Chapter 11: Future Kisses and Forgotten Visions

"I know you didn't shoot the girl," he assured him. "We have the surveillance footage. We just want to know why she had a gun pointed at you."

Isaac didn't say anything. He kept his eyes glued on one random spot of the wall behind Officer Richards as he tried to get answers from the teen. He had been trying to get him to talk for the last hour, but his attempts were proving to be futile as Isaac remained as quiet as he had been when they had found him at the scene.

He wasn't trying to avoid the question. There were just too many thoughts in Isaac's head. The main one being that he should've seen it coming. He should've known that Set was going to do something to fuck with his head. After all, Set had practically set up the chess board in front of them, quirking an eyebrow at the boy as if asking for a match. It hadn't occurred to him until after the girl was lying dead on the floor just how stupid of a choice he had made.

Set had said it himself.

Hasn't anyone ever told you not to bother negotiating with the gods?

Humans were disposable to Set, all pieces in the game they were playing. Despite how everything had gone down, Isaac still wasn't sure if he was the other player or just another pawn on the board.

"Isaac!"

He didn't need to turn around to know who had just shouted his name. He sighed, a bit of relief flooding his system as Danielle's arms wrapped themselves around him. His eyes fluttered close at the action and he returned the gesture, pulling the girl close to his chest.

He heard Officer Richards sigh before the man pushed his chair back and said, "we'll talk tomorrow."

Danielle was able to drag him out of the station after that. Once outside, the relief on her face was replaced with concern.

"Are you okay?"

Isaac nodded numbly and began to walk down the block. She followed, the two falling into a comfortable pace beside one another.

"I," Isaac paused for a second and lightly shook his head. "I'm really tired."

"I understand," she offered him a small smile and placed her hands in her pockets. "Back to Isis or Anubis?"

The question made Isaac hesitate and he found himself chewing on the corner of his lip. "Isis."

"Wouldn't it be safer at Anubis?" she asked.

Isaac knew that they both already knew the answer to the question, but he appreciated Danielle asking it nonetheless. He was done trying to run from Anubis house when things got tough, but at that moment, all he wanted to do was hide under his comforter and pretend that his life was where it was a couple months ago.

"It is, but I just want to sleep in my own bed tonight," he told her.

At the look on her face, Isaac heard himself add, "I'm not avoiding them, or not all of them. I just want to sleep before being bombarded with questions."

She was quiet for what felt like an eternity before she nodded. "Okay… do you want to talk about it?"

He let out a deep breath and shook his head. "Tomorrow. I promise we can talk about everything tomorrow."

She didn't say anything for the rest of the walk and Isaac was grateful for it.

(***)

Isaac had been lying in bed for a few hours before he decided to get out of bed. He glanced at the alarm clock on his nightstand and frowned at the 3:00AM flashing in bold white letters. Without another moment of hesitation, he slipped out of his room and into the hallway.

A bone-deep restlessness had burrowed itself under his skin and Isaac didn't know what to do. His go-to move would've been to go for a run, but considering the events of the past few days, going outside in the late night hours seemed like a bad idea. He could go upstairs and see if Danielle was suffering from the same insomnia he was, but he didn't want to disturb her if she was in fact asleep.

Isaac sighed and he slipped his phone out of his pocket. He thumbed through his contacts and frowned as he found himself hovering over Nina's name. It would be easy to just forgive her and make the call. It would be easy to try and move on as friends, but there was something in Isaac that didn't want to let her off the hook. After all, it felt as though she had already used up all her chances.

That left only one other person.

Isaac pressed the call button and raised his phone to his ear. He waited, not fully expecting anyone to pick up, before a groggy "hello" was heard over the line.

"Hey," Isaac cleared his throat and switched his phone to his other hand. "Any chance you'd like to join a friend suffering from extreme insomnia?"

He could hear a bit of shuffling over the line before a mumbled "I'll be there in five" met his ears.

Isaac smiled and said, "thanks."

"Don't thank me yet. You're gonna owe a lot of caffeinated beverages."

"Deal."

The line cut off then and Isaac stared at his phone's screen for only a moment before pocketing his phone. He only had to wait about four minutes before a text alerted him that someone was at the door.

Isaac opened it without hesitation and was met with a sleepy Mick, navy beanie pulled over his ears and his hands stuffed in the pockets of his oversized coat.

"You could've changed into warmer clothing," Isaac pointed out as he gave Mick's flimsy plaid pajamas a once-over.

Mick rolled his eyes and pushed past Isaac into Isis house. "Here I am doing a favor for a friend and the first thing he does is criticize my fashion choices."

Isaac laughed and smacked Mick's arm before pointing to the end of the hall. "C'mon. The boys'll gut me if any of them get woken up before seven."

Mick nodded and he followed Isaac to his bedroom. Once inside, Mick closed the door behind himself and allowed himself to take a quick look around the room.

Isaac hadn't bothered to turn on the lights when he reentered the room, leaving every surface shrouded in shadows. Mick could just barely make out the few objects around the room. He began to walk around the small space, his hands running over everything in its path. The majority of Isaac's walls were covered in sketches that couldn't have been drawn by anyone but Isaac himself. Mick tried his best to make sense of the scenes in front of him, but it was as if he was looking at snapshots of a life he was never meant to stumble upon.

"Is this what you've been doing the past few days?"

Isaac shrugged and walked over to where Mick stood. "It just keeps happening. At this point, I don't even know if I'm drawing the past or the future."

Mick nodded and he continued to scan over the images before his eyes landed on one. Suddenly, Mick's heart clenched in his chest and he lost the ability to breathe.

"Wh-when did you draw this one?"

Isaac raised an eyebrow and followed Mick's gaze to the sketch by the end of the wall. It was mostly covered by other sketches, so Isaac leaned forward and unpinned it from the wall.

"Is-is that-,"

"You?" Isaac cut him off and stared at the drawing.

It seemed to depict two people kissing. One of the faces was some-what obscured, hidden by shadows and various charcoal smudges, but the other face was as clear as day and it belonged to Mick.

Mick gulped and he looked up at Isaac. "It's…"

"I don't remember when I drew this," he told him, his eyes never once leaving the sketch. "Must have been another sleepless night."

"It's nice."

The comment flew over Isaac's head as he finally looked up and his eyes met Mick's. "Who do you think the other person in the picture is?"

At that very moment, Mick was glad the two of them were standing in the dark, the deep crimson blush on his face being expertly concealed.

He gave a small chuckle before taking the picture from Isaac's hand and looking at it more closely. "Honestly?"

"Honestly."

Mick hesitated a bit before setting the drawing down. "It kind of looks like you."

Isaac's eyes snapped back to the drawing at Mick's statement and he stared at it more intensely. He was silent for a few seconds before redirecting his attention to Mick and asking, "do you want it to be?"

"Yes," Mick let out a bit too quickly before immediately shaking his head and following it with "I mean, no. No."

"Mick-,"

"I'm not gay," he stated.

Isaac felt a frown tug at his lips, but he tried to push it away as he asked, "Mick, do you fancy me?"

Mick sighed and he turned his back to the wall of sketches. Isaac watched the teen, patiently, waiting for him to respond. After a couple minutes, Mick turned back to face him.

"I-I do. I like you, but it doesn't matter," he told him. "I'm not gay. I don't want to be gay."

Isaac considered his words for a moment before nodding and picking the sketch up from his desk. He held out the drawing for Mick and waited until he took it out of his hands before opening his bedroom door.

"I think you should go."

"Isaac-,"

"What do you want me to say?" he asked.

Suddenly, Isaac's voice seemed to reflect the past few sleepless nights he had endured. With slumped shoulders and bags under his eyes, Mick was surprised he was standing at all. It made him want to reach out to him, but considering Isaac's closed-off stance, he knew he shouldn't bother.

"It's fine if you don't want to be gay, but I am and frankly I don't care to be around someone who views that negatively."

"I'm still your friend. I'm just-,"

"Confused?" He finished for him. "That's fine. This is me giving you time to work that out."

"I don't need time."

"Well, I do, so go."

Mick's face fell, but instead of saying something else, he followed Isaac's wishes and left. Once he was gone, Isaac closed his door and pressed his back against it. He sighed and flopped down on his bed, burying his face in his pillow.

(***)

As soon as Mick stepped outside, he vomited into the bushes in front of Isis house.

Once he was finished, he straightened up and let himself rest against the exterior of the house to catch his breath.

He had been holding his feelings for Isaac in for what felt like months, but in reality it had only been a few short weeks. He had hoped that they would just go away, but the more time he spent with Isaac, the stronger they got.

He had tried to convince himself that they were platonic feelings, but that didn't explain why every time Isaac had spent time with Nina, his heart clenched. It also didn't explain why his first reaction at overhearing that Nina had kissed Isaac was anger. And it definitely didn't explain why when he overheard that Isaac was gay, the first thing he felt was a twinge of hope.

So yes, he knew he had feelings for Isaac, but that didn't mean he wanted to have them. After all, he couldn't be gay. He had genuinely had feelings for Amber and Mara when he dated them. He was still attracted to girls… but he was also attracted to Isaac.

So, yes, he wasn't gay, but he also wasn't sure he was straight either.

Mick wished he hadn't come over. He wished that he had kept his feelings buried. He wished that he had never seen the look in Isaac's eyes when he had told him to leave. Usually, Isaac's coldness was reserved for other people. It hurt being on the receiving end of it.

He wanted to fix it, but he didn't how he could without sticking his foot in his mouth.

Mick sighed, pushing his thoughts away, and he began to walk back to Anubis house.

(***)

The next morning, Isaac woke up to the sound of a knock on his bedroom door. He groaned and muttered a quick "come in" before further burying his face in his pillow.

"Hey," Danielle's voice filled his ears and he rolled over to face her. "How are you holding up?"

"I got thirty minutes of sleep," he sighed before sitting up. "So better I guess."

She nodded and took a seat beside him. "Do you think you're ready to talk about what happened?"

"Yeah, but I have to be honest. I'm not sure I understand what happened myself. She was possessed and she just seemed to snap out of it for a second, so he killed her."

"Set?"

"Yeah… I talked to him before it happened. He seemed kind of hell bent on killing me. Apparently, I'm the key to unlocking Eridres."

"Did you learn more about it?" she asked.

"Yes, but it's hard to make sense of it all. I'm hoping that a trip to Anubis will help clear some things up."

"Are you up for going there now?"

Isaac hesitated before letting out a deep breath and nodding. "Yeah, just let me get dressed."

Danielle stood up and walked to his door. She paused before exiting and turned back to face him. "Don't worry. We'll get to the bottom of this."

Isaac offered her a smile and waited for her to close the door behind her.

(***)

"Isaac and Danielle are on their way," Fabian stated.

All eyes suddenly shifted to him and he looked up from his phone to find everyone staring at him.

"What?"

"You guys text now?" Patricia asked.

Fabian rolled his eyes and said, "we're… friendly now."

"I guess escaping a trigger-happy Egyptian God bonds people," Jerome laughed.

Fabian ignored his comment and continued to eat his food.

"Still, usually he'd text one of those two," Mara said as she gestured in the direction of Nina and Mick.

"He's not talking to Nina so, that kinda leaves Mick," Alfie pointed out.

"He's not talking to me either," Mick mumbled into his cereal.

This elicited another laugh from Jerome which was cut short by a smack to the shoulder from Amber.

At that moment, the door to the house opened and in came Isaac and Danielle.

As soon as the two entered, everyone abandoned their breakfast and placed their attention on them.

"So what's up?" Eddie asked.

"I was at the police station yesterday."

"Why?" Joy questioned.

"A gun was pointed at me-,"

Before he could finish, the room erupted in noise and Isaac was forced to pause as an onslaught of questions was sent his way.

"A gun?"

"Did you get shot?"

"Who was it?"

"Was it Set?"

"What happened?"

He tolerated it for only a moment before cutting them all off with a firm "anyways" causing all the noise to die down.

"Set possessed another student. She snapped out of it for a few seconds and because of that Set had her shoot herself. It was a bit of a shock, but I talked to Set before it happened."

"Wait, a girl died?" This question was asked by Nina and she frowned as she stood up from the table. "Are you okay?"

"I wasn't the one that had their head blown in," He snapped back.

Nina's face fell further at his words and she returned to her seat.

He sighed and ran a shaky hand through his hair. "Sorry, it's just… it's been a long 24 hours."

His eyes met Mick's for a moment and he immediately turned away. "Set told me a bit about Eridres."

"What did he say about it?" Fabian asked.

"He called it the land of the shadows and the in-betweens."

Everyone was quiet for a moment as they thought about those words, before Mick shot up from his seat. "I think I know how to find Eridres."

"How?"

"The land of the shadows and the in-betweens… In between the sun and the moon, when shadows take over light."

He looked around at his friends, waiting for one of them to cut in, but they all seemed to be waiting for him to finish his thoughts.

"A solar eclipse!" he exclaimed.

Isaac's eyes widened at the words and a slight smile broke out on his face. "A couple nights ago, I drew something that looked like a solar eclipse. It has to be hanging in my room now."

"Awesome, so we can narrow our search down to myths about solar eclipses while Isaac searches for the drawing. I'll head to the library now. Whoever doesn't have a class should head with me. Mick, you should go with Isaac."

Mick's eyes shot to Isaac and he hesitated, but before he could get a word out, Isaac said, "Actually, it'd be quicker if I did it on my own. I'll text you if I find anything."

With that, Isaac turned his back on the group and exited Anubis house.

Danielle looked between Mick and the front door and she opened her mouth to say something before thinking better of it.

"I'm gonna head to class, but I'll head to the library after," she told them.

Danielle began to walk to the door, but before she could leave Nina stopped her in the foyer.

"Hey, can we talk?"

Danielle considered Nina for a moment before sighing and turning to face her. "What is it?"

"I want to make things right with Isaac, but I don't know how to do that when he refuses to even look in my direction."

"What did you expect, Nina?" she told her. "You've known Isaac long enough to know that he doesn't exactly take well to people spreading his business."

"I know, but I wasn't thinking."

Danielle rolled her eyes and crossed her arms against her chest. "That's not good enough."

She made a move to exit, but Nina grabbed her wrist before she could.

"Please. I never meant to hurt him. I'm love with him, okay? The last thing I meant to do was cause harm. I-I just don't know how to fix this and I want to… I need to."

Danielle hesitated for a moment and she let herself take in the remorse on Nina's face. She sighed and let her arms drop to her sides. "If you want to make amends then you need to speak to him privately. I know it seems like he's avoiding you, but if you approach him, he'll hear you out."

"Do you think he'll forgive me?"

"Honestly? I don't know," she replied. "He's been through a lot, Nina. I don't know how much more he can take before he reaches his breaking point. I don't know if he's already reached it."

Nina nodded and took a step back. "Thank you."

"I know you didn't mean any harm, Nina. I'm sure Isaac does too."

She squeezed Nina's hand before offering her a small smile and leaving Anubis house.

(***)

Isaac decided to take a detour on his way back to Isis house. He cut behind the library and the various school buildings that trailed on his journey back. It was rare for him to encounter anyone on the particular trail, but as he rounded a corner and weaved himself between two trees, the distinct smell of smoke breached his senses.

He paused, his curiosity getting the better of him, and took a quick survey of his surroundings. He squinted into the brush for a few seconds before shaking his head and telling himself that he was probably imagining the scent.

"Don't you have class?"

Isaac jumped at the sound of another person and turned to find Mr. Yamata behind him. The man was leaning against a tree, cigarette perched between his lips, and hands in his suit jacket's pockets.

Isaac gulped and gave a small shrug. "Free period."

Mr. Yamata hummed by way of responding and pushed himself off the tree, so that he was standing straight.

"If that's all, then I'll be on my-,"

"No need to rush," he assured him. He took the cigarette from between his teeth and stared at the tip before letting it fall to the wet ground and stepping on it. "I thought we could have a chat."

Isaac let himself take in his appearance, searching for any sign of danger in his body. "I'm not in any of your classes, so I'm not really sure what we have to talk about."

Mr. Yamata laughed at the statement and took a step forward, prompting Isaac to take a step back. "It's not about class. Consider me concerned faculty. You've been missing a lot of class lately. It seems you're always off running around with your little friends."

Isaac's jaw clenched and he shifted his weight to his other leg. "Problem?"

"More of an observation," he replied. "Wouldn't want any of my students to get into trouble?"

"Do you anticipate trouble?"

The older man didn't reply to Isaac's question. He merely smirked before shoving his hands into his coat. "I'm afraid I have a class in fifteen minutes. Enjoy your free period."

Isaac watched as he walked back out into the open path and into the nearest building.

(***)

When Isaac reached Isis house, he was surprised to find Nina in front of it. She was sitting on the stoop, her head in her hands and her backpack leaning against her side. He hesitated at the sight of her, unsure if he was ready for another conversation. Truth was that with everything that had happened the past week, Isaac was too emotionally drained for anything.

That's why it was easier to avoid Nina… and why it was easier to shut out Mick.

He sighed and took a cautious step towards her, his feet crunching the gravel, alerting her to his arrival.

Isaac let himself fall down beside her, making sure to put a foot between them. Before giving her the opportunity to speak, Isaac took out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket and shook one out. He struggled to light it for a moment, before eventually getting a spark and taking a long drag.

Without looking at him, she said, "I didn't know you smoked."

Isaac shrugged and took another drag before holding the cigarette between his fingers and letting out a deep breath.

"It's a nasty habit, I know, but ever since I've been getting these visions I feel so jittery. Like there's all this energy trapped inside me yet I'm unable to reap any of the benefits of it."

Isaac paused and tapped the end of his cigarette to dislodge some of the ash. "The nicotine calms me down. I don't think I'm addicted yet, but it's only a matter of time."

Nina nodded and she finally turned to look at him. She didn't say anything. She just sat there and watched him smoke.

Isaac was content to let her, but eventually the cigarette was burned up and Isaac's patience went along with it.

"Why are you here, Nina?"

Nina sighed and hugged her knees closer to her chest. "I'm sorry about what I did."

She paused, waiting to see if he'd do anything, and when he didn't she continued.

"I was stupid and I wasn't thinking about how my actions could hurt you. In that moment I was only thinking about myself."

Isaac turned his head to look at her, a thoughtful expression on his face.

"You were right when you said my school girl crush got the better of me… but you hurt me too. I've done everything I can to earn your trust. To show you that I care about you and I'm on your side, but you constantly jump at the chance to try and disprove that."

Isaac looked away at that and instead focused his eyes on his fingers playing with the lid of his cigarette pack.

"I've never done anything with malicious intentions. I've never wanted to hurt you. I mean, I love you for fucks sake."

Nina let out a shaky breath and glanced down at his hands. "I know I fucked up. I know I was in the wrong, but I'm so deeply sorry that I hurt you. Gaining your trust meant the world to me and losing it in the same breath tore me apart."

Isaac frowned at her last sentence and he looked over at her once more. "I know you didn't mean to hurt me, but you did. I forgive you, Nina and I want to be friends with you, I really do, but right now I just don't think that's possible. Not when you have these feelings for me. I think we need space until it all just settles down."

She nodded slowly, trying her hardest to keep from tears spilling.

Ordinarily, Isaac would reach over and hold her hand, but he knew that at the moment it would be the least productive thing to do, so he stood up and walked into Isis house.

Once the door closed behind him, Isaac let out a breath he hadn't known he'd been holding and rushed to the bathroom. The second he flipped on the florescent lights, Isaac's whole body recoiled and he found himself squinting at his reflection.

He didn't want to see the effects of the last few weeks, so he pulled open the medicine cabinet's door and instead stared at the various pills crowding the shelves. It was tempting to just shake a few out of their bottles in order to finally get the full night's sleep he craved. In order to keep the visions from coming, but he refused to let himself go down that road. He had already picked up smoking. Surely, there was a better way to cope.

Isaac sighed and he splashed cold water on his face, hoping to shook his system back to full charge. He knew it would be futile, but at the moment, it was all he had.

He turned off the tap and left the bathroom, not bothering to close the medicine cabinet or turn out the light.

He headed straight for his room and immediately began to search for the drawing he had sketched out the other day. He moved as fast as he could for someone that wasn't getting enough sleep before he spotted something out of the corner of his eyes. Isaac scrambled to the far corner of his room and plucked the drawing from where it was hanging by his wardrobe.

The drawing was more shadows than anything, but Isaac felt his heart jump as he stared at it.

It depicted a man standing before the sun during a total eclipse. He was wearing a robe with his hood pulled up and he had his arms raised above his head, pointed towards the sun. In his hands were what appeared to be some sort of talisman.

Isaac knew that talisman. He had seen it once before, long ago. Frantically, Isaac headed to his bed and pulled aside his mattress, revealing all the drawings correlating to his recovered memories. He gulped and sifted through them as fast as possible until he landed on the one he was looking for.

As clear as day was the talisman from the other drawing, only this time it wasn't a stranger holding it. It was his father.

AN: Well, it's been some time. As I said, I have a very busy schedule and try to update when I can. The semester is over, so I'm trying to write more, but updates are going to keep being slow, especially since I've started editing the first few chapters of this story. I still love this story and have big plans for it. It'll be finished, but it may take some time to get there. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed if you're still reading. Writing this story gives me a joy like no other and I hope reading it does the same for others.

-Karina