Dmitri had been silent for the past hour as he sat at the foot of Gareth's bed. It had been four days and the black-haired man still showed no signs of consciousness. Yuma, Vector, Dark Mist(as best he could), and Dmitri had all been forcing soup, mashed up food, and water down his throat so he wouldn't die of dehydration and malnutrition. But despite everything, he still wasn't waking up and his fever was getting worse and worse each day. Dark Mist, Dmitri, and Astral hardly ever left his side.
Dmitri groaned and buried his face in his hands. "Gareth, please, please don't go. You're honestly all I have left. Please..." he sobbed.
Astral put a transparent hand on his father's shoulder, who seemed to be able to register it and just sobbed harder. Dark Mist wrapped his tentacle around a glass of water and carefully started to pour it into his uncle's mouth, before stopping. He made Gareth swallow the water in his mouth then inspected the water. He seemed to have an idea and was contemplating whether or not he should try it. At this point, Astral was willing to let him attempt almost anything.
Dark Mist bit his lip, then turned Gareth on his side and poured the water into his ear. Dmitri jerked up and watched in incredulity. Astral looked at his twin in pity, "Dark Mist, I don't think that'll work. I'm not quite sure why you think it would-" Astral stopped when Gareth turned over on his own and put a hand to his ear. Dmitri and Astral's mouths dropped open.
"Wha- how-" Dmitri sputtered.
Astral looked at Dark Mist who shrugged and grinned joyfully, "Vector sometimes bribes me to give Nasch some rude awakenings. The water-in-the-ear makes him the most pissed off and wakes him up fast. I'm just glad it worked."
Astral pulled out a quill and wrote on the piece of paper on the table and explained what Dark Mist had told him. Dmitri looked at it and gave a hollow chuckle. He then turned back to Gareth and both he and Astral started.
Gareth's eyes were half-open and he was trying to sit up. Dmitri and Astral rushed to his side although Astral accidentally passed through his father in his eagerness. "My head... hurts..." Gareth moaned.
Dmitri replaced the cloth on his forehead, which had started to dry out, with a wet cloth. "You're awake!" he choked out.
"And I have a killer headache," Gareth breathed out and he attempted a smile before wincing, "How long was I out?"
"About six days give or take." Dmitri said.
"Six days?! Did I miss anything important?" Gareth hissed.
"Not much-" Dmitri started before he was whacked over the head with a rolled up piece of paper. He unfurled it, read it, and one of his eyebrows rose in shock. "Well, you did miss Malachi getting rotten eggs and sewer water dumped on him-"
"Really?! Come on!" Gareth complained weakly.
"It was funny, we got into an argument but still. I did not know it was Dark Mist who did that though."
Dark Mist leaned over and wrote, Well, I DID say that I would drop eggs on him. The sewer water was a spur-of-the-moment thing. Although in retrospect I should've made him drink it.
Dmitri and Gareth both stared. "You do know-" Dmitri started.
He already knows what's in sewer water.
Yeah, why else would I want Malachi to drink it?
Dmitri's mouth curved up in a smirk and he let out a quick chuckle while Gareth just laughed. Wiping away a tear, Gareth thought to himself, 'I think I like Dark Mist's pranks, as long as they're concentrated on Malachi. They're similar to the ones Sebastian used to do. Slightly darker, but still similar. Maybe Dmitri will start to at least think of the possibility that these two might not be evil, because I'm pretty sure they're not.'
Dmitri was thinking along a similar train of thought, 'I think I can at the very least start to actually tolerate these spirits. They may have all the characteristics most evil spirits do, but maybe they're anomalies. I can't be sure, but anyone who'll help Gareth get better and dump sewer water on Malachi cannot be all bad. Besides, I almost enjoy Dark Mist's sense of humor. It's too similar to Sebastian's to make me comfortable, though. I miss him so much, it might be hard to travel with someone who reminds me of my son every day.'
Dark Mist smiled at Astral, "Well, got Dad to laugh, sort of."
Astral smiled back and looked at his father and uncle. "I hope the next number we acquire allows Father to see us. It hurts having to talk to him on paper and not let him know it's us."
Dark Mist bit his lip. "Astral, what if we drop little clues for him?"
Astral looked at him, "What do you mean?"
"Well," Dark Mist said, "What if as we keep remembering things, we drop little hints about stuff that only we would know or at least no one outside of the family would know about? You know, like sometimes we smack Malachi with a broom when he's pissing off Dad or Uncle Gareth."
Astral frowned, "That could work... then if he figures it out on his own he might not be quite as skeptical as if he just saw us after trying a number. But this could backfire so please try to keep it to a minimum."
"Exactly how could it backfire?" Dark Mist asked.
"He might think we're using what we know of his sons to torment him."
"Oh." Dark Mist said, "Hadn't thought of that."
Astral sighed, "I wish this wasn't so complicated."
"Don't we all," Dark Mist muttered.
…...
"Let's set up camp here!" Malachi called. As soon as he heard Gareth was awake, he had them all get moving again. Dark Mist had, in retribution for Malachi "discarding his favorite uncle's safety as if it was a piece of toilet paper that you flush down the privy", filled up Malachi's water bottle with sewer water. Only Astral and Vector knew about the prank and neither of them were telling Malachi about it.
"Oh good. After ten f*cking hours you finally decide we can rest." Dmitri snarled. He was also pissed at Malachi although he didn't know about Dark Mist's little revenge ploys. He'd probably find out soon enough, though.
"Dmitri, we can't just take it easy because you and Gareth want to. If we did that, we wouldn't get anything done," Malachi said placidly as if explaining something to a sulky toddler.
Dmitri fumed and Yuma opened his mouth to complain before Astral shushed him. Protesting would just make things worse.
"Right! So Yuma, can you please help me set up camp and Dmitri, Gareth, and Vector can look for food." Malachi said while undoing the cap on his water container. Vector and Dark Mist grinned at each other and Astral facepalmed.
Vector whispered to Gareth and Dmitri, "Watch this very closely. You won't want to miss it."
"Miss what?" hissed Dmitri.
"Dark Mist may have, completely on accident of course, filled up Malachi's water bottle with sewer water." said Vector so quietly he was almost breathing the words out.
Gareth and Dmitri's eyes widened and focused their attention to Malachi who had just taken a sip of his water. Malachi's eyes went wide and he spewed the water out. "Bleagh! What the hell?!"
"What's wrong?" Vector asked in his 'innocent' voice.
"This water tastes disgusting!"
"Maybe you left it out in the sun too long. I did that once and it tasted horrible." Yuma said. Dark Mist burst out laughing at Yuma's genuine naivety. Vector fought back a giggle, knowing full well the sun wasn't what caused Yuma's water to taste bad at all. Water boiled in brussel sprouts just tasted bad no matter how you look at it. And it comes as quite a shock when said person drinking said water didn't know their water bottle had been filled up with said water.
Malachi sighed, "Well, I suppose water's water. No use wasting it." with that being said, Malachi gagged down some more water. Dark Mist, Vector, Gareth, Dmitri, and Astral looked at him incredulously.
"Let's get going and forage for food before one of us gets sick." Gareth muttered. The others nodded and hurried off.
Before he left, Dark Mist called to Astral, "Hey Lucky! Let me know if he drinks the whole thing, will you?" without waiting for an answer, he zoomed off, ignoring Astral's shout of, "Don't call me Lucky!"
…...
"So does Dark Mist routinely prank people?" asked Gareth. Dmitri had insisted that Gareth not do any of the actual foraging and had gone off to find other sources of food than the bush Vector was currently picking berries from.
Vector, not looking back, replied, "Oh hell yes. He likes to mess with people, it's sort of his hobby."
"Is he here right now?" Gareth asked.
"Nah, he went off with Dmitri, why?" Vector asked.
Gareth frowned, "Well, do you think he has a particular hatred for Malachi?"
Vector debated whether or not he should tell Gareth before saying, "I don't think he does, I know he does."
"Why though?" Gareth asked cautiously.
Vector frowned, trying to see what Gareth was getting at before answering him for the sole reason that he was Dark Mist's uncle, whether he knew it or not, "Because he's an asshole, a cold heartless monster and," Vector bit his lip before deciding to tell Gareth, Even if Dark Mist and Astral didn't want Dmitri and Gareth to know who they really were, he could at least admit that they cared for them. "Because he torments you and Dmitri."
Gareth blinked in surprise and shifted his position, wincing as he moved. "He- he's pissed at Malachi because he distresses Dmitri and me?!"
Vector nodded. Gareth appeared lost in thought and didn't speak for a while, then finally, "Does Astral feel the same way?"
Vector nodded again, "They both hate his guts. I heard about Malachi's devotion to Astral and trust me, it is not a mutual feeling."
"I was wondering, what does Astral think about it?" asked Gareth.
Vector snorted, "He's worried about it but Dark Mist is begging him to abuse Malachi's obsession."
"How so?"
"Well, some of his ideas are for Astral to tell Malachi to dress up and act like a bunny, shout at the top of his lungs 'I have an extremely uncomfortable and contagious bladder disorder' in a crowded area, and make him willingly eat manure to give you a general idea."
Gareth cracked up, "Is Astral going for it?"
"Sadly, no. It would be amazing to see it, though." Vector giggled.
"Agreed, I don't know if Malachi would go for it if Dark Mist asked him though. He might, but I slightly doubt it. Not without Astral's approval." Gareth mused.
"Well, the only way he can tell who's who is the ink color," Vector pointed out, "And why do you always talk about Astral as if he's a deity or something?"
Gareth shrugged, "I suppose it's mostly Malachi grilling it into me, I probably shouldn't believe it. What's he really like?"
"Smart, a little naïve, and definitely not a deity. Not even a god complex, despite what Dark Mist may tell you." said Vector.
"Why would Dark Mist say he does?" Gareth asked.
Vector smirked, "I'm just going to say he's kinda required to."
"Huh?" Gareth frowned.
Vector held up his hands in surrender, "That's all I'm saying. You'll have to read between the lines on your own."
Gareth chuckled. He knew Vector was nudging him in the right train of thought; he just didn't know what the carrot-head was hinting at. No matter, he would eventually figure it out. At least he knew one thing, Astral wasn't evil. He didn't care what Malachi and Dmitri thought, he knew that Astral wasn't trying to take advantage of anyone.
In fact, Astral almost sounded a little like Luhke.
