Essence of Quinn Parts 3 & 4: Papa IV Era & The Main Event - Fate Breaker (MxM)

Hysteria

This is the final chapter of part 3 but I will continue on with part 4 straight after this chapter so stay tuned!

**** Somewhere on the road to Aramaio, six months later ***

Flames dancing around him, licking at his skin and calling to him. The pain in his heart was so intense that it stole his breath just as quickly as the heat from the fire had done.

Quinn sucked in a lungful of air and sat upright, brain taking a second to catch onto where and when he was. It didn’t help that his head was still fuzzy from the amount of alcohol he’d consumed on the plane to get here.

“Fuck!” Air said, scrabbling around to find something and then shoving it under Quinn’s nose. “Sit back, it’s okay.”

Gentle hands pushed him back into his seat and Quinn grabbed the wad of tissues that Air had pressed to his nose to catch the blood.

“You okay?” Water said, glancing back at him in the rear-view mirror.

Quinn snarled a response, but even he couldn’t say what it was. His head pounded from the vision that had just forced its way through whatever protective shield Air seemed to have over him when it came to the ether. Sometimes they would smash their way through, and every time it hurt like an absolute bitch.

“What did you see?” Air said, gripping his thigh and massaging it, his concerned eyes searching Quinn’s face.

Quinn huffed and dabbed at his nostrils. It felt like the bleeding had stopped, but it had been a gusher.

“The same thing. The flames. Nothing useful. Just the flames.”

Air sighed and shifted in his seat.

“Are we almost there, aqua boy?” he said.

Water chuckled.

“If you ask me that one more time, Air...”

Itzal, who was in the front with Water, glanced around, scanning the pre-dawn landscape with perfect shadow ghoul vision.

“I think we are close,” he said, shuddering. He fiddled with the air con and shut it off. “Is it just me, or is it freezing in here?”

Quinn sent the young ghoul some of his mojo to calm him. He was nervous, not only because of where they were going and who they’d be facing, but because this would be his biggest and longest mission yet and the first one that was so far away from home. He turned around and smiled at Quinn in thanks.

The rest of the journey passed in silence and they arrived at their destination around half an hour later. The others were already out of their van and making some last-minute plans.

Secondo, Seren, Earth and Fire were all standing in a huddle and they looked over as the second van pulled in.

Quinn was glad to be back in the fresh air with his feet on the ground and he took a moment to centre himself.

Secondo greeted them all and nodded to Itzal.

“Itzal, could you do the perimeter check? Make sure we do not run into any nasty surprises. Thank you.”