It was dark and he could barely see. Yet Seven sat at the edge of the bed, unfazed as he flipped through the Bible he held in his hands.
The breeze of the night brushed against his face, cooling yet the burden weighing on his soul remained.
The solace he was seeking threatened to never get close. He grabbed onto his bracelet and fiddled with it as his feet continuously tapped the floor.
Looking ahead, he could see Elias lying peacefully, his face towards the wall, his breath steady.
Sleep, however, was very, very far away from him. His brain was clearly tired from so much thinking yet his eyes refused to give in.
"You're searching for the right answers in the wrong places..." Zephyr whispered close to his ears. For once in a long time, he felt his shoulders relax.
Standing and heading to the bathroom, he washed his face and with the water still running, he grabbed his towel to dry it...
"What do I do?"
"Are you dumb or you're just acting?"
"Please Zephyr..." Seven mumbled, unaffected by his usual dismissive behavior.
"The answer is right there in front of you. You can't always wait for solutions to be served to you on a golden platter. Get up and look for it! Make one up if necessary but never expect things to magically work out for you..."
Turning off the tap, he dapped his face till it was dry. Looking in the mirror, he took deep breaths. With a rather determined look on his face, he bolted out of the bathroom.
Looking towards where Elias was supposed to be sleeping. His brows knitted together in deadly realization because Elias was no longer there.
Without wasting a second, he ran out of the room towards the clinic. Cordis was supposed to be spending the night there, and on reaching, he struggled with how to deal with the nurse on duty.
'To hell with procedures!' he snapped, rushing towards the door. A feeling of dread seized him on realizing that the door was open... Partly open!
Running his hand through his hair as he cautiously stepped into the clinic; the dread he felt only heightened when he couldn't find the nurse in her normal position.
His heart literally dropped to his stomach as he dragged his feet forward in search of Cordis's room, expecting the worst.
With the sound of metallic objects against each other through a partly opened door at the extreme left, he swallowed a lump feeling his mouth run dry.
Peeking through the space, and seeing the back view of the nurse bent over a lying patient he recognized well, an unexplainable feeling washed over him.
Staying a few seconds more to make sure the scene was that of Cordis being cared for by the nurse, his brain clicked, reminding him of what he was initially after.
With a certain place coming to his side, he rushed out, on time to avoid being seen by the nurse who was done checking up on her patient.
His feet skipped stairs as he hardened his footsteps. Getting outside, the distant rustle of dry leaves made the night feel a lot more foreboding.
Taking a dark path, Seven soon found himself at the entrance of the old library. The air felt heavier here. There, sitting casually on the cracked staircase, was Elias.
Elias looked up, surprised—too surprised.
"Seven?" he called out, his smile widening unnaturally. "You decided to get some fresh air here too?"
Seven didn't stop walking until he was a few feet away. His voice cut like a blade.
"Cut the crap. Who are you?"
Elias blinked, feigning innocence. "What are you talking—"
"I said drop the act!" Seven snapped, eyes blazing. "Answer me this instant. Who the hell are you, demon?!"
The change was immediate. Elias lowered his face, shadows crawling up his skin as that sickening smile twisted into something unnatural—lips curling too far, teeth too sharp. His eyes darkened into bottomless pits.
Seven's heart pounded, but he stood his ground. Fear wouldn't stop him tonight.
A low chuckle escaped Elias's throat. "Tch. I would've preferred Henry… but okay."
"Why are you here?" Seven demanded, fists clenched, his aura sparking faintly around him.
"Nice to meet you too," Elias' sneered.
"I'm Elias's little brother, I guess you could say. He adored you, you know. Talked about you all the time." He tilted his head mockingly...
"And now that I see you… meh. Not worth the hype."
"Leave this body..." Seven said coldly, his gaze unwavering.
Leaning back against a stone step with a low whistle, he rolled his tongue. "Oh! Who's gonna make me? You?"
Heh!
"How dramatic. The hero act suits you, I'll give you that but let's not deceive ourselves —you're not ready for this."
A tense silence settled between them.
"Why are you doing this huh?" Seven's voice cracked, dripping in anger.
"The fire, the manipulations, Cordis...all these were a means to what end? You were connected all these while. Knowing well you could have just moved on and found peace. Of what use is it to make others suffer for your death?" Seven asked, his tone breaking at the frustration of dealing with yet another unreasonable ghost.
Elias's smile disappeared in an instant, replaced with something immature like a child ready to throw a tantrum.
His hands folded beside him as he jumped up, stomping on the floor angrily.
Strange, which made things more scary...
"Easy for you to say!"
All hell broke loose as Henry(Elias) lost all composure of a 16-year-old teen. The way he talked, acted, and moved exposed his lost child...depraved.
"I was little, I didn't deserve to die! Mum said I'll grow up to become a big boy! This big!" He spread his hands out, his eyes scared and wanting.
"She loved me, Dad, Aunty, and Mira too! I loved them back and just like that, they were snatched away from me. You're very bad like them; I actually thought you, of all people, would be more understanding..."
"+Ímperat tíbi Déus Pater;"
It was sad, truly it was. But Seven was in no mood for any chitchat.
"+ímperat tíbi Deus Fílius; + ímperat tíbi Déus Spíritus Sánctus. + Ímperat tíbi majéstas Chrísti, aetérnum Dei Vérbum cáro factum..."
The air itself trembled and Elias snapped...
"You shouldn't do this, I was really starting to like you!" He drooled, twisting his neck as moved menacingly around Seven.
"...qui pro salúte géneris nóstri tua invídia pérditi, humiliávit semetípsum fáctus obédiens úsque ad mórtem!"
Seven didn't stop, his eyes starting to glow a fierce golden color as he braced himself. And just as he expected, Elias lunged.
Not like the roommate he knew, like a beast.
Sadly, this fight was going to be vastly different from the last. Although he didn't expect to exchange blows with Dancing Phantom this soon, he made sure to plan...
'You want a fight? I'll give you one!'
Barely dodging a clawed swipe, he slammed his bracelet at his side subsequently ducking under a crazed punch. Smoke hissed, and his flesh sizzled; Elias screamed in rage, his lips still curled upward as he grinned through the agony...
"He is gone! Your friend is no more..."
Elias moved again—inhumanly fast—tackling Seven into a wall with the speed it takes to pull out clothes.
He was NOT fighting like a child!
Huu!!
The impact stole his breath, pushing him further into the wall. As his palm shimmered brightly, he barely had time to block the next strike;
Raising his other forearm as he pushed backward; Elias's nails came down, swiping across his skin and drawing blood.
With no second to waste on whimpering over the pain, Seven retaliated with all the strength he could muster.
Stealing that lapse in time it would take Elias to attack again, he slammed his palm into Elias' chest, shoving him a few feet backward.
Undoubtedly, Elias was a lot stronger than Seven, courtesy of the whole possession all-what-not he had going on with him.
Judging from that, he figured out that dragging out the fight would never end well for him.
So?
So all he had to do was put him in a position where he couldn't defend an all-out attack.
Lunging forward at top speed, he muttered, his tone rising with the distance he covered:
"Qui Ecclésiam súam aedificávit súpra fírmam pétram..."
His fingers made an invincible pattern with practiced precision on the air.
He went in for a knee strike aiming at his guts, eerily satisfaction setting in as he felt his ribs break on impact. But he wasn't done...
Bringing down his palm, he slammed it on Elias' and immediately, he felt an invincible force toss him in the air like a broken puppet.
The air wheezed around him and he braced himself as the ground rushed up to meet him.
"et pórtas ínferi advérsus eam númquam esse praevalitúras edíxit..."
He continued, trying to crawl as far away as possible from the angry footsteps approaching him from behind.
"...cum ea ipse permansúrus..." His voice drifted as he felt himself being pulled backward violently.
Elias's veins bulged, fumes a moment away from escaping his ears. With how effortlessly he had just been pulled up, Seven appreciated the fact he was taller than him.
Unless he'd be hanging in the air right now, and Elias wrapped his fingers around his neck and tried to pull him up.
"You're going to have to do better than praying..." He spat, his eyes swirling with hate and gloat.
"Oh yeah?" A smirk crept up Seven's red face.
"ómnibus diébus úsque ad consummatiónem saéculi!"
There was a sudden change in the atmosphere as Elias's face turned extremely horrified. His grip on Seven loosened as his hands desperately searched his back instead.
Where Seven Palm had landed earlier glowed a blinding pure light. It stretched out through his entire body, the heavenly essence evading every sense, fiber, and muscle—eating at him.
He screamed wanting to escape the flesh he had endured so much for.
His struggle brought him down to his knees, light swallowing his figure...
And soon?
Elias's body fell limp on the floor. His surroundings flooded with smoke and the smell of burnt hair.
Cough. Cough. Cough.
Seven gasped for breath, color returning to his face.
Seven's chest heaved as his pale skin glistened under the new moon.
More than a few seconds passed...
He lazily turned to Elias...
It's been hard on him, ey? His privacy was invaded by that filthy thing that should have stuck to dancing and moving with rhythm.
He saved his friend...but...
"Why isn't he waking up?!"