Chapter Thirty-Nine - Midnight Day, Part Two

Kelly stood down the drones on the bottom level of the fire station as the place burned. She wished right then and there that she still had the meteor device to trick these drones into blowing themselves up, as there were quite a few more of them. As the girl in blue stepped backwards to slightly get away from them, her foot hit an ash-covered part of the fire station's floor, which gave her an idea.

"Hey guys.", she said. "You know Jack Toomes? I hate to make the pun, but he really is an ash-hole." Kelly used her magic wand to kick up some ash into the air and then maneuvered it into the drones' eyes, kicking up so much that they couldn't see her even on infrared.

Using the distraction, she ran in the opposite direction. When the Vazir drones shook off the ash, they went after her. Kelly locked a fence behind her, knowing with the connection disks the drones couldn't simply fly over it. Suddenly she heard her comm device beep and pressed the button on the side of the goggles. "Hey there."

"Kelly? Kelly are you there?" Annabelle said through the device having seen the explosion from the vantage point of her ship. "What the hell happened?" 

"Slight issue with some drones who found their way here." Kelly replied as the Vazir drones shot through the fence and chased her down. "There are more of them now trying to get to me. Any chance you could stop by? I'm heading towards the graveyard on foot trying to give these guys the slip."

"Where exactly are you?" Annabelle asked, "I can't get you on my sensors!"

"Oh well I guess I... wait..." Kelly stopped and turned around after hearing lasers being fired. The group of drones that were chasing her were now damaged, and hovering in the air on fire. "Never mind, continue with the mission."

Through the smoke, Kelly saw MIKE, and another MIKE, only this one was green. Then more green. Suddenly, the entire area in front of Kelly was filled with green drones.

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Meanwhile, the Vazirs had Mirabelle, Scarlett, John, and Tom cornered behind the rock near the Mausoleum, pelting the stone that they had taken cover behind with lasers. Tom struck out from behind the rock and shot a beam of fire which destroyed three drones, but three more moved past them and continued firing in their place. John looked up at the sky and wondered when Annabelle was going to get there, as the moon wasn't exactly taking it's time crossing in front of the sun.

"Hey, did ya miss me?" 

Annabelle's voice boomed over the sky as her spaceship decloaked over the graveyard. The Vazirs, who seemed to have a design flaw of being unable to shoot upwards, spread out in what appeared to be panic as Annie began firing wildly at them with concentrated bursts, destroying them quickly with well-placed shots.

Annie's face lit up with joy as she continued to fire at the drones. "This is for trying to kill me!" she said as she blasted more, referring to the time she escaped from the graveyard. "And this is just because I don't like you!"

Annabelle pressed a button to cloak her ship again, then suddenly appeared over a different section of the graveyard, continuing to fire wildly at them until her ship's lasers overheated. "Damn, didn't expect that!" She yelled with a flustered tone. With no other choices, Annabelle parked the ship near the graveyard away from the drones bolted towards her friends and family, who were recovering from the first attack.

"Your ship mess up?" Tom asked, "What happened?"

Annie shook her head. "Lasers don't seem to run very well, overheated. I guess it wasn't designed for combat in the first place." She thought back to the fact that it was A'jhanie's ship, and wondered if her clone on the alien planet was some kind of recovery soldier with the limited weapons on the vessel. "Besides, I couldn't stay in the sky forever."


Everyone looked up and saw the moon halfway across the sun. "We don't have long, twenty minutes at the most!" Tom breathed heavily. "Whatever happens, we have to do it fast." The five of them gathered up and started to walk towards the mausoleum, ready to face down the remaining Vazirs, only to see that there were now dozens of them.

"Where the hell did they come from?!" John yelled out, "We just got rid of most of their forces?!"  The drones started shooting at them, forcing the heroes behind cover again.

"We need an army now!" Scarlett worriedly screamed. "Something!"

"Did you say... army?" Kelly's voice echoed across everyone's goggle communicators. John remembered where he placed the M-0 under that building and realized they were just outside the jamming range.

Everyone looked confused, then out of the corner of their eye they saw Kelly running ahead towards the graveyard with MIKE beside her, as well as about three dozen other drones which had green markings on them.

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Earlier that day... 


Kelly turned around and saw the drones who saved her, with MIKE hovering in front of them. "What the-?" She asked, half thankful and half confused. "Who are your friends?" The "friends" she was referring to being numerous green drones that seemed to follow MIKE'S commands.  

"Allies. After we destroyed the Vazir drones a few nights ago, I have worked to refurbish them and take command. I needed to return home to activate them when the battle began and upload a command to their core system. They will assist greatly in the battle against the remaining Vazir drones."

"Wow." Kelly said, "These are all your soldiers? Great! Once we get to the graveyard, we can mop up the remaining Vazirs, and get inside that mausoleum, and who knows what's waiting for us there."

MIKE turned towards her. "I have already scanned it, there are many more Vazir units lying in wait just inside the entrance. However, I have noticed that only one person is in the complex underneath the graveyard. That person is Jack Toomes. I am unable to figure out where Dr. Vu and his companion Tobias Corvan have gone. There is something else down there as well, something I cannot figure out what. We need to get down into the complex so I can scan it better."

"Well it's not too long before the solar eclipse reaches it's maximum stage." Kelly said, looking up at the sky. "We need to figure out a way in anyway, like right now."

"Leave that to us. When Annabelle appears in the sky, we shall appear on the ground. This battle will be won."

Kelly smiled. "Well then, onward we march!" Kelly turned and ran off towards the graveyard followed by the small army of MIKE drones.

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Lasers fired from both sides ripped apart drones, both red and green, as Kelly joined with her family near the back of the graveyard. Mirabelle smiled at her girlfriend and ran into the conflict side-by-side with her, the two's attacks being stronger somehow the closer they got together.

Tom and Annabelle, John and Scarlett, and Kelly and Mirabelle moved as one group across the field firing bolts of energy of all types at the drones, hitting them from one side with the MIKE drones attacking the other. A flurry of energy blasts, fire, ice, and wind filled the air as the Vazirs were torn apart.

Tom and Annabelle touched hands for a moment and suddenly the energy that shot from them was ten-fold, which created a very large blast that destroyed half the drones in one shot. The force of the explosion knocked Annabelle down, hurting her ears. Through fogged vision, she saw Tom grab a Vazir and smash it with his fist, then shoot another behind him with magic. He then ran over and helped her to her feet.

A few moments passed, and all the red drones on the battlefield were destroyed, along with most of the battlefield itself. Luckily ninety-nine percent of the graves were still in-tact, somehow. With their main force decimated, the remaining Vazirs shut themselves down as an act or retreat.

Annie smiled as everyone walked through the graveyard towards the entrance to the mausoleum, with MIKE scanning the building to make sure there were no more surprises. "So this is it." Mirabelle said as everyone stood near the entrance. "Annabelle and Tom, you two go in first to scout, as you've been in there before, then the rest of us will be behind you. When we're all inside, I'll signal MIKE to send in some of his drones as backup, understood?"

Everyone nodded and, wasting no time, the first pair went into the tomb ready to take down Jack. John and Mirabelle waited a few seconds and motioned everyone to go in.

Tom and Annabelle ran down the stairs and through the hall towards the locked gate that blocked the main room of the crypt, with Annabelle using her magic to destroy the lock. Both of them ran inside expecting to see Jack with his smug expression, but to their surprise he wasn't in there, no one was. In fact, much of the room was emptied of it's technology that both Tom and Annabelle had witness, and there was not a Vazir drone or anything. Annabelle snarled, wanting Jack to pay for what he had done to everyone.

"Well even if Jack doesn't show, we can still be here for the eclipse, prevent anyone else from getting to the-GAAAH!!" Tom screamed as a burst of electricity surged through his body. Annabelle was startled by the sudden attack and didn't have time to react before a surge went through her as well. Just then, a glowing disk hovered away from the two and outside the gate, where a series of shutters came down after it left.

John, Scarlett, Kelly, and Mirabelle were shocked to see the shutters down, then without warning a powerful bolt of energy shot at them from nothing. Everyone backed away as MIKE hovered down the stairs and scanned the area, having identified where the energy came from.


"No. It can't be." MIKE said, "It was just a non-functioning prototype." 

"WHAT was just a non-functioning prototype?!" Mirabelle asked. "What is that thing?"

"It's a new drone type with an advanced shield network surrounding the control disk. It's main body is made entirely out of energy, and as such it is completely invulnerable. We cannot destroy it, even with our most powerful weapons!" Everyone grew worried as even the robot was displaying a sense of fear when faced down with something superior to it, with the exception of Scarlett who was angry that all this work and they're stopped by something they didn't count on.

Suddenly, the disk at the end of the hall glowed red before shooting a beam of energy into ceiling. MIKE hovered back against the wall with the rest of them. "It's the RT-53."

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Annie's membrane suit absorbed much of the shock, so she was able to regain consciousness just soon enough to see Jack walking over to her wearing some kind of suit that she'd seen dictators wear. For a few seconds, she was worried that Jack actually got a hold of the lamp while she was passed out, but he told her otherwise without even knowing she was worried.

 "You like the suit? I figured when I get the lamp, I'll be in control of the world so I decided to look the part. I kept you alive to witness my rise, and help me out when need be." Jack then grew cold, "Though I SHOULD kill you know. You've been a thorn in my side for a long time, alien."

"You're... alien too." Annabelle said, struggling to stand again. "Just like me."

Jack laughed. "No. To everyone who doesn't know my... our... true heritage, I'm human. Then again so are you but you at least look the part most of the time. Why is it that I am stuck looking like one more member of a people who are practically crying for a dictator while you can stand among the rest on you own? It's just... not... FAIR!"

"What's the matter, green with envy?" Annabelle chuckled, finally being able to use a joke that Tom had used against her from the moment he could form complete sentences. "Oh wait, no you're not. You'll never be."

Jack snarled, then blasted Annabelle backwards through the air with a burst of magic. Tom stood up angrily, having been startled back into consciousness by the sudden attack, and tried to attack his foe but Jack used a few physical moves to disorient his foe, then aimed the magic wand at his him.

"How about we test out your ability to deflect all types of magic, eh Tommy boy? I was thinking something along the lines of a beam of fire that cuts straight through your eyeball. Then you and your little friend Keera would have something in common, heheheh."

Annabelle growled as Jack looked over to her. "Now we're going to play a little game, it's called 'Do What I Say or Everyone Dies'. It's kinda like Simon Says, but a little more fun."

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The sun turned black as the moon finally moved in front of it, bathing the city of Starlight Shores in premature darkness with the distant horizon the only well-lit part of the visible area, aside from the city's lights which remained on since the evacuation.

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John fired a bolt of energy at the RT-53, but was startled beyond all reason when the energy faded. Scarlett and Mirabelle also tried their hand at magic, but as with John their energy stopped working.

"Well that puts a damper on things!" Kelly said as she and the rest fell back against the wall as the advanced drone kept firing energy at them. Inside the Tomb, Annabelle also felt her magical energy fade, as she didn't need to use a wand to channel it through, but Jack didn't seem to notice.

Inside the tomb, Jack smiled as the magic blocking the door to the lamp chamber faded away, and the plaque which was to hold the key started to gently hum. Jack stayed where he was next to Tom, then smiled evilly as he turned to Annabelle. "You. Open the door. When the world is subjugated to my will, I want to be able to tell my loyal subjects that it was you who led me to my victory. Imagine how famous you'll be. Imagine how many people would love to get to you to shake your hand." A dark laugh filled the quiet tomb. 

Jack tossed the key stone on the ground in front of Annie, then walked over to Tom. "And before you even begin to protest, just know that if you don't do what I say, I'll slit his throat with the sharp edges of this wand.  I won't even HAVE to use magic. To sweeten the deal, I'll make you watch. Now be a good girl and pick up that stone."

Tom, looking at the Jack, wondered if the weapon was sharp enough to cut through skin, and wasn't even sure if he was worried. Still he didn't say anything, because Jack would probably hurt Annabelle even worse if she didn't do it.

Annabelle reluctantly grabbed the star stone and, without words, walked towards the plaque which held the key. She angled herself and forcefully placed the stone into the key hole, stepping back as the thing lit up suddenly. Seconds later, the door finally opened revealing a brightly lit room. Annabelle turned around when she felt something strange when stepping back near Tom. It was an energy, which he shouldn't have had considering the eclipse seemed to stop people from using magic.It was something different, something stronger than she had never felt, even with herself. It was almost an explosive energy.

Suddenly, Annabelle realized what it was and walked back towards Tom and Jack, the latter of which having smiling as he triumphantly walked towards the door. "Well if you'll excuse me, I have a lamp to obtain."

Annabelle then stopped him in his tracks. "Hey Jack, quick question... how do you deal with explosions? I mean I've seen quite a few big booms in my life, and they're pretty much standard with me. You? Yeah I mean you've caused a lot but have you ever been in one?"

"What are you talking about?" Jack demanded. He had eight minutes to get to the lamp, so he decided to humor this green woman.

"I mean, right now I'm pretty sure Tom here is thinking 'boom' because I said it. Right, Tom? Aren't you thinking 'boom'? Big boom'? Probably about the same size as this room that wouldn't hurt anyone but still distract them? I'm surprised your clumsiness hasn't caused any before."

Tom looked at her confused, then said "Explos-?" Suddenly, before he could finish the word,  Tom started to glow as Annabelle ducked under a table. Seconds later a powerful explosion rocked the room with Tom in the center. Jack turned around and tried to summon a shield to protect him, but he was shocked when the concussive blast hit him anyway. Surprisingly, Tom was safe as was Annabelle, who led him behind a wall, looking at Jack who was lying on unconscious on the floor.

"What... the hell... was that?!" Tom asked, wondering how he was safe, and Annabelle wasn't injured either. "Was that magic?"

"I'm pretty sure, though I don't know why I can't use it and you can now." Annie looked over and saw Jack still unconscious. "I think it has something to do with the eclipse. I'm powerless while you have too much!"

"I'm not sure, I think that was all the magic I'm gonna use for a while." Tom whispered, defeated. "And just in case, I'm not gonna think THAT word again until that damn eclipse is over!"

While they were talking, Jack stood back up and walked slightly injured into the room with the lamp. Annabelle, trying to sneak up on him, very carefully walked behind the villain hoping the blast hurt his hearing.

Unfortunately, Jack counted on this and swiftly angled his fist backwards, striking her in the face and knocking her to the ground hard enough to break her goggles and snap them off. Looking down at her, he laughed. "Your plan to hurt me didn't go so well, eh? Maybe you should just give up-" 

"You son of a snake!" Tom yelled out as he jumped towards Jack. The latter didn't have time to react as Tom grabbed the front of his collar and yanked him back into the tomb, using every bit of his strength to punch him in the face repeatedly.

Annabelle regained her stamina and stood up, walking into the lit room. Jack saw her doing this and punched Tom in the face, knocking him back into the wall where he was knocked out cold. He then ran into the room behind her, trying to stop the woman from reaching his prize.

The room they found themselves in was bright, far too bright to see anything and covered in an eerie fog. Annabelle used her own focused senses to follow Jack, however, taking the opportunity to punch him in the stomach and kick him across the face before vanishing back into the supernatural mist. Breathing heavily, Jack stood back up and walked around in a circle, calling out to his foe. "You won't win, Annabelle Kethrin. I am destined to get this prize, and use it to take over the world."

"That's the tricky thing about destiny, we all have our own views on it." Annabelle replied, taunting him. "But I don't blame you for wanting to get a hold of the lamp, if I were you I'd use it to wish for a new, permanent face."

"What?"

Annabelle laughed. "I mean, when you had plastic surgery to look like Jacob Thompson, you were quite the catch, if I may say so myself. A homicidal catch, but still... now that you're back to the good old Jackie Boy, you're not quite the 'catch' as much as you are the 'release into the wild before it lays eggs'. I mean does your ginormous nose come with the face or did it have to be carried in by that Greek Titan who holds the planet up on his shoulders?"

"Shut up!!!" Jack said, angrily. He quickly caught on that Annabelle was making fun of him to get him angry enough to defeat easily, but he didn't care. "Shut your mouth!!!"

"Or what, you'll face-plant me? That's probably how you'll kill me, by hitting me with that schnoz of yours! That thing's big enough to crack the planet's mantle layer and send all humans into the fiery depths of the outer core!"

"SHUT UP!!!"

Annie smirked. "I'm usually one to be joked at, just ask Tom. However I'm okay with who I am, that's part of my identity, that's part of me. Your nose is part of your identity and I'm pretty sure someone else's as big as it is, and I'm frankly surprised you haven't sneezed yourself into the lower atmosphere by now. But then again it's not your nose that makes you the person you are, it's your personality, and that part of you is so dry I'm pretty sure someone will find a way to seal it up and sell it as jerky. Basically that's what you are, Jack.... dry jerky."

Jack growled as he tried to spot Annabelle, but couldn't. All he could see was white fog, and all he could hear was her laughter. "Hahahaha.... Jerky. I make myself laugh far too much." Suddenly Jack turned around and saw Annie behind her, smiling widely. He tried to punch her but she caught him and punched back. 

When she punched again he countered and kneed her square in the stomach, almost knocking her to the ground. "You gonna keep laughing, Annabelle?" Jack said, angrily. "Laugh now! LAUGH!"

"It's not funny anymore." Annabelle said before quickly jumping up and delivering a powerful double-handed punch that knocked Jack back off his feet onto the hard stone ground. He hit the surface with a powerful crunch and doubled over, passing out from the impact and pain. Annabelle grabbed the control device from his unconscious body and smashed it.

Just outside, the drone which kept everyone at bay suddenly shut down and the shutters moved away, allowing them to get inside the main tomb. Annabelle suddenly heard a voice and walked forward, and was surprised to see that the cavernous room which she had just fought Jack in was merely a small chamber when the fog dissipated, and the center of the chamber was a pedestal with a golden object on it: The Lamp.


Annabelle reached out for the lamp but was caught off-guard by Jack, who had woken up where Annie left him. "THAT'S MINE!!! He yelled as he tried to get to the lamp but she wouldn't let him. Suddenly his body froze completely before he fell to the ground again, passing out a second time. Just behind him, Tom was standing with Jack's wand, having used it against the villain just as everyone else ran inside and saw the two standing in the chamber.

"Guess the eclipse is over." Tom said.

Annabelle smiled and grabbed the lamp, carrying it back towards the main tomb. "What about him?" Kelly asked, pointing to the unconscious Jack on the floor. Annabelle nodded to Tom, who reluctantly dragged Jack out of the chamber before the door sealed completely. As much as they hated him, they didn't want him to be trapped inside the chamber until the next solar eclipse, whenever that would be. He would face REAL justice.

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"So what are we going to do with it?" John asked as they stood around the genie lamp. "We can't use it, there's a possibility that we could be corrupted by having that much power."

"I just want one wish." Annabelle said, holding the lamp. "We can free the genie. If the genie is free, then this lamp will be useless, and no one can ever hurt anyone else to get their hands on it. But that's not the wish I want to use." Everyone seemed to know precisely what Annabelle was talking about.

With no more words, Annabelle rubbed the lamp, surprised at the amount of power the thing had. With a quick motion she placed it on the ground and ran back to join her family. Suddenly, a cloud of pink dust emanated from the lamp's spout and filled a small part of the room. When the dust cleared, an Indian woman was standing where it was, looking at her hands and feet with joy having been released from the lamp after such a long time. She then turned back to Tom, Annabelle, and all the rest.

"Hello, my name is Anika Sundar. I am the genie of the lamp. It seems you had taken such a toll to get to my home away from home.", she said, looking at the bruised, bloodied, and out-of-breath group which stood before her. Afterwards, Anika turned to and bowed Annabelle. "Now that you have called me forth, my will is yours to command. Your wishes are mine to grant, green maiden. You are my master now."

Before Annabelle could respond, Scarlett spoke up. "Quick question: can you bring people back from the dead?" She asked, looking sad while she did so. She remembered a conversation she had with John a few weeks ago, saying that she would use one wish to raise her parents, even for a day. "Please?"

Anika sadly shook her head. "There are some things even I cannot do. If I were to raise the dead, they would not come back natural, they would be mere husks." Scarlett and Tom both lowered their heads in sadness, but Anika responded "Do not worry, though. You may have lost those you care for in body, but they are not gone in your heart."

Annabelle looked around to everyone, then smiled at the lamp. "Actually I have two wishes I want. The first one is something I've been wanting to have granted for a long time now..."

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Back at the house Keera, Isobelle, and Deacon were standing around waiting for word from the group. They hadn't heard from them since before they went into the graveyard, and feared for them all. Suddenly, Keera felt a strange feeling on her face, it wasn't pain but something else. It worried her a bit, but what disturbed her even worse was the fact that her vision suddenly seemed to go off the wall which disoriented her for a moment. Without any words, Keera walked carefully up the stairs to the bathroom and tore off her eye patch to make sure something wasn't wrong with her glass eye.

To her shock, her glass eye wasn't there anymore. She had two organic eyes, the right of which was always   there in the first place. She still had the scar, but the sight of her old eye having returned reduced the teenager to happy tears as she started to cry. "I have two eyes. I have two eyes! It's back! It's back! Yes! YES!! I've never been this happy in my life!" She then crumpled the eye patch into a ball and threw it into the trash, running outside the room with an unbelievable amount of happiness. "YES!!!"

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Back at the tomb, Annabelle smiled when Anika spoke to her. "You wish has been granted. The child has her eye once again, and she can not be harmed by fire ever again." Everyone lit up in happiness after hearing this as well. "What is your second wish?"

Annabelle turned to everyone and acquired their silent approval, and then turned back to face the genie. "My second wish is... your freedom from the lamp."

Anika was ready to grant the wish, but stopped suddenly as she was confused by it. "But you have one more wish, you can have the world granted to you, you can use it for anything, and your second wish is to release me from my duties? I honestly do not know what to say."

"We don't need that kind of power." Kelly said. "We're here to save the planet, and we're doing that."

Tom then spoke up. "The world is too tempting to be granted to us, Miss Sundar. We want you to be free."

Anika looked up at a cloud of mystical energy as magic started to form around her wrists, visual metaphors of the bonds she'd been held in after three centuries of serving others, "Your first wish was to help someone else, and your second wish is to release me from my bonds. This is a side of humanity I've not seen in all my years of servitude."

Mirabelle smiled. "Well you see it now." The lamp started to glow brightly, then suddenly exploded into a small burst of light as Anika felt herself become free of it, the energy lifting her up off the ground. When the energy vanished, she fell and the group of family members walked over to her and helped her back to her feet. Anika felt a new surge of energy that she had not felt in nearly three hundred years.

"Freedom." Anika said as she lifted herself off the ground. "What do I call you now?"

"Annabelle will suffice." Annie said, then the group started to finally leave the tomb, never wanting to look back. Tom lifted Jack off the ground and carried him over to the cell in the next room, the one Annabelle had spent a short time in. After placing him in there and locking the door, he signaled a few of MIKE's drones who hovered over to him.

"Don't let him out of your sight until the military shows up. If he tries to escape, stun him into next Tuesday." The MIKE drones nodded and targeted their sights on the unconscious Jack as Tom left, smiling the whole time.

The family found themselves outside the mausoleum, joined now by Anika Sundar who breathed in the fresh air for the first time in nearly a century. In the sky, the moon had moved well past the sun and was barely visible as clouds began to move in. Annabelle, Tom, and the rest started walking back home triumphantly as the green MIKE drones put out the fires and used energy beams to repair the graves that had been damaged in the battle.

"So what did we just do?" Annabelle asked, mostly in a rhetorical manner but in some part legitimately wondering. "Did we just save the planet?"

"Well, we stopped Jack from getting the lamp, which he claimed he was going to use to conquer the earth and force everyone to be his lower subjects, so yeah." Mirabelle said. "We pretty much saved the world."

Annabelle chuckled. "I don't know about you guys but I'm gonna go home and take a nice, long shower. I think we deserve a little rest and relaxation after what happened.

Mirabelle nodded to her, "But there's one thing I want to do before I go. I promised myself I would." She walked silently over to Collin's body, who was pulled out of the battle site by a few MIKE drones, and knelt down, using her hands to dig a hole beside him. Suddenly everyone in the household, and Anika as well, assisted in the digging, knowing what she was doing.

An hour passed and they were able to dig a deep enough grave for their fallen ally, and Anika used her magic to gently lower his body into the grave and seal it up with the loose dirt.

Keera, Deacon, and Isobelle came running up the hill happy to see everyone. Annabelle lit up when she saw Keera with both her eyes, but when both of those eyes fell upon the grave, the teenager was saddened. Somehow, she knew who was in it. As the clouds built up and rain began to fall, Annabelle silently gestured for everyone to walk away, leaving Keera alone with her new friend's resting place.

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September 21st, 2022

"We are just getting reports of what appears to have been a battle in the graveyard at the quarantined city of Starlight Shores. A detachment from the U.S military have moved into the graveyard and arrested a man who was believed to have died a few weeks ago. Jack Toomes, a criminal mastermind known as the Benefactor, was found in some sort of locked room where he was promptly detained by the military."

The next morning, news of the battle spread like wildfire across the country. In Moonlight Falls, Washington, a young man was watching his television when he heard Collin Lyon's name as the deceased. He froze in sadness, and turned off his television afterwards.

"We do have surveillance footage of a group of men and women who seem to be the ones responsible for taking back the city of Starlight Shores. One of them appears to be the actress, Scarlett Keene, and singer Annabelle Kethrin. Since it's still not possible to return to the city at this moment, tracking down these saviors will presumably not take too long."

Annabelle smiled as she watched news footage of herself. Anika, who was with the family until she figured out what she wanted to do, sat down next to her.

"What will you do now?" Anika asked, watching the television with her. "Your world was saved, and now you have fulfilled your purpose of saving it. What is your next goal?"

"I don't know." Annabelle replied. "The world's always needing saved, perhaps I'll be there when it does. All of us will. In the meantime, I'm planning my brother's wedding, as well as a baby shower a bit later on down the line. Hopefully the world will get by on it's own until then." Annabelle looked at the clock on the television and walked outside, looking out to the sunrise. She gestured Anika to follow her. "I wanted to see this again. I was worried I'd never see another."

Anika was amazed. "I have not seen a sunrise in a long time. I had almost forgotten it's beauty."

"Not me. Even if I never saw another one, I could never forget a sunrise." Annabelle turned and walked back inside when the sun finished climbing into the sky off the horizon, but her genie friend seemed to stay behind. Annie walked back in, but just as she did so, Anika called back to her.

"Miss Kethrin, I have one thing to ask. Why did you free me? You don't even know me."

Annabelle thought it over for a few seconds. "I felt it was the right thing to do." With that, she smiled and walked into the house.

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Mirabelle stepped out of the shower and put on her clothes for the day, walking into her bedroom to see Kelly arranging some flowers for John and Scarlett's upcoming nuptials. Mira hadn't seen the betrothed couple, and assumed they were still asleep after such a long day yesterday, only assuming so because she too wanted to go back to bed and cuddle with Kelly for the rest of the week.

"So, a wedding for John and Scarlett." she said as Kelly finished the arrangement. "I take they want to get it done as soon as possible?"

Kelly nodded. "Yah. Like, 'next week' as soon as possible. I can't wait to see Scarlett in her dress, Tom in his tux, and everyone else wearing their bridesmaids and groomsmen outfits. It will be magical. Wait, I guess that word doesn't carry much weight now that we ourselves are 'magical'."

Mirabelle chuckled as they embraced each other. "Yeah. Speaking of these bridesmaids dresses, remember that day you and Annabelle tried them out in her room, mere days before I came into the picture? That was probably my favorite memory, especially when you mentioned your own thoughts of having a wedding. And... "

Kelly didn't know what Mirabelle was talking about, as her girlfriend kept repeating the same undecipherable  phrase word in her head, "mora orror rori oraor go reor" which Kelly didn't even know how to comprehend. Suddenly, Mirabelle walked up to her. "And I was thinking, why have to keep that fantasy wedding in your head, a simple fantasy?"

Mirabelle got down on one knee as she pulled out a box. Kelly was unable to contain her excitement as the green girl opened the box revealing a sparkling ring. "I can't tell you how much I had to concentrate to keep you from reading my true intentions." Mirabelle said, smiling. "But that's the only thing I wanted to keep from you. For the rest of my life, I want you to know everything, be everywhere, and go anywhere. Will you do those with me, Kelly Jane Coen?"  

"YES!" Kelly said a bit too loud. "Yes yes yes yes yes of course!" Mira put the ring on Kelly's finger, which accentuated the one she already had. She then stood onto her feet and the two embraced each other, ready to continue their lives together.

---------------

Meanwhile, Keera spent most of the night upset over Collin's death. She pretty much told him to go, and that made her wonder if it was her words that led him to leave or if he went on his own. She walked around her room kicking herself for not forgiving him in the first place, but realized the words Mirabelle told her. Collin himself realized that if he wasn't there, Mira would be dead, and Kelly would be alone.

When the rays of sunlight peeked through her curtains, they illuminated a box on the ground. Keera remembered Collin giving the box to her in the library the night Annabelle was kidnapped, and that he said it was meant to signify "strength with weakness".  She opened the box and saw a sapphire arm band in the shape of a snake. She chuckled. "Strength with weakness.", she quietly told herself before placing the band on her right forearm, walking over the mirror to check it out.

"Thanks, Collin."

Just wearing the arm band made her realize that Collin, no matter where he was, was looking down on his new friend, and that made her feel much, much better.

------------------

Annabelle sat in the living room watching the news again, chuckling as she saw footage of Jack being taken away in handcuffs by the Military. Tom walked in and sat down beside her. "What's so funny?", he asked.

"Jack. He's gonna be locked up in isolation for a LONG time. It warms my heart knowing that. We did it, we won. I can't believe it."

"Me neither, I'm glad." Tom replied. "But you know something, I would have despised living in a world ruled by Jack."

Annabelle was confused, and made the confusion aware to Tom. "What the hell do you mean by that? We all would have despised it, that's why we worked so hard yesterday to prevent that from happening."

"Well, you know those movies where supervillains take over the world, and years later the world is a dark, dreary, desert wasteland? Well, if Jack did that... he'd mercilessly wipe out all the trees, the grass, everything green. I hate to lose you like that."