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.
"Ready to go?" Aaron asked, swinging the cars keys in his hand. Mikel noted it was a Mercedes and released a knowing sigh. No doubt, Tyler would turn out to be that loving father who spoilt his children silly.
"No, but I guess I have to try." Placing his hands on the doorpost, Mikel took a tentative step forwards, only hesitating for a second before placing his foot past the threshold. Immediately, he staggered, falling to his knees.
A tingly sensation raced through his body, starting from his shoulders to his legs. He couldn't look in front of him and the urge to run back inside the house was overwhelming him. He had to go back inside the house.
His breaths came fast and shallowed, in, out, in out, and his throat was parched.
Something in his chest hurt, it hurt as bad as someone cutting him through with a knife and twisting it in. Small soft hands rubbed at his back comfortingly but Mikel barely noticed it. He grabbed at his chest, breathing out his mouth now. Why was the pain getting bigger?
His vision tripped, and the world was bigger now, bigger and close up. They were coming for him, all the No Blessed around him, the ones who looked at him calmly and the ones who zoomed past his home in their noisy cars. Breathing was hard, it was an effort to get air inside of him, and the tingly feeling was worse now, burning him up from the inside. He hadn't eaten that morning but he felt like throwing up, dry retching until his stomach churned with pain, unable to give what it hadn't taken.
Someone placed a bottle of water on his hand, and a pill in his other hand. Mikel gulped both down mechanically, his hands shaking violently as he did so. Some of the water spilled all over his shirt but he was too far gone to care.
Tears burned his eyes now and he wasn't breathing but gasping, gasping for air hoarsely like a drowning man.
"Count with me," a small voice said and Mikel agreed, slowly counting down the seconds with them over and over, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10. Again, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10.
He lost track of how many times he counted, but he counted until his breathing slowed and the pain in his chest began to fade away. His breathing was still raggedy when he stood up, leaning on the door frame for support again.
"Are you sure you want to do this?" Aaron asked in concern. The scar that cut into his eyebrow curved slightly as he spoke, a memento from the day he had been kidnapped. "You don't look too good."
"I'm fine." Mikel's reply was murmured in a low tone, as he stumbled to his feet but none of them protested. Zoe took the keys from him and locked the front door, then held his hand as they walked towards the car unhurriedly.
Mikel would stop for several seconds, his eyes darting around like a cornered animal before resuming once again.
Despite the tales of immaturity he'd heard about Zoe, she didn't complain once, patient until they had reached the car.
"I know what to do when it happens," Zoe blurted as Mikel opened the car door as if she'd read his mind. "Praise had one too, when she first took us in."
He nodded mutely at the admission, sliding into the car. He did not trust himself to speak much, and despite the fragile veneer of calm he put on, his heart palpitated urgently.
All his senses told him to run, run back into the house but Mikel couldn't do that. He had come out for the first time in seven months and anxious pride bubbled inside him at the admission.
It was the first time he had felt the sun on his face in a long time, or smelt the evening breeze. It was like rediscovering the scent of nature and as he leaned back and closed his eyes, he decided that he liked it.
*
"I always forget to ask you," Praise said as she picked at her food, looking at Tyler intently. "Or rather, I ask and you avoid the question. What does Jonah 2008 mean?"
"That's not very polite dinner talk." His tone was jovial, but she could see his grin was a tad forced. "What if I'd choked?"
"I'd be more intrigued." She admitted, "I've wondered about it from the first time I heard it."
"It's not a particularly happy story."
"It didn't seem like one." Praise took a sip of her water, grinning up at him. "If it's particularly sad, I'll kiss your misery away."
"There's not much of a story to it anyway. Jonah was my older brother, the resident genius of the family. He didn't really have any ambitions so he went along with whatever our parents wanted him to do. His clothes, what he studied, their plans extended to whoever he dated as well." Tyler managed a wry smile. "I was the rebellious one, but I wasn't the first child so I didn't get much attention. I resented Jonah for being the favourite child, he got whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted it. I think I wanted my parents' attention too, even if it was negative, so I did stupid things."
Tyler took her hand, brushing over her knuckles softly, seeking comfort from her. "One of the most idiotic things I did was join a neighbourhood gang. They were into petty stealing, and when they could get their hands on it, drugs. At that point, I wanted to quit, because I'd heard the crazy stories about people who took drugs for the first time and went insane. But the gang didn't see themselves as a group of teens hanging out and doing stupid stuff. In their minds, they were a cult, initiation rites and all and when I said I was done, they told me they would teach me a lesson.
"That lesson was Jonah's death. They cornered him while he was out on an errand for my mom, beating him with metal bats till he stopped moving. On 21st December 2008, Jonah died. He'd suffered severe internal bleeding and a fatal concussion."
"It never turned up in the web searches..."
"My parents didn't birth children, they birthed career opportunities. Jonah was gone, which meant one chance was gone and they had two more tries to work with. After his death, to them Jonah had never existed, and they cleared all memories of him to begin a fresh start. Mikel was too proud and stubborn to give in to their wishes, and so I became their next golden boy. Jonah's death was my fault and they knew it, guilt tripping me at every opportunity until I became the next chance at a shot at greatness. If I had failed, it would have been Mikel, and if he had, then someone else would have been used. No one except our family, and now you, knows that Jonah Ark ever existed." Tyler gave her worn look, squeezing her hand. "Satisfied, Detective?"
Praise looked around them discreetly, before leaning over the table and kissing him shyly. "Very."
She'd have never gone for such a public display of affection in a open place but Tyler had reserved a private dinner room for them, and here they were all alone.
A human tornado barged past the door, yelling at the top of her voice. "Well? Did we miss it?"
Aaron entered the room behind her, Mikel trailing behind him. "I don't think we did Zoe."
Tyler's eyes shone when Mikel entered the room, waving to him timidly. "I told you I could leave the house."
The brothers exchanged a small smile and Mikel gave him an encouraging nod.
"Miss what?" Praise asked, glancing at Zoe's slightly flushed face. "Are we going somewhere else?"
Aaron turned away from the scene bashfully as Tyler got on one knee, holding out a small felt box to Praise. A gasp of surprise escaped her, her hands reaching up to cover her face. "Oh my God."
"Praise, you're the most intelligent, bravest woman I've ever seen, and when I met you I knew I'd met my match. You deserve the very best, someone who will back you up without limits, let you grow without borders, and love you without end. Will you let me be the one?" He removed the ring from the box and held it out to her, an anxious smile on his face. "Me and you, together forever?"
Zoe squealed, pushing Praise's shoulder back and forth excitedly. From her actions, a clueless passerby would think she was the one being proposed to.
"Yes," Praise whispered, tearing up as she stretched out her right hand, and they burst into clapping and whisper yells of 'congrats'. Tyler slipped the ring on her middle finger, reaching up to press his lips to hers.
As Zoe fussed over her ring, shiny and gold, Mikel's phone buzzed in his pocket and her fished for it, licking his lips nervously when 'unknown number' flashed across the screen.
"Hello?" Mikel exited the room subtly, holding the phone to his ear. "Who is this?"
"Mr. Ark, it's been a long time since we spoke, hasn't it?" The voice on the other end was gravelly and tired, enunciating their words sluggishly and Mikel's brows rose in surprise, recognizing the caller instantly.
"Sean Bishop?"
There had been no way to prove the existence of No Blessed but Sean had been convicted on counts of kidnap and assault which, with the help if Tyler's influence, were more than enough to keep him in prison for the rest of his life.
"Would you lend a dying man a bit of your time?"
*
They were in a room, with only a large metal table putting a measure of distance between them. Sean looked older than Mikel remembered, older than the reticent suspect the judge had pronounced guilty during the broadcast trial that had aired over two months ago.
The first time Mikel had met him, he had exuded power, from the eloquent way he talked to the clothes he wore and the mention of his name alone. But the Sean in front of him now was pitiful, a raggedy copy paste version of the Sean he hated.
"You look well." Sean placed his hands on the table, his cuffs clinking noisily against it. "I never thought you would make it back here."
Mikel's eyes scrutinized Sean's form, trying to find a trace of the man he had looked forward to killing when he returned. This shell in front of him was so weak, it was nauseating. This was what the mighty became when they fell?
"You called me here for small talk?"
Sean laughed, a dry mirthless sound. "It's the least you could do, since I'll be very much a corpse tomorrow."
He had been given the death penalty, on the counts of his numerous abductions and the murder of his wife, whose body he'd hidden away for several years prior. Mikel still thought it wasn't enough, Sean did not deserve such a quick escape from his miserable life.
He pushed back his chair, regretting coming here in the first place. What had he been hoping for, closure?
"I see no reason why I should be here, you're not worth it." He moved towards the door, yanking it open and then Sean stopped him with his words, implications of disbelief and hope.
"You think you've stopped it?" Sean coughed, the tremors racking through his body ceaselessly. "Do you actually think No Blessed is gone?"
"I overwrote its code, of course it's gone. The Kakketsehatsu which escaped here had also disappeared. If that doesn't prove to you No Blessed has been destroyed, you're living in a delusion."
"I could say the same to you. We underestimated it, Koenig and I. It's no longer just a game, No Blessed is a sentient, living being now. What you did was nothing more than a fatal blow. It will not be long before it recovers."
Mikel remembered the white void, the vacuum that had swallowed the land and wiped it clean and the bitter emptiness he had left behind. Sean was wrong. "I think staying cooped here for so long has messed with your mind, Sean."
The older man shook his head, and a frenzied light entered his eyes as he looked at Mikel. "I saw it, when I wanted to restart the program. I could not recognize it first but every night I remember it, and now I know what it means."
"Oh?" was Mikel's response, and it was a jeer, ridicule coupled with malice.
Sean looked down at his hands. "You do not believe me, but the program has rewritten itself. All you did was close one doorway, another one will open."
"Do you realize how irrational you sound? How demented?"
"I did something," Sean muttered, and he was scratching at his arms now, gathering skin under his fingernails. "I did not know it at the time but I did something. Those codes were unnatural, I knew they were unnatural but I had to kill you, I had to."
His sentences became unintelligible, starting and ending in short, clipped phrases. "...doomed us all...reality now...corrupted program... coward Mark..."
Sean began shouting, throwing himself against the wall and to the floor with muttered sentences the younger man couldn't understand.
Mikel slipped out of the room, motioning to the two guards who stood in front of the door. "He's acting out."
They nodded as him, entering the room and Mikel continued to walk down the hallway, Sean's crazy yells ushering him out.
He refused to believe what Sean had said - it was clear the man was descending into madness and he despised the small part of him that soared with hope, that came alive and cheered as he repeated the conversation in his mind.
Was No Blessed really still alive? Running and functioning?
He exited the prison grounds where Tyler was waiting for him nearby in an air conditioned car.
"What did he say?" Tyler asked as Mikel buckled up. "He apologized?"
Mikel snorted at the assumption. "He wanted to make small talk, apparently, I'm the best choice for that."
It was a wonder to see his brother roll his eyes and Mikel decided he'd been picking up a few exaggerated habits from Zoe.
"How do you feel?" Tyler pressed, starting the engine of the car. It came to life with a smooth purr. "I heard you had another attack this morning."
It was Mikel's turn to roll his eyes, as he still struggled with his seat belt. "I'm fine Tyrese, I really am."
Too immersed in figuring out why the belt wasn't staying in place, Mikel did not notice the slight hurt that crossed Tyler's face at the slip up.
"If you say so."
They drove to his home in total silence, Mikel napping the whole of the way. It was only when Tyler had waved him goodbye, and he was once again in the safe walls of his small home that he attempted the thoughts that had plagued him since he had spoken with Sean.
It was dark out now, and his curtains were closed, sheilding him from any prying eyes.
Mikel held out his hands in front of his face, his breath shortening in excitement at just the thought of trying. "Dear Erynla, let this work."
He counted to calm himself, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10, a little tip he always relied on when he got too excited, before curving his hands together easily.
"Jolt, thunder sprites."
A second ticked, ten seconds went by and then the tiniest of lightning, faint and purple sparked in his palms, illuminating Mikel's awestruck face.
Outside, the sky rumbled threateningly, dark clouds beginning to form, and throughout the city, the winds whistle gaily, blowing window shutters close and dancing with dead leaves.
The lightning in Mikel's palms grew larger and brighter, and then for one brief moment, purple light flooded the entire street, like a beacon calling out to its allies.
The light receded, plunging the night into darkness once again and all was silent. As it should be.
Fín
*