The Fragile the Broken and the Brave

42. Comforter

8.22.20

Benji's POV

When I woke up, I felt the worse pain blossoming from behind my eyes. I groaned loudly before stretching my arm out, and I was glad to find that I was no longer in that prison on a mattress so thin it could count as a sleeping bag. There was a bright light shining down into my face, and I pulled my arm up to shield the rays from my eyelids. What? I'm sensitive. In the distance, the sound of voices could be heard over the constant crash of thunder in my head, and I focused through all of the pain I was feeling to catch their words.

"Yes sir, I am telling you the truth. We are fairly certain that your son was supposed to become the next master warlock, but because he didn't assume his identity in time for the previous one to meet him, he never became publicly known. I know that it sounds crazy, but I saw it with my own eyes. The kid is a blessing to our community."

"Sequiz, he's just a boy. He's fairly new to all of this, you have to cut him some slack." My father was here too... interesting. I just hope that he can talk some sense into them; I'm not some kind of spectacle to be marveled at. I'm a normal boy, with normal thoughts and feelings. I may have different physical traits and power that separates me from the way that I grew up, but I prefer not to think about it. In fact, what even is a power?

"John it's important that he knows the truth about all of this. You can't just hide his identity from him for the rest of his life; that isn't fair to either of you."

"How do you know for certain? This is all just a speculation. Maybe the school has been growing weaker structurally since it was built, and any large magic explosion could knock out the power, damage the foundation, and cause an evacuation of the entire student body as the roof wasn't safe to be under anymore... Yeah now that I list it that becomes much less believable."

"This is precisely my point. I know that the last man is dead and all, but we have to give the boy some kind of structure. I don't know much about the last time a warlock was brought up like this. Those darn masters and their soulmates live for like, 1000 years. As far as I know offspring live a normal life; it makes for a constant shift of people."

"You mean that he's going to have to not only go through the eventual loss of our whole family, but also deal with the fact that he has to watch almost 10 centuries worth of his children's children's children going through their lives hardly remembering they have a link to him. That's hard..."

"We need someone wise to look up to."

"I suppose we do..."

Their words terrified me. I mean, living to see my own kids and grand kids die? I would hate that with a passion. I don't know if I can handle death very well, but from what they're saying I have a duty to fulfill to keep everyone safe. I guess that I have to do it whether I like it or not; and I definitely don't. "Oh by the way, thank you for letting us temporarily relocate our students to your mansion while we make repairs. Everything helps in times like this."

"Well it technically isn't mine, and my brother will probably kill me later, but it's fine. I'm always willing to do you all a favor in rare times." I rolled over on the soft bed I was in, and my fists curled into the blankets from beneath the thick comforter. The bed sheets smelled like Connor, and I allowed the protection of my friend to slowly lull me out of this nightmare...

When my eyes opened again, my whole body felt warm and fuzzy. My mind was drifting in and out, and my fists curled up in the pillow case to the item I was holding between my fingers. However, I stopped drifting when said pillow moved, and I opened my eyes slowly. I was instantly glad that it was night time because one, Connor doesn't believe in window blinds, and two my headache was still slamming against my skull in a consistent pulsing motion, and I didn't need any of that Mr. Golden Sun. "Benji? Are you awake," Mikey's voice, gravelly with sleep, croaked. I was shocked to feel him with me, but I didn't mind. I've always wanted a boy like him to hold me when I feel down.

"Yeah." I rolled slowly in his grip so that I was laying on my back instead of leaned all up against him like a pornstar, but he didn't release his strong grip on me. I was grateful for that; I like the security of his arms wrapped around me, watching over me as I rested.

"How did you sleep? You've been out for over 24 hours."

"I don't know exactly... I feel troubled."

"Why?"

I explained to him everything about the exchange I had heard earlier between my father and the man that had stuck me down in a dirty hole, and he listened carefully to me as I vented on and on about how I didn't want to see my own children die before I was even 40. Even when I was talking for almost an hour of his valuable time, he just laid there next to me with his hand softly running through my hair. I felt this sizzling feeling deep in my chest with every stroke of his long, dark fingers, and it didn't have anything to do with magic. The sensation spread all around my body like a wildfire, and I couldn't help but to keep spilling my guts to him. Suddenly, I wasn't talking about crazy powers and being a warlock master, but rather about the ins and outs of my personal life. I don't think that I've ever shared this much with any other living being I knew, and it was great to just get everything out into the open. It took me three hours to finally wear out of things to talk about, and by then my voice was becoming scratchy like a record player gone through a toilet brush cleaning. I sighed at the end of my speech before collapsing down onto the bed more, and Michael's arms held me closer than ever before. My mind was still vibrant, but my body was trying to wind down. I need to sleep but I can't; anyone else know the feeling?

However, with Mikey running his hands through my hair again, my mind was slowly dumping out. "Mikey?"

"Hm?"

"Can you sing me a song? I can't get through to that last barrier of sleep."

"Sure thing, Benj." I slowly drifted away to his baritone vocals, and I leaned into him more just as the world went dark. I've never seen someone who could put me to sleep so easily, yet here he is, acting as my comfort and my new protector. I just hope I can count on him...