Showdown

My mouth fell open.

"How are we supposed to do that?" Brie hissed. Kaden grinned, gripped us in a bear hug and ran straight at his brother.

"Kaden!" Brie screamed, reaching for him as he collided with the King, knocking him over. I grabbed her arm and held her back.

"He's buying us some time-we have to hurry!" I pushed passed Brie and raced to the shoes, stopping in front of them. My hands were shaking almost too badly to strike a match. I broke the first one I tried. Brie yanked the matches out of my hands and struck one, dropping it on the shoes, where it burned out.

"Gah! I need something to feed it!" Brie cried.

"Do you have any paper? Tissues? Anything?" I asked her desperately, searching my pockets.

"No! It's all in the car!" She cried out, doing the same.

"Use the box!" Kaden yelled to us, as his brother tried to break free. I heard him snarl "Not this time, you and I are more evenly matched now."

Brie ripped the box up, saving the striking paper. She dropped the pieces between the shoes in a little pile, and broke the next match she tried to strike.

"Goddamnit" She cursed through her teeth. I grabbed a match from her and struck it to life. Gently lighting the box pieces, I tried to protect the little flame so it would spread to the shoes. The flame died out again. The King broke free from Kaden and came running towards us. Kaden abruptly appeared between us, knocking me to the ground. I fell right into Brie, who was holding the last match, which broke on impact.

'Of course it did' my internal monologue snidely informed me. I cursed to myself. Brie was staring at the pieces with tears in her eyes. I grabbed the stub of a match and yelled to Brie for the strike paper. The King scrabbled at my legs around his brother, trying to pull me away. Kaden was using everything in him to hold his brother back, and I saw a light purple glow emanating from him as he leaned his shoulder into his brother's torso and braced his feet. Brie dropped the striker in my hand, and hoping for a miracle, I struck the match head.

Whoosh! We had fire! Overjoyed, I dropped it on the torn matchbox pieces and it lit, catching on one of the shoes. The King howled on the other side of Kaden, but Kaden had started using the shadows to his advantage, pulling them to him to confuse his brother's sense of direction, and randomly popping in and out of the darkness to attack. I dimly remembered Kaden saying spending so much time with us had been beneficial to him. He must have been telling the truth. The King's hand suddenly closed on Kaden's throat, he picked Kaden up with a roar and bodily tossed him to the side. Kaden's limp body rolled several feet and then lay still. The King advanced on us, and just like that, the fire died again. The King issued his signature menacing chuckle. We were out of matches, we were out of time, and we were out of luck. My mind started shutting down again, knowing we were about to die. In a last, suicidal effort, I stood tall and pushed Brie behind me, for whatever good it would do. We were between the King and the shoes, and nothing we could do would stop him from mowing us down. I just hoped Brie had the good sense to run while she still could.

The King's laugh had turned into a loud, soulless boom that echoed in the darkness, as if my efforts to prevent him from reaching his target amused him. I gritted my teeth. The sight of him laughing at us made me angry and the louder it got, the angrier it made me.

"Laugh while you can, asshole." I said through my teeth, and made a mad grab for the shoes. The King was not expecting that and stood for a few seconds watching with his mouth open while I took off running with the singed remains. I prayed I didn't run into anything or trip and fall. The thundering footsteps of the the King let me know he had finally started chasing after me, and was quickly drawing closer. I had no idea what I was going to do, so I just...kept running.

The hood of my jacket was yanked from behind me, pulling me down. Once again I felt my head hit the ground, and felt sure that this time I was not going to escape without permanent damage. IF I survived at all. The King glared at me from above as the edges of my vision began to go black for a few seconds. The King roared and I abruptly realized it wasn't my vision going dark, but the shadows drawing in on the King. Kaden suddenly walked into view with his hand out. His nose was freely dripping blood and there was a nasty gash on his head.

"Not today, BROTHER!" He exclaimed.

"Rue, the shoes." He said, holding up his other hand. I got up dizzily and tried to hand them to him.

"No!" He commanded, "Hold onto them." I clutched them tightly to my chest and closed my eyes as a fresh wave of dizziness hit me.

"What... should I do?" I mumbled to Kaden, as the world tilted lazily on me.

"Nothing at all Rue, you're already doing it." Kaden's voice sounded strained, and the King suddenly started barking objections.

"Brother-you can't!" He screamed.

"I'm just righting some of the wrongs you've committed." Kaden replied hoarsely. I opened my eyes to see a purple cloud floating all around me, intermixed with the shadows. A purple sparkle touched my forehead, and a steady stream ran through my head and my mind exploded. The pain was brief, and in the next second, I could feel my injuries healing. My brain fog began to clear and I quickly realized that Kaden was using the link between us to pull power from the shoes...to heal me. I opened my eyes wide, watching as my skin absorbed the glowing purple lights. The bite wounds scarred over and disappeared as if they had never been there. Bruises and cuts faded and I could feel any internal damage righting itself. With a snap of finality, I felt the bridge between the Nightmare King and I break permanently.

"Nooo!" The King screamed. I turned to Kaden and suddenly realized he had let go of the power: the shoes in my arms disintegrated into purple mist that absorbed into my arms and chest. Kaden was panting, still trying to hold his brother in place, and then another piece fell into place: I realized I could do something about that. After all, wasn't I also fundamentally changed from all their meddling in my head and the very power I had now absorbed?