The cold wind given from the broken window blew against my neck, trying to numb me with its freezing, demonic touch. I sat on the pressurized patch of snow next to Dylan, magically floating on it in midair while Dylan was standing, and watched the scene stand still in time.
Shihou, looking disappointed and angry clenched her fists and gritted her teeth, her hold in her fists so tight it looked like the handle of the sword was about to break off. Even the mighty blade itself began shaking.
She yelled out of fury and swung her sword once wildly, letting out her anger. A silver strike came from the blade and crashed into the opposite wall, creating a deep cut in the plaster and dust to rise. The look in her eyes was one of a wild beast. She didn't look herself. She just looked too… frustrated.
She began gasping for breath, pissed off that she couldn't do anything. "Calm down, sister. Being mad won't help anyone. We have to get that Minor to safety, remember?" the reflection on the blade reappeared, referring to Rick, who was lying on his own bed of snow, making it red like he had some kind of magic touch that turned everything bloody. He lay there unconsciously and half dead and Shihou knew as well as the next person that Rick's safety came first.
"Yeah, all right," she said, stopping her gasps for breath like she didn't have enough, locking up her anger in a bottle deep inside her body. Her body began to calm down and less tense and tightened up. "Thank you, brother," she told the reflection without looking at it by her side.
As if in another world, Jeremy stared at the pile of dust on the floor. Derek was right behind it, but Jeremy didn't seem to notice him. Only that dust. That grey, pale dust. The dust that used to be a person.
I mean, to be able to turn a human into something totally useless and unnoticed in a matter of seconds and by a single touch, just for power… is that what White Cloak could really do? Jeremy thought in his mind.
A semi-strong wind blew in the room, filling the whole floor with chilly air. Slowly, it lifted the pile of dust, each and every particle becoming one with the wind and floating freely like a decoration on a Christmas tree. It blew towards the broken window, where the rest of the group still outside by it, flying past my face, coming so close to Jeremy as if trying to contact him, to feel him for the first time.
Jeremy sat, expressions widened, ignoring the cold snow that was touching his legs and numbing them, and tried to feel the dust, to try and catch it in his hands as it blew by his face. Jeremy finally caught some, but even when he clutched it in his hands, the wind blew it away in such a graceful and angelic way, that it hurt so much to be forced to let go inside. It's hard to believe that that dust that flew away, all gone, used to be a human being, and used to be someone special and important with a mind and emotion of his own. Used to have loved ones just like I have, and had it all gone in just a matter of moments. It's just too hard to believe. If White Cloak could do this to anyone he wanted, then what are we really in store for in the future? Just what? Jeremy thought in a rage through his mind.
Several minutes later, they had found a hospital room for Rick after finding the hospital workers hiding in a room. They had asked us where the doctor was, and we had to tell them the truth. They were hurt and most of them didn't really believe us first, but when everything was all cleared up, they were happy to help Rick out anyway. Marissa went with the doctors who went to operate on Rick. She said she just had to be with him. Why? Good question. Even I don't know. We got Derek off the floor, too, and he explained everything to us while we did the same for him.
Now they were all in Derek's hospital room, sitting around him as he sat in his comfortable white bed. He needed some rest. He shouldn't have gotten up in the first place. At least that's what the doctors said.
"So, what about the other Minor?" Dylan's voice asked me, the owner of the voice turning to Jeremy to watch him as he replied to him.
"Huh?" Jeremy asked him, looking up to find him staring right at him with his bright green eyes. He had disrupted Jeremy's deep thinking, but Jeremy knew he had to answer him on the spot. I couldn't just leave him hanging, he guessed..
"You know. You said before there were two Minors. One of them was this guy over here," he said, turning to Walter. Everyone in the room looked to him and he gave a wandering, mean stare back. Then everyone turned back to Jeremy. "And the other one is…?"
Everyone watched, looking interested. "Oh. Right. I… don't know," Jeremy told them, unfocused on the question. But I told them the right answer anyway. So I didn't really care, he thought in his mind.
"What do you mean? Check the locket," Shihou told me, sitting on the floor by Walter, who seemed totally uninterested in the conversation at all. But Jeremy was sure he was listening. He was definitely listening.
"I did," Jeremy told them, sighing his words out. They couldn't detect the depression and urge to go back to my own thoughts that was rolled into his voice.. "It says unavailable information."
"No way… could White Cloak have?" Derek interrupted from his place on the bed, everyone else surrounding him on the floor and two on a chair.
"No. If he was able to take the doctor's powers, then most likely not. There's a rule in Scholary that states after you learn a new skill you have to take a five step process after learning it, and while you do that, you can't take any more powers in," Shihou explained, her dull but strict voice making the conversation more ominous and serious.
"Then what could have happened?" Dylan asked, gripping the handles on the uncomfortable chair he had sat in before all the fighting business when he was worrying about Derek's safety.
"I don't know… It's strange… the locket's not supposed to do that," Shihou explained, her eyes wandering to the side. Behind the scene and through the window, the snow began falling hard again, as if going back in time. "But… more importantly," she started a new subject, turning to Walter.
Walter noticed her stare on his back and turned around with his mean glance to find her staring right back at him. "What?" he asked in a dull and deep voice.
"Well? Are you going to help the rest of us and get rid of White Cloak?" Shihou interrogated, everyone listening for his answer, getting their hopes up. Walter could feel their excited energy rise up around the room. Except Jeremy. Something was bothering him, Walter could tell. He's seen the look of depression all his life. Before answering her question, he looked to the little boy, just sitting there against the wall in front of the bed, looking down, and deep in thought just like Walter had been for most of his life. Reminds me when I was a little kid, Walter thought.
Walter thought hard about his decision. Well… these guys almost beat White Cloak, proving that they're strong. And I really can't go back to him now, not after what he did to me. I guess it's just another thing on my list to get rid of when I get enough power. And also, I could probably gain the power I need through these guys. "All right," he replied finally, ending everyone's hopeful fingers and thoughts, turning around to look at the wall blankly, staring deep into space for his thoughts, just like Jeremy, as if ignoring them.
"Yeah!" a sudden outburst came from Dylan. "Welcome aboard!" he answered, just a bit too excitedly. What an idiot, Walter thought, looking down on him. He didn't reply to his hysteria and pretended as if he didn't hear Dylan. And Dylan didn't really seem to care, either.
I turned away from my thoughts only for a second to look at Walter. He was, too, having the same look in his eyes as I did when I was deep in thought. Strange, I realized in my mind. I can compare every Minor in this room to their council counterpart except this guy. He's nothing like Tsukansu, I thought. Did the Half Spirit make a mistake choosing this one?
"Jeremy, I need to speak with you," Shihou's voice interrupted yet again. Jeremy turned to find Shihou staring right at him with fighter like eyes. He gulped down the depression in his heart and answered.
"Yes?" Jeremy said, about to get up.
"Don't," Shihou said, reading my Jeremy's then closing her eyes. "That won't be necessary."
Jeremy obeyed and sat back down, ready to hear what she had to say to him, but still a hidden urge in his heart to go back to his thoughts. Why won't everyone just leave me alone? Jeremy thought in the corners of his mind as he waited for Shihou to say something to him.
"I'm going to have to take Dylan and Marissa back to the Inner World. Dylan is the Minor so far with the most experience with you and the whole Minors, while Marissa is the one with the least. We need everyone to go at the same pace, so we're taking them. Is that all right?" Shihou explained, reopening her eyes, and then staring to Dylan, then everyone else in the room in a circled pattern of sight.
"All right," Jeremy said, looking like he didn't care about what happened whatsoever for the first time in his life.
"It's all right Jeremy-san!" Dylan said, reading Jeremy's inner emotions with too much enthusiasm. "We'll see each other after you get the seven Minors left out there."
Shihou flashed a knowing look, somewhat smiling, tilting her head. "Yeah, okay," was all Jeremy replied with. You'd think Dylan would've been hurt after that uncaring comment, but he wasn't. Jeremy guessed it was because he knew inside he cared about him.
"And also," Shihou said, getting up and coming towards Jeremy. "I need to give you this." She went up to him and threw down a big, brown pack that had one strap on it used to connect from you left shoulder all the way down to your right hip. It landed with a clatter, the sound of glass clinking inside.
Jeremy looked to the side of him to find the brown bag, somewhat wondering what it was. "What is it?" he asked her up front, looking up to Shihou, who was much taller than him at this rate.
"It's a bag the Council filled with cure bottles of all kinds. Use it whenever someone is injured. You never know what kind of dangerous affects White Cloak's workers might have," she said, turning away and sitting back down in her place next to Walter, who was still staring at the wall and into space.
"All right," Jeremy answered, some enthusiasm coming back to his face.
Walter thought deeply as he heard the clatter of glass. Should I tell them about Eric? He might've been one of us. No, not just yet, he decided. I want to get to know these people first before I tell them anything.
"Okay, so, where do we go from here?" Derek asked in his regular clothes, the bandages still wrapped around his chest underneath.
"We have to wait until Rick rests up. Then go to Sabaku no Yomi and leave Hanayuki town. Got it?" she instructed from her place on the ground, everyone having the same thought in their heads.
"Sabaku no Yomi? You mean Hell Desert? Why? What for?" Jeremy said, suddenly having a feeling in his heart resisting going, his sentences all coming out as questions.
"Tsukansu is waiting for you with a surprise. Just make sure not to make him wait so long. You know how impatient he gets," she said, flashing a happy smile. That was her first happy sign of the day, Jeremy realized.
Why does that sound so familiar? Jeremy asked himself. Sabaku no Yomi… why do I have such an urge to stay away form that place? Why do I have such a bad feeling about it?
"Too bad I'm going to miss it," Dylan said, with a little too much of sadness. Why was he acting like such a kid all of a sudden? Jeremy wondered in his mind.
"A surprise?" I asked Shihou, staring at her with wondrous eyes. She didn't say anything back. She just kept smiling. I wonder what kind of surprise it is…
Suddenly, there came a person from the door and stating, "Kumoyama Rick is ready for more visitors. You may go see him if you want. He is located at room 314." Then, silently, she left the room, leaving everyone's stares, even Walter's, on the green painted hospital door.
When that nurse made her entrance, she seemed to be sniffing out her words. It was like she was crying. Even her eyes were welled up with water. Jeremy could've seen it in the reflective light. Was she crying for the doctor? Would people cry for me if I died a death like his? I wouldn't know, was all I had as an answer.
PoVS
"How's the pain? Is it fading away?" Marissa asked, trying to prevent herself from crying from seeing Rick's body all bloodied up like that.
"Yeah, it's healing," Rick answered, sitting comfortable in the hospital sheets. Bandages and ointment had been wrapped all around him. The whiteness of the room was blinding, the lights spilling brightness everywhere. The doctors had stopped his bleeding and rebuilt his skin using special skills. They had to use the Medical Scholars for that trick. I almost lost my life, Rick thought. He had a white cross style bandage on the top of his right cheek, and bandages with ointment on his arms, legs, back, and chest. Even with skilled Scholars to help, the wounds were hard to heal. The bandages were a necessity.
Suddenly, there was a knock on the door. Marissa and Rick looked through the glass window pane of the old hospital door and saw Shihou's eyes peer back through the glass.
"Come in," Marissa told them, kneeling down by Rick's place in his bed, her arms on the bed next to his body.
Shihou followed direction, and so did everyone else. The people poured in, even Walter who walked with a lazy pace. "Hi Rick!" shouted Dylan. Someone's had too much sugar, Rick thought happily as he figured out that these people cared about him.
"How you feeling?" Jeremy asked, walking up to his side. Rick looked to his left to find Jeremy right next to him. "I'm fine, thanks for asking," Rick replied, being serious with his cheery and handsome eyes that matched his wavy and towards-the-front hair. "Where's that other guy?" Rick asked, giving his stare to the others in front of the bed. "What was his name? Derek?"
"Derek is resting. He's in his room upstairs. He needs to heal just like you," came his reply from Shihou and her serious voice.
"I see," Rick replied, his eyes turning away from everyone else.
"How are you, Marissa? Are you okay?" Dylan asked, a little less hyper.
"Yeah, I'm okay," she said, standing up like everyone else except Rick, who couldn't stand up. Dylan could've sword he saw her wipe away tears a little.
"Well, tell us. What was Rick's condition?" Jeremy asked, looking around for any X-Rays to indicate his status, finding nothing except his heart rate monitor which was beeping normally.
"It's not really bad," Rick answered for Marissa. "I lost lots of blood and skin, but they replaced it using Scholary. So in the end, it wasn't that serious. This hospital really is something, isn't it?" Rick asked, looking up to the ceiling lights that glared his eyes.
"Yeah… they really are something," Jeremy replied, the look of hard thinking returning to his face.
An hour later, we found ourselves outside the hospital, the night dark and dead. Everything was quiet and lonely just like in the daytime, and unlike before no one was having a heart attack from fighting so much. No one had White Cloak on their mind, which was good.
Derek and Rick had rested up and could walk now. They were almost in perfect condition, and the doctors told them that it would get better over the next week.
As we left, we had that sense of feeling of separating. Our large group was about to get smaller, I thought.
"Okay, it was nice meeting you guys," Shihou said, walking in front of us, facing our direction. "But I have to go back to the Inner World. There's too much work to do. Dylan, Marissa, shall we?" she asked, turning to them with greeting eyes.
"Shall we what?" Marissa asked, confused.
"Oh, we forgot to tell you. You have to go with Shihou to the Inner World. Its better that way, and they have to prepare you for everything in the future," Jeremy explained, tugging on Marissa's arm as she listened quietly.
"And also, we can't have too many Minors in the Outer World because who knows what might happen if White Cloak shows up. Jeremy can only take care of a few people at once, you know?" Shihou informed, laughing with a happy smile, as if she had just been proposed.
"Oh… I see. Okay, I guess it's all right then. When do we go?" Marissa asked, accepting Shihou's decision as a Council.
"Right now, of course," came her reply. Marissa gave a sharp gasp, but drew it back in as she slowly accepted Shihou's decision once again. Jeremy could sense her disappointment but couldn't understand why. Who would she be missing?
We stood in the cold snow, everyone in front of Shihou, who opened up a portal before our very eyes, one much like the one she came through. Our breaths streamed up in the air as we breathed, all of us watching the portal, getting ready to say goodbye.
"Bye!" Dylan told me, then to everyone else, and walking up to the portal. He gave us one last look that seemed to be made out especially to me as he put one leg in, the whole thing disappearing all together. Then he completely walked in, his presence no longer with us.
"Goodbye everyone," Marissa said, waving her hand in the air. "And goodbye to you too, Rick," she said, practically running past everyone else and hugging him.
The sudden hug attack took him by surprise, and then began hurting his body, as it was just recovered. "I'm sorry," she said. Ironically, she held him tighter. He began wincing and felt like choking to death. Her beautiful streaks of brown-blonde hair fluttered softly in the air as the gentle wind passed by. Rick stopped his look of surprise and turned it into a happy one.
'It's okay, we'll see each other later on," he said. He wrapped his arms around her the best he could and gave a short hug to Marissa, who was about four inches shorter than him. After, she began crying, but sobbed a happy cry, and wiped away a tear as she ran in.
Everyone had the same look and thought in their head at the sight of Marissa getting emotional over Rick. "Goodbye, everyone!" Shihou shouted out, her warm breath streaming up in the air and swimming away, waving her gloved hand in the air, and then finally, stepping into the portal, leaving us with our task.
"Well, I guess we should probably start heading for Sabaku no Yom," Derek told me, pacing forward towards the town entrance.
I gulped. I didn't want to go, but I knew I had to. As we were about to walk down the road that lead to the exit of this snowy city, I looked to everyone's face. Three new ones to get used to, I thought. It'd be weird without having Dylan around, I thought, running off into the snowy road, knowing that Walter, Rick, and Derek would be following.