The Shadows of Darkness - Sandre's Return: Part Three

by nanjikat

After that day with the Fire Faerie, there was no stopping me. I quickly mastered all the abilities, even those that most Neopians don't even know about. At the end of two weeks, I felt that I could take on anything, even Sandre. There was just one problem: I had to find him first.

The faeries had been looking for Dr. Sloth and Sandre constantly since I had arrived, but to no avail. It seemed that they had both disappeared.

"We've searched everywhere," Mother told me. "There's no sign of either of them." She sighed. "If only we had a way to lure them away from their hiding place."

I had been thinking hard, when it suddenly hit me. "Of course!!" I cried. "Why didn't I see it before? All we have to do is lure them out, and I know exactly how to do it."

The next day, there was a rumor flying about Neopia that the Queen Faerie herself would make one of her rare appearances in Neopia Central. Soon it was official -- the Queen Faerie would make an hour long appearance at Neopia Central town square. Many Neopians were surprised. The Queen Faerie couldn't stay in Neopia Central for more than 3 hours, or else her powers would fade. The magic in Neopian Central was just too weak. In fact, just a few minutes in Neopia Central weakened her.

A week later, Mother was standing in front of a large group of Neopians, telling them about Dr. Sloth, and how he was still on the loose. Where was I? I was scanning the crowd, looking for either Sandre or Dr. Sloth. I knew that having my mother in such a weakened state would be too much for them to resist. As I scanned the crowd, my heart sank. There were no bright yellow Scorchios, and none of the Neopians in the crowd were tall enough to be Dr. Sloth. I was about to tell mother when a Rainbow Aisha caught my eye.

He may have morphed into an Aisha, me may have lost his colour, but there was no mistaking those eyes. Those cold, green eyes that had haunted my dreams ever since that fateful summer night. It was Sandre.

"Sandre!" I called out, "I'm right here, you two timing coward! Come and get me!"

Immediately, the rainbow Aisha turned towards me, his emerald green eyes glowing with anger. I saw his form begin to dissolve, until he was no longer a rainbow Aisha, but a bright yellow Scorchio with a hate in his eyes so intense that I couldn't believe that I had once been his friend.

"So, Adria," he said coolly, "You've found me. Congratulations."

I hated the way he looked at me, like I was some sort of joke. I didn't want to risk harming anybody, though, so I tried to control the anger in my voice. "Your fight is with me, Sandre," I said calmly. "Leave the rest of these people out of it."

He smiled. "Why Adria, all of these people will "go away" soon anyway. Why delay it?" As though the world had gone into slow motion, I watched Sandre turn on a young Meerca and unleashed a torrent of fire on him. The screams echoed in my mind like a broken record. I no longer cared that Sandre had once been my friend. All I wanted to do was make him pay.

"Let's take this fight elsewhere, Sandre," I said, unable to keep the steely edge of anger out of my voice. I grinned slightly. "Or are you too afraid to face me alone?"

That did it. Sandre was so angry that I thought he'd finish me off right there. But I knew him too well. I knew how proud he was of his 'tough' reputation. Soon we were out on an open field, away from all of the people of town square, where no one would get hurt. No one, that is, except us.

"Now we settle this Sandre," I called out from the other end of the field. "Now we settle this once and for all!"

"Yes!" he called back, "With your destruction!"

Sandre began to pull something out of his bag, but I knocked it out of his hands with a simple Spark. "No items, Sandre," I told him. "We settle this on strength alone. Or did Dr. Sloth forget to give you some of that?"

From the look on Sandre's face, I knew that he hadn't been given any abilities or extra strengths. Without that bag, he was helpless.

Sandre wasn't about to give up though. Like a Scorchio gone mad, he belted out every feeble ability he could. A simple mote dance easily rid me of those feeble spells. I then barricaded him with a torrent of pebbles. As I lowered in for the last hit, I noticed something.

Sandre's eyes, which had previously been full of hate and anger, were now filled with fear. 'Why, he looks like how I felt the day he turned against me' I thought. I realised that the tables had turned, now I was the evil one, the one that was bent on the destruction of another. I was scared, because I didn't want to be like that, like him.

As my anger ebbed away, so did Sandre's fear. For a moment, a brief, wonderful moment, I saw my childhood friend. Not the evil, terrifying Scorchio, but my friend, Sandre. I knew that I couldn't take him out.

I had to cage him though. He was making his way towards his bag of items. Quickly, I used Air Shield and wrapped him in an invisible force field. As he sunk to the ground, he was no longer Sandre the Evil, nor Sandre the Good. Finally, he was Sandre the Defeated.

I'm happy to say that Sandre is on the road to recovery. He is seeing a Faerie Therapist who is trying help him get past his feelings of hate and anger. I'm happily living back in the training school, Faerieland just wasn't the right place for me. Dr. Sloth is still free, but we're hoping that Sandre will tell us where he is hiding. After a year of sadness and despair, I'm finally happy again.

The End