Chapter Seventy-Eight: Calm Before the Storm

Tomas found himself struggling to breath. He had no idea where he was or how much time had passed, but he needed to leave. He was suffocating. He was lost. He was scared out of his mind, and he did not know what he should do.

And then, as if a gift from the gods, a hand appeared from deep within the terrible void. It gently grabbed Smoke's wrist and lifted him up until he was blinded by a bright light. It surrounded Tomas and he was forced to close his eyes, but when he opened them again, a clear, blue sky greeted him. He gasped and coughed as air entered his lungs and soon realized that the void that he was floating in was a large lake surrounded with flowers. To think, if that hand had not taken him out of the water, Smoke may have drowned.

Speaking of that, Tomas looked around for his savior and after a moment, he spotted a man sitting on the bank of the lake. The sun shined brightly behind him, so Smoke had to shield his eyes when looking at the stranger and could not see their face clearly. But the man's smile was visible, and he held out his hand to Tomas.

"Let me help you out of there, kid. Wouldn't want you to catch a cold."

The stranger laughed, which somehow calmed Smoke down. It was just nice hearing a genuine laugh rather than the sound of explosions and screaming. Sounds of war. Tomas looked at the man's hand that was still waiting for him to take it. He was hesitant, but he eventually gave in and grabbed the hand. The stranger helped Smoke out of the water and he immediately collapsed on the grass. He took a few deep breaths and pushed a few strands of hair away that were sticking to his face.

"Sooooooooooo…are you an alien?"

Tomas frowned and tilted his head so he was facing the stranger.

"Excuse me?"

"Well, you literally fell out of the sky. So, I just assumed-"

"I AM NOT A DAMN ALIEN!"

Smoke did not know why he snapped over something so trivial, but he immediately regretted it. The man did not deserve to be yelled at like that. Tomas was about to apologize, but he stopped himself when he heard the stranger suddenly burst into laughter. It was then that the silver-haired man was able to catch a glimpse of his savior's face. But when he saw it, Smoke could not believe who it was. The man continued to laugh, unaware that Tomas was staring at him in disbelief.

"I'm sorry. I know you're not an alien. I was just messing with you, you kn- hey, are you okay?"

The stranger finally looked back at Smoke and saw the surprised look on the silver-haired man's face.

"Did I…say something wrong?"

The man tried to reach out for him, but Tomas jumped back and shook his head furiously as he scrambled to his feet.

"No. No, no, no, no, no. This is not real."

"Tomas, please, let me-"

"And you know my name!? This cannot be real. YOU cannot be real!"

The man opened his mouth to say something, but he could only sigh in defeat. He ran a hand through his short, brown hair and took a deep breath before speaking again.

"I guess the cat's out of the bag, huh? Now is probably the time to-"

"What is going on, Gabriel?"

Smoke immediately spun around when he heard someone's else voice from behind him. He immediately recognized the newcomer's voice too. And it was clear that they recognized Tomas too, because as soon as the woman laid her eyes on him, she gasped and almost dropped the basket of fruit she was carrying. The woman opened her mouth to speak, and her voice came out as a barely audible whisper.

"T-Tomas? Is that really you?"

"…Mother?"

Smoke has waited so long to say that, and we he finally did, he could not help but let a tear slip down his cheek. He was not crying from joy, however. Even when the woman, his mother, gently cupped his cheeks with her hands and smiled at him with tears in her own eyes, Tomas just laughed. But not because he was happy.

"This really is a cruel joke."

Taking the woman's hands away from him, Smoke continued to laugh and shake his head.

"You are not real, are you? You are not my parents."

"We are as real as you want us to be."

Hearing those words, Tomas thought back to that memory of him as a young boy with his father. Speaking of him, Smoke felt Gabriel's hand land on his shoulder, but this time he did not bother to shake it off.

"Who are you? Why are you here?"

Tomas turned around to face the man, who struggled to keep a smile on his face while looking at his downhearted son.

"We are your parents, son."

"No…you are not-"

"We are the parents that you have portrayed in your memories. Every event, every emotion we have experienced, it is because of your memories of your parents. We are their reflections, physical representations of those memories within your mind, Tomas. Don't you see? We truly are as real as you made us to be."

"But why would I "make" you? What is your purpose for being here? And where exactly IS here? What is-"

Smoke was stopped by Ana when she gently placed two fingers on his lips. The woman wiped away her tears and spoke to her son in a calm, but firm tone.

"We are here to help you. We know about Enenra and what he has done to you. And we must stop him, Tomas."

Tomas scoffed and crossed his arms.

"What do you think I have been doing this entire time? No matter what I do, I cannot stop Enenra! He is too powerful!"

"So, you are just going to give up?"

"There is nothing else I can do! I just…I am not strong enough to beat him!"

"You have always been strong enough! How have you not realized that by now!?"

Smoke was taken aback by his mother's words. He even found himself lost for words for a moment. His father took that as his cue to speak up.

"Kiddo, if your real parents are anything like you have remembered in your memories, then you know just how much they…we love you. We care for you, and we believe in you. Now it's time for you to believe in yourself, because you are so much stronger than Enenra has led you to think."

"Your father is right, sweetheart. You have more power than even Enenra realizes, and it is time you use it."

Tomas gritted his teeth and clenched his fists.

"How!? All the power I have gained was through Enenra! I was nothing before-!"

Again, Ana stopped him and grabbed his shoulder, forcing the man to look at her.

"Stop it, right now! Do not talk like that! Do not let Enenra's words get to you."

"But this is not Enenra's fault! He is not himself right now and I do not know how to snap him out of…whatever he is going through!"

Gabriel then let out a huge sigh, which caught the attention of his son. He stood by his wife and wrapped his arm around her shoulders to comfort her.

"Because you do not know the truth about Enenra."

"Gabriel, I do not think it is our place to tell-"

"He needs to know, Ana. For both of their sakes."

Frowning, Smoke looked to his mother and back to his father in confusion.

"I need to know what?"

His parents shared a quick glance before his father spoke. Ana still seemed reluctant about it, but she did not stop her husband.

"Son, you must understand that Enenra is not the monster that everyone believes that he is."

"What do you mean?"

"You know about the children, right? The ones that were Enenra's hosts before he found you?"

"…Yes. Those poor children."

"Yes, it was unfortunate what happened to them. Their weigh heavily on Enenra's mind even after all these years."

"I doubt that. In his eyes, Enenra sees those children as nothing but "collateral damage." He feels no remorse for what he has done."

"That is what he wants you think. He just can't accept the fact that a demon can feel. That HE can feel. It is a concept that a being as powerful as Enenra can't understand, and that scares him."

Smoke took a moment to think about what his father just said. It did make some sense to him. Every time Enenra spoke about his feelings, the demon always seemed confused. Like him being able to feel anything was something out of a dream. No wonder Enenra took continuously told Tomas that his emotions were only a liability.

"Okay. And…what does this have to do with Enenra raging throughout my mind right now?"

Ana sighed and shook her head.

"Tomas, you need to remind Enenra if what makes him so different from others of his kind. Remind him of what makes him different from Quan Chi."

"And what would that be?"

"The fact that, whether he likes or not…Enenra is more human than any of us."

"What? But…what are you talking about?"

Tomas' parents shared a sad look and grabbed each other's hand, holding it tightly as Gabriel continued where his wife left off.

"Do you know the guilt Enenra carries on his shoulder everyday for what he did to those children? Not a day goes by where he isn't thinking about them. And then you came along. A week went by. Then a month. A year. And about twenty years later, you're still alive."

"I do not know if you would call what I have been doing "living," but yes, I am alive. What about it?"

"You are the first host Enenra has possessed that has lived for so long. In fact, he was so afraid that you might keel over and die any second because things were going so well. You handled his powers with such ease, as if you were given Enenra's abilities from birth. You changed everything, son."

"So what? I should be proud of that? Ever heard of "survivor's guilt"? I feel even worse that I was the one who lived while they…they…"

"Listen."

Gabriel reached for Smoke again, and this time, Smoke did not push him away. His father pulled him closed and gave his son a gentle squeeze on his shoulder to comfort him.

"I truly feel awful for what Enenra has done, but…I am also grateful that you survived. And because of that, you stopped Enenra many times from reverting back to his demonic nature. That is a blessing, considering his rampage right now. The world was saved because of you."

"Me? I did not do anything. I did not even know of Enenra's existence until about a couple of days ago. And whenever he tried to take control of my body, Pyros was always there to stop him, not me. But now, I do not have Pyros to protect me. Those I care about are probably afraid that I might kill them without a second thought. You should have seen their faces when we returned from the Netherrealm. I am a monster!"

"No."

Tomas looked to his mother, who had more tears in her eyes now. She reached for her son's face and cupped his cheek.

"You are not a monster. You are a good man, Tomas. And we know your friends would say the same thing."

Smoke chuckled. The thought did comfort him in some way. Maybe he has been a bit too harsh on himself. After all, Tomas was helping to save the world, and Raiden does not give the title of a "Champion of Light" to just anyone. There had to be some good within the silver-haired man, right? He nodded his head.

"I hope so. I really do."

Ana and Gabriel laughed with their son, and they came together for a group hug. In that moment, Tomas did not care that these people who stood with him were merely reflections of his real parents. They felt so real, and their words helped to lift some of the weight off Smoke's shoulders. If his parents are alive, Tomas hoped that they would one day reunite and hug just like this. Like a family.

"We do too."

Tomas shook his head. Of course his parents would be able to listen to his thoughts. They were created from Smoke's own mind. He smiled and slowly pulled away from Ana and Gabriel.

"Thank you. Really. You do not know how much this means to me."

Gabriel let out a heartily laugh and patted Tomas on his back.

"If you really want to thank us, then can you do us a favor?"

Tomas shrugged, but he continued to smile.

"Depends. What is it?"

His father pointed to the sky and Smoke looked up to see dark clouds now covering the once vibrant, blue sky.

"Mind getting rid of those clouds for us? I was enjoying the sun, you know."

It took only a second for Tomas to figure out what was responsible for those clouds. The silver-haired man turned back to his parents and nodded, his eyes hardening as he did so.

"With pleasure."