No Blessed ✓

Epilogue

Buckle up guys, this is way longer than any other chapter. Also, check out the song above and tell me what you think. ^^

It was the first time Mikel was stepping out of the house since his return from No Blessed. It had been seven months since he had seen Astra.

Every morning, he woke up with a pain in his heart he wasn't sure would ever go away, and a deep sense of disappointment when he reached for his staff and it wasn't there.

The tattoos were still here, and where they had once crowded his skin and left not an inch to be seen, each day they disappeared one by one. Today, he had awoken to find the tattoo of the wolf gone from his arm, mourning yet another token from No Blessed. It was ironic that the same place he had abhorred, he now missed with a burning desire to see again.

The nights were his only time of peace, for in the nights, he was Mikel Ark, apprentice Druid once again, and in the nights, he shared a room with Victoria and Eric. In the nights, he told Astra how sorry he was.

Waking up was a torture, an unwanted chore. Sometimes, he wore the salvages of his purple robe and sat in a corner for what seemed like hours, reliving the days he had been happy. Happiness seemed like such a far-fetched emotion now.

At Tyler's insistence, Mikel had been to doctors, consultants and therapists who claimed he was depressed and prescribed him pills he flushed away when Tyler's back was turned.

His brother had never paid him much attention before so it was still a surprise these days when Tyler hugged him and smiled at him, when his brother was actually there for him when he needed his help.

When Mikel got triggered at being forced to go outside, Tyler was there to reassure him. When he slipped up and called regular people No Blessed or a that popular wrestler on TV a Spartan, Tyler never made mention of the fact the doctors said his psyche was getting progressively worse.

Mikel didn't want 'help', he didn't want therapy that would help reintroduce him to the society. All he wanted, was to go back to the August Church.

Praise was the only one who truly understood him, but even her understanding was limited. She had only read of No Blessed, never experiencing it, and in his rare moments of lucidity, Mikel wished she had been sent there instead of him. He had forgotten what it meant to be normal.

He put on his clothes, a formal suit shirt with equally stiff trousers although he left the top most button of his shirt opened. Today was an important one for Tyler, he was going to propose to Praise.

After months of casually 'hanging out' and helping Praise find a job after Nuroh Inc. was shut down, they had become a couple, a very reserved couple who still stuttered around the love declarations and awkward good night calls.

Mikel was happy for them, even of he'd only expressed it in a stuttered phone call he was embarrassed of to this day. Tyler had informed him of his plan to propose only in passing, but Mikel had heard the silent plea in his voice when they'd spoken over the phone.

Tyler didn't know he was going to come to the evening date where he planned to pop the question, but Mikel supposed his coming would be a nice surprise. He hadn't failed to notice how Tyler's worry for him aged his brother's face.

His doorbell rang and he shuffled to the door unenthusiastically, making sure he wore his shoes first. Whether he liked it or not, he needed moral support if he hoped to make it past his front door. Even if that moral support happened to be Praise's somewhat annoying kids.

Aaron nodded at him, and Zoe made a finger heart, smiling at him brightly.

Thanks to Praise, Mikel was in the know in about Zoe's recent interests in Korean culture, most particularly the music. He offered a slight smile back, intimidated. As he gazed at them, he wondered whether it had been the right choice to call them over.