07 - I Am Made...

"Damn, it didn't do anything," Doodles huffed.

Daniel had cast a tracking spell that his brother told him about. The two soon followed the trail and were also followed by a small group in the carnival.

"Oh my," Victoria smiled, "well isn't this a treat? Eleanora Victoria Ackerman."

"Nora," Keir asked, "Who is this?"

"... Victoria," Nora responded as she drew the family sword and pointed it to Victoria, "let Alistair go, Victoria! He doesn't belong to you anymore!"

Victoria looked at her blankly, "That's not yours, little girl." seeing Nora flinch, she smiled, "Look at you, playing pretend knight. The gem is still Nathaniel's colour, pathetic." she then looked to the ghoul to give it new orders, "I have no interest for any more prisoners. Kill them all."

The ghoul got on all fours before it charged forward with full force. Just as it reached the group, it smashed the ground around them, separating them from each other and picked its first target, Doodles.

Scanlaso appeared in front of it and put their umbrella forward, blocking the ghoul's attack as the object seemed to have hardened like steel. As the ghoul raises its other hand to attempted a second blow, a chain with blades around the edges wrapped around its arm, Terry being on the othe end of the weapon, pulling it away from the other carnies. Doodles threw his knives at it but the continued to simply bounce off its skin, there had to be a soft area.Daniel and Jo knew they couldn't risk being heard or seen by the locals, so they worked together to cast a sound barrier around the area where they all fought.Emily also joined in, casting her fire at the ghoul, hoping it would be effective.

Nora was about to join them when she heard a cough and looked to Al, who was struggling to stand. Her serious expression changed soft, she sheathed the sword and ran over to him, kneeling down beside the boy, "Are you alright?"

"I've seen better days... Gnn," he gripped his abdomim in pain, "What... are you doing here...?"

"Taking you back home," she helped him up, but he seemed reluctant to go, "Alistair, come on."

"... But-"

"Alistair, we don't have time for this, we can talk when we get back to the carnival. But know, I'm not about to leave my brother behind, no matter what."

Al looked at her with a flicker of hope in his eyes before something caught his attention. He quickly unhooked the bag of holding from his pants and gave it to her quickly, "Sis, look through my spell book, page 79 and you'll find the answers."

"Wait, what are you-?"

"Nora!"

Nora turned her head to see the ghoul's hand just inches from her face. During the time the two were arguing, it had seen this and broke from the group fighting it and went to attack them, attempting to hit two birds with one stone. Before she could react however, Al pushed her out of the way. The last thing she saw was his smile before it was all suddenly gone. He took the blow and smacked into a nearby wall before he fell to the ground. Nora sat there in pure shock, her eyes were widened, her whole body shaking. He wasn't moving and blood seemed to be coming from his head. Everything around her was completely shut off, she couldn't even hear the others calling out to her as the ghoul turned towards her. It was as if she was trapped in this moment, unable to escape. Jo, Daniel and Eddy used everything they had to distract and lure it away from her and Emily ran over to Al and teleported away with him, all this while someone was calling out to the witch.

"Nora!" the moment someone grabbed her shoulders, she was immediatly brought back to reality and was currently looking at a worried Doodles.

"... Sorry..." Nora looked down and tears just suddenly and uncontrolably came rushing out, "This is... all my fault..."

Doodles sighed and looked back to the others as they fought off the ghoul. They were all focused on keeping it where it was this time, so he looked back at Nora, "... Well... If you're referring to taking in Al and caring for him, making such an impression that we all actually care about you two, then I suppose it is," Nora looked up as he continued, "but that's not a bad thing. Your my sister, and there's nothing I wouldn't do for my little sister. We're not leaving you to fight this alone because we all love you and we won't fall. Not to this thing, and certainly not because of anything you've done. Emily got Al out of here and took him to Chad. He's going to be alright, I promise. We need to make sure that thing doesn't reach him, or anyone else in the carnival."

Nora drew the sword and looked down at the gem in the centre. It flickered red along with the vague sound of a heart beat. Realisation struck her and she looked back to Doodles and nodded. The two stood up, "You go on ahead," Doodles nodded and ran ahead to assist the others, "Time to see what it means to be an Ackerman." she gave a quick glance at Victoria before going forward.

The others seemed to be having trouble cutting into the ghoul's tough skin and she wasn't sure if the sword would, but she had to try. Terry had hooked onto another arm, which gave her an idea. She quickly called out to Scanlaso. Seeing Nora, she pointed up and 'he' immediatly understood what she meant. 'He' closed his umbrella and made a cup with his hands. Nora used it as a boost to jump higher. She gripped the sword tightly with both arms and swung down with everything she had. The blade went straight into the ghoul's arm, slicing it clean off. The creature pulled back and shrieked in pain.

"What...?" Victoria gasped, then glared at Nora.

"It went through..." Nora smiled in relief before she looked up at the ghoul with a serious expression as it swung a hit at her, before she dodged it, "I need to get close to its head!"

Doodles, having tried to find a soft spot on the ghoul, threw 2 knives in the direction of its eyes. They hit sucessfully. The ghoul continued to shrieked and held its face before swinging its arm wildly. Terry used his chain to catch the arm and pull it down while Keir grabbed it leg to trip it, having it land in front of Nora. It shrieked one last time before Nora raised the sword to the sky before slicing down with all her might. The ghoul's head fell to the ground, rolling in Victoria's direction.

Victoria stared in shock as this happened before being filled with rage, "Why you-!"

"You'd better be listening Victoria," Nora looked back at her, glaring, "I couldn't do anything when you killed my father, I couldn't save my mother. But, no matter what it takes, no matter what sacrifices I have to make, I won't let you hurt my family," Nora pointed the sword at her, "I'm not brave like my father, I'm not wise like my grandfather and I'm certainly not like James. I understand now. I have to know, myself, what drives me, why I wield this sword. Well, it's none of what drove them. I care about these people and cherish them with everything I am. To put it simply, I love them. That's what drives me, love."

That instant, the gem in the sword turned red and the whole thing started glowing. The blade's edges became a tint of red all around the edges. The gem reformed it's suit into a heart, followed by the pommel and the rain-guard. The cross-guard changed to have appeared red and black thorns sticking out the sides. The sword didn't belong Nathaniel anymore, this was hers now. Eleanora Victoria Ackerman. She smiled at Victoria as she stared in horror.

"H-how...?" Victoria muttered, then her expression changed to stone cold, "Fine. If it's a war you want, it's a war you'll get. And I will succeed, Eleanora." finally the hologram disappeared.

Nora sheathed her sword now and sighed, "See you on the battlefield..."

"Nora!" Jo yelled, hugging her, "That was amazing, hun!"

"Your uncle's gonna be so proud," Doodles smiled, patting her head, "when you save him."

Scanlaso smiled and nodded in a quiet polite manner.

"Still think I can't handle myself?" Eddy smiled at his friend, nudging his shoulder.

"Of course not. You still couldn't even predict this." Daniel grabbed him and procceeded to give him a noogie, while laughing, "I won't worry about you so much, okay?"

"I think we should all head home now," Keir smiled, "that was exhausting.

They all agreed and started walking back to the carnival, then something dawned on Nora before she broke out into running. The others soon realised what it was and followed her quickly, all hoping the same thing. That Alistair was alive.

-----

Victoria stormed out of her room, downstairs and into the library to get a shock. Instead of in the dungeon she sent him to, Nick was sitting comfortably on a chair, reading a book.

"Hello," he smiled as he looked at her, "you seem tense. Did something happened?"

"Wha... What are you doing here?! Where's-?!"

"That man you sent to torture me? He's still in down in the dungeon... with a knife in his chest."

"Why you-!"

"I didn't kill him, he killed himself," he stood up, putting the book down, "The human mind truly is a fragile thing. All I had to do is allow him to see how little he meant to you and he did the rest."

"You can't even use your powers!"

"I can still affect one's mind without it. But, it serves as a challenge to magical being like yourself. That's not the point however. You know you're going to die, right?"

"... What?"

"Unlike the others who are held captive, unlike me, she knows what to expect. She's strong like her father, but logical like her mother. The entire carnival probably knows of you by now and they will be ready for you when you come. ."

"I'm not scared of that stupid little 'family'. Your threats mean nothing to me."

"They're not threats, they're cold hard facts. You will die if you attack that place. The only thing you can do now is let us go and forget all of this."

"... Nothing will stop me in my goals, Nicolas. Facts have been proven wrong before, that's what I'm going to do. Prove you and your smart ass wrong."

"Fine," he shrugged as he walked to the door, stopping for a moment by her, "I warned you, didn't I? The night you killed him. But you didn't listen, turned to genocide, let's see where that gets you, Vicky." he then walked out of the room.

"... You can come out, I know you're here." a ghoul phased through the wall, to Victoria's side.

"I would have strucked him," it spoke, "if he had tried anything. Should I take him back down."

"I'm sure he knew you were here. It's no point to do that now, we need to focus on one thing right now. Send out more of your ghouls. Whitley still refuses to speak. Search the land and waters, we're finding Coral and her family."

"At once." it flew away.

Victoria sighed and ran a hand through her hair, what Nick said playing in her mind.

I warned you.

-----

Everyone stood outside the medical tent, waiting impatiently. Nora, had a worried expression, which far exceeded her ones before. Hours passed before someone came out of the tent. It was Emily, she looked like ahe was contemplating how she would tell the news.

Nora was the first to step forward and ask, "How is he...?"

"..." Emily looked down quietly for a moment, "He's... alive. But, he's not waking up..."

"... I... don't understand..."

"Chad and I did everything to the best of our abilities. All his injuries have been taken care of and his heart is still beating strong. But, that's all we could do... He's in a coma... and we don't know when he'll get out of it..."

There were a few gasps and murmurs in the group, most were quiet though, wondering how to explain this to their children who were fond of the boy.

"But, that's good," everyone looked at Eddy, "There's still hope that he'll wake up. All there is to do is wait, right?"

"When," Nora asked, turning back to Emily, "when can I see him?"

"Don't worry, Nora. You'll be the first to know," Emily gave her a quick hug before going back into the tent.

Jo approached Nora first. Noticing her, Nora hugged her tightly, she was shaking again, "It's alright, hun," Jo whispered, "it's alright..."