199 She Calls Forth Ligh

Robin didn't know what to say. They had both lost those dear to them. But, while she was lucky, Dawkins had gotten the short end of the stick, being possessed by an evil demon king.

What could she say? That he shouldn't have cared about his daughter? That he should have stayed strong anyways? But even Robin hadn't been able to stand strong in the face of such a loss. So she couldn't say that.

It was becoming more and more clear that they were all victims of circumstance here. Robin was, of course, excluding the Trader, as he went looking for trouble.

The Trader was looking about. He couldn't seem to find the location of the observer. Finally, he snorted. "It is no matter. Observe all that you like, you cannot stop me from taking control!"

He floated up above the school building.

"A city full of lights, huh." He sneered. "And? What will you do now, Robin? When I drudge up all your grudges and nightmares-when you even begin to doubt if you were ever a good person at all, can you still bring out goodness and light?"

He pointed at Robin. "Can you maintain yourself in a realm bereft of all falsehoods of light and affection? When all pleasures become as mist, when all blue sky is painted over, when your wings are clipped and you are trapped by yourself, can you still be a hero? Can you overcome the darkness within yourself?" He waved his arm out at the surroundings.

"Pay good attention to the city about you! When the last light goes out, and your final hope is extinguished, then I will truly gain control!" The Trader announced, before dissipating in a bout of resounding cackles.

Robin looked out upon the city, and noticed. a light on the edge had disappeared. From the edges of the city, creeping slowly closer, was the impending darkness. How could she stop this?

Dawson looked out over the city scape. "You know, for the longest time, I feel like I've been surrounded by a lot of books. Each book would have many different stories, all vibrant, and full of life. Each book I opened I could enter into it, and live as one of the characters. But they all ended the same way. 'until the Trader took over': that was all the book ended with."

"Did anyone ever escape?" Robin asked.

"If they had, it was never recorded. I had originally thought that it was just stories...but...looking back on things, they might have been records of the lives he had devoured." Dawkins sighed in solemn chagrin.

"I'm sorry...To think that my moment of weakness would drag you into this. I am utterly ashamed." He said.

"The one who should know shame is not you." Robin replied. "I don't blame you. If it had been me in your place, I wouldn't have been able to hold out half as long as you did."

"So, my brother saved me in more ways than one, huh." Robin smiled. An entire skyscraper went dark. "It seems that this time, I'm on my own. There's no Hero to save me this time."

"What do you mean?" Dawkins asked.

"'Hero' That word is what I've been called ever since I arrived. And I willingly took up the role, hoping to make something of myself-to apply my talents in bringing about good. But...." She looked down at the shrinking circle of lights.

"...I'm not a hero." She finally said what she had kept inside her heart.

"My whole life, I've only ever been saved by others to the point where I can never fully return all that I owe in gratitude. Heh. Chelsea once asked me about a situation like this." Robin waved her hand out at the light circle.

"'In the event that you find yourself surrounded with no friends, and there is no way out: what will you do?' is what she asked me."

"And? What did you say?" Dawkins asked, curious.

"'Sometimes, it only takes one person doing the right thing that makes all the difference. If there is no flame, become one! Perhaps a single spark is all it takes to set the sun afire again.'"

"Good words!" Dawkins admired.

"No, they were fool words." Robin clenched the metal link barrier near the edge. "I cannot become my own spark. A spark is only formed when flint strikes steel. Even should I be the steel, I would still need a flint."

Dawkins observed the distraught girl, sympathetically. Then he patted her on the shoulder.

"This very well may be the last moments of my life." He suddenly said. "I was only ever his anchor to this realm. If I die again, he loses his grip here. If he takes you over, then I have no more value to him, no more reason to exist."

Robin lifted her head to look at him.

"What do you mean?" She asked.

"What I mean is that I've lived long enough. If you kill me now, then all of your problems are solved. He cannot remain in you if he's struggling against the buoyancy of spiritual banishment." Dawkins explained.

Robin looked at him, then shook her head. "No. Chelsea said that there won't be any casualties during our fight. Put that thought out of your head, old man. I'm not going to kill a victim. I'll confront that foul Trader on my own, if I have to!"

She looked out at the city. the darkness had quickly covered the landscape. only a single block's worth of lights were still shining.

"...Even if it's just me alone." She asserted.

Dawkins paused, then cleared his throat.

"My dear Robin..." He began.

"Oohuwhoah! Cut that out, old man, the way you're addressing me is giving me the creeps." Robin shivered, recalling how the trader used to say her name 'affectionately'.

"Ahem! What I'm trying to say is that, who ever said that heroes had to be alone?" Dawkins pointed out.

"....Not alone?" Robin's eyes widened. "Skye! Patch me through to the sword!" She called out.

Skye's ear flicked. 'You do realize I can only patch you through to living things, right?' He replied.

"Never mind that, just try it! Trust me!" Robin yelled. The darkness closed in. There were three lights left.

Then there were two...

Then there was one.

As the last city light vanished, a pillar of light appeared from a spotlight in the sky, shining down on Robin and Dawkins.

"What!? What is this?" The Trader's voice echoed all around. The pillar grew in width, and small tendrils of smoke began to drift out of Dawkins, here and there, from the shadows of his clothing. Robin watched at bit by bit, the Trader's claws were extracted from Dawkin's soul.

"No! You can't do this!" The Trader exclaimed, fearfully. "This is-this is impossible! Get out of there! Get away from that light!" He ordered. But Dawkins, grit his teeth as the extraction removed every deep-seated root that the Trader had dug into him. He was clearly pained, but his eyes shone with a resolve that could only be acquired through years of long-suffering.

The light began to spill over, rushing through the city, a luminous river of light, until it had drawn out an ancient rune. Tatters of shadow moved to the only spot not bathed in light, forming the vaguest shape of a human.

"You may have bought yourself some time, but don't think that I've been defeated." He snarled.

"Ohoh? Aren't you forgetting something?" Robin asked, as the last tendril of shadow was removed from Dawkins. "I can't see how you can come back for round two, now that your anchor has been removed."

"What?" The Trader had forgotten. Silver words, like chains, appeared around his wrists, neck, and legs, lifting him up into the night sky. The darkness folded in around him, like a crumpling piece of fabric suddenly being drawn through a tiny pin hole, revealing the dawn sky.

When the last line of the city-wide rune was complete, the entire rune, lit up in a golden glow as light swept outwards in a shockwave.Showering every location with sparkling golden light, like fairy dust.

"It took you long enough." A voice sounded from Robin's right.