Lucas hated car drives. This one was no exception. The whole time he sat in the dark cramped van, he was just hoping and praying that it would be over soon. He could barely keep himself from screaming, he was so anxious. He would never admit it to anyone, of course, but he was scared, terrified even. He was scared for Portia and Robin, he'd seen the thing that Indigo had turned into.

     Indigo. He hadn't told her, but he really did love her. He wasn't the type of person who went out of their comfort zone to tell people how he felt. The few months that he'd spent with her were happier and better than all the years before combined.  He didn't notice that the car had stopped until Alan shook him out of his thoughts.

     "We're here, Lucas." Alan looked at him with a wary expression, clearly unsure of if Lucas was going to handle the whole situation alright. Lucas calmed himself down and moved to the front of the van.

     "And where's here?" Lucas stared through the windshield to the tan, brick building in front of the van.

     Pierce County Jail. This is where the signal goes dead. Josiah signed.

     "Great," Lucas threw a jacket on and opened the door, "Let's go get her."

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     The three boys approached the building's only door in sight. All the fences surrounding the jail had long-ago had holes cut into them by some teenagers, and all the electricity was out. Lucas had known the jail was shut down, but the looks of every broken down thing gave him the creeps. Silent nods were exchanged as they creaked the half-broken doors open. The front room was deserted, which wasn't surprising, but Lucas had been expecting an ambush or something. The bullet-proof glass around the waiting area and the secretaries' desks were coated with finger smudges and dust.

     Alan pulled a shining steel knife out of his pocket and rounded the corner to the left. "C'mon," he whispered. Lucas took out the gun that he'd, once again, taken from Indigo's armory. Maybe one day he'd teach her how to use it so she could shoot it herself. Lucas smiled thinking about it, but quickly turned serious again. Now was no time to be getting distracted by fantasies.

     Josiah signaled that he would keep watch in the front as Alan and Lucas kept going in. Lucas nodded and turned to the left, where he cautiously kept going. He and Alan's feet pounded painfully loud on the white linoleum as they came to an intersection, a hall to the left and one to the right. Lucas held up his hand for Alan to stop when he heard a creaking noise coming from the right. Alan's eyes grew wide, and they threw themselves against the wall, trying to keep hidden from whatever was coming. Lucas tensed, ready for a fight.

"Robin?" The pale girl rounded the corner with Portia and a hound girl pushing a bloody body on an almost-ironically silver tray. Robin's face filled with relief as she spotted Lucas and pulled him into a rib-crushing hug.

     "Didn't know it was her... didn't mean to," she muttered in his ear. He pushed her shivering boy away from him. "Didn't know it was who? Robin, answer me. Now," Lucas shouted harshly. She sent an unwilling glance at the tray, and Lucas couldn't help but follow her gaze. He turned around and let his eyes wander over the bloody girl on the cart. He could see everything. The familiar but no-longer bright eyes. The long brown hair. The brokenness on her face didn't make sense to his brain.

     "I-Indigo? Can you hear me?" He bent down, putting away the gun, and took her cold face in his hands. Her body shook as she coughed, and Lucas tried to register the dark red liquid seeping out the side of her mouth.

     "I'm... awake," she spluttered.

     "Who-?" Lucas didn't finish his question before wheeling on Robin, a darkness in his eyes that could only be caused by pure hate.

     "You did this to her?" He didn't do anything to her, just glared, "Robin, do you mind telling me something? How is it that you, someone I trust, just about killed her, yet a Hound is the one trying to save her?" The hound girl interrupted.

     "That's all well and good, but can you two shut up and argue later? If you don't stop yelling at each other, there won't be a person left to save, and we already clued the rest of them into our escaping, so running is probably our best option right now. So shut up and help!" Alan and Lucas both jumped at her speech, they'd been told she was the quiet one.

     "Okay, we've, uh, got a van outside. Alan, get there and find the nearest hospital. Hurry," Lucas rambled. Alan scrambled back into the lobby and then outside to the van. The others began rolling the cart as fast as they could, hearing the Hounds close behind them. They rushed into the lobby, past Josiah who had a puzzled look on his face and hurried to follow them outside. Once everyone was safely piled in the van and Lucas had made sure Indigo was still breathing, Alan stomped on the gas and they went flying down the street. Lucas looked out the window for a moment to make sure they weren't being followed, and sure enough, Midnight had sent Erin after them on a bike.

     "Hold onto her," Lucas commanded everyone to grab the cart as he pulled Indigo's gun back out and took a deep breath, closing his eyes to prepare himself.

     "Lucas?" Alan looked over his shoulder, "Lucas? What are you doing?"

     "She's right on us. Don't worry, just keep driving, idiot," with that Lucas made sure he had a solid grip on one of the back doors before throwing the other one open. The wind pulled him outside as soon as the door was opened, but he managed to hold on and pull himself back into a standing position on the edge of the door.

     "What are you doing!" Lucas heard from inside the car. He couldn't tell who'd said it, he was so concentrated.

     Erin's minty-blue hair trailed out behind her in the wind as he held the gun steady, ready to shoot. Before he could do anything, he saw a smirk appear on her face and he suddenly screamed, pain coursing through every inch of his body. His hand slipped, and he fell onto the hard asphalt of the road at fifty miles an hour. he felt the black rocks scrape off the skin of his arms, palms and forehead, but he'd landed softly enough that he could feel only his left arm and leg broken. He knew he was lucky that he hadn't been hurt that bad, but now that pain was added on top of what Erin was doing to him. He didn't really care what happened to him so long as Alan kept driving, and thankfully, he did. Erin had stopped her bike and her power momentarily, letting Lucas breathe with only real pain to endure. Erin dismounted the bike and sauntered over to him, towering over his collapsed body.
My
     "Well, well, what do we have here? The cavalry? Oh please," She turned around as she sent another wave of pain through his bones.

     "I could kill you right now, couldn't I, Amethyst?" She was halfway to her bike when she turned around again, a thoughtful look on her face. Lucas didn't say anything, just writhed on the ground, too far past hurting for tears. "But I won't, because Midnight wants you too." Lucas's eyes went wide. He was going to turn him into what Indigo had become? Was that his goal? To bring out the darkness in each of them?

     "What do you think about that, Amethyst?" Erin stopped hurting him. He clenched his teeth, not saying a word. Erin raised an eyebrow and bent down over him.

     "What? No response?" she mocked, laughing before she turned around again, giving Lucas just enough time to rase his gun at her. He knew he couldn't kill her in this state, but he could at least slow her down.

     "Here's my response," He let a bullet fly, hitting her in the shoulder and knocking her over. He managed to stand up and shakily limp over to her motorcycle. She'd left it running, so Lucas hopped on with great difficulty and started to roll forward.

He'd gone a few miles, maybe two or three, when he saw the van parked on the side of the road. Lucas's face hardened as he thought about Alan stopping. Didn't he realize that Indigo was dying? How could he have just stopped. Lucas pulled up next to the vehicle next to the driver's side window. He hit the glass and Alan's head spun around to face him immediately, his eyes wide with relief. Lucas backed away as Alan swung the door open.

"Lucas! What were you thinking?" He shouted, pulling on of Lucas's arms over his shoulder and pulling him into the car. Everyone's eyes widened to see him still alive.

"It doesn't matter, I'm still alive," Lucas brushed them off , "More importantly, why did you stop? We don't know how long she has, Alan, start this car back up. Now." Alan scrambled back into the driver's seat and turned the keys again, flooring the gas as soon as he could.

As soon as the car took off, Lucas armed himself with a switchblade and threw the hound girl against the wall of the van.

"Why are you doing this? Did midnight make you do this?" The girl whimpered as the knife was pressed against her throat.

"I don't know what you mean," she spoke quietly to not move her neck and cut herself. Lucas squinted his eyes at her, ignoring the pain in his arm and leg.

"Why would you suddenly turn on Midnight? You don't have any reason to be helping us, so why are you?" he pressed the knife harder against her throat.

"Stop it, Lucas," Indigo interrupted as the first drop of blood was brought to her throat, "You can trust her. Believe me."

"If she trusts you the so do I," Lucas brought the blade away from her skin.

"I'll deal with you later," Lucas pointed at Robin before collapsing next to Indigo, trying to keep her talking.

"She's drifting off, drive faster," Lucas ordered. Alan took the turns faster.

"I can't go any aster, Lucas, give her some strength if you can," Lucas could see Alan trying to stay cool, but he'd known him long enough to tell when he was losing his cool. Lucas leaned over her and placed his uninjured arm's fingertips on her temple. He gave her as much as he could without passing out, but he couldn't give her much without falling into a black world. Her eyes opened a bit wider and she took in a few deeper breaths. He knew he hadn't given her nearly enough to heal her, but hopefully it would keep her awake until they got to the hospital. He sat next to her, praying silently, Please don't die. Don't leave me now.

The car finally stopped what seemed like hours later. Lucas started to pick Indigo up, but Josiah took her out of his arms as soon as he saw Lucas's arm give out. He didn't need to sign anything, his expression said it all: She'll be fine. Worry about yourself, idiot.

    "Thanks," Lucas said, grabbing onto Alan, helping him out of the car. He looked over at the girl in Josiah's arms. The light was fading out of her bright green eyes. His heart hammered in his ribcage, but he couldn't tell if it was out of fear or pain. He knew he was being stupid. Holding on to false hope could easily destroy a human heart. That was why he tried not to get attached to anyone. Of course, every time he'd tried to do that, he'd failed miserably.

    Alan helped him limp through the sliding glass doors behind Josiah and the rest of the Amethysts. The secretary took one look at him and Indigo and called in a doctor. A few seconds later, three surgeons rushed in wheeling a gurney. They took Indigo out of Josiah's arms and set her down gently on the gurney. They began to push it through the doors, shouting things at each other that didn't make sense to him. He broke free of Alan's grasp and tried to follow, but one of the doctors stopped him.

    "You need to stay here, sir," the man tried to get him to stay, but he tried to get through.

    "No, no. You don't understand, I have to go in with her..." Lucas trailed off as the doctor smiled at him.

    "If I let every person who's ever said that to me through these doors, they would be pointless," he held his hands up in surrender, "And you need to get your own injuries treated. It'll only take a few minutes then you can come back to your friends and worry about that girl together. And guess what? I won't even ask questions about what messed you up this bad." Lucas glared at him a moment, but started remembering the pain racking through his body, his adrenaline wearing off now.

    "Alright," Lucas softened his face as he realized that he needed to do what the man was telling him to. The doctor took him into a back room, set his limbs in casts, and stitched his forehead. After giving him some pain medication, he let Lucas go back out to the waiting room, where he hobbled over to Alan and the others. Portia and Robin seemed to have been stitched up too, and both were huddled in a corner, Josiah holding them both tightly. That hound girl, Sophie, Lucas suddenly remembered, was sitting on one of the benches in the corner they were all in.

    "Hey," Lucas greeted. Alan stood up and glared at him.

    "Are you really that stupid?" Alan suddenly pulled him into a hug, "I guess you are, man, but I don't really care. I mean, you're alive, aren't you?" Lucas laughed painfully.

    "Yeah, I'm fine," he looked over to the doors they'd taken Indigo through, "I just hope she is."

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Hey Guys!!!

Two updates in two days! Wooh! It snowed today and I'm just sitting inside... Well, thanks for reading as usual!

-AJ