Time seemed to slow down as Mark fell to his knees, eyes wide in a combination of shock and pain before he collapsed onto his back, his hands pressed around where the knife was embedded as blood flowed down his chest and pooled around him.

"YOU IDIOT!" Dark screamed as a hole burned through his chest where Mark had been stabbed. Dark stumbled back a step before dissipating into a cloud of black smoke that formed Mark's regular shadow once again, his physical form gone.

"Mark!" Amy knelt down by the Shadower and tore the knife out, tossing it away with a thud as she shakily checked his vitals.

He was already dead.

And Amy couldn't fix that no matter how many tears she would inevitably shed.

She still delicately carried Mark's limp body bridal style in her arms back to where the rest of her friends were, as well as the other Shadowers.

Since Infelix promised to protect Matt, Amanda, and Luna, Felix had abandoned their house, making it a safe haven for the Shadowers once again. Several people were gathered outside the house, including Sean, Ethan, and Signe.

"Amy, what happened?" Sean ran up to her, swallowing hard when he noticed what she held in her arms.

"Is he..." Sean trailed off, unable to finish his sentence. He didn't need to, Amy understood what he was asking.

"Yeah...Dark threatened to kill me, then killed Mark instead." She whispered, her voice cracking with emotion.

"He died as soon as Mark did." She added, mentally cursing her watering eyes. She had barely known him, yet here she was mourning his loss as if he had been family.

I guess he kind of was to me, Amy thought with an audible sigh. He had tried to save her even though the whole reason why she had saved him was to show Felix his camp of Shadowers so they could be killed.

"What did you do?!?"

Amy jumped in surprise as a Shadower with tan skin stormed towards her, his mask of fury crumbling to reveal his grief as he smoothed Mark's hair back from his forehead.

"Did you kill him?" The man growled, glaring up at Amy.

"No, Dark killed him." Amy shook her head hastily.

"Why would he do that?" He wondered aloud, his forehead creasing with a contemplative frown.

"Unless Dark didn't kill Mark." The man mused.

"You think Mark would kill himself?" Amy scoffed in disbelief.

"The only way to get rid of a physical shadow is if the creator dies." The Shadower shrugged

Before Amy could ask who he was, the man relieved Amy of Mark's weight before walking back to another group of Shadowers. Amy guessed they were Kevin, Bryan, and Gunner since Mark had mentioned them before. There were two others she hadn't seen before, one that looked very similar to Mark with a goatee and another with pale skin and bandages around his forehead and ribs.

"You okay?"

Amy stiffened when she felt a hand rest on her shoulder, relaxing when she realized that it was only Signe.

"Nothing." Amy lied as she shook her head.

Before Signe could question Amy further, Anti and Felix appeared into view, Anti's eyes burning with hate while Infelix scowled.

"You killed him!" Anti roared in rage, his eyes glittering with unshed tears as he started to storm towards them.

"Patience my friend, they will get what they deserve in good time." Infelix soothed him, barring Anti's way with his arm.

"Yeah, they will."

Everyone whirled around to see Felix watching them in a defensive stance to protect the group.

"I owe this to Mark and his brother...I tore their family apart, hell, I nearly killed Mark...I can't bring him or their parents back, much less fix the pain I caused, but I can sure as hell try to make up for it by protecting Mark's brother." Felix gritted his teeth, shooting a glance over at Mark and Thomas.

"As soon as parents learned that their kids were Shadowers, they were always abandoned instantly in the woods without me having to worry about it, but Mark and Thomas...their dad died trying to protect them and my father, who was the leader at the time, tore Mark away from his mother." Felix forced himself to look back at the shadows etching him with puzzled expressions.

"I am not throwing away my shot." Felix whispered before he formed an ice sword and shield with his hands, charging towards the two shadows, catching them off guard for a brief moment.

"What is he doing?!?" Ethan exclaimed in confusion.

"Shadows can only be killed when their creator dies." Thomas muttered.

That was when Amy realized what he was doing.

"Felix no!" Sean cried, seeming to realize what Felix was doing as well as he ran towards Felix to help.

It was too late.

Anti had already lashed out at Felix, using a dagger to create a deep hash across Felix's chest.

"I-I'm sorry." Felix choked out before he pierced Sean's heart with an icicle, the two of them dying side by side.

The remaining to shadows died like Dark had, returning to regular shadows.

"No!" Signe cried, running over to Sean's prone form.

"I'm a healer, I can try to help them." Amanda spoke up. She had watched everything happen from within the house, too afraid to step out until now.

"Felix, Sean, and Mark are dead." Ethan spoke in monotone.

"True, but they only just died, I can always try and bring them back." Amanda disappeared inside before anyone else could ask questions, leaving them no choice but to follow her.

"Matthias!" Amanda barked as he latex the three bodies down on cots in the living room. Matt jogged into the room instantly.

"Wha-oh, got it." Matt glanced at the three prime bodies before dashing downstairs, returning with an armful of herbs and vials filled with various colored liquids.

"Are you guys wizards or something?" Amy frowned as she watched Matt sprinkle herbs and dump a red liquid into a wooden bowl.

"Yeah, but we're self taught and only know medical spells." Amanda shrugged.

Matt winced as he used a small bloodstained knife to cut his hand open, a couple drops of blood dripping into the bowl.

"Ready." Matt nodded to Amanda.

She nodded as she bowed her head and closed her eyes, muttering something in a different language before blue, green, and black flames sparked from the bowl.

Felix, Sean, and Mark woke up in unison, unable to believe that they were alive again as they looked over at their friends. Nate was the first one to hug Mark, unable to keep a large grin off of his face.

"You find the songs I wrote for you?" Nate asked once he pulled away.

"Yeah, but the second one didn't make sense." Mark admitted.

"I was trying to warn you about Natemare, but I guess he didn't end up being a problem." Nate sighed in relief.

Bryan was next, clapping a hand on Mark's back with a proud smile before allowing Kevin to see Mark.

"I knew you could do it." Kevin beamed, seeming to be fully healed.

"Yeah, um...sorry about the arrow." Matt apologized to Kevin, his face turning a light red hue.

"That was you?!?" Kevin's gaze swiveled towards the blonde haired man.

"Felix was there and I didn't want him to think that I was a traitor." Matt explained hastily.

"I guess I can forgive you." Kevin gave a dramatic sigh, along with an eye roll.

"I'll tell the village that Shadowers are allowed...I don't know why I assumed that every Shadower was evil." Felix confessed before he darted towards the village.

"Don't tell me you're going to apologize to me too." Mark groaned in mock annoyance as Amy approached him.

"I mean, if you don't want me to..." Amy trailed off with a small smile.

"You're forgiven, always and forever." Mark assured her.

"Ready to enter the village?" Thomas asked Mark, offering him a hand. Mark clasped his hand in his brother's as together him, Thomas, Paul, Kevin, Nate, Bryan, Gunner, and the rest of the Shadowers walked back to the village, instantly welcomed as heroes by everyone.

"You have dark hair, and a light heart." A woman told Mark.

"Yeah...I think someone else a long time ago said the same thing." Mark smiled, glancing over at Bryan, Kevin, and Gunner. They were talking and laughing with Matthias, Mike, Bobby, Paul, and another man with curly light brown hair.

I'm not the only one with a light heart, Mark thought as he glanced over at Amy. He always had a home, but now he had a real family.

And he would never trade that for anything.