ParaNorman - Going With A Fight - Chapter 6

Norman and Courtney looked around for a moment to make sure that they were really back at their house. "We're back!" Courtney exclaimed, looking down at Norman and expecting him to be happy. Instead, he seemed a little… sad? "Hey… You alright?" she kneeled down a little, trying to look him in the eye. He just looked away from her as he answered. "I'm fine…" he told her softly. "I-I just need some rest." With that he went of to his room, leaving Courtney to worry. She jumped in surprise when she suddenly heard a muffled scream of anger come from his room. She went down to see Norman lying on his bed, holding a pillow on his head as he mumbled something angrily, though she couldn't tell what he was saying at all. "Rest, huh?" she made him jump, the pillow falling on is lap as he sat up and looked over at her in the doorway. "You don't seem to be in the resting mood." She continued. Norman's shoulders slumped down as he sighed, looking away from her. "Alright, seriously, what's wrong?" Courtney came over and sat down next to him on the bed. He looked over at her, but he didn't answer. "This is about your new powers, isn't it?" Courtney guessed. "H-how did you?!" Norman asked, confused. "Ombre told me." She told him simply. He looked down at the ground and rubbed his arm, unsure of how to explain everything. "Think you could tell me why you're so worked up about it?" she asked.
"T-there's two reasons, actually…" Norman told her, looking up a little. He took a deep breath, then continued. "I think I might've brought us here… W-with  my powers." "What makes you say that?" "Well… That Shrall guy said that after I fainted during that storm I brought us here so that we wouldn't get hurt… So that probably means I'm the only one who can get us back home… B-but…" He took another shaky breath, then buried his face in his hands. "I don't think I can do it… I don't even know how I got us here, let alone how to get back! Besides, I…" he stopped, not wanting to continue. "You…?" Courtney raised an eyebrow, trying to get him to finish. He glanced up at her, his eyes getting glassy. "I can't use my powers! I just can't!" he burst out. "Why not?" Courtney asked, worried. "Because! I'll end up just like the Witch! Then everyone will hate me and then I'll end up being sentenced to death because of my powers!" he cried. Courtney started to shush him softly, trying to calm him down. She even hugged him a little closer, rubbing his arm lightly like their mom used to do when they were younger. "Why would you get a thought like that?" she asked softly.
"M-my nightmares…" he sniffed, tears were rolling down his cheeks as Courtney continued to try and calm him down a little. "You wanna talk about it?" Courtney suggested. Norman sniffed again, looking up at her. "I promise I'll listen." She assured him. He took a deep breath again, then started to explain slowly. "I-in my nightmares… It's back when the Witch was sentenced to death… But instead of the Witch being there… I-I'm the Witch… A-and I'm the one who gets tortured and killed… But I also feel the pain… As if… A-as if it were actually happening to me… And I can't wake up until the nightmare is over… It's as if I'm reliving my own death over and over again… And it hurts more and more each time…" he leaned against her a little, still crying. Courtney smiled a little as she got an idea. "I'm not gonna let anyone hurt you, Norman…" she explained. "You know why?" "Why?" Norman raised an eyebrow at her as her playful smile grew ever so slightly. "Because I'm your big sister!" she ruffled his hair playfully. "H-hey!" he giggled, batting her arm away lightly. "Nah, ah, ah! No frowning on my watch!" she snatched him up and started tickling him, making him yelp in surprise. "Hahaha! S-stop it! I can't breathe!" he laughed, trying to squirm free. "Alright, alright." She let him go, smiling. "Thanks, Courtney." Norman hugged her tightly for a moment. "I feel a lot better."

Demar and Sheera quickly covered their heads as Shrall launched another blast of magic at them. "HOW DARE YOU LET HIM ESCAPE!" he yelled at them, fire in his eyes. "Blame Ombre, not us." Sheera crossed her arms in annoyance. "He helped the little twerp get back home. For that, I say we punish him… Severely." She smirked. "Oh, do what you want to him! It won't change our plan. For now we must find a way to get the kid back here…" Shrall growled. "Maybe we won't need to get him back here…" Demar stated. "His powers are still unstable. Perhaps we could use it to our advantage." he suggested. "He's bound to lose control sooner or later. We just have to be there when it happens. And if we play our cards right…" "He'll be corrupted." Shrall finished, pleased. "Easier said then done, boys." Sheera sang. "Nonsense." Shrall smiled evilly. "We just have to be patient…"

Norman watched a small orb intently as it floated in midair, a green glow surrounding it as well as his hands. He bit his lip nervously and flinched when it started to shake. "No, no, please no!" he murmured in worry. He yelped and covered his face quickly when the orb suddenly burst and disappeared. He sighed in disappointment, falling back on his bed. "How can I get us out of here if I can't even make a simple orb?!" he exclaimed in annoyance. "Will you take a break already? I can hear your stomach growling from here!" Courtney yelled from the living room. Norman thought about for a second, then looked down at his stomach. He was pretty hungry… He hadn't eaten in awhile after all. He sat up, getting an idea. He closed his eyes and concentrated hard, his hands glowing again. After a moment he opened his eyes, then gasped when he saw an apple floating into his room. He smiled as it landed in his hands and took a bite. "It actually worked!" he exclaimed excitedly, his mouth full. He smiled and started lifting up the objects in his room, taking everything out of the boxes Courtney had put them in and putting it all back in it's proper place with his magic as he finished the apple. "That's useful…" he stated to himself as he got up and headed to the kitchen to throw the apple core away.
He glanced over at the window, then stopped and double took at it. He could've sworn he heard something outside… But he wasn't sure what it was.
He wearily opened the window and peeked through the black substance that still surrounded their house. His eyes widened in panic when Demar reached out to grab him. Norman screamed and quickly brought his head back inside, slamming the window shut. "Courtney!" he turned and went to the living room in panic. He skid to a stop when he saw that Sheera was there instead, and Courtney was nowhere to be seen. "Where's Courtney?!" he demanded angrily. "Oh, I have no idea!" Sheera lied, pretending to be shocked. "But I'd be worrying more about myself, if I were you." She stated, snapping her fingers. Suddenly he found himself being wrapped up in a red wisp of magic, and in an instant he was floating slightly above the ground, tied up in Sheera's magic and unable to break free, no matter how hard he tried. "Now, are we gonna do this the easy way, or the hard way?" Sheera asked, smirking as she crossed her arms. "How about neither?" Norman suggested, still trying to break free. "Oh, I haven't heard that one before." She stated sarcastically as she rolled her eyes. The house suddenly shifted, causing them both to fall to the ground as Sheera's spell broke. They both started sliding on the floor as the house continued to tilt to one side, making them both panic. "DEMAR!" Sheera screamed out in anger, clawing at the floor to stay in place. Norman looked up at the window to see that part of the black substance was gone, and he had a feeling that that was why the house was suddenly tipping.
On complete instinct, Norman quickly started to use his magic to try and fix the hole in the substance, surprising Sheera. "What are you DOING you little- AH!" she was cut off as she started to slide down faster. Norman quickly stopped what he was doing and grabbed her hand, trying to back up a little. She looked up at him in confusion as he continued to try and fix the substance with his free hand, trying to keep in one spot and making sure that Sheera wouldn't fall at the same time. Sheera looked over at the substance in determination, then started to help him fix it. After a moment she heard him groan and looked up at him to see his eyes starting to turn green, and started to panic slightly. "Kid, stop!" she demanded. He looked down at her in confusion, his eyes returning to normal. Sheera gulped, knowing that she couldn't turn back after this. "I-I'll handle it." She explained, then went back to work. Norman raised an eyebrow in confusion, then shook his head and started focusing more on trying to keep them up. After a moment, the house started to tilt the other way, and in a few moments it was straight once again. Norman let go of Sheera and got up, Sheera doing the same. Norman looked around for a moment, then sighed and started to move all the furniture back to its proper place with his powers.
"Why'd you help me?" he asked Sheera. "I mean, you came here to capture me, right? Why didn't you just… I don't know, use that teleportation spell to take me back to your base or something?" he turned to face her, raising an eyebrow. She thought about it for a second, then groaned. "Maybe I'm just a suck-up." She answered, crossing her arms. "Or maybe I just realized that Demar cares more for power then he does for anyone else. Other then Shrall, of course." She rolled her eyes, thinking about how much Demar sucked up to Shrall. "Actually… Now that I think about it, that's probably the only reason him and Shrall got me and Ombre to be on his side…" she murmured. "What do you mean?" Norman asked. "He basically bribed us with power back when we joined him. Guess the only reason he wanted us is so him and Demar could get all the power. In fact, they probably would've gotten rid of me and Ombre once he got you…" she looked at the ground for a moment, then groaned again. "How could I have been so STUPID as to not realise what they were doing?! I should've listened to Ombre." She growled. "What? What did Ombre say to you?" Norman asked, somewhat frantic. "Why should I tell you, twerp?" she snapped, making him jump. "Who's side are you on?!" Norman asked as he recoiled slightly. "First you're attacking me, then you're helping me, then you're yelling at me. MAKE UP YOUR MIND ALREADY!" he yelled, his eyes flashing green again for a moment. Sheera immediately straightened up when he yelled, her eyes growing slightly. "Oh crap." Was all she managed to say. "What is it now?" Norman groaned. "Twe- Erm… N-Norman… What did Shrall do when you met him…?" she asked, worried. "Uh… He basically told me to let go of everything I had and to prove my strength… And there was this weird glowing wisp that-" "Did you touch the wisp?!" Sheera interrupted. "Almost, but no… Why?" he asked. Sheera sighed in relief, loosening up a little. "Because…" she looked around, making sure Demar wasn't listening in. "Because Shrall is planning on corrupting you so he can use your powers." She explained cautiously. "If he succeeds… then we're all screwed…" she finished. She thought for a second, then sighed. "Demar has Courtney back at the base as bait incase I failed in capturing you." She admitted, looking away from him in shame. "What?! You have to take me there! I have to save her!" Norman exclaimed. "I can't! If he knows that it'll upset you, he'll kill her! You go marching in there without a plan, she'll be killed along with me and Ombre. Not only that, but if they find a way to break you, then they're going to turn you evil and they'll win." Sheera explained. Norman took a deep breath, thinking. "What do we do then?" he asked, worried. Sheera thought for a minute, then smirked. "I think I know just the thing… But it's risky. Are you willing to try it?" she asked. Norman bit his lip, pondering. He looked up at her and nodded, determined to save Courtney and Ombre.