Book 4 | Agent 34 and the Last Gem

Chapter 84 | An Old Friend

Calvin.

The voice echoed in his head.

Calvin.

It rang about his skull once again, forcing his eyes awake.

Calvin, it's me.

His eyes looked for a source to the echoey voice, yet none came. He studied his surroundings and soon discovered that he was not in the place he had fallen asleep in. He was in a bright white room with no windows or doors.

Calvin. It's me, Frain.

Calvin jumped at the name. He looked around more and soon spotted his deceased friend standing nearby. The man nearly ran to him, tears of joy streaming from his eyes. He had been waiting so long for Frain to make his return, and it finally happened.

Calvin tried to wrap his arms around him, but they just went right through him. He looked up at the human, tears sparkling in his green eyes.

Calvin, it's okay, Frain told him. You did it, you protected my children from the hardest threat that was hunting them. No, it was not Deathbringer or even Braunick himself. It was my wife.

"I'm sorry," Calvin told him. "We has to kill her—she was beyond help. The storm's effect was too much for her."

It's okay, he replied. She had it coming. Now, you've saved the day and protected the kids. There's one more task I need you to do.

"What is it?" the man replied, letting more tears come.

Adopt them.

"What? Aren't you coming back?" Calvin cried. "They're your kids, I can't do that to you."

Calvin, I'm not coming back, Frain announced. I have passed. Sarah killed me with her insanity. You are not talking to me. This is the last mental embodiment I have composed of myself. I can only let myself pass onwards when I know that my children are in good hands—and it now appears that they are.

Frain began to fade away, his voice getting dimmer.

"Frain!" Calvin cried. "Don't go!"

Thank you. Frain nodded to his friend as his body disappeared, the bright white soon being replaced with darkness.

Calvin awoke with sweat covering every inch of his body. He was back in the same tent he had fallen asleep in. His three children were all sleep in makeshift beds near him, and he was surprised to find Cathy in his own bed with him. She hasn't been there earlier.

The woman beside him woke up, looking at the early rays of dawn shining into the tent and then back at Calvin. "Good morning," she whispered, careful not to wake the children.

"Good morning," Calvin replied.

She noticed the sweat dripping down him and asked if he was okay. "Yeah," he replied. "But man, do I have a story to tell you. Can we go somewhere away from the children? Not to wake them up?"

"Certainly," she stood up out of the bed and walked out of the tent, Calvin following close behind. They went to a grove of trees and settled down beside each other beside a tree.

"Listen. This is gonna sound crazy," he warned her. "Hear me out,"

"Everything you say sounds crazy, but I see most of it with my own eyes," Cathy replied jokingly.

"Their father visited me in my sleep," he told her.

"Yeah, that is crazy, and I didn't even get to witness it this time,"

"No, that's not even the craziest part. He told me he was going to pass peacefully now that he knew his kids were in good hands. He told me that it was time for me to adopt them,"

"No way," she said.

"Yes way," Calvin said. "I don't know if I'm ready for this—,"

"It's okay," she said. "I'll be here to help."

"As in like—coming every once in a while?"

"What do you need me to do?" Cathy asked him.

"Well—I was kinda wondering-we've been through the flames and back together right?" Calvin drew a circle in the dirt with his foot, not relating to their subject.

"Yeah?" she asked.

"I mean—you want to, I don't know, go do something sometime?" He asked her, blood rushing to his face.

"Oh—oh," she said. "You mean—help you in that kind of way,"

"Aha, yeah," Calvin said nervously.

"I'd love to," she said, planting a kiss on his cheek. "It's a yes for both questions. I'll help you raise those children,"

"We just need to get their say on all of this, even though I'm sure they'll say yes. If this is what Frain wanted me to do, I'll do it. Let's go make them an Evilslayer, before they realize we are gone,"

They both stood up, giving each other a small embrace before heading back to their camp.