And then Phoenix came to the rescue. She fluttered down discreetly where Patrick hid and dropped one of the red gemstones from her beak to his shaking, sweaty hand. He gazed at it intently. "Just say the magic words, right?" he breathed anxiously. Phoenix nodded. "Well it... um, will it be like last time? Will I burn up again? Will I level the house? You know, considering what happened last time..." It seemed a silly priority but considering the chaos he'd caused last time he transformed; he didn't really want to risk it.

No, Phoenix told him. You won't burn up. She didn't say anything about whether or not he'd destroy anything. Patrick decided that one out of two wasn't bad. After all, Elisa's life and the future of music was more important than some property anyway. So, he brought the gemstone to his lips and whispered into it the magic words.

Patrick's second transformation was much less dramatic than his first. Instead of a tower of fire, the flames engulfed him in a contained manner before shooting out in a burst of energy. Elisa shrieked as did Courtney's two cronies as the roof caved in, as the walls broke to shards of wood and plaster. Even Courtney herself hit the ground. When Patrick emerged, he was dressed in a dashing red suit with a dark face mask and gloves just as he had been before. More surprising was the fact that the mic stand he'd used to assault one of Courtney's servants was shining deep red now as well. "Well, that's interesting," he murmured.

Of course, Courtney exploded in rage. "Goddammit, stupid girls, now look at what's happened!! You've let him transform again!"

"Again‽" Elisa echoed, aghast. "You mean this has happened before‽"

Everyone ignored her. The two girls raised their wands at once, probably trying to take Patrick out before he could make a move on them, but he swiftly dodged their attack. Two bursts of red energy sailed past him and over Courtney and Elisa, creating a hole in the kitchen wall.

"The house, you're destroying the house!" Elisa shrilled. "Stop, please, stop!"

Patrick cleared his throat. 

I comb the crowd and pick you out.

"Fuck, he's singing again!" Courtney shouted and Elisa's eyes darted around in extreme bewilderment. "Hurry, somebody stop him!"

My mouth moves too fast for you to figure it out.

The girls fired again with their wands but this time, Patrick deflected their blasts with the mic stand, twirling it in the air like a baton. They crashed into the walls and Elisa shouted again. But he hardly heard her. His ears were filled with the shredding of Joe's guitar, the lilting of Pete's lyrics as he sang the intro to one of Fall Out Boy's most intense songs.

It starts eyes closed to fingers crossed. To I swear, I say. To I swear, I say.

Once again, sparks of red magic leapt up from the earth, shattering the kitchen tiles and causing cracks in the hardwood floors. Elisa yelped as did Courtney's cronies who hopped on their feet in pain as the sparks nipped at their boots. Patrick took a deep breath and continued.

To hands between legs, to whatever it takes. To drinks at the club, to the bar, to the keys to your car. To hotel stairs, to the emergency exit door, no.

Once again, the girls' wands began to fritz and crackle, the magic becoming unstable with the power of Patrick's voice. Patrick was sure he just about had them but then the wands stabilized. His eyes widened with worry. His voice wasn't strong enough... Courtney finally took out her own weapon then. Not the staff Patrick had destroyed but another magic wand, though it was a tad more ornate and expensive (not that Patrick knew how much wands cost) then the girls'. She fired at him, and he yelped, hitting the ground as the magic blew his television to pieces.

"Oh, my fucking goodness," Elisa said, voice trembling and Patrick's heart broke at the sheer fear within it. She shouldn't have to be going through this, he thought. Courtney, meanwhile, turned to her, cackling.

"Yup! Looks like your boyfriend isn't too long for this world, after all!" she bragged. "Come on out, songbird! Let us finish the job quicker rather than sooner!"

Meanwhile, Patrick was slowly lifting himself off the ground, shaking with the effort. "I don't think I have what it takes..." he rasped. "My voice isn't strong enough..." Maybe if I had the power of Joe's guitar, he thought. Or Andy's drumming behind me, it'd be enough. Still, Patrick tried to stand anyway, lifting himself up on one of the end tables, picking up the mic stand as he went. And... wait, the mic stand! It was glowing red now, just like he was. Could it perhaps be enchanted as well? Patrick decided to test it out, plugging in the mic discreetly as Courtney rambled on and on about the dark fate that awaited him and Elisa should they be brought to Silence the Noise's headquarters. When he placed the plug into the socket, sparks of electric magic flared up around it. So yes, the microphone was magic now. But what would it do?

"Oh, so you're not going to come out, is that it?" Courtney asked, her voice dry as she sardonically lifted an eyebrow. "Hm, perhaps he ran away, sweetheart," she said, turning to Elisa and pinching her cheek so hard it left a mark. "If that's the case, I suppose I could just bundle you up and take you to our base of operations right now. Though, I don't know how likely it is your little boyfriend will go after you if I do."

"Patrick would do anything for me!" Elisa said, defiantly. "Which is why I know he hasn't left! I'm not going to fall for your mind games you... you whoever you are!!"

To the love, I left my conscience pressed between the pages of the Bible in the drawer "What did it ever do for me?" I say.

Patrick's voice was shaky as he held the microphone to his lips, but he stared down the members of Silence the Noise with determination, even Courtney. Sparks jumped up from the socket, from the wire, from the top into which he directly fed his voice. But Courtney wasn't scared.

"Oh, so you think a dinky little microphone's going to help you?" she teased. "Face it, Patrick. You're only using that thing because last time was just a fluke. Your voice isn't really strong enough to stop us. You're too weak!"

Patrick bristled at that. But he didn't say anything. He only sang.

It never calls me when I'm down. Love never wanted me.

The change with the microphone was drastic. Sparks flew up from every corner of (what remained) of the house, causing cracks in the walls and ceilings. The sound waves could be felt by everyone so strongly that all four of the women around Patrick crashed to the ground. Once again, each wand fritzed and spasmed.

But I took it anyway, put your ear to the speaker and choose love or sympathy. But never both.

"Take that mic away from him!" Courtney demanded and the two girls ran towards him. But Patrick had one more line left. Love never wanted me, he sang and once again, it all came crashing down on Silence the Noise. All three of their wands were once again overwhelmed by the resonance and shattered to pieces. Courtney, her two minions, Patrick and Elisa all hit the floor hard, overwhelmed by the soundwaves. Patrick's transformation was stripped away, leaving him in his nightclothes.

Patrick pulled himself off the floor and ran for it, grabbing Elisa and pulling her along the way. "Get back here!" Courtney shrieked as the two burst out the front door and tumbled onto the pavement. "Run all you want but I will still catch you, do you hear me‽ Patrick Stump, you will die!!" Elisa and Patrick ignored her, simply threw themselves into Elisa's car and Phoenix flew into the backseat after them. Patrick hadn't even closed the door behind her by the time Elisa hit the gas. Within moments they were peeling out of the driveway and speeding down the road, vanishing into the night. Courtney watched them go, filled with rage, then she turned to the girl whose plan this all was in the first place.

"I'll be easy," you said. "It'll be quick and painless!"

"It would've been if they hadn't woken up!"

"They wouldn't have woken up if it wasn't for that stupid bird! You failed to account for the bird!"

"Uh, you also failed to account for her," the subordinate said, and Courtney scowled.

"And what the hell do you mean by that‽" she demanded.

"Well, you had to review the operation before you led it, right? Surely, you could've pointed out to me that the falcon could be a risk factor that could interfere with our plan."

Courtney paused then. Because the girl was completely right. If she'd wanted to ensure success, she really shouldn't have placed so much faith in these dumbass cronies. She could've assessed all the factors and decided for herself whether the plan was good to follow. But when she thought of that, her heart began to itch something fierce. So instead, she fixed the girl with her darkest glare and asked, "So, you want me to take care of you, or something? Watch your back to make sure you do your job right instead of handling everything you need to yourself?"

The girl's face filled with anxiety immediately. "Oh. Well, no, um..."

"This was your idea, young lady. Your plan and thus, your responsibility. Therefore, I am going to hold you accountable. Do you understand?"

The girl bowed her head, looking ashamed. "Yes, Courtney. I understand."

"So... what do we do now...?" asked the second girl, faintly.

"We go back, and we regroup, obviously," Courtney answered. "And this time, we come up with a plan that doesn't let Patrick Stump get away..."

Patrick's heart beat fast for minutes after they pulled out of the driveway. He and Elisa kept looking in the rearview mirror and through the back windshield to see if they were being followed but it seemed Silence the Noise had lost them in the night. As they became more secure in their safety however, outright fear was slowly replaced with dread. And not just because his friends' murderers had tried to kill him twice now. He could sense a simmering anger radiating from Elisa as she gripped the steering wheel, her knuckles white from how tight she was holding it. Eventually, she pulled over into a gas station and turned towards him, expression hard.

"So... what the fuck, Patrick?"

"I... I'm so sorry," Patrick stammered. "I just didn't want to worry you-"

"So, you didn't tell me you were in trouble with some sort of..." Elisa waved her hands erratically. "Magical... cult organization‽"

"Elisa, I'm sorry, I get it. I understand that you're confused but I hardly understand what's happening either-"

"Really, because it seemed like those women knew you pretty well!"

"Elisa, I swear, I only met them yesterday!"

"Still a lot of time to tell your girlfriend of several years that someone's trying to kill you!"

"And how was I supposed to do that, huh? 'Oh, hey, Elisa, some magical cult of women is trying to kill me with their wands and powers, just thought I should let you know.' You wouldn't've believed me!"

Elisa paused at that, because Patrick was right, of course. She wouldn't have believed him. Patrick himself hadn't believed magic existed until. A few days ago. Phoenix squawked from the backseat and both Elisa and Patrick turned to face her. "Let me guess," Elisa deadpanned. "You knew about all this too, didn't you?" For the first time, Phoenix seemed sheepish, lifting her wing in front of her face and peeking out at Elisa from behind it. Elisa rolled her eyes. "Great! So, both of you were keeping it from me!"

"I'm so sorry I've been lying to you, Elisa," Patrick said, taking her hand gently in his. "Let me make it right. Let me explain it all to you, right here, right now."

"Yes, please," Elisa said, still sounding serious. "I'd really like to know just what's been going on for the past few days." So, Patrick did explain everything. Starting from the moment he saw the two women at the funeral and concluding with what he'd learned from the grimoire that morning. When he finished, Elisa seemed deeply disturbed. "So... these people... they're your friends' killers..."

Patrick nodded, the very thought of it making him feel sick. "And now they're after me..." he croaked.

"Well, this just explains so much, now, doesn't it?" Elisa said and then she gasped. "All that wreckage in our home! That wasn't from the fiery hell tower thing, it was from those crazy girls breaking in before, wasn't it?"

"Well-"

Elisa gasped again. "And that fiery tower. That was you, wasn't it‽ Transforming into that costume just like you did at the house! You lied to me, Patrick!"

"I never told you what happened," Patrick said weakly.

"You let me draw my own conclusion and didn't correct me. That's dishonest!" Elisa shouted. She paused for a moment. I just..." Elisa started, and Patrick was alarmed when she noticed tears coming into her eyes. "I just wish you'd told me all of this... or something, even if you didn't think I'd believe it... these past few weeks have already been so awful and I've spent all this time taking care of you, watching over you so that you weren't hurt even more... and the fact that you felt like you couldn't come to me..."

Elisa sniffled slightly and Patrick's eyes widened. "No, Elisa, no!" he said, taking her in his arms, because now he finally understood why she was so angry. Of course, it wasn't just herself that she was thinking about. "I promise, it wasn't that I didn't think I could come to you. Of course, I always knew I could. I didn't want to. I didn't want to frighten you anymore than I already have... although..." and here, Patrick laughed, humorlessly. "That didn't really work out, did it?"

"But that's still not fair, Patrick..." Elisa said, pulling away. "We're both adults. We have to handle this together. I'm not going to accept you hiding anything else from me."

"Of course," Patrick said, nodding gravely and there was a determined expression on his face. "I'm not going to hide anything else form you, Elisa. From now on, we handle this... whatever it is, together."

"You promise?" Elisa asked.

"I promise," Patrick said, nodding.

"Well... I do have one more thing..." Elisa said after a while. "That transformation. Despite how scary everything was... you looked very beautiful, Patrick."

"Oh, I..." Patrick said, and he flushed pink. He hadn't even thought about how he looked after he transformed but now that he realized it, Elisa had been the first to see him in his magical form, other than Silence the Noise, of course. He smiled softly. "Well, thank you, Elisa."

"Of course," she said softly, and she kissed Patrick on the cheek. "Now, let's find somewhere to stay. Because I really want to go back to sleep."