The dent in the wall from Eric's crash was a demented tobacco pipe, spewing out constant huffs and puffs of gray and brown smoke, hissing with their intoxicating fog, jeering outward like millions of hunter spears, spreading outward, and dominating. The larger rocks had fallen; it was now time for the smaller, more miniscule ones to crumble to the floor with a tiny, slight click to the ground. Darkness wavered and shivered, as if cold in the growing night outside, a slow numbing that these scared blades of darkness resisted, tried to shake away and falter gone, refusing the status of immobility. Silence came; people waited, and some, all ready sad, chose to give up early, so the pain, the sorrow they never had time to build up inside would relieve faster, quicker, swifter. Brave they were as they held their moist eyes, tightened in their sockets and cheeks puffed for support.
"W-What…?" a girl, a purple-haired girl said to herself in a tiny, breathless whisper, her eyes, her beautiful, meaningful violet eyes, open, wide open with the refusal of closure. Her brows twitched unevenly, her crumbled legs lay on the ground, cold. The numbness had gotten to her, and her flame of passion had died; yet somehow, what she saw – it brought it all back. The candle that began to surround with darkness and wisp at white, ashy smoke began to light up again, a tiny, distant speck of dark, starry red into the crooked charred to a coal finger of the waxy, godly candle. Slowly, the aura of light came back, slowly the celestial beliefs returned, and sunk back in, as if they were never lost.
The dust, mislead, began to clear and dwindle away at the walls, the millions of cheeks upon cheeks upon cheery, jubilant cheeks spreading outward, and fading. Fading into nothingness, a miserable refusal by society, and now, realizing its own horridness, its own failure, its own demented, crooked, weirdness, it fled, hoping to find a better place, hoping to be never awaken again. But from the flee of this future malevolence of apparition came a great sight for many others – it had left one thing for people to remember it by, one thing to be grateful for its now lost presence, one thing to regret shunning it by. Teresa spoke, a light, delicate whisper of graceful, pure lips, an angel's kiss to the air as they formed words, slow, beautiful, whispered words. "E-Eric…!"
And suddenly, unexpectedly for the greater good, the mood changed. The shadows stopped quivering in their desperate demise of cold numbing, and warmed, wrapped with warmth that stopped their eternal crying, their eternal shaking and shivering. A blissful joy spread to the walls, to the smoke that smiled as it dwindled into transparency, fell to a happy plunge. The world flipped over, crazily, the moon became sun, lit up the stars into luminary blanks, set the sky ablaze with the return of clouds, puffed with a nonexistent white, a fantasy come true for people's emotions. The plaster orange became an orange joyous to see, joyous to feel, touch, smell, even taste. Everyone's expressions changed, especially Teresa. Her legs – they defrosted themselves into bright, hot warmth that was set afire with energy, with cheer.
In everyone's eyes, they found Eric, the Fire Minor that never, never gave up rising from his should-be-death, rising from an attack that even a council couldn't stand through – rising, on his weak as hell feet and a slouched back, a back that was too tired to get up, but with a smile, a smile that Teresa would remember. His eyes – they failed to dwindle in confidence, they failed to plummet into fear as Hibiyomi had said, and now, even more covered with tired, dirt marks, he stood, he breathed, and picked himself up. With the return of his presence, his alive, impossible presence, people's eyes began to shine with their own confidence. People that had cheered for him, Marissa, Daniel, Zack, they wiped their eyes to forget about their moist pupils, and returned the slouching of brows to a happy, rising of rejoice, of jubilation. They cheered, they smiled, their eyes brightened, and they began to root for him again, fists going up in a burst of happiness, enthusiasm. Sadness wiped away, and Daniel, smiling now with still moist eyes, put out his hand. Teresa couldn't seem to take her eyes, her beautiful, open smile away from Eric, but she managed to give one, second's glance to Daniel, and accepting, brought her hand into his, so he could slowly, surely lift her up into the rejoice everyone shared.
"Put fear… into… my eyes?" Eric asked, voice retching at first, raspy from weakness. Pain seared at him everywhere, at every single place, but he ignored it. It was the true meaning of purpose he began to share with everyone, the true meaning of confidence, of determination. Hibiyomi, staring as he brought himself more and more up to his feet but his legs still obviously weak and back blatantly slouched, widened his eyes, surprised, as if he were having a dream, a hallucination, a nightmare. "Wash away… my confidence?" he spoke weakly, his arms limp in their sockets, his voice getting stronger as it finished the last few words of every sentence. One more big breath for energy he took in. He strained his eyes, washed away the pain, took it out and denied it, knowing that there was something much more important, something much better to deal with. "Why? For what? To prove your purpose – your purpose that's so overrated?!" he now yelled in a scream, a confident, pure scream of emotion that made people cheer, jump even more. Eyes applauded, unable to remove, pry themselves from the red-clothed boy, the trusted, loyal Fire Minor.
"What do you mean!?" Hibiyomi cried out, angry, unable to control his hold and oppression of emotion any longer. "Look who won!" he shouted in pure surprised anguish.
"That doesn't mean anything!" Eric snapped right back. Hibiyomi, if possible, widened his eyes even more. "Put fear into my eyes..." Eric repeated. "You won't be able to do that! Because even so… confidence… my confidence is not…!" Eric took a hard time to speak, but he dealt with it, acted as if it were nothing, a mere, miniscule nuisance in his way, a minor obstacle from speaking. His voice was rowdy, rough, like sandpaper. Everyone seemed to listen closer, lean in more, ears wide and ready. "My confidence is not the absence of fear! My confidence is when I feel something is more important than fear! And because of that, you cannot take away my confidence! You cannot replace it with fear!"
Now everyone, not only Hibiyomi, widened their eyes, shocked, never knowing that Eric had this much insight. "That's why… I can't give up yet! That's why I still have a purpose! I still feel something is more important than fear. And that purpose is… that purpose is to protect…!" He said the last few words with confidence, with searing loudness that he made sure entered Hibiyomi's ears: "My…! Friends!" he shouted with sheer emotion, sheer confidence, almost in a growl, roar.
Then, Eric really roared. He gave a loud, anguished scream, washing away the pain, the fear he admitted to have, but had decided that it was not as important as what he wanted to succeed. He screamed, shouted to the faraway skies, ceilings of the wide, broad room, and even then, the dimension cheered for Eric, cheered for this- this boy that seemed to have come out of nowhere and began to change everyone's lives – one by one. Eric tightened his fists and clenched his teeth, and with a burst of red energy shooting out of him and wrapping around him in an aura, his reddened wounds shot out slits of shadow, slits of slight slivers of darkness out from them, from his links. The red energy intensified, blowing at his clothes, shuffling the creases in his pants, his coat. His eyes became hot with passion, anger, readiness, power, and most important of all, determination. The brown eyes glowed with a neon red as he growled underneath his breath, echoed by the confident, shout-back walls, repetition of noise, of sound, of meaningful voice.
Then, that fire morphed into something else – morphed into flames, into red, hot blaze like the sun – he became the sun, and as the sun, he provided the land, the tiny, lonely grass blades below with enough energy, enough potential to grow and become large weeds, and even if they were not wanted by society, they would be themselves, they would be confident, and they would be strong. His whole body surrounded in fire now as he screamed, scowled once more from the intense power streaming around him and inside his blood, his veins, just screeching, pumping through his heart with ten times the heartbeat a second. No way! Hibiyomi thought to himself, eyes frozen and stretched to an empty whiteness. He felt his body pulse and blow backward from the intense bursting and discharge of great Half Spirit energy. His robes fluttered, an arm blocking his eyes, keeping them safe from the blinding red as he watched slightly with one eye. He… he broke the seals I put on his links!? Impossible! Hibiyomi told himself, feeling like he wanted to scowl but couldn't; his features were too busy being petrified in shock, as if he were becoming a statue.
Then, with one last growl, and one last, hell-blistering scream, Eric sent out a titanic, enormous blaze of flame, a huge, thick, bright and scorching wave of heat. Hibiyomi could not move – his feet were frozen despite the great warmth from the heat about to overtake him. The burning flames blasted at him, took over his body, shot him to the wall – and burst. Eight indent of the battle – the largest one, too. Eric continued to scowl and scream, a red energy sort of tail, wire coming from his back, whipping the air with its miniscule shape and size. He scowled from anguish churned with power and confidence once more; heightening his emotions, and this time, this growl was a bit more… beastly, than usual. Everyone watched, and cheered, hoped, shouted for victory. Red energy brightened the room with its intense luminary heat.
Shit! Hibiyomi managed to think, but just seconds too late. The fire plummeted Hibiyomi's shocked body into the wall right next to the Minors, and broke that whole side of the wall as well. A long, large rumbling shook at the Minor's feet, vibrated their stances and seemed to beg for their falling. Many fell to the farthest wall for support, stumbling on their feet. A loud explosion filled the entire room with noise, filled it even more with bright scorch, a blistering light of red and orange and fire. Flames burst out from the huge dent of the wall and cindered in crackling flames, the new dent more intense and more successful as a demented tobacco pipe, spewing out bright, hopeful, awed flames instead of gray, depressing brown ones. These puffs were accepted; these clouds were wanted and put amazement into people's eyes until they were dazzled senseless into their own crazed trance. Chunks of rock shot out and spewed from the flames, tiny little sediments of plaster following. The huge wave of heat emitted from the explosion tickled and licked the Minors' faces. Shouts of awe wowed the crowd.
No…Hanabikai thought, the bright flames of the fire shining on his face, spilt on him with a nonexistent, mobile paint. He swallowed hard, thoughts and eyes watching, focusing carefully on Eric's posture, on Eric's appearance. Eric…! Is he changing into…? Eric began to breathe heavily and stopped his loud uproarious cries. The cackling of flames went on as loud as could be; hissing of enveloped and grasped away smoke along with the clicking and crumbling of sediment providing background noise.
"He survived that attack and broke free of a linked hold?" a shocked voice of Kakori muttered with awe. His mouth hung open, as if breathing eternally, constantly, no time for words. His eyes – they were blank, filled with surprise, with a good kind of surprise. "There's no way!"
"Way," Hanabikai quickly answered. Kakori seemed answered, cried out in a tiny murmur, backed up. Hanabikai turned around to face Kakori, and they eyed into each other's faces, expressions, digging deep into their feelings. Hanabikai smiled, not at what he found, but at what he was thinking. His eyes were cheery, a change of emotion. "Don't you know all ready?" Kakori seemed confused. He tilted his head to one side, as if pouring out water from one ear. His face was still locked in certain puzzlement. "He's Kahibi Eric, damn it!" he said happily, friendlily, enthusiastically.
"Hanabikai!" Kakori muttered loudly, scornfully. His expression went grim, full of scold.
Hanabikai laughed it off. He smiled wider, and Kakori continued to look at him, somewhat, to some, tiny, miniscule scale, disappointed.
The dust cleared, the fires finally diminished and leaving nothing left but the masked gray smoke. However, knowing that they had been scandals, thieves, liars of disloyalty, they left quickly this time, fled as fast as they could, as if they knew the "drill." Amazing, still alive thoughts rang weakly inside the clearing smoke of a limp, immobile body. This guy… he broke through my seals... Kakori quickly zoomed to his side, kneeling over him and watching his laid down body as if he had been put to bed affectionately by his mother, his guardians that cared and loved him so much. "Have you had enough, Hibiyomi?" Kakori asked. Hibiyomi, eyes now full of realization, now full of change and some relief, stared, stared with friendly eyes for once, at Kakori's smiling gesture.
"Enough," Hibiyomi repeated, taking a short breath and sighed. His limbs were useless, unable to move, frozen as if in ice. However, he no longer felt the need to move them – he no longer felt the need to get up, to make Eric realize that emotionless is the way to go. And because of that, Hibiyomi closed his eyes, feeling the liberation of his soul, the soul that he had buried deep for at least four-hundred years of his overused life. He wanted to cry, but he didn't. He cried inside, out of a new look, a new point of view. "Kakori, I've had enough…" Then, unable to hold it back any longer, the tears of his inside filled him to the brim and leaked out as tears of the outside. Dust continued to hiss around them, and Kakori grinned.
He smiled playfully as he watched over Hibiyomi's tired, worn out body. "Heh," he scoffed to himself in amusement. "Looks like that's it."
Eric, now lying on the floor, facedown, coughed, breathed, alive, and happy to be. He was weak, he was all powerless now, unable to move as much, as fast – but he didn't need to anymore. There was no use in it anymore – because it was all over, and everything was in his favor. Hanabikai suddenly zoomed to his side, kneeling over him, watching his weak body. "Eric, are you all right?" he asked, a foolish question.
Eric scoffed, amused. He smiled a miniscule grin, even his lips too weak to move. "Yeah," he said, voice croaky and weak, all boyish, pretending there was nothing wrong, not even admitting that he was in pain and injured badly. "Not too bad," he said, smiling as he let out a small chuckle. Then, he closed his eyes, tired, without even realizing it. Hanabikai smiled back, and somehow, someway, Eric knew. Blood leaked from his wounds that hadn't been healed yet. Hanabikai was sure to tend to those soon enough. Last clouds of dust whisked themselves away, stalling their fleeing as they wanted to see how everything ended, hating the suspense because they were on a tight schedule. A schedule that called for promptness, punctuality. We should get this guy some rest, he suggested himself.
Teresa staggered. "Eric… he won," Daniel said, still unable to believe such a great thing – such a miracle!
"Yeah," Teresa said, fixing her feet with a smile. "Yeah, he did," she repeated. Quickly, as if on cue, Hanabikai came to the Minor's hall in a flash, carrying the exhausted, unconscious winner in his arms. The smile was stuck on his face, that boyish, careful grin. "Hanabikai," Teresa called to his presence, alerting everyone that he was there. Hanabikai nodded a greeting.
"I have to attend to Hibiyomi's wounds," Hanabikai stated. "Will you take care of him for me?" he asked, face filled with an obvious cheer, rejoice inside his mind. He was glad no one ended up dead, like the majority thought it would turn out.
Teresa stared at Eric's innocence. His tanned features all closed and unaware of his surroundings, this big fighter so vulnerable; it was a bit… adorable. She smiled and said, "Yeah, sure." She took him in her arms and with the help of another Minor, she brought him down to the wall, laid down so he could rest.
"He sure is amazing, isn't he?" Daniel asked as Hanabikai's presence left them. Teresa nodded. Daniel smiled. "His purpose…." He remembered what Eric said not too long ago:
"That's why… I can't give up yet! That's why I still have a purpose! I still feel something is more important than fear. And that purpose is… that purpose is to protect…! My…! Friends!" he shouted with sheer emotion, sheer confidence, almost in a growl, roar.
"My confidence is not the absence of fear! My confidence is when I feel something is more important than fear! And because of that, you cannot take away my confidence! You cannot replace it with fear!"
Daniel nodded to himself, closed his eyes. He took in a slight breath and went to Eric's resting body with slow, delicate steps, in no need of a rush. Teresa watched him as he approached the boy, and bent down to place his palms cross over his chest. They began to glow with a silhouette of bright yellow, and began to heal, a holy glow emitted from his arms, without even saying a word. "Eric can't die. He's the only one who helped me during the first training sessions."
"But doesn't healing take away time from your lifespan?" Teresa asked, sympathetic for Daniel yet glad that he was doing such a sacrificial thing for Eric.
"Even so… confidence is the feeling of something is more important than fear, not the absence of it. I might be afraid of dying early, but I feel that keeping this guy alive is much more important than my own good," Daniel explained. He chuckled and grinned with bright, emerald eyes, even in the darkness decay of shadowy, closed in walls. "Isn't that right, Eric-san?" he smiled. The hum and glow of the healing soft a silent tune into people's pleased ears. "He has the potential to go far from here," Daniel began again. "Believe me. He's a glue that'll keep us bound to each other. He's important to us, because we're important to him." Everyone listened, and agreed in the depths of their minds, nodding, some even staying still, and even Walter did, to some degree, who had remained in the same monumental position for the whole duration of the fighting. With that, the glow ended, the hum was silenced. The crossed palms released, yet Eric was still unconscious. I fixed most of his wounds, Daniel thought, feeling proud that he had made the sacrifice. He sighed, tired. He leaned back. "You've fought enough, Eric-san."
Marissa stepped forward, unexpectedly. She bent over and brought her face to Eric's, as if she were about to say something to him, face-to-face. "You really are the glue that binds us together, aren't you?" she smiled. Her cheery face widened, puffed. Walter stared at them, and inside, had an emotion that remained in secrecy. Everyone, and everyone, with not one person left out, felt that Eric – he was the most important Minor; and that Eric, without him, there would be no Minors. There would be no fixing of problems. There would be no world.