Chapter Five
Alister, laying upstairs in bed, heard Valon's outburst, but did not dare leave the shelter of his room. Instead he buried his face in his pillow, gripping the edges of the plush softness with shaking fingers. He could not leave his room, not if he wanted to protect his friends. He had to suffer alone. The Orichalcos was tugging at his very heart and soul, causing him to feel irritable and vengeful. He was annoyed that Valon was yelling and giving him a headache. At the same time, he was furious at Valon's parents and wanted to deal out justice for their actions. What they had done to a child was unforgivable in Alister's eyes, and he had to avenge it.
Now he shut his eyes tightly. Part of him felt like screaming for help. But he knew that would not do any good. This was his problem. He had to solve it himself.
"You know you can't resist me. Embrace my existence, as you once did, and you can stop this cruelty!"
Alister wanted to scream. "I know you exist," he hissed darkly. "I've never denied it, ever since I knew what Doom truly was and that the Orichalcos brings out my darkness. But you can't have control over me." He knew he was talking to himself. He did not have a split personality. It was just that the Orichalcos took hold of both the dark part of his soul and his deepest feelings and passions, twisting them all to its own advantage. If he actually did hear a voice in his mind, it was that of the Orichalcos itself, speaking with Alister's own voice.
Actually, when Alister thought about how the Orichalcos worked, he realized that it was similar in some ways to what had happened to both him and Raphael a while back when Dr. Portman had tried to get Alister to kill a man under a strange form of mind control, hypnosis, and brainwashing all at once. It had started with a drug that she had injected her victim with, and then she had spoken to him quietly, making him believe that what she wanted him to do was what he wanted to do as well.
Slowly Alister looked up from the pillow, wondering if there was any connection between that experience and the rebirth of the Doom organization. Perhaps it seemed farfetched, but he had to wonder if perhaps an ingredient in Portman's drug had been crushed Orichalcos stone. Though, he knew as he sat up, if that were so, then why had that bit of the Orichalcos not continued to effect him since that time? It did not make much sense.
He frowned, noticing that the feeling of something trying to control him had passed once again. He wondered if it was going to come and go randomly throughout the day. Certainly he could not continue to remain in his room all the time. If possible, he wanted to keep Raphael and Valon from worrying. There had to be a way that he could control his own inner darkness, after all, even with the power of the Orichalcos pushing for it to come out. He took a deep breath. Since it seemed to be gone for now, maybe he would go downstairs, he decided.
Poor Valon. Alister really did not blame him for screaming. He was certain that even he would have done so, if he was placed in the brunette's position. Valon had a perfect right to be angry. Alister was sickened when he remembered overhearing the boy saying something about "scars." He could well imagine what Valon had been hiding. Slowly he stood, prepared to go out into the hall and downstairs, when he suddenly realized that Liu was sitting on his feet.
Blinking, he looked down at the fluffy Ragdoll cat. Liu looked up at him and meowed, rubbing against his legs in bliss. Alister merely raised an eyebrow at the feline, wondered how she had got in (and without him even noticing), and then picked her up, carrying her with him to the door.
Raphael watched Valon quietly as they sat at the kitchen table. The boy was staring out the window intently, seeming to be repeatedly checking to see if his parents were still out on the porch. Of course they both knew that even if the couple went away for now, they would be back. And neither one knew what they were going to do when that happened.
"They're gonna try to take me away, you know," Valon spoke at last, gripping the curtain with one trembling hand. "They're gonna try to prove I'm underage so they can say they have a right to have me." With his other hand he hit the table hard, startling Raphael. "Well, I say to heck with it. They don't have any right to take me away. They gave up that right years ago."
"I agree," Raphael responded. "And you know that what Alister and I've told you is true. We'll take things into court if we have to. And we'll do all that we can to make sure that you don't get taken away." But even as he spoke the words, they sounded hollow to him. He knew that the courts were not often fair. Crooked lawyers had a way of manipulating things to their clients' benefits. Innocent people would often be sent to prison while those who were guilty would be given a slap on the wrist and set free. Raphael was disgusted and fed up with it all.
Valon stood up and started to pace around the room. "If I could just find a way to prove that I'm at least eighteen," he muttered, "then that would fix a lot of this mess." Without watching where he was going, he then slammed right into Alister as the redhead was entering the kitchen.
Alister barely batted an eye at the collision. "It wouldn't make your parents go away, though," he said flatly, looking down past the plethora of wild hair into Valon's startled blue eyes. "They'd probably keep staying around here, trying to get into your good graces for whatever reason." Liu, who had been set on the floor and had followed him into the room, meowed in agreement.
Valon pulled back from the older man, irritated at his carelessness in not watching where he was going. "Yeah, well, that's never gonna happen," he snapped. "They treated me like I meant less than dirt. They hated me!"
"So now you hate them back," Alister finished, sitting down at the table. He rubbed his eyes, gazing down tiredly at the wood. It was then that he noticed his wound was bleeding again. The gauze wrapped around it was a deep, fresh red. With a frown he lowered his arm quickly so it was out of sight. "I heard you mention your scars," he added then.
Valon half-turned away. "Yeah, well, they don't even care that they did that to me," he said in a halting voice. "They betrayed me! They only want me back now 'cause they think they might be able to get rich from me again. Well, I'm sick of bein' their pawn and their bargaining chip for their greed!" He whirled back, looking into Alister's gray eyes. "And what about you!" he cried.
Alister raised an eyebrow. "Me?" he repeated.
Raphael was not certain that he liked this turn of conversation. It seemed to him that an argument was imminent. And he had seen Alister hide his right arm under the table. He frowned, wondering if the wound was bothering him. If so, that would not be the sign of anything good, Raphael was certain.
Valon gave one firm nod. "Yeah, you!" he said, coming over and leaning on the table. "You've got your problems too, don't you? I mean, I saw you messin' with your wrist. It's probably not started healin' up, has it?" Without waiting for an answer he reached down, grabbing for Alister's arm to inspect the injury.
Instantly the redhead jerked back, a sudden and uncontrollable vexation flashing through his eyes. "It's fine. Can't you ever believe that when I tell you? I don't need you to nurse me to health!" he snapped back, raising his left hand to slap Valon's away. Then he narrowed his eyes, realizing what he was doing, and clenched his fist tightly instead. What's wrong with me? I can't hurt him. He's only concerned, anyway. He doesn't mean any harm. But that did not make his annoyance disappear. If Alister wanted to tell them about his wrist, he would. Why did Valon have to decide that it was personally his business to find out whether or not Alister's wound was mending?
Alister shut his eyes, turning away from the Australian. I should have listened to my own feelings. I knew it would be a bad idea to come down here while I'm struggling with this. . . . Little by little, the darkness is going to get control of me. If I'm by myself, maybe I can fight it off easier. Then there won't be the concern that I'm going to hurt them.
But Valon's emotions were flaring up now. In addition to his parents coming, now Alister was beginning to act more frustrating than usual? Before Raphael could stop him, the brunette shot out of his chair, grabbed Alister by the shoulders, and forcefully turned him around again.
"You just listen here!" he screamed. "I don't need you bein' cold and everything right now. You got that!" He gave Alister a rough shake. "And you don't need it either. Heck, that cut of yours was pretty bad, even if you don't think so! Raph and I saw it."
Raphael was rising now, moving forward to gently grab Valon and pull him away. He was afraid that he knew what was behind Alister's actions. It was not that the redhead wanted to treat Valon unkindly; it was that the Orichalcos's influence was still seeping into Alister's very soul. Even though he was trying to fight it off, its hold was strong. Raphael understood how that was. And maybe, since this time the power had entered Alister's body without his permission, it was taking longer for it to get absolute control, whereas whenever someone gave his permission for it to enter, it took over almost immediately.
Before Raphael could do anything, Alister rose abruptly, grabbing Valon's hands and thrusting them away from him. He soon had the stunned boy pinned down on the table while he glared down at him with eyes that flickered red.
"Leave me alone," Alister hissed. "If you don't, we're both going to regret what happens next." With that he freed the brunette and walked purposefully out of the room, not bothering to look back when Raphael called to him. He hated himself and he hated the Orichalcos. He hated that he was not being able to completely control it. But his warning had been out of genuine concern. He was afraid of what he would do to Valon if he remained in the same room with him any longer.
But . . . no . . . I could never hurt him . . . or Raphael, either. As long as I have the least bit of rule over what I do, I couldn't! I can't! They were like brothers to him, and just as he knew he would never even be capable of laying a finger on Miruko to harm him, he knew that the same thing rang true for his current family. He raised a hand to his forehead, shuddering as he reached the stairs and struggled to climb up. His heart was racing wildly as he fumbled over the first several steps. I have to get away. . . . I can't stay here. . . . I'm only going to hurt them. . . .
"Alister!"
The voice was rough and firm. Slowly Alister turned around, looking into Raphael's stern eyes. His own, he was certain, were a mixture of fear, panic, and urgency. Without a word he gripped the banister and fled up the remaining stairs, slamming the door to his room when he got inside.
Raphael remained at the bottom of the staircase, haunted by what he had seen reflected in the younger man's expression. He had been certain that Alister was not trying to hurt them, and his eyes had confirmed it all, and more. He feared the power that was inside him. He was panicked because of what it could cause him to do. And he wanted to get away. If they did not or could not stop him, Alister would leave. And, Raphael knew with a sinking heart, they might never see him again.
"Well, good riddance to him," Valon proclaimed, venturing out into the living room and rubbing at his wrists where Alister had gripped him so harshly. "I'll be happy to leave him alone." He crossed his arms, not consciously noticing how hard the fingers on his one hand were digging into the flesh on his upper arm. "I never liked him anyway, you know. . . . Nope, never. . . . I always hated him, so . . . it's not like I'm upset." His fingers dug deeper. "Not at all. . . ."
Raphael frowned darkly, coming over to the boy. "If you get any less upset," he pointed out, his voice dripping with irony, "you're going to plunge your fingers completely through the skin on your arm."
Valon's eyes widened, then narrowed, and he dropped his arms to his sides. "Well," he said haltingly, "I'm not upset and I do hate him. I really do," he finished lamely, looking at the floor as his shoulders slumped. It was pointless to keep this up. "Aw heck!" he yelled.
Raphael gripped Valon's shoulders gently but firmly. "I think we both know that Alister wasn't in control of himself just now," he stated. "Last night he was afraid that the Orichalcos hadn't left him. It seems his fears were founded." His thick eyebrows narrowed darkly. "Apparently getting rid of the stone wasn't good enough. He's still infected." And what was worse, Raphael did not know how they would correct such a problem. What was the antidote for being poisoned by an ancient evil?
Valon stared up at him in horror. "He's WHAT!" he screamed, feeling horror envelope him once again. "No . . . that's not what's going on. . . ." He found himself actually wishing that Alister had honestly and completely been angry with him rather than to find out that the Orichalcos was responsible. Anger would pass, after all, but the sharp talons of the Orichalcos would only go deeper and deeper until Alister was entirely driven mad. He tried to swallow, but found a lump in his throat.
"It is," Raphael replied, "and you're gonna have to accept it, Valon. Otherwise, we can't help him." He looked towards the stairs. "He's afraid of hurting us. That's what he meant when he gave you that warning. And now he's probably preparing to go away." His voice grew dark as he slowly let go of Valon.
The brunette felt as though his world was falling apart. Suddenly his parents were back, Alister was being driven insane, and now he might be going away? But Valon did not want Alister to go away. There was already the chance that he himself might have to leave, against his will. If Alister went away too, their entire family unit would dissolve. "Leavin' us!" he wailed. "But that's just like before, when you tried to go away 'cause of what you did to Alister and me!" With that he stormed toward the stairs and headed up. "Alister can't get away from ol' Valon that easily! I'm not afraid of what he might do!"
Raphael shook his head, following the teenager upstairs. He knew how much Valon cared about Alister, even when the boy did not care to admit it, and he knew that Valon would be crushed if Alister left them. And especially under such circumstances. Raphael was just as determined not to let their friend get away. Then the Orichalcos would dominate him for certain. And even if that did not happen immediately, Raphael feared that Alister might kill himself in order to silence the power. In fact, he thought in horror, how did he know Alister would not do that now? He might figure that since he had been poisoned, there was not a cure and the only thing he could do to protect his friends was to end his life. Unconsciously he paled at this morbid vision.
When Valon reached Alister's room and threw the door open, he stopped in shock and confusion at the sight before him. Alister was sitting on the bed, clutching his right wrist with his left hand, just as he had done the previous night. He was trembling as he stared blankly down at the unwrapped wound, which was bleeding again and causing blood to drip all over his fingers. He seemed oblivious to the world around him. Valon, who had rarely seen him looking so pale and absolutely alarmed, stopped short and simply gaped, his voice refusing to work.
Then, abruptly, the redhead looked up at him. His eyes were flaming with red once more and there was a wild look within the orbs. "Well!" he cried. "What are you looking at! What are you doing here at all!" When Valon could not find his voice to reply, Alister rose and started coming toward him, appearing fierce and deadly. "What are you doing here!" he repeated, thrusting his injured wrist out for him to look at. "Do you think I did this! Do you!"
Valon swallowed hard, staring at the wound. It was bleeding so much. . . . What if Alister had taken a knife and cut into the vein? He had been suicidal in the past. There was no reason why he might not be again, especially now, when he had this terrible burden to bear with seemingly no relief. "Well," he choked out finally, "maybe. . . . Maybe I do!" He glared at the older man. "Did you, Alister? Did you do that!" Now that the redhead was up closer, Valon could see the turmoil in his eyes. He hated seeing Alister like that! Alister was supposed to be calm, his eyes impassive and his manner unthreatening. But Valon narrowed his eyes, refusing to be intimidated by this other side to his friend.
Alister laughed bitterly. "Oh, to escape this mad world," he replied. "Oh wait—maybe it's me who's mad! Maybe everything around me is perfectly sane and normal while I'm the misfit." He continued to hold his wrist in front of the boy. "I didn't do this to myself," he said then, his voice lowering abruptly. "The Orichalcos did this to me! I'm dying, Valon. I've been poisoned." Abruptly a wave of dizziness passed over him and he swayed, nearly losing his balance. But instead of crashing to his knees, he found himself being steadied by both Valon and Raphael, the latter of who had just arrived upstairs.
"You're not dying!" Valon screamed, tears threatening to break loose. "You can't die, Alister! Not now!" He wanted to shake the older man in hopes of bringing him to his senses, but when he saw how Alister was already shuddering he decided against it. "You're not dying," he said again, his own voice dropping.
Alister slumped against Raphael, raising his gray-eyed gaze to meet his friends'. His orbs were soft and sad now, the red glow flickering as it started to fade away. "Not physically dying," he answered quietly. "My heart and my soul are dying. With every minute it's getting harder to control the darkness within me. You know how the Orichalcos is. It's almost impossible to break free of it." His voice was weary now, as though he had accepted his fate. Indeed, though he would not give up, he doubted that he could change it.
"But we did break free of it," Raphael responded, his own voice just as quiet now, yet firm and unyielding. "There's no reason why you can't succeed again, Alister." He paused. "And there's also no reason why you have to suffer alone."
Alister sighed in a dismal way. "That's the way it is, Raphael. I was the one who was infected. I'd rather it was this way than if it had gotten you or Valon. But I am alone. Someone else can't remove this dark power from me. I have to conquer it myself. I'm the only one who possibly could." But that doesn't mean I can, though I won't give up.
Both Raphael and Alister were shocked by what Valon did then.
"The Orichalcos is also messin' with your mind, not just your heart and soul!" the boy yelled, lunging forward and giving Alister a rough slap across his face. It was Valon's hope that such an action would stun some more sense into his friend. "That's not the Alister I know. He's cold, quiet, and he doesn't give in. You're losin' your sanity, you're quittin', and you wanna run away! You're a stranger!"
Alister's head snapped back when Valon struck him. He stared in disbelief at the Australian, as did Raphael. He opened his mouth to speak, but Valon cut him off.
"Raph was right, all of us have defeated the darkness in our hearts," he said firmly. "The Orichalcos doesn't havta have power over us. You wanna know why we were able to get over the Orichalcos?" He rushed on before Alister could answer. "It's because we all had somethin' to live for! We didn't need the Orichalcos. We thought it'd make us stronger. But you know what? It made us weaker, Alister. It's makin' you weak right now! But you've gotta keep fighting it. You've still got things to live for. Don't you get it!" Valon glared at his friend, blinking away the tears that had appeared in his eyes. I don't wanna lose my friend! Maybe I'm selfish, but I don't! "Don't you get it!" he yelled again.
Alister looked at him. Yes, he understood. He had people to live for. They were here with him. And there was Jamie as well, and the other children. But Alister was not trying to give up. He was hoping that in the end, his actions would be able to bring about good results. "You don't understand," he said then, his voice still quiet. "I want to protect you both. If I go away, I might be able to get this under control without causing harm to either of you."
Raphael kept a firm, yet gentle grasp on the slender man's body, but then let go when he was certain that Alister would not attack either of them. After all, he was not looking to take away Alister's free agency. He would have to make the choice himself on whether to stay or go. "If you go away," Raphael said, voicing his recent thoughts, "I doubt we'll ever see you again. And it's not as if this isn't the kind of thing we've dealt with before. We'll stand by you through all of it." Just as you and Valon stood by me when I attacked you both against my will. "We also know what it's like to suffer with the Orichalcos. We know you're not yourself. But we're willing to go through whatever it takes to help you break free of the spell. Leaving isn't the answer, Alister."
"Heck yeah!" Valon chimed in, still glaring at Alister. "You can't leave us, mate. Who would I argue with then?"
Something about that remark amused Alister, though he only raised an eyebrow in response. "I imagine you'd find someone," he answered. "After all, you have a knack for overreacting to a lot of things."
Despite the fact that Valon would normally make an angry retort at that remark, he found that he was actually relieved to hear Alister say this now. "That's the Alister I know," he grinned, starting to relax. "So it's settled. You're staying right here." He headed out of the room. "Stay there and I'm gonna get the first aid kit."
Alister shook his head slowly, looking down to the wound once again. "It hasn't even started to close yet," he said to Raphael once Valon was out of earshot. He hated to worry the boy even more than he already was.
Raphael sighed, examining the injury himself. "Maybe you need to get stitches for it," he suggested.
"Maybe," Alister agreed vaguely. But somehow he did not think that would help. He had the feeling that this was another side effect of being cut by an Orichalcos stone. Perhaps the wound would not heal at all.
"What about what Valon said?" Raphael asked gruffly, raising his blue-eyed gaze to meet Alister's gray orbs. "Are you going to stay?" He could tell that Alister still felt a reluctance about doing so, but Raphael hoped that he would remain anyway. He was certain that in the end, that would be the best for all concerned.
Alister shrugged helplessly. He honestly could not say at this point. "For the time being," he said finally, "especially since Valon seems so overwrought at the thought of my departure." But I hope I'm not making a mistake. What if, by staying, I only make everything worse?
Raphael simply sighed again. "We would both miss you," he said then.
"I know," Alister responded. And he did. They cared about him, as he cared about them in return. Perhaps, he thought to himself, that was why he had decided to stay—because he did know that they would miss him. And because I'm too weak to make myself leave. He wanted to stay, even though another part of his mind was yelling that what he feared would happen if he did. He had to believe that Raphael and Valon were right and that he could overcome this without having to go away.
Neither of them were aware that their conversation was being overheard by the same Doom Reborn warrior who had brought this disaster upon them in the first place. But he had left several listening devices throughout their house before he had departed with the Orichalcos stones. He knew what was likely to happen to Alister now that he had been poisoned. Eventually the darkness would consume him. It seemed fitting, the man thought, that the Orichalcos would take its revenge on a traitor such as Alister. And by it happening, he would have his revenge on Raphael as well.
"You deserted the cause," he whispered as he sat at his desk in the temporary headquarters of Doom Reborn. "You deserve to suffer like this, by having your friend get corrupted with the darkness in his heart." He took a sip of the beverage in the mug he was holding, then looked up abruptly as the door opened and two of his companions entered.
"What success have you had?" he asked, looking to each one in turn.
"We've collected the Orichalcos stones that fell in several small towns nearby," the first, a young man with navy blue, wild hair reported. He set a heavy bag down on the desk. The first man could hear the clinking of the Orichalcos rocks bumping into each other.
"Then it was a success," he smirked, his eyes flashing dangerously as he opened the bag and lifted out a handful of the turquoise gems. "What about your other mission?"
"Everything's in place," came the reply from the second, a female with auburn hair and green eyes. "But Hans, don't you think you're taking this too far?"
"No!" Hans snapped, the Orichalcos glowing brightly on his forehead. "They're traitors to Doom and Master Dartz. The Valentine girl is as well." His eyes narrowed. "But she and the Australian made a complete mockery out of the entire organization! They joined solely to become physically stronger and to win duels. You know how much I respect and revere Master Dartz, but in the case of those two I believe he was making a mistake by letting them join! He knew that was all they wanted and still he let them in!"
"His purpose was to offer their souls to Leviathan in the end," the girl pointed out, "the same as what he was doing with Raphael and Alister." She sighed, leaning on Hans' desk. "But still . . . I don't know about this. It seems so cruel."
"That's all they deserve!" Hans screamed, slamming his hand down on the wooden surface. "And especially Raphael. He was Dartz's right-hand man, but then he let himself be fooled by the darkness." But even his fellow comrades did not know of his personal vendetta against the man. That was private, personal information that he had always withheld from them, and he would continue doing so. Torturing Raphael would be his own sweet victory.
"Now, let's go," he said, standing up abruptly. "The next step is to get that girl and bring her here. She'll be our bargaining chip in the next phase of my plan." With that he headed in determination for the door, his fire-red trenchcoat flowing out around him. His cohorts exchanged looks before following him out.