Deceiving Souls

Chapter 23 - Healing

"You let him die."

"It was your fault."

"It should've been you not him."

Orbit gasped as she jerked awake. Voices had flooded her mind every time she fell asleep. It had been 4 weeks since Skull died and the voices hadn't stopped. Every day she could only think about what had happened. What happened to him, how his mother had freaked out when she found out, how she could of done more to stop it...

"Orbit?" She heard her dad knock on the door. She snapped out of her thoughts and glanced at the door.
"Yeah...?" She asked.
"You alright?" She heard her dad's concerned voice.
"Yeah, I'm alright." She said. She got up and changed into her clothes. Barley touching her fur with the comb and leaving it somewhat messed up. She glanced in her mirror and saw her messy appearance but shrugged it off, not caring.

She went to leave the room but caught a glance of her 'Keepers necklace' as she called it.

"I won't need it." She thought. She hesitated for a moment and then grabbed it anyways, tucking it into her shirt collar. She put on her purple jacket over the grey shirt she was wearing and walked out of her room. Background events seemed to come and go without her, muffled and drowned out. She walked past her dads who were discussing something. She grabbed her bags and walked outside, sitting down on the porch. She didn't acknowledge the birds chirping or the wind blowing. She just sat there. The bus arrives and she enters it. Raven calls for her to sit but it sounds distant and blocked out. She sits by herself. Time goes by and she doesn't notice it. The bus stops and she gets off. She walks past Galaxy and Lexi. And she puts her stuff in her locker.

"Orbit?" She hears a voice behind her and turns around. It's Galaxy.
"Oh, hi." She turns back to her locker, pretending like she's busy so she doesn't have to face him.
"Are you okay?" He asks. Orbit pauses. She turns to him with a calm, fake smile.
"Yes I'm fine." She tells him. She closes her locker and walks off before he can say anything else.

The hours go by. People talk, and people laugh. She is not one of those people. She sits in silence at the lunch table. Galaxy sits next to her. She glances at him.
"Hi." She says flatly.
"Not eating?" He asked.
"Not hungry." Orbit mumbled back, resting her chin on the table.
"You're gonna have to eat at some point." Galaxy said. Orbit glanced at him again, her ears falling backwards slowly.
"I know." She mumbled.
"You're still thinking about it aren't you?" Galaxy said.
"About what?" Orbit tried playing dumb.
"You know what I mean." He responded calmly. Orbit glanced at him.
"Yeah... I am..." She confessed. Galaxy put his hand on her shoulder.
"It wasn't your fault." He said. Orbit looked away.
"I know..." Orbit pulled the necklace from her shirt collar and stared at it. "And I know I won't stop until I get a chance to kill the thing that..." She paused. Mentioning what had happened to Skull felt like acid on her tongue. Galaxy nodded, understanding.

"How did it effect you? You were there... I've been so trapped in my own, sad shell I haven't thought about you." Galaxy's gaze turned away and he seemed distant.
"I think... I could've helped... but I couldn't get my powers to work... and I didn't wanna end up hurting Skull... and..." Galaxy started spiraling and stopped himself. His ears pinned back and he glanced at Orbit.
"But I know that it wasn't anyones fault. The only one to blame... is that thing." Galaxy spat the last word. Orbit sighed, feeling calmer.
"We will take down whatever is coming, including that creature." Orbit said. Galaxy's ears perked up and he looked around the cafeteria. Orbit opened her mouth to ask what was wrong but Galaxy shushed her. Galaxy's eyes wandered out of the cafeteria.

"I sense something... it's not in here..." Galaxy's fur stood on end. He asked to be excused and left Orbit in the cafeteria. His eyes darted around the hallway as he walked further from the cafeteria. He stopped and looked around. He saw someone walk around the corner of a hallway, he caught a glance of their deer hoof-like foot. Every part of his body told him to follow them. He ran to the hallway and looked around the corner but the person was gone. He cursed under his breath before turning around and walking back to the cafeteria.

Orbit and Galaxy were at his house now with Leela and Lexi, discussing what had happened.
"Okay so you sensed that this person was the fourth correct?" Lexi asked. Galaxy nodded.
"And they had a deer hoof?" Asked Leela. Galaxy nodded again. Orbit thought for a moment.
"There's a few deer kids in my grade... I don't ever pay attention to names..." She muttered.
"Well at least now we can limit it to those people." Galaxy assured her.
"How come Orbit didn't get the feeling Galaxy got?" Lexi asked. Leela shrugged.
"Maybe it has something to do with him being whatever the fifth is." Leela guessed.
Orbit glanced down at her Keeper necklace.
"What if this so-called evil comes too soon? What if we aren't ready and we fail?" Orbit's ears flopped back.
"That's not gonna happen." Galaxy told her. A surge of energy ran through him and he stood to his feet.
"And we're gonna make sure it doesn't. Lexi and Leela still need to get their necklaces, including the fourth. We need to train to our limits and be ready even if we don't have the fourth with us." The others seemed to brighten at his confidence.
"Then we should start now." Orbit said. Everyone got up.
"We can take Orbit's car to the field." Galaxy decided. The others nodded and walked to the door. Leela walked past him and whispered.
"You're a great leader." She said before walking off.
"Wha- I'm not a- I didn't think I was a lead- I- do you think I'm a-" He stuttered. She walked out the door and he stood there for a moment before following the others.

They arrived at the field and got out of Orbit's car. Galaxy stretched his stiff muscles and turned to see Lexi approach him.
"Watch what I can do!" She said before putting out her hand and sending a spiral of fire forewords.
"That's really cool." He said.
"Yeah! What can you do?" She asked. He hesitated.
"Uhhh... I can... I got nothin'." He said. Lexi shrugged.
"Try something." She suggested. Galaxy turned away and put his hand out. He pinned his ears back, trying to focus but nothing happened. His tail drooped and he sighed.
"Try again!" Lexi said encouragingly. Galaxy turned from her again and closed his eyes. He inhaled deeply and tried focusing. His focus kept getting interrupted with thoughts. Images and memories flashed through his head all at the same time. The noise became unbearable and he yelled out. The noise stopped and Galaxy opened his eyes. The ground around him was burned and dead. Cracks showed in the earth. Galaxy turned to Lexi who was staring in shock.
"What happened?" He asked. Lexi closed her gaping jaw and looked at him.

"You sent off some kind of... shockwave, that was blue." She said. Galaxy looked around at the damaged earth again.
"I did that?" He asked. Lexi nodded. Galaxy glanced behind Lexi to see Leela and Orbit dueling. Orbit seemed to have Leela overpowered but Leela jumped foreword and sent vines at Orbit, knocking her backwards.
"Ow! Okay you win you win!" She said. Leela retracted the vines and Orbit got up. Galaxy couldn't help but feel admiration for Leela.
"You're staring." Lexi pointed out. Galaxy looked at her.
"I am?" Lexi nodded.
"Just ask her out already!" Lexi said through gritted teeth. Galaxy looked at Leela who was now walking towards them.
"Not right now." He muttered. Lexi rolled her eyes and groaned but he ignored her.
"What did you think?" Leela asked. Galaxy blinked, forgetting what she was talking about but shook his head, remembering again.
"You were great!" He told her. Her short tail twitched happily.
"Thanks!" Leela said cheerfully. Galaxy was glad that she was finally recovering from her parents death. He turned and saw Orbit staring off into the distance.
He knew it would take a lot more time for Orbit to heal.