Kade jumped back a rubble fell from one of the buildings, he lifted one hand, the shadows forming a dome over him and the refugees.  

“STAY TOGETHER!” he yelled, flinching as the shadows started blackening his fingers.  They were trying to devour him again.  He took a deep breath and threw the rubble to the side.  “Don’t fall behind!”

It took a few minutes before the others reached him.  All of them had groups of people with them.  

“Are you sure you can do this?” Killian asked, a worried look in his eyes.

Kade shrugged.  “Well I’m not sure...” he muttered, making sure that the civilians couldn’t hear him “I can try the academy.  They should be save over there.  I just don’t know how many of them I work at a time”

“I’ll take more through a dimension” Beck said, looking at Kade.

“Alright” Kade said “As soon as these guys are out of here, we need to go out again”

Bell nodded.  “I’ve cleared about two blocks, we still have a lot to do” she said “I’ve been feeling tremors in the ground for the last few minutes.  We need to hurry”

“Alright let’s do this” Kade said turning to the civilians “Please break up into two groups.  One group with me and the other with Breech”

The people moved quickly.  

Beck opened his dimension tear and started ushering the people through.  Kade just quickly teleported the people two, two at a time.  When he got to the last few, he was already struggling to keep it up.  

When the last of the civilians disappeared, his knees buckled and he just sat down on the ground.

Killian quickly walked over.  “Are you alright?” he asked.

Kade took a deep breath and nodded, getting to his feet.  They were all sweaty, dirty and soot covered.  

“You to to doing that a few more times?” Riley asked.  

“Don’t have much of a choice, now do we?”

“You said it” Beck groaned.  

They split up again.  

The fires burned hot around them, casting shadows on the ground, but also making more light than Kade would have liked.  

Screams and shouts drew his attention and he followed the sound, finding more civilians, before leading them out.  

Again he and Beck got the people out, before going in looking for more.  It continued until Kade and beck finally, just could summon the energy to do it again.  

Kade just sat against the wall, eyes closed, trying to catch his breath.  Beck sat next to him.  

“They can’t keep this up” Killian whispered to Bell, his back turned to the other two.

“I know”

“Look at Kade’s hands”

Bell glanced at Kade’s hands, they black.  The darkness already reached his wrists, with black veins crawling all the way up his arms and disappearing beneath his shirt.  She could see some of the black veins starting to come out from his neck.  While there were shadows around his eyes.  

Both were pale and exhausted.  

“We let them rest here while we continue” Bell said after a moment “Kade’s not going to like it, but he can barely stay on his feet”

Killian nodded, he reached for the black ring on his finger, playing with it for a moment.  “Even then, we will have to escort the civilians out”

“He’s right” Riley said as he joined them “Beck’s at his limit.  He wouldn’t even be able to form a dagger at the moment.  We’ll be lucky if we don’t have to carry them out of there”

“We can hear you, you know” Kade groaned and opened his eyes.

He did not want to admit it, but they were right.  

Killian pulled his hand through his hair as he turned towards Kade and Beck.  “You’re staying here.  We’re going to back out.  Don’t wonder off, don’t argue and don’t annoy each other”

The corner of Kade’s mouth pulled into a slight smirk, while Beck just snorted.  

“Good”

With that the other three disappeared.  

Kade just closed his eyes again.  “You feeling it?” he asked.

“Yeah” Beck muttered “For the last few minutes, since we sat down”

“They are not going to make it out before”

“Neither are we”

“We’re screwed”

“Yeah”

Silence fell over the for a moment.

“Kill got a new ring” Beck said.

“I know” Kade muttered, flinching at the sharp pain in his chest “His other one got lost a few weeks back”

“It means a lot to him, right?”

“It’ll mean more if you tell him you know what it means” Kade grumbled and opened his eyes.  His hands hurt.  His head throbbed.  And he felt like he just ran two marathons. 

“How do you know what it means?” Beck asked as he slowly got to his feet.

“The brat has one as well” Kade said as he allowed Beck to pull him to his feet.

“Brat?” Beck asked confused for a moment “Oh you mean little lightning kid”

“Yeah, and he’s not a kid, you know he only about 2 cm shorter than you, right?” Kade asked leaning back against the building.  

“I never knew you could make a shield with your shadows” Beck said, dropping the other subject.

“New trick I’m practicing” 

Before Beck could say anything else a scream sounded through the air.

“What the hell?” Kade hissed, his eyes searching for the source.  He glanced at Beck.  The other guy shrugged before nodding.  

“I guess, we’re up” 

***

Kade slammed into the wall behind him as the ground started trembling and moving.  Kids scream and people started crying.  

“GET THEM OUT” he yelled, throwing his hands up.  

Shadow rushed forward, becoming solid as he struggled to stop the building from collapsing on top of them.

Beck clenched his jaw, moving his hand slightly.  A dimension tear appeared in front of him.  It did not go very far, but it would get the people out of the building.  

“Go! Go! Go!” he waved the people through.  

As the last one disappeared through, he collapsed on the ground coughing.  Blood stained his lip.  

Kade let out a yelp as the building dropped.  He let of of his shadows, stumbling back.  For a moment his vision turned black.  Without hesitation he stumbled towards Beck, grabbed him by the back of his shirt and hulled him to his feet.

“MOVE IT” he yelled over the sound of the building coming down on top of them.

Beck didn’t respond, he was barely staying on his feet.  

“SHIT” Kade snarled and took a deep breath.  

Again he reached for his teleportation.  He could feel it tearing through his body, ripping him apart as he focused.  

This was going to be painful.

For a moment he through his could feel heart skipping a beat or two and then they crashed into the ground.  

In the distance he could hear the sound of the building collapsing.  

People screamed.

Without checking on Beck, Kade rolled to his feet, lifting both hands towards the oncoming shockwave.

It slammed into his shadows, pushing him back.  

Pain tore through his shoulders and chest.  

And then everything was silent.  

All Kade could heart was his own rapid heart beat and gasping breaths.  

“NIGHTSHADE!  BREECH!”

He spun around, everything went out of focus for a moment before he lost his balance and just fell back onto the ground.  

For a moment he just stared at the people that stood in front of him.  Bell, Killian and Riley.  All three of them were staring at him with shocked expressions.  

“What?” he asked out of breath, before his eyes flickered towards the new group of civilians that stood behind them.

“I though we told you two to stay still...” Bell barely finished and Kade shot to his feet, looking around.  

First he saw Beck laying on the ground, chest heaving as he tried to get his breath back, before his eyes flickered to the terrified group of people that stood not so far away from Beck.

Damn, he must have terrified them when he teleported to right next to them.

Not that he could help that.  

He breathed out before leaning with his hands on his knees, still gasping.  After a moment he just let his legs give him, sitting down on the ground.  

“Hey Breech” he called back towards the other guy “You still alive?”

“Very funny, asshole”

Kade snorted before looking at Killian, Bell and Riley again.  “What’s with the looks?” he asked.  

“You scared us half to death when you weren’t where we left you” Bell said

“Sorry...  We had work to do” he said, nodding towards his group of people “Couldn’t help it”

Bell breathed out and gave him a slight smile.  

“We need to get moving” Beck said as he slowly sat up “That thing you were talking about?  Well it’s almost here”

Killian cussed under his breath. 

Riley walked up to Beck holding out his hands and pulling the other guy to his feet, while Killian did the same with Kade. 

“Then let’s go”

Then it happened.

The ground started trembling, moving beneath theirs feet.  People screamed and fell to the ground.  

Everyone that could fly and still had enough energy left lifted into the air.  

A loud thundering sounded through the air.  

Kade’s eyes snapped towards the building they were standing next to.  “Get back...” he whispered, pushing Killian back behind him “GET BACK!”

The group that he and Beck just save, were to terrified to move. 

“no...” Kade whispered “no... no... no... no, no, no, no...”

He could feel something in him snap.

Shadow rushed forward.

And he screamed, letting his power flow unchecked through him.  

Slowly he lifted his hands, palms up, almost like he was catching something.  

The building slammed into his shadows.  

Forcing Kade to his knees.  

He tasted blood.  

With another scream he pushed against the building with his shadows.  The creatures within tore into the building.  

Bell stared at Kade, eyes wide with shock.  Then she shook her head.  They started gathering everyone, getting them away from the building.  

Kade noticed out of the corner of his eye that Bell gathered everyone.  

He reached for more power.  The power that’s been locked away for so long by his father.  

It rushed painfully through him.

And then he pushed against the building.  

The air filled with sounds of concrete falling.  Metal bending and breaking.  Thundering as the building started to tilt the other way.  

“Stay behind us” Bell said.  

She couldn’t take her eyes of Kade.  The black vein now started crawling up his face, shadows rose from his eyes like smoke.  Blood dripped from the corner of his mouth and from his ears.  She could see him straining against the building.  

Her eyes snapped towards the shadows holding the building and for a split second she could have sworn the shadows from a humanoid figure, holding the building.  

A shiver ran through her body.  She could feel Kade power increasing, draining his body of life.  If he didn’t stop, he would die.

“Shields” she said “We need to layer our shields.  He needs to let go...”

“KADE” Killian yelled as he formed an ice shield in front of them “KADE!”

There was a loud snap and the shadows disappeared as if someone shone a light on them.  

“NO!” Bell and Killian yelled as they saw Kade fall.  

The building groaned and collapsed.  

Ether washed over everyone before a layer of blood mist came.  Finally they were all encased in a done of pure ice.  

When the rumbling finally stopped.  There was just a shocked silence.  All of the shields disappeared.  

Everyone froze.  

The entire area in front of them, were clear.  There was no rubble nor dust.  It all lay next to the clear v from that started where Kade was and ended past them.  

Kade were on his feet.  

Arms hanging limply at his sides.  Head thrown back, as he stared up at the grey, smoke filled sky.  

Slowly he turned towards them.  

All Bell could see was the black line running over the right side of his face, from the forehead down to his jaw.  And his black eyes.

It looked like a pulse went through him, and one hand clutched his chest as he went down to his knees, before just limply fall down.  

Bell and Killian shot forward.  

They fell down next to him.  

Bell quickly turned him on his face.  

All of the black had disappeared from his skin.  All that was still visible was the slight black line over his face.  

“Kade!” Bell called out, shaking his shoulders slightly.

Nothing happened.

“Killian..” she glanced at him, eyes wide.  

Killian leaned over the brunette, pressing two fingers against his throat.  As the second ticked by, he just shook his head.  

“Nothing...” he whispered.  To shocked to say anything else.

Bell could feel herself trembling.

“CPR” another voice said from behind them.

Riley knelt next to Bell.  He took a deep breath before placing his hands on Kade’s chest, one hand on top of the other, clasping them together.  As he started with the chest compressions, he glanced at Bell, who was just staring down at Kade, her golden eyes filled with tears.  

“Bell” he said and he continued.  She did not react.  “Arabella” he snapped and she quickly looked at him.

“You’ll have to give him two breaths, alright?” Riley said.

She nodded and moved next to Kade’s head.  Gently she tilted his chin slightly up before looking at Riley again.  

He gave her a sharp nod.  

Bell pinched Kade’s nose as she gave him the first breath.  His chest rose and fell.  She repeated the action.  Again his chest rose and fell.

Riley just nodded as he continued with the chest compressions.  

Beck made his way over to them, taking a place opposite Riley, next to Killian.

“What the hell did he do?” he asked softly, hands clenched into fists.  

Bell wiped away the tears that started running down her cheeks as she shook her head.  Riley nodded towards her and she gave Kade another two breaths.

Every one watched as his chest rose and fell.  

After three minutes, Beck took over for Riley. 

“Bloody asshole needs to wake up” Riley growled, trying to catch his breath.  

Killian who hadn’t said a word the entire time, nodded.  “He will” he said “He wouldn’t go like this”

Bell brushed Kade’s messy air out of his face, her finger tracing the now almost invisible like over his face.  “Come on...  NightShade...  Open your eyes...” she whispered “You cannot leave...”

Killian took over for Bell, when it became clear that she couldn’t go on.  

“Is he... going to be alright?” a small voice asked softly.

Bell blinked away from of the tears, looking up.  The civilians gathered around them, casting shadows on the ground.  

It was one of the children that spoke.  

“We are doing our best” Bell said, wiping away the tears.  

“You bloody asshole” Beck growled “You said you can’t die before you’ve atoned for everything.  So BLOODY WAKE UP!”

A faint gasp sounded and everyone froze.  

As they watch Kade’s chest slowly rose slightly and fell, before rising again.  

“Kade?” Bell asked softly, hesitantly moving closer to him, afraid that her light might have a bad effect on him.  

“NightShade?” Riley asked.

A weak cough sounded from Kade, but he did not open his eyes.  

“He’s breathing...” Bell whispered, glancing up at Killian.  

There was tears running down both their faces.  Killian just gave her a slight smile before turning his attention back to Kade.  

“You see” Riley said “This ass is not going to leave us any time soon”

Bell turned towards him before she just threw her arms around him, hugging him as she sobbed.  “Thank you...” she whispered “Thank you...”

Riley glanced at the other two as he patted her on the back.  “It’s alright, Bella” he said softly “Kay’s going to be alright”

Slowly Bell pulled away from Riley and nodded before she turned back to Kade, gently talking his hand.  It was warm.  The tips were still slightly stained black, but it will disappeared in time.  

She bit her lip.  “We need to leave” 

The others nodded.  Killian just sat there staring down at Kade.  His friend looked so pale and he couldn’t get the image of those shadow rising from his eyes, as they turned pitch black out of this mind.  And that line over his face.  

It was a scar.

He’s seen Kade’s other scars.  The worst ones all did that.  

“I’ll carry him” Riley said.  

“No” Killian said without looking up “I’ll do it”

Everyone looked at him, but he refused to look up at them.  

“I’ll carry him” he said again.

“It wasn’t your fault” Bell whispered.

“I should have been here” Killian said “I should have...”

“kill...”

Everyone froze. 

Killian’s eyes widened as he leaned over Kade.  “Kay?” he asked softly.  

Kade’s eyes flickered open for a moment, before closing again.  His fingers tightened in Bell’s hand.  

Weakly.

Barely noticeable.  

After a few second, his eyes opened again, a pale, dull, confused green searched until they landed on Killian.  For a moment he managed to lift his hand towards him, before it just fell limply back to his side.  

Killian caught his hand and gave it a slight squeeze.  

“Kay...” he said trying keep the tears back.

“not your fault...” Kade managed a whisper before his eyes flickered closed again.

His breathing halted for a moment and Killian nearly started crying again.  

“Alright” Riley said, taking a deep breath “Let’s get out of here.  Mirage, are you sure you’ll be alright carrying him?”

Killian nodded.  Very carefully, he slid one arm behind Kade’s knees, and the other under his shoulders.  As he lifted Kade up, he shifted him slightly, so it’ll be easier to carry him before looking up and nodded. 

***

The hospital was quiet.  

Only the constant beeping from the heart monitor disturbed the silence.  There was a soft whoosh every time the ventilator deflated and inflated.  

Killian shifted slightly in the chair, careful not to wake Bell, who were fast asleep on the other side of the bed, also in a chair.  Neither of them had let Kade out of sight, but for the time the doctors treated him.  

They had him hooked up to an IV, ventilator for the intubation since he was having trouble breathing on his own, and a heart monitor.  The doctor wanted to keep Kade in an induced coma, but for some reason he decided against it when he read through Kade’s file.  

The door opened and Killian’s head snapped up.  A short, black haired guy peered into the room.  He jumped slightly when he noticed Killian.

“Oh sorry...” he muttered “I didn’t know there was someone here”

“That’s alright...” Killian said, glancing at Bell.  She was still asleep.  “You can come in if you want to”

The guy nodded and stepped into the room.  

It took Killian a moment before he realized who it was.  “You are Vynal, right?” he asked as the other guy walked up to the bed. 

He glanced at Bell before looking at Killian.  “Yes”

“Did Ruelle send you?”

“No”

“Then who?”

“I was doing rounds in the hospital and heard that he was brought in...” Vynal hesitated for a moment, his eyes flickered to Kade “What happened?

Killian shook his head slightly.  “I’m not sure.  He over used his power and then pushed himself even more....” he said and looked over at Kade “His heart stopped...  He wasn’t breathing...  I...  I thought he was dead”

Vynal blinked a few times before he nodded.  

“Can I take a look at him?” he asked.

“Please...” Killian said “He hasn’t woken up since then and...” 

“...you are worried about him” Vynal said, remembering the other time he met the shadow user.  He was in bad shape, but this was something else.

Killian nodded.  

“We both are” Bell’s voice said, causing Vynal to almost jump out of his skin “Sorry.  I didn’t mean to scare you”

Vynal nodded.  “I’ll look at him now” he said, walking over to the bed.  

Bell got up and moved away the chair so Vynal could have enough space to work.  

His hands looked even darker when he placed one on Kade’s forehead, the other over his heart.  Taking a deep breath, he closed his eyes.  Seconds ticked slowly by.  

A frown formed on his face and he opened his eyes, pulling his hands back.  

“His brain is fine” he said “Just over taxed.  That’s why he hasn’t woken up yet.  What he did strained him a lot...”

“But?” Bell said. 

Vynal’s shoulders sagged.  “His heart’s been damaged” he said softly “I can try to heal it, but I’ve never seen anything like that”

“What do you mean?” Killian asked, since Bell just stood there, holding Kade’s hand.  It almost looked like she thought he would disappear if she let go.

“I wouldn’t be able to heal it completely” Vynal said “But I can fix the worse damage, but from now on, there will always be a chance that his heart might fail if he puts to much strain on it”

With that Vynal turned back to Kade.  “You’re going to be alright” he said as he removed the intubation tube “Just hold on for a little longer.  I’m going to fix you up.  Don’t do this again, because then I might not be able to help you”

He place both hands on Kade’s chest.

A soft hum sounded through the room.

Seconds ticked by.  

A groan sounded from Kade and Vynal lifted his hands, the hum stopping.  

Slowly Kade’s eyes opened.  He blinked a few times, before looking around confused.