The next day
**POV Frost**
Stein's office was cold, dimly lit and had various vials, jars and beakers on shelves around the room. Me and Kairon were seated on a steel bench with a patchwork stitch pattern on it opposite a table designed in a similar way. Kairon and I we're both wearing desert camouflage, however I wore a a shirt and Karion wore a tank top, we have been sat here for about ten minutes waiting for Stein to finish compiling his result from yesterday - 'I guess there's a lot to cover'.
"Okay Kairon, I'm not going to... Hello Frost." Stein put his serious tone away while he addressed me. "It's not good news, you sure you want Frost to hear this Kairon?"
I begin to stand assuming he wants me to wait outside. I feel sudden yet gentle grip on my wrist, stopping me immediately. "Please, Don't Go." Kairon whispered. "I might need you to help me tell the others." His voice is soft enough to hide the worry clearly displayed by his eyes.
"If your sure." I make sure shoot Kairon a supportive smile before sitting back down.
"Okay then. Kairon," I see him brace for the worst. "I'm not going to lie to you. The damage you caused to your soul may be irreversible as it is."
"Wait, hold on doc. What are you saying?" I question Stein curiously.
He walked over to lean on the front of his desk while he spoke. "Karion is in a battle for possession of his body with a demon, the damage this has adversely had on his soul hasn't been too major since he arrived. However..." Stein's tone take a sudden cold turn. "With the strain Kairon just put himself through yesterday and the fight with Medusa he had, he almost tore his soul in two." I look at Stein shocked but Kairon doesn't even seem surprised. "Every time you have drawn on what you thought is your power, you've actually been drawing on your demon's power. In fact you've only used your own power once during your first mission. This allowed the demon to pull its power back and it's causing a tug-of-war with your soul and without any power of your own to hold them off, it will rip your existence apart." Stein puts his clipboard down. "I know it's a lot to take in but do you follow me so far?" Kairon nods slowly. "There's something else." Stein pauses to wait for Kairon to respond, picking up a second clipboard from the desk. After he nodded, Stein continued. "Upon further investigation, I've found evidence of a second demon dwelling within you and it too wants to posses you. Thankfully at the moment they're working against each other, which will give us more time to figure out a solution. However, if they start to work together we might be in for some serious problems"
Kairon seems to be taking this shockingly well, is it just a brave face? "So how many demons are inside Kai? Do we even know?"
"Just two." Kairon finally says something with a confident answer.
"How do you know this?" Stein seems eerily curious about this whole thing.
Kairon pauses to gather his thoughts. "When you taught me how to meditate, I found myself in my sub-conscious. I wasn't alone, two other entities sat with me. All three of us sat together in what looked like a prison cell. They were explaining that my souls power was diminishing after the fight with Medusa, I didn't want to seem like a failure so I didn't mention it."
"Kairon, your my brother." I pause to hug him. "You'll never be a failure to me." I give him the biggest smile I can before re-engaging Stein. "So, how do we fix this?" My optimism puts a smile on Stein's face.
Stein's serious posture persists while his tone softens. "If Kairon found his souls power, he could use exclusively his power thus reducing what damage the demon's can do to Kairon's soul. It's only a theory but it might work, would you be willing to try it Kairon?" He looks Kairon in the eyes while he waits for an answer.
"Yes!" Kairon's eyes burned radiant purple with determination.
"Well that settles it." Stein looks back to me pulling up his wheeled office chair and taking a sit with the back rest in front his chest. "Frost, I want you to tell the others Kairon won't be joining you today. If your team asks what do you want him to say Kairon?" Stein's gaze shifts back to Kairon.
"Just say, Stein wants to hold me back for a few extra tests." Kairon's statement seems good enough, so I nod in agreement.
"Alright I guess i'll head back to the bunk house and let the team know, good luck bro." I give Kairon a brofist before leaving to reunite with the rest of my team for our day off.
**POV Kairon**
Stein waves Frost goodbye as he leaves the office and turns his gaze to meet mine. "So Kairon, before we continue. Is there anything else you've experienced I need to know?" His question is calm yet concerned.
"Yes, before I engaged one of the strange witches I had a sudden pain rip through my whole being while accessing my power."
My answer sparks curiosity in the good doctor. "How did this happen?"
"I was trying to summon one of my weapons, the pain made me wince, but when I gritted through the pain and rather than forming shard by shard. It exploded angrily into existence and had a red flare at it's core."
"I see." Stein begins turning the bolt in his head as he continues. "It was probably forged from the demonic wavelength rather than your own, the red flare may have represented the demon's soul. I have seen this behavior before, when you fought Medusa in the city you weapons all took on similar forms." He stops turning the bolt with a loud click. "We should begin by trying to find your soul's power, are you ready?"
Stein gave me a warm smile as he rests his arm on the chair. "I am."
"Well alright then, let's get started." Stein gets up and leads me into a room in the back.
Later that day
"Alright Kai, tell us all about it." The time had come for the team to know about Kairon's internal battle, if they didn't already figure it out. We we're all sat on purple bean bags in a circle having tea round a small table Hannah had fashioned from void energy.
"Okay, where to start." Kairon pause to gather his thoughts. "Just in-case any of you didn't know. I'm battling a demon named Diablo for possession of my body and soul." Hannah, Sal and Alix seemed surprised but Nathan seemed to already know about this. "Recently when I meditate I see two figures in my sub-conscious and her actions are starting to become a serious threat. So now there is two demons trying to take over me." The surprise finally fell on Nathan's face. "At the moment they're working against each other, but that could all change at any moment. So Stein kept me back to help me find my own power so I don't have to lean on my demons power. Hopefully, that will give me time to heal the scars their 'tug-of-war' has left me with." Everyone is shocked that Kairon has managed to keep this all under wraps but Hannah seems the most concerned by all this.
"Can we help?" Hannah asks almost timidly.
Kairon turned to smile at Hannah. "Just support me like you already are and I should make it through, I've found the source of my own power if that helps. Now I have to harness it and use it to my advantage." He clenches his fist as a few blue sparks fly from his knuckles.
Alix, sat next to Kairon in the circle, immediately hugged him with a warm smile. "Don't worry, we'll never stop supporting you."
Kairon's face lit up with joy as he returned the warm embrace. However, I could see there was still something behind those eyes that bugged him. I'll ask him later, he's happy for now and that's what matters. "Coffee anyone?" My question catches the attention of everyone besides Kairon and Alix as I stand from my bean bag, gathering the four cups I will need.
One hour later
**POV Hannah**
"Right let me get a good look at your soul." I finally got Kairon to sit down and let me see if I can heal any damage to his soul. First I had to get Alix to stop being all 'huggy' for five minutes. She may seems tough, but inside I know she is a big softy. "Don't take this the wrong way Killer but i'm gunna need you to take your shirt off." Kairon just looks at me slightly confused. "I need to make physical contact with your skin to heal internal wounds and to properly perceive your soul." He nods and promptly takes the requested item off and throws it onto his bunk. I gently place my hands on his back but not before examining all the scars on his body, particularly a spider bite on his left shoulder. 'Medusa really fucked with you didn't she?' I wonder to myself as I begin. I slowly close my eyes and begin to feel for Kairon's wavelength.
I reopen my eyes to find myself in a small, dark and damp cell. This couldn't be the limits of his mind. The cold stone walls around me were suffocating. The dark shadows accumulated in the corners while a single small hovering purple flame dimly lit the room. "This must be Kairon's soul, It's a lot smaller than I expected." My voice echo's in the room as I speak to myself.
"You are correct..." A demonic voice sounds out from the darkness "This, is our king. Pathetic, isn't it? A man who claims he will kill Medusa with the soul no bigger than a flash light." His voice is full of disgust and hatred as he reaches for the soul. I try to stop him but before I can react a bolt of purple psychic energy strikes his hand. "Somehow though, no matter what I try I can't reach him. I could possess this body for eternity and still it would never be fully mine as long as his soul dwells here too." The demon's disgust was replaced with confusion. "I don't know where his strength is coming from, granted his friends help him stay sane, but ultimately he would have to have some kind of strength otherwise he would have been swallowed whole by now!"
An instinct takes over my arm and before I even notice it I have his soul in my hands. A spark flickers through my mind. "You're wrong about him."
"What!" His growl thundered through my ears as I clutch the soul close to my chest. "How are you doing that!"
His question rips through me like a cannon. "Like this!" I pull my right arm back ready to punch him. I clench my fist as purple flames wraps around my knuckles when suddenly my vision goes black. Kairon's soul is gone. "Ahh!" A light blinded me from the distance. "It's shining so bright I can't tell how far it is!" I shield my eyes from dazzling spectacle. The light dies down to a reasonable level and I'm able to open my eyes. I find myself in an endless dessert under a star filled night sky. My eyes are drawn to a circle of five stars with a slightly dimmer star in the middle. Looking around to get a better bearing of where I am, I find a set of footprints in the sand following the star cluster. There are no buildings, no landmarks, not a single feature in site save for the stars and the infinite sand. I start following the tracks and engage my soul perception. "I'm not back in the bunkhouse. So I have to still be in Kairon's psyche somewhere." I get a faint glint of a soul in the distance. My pace starts to quicken until eventually i'm sprinting. "Faster!" I summon my void wings and accelerate. "I have to find him!" I flew for what felt like eons until finally, I saw something. "Something that isn't sand! At last!" Faintly in the distance sat a rock of some kind. As I drew closer, the rock became larger until it became a huge obsidian pillar which would split the very clouds with a flat top and four protruding spikes. As I start ascending up the side of the tower, I immediately notice the obsidian is carved and stop to examine one. Each carving is bordered with intricately carved Celtic runes "I see a man fighting witches, he's protecting an archer... Wait is that me? These carvings must be his memories. Good thing I picked one I was there for." After chuckling to myself a little I continue my ascent. I finally reach the top to find him. The one I've been searching for. Kairon, is stood atop the tower staring at the cluster of stars the led me here.
He is wearing a Death shirt with the word "Human" on the back in red, surrounded by all the song titles in smaller gray font. A pair of light blue camouflage trousers and a pair of surpluses boots. He turns to face me and I see the Human album cover printed on the front of his shirt. "Hey Hannah, I thought you would end up here."
"Kairon!" I quickly land on the tower next to him and hug him. "Oh i'm so glad your safe. One minute I was holding your soul and the next it just vanished and I was brought here by a bright light. Where are we? I had to fly forever before I found this tower!" There are traces of mild annoyance in my voice having expended so much effort.
"We are in the deepest part of my soul, or at least the part that is still mine. My memories and dreams." Kairon turns to face the cluster of stars that seem so important to him. "I saw those six stars when I first met you ya know? I don't know why but i've not managed to stop thinking about them and how the one in the middle is the darkest."
"Yeah?" My voice is full of curiosity as I examine the cluster again.
"Well, what if my destiny is to be a part of this team. To have five people around me who I can always depend and count on?" Kairon looks down and I see a tear run down his face.
"Isn't that a good thing though? It means you always have people you can count on to support you know matter what."
"But what if I let them down?" The sadness radiated from his voice and pulled at my heart strings. "What if I just, fall to the madness. What if after all you guys do to help, it all ends up being for nothing!" He punches the spike on his immediate right causing a crack in the solid surface.
"Your afraid?" My question earns a confused and disjointed response.
"Terrified." His spirit at this point was all but shattered.
"Good." I pull him close before he has time to think and embrace him tightly. I whisper into his ear "That proves your still human and i'm going to do everything to make sure it stays that way."
As I make my vow I feel him embrace me like he'll never let go again and a warm drop on my shoulder. "Thank you." Is all he could bring himself to muster, not having the strength to fight off his sadness alone. I suddenly feel something different about Kairon's soul, a warmth that wasn't there before.
"Karion, this warmth i'm feeling... Is this your power?" Kairon pulls back slightly but still has his arms around my shoulders and meets my gaze.
"I don't know, I feel stronger now though." He sounds curious.
"Try focusing on it and see if you can find its origin." I deliver my suggestion with a supportive smile. He closes eyes and seems to enter a meditative state. Suddenly, I feel our wavelengths begin to resonate. A warmth spreads through my body as our souls begin to bond. As the resonance completes a sudden wave of euphoria crashes over and into me, sending a shudder throughout my body. The resonance begins to fade, allowing me to catch my breath and try to stop my legs from shaking.
"Hannah, your trembling." I look into Kairon's eyes to see hes worried. "You okay?"
"Y...yeah, it's nothing." It really wasn't. Is... Is that what a soul resonance feels like? how does anyone get anything done! "The resonance surprised me is all. I've never resonated with anyone before."
"Sorry, I didn't intend to I just focused on the feeling." Kairon closes his eyes. "It's still there, actually I feel it's always been there. I've just been to blind to see it."
"Well you have three souls within you, it must be hard keeping track of everything. Especially when your soul is eclipsed by two demon souls." My logical response is cold as I internally wince at my insensitivity.
"Yeah, you're right." Kairon smiles and seems reassured.
'He smiled? Roll with it.' "So, I met Diablo." My statement makes Kairon worry.
"He didn't hurt you did he?" His voice only emphasized his worry - it's kinda cute actually, wait what?
Shaking off my random thought, I tell him all about it. "No he didn't, I almost hurt him though." Kairon's worry was replaced with a look of shock. "Yup he started saying something along the lines of being a weak king and I was about to lay the guy out flat, but then a light brought me here, to you."
"Oh, that's good then." Kairon seemed to play off the 'weak king' remark but I saw him wince when I said it. "Now I just have to figure out how to be a strong king."
Kairon seemed to fall into deep thought. "Well I guess i'm here to help with that." The sudden interaction pulls Kairon out of his thoughts. I give him a warm smile as I ready my healing wavelength. "So come on, show me that soul of yours." Kairon nods, takes his arms from around my shoulders and focuses his wavelength. His soul once again becomes visible. I can see the characteristics of his soul and the damage inflicted by others. I feel a mixture of human, witch and demon energy begin to fill the air. His soul is purple with a flexible wavelength and accommodating personality, but it feels determined like he has something to prove. A large black tear sits in the middle of his soul with Stein's signature stitch work holding the fresh wound closed but i'm mostly curious about the two black devil horns protruding from the top of his soul. "Okay." I take a breath and ready my spell. "Soul Repair! First lets see if we can do something about that tear." I gently start to weave void energy into the tear in an attempt the reinforce Stein's handy work. Successful in my mission, I attempt to refuse the soul together. Kairon suddenly winces at the interaction so I move on to the smaller scars dotted around the soul. "Your soul must pretty resilient to take this amount of punishment." I can feel my strength fade slightly as I reach the limit of what I can heal.
Kairon starts to see the fatigue the spell is giving me. "Hannah, please don't push yourself." He's right I can't keep this up anyway.
Stopping the spell, Kairon's soul fades from my vision. "I've done all I can for now." I suddenly feel my legs give out from under me.
Kairon rushes forward to catch me in his arms. "You okay?" Ah that cute face of worry again.
"I'm fine. That spell just really takes it out of me." I try to cup his face with my hand but my arm is too weak to lift itself.
Before My arm falls back down, Kairon gently holds my hand with a warm smile and a tear in his eye. "Thank you, so much." He says before softly before everything starts to turn white.
I jolt myself awake, finding myself in the bunkhouse with my team once more. I find myself confused as I stare at thew moving ceiling. I realize that Kairon is actually carrying me to bed, still shirtless with a huge smile on his face. "Kai.."
"Shh, you need to rest. Thank you for everything." Kairon's soft voice settles my flustered confusion as He lays me in my bed.
"Thanks." Is all I can seem to manage at this point.
"No need to thank me for anything. I'll get you some water in case you get thirsty." With that, Kairon swiftly turns around and heads to the kitchen. He stops to grab his shirt on the way past. "Ow... I was enjoying the view." I mumble to myself. I suddenly notice his head turn as he just throws his shirt over his shoulder to cover the snake bite. He shoots me a cheeky grin as he continues walking. 'Did he really hear that?' are the last words I think as I begin to fall into a deep sleep.
**POV Frost**
After Kairon placed a glass of water on Hannah's bed tide table, I see him grabbing a cigarette. "Hey Kairon, can I talk to you for a minute." Pulling out one of my own. Nathan and Alix look a little concerned but i send them a warm smile to calm their nerves.
"Sure." He says as he puts his shirt on. We step outside, climb a ladder and sit on the roof looking at the stars. "So whats up?" Kairon asked as he snaps his fingers to lit his smoke.
I place my cigarette in my mouth and look for a lighter in my various pockets. Karion offers his fire and I use it. "Some thing seemed to bother you earlier, you okay?"
That look still sat in his eyes. He was missing something. "I don't know. When Alix hugged me, I felt like i'd been hugged like that before. I can't remember who is was but I know they were important to me."
Kairon takes a drag from his fag as he awaits a response. "Your always wearing two tags, maybe that has something to do with it?"
realization strikes Kairon like lightning as he examines the his tags. "Zero two five, Karina Gorgon..." Kairon pauses to think, but can't seem to come up with anything.
"Did you have a sister?" Kairon clutches his head and visible winces.
"Possibly, but it hurts to remember." He stops thinking and tries to shake off the pain.
"Best not open that wound yet. You might not be ready yet. Unfortunately, you can't rush this sort of thing." I place my hand on his shoulder. "We're your family now and Death City is your home. Your always welcome here, no matter what."
Kairon sends me a week smile. "Thanks, i'll do my best not to fall to the madness." He tries to laugh but I see tears behind his eyes.
"Kairon, I swear to you on my honor as a Grimm Reaper, I won't let you fall to madness and if you ever did? I would drag you back to sanity, even if it costed my life and tore my soul apart." Kairon seemed shocked from such a serious response. "Everyone else will give you the same thing, your important to us Kairon. Don't forget that."
"I won't, I promise." The sadness in Kairon's eyes was replaced with determination. "I feel like I just found myself after being lost for so many years. I vow I'll never be consumed like that again, not just to you but to myself as well."
"Good." Kairon truly is strong, he just needs to find it himself. "Come on, we should get some sleep." Kairon nodded as we headed back inside for some much needed sleep.
Hello, sorry its been so long. I haven't had any access to a computer for so long I had to rebuild this chapter from scratch, so I decided to do some character building as I felt like I haven't focused on that too much XD. I have a PC now so hopefully chapters will finally start being posted with some kind of haste XD thanks for reading guys hope you enjoyed :)