I had no idea at first where to start. Gloando had never been an ordinary villain. He had only ever wanted to destroy me. Yet he always let me live, which made me think more and more he must just want my power for some evil plot. He actually rarely ever hurt other people. He only ever used them as a way of getting my attention.
Getting my attention...the fire! Maybe Gloando had set it to see if I still had my powers or not. And maybe he was still there. It was the only clue I had, so I had to act on it.
I don't have a car. It didn't seem necessary to have a car when you can fly and you can hardly afford your apartment, never mind other expenses. But I sure wished I had one now. It seemed it would be such a long walk to the fire. I sighed thinking that Angelic Wings could have flown there in about 3 seconds.
As soon as I stepped outside my apartment, I heard the roar of thunder. A drop of rain fell on my head. "Great" I grumbled. I ran off to where the fire was.
All I could think about was Jake as I ran. My pain in my head had subsided, but the emptiness still remained. Maybe I shouldn't try and get my powers back. Maybe I should call Jake and tell him I'm not a super hero anymore. Let him fill this emptiness inside of me. I didn't stop running though. I just kept dashing through the increasing rain towards a rising tower of smoke.
I was almost at the fire when I looked up in the rain and maybe it was the rain, or because he was on my mind. I thought I saw Jake sitting on top of a telephone pole. Then I came to my senses and realized it was Gloando. I almost ran past him to see if I could help with the fire, but I saw a bunch of fire trucks over there already, and I didn't want to intrude. In any case, there wasn't anything I could do. At that moment Gloando shouted in my direction which made me stop dead in my tracks. "KAREN! So you did lose your powers."
"Yeah! Give them back or you'll pay!"
"Impossible" Gloando grinned.
"But..." I pondered for a moment what to do next when it really hit me. "Wait how'd you know my real name?"
"You haven't figured it out yet?" He grinned widely. I wished I could fly up there and kick him.
"Figured what out you DAMN BASTARD!?" I said, a rage flowing through my veins.
"Glow and don't die, my dear Karen."
My stomach dropped. My mind felt like an angry bee was buzzing around in it, not letting me think anything coherently. "Wha...Jake? No.."
"Oh yes." He waved a hand in front of his face, and it changed as he did so, from the hard evil face of Gloando to the softer kinder face that I knew to be Jake's. Jake jumped down from the telephone pole and somehow landed softly. he hugged me tightly, but I didn't hug him back. I balled my hands into fists. "I love you Karen"
"NO!" I shouted, pushing him away from me violently. "No...Jake? Gloando? I just don't understand. Who are you? Why this? WHY?"
"Karen?" Jake said in a hurt voice.
"Explain yourself! You didn't want me to be a superhero, but you did this? Why Jake Why? This doesn't make any sense at all!"
"I never wanted to hurt you or anyone else..." Jake said staring at his feet. It was like he'd never been Gloando at all. I was so confused.
"Tell me what's going on! I have all the time in the world now that you've taken my powers."
"Don't sound so angry." I glared at him, so he continued. "That day, that day you became Angelic Wings, my life changed as well. You see Dr. Devil was able to steal a part of my soul. I know it sounds crazy, but it's true. I was missing a part of my soul. You couldn't tell by looking at me, but I felt empty inside. Like a part of me was missing, because I guess it was.
"But that day you defeated Dr. Devil, the piece came back! You see I saw that fight, because my missing part of soul saw it from where it was stored with all the other souls. There was a flash of bright white light and you changed. You never told me about this part later on, so I don't think you know what really happened. You became some one who wasn't you or Angelic Wings anymore. It was a real angel. You had these huge wings and a real halo. In your hands you carried a huge sword. You swung the sword at Dr. Devil, but it didn't hurt him. I saw his soul shatter instead, breaking into pieces and most of it leaving my sight. Then all the spirits were freed and went back to their bodies. I stayed behind, I watched as you feel down, turned back to Angelic Wings, back to Karen. That was probably a mistake, me staying behind.
"Don't you see?" Jake started looking more like Gloando again. "Dr. Devil's soul became a part of mine! I never liked you being a super hero and now I finally had a way to stop you." Jake didn't even look at all like himself now. "I tried other ways to make you stop, but I had no choice. I HAD TO USE FORCE." Jake was Gloando again grinning evily. "I love you Karen. I'll keep you safe. I want to lie next to you at night and love you not have to worry about dying. I want you to be normal. Don't you want to be...NORMAL?" Gloando finished and stared at me.
I used to want to be normal...more than anything. To go to school, to have a boyfriend, to go to college, get a job, get married...I wanted it, I wanted to be normal. But now, without my powers I realized what I really wanted. "NO!" I yelled. "This is normal for me. I am ANGELIC WINGS!"
Lightening flashed behind me and I saw my shadow in front of me. It was only for a brief moment, but the shadow wasn't me. It was an angel, with huge wings, a halo, and a sword. I looked at my hand and there was a sword there. It didn't feel heavy. It was unlike anything I had ever held before.
"If that's the way it must be" Gloando said waving his hands in front of his face and completing his transformation to Gloando from Jake. "If I can't have you no one will. GLOW AND DO DIE!"
I guess this was a bad time to figure out that his name was really just the begining of the phrase he used to say to me. "Glow and don't die" and Gloando. I don't know why I never figured it out before, but this was still a bad time to be dwelling on such a thought. Gloando was charging up his green orb again, and I realized what I had to do.
Gloando shot his orb at me, and I took flight. As I expected the orb followed me like it did last time. I wasn't going to fall for the same trick twice. I flew around in circles trying to avoid the orb at all costs. I thought I had almost escaped it when it hit me in the back. This time it had no effect on me at all. I didn't have time to be surprised by this.
I flew down at Gloando with my sword poised at his heart. I could see with what seemed to be new eyes his very soul. I knew what must be done. I struck him in the chest.
Gloando fell down to his knees. I knew he wasn't physically injured, but I had hit his soul. I tore my sword upwards and out of his heart. Gloando fell to the ground completely now, only it wasn't Gloando anymore.
I flew down to the ground, seeing my huge wings in my shadow again. I looked up for the first time to see my wings, but to my surprise, there were no wings. There was no halo either. And I was still wearing my normal clothes. Did that mean that the angel really was me? It was like I was Angelic Wings and Karen Dover at the same time, no transforming. Or maybe I was finally the person I was meant to be all along. I was me.
"Jake!" I said, picking him up from the ground. "Are you ok?"
"I'm...fine...?" He sounded slightly dazed. "What just happened?"
"I tore out Dr. Devil's soul from your soul. You are going to be ok now, you aren't going to be evil anymore. You are really my Jake again."
"I'm so sorry..."
"You don't have to be sorry, that wasn't you..."
Jake interrupted me, "No." He hung his head. "That wasn't all Dr. Devil. Some of what I said really came from me. I don't want you to be a super hero. It's too dangerous."
"Life is full of danger. We could die any moment, it doesn't matter if we are super heroes or not. Please accept me as who I am. This world needs me. They need a hero. And I should be thanking you. If you hadn't tried to steal my powers, I wouldn't have discovered that Angelic Wings was really me all along. I now know my true power."
Jake looked at me with tears in his eyes. He knew I was right. "I'm sorry I couldn't accept you as you were before. I can now. I'm sorry."
"Don't be." I said. "It's really ok. I have you back again now." I started to cry. "I really did always love you."
"I always loved you too. That must be why Dr. Devil used my soul to get revenge on you. Now we can finally be together. Jake and Angelic Wings."
"I'm not Angelic Wings anymore." I smiled through the gradually slowing rain and my tears. "Now I'm just Karen Dover, the person I've been all along. Me. I AM ME!" I shouted. I felt complete. I felt...normal. "Let's get out of this rain."
We walked back to my apartment together. We had a lot of catching up to do. For the first time since I got my powers I felt truly happy. I'm just had to figure out the real me.
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