Felixentric

Scene 39

When Felix fell, Hen disappeared and the rest of the team was set free. Janette, Ray, and Hale all cried. They knew they'd been stupid. And they saw him fall too.

It was around three am by the time they were free and went their separate ways.

"We were born on a Sunday morning, too. Guess death has a funny way of finding irony," Hale said out loud to himself as he trudged down a path between trees. It was dark, pitch black beyond the trees, and even hazier with the thickening fog.

It was the worst kind of fog, or maybe the iconic kind. It was white in the dark, a light only apparent because this was Jupiter Forest. But it was also the heavy kind, that let you disappear into thin air. You could walk right in and never come out. Also, because it was heavy heavy. Like, it actually had a weight to it.

Hale could feel it on his shoulders as he trudged along... and guess what? He disappeared.

The humidity rose as he wandered deeper in. He tugged at his shirt, clinging to his skin, but it only gripped him tighter - as if to make hands out of itself and choke him.

Through the wet air, he could see a single light-post shining over the small universe. It lit a small park bench. He was five feet to it when his vision traced a figure.

And, heck, Hale came here to be alone. "Go away I'lloozjhen," he said.

But it was not I'lloozjhen coming back for his freed mind. He'd disappeared after the Death. He was gone.

The boy sitting on the bench did not read his mind. He did not give up his seat to the banefade. I have a right to be here too, Quinn's eyes said to him, terrified and lingering, darting up to connect with Hale's. He had a beer in his hand. He must have gone home first.

Fine, Hale thought at once. I must be nice to the kid. He thought this - with a kind and social touch, like he had for the past sixteen years of his life -, but he began to doubt himself. I defended the humans. They didn't repay the favor. What now? Not that Quinn Kasey was a true human, but he was no banefade. He wasn't one of Hale's people. The other superhumans were still somehow a human to him.

He sat down next to Quinn and sighed, letting out as much as he could in one breath. Then, Hale quivered in the cold. He was freezing. He'd also forgotten his jacket on the banister. When he saw the fall, he ran out and far away.

The fog got denser. It was a lot like his head. Little inside was discreet or solid. It was all just bright-dim light. It buzzed and blew around, but it did not function like a brain should function.

So, Hale sat there, his clasped and shaking hands between his knees as he hunched over them. "What was I doing?" he whispered. His voice was shaky, making him believe it was finally happening. But it didn't. "You shouldn't have come here."

"Why?" Quinn asked, his eyes still far out - like someone being pushed out of their spacesuit and into the frozen atmosphere. Without breath. Without gaze. Just staring and trapped. "Because you'll kill me?" But it wasn't in his normal, snippy tone - not that Hale had known him recently. "Maybe that's why I came." He stood up slowly, as if to get ready for a fight or make his case.

Hale stared at him, first a flame of anger erupting in in his eyes and then lowering them. "Sit down."

"But-."

"No. Sit down."

"So, you're not going to-."

"I haven't decided yet."

Quinn hesitated, but ultimately sat down to his right. He stared at Hale's hands. "You're right handed, yeah?"

Hale clenched his fists. "Why?"