[Archenstone]

He had been a ghost so long that he had forgotten that there are a few who can strike the spiritual as if flesh. He was completely open as Night's attack hit him right in chest. He flew back before regaining his balance. The look on his face suggested pure shock.

The Athame, no longer propelled by unnatural forces, dropped to the ground. The combined concentration of good energy had done its job... the crystal had no power. All he could do is fume as his spirit drifted away to the next world.

Eclipse handed the locket to Dawn. It was still open to the picture of Merribell and her Tali. Merribell looked slightly stronger now and bent to put her arms around Dawn. Her touch was no longer cold...but mildly warm like a heat pad. "Thank you so much! THank you thank you thank you." She cries, her eyes shimmered with tears. "I never thought I would escape from here!" After  a moment she said, "Dawn...can you do me one last favor? My Zurune's grave is in the backyard. Can you set my locket there? And don't let that woman get away. She planned all of this to keep her brother around. She abducted me then laughed as she set the trap for Eclipse. They kept me from telling everything I was so scared..." She flew to everyone with a warm touch of thanks.

"You all are amaizing. I owe everything to you! If the authorities need proof of Kaede's plot I was buried under the oak tree in the back. Its rather shallow...they should be able to find me."

Eclipse walks to the Book of Shadows. He picks it up and places it in the flames. With the man gone his spells are harmless and burn away to ash. He then stomps the fire out so that is doesn't spread through the house.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Very good! We've rescued Merribell and uncovered a rather strange plot against Eclipse! If you want we can rp the closing and then I'll put a final post of what happens to Kaede to complete our little story!

[Jaden Wolf]

Dawn took the locket and smiled. She could feel the happiness comming from Merribell, and it made her even happier. She nodded. "Okay!" she said. She felt so sorry for what the girl had been through, and that wasn't just because of the feelings she had experienced through Merribell.
She went up to her big sister and smiled again. Night nodded, her natural sense comming back to her yet again. The strange colour of her eyes was leaving and was being replaced by its natural colour.
Then Dawn walked outside to where the grave lay. She sighed, a feeling of sorrow for the lost tali spreading through her. Then she placed the locket down, and after a minute, walked back to join the others. "We should probably go soon..." Night started to speak, but Dawn cut her off. "We can stay a little while longer though." she said, giving her sister a teasing look. Then she looked up at Merribell.

[Freezair]

"Oh, Abernathy, good show! Good show indeed!" Sonya helped the poor, stunned Anala to his feet, giggling like a woman half her age. His vision somewhat blurred, and his person still largely disoriented, Abernathy stumbled up, licking his lips in confusion.

"Wha... I... hoo... wha?" he muttered.

Sonya hooked her hands under his armpits and lifted him into the air. "Oh, Abernathy, don't you see? You helped a lot! Your knocking over the things actually seemed to help! It weakened him! You made it so the others and Eclipse could stop him."

"My name is Yan Yensen I live in Wisconsin I work in the lumberyard there..." Abernathy dizzily responded.

Sonya pulled her old friend into her chest, buring him in a hug. "Come on, now! Everyone's going outside to the backyard. Let's go!"

"Fruit salad, fruit salad, salad as a rock..." Abernathy said. He shook his head to clear out the distortion.

"Woah! Man, my head hurts. Wait, is the ghost gone?"

"The bad one, yes. The good one was a girl named Merribell. And I think they're all following her."

"Put me down," Abernathy said. "If they're all following, let's go too."

Sonya gave Abernathy an Eskimo kiss and set him down. They followed the troop out to the backyard.

[17]

[LilyFlower258]

Amber smiled. Seeing Merribell this happy made her feel happy as well. She knew she'd done her part, even if it wasn't very large. She helped, and that's all that matters. She gave Solemon a sidelong glance and met his eyes. They were twinkling, as if laughing.

She fastened one of her hands in his mane and he flicked his ears. A silent breath of relief was shared between the 2. At least now the tension was over.

"That turned out alright, didn't it?" Solemon asked quietly, chuckling.

Amber nodded.

"Yeah, it did. And it was pretty nice, if I may say so myself," Amber added.

She smiled widely as she felt Merribell's warm touch against her skin, no longer cold and frightened.

"You're welcome," Amber and Solemon chorused while Solemon gave a little theatrical bow.

"All's well that ends well," Solemon quoted, shaking his head as if to get the bad memories of when they first entered the house out.

"Yep, but Solemon... you know how much I hate those old sayings, right?" Amber asked, walking alongside Solemon and putting her headphones back on. Solemon nodded and smirked at her.

"But you know that I just say them to annoy you anyways, right?" he mimicked. Amber rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever..." she said, flapping her hand in his face.

The music boomed out in Amber's ears as she and Solemon waved to their companions. Somehow, they both knew, that this would be far from the last time they saw any of them... even Merribell.

((WOOT! I guess that's my finishing post! Sorry I didn't post for so long! I have STAR testing this week and all the STUDYING for MATH come this week because math testing is actually next week. SO I've got bundles upon bundles of homework. But since this Arc is over, it's pretty cool! ))

[Archenstone]

After watching Merribel fade away everyone said goodbye and went their separate ways. About a week later something of interest was in newspapers and news. The police received a tip that proved to be just what they needed to solve what was thought as a suicide/murder case. A woman named Kaede was arrested and found guilty of murder. The parents of the missing girl finally recovered her body and had it properly placed at the family graveyard. Police also recovered a diary of hers that was given to her mother. It's covering is burnt but the inside is fine.

Eclipse didn't even glance at the newpaper and he flipped the channel from the news. Some one had tried to kill him. Was he going to have to be careful with every case?

Suddenly a young man appeared in front of him. The spirit was wearing climbing gear and had a gash across one leg. "I don't know how I got here but I'm trapped in a sea cave near Jawan." His face suddenly looks pained and he fades away.

Can my life get any weirder? I deal better with ghosts He sighed and turned off the tv. This was going to be another long week.[/i]