V.I.R.A.L

The bunker doors opened as Emil was pulled out with a look of genuine horror on his face. The other Montagues looked at him with disgust and disappointment all apart from Florence. The bunker doors shut as Emil jumped crawling back. His whole body was shaking as Florence looked at him muddled. "What happened?"

"I saw I saw my mother. She attacked me. I couldn't fight back, don't. Don't make me go back in there!"

Monty began mocking Emil laughing. "Just as I thought, the Imposter falls apart at the first sign of trouble. How pathetic, he's no Montague, he's nothing more than a fake. To think he actually thought he stood a chance. Give me a break."

"Will you leave him alone, Monty! He's traumatised."

Monty stared at Florence before shaking his head tutting. "Traumatised. Whatever, He's nothing. You're no better if you're sticking up for him Truman. I'm looking forwards to seeing you collapse under pressure when it's your turn next." Jinx sighed, jumping down from the wall, walking away. "Hey, where the hell do you think you're going?!"

"Like you'd care hotshot. Your boasting is giving me a headache, I'm taking a bubble bath." Jinx groaned walking away. "I don't care about any of this. If Emil passed or failed, it all means nothing to me."

"Yeah, alright then, walk away like you always do. Acting like you never give a fuck about anything. Curses like you deserve that. You see Butch, this is why I'll always be the best Montague."

Jinx gave him the middle finger as Butch looked a little uncomfortable. "Shouldn't you tone it down a bit Monty? You don't have to pick a fight with everyone?"

Monty snarled walking away. "Whatever, hanging out with you losers is cramping my style anyway."

Butch turned to Emil and Florence mouthing sorry before walking off. Emil stared on at Monty, biting his lip so hard it began to bleed. "Don't listen to him Emil, he just hasn't been himself in a while. He'll come around."

"You've been saying that same tired old line now for months. The Monty we knew is long gone. He's dead. He ain't coming back, and you know it."

Florence stared blankly as she wiped her eyes standing up. "You don't have to remind me, take away my false hope Emil."

She ran off as Emil lay back in the dirt, feeling alone and desperate. His eyes gazed to the bunker as he slammed the ground. "I don't need those trials! I'll show them. I'll show the whole world. I don't need the Montagues. I'll be the biggest Streamer I can be and prove to them Emil Montague is not a pathetic imposter."

****

A storm had consumed the sky of old Rhinefield. An endless downpour had succumbed, and evil was rising. Emil knew he didn't have long before Zinnia was forever lost to the trials, he's seen it first had with many others. He refused to let it happen to her.

Zinnia pointed at Emil with a killing intent which even startled him. "I beg of you, don't stand in my way. I don't want to, but I will hurt you."

Emil scoffed smacking his crowbar against his hand. "Don't act so noble Zinnia. Killing that girl won't change anything."

Bolts of lightning crashed down just missing Emil as he gave an alarming look readying for battle. Zinnia slouched over sobbing as she leaned back her once kind and caring eyes consumed by fear and rage. "I refuse to go back. I can't go back as the daughter of a villain. I refuse to accept such terms. I will bury the past and destroy anyone who gets in my way!" Zinnia zapped across the street at lightning speed appearing in front of Emil. He had no time to react caught off guard by powers he had never seen before. Blocking the oncoming attack with his crowbar the weapon was snapped in two as Zinnia broke through his defences like it was nothing. Emil was launched back crashing to the floor almost taken down in a single blow.

Pulling himself up, he was struck by serval lightning strikes making him scream out in pain. His body began emitting smoke as he managed to stand up. "Alright, that's it, no more mister nice guy." Running at Zinnia, he went to throw a punch one which she would counter. The moment the counter came, Emil sunk into the ground throwing Zinnia off completely. He raced up from the earth spinning around kicking Zinnia. She, however, used her gained momentum to flip around meeting Emil's attack with her own, and of course, Emil was of no match as he was smashed back into the wall. At least that's what he wanted Zinnia to think. Gathering all that speed, he built up he flew inside the wall before propelling out like a bungee jump skyrocketing past lobbing a punch right across Zinnia's face knocking her to the ground. "Stop this Zinnia! This isn't what you want. You're the biggest hero I've ever met, killing that villain will send you down a path you can never come back from."

Zinnia slammed the ground, turning into a streak of lightning jolting back up to her feet. Her whole look was slowly changing, corrupting as her green eyes were morphing to a purple spark. Her once carefree and happy go lucky smile was tainted into a mindless rage-filled glare. She looked betrayed, angry and sinful. A tremendous burden of guilt and grief sunken on her shoulders. The responsibility for Percy, Alton and now Emil. She couldn't hold herself back anymore as her hands began to crackle with purple electricity flooding around. Emil stared at her, walking towards his friend. Zinnia screamed her voice cracking. "Don't make me do this!"

A shot of electricity struck Emil, stopping him on the spot. Yet he still kept pushing. Furious, she shocked him again with a higher voltage making him almost fall to the ground as evident pain was written all over his face. But somehow against all the odds he kept marching towards her his fists clenched. Zinnia was thrown off to how and why Emil was still going on, she knew this was entirely against his mindset. He wasn't one to recklessly run into battle without some kind of plan, he strived himself on that. To him, this would be a dumb move. Zinnia didn't want to know why. She had become to blind to think as she erupted her final blast of power onto Emil. This one hit hard as Emil was stopped in his tracks falling to his knees collapsing with smoke pouring from him. "What were you hoping to achieve you, idiot?"

Emil lay on his front, feeling faint as everything was blurry. His body refused to move as he had his hand out in front of him, still clenched. "I don't really know. I'm not strong like Alton, I'm not cunning like Scarlett, I'm not bold like Gale, I'm not brave like Percy was, and I'm not kind like you Zinnia. I'm the rock bottom when it comes to being a member of Team Rhapsody. Sometimes never change. I've always been that underdog. The one everyone looks down on. If Gale or Alton was in my place now, they would be able to save you. Their dedicated willpower would have been enough to drag you from the darkness blinding you. I'm nothing more than a failure, I can't get anything right. Being a part of Team Rhapsody, I hoped things might have been different. I acted so bold and cocky because none of you knew any better. I was hoping to trick you all into thinking I was amazing. A top of the class streamer, the only person I was tricking, was myself. I am a total noob…"

Zinnia stared down at Emil with little pity as she had a faint smug look creeping in. "Then why did you even bother fighting me? If you knew the circumstances, why force the pain?"

Emil raised his clenched hand which Zinnia stopped holding it. She opened his hand to see an origami of the graffiti he had on the wall. It was in the shape of a bird. "Because I have to be strong, I have to be cunning and bold, brave and kind. They aren't here, so I have to make up for that. You're stuck with me, whether you like it or not that's what you've got. There is one thing about me that's unlike the others."

"Yeah, and what's that?"

"I play dirty." The origami bird came to life striking Zinnia in the eye, slashing her as a small strain of blood flickered out. She stumbled back dazed dropping Emil. Using all his willpower, he stood up as from his pockets dozens of origamis fell into his hands as he held them out. Zinnia stepped back gasping, noticing all the cars on the street where gone. She was too caught up in her act of villainy that she hadn't noticed till now. Cupping her eye, she flinched seeing the origamis in his hand where all of the cars. Emil spun his arm around, readying his batting throw as he yelled out his final attack. "Take this Zinnia Origami killer!" 

The origami was all thrown into the air dissolving back into their natural form as cars bombarded Zinnia crushing her before they all exploded, leaving an extensive trail of smoke. Zinnia lay back coughing as Emil limped over to her struggling to stand, let alone walk. Zinnia was continually wiping her eyes, trying to stop the tears as she was breaking down. "Kill me, please Emil just kill me. This truth, the stolen lies my heart can't take it. It's tearing me apart. I'm nothing more than a mistake… Please, I beg of you kill me before I become something I will regret forever."

"You heard her Emil darling. Kill her." Emil froze as all the colour left his body. He turned seeing his mother, hulking over him in size, walking towards them with a knife. Emil could already feel the pain of that knife before it was even close to him as he stepped back. "You didn't think you would enter these trials without having to face me again did you mistake?!"

"You're not real."

Emil's mother kicked him to the ground her hair greasy, and all over the place, she had a mad drugged filled look as she began swinging the knife around. "Not real?! Oh, but I wish that was the case for you. Everything was perfect for me. I had the perfect job, the perfect life then you had to come along, and I lost everything. Christopher threw me on the streets with a child I didn't want. You took everything from me!" She stood over Zinnia with the knife up. "If this mistake wants it to end so I'll put her out of her misery."

Emil didn't know what happened in those short moments. He didn't know how it happened, but his body just began moving on its own. A short burst of adrenaline roared as Emil found himself standing in front of his mother ready to take the hit dead on instead. "If you want to hurt Zinnia you have to get through me! I promised myself I was going to save her, I'm not giving up until the very end!"

He looked away, squinted his eyes waiting for the knife. It never came. He opened his eyes, seeing Zinnia in front of him, holding her arm, stopping the blade. She was struggling to keep her back as she yelled out. "I won't let Emil get hurt anymore!"

Emil was shocked by these turns of events seeing Zinnia saving him. But with her weakened state, she wouldn't be able to hold her back. Emil took to action holding her other arm back as the two held the form of his mother. The trial's puppet began morphing between Emil and Zinnia's mother as the two held their ground. "I won't allow myself to be consumed by fear because of the past. I'm moving forward, and you mother won't be holding me back anymore!" Emil screamed.

Zinnia began slipping, refusing to give up. "A villain or not I can't allow your choices to defy who I am! I accept who you are, but that is not who I am! I'll make my own future not follow in the footsteps of someone else!"

The puppet screamed out, falling apart before exploding into a flurry of leaves and flowers as the two friends fell to the floor exhausted. Emil lay forward panting but also in between laughing. "We did it. We stood up against her. I'm not. I'm not afraid anymore!"

Zinnia rolled overtaking heavy breaths dropping her hand by her side as the wanted poster of her mother flew by. Zinnia was a little distort still, but she countered it with a smile looking up at the blue sky, knowing her destiny was forever her own. "I won't make the same mistakes as you mum, I'll be the best hero I can be one even you can be proud of." She looked over to Emil nodding. "We made quite the team, didn't we?"

"After the large beatdown I received from you, yeah we sure did. I felt like nothing could stop us."

Zinnia looked at her hand, which still had crackles of lightning. "Emil thank you, for not giving up on me until the very end. I was ready to throw it all away, knowing the truth. I didn't know how to live with myself."

"Whoever does?" He mellowed. "We just take that risk step by step and never look back."

Zinnia stood up, helping Emil up as two held onto each for support. "Let's get out of here. People are waiting for us."

Emil looked up, seeing the trials falling apart. The city crumbling into the Garden. Although shocked, he expected as much from a place full of hate and horror. The Garden was withering away and dying, their act of bravery and selflessness breaking the hold on this place. Heading towards the exit, they both began ascending from darkness seeing the bunker's light just insight. With one last push of willpower and determination, they made the final step to freedom appearing back on the doorstep of the Montague manor. Gale and Butch were there to catch their fall. Gale held them both as all three hugged each other. "You're both back! I knew it, I knew you would make it out alive!"

Zinnia smiled nodding. "I couldn't have done it without Emil."

"Likewise." Emil coughed.

Florence dragged herself out, looking on in shock. "Impossible. She made it out with herself still intact. I didn't know it was possible!" 

The streamers turned as the bunker began rusting as nature began growing all over it. Soon enough, the bunker was consumed in leaves and vines before it all fell into a large pile revealing the bunker to be no more any signs gone forever. "The trials, the connection to the Garden is gone forever. We truly did it." Emil cheered.

"We did." Zinnia muttered, gripping her friends tighter. "We did it as a team…"