Hello there readers. Look, I've gotten back into updating at a semi-normal pace again. I guess this is a perfect time to announce that I'll be doing NaNoWriMo this year and won't be able to update throughout all of November. This'll be the first time I've ever tried before, so hopefully it won't be a complete fail. Haha, sorry about the upcoming lack of updates though, but I'll try to update maybe once more after this before then, but sadly I can't promise anything.
Anyway, let's get on with the chapter now, shall we?
Chapter 52
Husky laid still in his bed for a few moments, eyes closed as he debated on whether or not he wanted to get up quite yet. He still felt pretty awful to tell the truth - although marginally less speed deprived when compared to this morning - so it was incredibly tempting to just roll over and fall right back to sleep.
Of course, he'd probably been sleeping for a while now and Keane was most likely already back from school. He should also try to call Cooro or something and let the others know that he was okay. It was just very obvious that he was sick now. There was a dull ache throughout his body, and his head felt like it was completely full of wet cotton as well as that strange, hot-but-cold feeling all over that tended to come with fevers.
Before Husky was able to make up his mind on what exactly he wanted to do he heard the sound of his door creaking open just slightly. Having to force himself a bit more than he probably should have, he managed to open his eyes and sit up. Keane was peeking into his room, a hint of relief on his face at the sight of the younger boy now awake.
"Hey, I was just checking to see if you were up yet. You okay?" the redhead asked softly. It definitely wasn't a tone that he was used to Keane using with him, but Husky simply ignored it before nodding slightly. Instead he just began rubbing at his eyes in an attempt to get them to focus a bit better as he answered.
"I'm sick," the silver boy said plainly. He was still rubbing his eyes and not looking up at Keane, so he didn't end up noticing the slightly amused look that passed over the older boy's face.
"Right, I could kind of tell. Want me to get you some cold medicine?" Keane asked, the silver boy nodding once again, not having to think it over at all. He didn't like taking medicine, but it was clear he needed it and something just told him that Keane wasn't about to take a plain no as an answer.
"Yeah, thanks," Husky said, having stopped rubbing at his eyes now, although his vision was only marginally better than before. The silver boy leaned his back against the wall before looking over at the redhead just in time to see him nodding.
"No problem, want anything else while I'm down there? Something to eat maybe?" Husky thought the question over for a moment. He wasn't really all that hungry, but he probably needed to eat seeing as he hadn't yet at all today. He just found himself hoping that whatever he ate wouldn't end up upsetting his stomach any. He didn't need to be having a stomach bug on top of all of this, that was for sure.
"Sure, whatever's fine," he said, not quite able to think of anything specific he really wanted to eat. Once Keane had left the room the silver boy pulled his blanket up around him, feeling a chill run though his body. Urg, why did he have to get sick now? He'd already missed so much school this year; he was surprised that they hadn't tried to contact his father yet.
Thinking about it, they probably actually have tried to already. They just couldn't get a hold of him. He definitely wouldn't be surprised if he ended up finding out that had been the case.
It wasn't long before Keane came back into the room, placing a cup of apple juice and a plate of grapes, crackers and two pills down on the table next to his bed.
"Are you sure you're gonna be alright?" the redhead asked. Husky almost immediately nodded, it was just a stupid flu after all. Or fever. Or a bad cold or something. Point was he'd had worse before and would most likely definitely have worse in the future as well. The worry in the older boy's eyes didn't immediately vanish, but he seemed to decide to just let the topic drop for now.
"Cooro called earlier, I think he was worried since you weren't in school today," Keane said after a moment. Husky quickly looked up at him, although he wasn't entirely surprised. He would probably act the same way if one of the others hadn't come to school without any warning.
"Did you tell him I was sick?" he asked, the redhead nodding.
"I told him this morning that you weren't feeling well, and when he called I said that you were still asleep. It was about an hour ago, so I guess just call him back whenever you feel like it," he explained. Husky glanced at the clock hanging on his wall. An hour ago would have been right around the time when school let out and Cooro would have gotten home.
Yep, he was definitely worried that something was wrong. He hadn't waited long to call him at all.
"Thanks," the silver boy said absently, nodding slightly. "I'll call him in a bit. Did he say any reason why he was calling?" he asked, doubting it but figuring it couldn't hurt to ask. Just as he thought though, Keane started shaking his head.
"No, he just asked if I could tell you he called when you woke up," the redhead explained. Keane seemed to hesitate for a moment, looking the younger boy over a bit before finally turning back towards the door. "I'll be in my room if you need anything else, okay? Hope you feel better," he said after a few seconds.
"Okay, thanks again," Husky said, turning towards the food that Keane had brought and taking a sip of the juice. The hesitance in the older boy worried him slightly, but he quickly pushed it away. He probably just wasn't used to seeing him sick like this. He wasn't acting like he had when it was that whole debacle with Senri, so it shouldn't be that bad.
There wasn't any reason for him to think that anything else was up, after all. And as long as they made sure he never saw any of the markings, there wouldn't ever be any reason for him to. Since they all had these powers now, hopefully nothing else crazy life changing and just frankly impossible seeming would happen to them.
Popping a few of the grapes in his mouth, the silver boy quickly took the pills afterwards. Ignoring the crackers for now, he reached over and grabbed his phone. There was no reason to make Cooro worry for any longer than necessary, after all.
He didn't have to listen to the phone's ringing for very long, Cooro's ever cheerful voice picking up after only a few rings. He could imagine the black haired boy making small excuses to keep himself close to the phone over the past hour as he waited for him to call back.
"Hello, how may I help you?" he asked happily. For a second Husky couldn't help but think it would be so much easier if the black haired boy had his own phone, so that they wouldn't have to call the church's number all of the time. Of course, Cooro didn't exactly have the money for a cell phone, so that was sadly out of the question.
"Hey Cooro, it's Husky," he said, practically able to feel the relief radiating off of the other boy through the phone.
"Husky! How are you? Keane said that you got sick, are you okay?" Cooro asked rapidly. The silver boy nodded instinctively as he started to answer.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Just caught a stupid cold or flu or something, that's all. I might end up being out for a few days though, which isn't exactly good since I've already missed so much school to begin with. You weren't worried, were you?" Husky asked. He could already tell that he had been, but he figured it didn't hurt to ask.
"Well, Keane had said that you were sick, so I wasn't too worried. That's too bad though, hopefully you'll get better soon. You don't think that the school will make you retake the year or something if you miss too much, do you?" Cooro asked. Husky thought for a moment, frowning slightly as he did. He really hoped something like that wouldn't happen. If he just had to end up staying after school to make up the time or going to classes during the summer then he could deal with that, but he really didn't want to have to retake a whole year of stuff he already thought was boring to begin with.
"I hope not, but there's nothing I can do about it if they do. Maybe I'll be able to go tomorrow if I'm feeling better," he said. On the other end of the line Cooro nodded, although he really didn't think that sounded like a good idea if Husky really had the flu or something like that. He'd seen the silver boy push himself too hard before, and although this wasn't really the same exact situation, he still didn't want anything bad to end up happening to him simply because he was being stubborn.
"Just make sure you don't push yourself too hard if you're still sick, okay?" Cooro asked, Husky instantly agreeing. He didn't want to end up passing out in the middle of class any more than Cooro wanted him to, so he wasn't going to go do anything crazy. Plus, if that happened then they would have to call his father to take him home and it'd just be a huge mess he did not want to get into at all.
"I won't, don't worry about it," he tried to reassure the older boy. "So, did anything happen today?" he asked after a moment. He was starting to feel a bit less exhausted, so even though his head wasn't completely clear, he could begin to think slightly better now. Cooro was quiet for a moment before shrugging at the question.
"Not really, school was pretty much the same as always. Mostly I was just worried about how you were doing," the black haired boy said. Husky couldn't help but smirk slightly as he leaned his chin down on his knees.
"I thought you said you weren't worried about me?" he asked. Cooro was quiet for a moment before chuckling slightly, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly.
"I guess maybe I was kind of worried. Keane said you were sick, but I guess I was just scared that you might have only said that to him because it was something that you couldn't actually explain, you know?" he said. Husky's small smirk dropped and he nodded. Yeah, he could definitely understand how he might be worried about something like that.
"Right, that makes sense. Thankfully it wasn't anything like that, or I'd try to tell you all as fast as possible," he said.
"Yeah, that's good," Cooro said on the other end of the line. Both boys were quiet for a moment, not entirely sure what to say next.
Cooro wondered if he should tell him about what Keane had said on the way home today, about feeling that there was just something they were keeping from him. It could be really bad if the redhead continued to feel that way and decided to look into it by himself. Sure, it was doubtful that he would be able to find out everything, but most anything he could find out would still be considered too much in his opinion.
Of course, how was Husky supposed to make him any less suspicious even if he knew that he was suspecting sometime was amiss? If he went to him and said that everything was perfectly normal and he didn't need to worry about it, it would probably just make things all the worse.
Before the black haired boy was able to figure out exactly how to word his thoughts however Husky started speaking once again.
"So, nothing's really changed at all with you? No new dreams or anything?" he asked, breaking the small silence.
"Nope, nothing so far, which is good I guess. I almost wish there was something new though, so that it could help us figure out what's going on, I'm kind of stuck now with just everything we already know," Cooro said. Husky found himself nodding in agreement. Maybe it was just the fever talking, but it would be helpful if they had something to send them in a direction. Of course, as long as that something wasn't anymore horrid dreams or nearly dying again. If that was the case, then he could definitely go without a direction.
"Yeah, but I'd just like a straight answer already, I'm tired of mysteries," he said, mumbling the last part slightly. That was definitely true though, he'd had enough of mysteries. He just wanted to know what was going on so that he didn't have to worry about it so much anymore. That was probably what had gotten him so freaking sick in the first place.
"We'll figure it out eventually," Cooro said, as if it was really just that simple. Husky wasn't really in the mood to start arguing about how it was very possible that they wouldn't figure it out, that they would just have these strange powers and terrible dreams that didn't make sense for the rest of their lives, if it didn't end up driving them all insane first.
Instead, he simply nodded, softly agreeing. It was just easier that way.
"I guess I'll see you later then. Don't freak out if I'm not in school tomorrow though, this isn't exactly the best feeling in the world," Husky said after a moment. Cooro chuckled a tiny bit before nodding, adjusting his grip on the old phone as he did.
"Don't worry, I won't," he said, "Hope you feel better soon though," the older boy added on.
"Thanks, I'll try," Husky said before quickly saying goodbye and hanging up after Cooro had done the same. Leaning back against the wall, the silver boy closed his eyes for a moment, just trying to get the clogged feeling in his head to go away for a bit. The pills weren't working yet, but he'd only taken them about ten minutes ago if that, so that didn't surprise him.
So Cooro wanted a lead, something to point them in the right direction for what all of this stuff was really about. That would definitely be nice, but he truly doubted something like that would ever just fall into their laps.
What were they supposed to do then? This wasn't like in the books or movies, there wasn't going to be some mysterious guy with all the answers coming to explain what it all meant and whisk them away on some great adventure. And even if there was, there was no way Husky was going to go with him. He didn't want adventure, and that guy had already left them on their own in all of this for way too long anyway.
He just wanted his life to go back to some sort of thing he could call normal.
Laying back down, Husky decided to just try to stop thinking about it for now. Despite all of the sleep he'd gotten earlier, he was still tired, and he just wasn't in any condition to try to be figuring this stuff out now. It'd probably only end up giving him nightmares.
…
The next morning Cooro wasn't surprised to see only Keane walking up the street. Sure, Husky had said that he'd try to make it, but he really hadn't sounded like he was feeling too good when they talked yesterday. At least it was Friday, so he would have the weekend to try to get better and he wouldn't have to miss anymore school.
"Good morning," the black haired boy said happily, Keane nodding back. "Husky still sick?" he asked.
"Yeah, I didn't even try to wake him up this morning. He'll probably be mad at me for that, but he can't go if he's sick like this anyway," Keane explained. Cooro couldn't help but agree, although Husky would probably only be upset for a few minutes at most before calming down.
"I'm sure he'll understand, and at least it's Friday so he can rest during the weekend now," Cooro said. Keane nodded, messing with the straps of his book bag as he answered.
"Yeah, and winter break's coming up in a few weeks too, so that'll be great when it finally gets here," he said. Cooro had almost forgotten about that, winter break was coming up soon, thankfully. A little bit over three weeks or so, he was pretty sure. Keane didn't realize just how much they needed that break, it was nearly impossible for him to focus on school lately. If he could just take some time to regroup his thoughts it would hopefully be a bit easier.
"Yep, that'll be nice," was all he ended up saying though, since he couldn't explain the reasons why he wanted it to come so badly. They were practically inside of the school now anyway, and soon Keane was leaving to go off to his own classes anyway.
Cooro found his mind wandering to how strange it was that he'd never really even seen the redhead much before he met Husky. They went to the same school and walked basically the same exact way to get there as each other. Sure, he was two years ahead of them, but that meant that just two years ago he would have been in the elementary school section along with them as well. But before Husky came they'd barely even seen each other in the hallway, and never said two words to each other. The same with Nana, and they were in the same grade.
Thinking about it, he wasn't even sure if he and Keane or he and Nana or any of them really had anything in common with each other. Well, there was the fact that he and Nana and Senri and Husky had these powers and dreams. With Keane they were connected because they were both close to Husky, one being his brother and the other being Cooro's closest friend.
That wasn't like their actual interests though. It was just the circumstances they were in. It was just like he'd been thinking the other day. He liked his friends, he really did, but it was like they were only friends because of the situation. It was easy and it made sense to hang out together, so they did. They were friends of circumstances.
Cooro felt his shoulder collide into someone roughly, having fallen into his own mind quite a bit and forgetting that he was walking through a rather crowded hallway. Instantly he started turning towards the person to apologize, quickly realizing it was a teacher as he did. Once he actually saw who it was though, he felt those words dry up in his throat.
"Ah, Cooro, how are you doing this morning?" Mr. Greena asked, smiling down at the young boy. Cooro found himself staring down at his feet as he went to answer.
"Good. Sorry for running into you, I wasn't watching where I was going," he mumbled, not looking up at the tall man as he spoke. Mr. Greena shook his head; quickly waving away the apology like it was nothing.
"That's fine; it's always so crowded in these hallways you run into people even when you are paying attention. I never get to see you anymore anyway, so it's nice. You should stop by my office sometime, my doors are open most of the time," the older man offered. Cooro just nodded slightly, not saying anything as he waited for an excuse to leave.
"Well, I better head there now, and you need to get ready for class. I'll see you around Cooro," Mr. Greena said. Once again the black haired boy barely managed to make himself nod, immediately walking away towards his locker afterwards. He was just able to see out of the corner of his eye that the tall man had waved at him as he started away, but didn't stop to wave back or anything.
It wasn't like him to be rude, but he managed to justify it in his head this one time.
At least Husky wasn't here. After what had happened on Wednesday the silver boy would probably be extremely confused and suspicious if he just saw that. Like he said before, he really did like his friends a lot, but it would just be better if he didn't have to explain any of that to them. It would just make them worry more, and since he liked them, he didn't want to put them through that.
Reaching his locker, he absently started putting his lunch and other things he wouldn't need until later inside as he continued to think. Husky was supposed to have his second session of therapy today, wasn't he? Cooro could imagine that he probably wasn't too upset about missing it.
Shutting his locker the black haired boy tried to push that unexpected meeting to the back of his mind as he started towards his classroom. He barely ever saw Mr. Fly, even just passing by in the hallways, so there wasn't anything he needed to worry about right now. Sure Husky would be seeing him a lot more, but it would be fine. He probably didn't even know that they were friends to begin with, or else he would have brought it up just now.
Slumping down into his desk, Cooro almost immediately started doodling nonsense on the side of his paper.
Senri, looking more bear than actual human fighting another man the same as he was. Nana, dressed up in an all-black outfit with her bat ears and wings out – which, thinking about it, Cooro hadn't actually seen in real life yet – struggling to hold an axe that was obviously too big and heavy for her to fly with. Husky, holding a staff and looking so serious, not like he usually was, but focused and just different.
Well, there went any chances of him actually being able to concentrate during class today. As much as he wanted to, his mind had fallen into another world.
I'm sorry for the shortish chapter. I wanted it to be longer, but I also wanted to end it here, and ending it here won because it was easier. Like I said, sorry, especially since the next update probably won't be for a while.
I do hope you all liked the chapter though. I promise things will definitely start to pick up again soon. As always though, thanks for reading, and please review.
