Chapter Thirty-Three: Into the Void

It was late by the time Smoke and Johnny returned to the apartment. And now the actor had another guest living in his home. As Cage plummeted into the couch, Tomas sat Soliel down beside him. It took some time before the girl would let go of Smoke, but he managed to pry her small arms from around his neck.

"Looks like we'll be making a trip back to the base tomorrow. We'll get you back home, kid. Don't worry."

Soliel was listening to Johnny Cage, but her eyes were solely on Tomas. Even as he walked into the kitchen to get a bottle of water, the child turned her head to watch him.

"You hungry?"

The girl finally looked at Johnny at the mention of food. The actor smiled.

"You can have anything you want. Just name it."

"Uh, Johnny?"

Cage turned in the couch to look at Smoke, who was standing behind the kitchen counter with an apple in hand.

"Food in Outworld may be very different from food here. Whatever Soliel wants may not be an easy thing to find in Earthrealm, that is if it even exists here."

"Oh, you're right. I wasn't thinking. How about we...?"

Johnny turned back to Soliel, but the girl had disappeared from her spot on the couch. It did not take long for him locate the child once he heard her feet pattering on the kitchen's marble floor. She instantly grabbed onto Tomas' leg and tilted her head back to look up at him. The silver-haired man then saw her eyes land on the apple in his hand. Smoke held the fruit to Soliel.

"Do you want this?"

The girl slowly nodded and reached her hand up to take the apple from Tomas. She grabbed it and took a bite out of the fruit while still hanging on to Smoke. He did not know why, but he put his own hand on the top of Soliel's head and smiled softly as he watched the girl eat. Seeing that he was not needed at the moment, Johnny got up from the couch and stretched.

"I'm gonna go take a shower. Or maybe just go to bed. I feel exhausted after everything that happened today."

The actor yawned and walked away. Tomas, with Soliel on his leg, took another apple from the refrigerator and walked back to the couch.

"Once you finish eating, I will prepare a bath for you. As well as find you some decent clothes to sleep in."

Smoke picked up the tv remote to flip through the channels. There were a few law shows, a documentary about elephants, and suprisingly enough, one of Johnny Cage's movies. One particular show seemed to catch Soliel's attention and she quickly tugged on Tomas' sleeve as he flipped past it.

"What is it? You saw something you liked?"

Soliel nodded and Smoke turned back to the channel she wanted. It was a cartoon with a gray cat and a brown mouse and they seemed to be fighting each other. Tomas recalled seeing a show like that when he was younger and believed it was called "Tom and Jerry."

"You want to watch this?"

When Soliel nodded, Smoke put the remote down and leaned his head on the back of the couch. Soliel scooted closer to the silver-haired man and snuggled against him. Even though the girl had clung onto him ever since they left the zoo, the action still surprised Tomas. The shock was gone in an instant though as he relaxed and he took a bite of his apple. The two watched the cartoon for some time until they were finished with their fruit.

Tomas then lead Soliel to the bathroom and kneeled next to the tub to turn on the water. He adjusted the knobs until the water felt just right to wash in, but he asked Soliel to touch it just in case it was too hot or too cold for her. Once that was done, Smoke got a towel, soap, and a rag. He told the girl that he would be back soon with something for her to wear. As he was about to leave, Soliel grabbed Tomas' arm to stop him. He frowned at the child.

"What is wrong?"

Soliel shook her head violently back and forth. Smoke sighed and rested his hand on her head to calm the girl down.

"I will be right back, alright? I promise I will not be long."

Hesitantly, Soliel let go of Tomas's arm and allowed him to leave. He gave her a reassuring smile as he closed the door. As he stopped in front of Johnny's room, he saw the actor pull out a box from his closet. On the outside of the box in black marker, the word "orphanage" was written in huge letters.

"What is that?"

"Oh, well, these were clothes I was going to donate to an orphanage a few blocks from here. I'm pretty sure there are some things in here that'll fit Soliel."

Smoke nodded and leaned against the doorframe. Johnny looked through the contents of the box, pulling out different shirts and pants and laying them across the bed. He held out something to Tomas and laughed.

"What about this?"

Smoke saw the picture on the front of the shirt and chuckled.

"It will have to do."

About an hour and a half later, everyone had washed and was getting ready to go to bed. Smoke insisted that Soliel take his bed, but Cage argued against it.

"Don't worry 'bout it, Tomas. I'll sleep on the couch. It's not like I haven't done that plenty of times before. With all the late nights I spent going to meetings and practicing my roles, the couch pratically became my bed."

"But I do not feel right about it. You are allowing me to stay in your home. The least I could do is give up my bed. It really is no trouble."

They stopped talking when they heard Soliel walking down the hall. She had on a pink nightgown with a picture of a unicorn on the front and blue ankle socks. She was also holding a brown teddy bear that Johnny had given to her. The girl put the bear under her left arm and grabbed Smoke's hand with her right hand. She then tried to pull the man back down the hall. Tomas allowed her to do so and Soliel lead her straight to his room and climbed into his bed while still hoding on to his hand. She jerked it a few times to indicate that she wanted Smoke to get in the bed too.

"Looks like that settles it."

Tomas looked back at Johnny and shook his head.

"It seems that way."

Cage laughed and started walking back down the hall to his room.

"Good night, you guys. Don't let the bed bugs bite, kiddo."

A second later, Smoke and Soliel heard a door close. Johnny Cage had retired for the night. Tomas, who knew that he was not going to be able to get out of this situation easily, sighed and climbed in his bed. As soon as he made himself comfortable, Soliel again cuddled against his side. The silver-haired man chuckled.

"Comfortable?"

The girl did not answer. But Tomas already knew the answer to his question when he saw that Soliel was fast asleep. Just looking at the slumbering child made Smoke realize how exhausted he was. Using his powers, Tomas made a small smoke cloud by the light switch and turned it off. A bit lazy, but he refused to get out of bed. It did not take long for Smoke to allow his eyes to close and sleep quickly took him as it did Soliel. And for the first time in days, he was actually happy about getting some much needed sleep.

At first, Tomas expected to taken back to the white abyss that was his mindscape. Now that Pyros had visited him, the silver-haired man thought it would be reasonable that they continue their conversation from before. But when he opened his eyes and saw nothing but darkness, Smoke began to worry. He was floating in some sort of void and he could not see anything or anyone in around him.

"Maybe this a dream."

"This is no dream, child."

The distorted voice surprised Tomas and he yelped as his body was suddenly slammed to the ground. Or what he thought could be counted as the ground. It was hard to tell when there seemed to be no solid structures around. With a grunt, Smoke pushed himself off the floor and tried to find the source of the voice. That did not take long as he turned around and he was staring into huge pair of glowing red eyes. Tomas could see his own reflection in those menacing orbs.

"What the hell…?"

"What is the matter? Are you afraid of me, Tomas?"

"I…don't even know who you are. WHAT you are."

"Oh, but you do. You know exactly who I am."

The creature's form was literally made of smoke, so it had no exact shape. But it slowly reached out to Tomas with what he assumed was its hand. He immediately jumped back before the thing could touch him. This only made the smoking beast angry.

"Do not make this difficult."

Smoke shook his head.

"What are you talking about?"

"Enough is enough, boy. My patience is running thin."

Black tendrils flew from the floor and wrapped themselves around Tomas. He struggled against the tentacles and even tried to use his powers to escape them, but for some reason, he was unable to use them. Seeing that Smoke was confused, the monster used the opportunity to make its tendrils pin the man to the floor and leaned over Tomas.

"But I suppose that bastard telepath is to blame for this predicament. He has been focusing all his effort on keeping us apart. Not anymore."

The tentacles tightened around their captive and Smoke yelled in pain. One tendril slipped around his neck and started to choke Tomas, so he would shut up. The beast leaned in closer and its eyes almost blinded Smoke with its intensity.

"Surrender this foolish resolve, child. Give me control."

"N…No…"

"No? Look at yourself. Do you still believe you have a choice!?"

Tomas was beginning to see black dots in his vision. He was going to pass out soon if this kept up.

"What…do you…want?"

"The same thing you have been yearning for all these years, Tomas. I want to be free."

A whirring sound caught the smoke monster's attention and it jerked its head up just in time for a kunai knife to hit it right in its eye. The beast howled and finally pulled away from Smoke, causing the tendrils to release him from their hold. Tomas rolled to his side and immediately had a coughing fit as he struggled breath right again. Once he was done, he shook his head to clear his vision and looked back at the flailing creature.

"You should have stayed in the shadows where you belong."

Smoke's eyes widened, and relief washed over him. Turning over so he was laying on his stomach, he saw Pyros standing behind him with another kunai in his left hand. The monster stopped thrashing around and growled at the telepath. It held its giant hand to its injured eye.

"Why must you keep interfering!? This is none of your concern!"

Ignoring the beast, Pyros knelt beside Tomas and smiled reassuringly at him.

"Are you alright?"

"Y…Yes. I think so."

"Do not worry. I will take care of this."

Smoke nodded, and Pyros patted him on his shoulder before standing up. The telepath's smile faded once he laid eyes on the evil creature.

"When it comes to Tomas, this is my concern. I will not allow you to corrupt him."

"The boy is mine, you fool! I will break him, mark my words."

"We shall see, Enenra."

At the sound of its name, the beast's eye widened, which seemed impossible considering how huge the eye was already. Smoke looked just as confused as the monster did. Enenra. Pyros spoke the name like he knew the creature. Something else the telepath had been hiding from Tomas and by the look on Pyros' face, he did not mean to let the name slip from his mouth. But he immediately regained his composure.

"Leave. Now."

The monster's uninjured eye narrowed as though it was preparing to attack, but instead, it slowly backed away into the shadows. It looked back at Tomas.

"This is not over, Tomas. You will give me what I want."

The beast then disappeared into the darkness leaving Smoke and Pyros alone in the void.