It's The End of the World (As We Know It) - Literate

Bella clung tightly to Marcello, her eyes wet with tears. She buried her face in his chest, her head bleeding all over him, but right now she just needed to hold onto something. She would apologize later. If there was a later. She looked up at Marcello, "K-Kyira was right... I-I'm to easily fooled..." this made her start wondering, if she was so easily fooled, could she have been wrong about everyone? What about Marcello? And Zane? And Kyira? Especially Jason? She had only just met him. Could he be just like Ash? Or could he really want to help her?

Ash's face was still painted with that evil, maniacal smile of his. He watched Marcello fly off with Bella, "Do you really think that you can keep me from getting to her? I need her power. And I'm very patient. I was prepared to wait tonight, but you've just let me taste the sweetness of hurting her. I don't know how long I can hold off. Her scream..." He closed his eyes as if savoring a rare chocolate, "It was heavenly. I couldn't have asked for a better one. You are lucky to have so sweet a screamer on your hands. Too bad I must take her from you."

"Too bad I know how to kill you in three hundred different ways with my bare hands, and considering I can hold you still without using them, that just makes it all the better. I would choose my words carefully if I were you, killing you is going to be easy, and considering you're just a psychopath, I'll treat you how you adore to treat people."
Kyira gave Zane a quick glance, he knew her, but he didn't know the side of her that came out when she was really angry. She'd cut someone's throat slowly so they'd feel the pain before they died. She really would hate for him to see, but when someone thought of Bella they way this freak did, she didn't really care anymore.

Jason was more than a little mad now. he was glad bella was safe for the moment. "kyira. do you mind if i burn this guy's legs off starting with his feet?" Jason asked, his voice thick with venom. he had always hated those who hurt others for no reason. he wanted to make this guy hurt before he died. Normally he was nice, but he considered bella his friend. And to attack a friend of jason's was to beg for the most painful death jason could think of at the given time. his hands were still in flames, ready to makae do of what he had asked kyira to do.

"Go for it."
Kyira wanted to kill this guy herself, but she really didn't want to go out of control and do things she hadn't done for years. Doing to him what she did to her parents would be unforgivable, even doing it to this freak.
"I'll keep a strong hold on him so he can't move."
Kyira felt her mind make two hands that grasped Ash tightly and constricted his movements to none but breathing.

Jason's hand spouted flames at the boy's feet, melting his feet clean off, bones and all, in a slow and horribly painfull process. Normally jason was kind, but anyone that hurt his friends was asking for this. he moved the flames up and down his legs, slowly burning them away. he would leave him a stub, assuming he survived the bleeding that would follow being burned to such a great extent. Jason sneezed as the smell of burning flesh filled the room. it was an awful stench, but he was able to tolerate it.

Ash laughed at Jason's attempts to burn him alive. He seemed to be compleatly insane! "People of the New Earth!" He said, as if speaking to his new subjects, "I am but a humble collector. I collect the strong, I collect the most powerful of gifts given to you by fate. Do you honestly think I can be destroyed by the insignificant element of fire?" When they looked at his legs where Jason was burning him, they could see his skin was untouched, "It's going to take a hell of a lot to kill me." He closed his eyes and a surge of energy knocked them all against the walls, releasing Kyira's hold on him, "You're day to die isn't here yet. I will hunt you like animals and you will come back begging for my mercy." He kissed Kyira's cheek, "My name is Ash, sweatheart." And with a BOOM!, he vanished.

When knocked backwards Kyira's head hit a stone wall and knocked her out. She seemed to be dead, but if you felt she had a weak pulse. Her head was bleeding and her eyes had rolled back into her head.
Marcello kept flying, trying to get as far from the mall as he could.
"I hope they're alright back there..."

Jason had flipped backwards and landed on his feet. he gasped when he saw her and pulled some guaze from his pocket. he hurrid to her side and wrapped her head up, putting pressure on the wound until it stopped bleeding. He picked up kyira and set her down on a mattress. he wondered what he should do now. he couldn't do more until she woke up. he hoped she was alright.

Zane held Kyira close to him, the affection he held for her obvious in his eyes and in the care he took for her. He looked up at Jason and gave a quick, grateful bow of his head, "Thank you." he said softly, as if he regretted not being able to care for her himself.
Bella, still bleeding all over the place from the line around her head, looked back at the mall where Zane, Kyira, and Jason were. She bit her lower lip, struggling to see past the blanket of red over her eyes, "We have to go back to them." She announced, "What if he hurts them?"
Like he hurt me.

Marcello slowed down and turned to where the mall was.
"We do..." He agreed quietly.
He rushed back and landed back inside the mall, shock on his face at what he saw. Blood on one wall and Kyira bandaged.

Bella tried to run over to Kyira, but her legs only carried her a few steps before she fell, having to catch her head in her hands. Zane looked at Bella in horror: it looked like the top part of her head moved when she fell. As in, it wasn't attached. Had Ash separated the top of Bella's head from the rest of her? He swallowed hard. If that was what he could do, he was glad that Kyira's injury was all that had happened. Bella had to close her eyes, struggling to breathe, "Marcello... a-a little help..." she held onto her chest. With the enhanced hearing that they all had, they could hear her heart skip a beat. It sounded like Bella was dying.

Marcello rushed to Bella's sighed and carried her to where Zane and Kyira were.
"What happened to Kyira, Zane?" Marcello asked a bit worried as he helped Bella.
Kyira stirred, coughing a bit before her eyes opened and she groaned. She coughed again and blood came out, which she wiped on the carpet floor.
"What the...hell happened..." She whispered hoarsely.

Jason saw how injured bella was. he wordlessly took her from marcello and wrapped up her head and applied pressure until the blood stopped. He got a clean rag and wipped the blood from her face and eyes. "bella are you able to see?" he asked softly. he would make one hell of a medic. if she couldn't see he already knew he had to wash her eyes out with water. He was hoping she would be alright. he didn't want to tel the others how serious that wound almost was... It would scare marcello and the others to no end.

Bella shook her head weakly, "No... I can't... I think there is blood in my eyes."
Zane put an arm around Kyira, "There was a kid that showed up here, acting all friendly toward Bella, then he cut her head open and tried to take it off. It was... really weird...." he sighed, "But you got Bella out of here and held him. At least until he somehow created an... energy pulse of some kind. It knocked you against the wall." He attempted a smile, "But I think you saved Bella."
Bump... bad-ump...
Bella's heart skipped another beat as her she held her head with her right hand, struggling to stay awake.

Kyira looked at Bella' her eyes growing wide. She rushed up and ended up falling back down. She had lost a lot of blood pressure in her head and was light headed.
"Bella...what's wrong?" Kyira ask exasperated.
Marcello was on pins and needles worrying about Bella and her condition. He had no clue whether she was alright or whether she was about to just fall over and die right in front of all of them.

Jason frowned. her condition was getting worse. he took some yellow berries from his pocket and started chewing on them. he pulled off bella's bandages and spit the juise onto the wound, where it stuck like glue, keeping the blood in. he got a water bottle and tilted her head slightly to the side. "bella open your eyes for me please" he said kindly as he poured water onto and into her eyes to drain the blood out so she could see again. he would have made one heck of a doctor before the world had ended.

Bella reflexively blinked as the water hit her eyes, letting the light in. Her vision was still wavering, going from kind-of-blurry, to holy-crap-I-can't-see-anything. She wiped the water from her eyes. When Jason looked at her woulds, he would be able to tell that the bones in her skull were no longer attached to the rest of her. He had literally taken off the top of her head. It would be no difficult task at all to remove the top part of her head completely. Bella clearly wasn't aware of how badly her head was injured. "Thanks..." she said softly, attempting a smile, that turned into a grimace of pain.
Zane looked at Kyira in panic. Something wasn't right.
They all locked eyes as Bella's heart skipped two beats.

Kyira moved out of Zane's grasp and went to Bella' side.
"You guys, this is bad, really bad!" Kyira said shakily.
She saw how badly Bella had been hurt and know she wondered what they could do to help her.
Marcello dropped to his knees next to Zane, complete and total shock on his face.

Jason put a finger to her lips. stay quiet now. you need to stay still until the berries fix the damage that was done" he said chewing some more and rubbing it into what was alerady there. the berry's healing properties would fix her skull too after it was absorbed into her skin. for now he was applying a lot to the outside of her head. "just keep perfectly stil now" he said softly. he knew a lot about herbal medicine. most doctors didn't even know this type of berry existed. jason had cultivated it himself so h was the only person that even had it.

Bella's eyes closed slowly, her elbow locked in place to keep her from falling. Even still, she looked like she was going to collapse at any second. Zane gripped Kyira's hand tightly, this was scaring him to death. Bella was one of their best friends. And after they had thought she was dead for so long, it was nice to finally have her back. Were they going to loose her so quickly. Zane looked over at Marcello. How would he take it? He would probably go insane. He had never told Bella how he felt about her. How he had loved her for all these years. Was he never going to get his chance. Bella's heart skipped two beats again.

Jason pulled a bunch of different herbs from another pocket and he mixed it up into a liquid. He mixed it with what was left of the water. and opened bella's mouth. "here drink this" he said pouring some down her throat. it was a pain killer and something that would speed up the healing process. He observed every slight thing she did, and pulled out another remedy for it. when one lived alone they learned stuff like this just to stay alive. hence why he knew how to do such great treatments.

Kyira's eyes betrayed her and started leaking out the tears she had been holding back. She couldn't do anything but back up slowly.
"What...what can we do?" Kyira whispered.
Marcello clenched his fist and closed his eyes.
No...no this can't...it can't be happening...

Bella did as she was told, obeying Jason's requests without question. Any fears she had earlier about Jason being like Ash were gone. All she knew now was that she could hear her blood pumping in her ears, a slow, simi-constant drumming that was driving her nuts. And that she was in a lot of pain. She almost felt like giving up, just letting herself die just to end the pain, but she opened her eyes long enough to see the faces of the others, and she knew she had to keep fighting. For them. Bella held her breath. She knew things for her enjoyed getting worse before they got better.
Zane held Kyira close to him. One could cut the tension in the air with a knife. Marcello looked as if he were about to kill someone. Weather it be Ash or the unlucky guy who happened to be the next one to say anything to him.

Jason knew the potion would start taking effect now. he hoped it would be enough. he watched the stick stuff on her forehead start to sink into her skin, the cut vanishing and the blood dissappearing. the throbbing in her head would be leaving now as the juice started healing her skull. the pain killer would numb it until it was fully in effect. "bella just keep your eyes open for me." he said softly as he started brushing the hair from her eyes. "can you see me now?" he asked hoping he had drained alll the blood from her eyes.