Chapter Fifty-Nine: The Past Behind Us

Whiteness. Blinding whiteness. A dark spot. A dark spot getting bigger. Taking form.

Maddy blinked. A black-haired young lady with hazel eyes looked back at her. She was wearing a grey top with some sort of insignia on it, and black pants with combat boots.

"Your eyes. They were green." Maddy pointed out.

"Yes. They were. Not anymore though. Usually they're either hazel or red now." Tate Markington smiled wistfully back.

"Am I dead?" Maddy asked.

"Doubt it. Knowing Webby he probably got you out of there as soon as you got hurt. You'll be fine." Tate smiled.

"He misses you so much." Maddy sighed.

"He needs to let go. We all need to let go." Tate let one tear roll down her cheek.

--

"She's awake!"

"Maddison!"

Maddy slowly opened her eyes to more whiteness, which eventually faded into the forms of the Masters and Begly families.

"Webster?" Maddy asked groggily.

"He's currently trying to drown himself in alcohol." Betty Begly looked disgusted.

"Tate?" Maddy tried to sit up. She felt Lara Masters help her up, and put a cup of water to her lips.

"Tate is right here sweetheart." She stroked the younger womans cheek.

Maddy held her daughter, but in her mind she was thinking about the dead woman from her dream. Obsession killed her. Would it kill Webster too?

--

Charlie, Daniel, TJ and Sam sat at the pub, watching their fellow Noble Knight of the Last Order get completely plastered. He didn't know they were there, sitting in a booth keeping an eye on him.

"This is embarrassing to watch." Sam sipped on his soda water while Webster started drunkenly slurring a story to the bartender.

"If it were any other situation it'd be funny." Daniel replied, beer in hand. TJ frowned at him.

"If you saw the number of domestic disputes I had to go to as a cop that were fuelled by alcohol you'd never touch the stuff again." He snapped, clutching his lemonade.

"Easy there tiger, one beer won't hurt. It's self-medicating like Webster is doing that's the problem." Charlie took a swig of his own beer.

"Complacent." TJ scowled.

"It was my fault!" Webster suddenly cried loudly. "Everyone I love gets hurt or killed because I'm such a bloody coward!"

"Easy mate, I think you've had enough." The bartender tried to calm him down.

"DON'T YOU PATRONIZE ME!" Webster yelled, prompting his friends into action.

"Time to go home Webster." Daniel took one of his arms.

"NO!" Webster tried to fight him off, but Charlie had his other arm. Between the two brutes they had the situation pretty much under control.

"I'd really hate to be on the wrong side of those two." TJ mused. While he and Sam definitely weren't small, they paled in comparision to their bigger friends.

"I could take 'em easily!" Sam bragged.

"Yeah, right."

"I could!"

"Tell him he's dreaming." Daniel called back. "And get over here, one of you two has to drive us back home, we can't leave him in the back seat by himself!"

"Your car." TJ smirked as they headed out to the carpark. Sam grimmaced and went to the drivers door, while TJ held the rear passenger door open for Daniel, Charlie and the invalid.

Suddenly Webster lurched and gagged, which was followed by a large amount of vomit landing on TJ.

I don't think Sam's laughed so much in his life.

--

Webster sighed. His headache had subsided after the bender from the previous night, but the guilt still lingered.

He had to see Maddy again. He knew that. He had to make things right again. He loved Maddy, with all of his heart.

So why was Tate still on his mind?

He rolled over in his bed and drifted off into an uncomfortable sleep.

"Really Webby?"

He spun around in suprise. Standing behind him was Tate Markington.

"You ditched me, remember?" Tate folded her arms. "You chose her over me."

"Tate, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I was too worried about what everyone else thought of me, that I couldn't care for you the way I should have." Webster felt tears stinging his eyes.

"That's not Maddys problem. You have to learn to live with that, not her." Tate frowned.

"I know. I just..." Webster looked away.

"Don't worry about me Webby. You're my best friend, and you always will be. I know that now." Tate smiled at him.

"We were quite a pair, weren't we Tater? You'd love baby Tate." Webster smiled back. "You would have been a great Aunt."

"I wish I could have been. But still, I'm in a better place now. Somewhere where I can fix my faults without the scorn or ridicule." Tate replied.

"Yeah. You never had that chance before." Webster sighed. "I wish I could have helped you more."

"We both screwed up. Anyway, I gotta go. They're waiting for me." Tate turned to go back into that bright whiteness. Webster could make out six other figures behind her.

He smiled, and turned to head back too.

--

It was nothing short of a disaster. TJ was clutching his head, Daniels ankle was twisted, Sunny had a sprained wrist, the twins had a black eye apiece and Petunia was nursing a sore jaw. The only two who had any fight left in them was Belle and Charlie, and THEY were still going at it hammer and tongs (or Lucky Seven Gun and Lions Claw Blade, they're interchangeable).

"THAT WAS WIDER THAN MY AUNT MAUD!" Charlie roared in fury, swinging at Belle, who dodged.

"IT WOULD HAVE HIT THE STUMPS IF IT HADN'T BEEN FOR YOUR FAT FOOT!" Belle ducked under his arm and kicked him in the knee, which he barely felt through his rage.

"You know, maybe we should give up on our cricket games." Petunia said to TJ as they watched the pair fight.

"I think that'd be wise." TJ groaned, his head throbbing from where she'd smacked him with her first-aid kit.

"You weren't kidding when you said this lot were immature Webster, I can't believe what I'm seeing!"

The six Knights spun around. A pale Maddy was walking slowly towards them, supported by Webster and the young Tate.

"Maddy! You're out of hospital!" Belle and Charlie quickly forgot their quarrel and bolted over to see Maddy.

"Yup, and almost as good as new." Maddy smiled at them.

"Wait, you two are talking again?" Sam asked, earning him a clip over the back of the head from Petunia and an elbow in the ribs from Tammy.
Webster laughed, his clear green eyes full of merriment.

"We had a long, long talk. We've decided that we're going to move back to Brisvegas permanently." He told them. "We're going to try and bring outside attention to plight of Pleasantville, and hopefully mount a stronger case for people to start to change their ways."

"Well, we hope it goes well for you both." Daniel smiled ruefully. "Although that means we'll be down a Knight."

"I'm sure you'll...manage." Webster frowned at the current condition of the Noble Knights of the Last Order.

"I think we should all head home and get cleaned up." Sunny looked sheepishly at her friends.

"Besides, Patrick will be home with Melody soon and I need to have dinner ready."

"Where were they?" Belle asked.

"Doctors. I can't stand needles and I couldn't bear to watch Melody get her vaccinations." Sunny shivered, making Petunia roll her eyes.

The troop headed home (Melody LOVED her needles, much to the horror of Sunny and amusement of Patrick) and two weeks later they farewelled Sir Hedgehog from the Noble Knights of the Last Order forever.

Chapter Fifty-Eight: One Day at Pleasant Lake

Peter Masters tapped the ground impatiently as chaos reigned supreme around him. Lara was pressed up against him and Maddy was up against her.

"This is the LAST time I let you talk me into retail therapy!" Maddy scowled at Lara, who shrugged.

"It's because we brought HIM along. Him and his bad luck!" Lara jabbed her husband in the ribs.
"Next time we're carrying our own shopping!"

"Gladly!" Peter snapped. To be honest, he was kinda glad that the turf wars had interrupted the shopping excursion - being the pack mule was no fun.

"Hopefully Chuckles and Giggles get here soon." Lara looked out from under Peters arm. In front of them, a Crusader was fiercely battling an Emerald Mobster. The Crusader, surprisingly, was winning easily, the shield on his arm protecting him from the Emerald Power while his replica Mystic Eight Gun provided plenty of firepower. The Emerald Mobster didn't survive long, and the Crusader was about to help one of his gangmates when an Emerald Shard hit him in the chest, paralyzing him long enough for his neck to be snapped by another Emerald Mobster.

"Brutal." Lara turned pale.

"HEY! LOSERS!" They heard a familiar voice that made them feel better.

"Although why she has to be inflammatory all the time is beyond me." Peter muttered.

"She's YOUR daughter." Lara pointed out.

Giggles went right for the head of the battle, where Crusader Mark and Crusader Roger were battling Mobster Marion and Master Revolver. Behind her, Chuckles was trying to herd civilians to safety.

"The Knights of the Last Order should be here soon!" He called to Giggles. "So I'll give you a hand in a second!"

"Will you two-just-will you cut it out?!" Giggles tried to pull Crusader Roger and Mobster Marion apart. "NO! Revolver! MARK!" She then rushed over to stop Crusader Mark and Master Revolver from killing each other. "WAIT MARION STOP!" She then had to seperate Mobster Marion and Crusader Roger again. "REVOLVER STOP SHOOTING MARK!" She rushed back to stop Master Revolver from killing Crusader Mark.
"It's like running after toddlers." She groaned, trying to wrestle Mobster Marion and Crusader Roger apart.

"HEY! GIGGLES! Let me help you there!" Sir Dark ran over to help. "Why do you guys INSIST on doing this where there are innocent people around?!" He groaned as he pried Crusader Marks hands from Master Revolvers neck.

"Because it keeps people in fear of us. Kinda the major thing that keeps us in power around here." Master Revolver replied, firing off his shotgun and nearly blasting off Crusader Marks face. Crusader Mark retaliated by trying to shoot him in the chest - the only thing that saved Revolver was Sir Hedgehog pulling him to safety.

"This is chaos!" Lady Courage quickly pulled an unfortunate citizen out of the path of a pair of battling criminals. "You try and get people out of here and your path is blocked by guns and swords!"

"Tell me about it." Chuckles groaned, running to the aid of Giggles, who had both Mobster Marions sword and the Dragons Scale Scythe at her throat.

"Easy guys!" Giggles tried to back away slowly.

"If you insist on getting in our way, you're going to get hurt!" Crusader Roger prepared to slash her head off.

"Don't even think about it!" The Dragons Scale Scythe connected loudly with the Lions Claw Blade, while Chuckles deflected Mobster Marions sword with one of the Arms Scythes.

"Thanks mate." Giggles jumped backwards, putting some distance between her and the two warring criminals.

"This isn't any of your business, leave this to the grownups punk." Mobster Marion swung her sword at Chuckles, who dodged and deflected a blow from Crusader Roger. He narrowly missed having his head removed by the Dragon Scale Scythe, before Giggles grabbed him and flew to safety on a nearby building.

"I give it ten more minutes before they get bored of it." Chuckles noticed that there was a large number of dead or injured criminals.

"You REALLY think a lack of bodies will stop them from fighting?!" Giggles groaned. "You KNOW that what you see in front of you isn't even HALF of these guys manpower; in fact I wouldn't be surprised if they call in WILL YOU AT LEAST DO ME THE COURTESY OF LETTING ME FINISH MY SENTENCES YOU JERK?!"

Chuckles had bolted, jumping down from the building top down balconies towards the road that lead to the markets. Sure enough, two convoys full of Crusaders and Mobsters was heading towards the battlefield. Quick as a button, Chuckles ran at the vehicles using the Lions Claw Blade to slash the tyres of the two convoys.

"Are...you...KIDDING me?!" One of the Crusaders jumped out of his van and scowled at Chuckles. "Not cool man. Not cool."

"Tell me about it." Another Mobster looked at his own tyres.

"You could always just head home and leave it for another day." Chuckles pointed out.

The Mobsters and the Crusaders scowled at each other.

"Fine then. You got off easy this time Crusaders. Run on back to March Hill before we change our minds." One of the Mobsters snarled, before walking back to Misneach Manor.

"So be it." The Crusaders headed back to their home base, all scowling.

"How Improbable." Chuckles laughed to himself. "I wonder how things are going back at the markets?"

The last of the Crusaders and Mobsters back at the markets were either injured or exhausted. They all eyed each other warily.

"Give up. You were washed out fifty years ago, and you should have stayed dead." Master Revolver snarled at Crusader Mark.

"You barely existed fifty years ago Gangster, if it hadn't been for us killing that Masters fool than the Death Valley Gang wouldn't have ever formed!" Crusader Roger barked back. Livid, Master Revolver fired off a nasty shot that nicked Crusader Rogers arm. He retaliated by attacking Mobster Marion, who was in range for a swing of the Dragons Scale Scythe.

Meanwhile, the Knights of the Last Order were sneaking the rest of the civilians out of danger.

"This feels far too familiar somehow." Lady Luck said to Sir Hyper as the last few frazzled citizens made their way to their cars and out of the market.

"Familiar how?" Sir Hyper asked.

"Just...familiar." Lady Luck wiped her brow.

Sir Hedgehog was panting, standing near the entrance of the markets, watching Mobster Marion and Crusader Roger continue to exchange blows. He had to admit, they were both exceptionally skilled with their weapons.

"C'mon, let's get you out of here." Giggles helped her father to his feet.

"Thank you Giggles." Peter smiled at her, as he took Laras hand and jogged to the exit with her. Behind them was Maddy, who eyed Sir Hedgehog warily.

Suddenly, the arguement between Master Revolver and Crusader Mark turned violent again, and gunshots were heard all around.

"Shoot!" Giggles groaned.

"Well, that IS what they're doing." Peter shrugged.

"Of all the times for bad Dad jokes." Lara scowled.

"We should be able to get past them, follow me closely!" Giggles pulled out the Lucky Seven Gun and lead the three stragglers to the exit.

"MADDY!" Sir Hedgehog cried. Crusader Mark was aiming the Mystic Eight Gun right at her!

"KEEP MOVING!" Giggles cried. Maddy froze. She couldn't move.

One of Sir Hedgehogs spines stopped Crusader Mark from firing the Mystic Eight Gun, but then Mobster Marion saw a chance to get one up on her hated rivals. Getting in between Sir Hedgehog and Maddy, she prepared to strike the young mother down.

"NO!" Sir Hedgehog threw another one of his spines towards the Mobster, who was speared out of the way at the last minute by Master Revolver.

Maddys eyes widened. She felt herself vomit blood, just as the spine entered her body.

She felt herself falling, hitting the ground.

She felt her world turn black.

Chapter Fifty-Seven: My Best Friend

The young man groaned. The only seat left in the science class was next to the new girl, and everyone knew she was crazy. She'd already been kicked out of three schools that year for violence.

"Please take a seat Mister Schnider." The teacher said. Sighing, he took the seat next to the crazy new girl, who merely glared at him.

"Excellent, we've managed to fit two to a table. You'll be spending the rest of the year working with your partner, so make sure you get to  know each other." The teacher beamed.

"Tough luck Webster!" The young man heard a voice from behind him. He could hear whispers around the room. "Poor Webster! Getting stuck with Markington!"

It couldn't be denied; the scowling, isolated Tate Markington next to him was a dangerous young lady. Or so everyone said, Webster really hadn't had much to do with her.

The teacher set them their assignment and started reading his book as they started to "work" (read: Do whatever they liked, it's not like the teacher cared). Webster gulped.

"Scared of me, are you?" Tate sneered, turning away from him to read her own book.

"I don't even know you!" Webster protested.

"Well, I'm Tate Markington. Now you know me." Was the short reply.

"I'm Webster." Webster smiled, trying to connect with the young lady in front of him. "So, the sheet says we need to pick a plant species and write a report on it. Any suggestions?"

"Cactus." Tate replied snappily.

Webster tried not to laugh. Tate raised an eyebrow at him.

"I'm sorry." Webster giggled. "I don't know why I find it so funny."

Tate shook her head, but started laughing too.
"And they call me mental." She shook her head. "Seriously, though, cactus would be interesting, and no one else will do them. They're all about trees and flowers."

"You mean things that people actually like?" Webster finished chuckling.

"Hey, cactii might not look appealing, but they're super-hardy and can be useful if you're stuck in the desert and don't have any water." Tate defended her choice.

"Cactus it is then." Webster wrote it down in his notebook. "You know, you're nothing like what people say you're like."

"How so?" Tate blinked.

"You actually seem to have a sense of humour." Webster poked her. Tate grinned, but then looked downcast.

"Yeah, unfortunately it's only on good days I have a sense of humour. The rumours are true you know. I got kicked out of a few schools because of my temper and my ability to hold a grudge." She began doodling in the margins of her notebook. "It's just when I know people are trying to hurt me or the people who I care about I go spare."

"Well, you just need to learn how to NOT go spare. Do you see a doctor at all?" Webster asked, flicking through his textbook to see if he could find anything cactus related.

"My foster parents can't afford it. Besides, it's not like I'll be with them for much longer anyway, they said if I got kicked out of one more school they'd send me back to the orphanage." Tate stabbed at her notebook with her pen. Obviously, she'd spent a lot of time at the orphanage and didn't want to go back.

"Well, we're friends now, so I'll try and help you keep your temper." Webster smiled.

"You mean it?" Tate looked up at him, hopeful.
From that day forth, Tate and Webster were inseperable. Nothing could get between them.

Except Tates feelings.

--

Webster sighed. It had been a long day, between his horror lectures and keeping people from picking on Tate. It had been six years since their first meeting, and she had made awesome progress - she had a few friends now and was much happier. Alas, mud sticks and she was victim of many taunts and pranks.
Webster tried to stick up for her, but it was hard work with her flash-bang temper and nasty habit of holding cold, long grudges. Also, Webster had a sneaking suspicion that Tate had a crush on him.

He walked into his bedroom, shutting the door behind him, before flinging his bag onto his desk and flopping face first onto the bed.  Tate was his best friend. She was his sister, the twin sister he had lost to death in early childhood. He groaned at himself - Tate and Wendy were two completely different people, and Tate could never be Wendy and Wendy could never be Tate.

He sighed. That wasn't the real issue at all. The real issue, although he was ashamed to own it, was that Tate was just too weird. She was rapturous, imaginative, spontaneous, and completely and utterly insane. He often laughed, not with her, but at her, because he could never follow how she got from one thought to the next. He couldn't understand her ideas, he couldn't understand HER. While he could have lived with that if it was just her, he couldn't live with people laughing at him, pitying him, turning up their noses at him because of her. He loved her - of that there was no doubt, despite her loopy ways, but public pressure was too much for him to bear.
He lifted his head and looked at his laptop, which was on the bedside table next to him. He reached out and grabbed it, flipping himself over, making himself comfortable and turning it on. He opened up one of his favourite chat rooms, where he often went to try and forget about the rest of the world.

He soon got into an argument about the latest sci-fi movies with a couple of idiots. He had a feeling he was being trolled, but it was fun, so he continued. A private message window popped up after a while.

"Why are you entertaining those idiots when you could easily squash them?" The message said.

He typed back. "I've got nothing better to do. My assignments are all done and there's no tests to study for until next month."

"And trolling in chat rooms is the best you can do? You're a bit pathetic." Was the response.
Webster smiled to himself. He was a bit pathetic really.

"So why are you wasting your time with me? I'm Webster by the way."

"I'm Madison. I get the feeling there's more to you than you let on. Like you're trying to hide something from the world."

Understatement much? Webster sighed again. He could always tell this anonymous person about his problems with Tate, about how she loved him and how he was trying not to love her back lest he become an outcast like her too.

"I'm complicated." He said.

"So make it easy for me."

Why was she so interested?

Webster was curious. After a while, he discovered that Madison was a year younger than him and lived up north in a city called Pleasantville, which was a bit of a crime haven.

"Yesterday one of the local gangs tried to take over the private school. Two kids named Belle and Charlie stopped them though. At the same time, the other local mobsters tried to rob a bank. Both gang leaders were killed, but I doubt it's the end of the gangs." Madison told him. "My dream is to study law and eventually help the local prosecutor Peter Masters become the Mayor and finally clean up this city."

"That's a pretty noble dream. I'm just doing a Bachelor of Arts right now, I don't really know what I want to do." Webster typed back, feeling for the first time like he was connecting with someone other than his psycho best friend.

"Don't you have any ambition at all?" Madison asked.

Now she was starting to sound like Tate, who often told him how he was wasting himself due to his cowardice.

"You're starting to sound like my nutcase best friend. She's always trying to get me to push myself."

"Maybe you should listen to her. Anyway, I've gotta go and have dinner and do my homework, I'll talk to you again sometime!"

Webster smiled to himself. For the next few months, when he got home he immediately went for his laptop to talk to Maddy. She was an outlet for his pent up emotions, and she in turn often asked for his advice. He found it easier and easier to put aside his feelings for Tate, who was starting to get a bit desperate.

"Hey Webby, I'm going to go out for dinner, would you like to come with me?" Tate asked after a lecture one day, about a year after that first conversation with Maddy.

"Um, probably not Tater. I've got a lot of study to do." Webster lied.

"We never hang out any more. I miss you." Tate grabbed his arm and cuddled up to it, making people stare at them. Webster tried to shrug her off, but she wouldn't budge.

"Look, I promise we'll go to the arcade this weekend and go and play computer games. I might even let you win." Webster tried. Tate grinned.

"You're on!" She punched his arm before running off in her stupid, almost skipping way. For a moment it felt like old times again, before her stupid feelings got in the way. Webster smiled, and went home to talk to Maddy.

"I'd really like to meet you. I'm going to be in Brisvegas next week to look at the University, would we be able to meet then?" Maddy asked that night.

Webster couldn't wait to say yes.

--

Of course, everything went smoothly when Webster met Maddy, and after a fashion they became a couple. Of course, Webster never told Tate about this.

Several years later, Webster announced that he was moving to Pleasantville. Tate was distraught.

"But WHY do you want to leave?" She asked Webster as they sat in his room while he packed.

"Because I think my future lies there." Webster replied, silently adding, "With Maddy."

"I guess you need to follow your dreams. I hope you make it, whatever they are." Tate said quietly.

"Thanks buddy." Webster hugged her tightly, before forcing himself to let go. 'You can't stay here with her.' He told himself. 'You know what she's like.'

"Maybe someday you'll come back." Tate tried to smile, for his sake.

"Maybe." Webster shrugged non-commitally. There was no way he was going to come back here as long as Tate was around.

"I'm sure you will." Tate hugged him. "When are you going?"

"Day after tomorrow." Webster lied. His bus left the next morning.

"Then I guess we'll still have tomorrow, right?" Tate kissed his cheek.

Webster felt awful for lying, but he really didn't want Tate there to say farewell and make a scene.

The next time he saw Tate, she was surrounded by destruction, less than twenty-four hours from her own death.