Hidden Soul

3.1 (Calm Before The Storm) | Solace

The doctors rushed about as the beeping on the screen intensified, trying to keep Mei's life intact before it went away forever. John was watching from a nearby window, as people passed by behind him in the hospital. He looked worried, seeing as she had a critical fever by the time she fell. She was barely breathing, yet she still tried to hold on.

"Not today." he thought as he put a hand to the glass. As he focused, the beeping started to slow down as her heartbeat started getting faster. The doctors were still rushing around, but this time they were getting things in place instead of finding things. He took his hand off and started walking back to the waiting room, putting his hands in his blue jacket that he managed to keep after turning back into John. He got through the doors, seeing a worried Timothy and Alfredo, and said, "She'll live. Just give her time."

"Ah, that's good to hear." Timothy said, before getting up. The trio walked out of the hospital and headed for the train station.

The sky was partly cloudy as a train rushed by. People were seated on the station's wooden benches as they waited for their trains. Timothy and Alfredo were sitting on a bench at the very edge of the station as John looked in a certain direction, staring blankly at the scenery.

"Hey, you think he's alright?" Alfredo asked.

"Probably." Timothy answered, taking a closer look. He stood up, walked over to John, and waved his hand in front of him, asking, "Hello? You good?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just trying to remember some extra stuff from my past life."

"But why here, though? Why not anywhere else?"

"I feel calm when looking at things like this. What's more, the wind calms me down a little."

The rain suddenly came, the End of the World incident removing all natural possibilities of weather, and Timothy ran back to the benches which had a cover above them, saying, "Damn! I forgot it would rain today!"

The others also forgot, and tried to take shelter. John, with a wave of his hand, created an open umbrella in everyone's hands, before closing his and walking over to the edge, a short metal gate separating the platform and the greenery below.

"Is he actually alright?" Alfredo asked, seeing his expression darken. He leaned on the gate, before crossing his arms on it as he closed his eyes. He went limp seconds later, falling asleep.

"Ah!" Timothy shouted in agony.

"Why would you fall asleep at a time like this?" Alfredo asked, also shouting in agony.

Both teenagers had to carry him onto the train, rainwater dripping from their clothes and body.

Once they managed to get him to his house, Noah, who was standing by the door, said, "You guys are soaking wet."

John woke up at 3 a.m., and felt hungry. He took off the blanket and got off the bed, only to notice that Noah wasn't nearby. "Where is he?" he thought as he walked over to the kitchen. There, he saw Noah and his friends passed out on the ground, a tipped-over glass of milk and some chocolate-chip cookies nearby. "He partied hard while I was out. Should I get some stuff?" he thought.

He took the pack of cookies, and took a bite. "This'll do for a midnight snack." he thought, as he picked up the glass and put it on the kitchen table. He took a few tissues and wiped the spilled milk, before throwing it in the bin and taking a carton of milk, opening it and pouring milk into the glass, all while holding the pack of cookies. He placed the pack down, put the carton back into the fridge, and took a cookie, dipping it in the milk before taking a bite.

He heard a small slap behind him and looked back as he widened his eyes in surprise. One of Noah's friends were just moving in their sleep. He breathed a sigh of relief as he got back to eating the cookies.

The moment he finished the cookies, he drank the remaining milk before pouring water in it. Just as he was about to drink it, however, Dale slowly got up.

"Shit." he thought as he quickly drank up the water. He placed the glass in the sink just as Dale got himself straight, and the latter asked, "Hey, what time is it?"

"3 a.m." John answered.

Dale groaned, before laying himself down on the floor. "We partied too hard, I guess."

"Yeah, you tipped over a glass of milk and left some cookies."

"Where's the milk?"

"Cleaned it up."

"The cookies?"

"I ate them."

"Why?"

"Midnight snack."

The both of them stayed silent as John threw away the empty pack of cookies in the bin, before he broke the silence as he said, "I don't feel sleepy anymore. Wanna help me lift these guys up and onto the bed?"

"Yeah, sure."

They both carried the rest of the boys onto the bed, before John tucked the blanket over them. "So, what now?" he asked.

"You got any games?"

"I don't usually play games. Instead, I like to look out at the sky."

"I see."

John walked out the house, before creating a mattress and laying down on it. "The nebula's visible tonight." he said.

Dale walked over and sat down, looking up. Sure enough, the yellow and pink cloud-like nebula was visible in the sky.

"I heard there exists worlds outside of ours. Is that true?"

Before John could answer, a faraway explosion bright enough to be seen occurred somewhere on the nebula. It blew a small bit of the nebula away from its original course, wherever it was heading to.

"That'll confirm your suspicions of other worlds, and that'll confirm my suspicions of there being people stronger than me."

"Man, I really wish I could go there someday."

"Go where?"

"Up in the skies."

"Dale, you want me to launch you there right now?"

"Wait, what?"

"Nah, nah, I'm just kidding. Although, I could do that to a certain person."

"For real?"

"Yeah. Ever heard of The One?"

"I thought he's become nothing more than a myth. Why're you bringing him up?"

"I have a strength similar to his."

"So you're like, The One's brother?"

John thought for a moment, before saying, "Think of it as like a parallel version of him."

"Seems logical."

They both stayed silent for a moment, before Dale laid down on the mattress. "Hey, you know this place is kinda haunted, right?"

"Why?"

"Well..."

Dale checked his watch, and said, "It's about time." It read 3:30 a.m., and right at that moment, two flashes of light, one blue, one yellow, struck each other in the middle of the road. John created a shield to defend Dale, the clashing on his side, but with his current strength, his shield only managed to hold up against 2 clashes before it broke completely. He transformed into Keith and held up another shield, which managed to withstand the rest of the clashes between the two lights.

As Dale saw the spectacle, he noticed that John was nowhere to be seen, a white-haired boy in his place. "Goddammit." the boy said, "I came outside to look up above, but today instead I have to defend myself and my brother's friend from you two."

Eventually, the lights went upwards, disappearing from view as they went into the starry sky. "Now that's done." Keith said, before reverting into John and making the mattress disappear. He walked back inside and prepared to sleep.