NAKAERON - Volume I, Part I: Reignited (A Flame In The Wind)

Posted originally on the Archive of Our Own at http://archiveofourown.org/works/21663607.

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences

Archive Warning: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Category: M/M, Multi
Fandom: Naruto, The Matrix (Movies)
Relationship: Uchiha Sasuke/Uzumaki Naruto, Haruno Sakura/Yamanaka Ino,
Haruno Sakura & Tsunade, Hatake Kakashi/Yamato | Tenzou, Haruno
Sakura & Hatake Kakashi, Jiraiya/Tsunade (Naruto), Uchiha Sasuke &
Uzumaki Naruto, Senju Hashirama & Uchiha Madara
Character: Uchiha Sasuke, Uzumaki Naruto, Tsunade (Naruto), Haruno Sakura,
Yamanaka Ino, Nara Shikamaru, Hatake Kakashi, Shizune (Naruto),
Yamato | Tenzou, Jiraiya (Naruto), Orochimaru (Naruto), Akimichi
Chouji, Hyuuga Hinata, Uzumaki Kushina, Namikaze Minato, Uchiha
Itachi, Sarutobi Asuma, Rock Lee, Sarutobi Hiruzen, Yakushi Kabuto,
Senju Hashirama, Uchiha Madara, Deidara (Naruto), Nagato | Pain,
Konan (Naruto), Hoshigaki Kisame
Additional Tags: Gay Male Character, Canon Gay Relationship, Science Fiction, Aliens,
Anticapitalism, Love, Soulmates, Destiny, Naruto References, Alpha
Uchiha Sasuke, snow124, snow124art, sasunaru as other characters,
sciFimovie, sciFiuniverse, thesunandthemoon, yin/yang, Reincarnation,
Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Alternate Universe - Science Fiction,
artwork included, Drama & Romance, Implied Sexual Content, Awkward
Sexual Situations, LGBTQ Themes, Superpowers, Female
Homosexuality, Feminism, War, sasunaru fanfiction, Outer Space,
Spaceships, Seme Uchiha Sasuke, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Yaoi,
ShônenAi, Alternate Universe - Cyberpunk, Synthwave, Retrowave,
ancientaliens, godcomplex, SasuNaruSoulmates, Inferno - Freeform,
Virus, Orochimaru - Freeform, Children of the Sun, Children of The
Moon, Crossovers & Fandom Fusions, The Matrix References, Virtual
Reality, Diary/Journal, Good Akatsuki (Naruto), Infinite Tsukuyomi, lost
species, Cyberwar, Robots, Fusion, Pridemonth, Gay Pride
Series: Part 1 of Nakaeron
Stats: Published: 2019-12-03 Updated: 2020-05-30 Chapters: 15/20 Words:
63355

NAKAERON - Volume I, Part I: Reignited (A Flame In The

Wind)
by MLSK (bouncing_tomato)

Summary

"I am Nakaeron Uzkaeri, but my earthling name is Michael Nathan Unsworth. I thought I
knew who I was, until I remembered everything that's been taken away from me when I lost
my memory. I don't want that to happen again, that's why I decided to write this, after all, as
messy as it is. For myself, for my friends... for you. I hope you're gonna open your eyes,
Sanneth... it's been a month already. After all we've been through and after finally meeting
 you again. I can't lose you now... I just can't."

"This is taken from Nakaeron's journal he left behind on Anmi. A few parts are told by his
friends too, for their journals were found on the ship as well. I, on the other hand, had
always been watching you, Star Child. You and Sanneth...your love for each other can save
the Universe. Because it is in my power to see everything, I decided to put everything on
paper as well. A paper that never burns... only you can burn it, as you are the Chosen One.
Nakaeron, you must not be separated from Sanneth, otherwise, you'll be put out. Unite your
souls.The prophecy must come true. Bring peace back to us."

Notes

Hi, I'm Mele and I'm glad you're here! This is my twitter if you wanna contact me:
https://twitter.com/BouncingTomato

***

~All the character drawings with Naruto and Sasuke you’ll find in this story are drawn by
snow124 (except the ones with the MLSK signature which are mine, don't steal plz) and
this whole thing was inspired by her artwork full of love. You can check her beautiful
drawings here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/45305087@N02/albums/
https://twitter.com/forest_snow124
Please, also don’t repost any of Snow's art without talking to her first. She is my favorite
artist and I don’t want her to ever stop drawing because of thieves or careless people! Some
people don't realise how much an artist works and how I, among other people like me, need
art to survive in this cruel world. Those who repost artwork just for likes and attention are
worse than scum.

~WHY SASUKE AND NARUTO'S NAMES ARE DIFFERENT IN THIS STORY:

Many people have asked me this. I know it's a bit difficult for all of you to get used to other
names, but this is a completely different universe and I cannot use Kishimoto's characters
so freely, I respect copy rights. I kept the initials of almost all the characters from Naruto
that I have referenced, so it can easily be figured out, I even said who is who in the notes.
The name Michael comes from Menma, and Nathan as well as Nakaeron both come from
the name Naruto. Also, Samuel and Sanneth are both names that are very similar to Sasuke
when it comes to pronunciation. It will be explained in the story why they have two names,
especially Michael, who has three. I know it's like I'm referring to Naruto as Menma at the
beginning by calling him Michael, but there is a reason for that and you will understand
why in chapter 13. Everything will be explained throughout the chapters, it's a story that
depends of a certain timeline. I wanted to come up with something new, you know? :3 If
you love SasuNaru, you'll love them anyway even if they don't have their original names.
Think of it like... Sasuke and Naruto starring in a movie. Doesn't sound so bad anymore,
huh?:D

If there is anything you do not get, I will gladly explain, so... you can ask me anything
through the comments, I respond very quickly, because I get an instant e-mail if someone
posts a comment.
See the end of the work for more notes
 Strange Rebonding
Chapter Notes

See the end of the chapter for notes

To play this chapter's background music, right click this youtube link and open it in a new
tab! It's mostly synthwave, electronic and cyberpunk music.

I chose each track very carefully, so... it would make me really happy if you'd listen to the
playlist while you're reading! :)

Monday, August 23, 2077, 08.00 a.m.

 I have never been a fan of mornings, like, how do they make other people feel happy and
refreshed? I didn’t understand then, I don’t understand now either. I never felt refreshed in the
morning, I felt drained instead. The silence in this place kills me and the only thing I can do now is
replay my memories. I should start with that day when it all began... again.

The alarm woke me up in a state I’d never thought I’d ascend to - pure despondency. Mortification.
I almost fell out of bed trying to actually get out of it like a normal person. I walked through the
house like a zombie until I managed to get in the kitchen. To my surprise, the fridge was open...

“Oi! What are you doing?!” I yelled at my cat. “That bacon is mine, you asshole! Get back here!”

"Meow!"

I sighed and gave up on chasing him again. Typical american Mondays, you’d say.I already said I
hate mornings, but should I go on with saying that I also never had enough time to eat? Let’s not
even talk about other things people do in the morning: take a shower, choose their outfit carefully,
walk their dogs, go for a run - for goodness’ sake, how the hell would anyone expect me to run, I
don't know- and some of them even have sex, or go shopping! Can you imagine? Jesus.

For me, it was simple- I had to go to work. I hated my job and I was thinking that I needed to
change it into something challenging, something that would motivate me to get my ass out of bed
earlier, in order to have time to eat and feed my cat... so it would no longer open the fridge by
himself and steal my food.

Trying to remember myself as a teenager, full of spirit and motivation, was pretty hard for me at
that time, somehow my memories were foggy, I only knew that I ran away from home but still
managed to finish highschool and University. Now I understand why my memories were so foggy,
but I didn't understand it then. I thought everything was fine, that I was just a normal, lucky but
dumb dude that was just supposed to live his life like... normal people, but how normal people
usually lived like... was the opposite of how my life was.

I quickly grabbed some clothes and took them on, washed my face, put my shoes on and rushed to
the door. My cat started hissing at me from behind.

“Wow, calm down. What’s your damn problem? You already ate all my bacon. I’m not gonna feed
you until I come back, mark my words!” I sassed.

He started growling. What an ungrateful, furry jerk, right? I just got out and shut the door behind
me. I didn’t even know if cats hated me or if I just had communication issues with my poor Marble.
A white male cat with green eyes. He was a present from my pervy uncle when I turned sixteen.
Marble was just a kitten back then and he looked like a tiny white blob with a pair of eyes and a
pink nose. As he got older, his grumpy face started looking like my uncle's. Weird, right?

I didn't have a clear image of my uncle though, I only saw him once and that's when he gave me the
cat. He told me he found him on the street and remembered it was my birthday so he thought it
would be a cute present. I could only remember he was a pervert- from what my parents said about
him- and had long, spiky white hair. I hadn't seen him since then, because he said he was busy with
traveling. That was about to change, though.

When I finally got to work, of course my boss, Steve, was the first person to greet me in his own
way:
“Michael! So glad to see you arrive late again! I truly missed it,” he sassed with his annoying flirty
tone.

“Spare me, would you?” I scoffed. “Let me take care of my job now, while I’m at it.”

I can’t describe how much Steve could annoy me. Besides the fact that he was also gay and
obviously attracted to me and I didn’t like him back, he also had to be that overwhelmingly
annoying asshole that made people feel like shit in general, as if he was perfect or something. Give
me a break!

I took my seat at the office and started preparing all the paperwork I needed to review that day.
Right, I haven’t mentioned what I did for a living. I was a boring statistics analyst at Agra
Corporation, a huge multinational real estate business, with an average salary, because my job was
pretty easy, a perfect job for brain dead guys like me. I'm wondering now why did I stay to work
there. The truth is once you get used to something, you get stuck in that loop and you do things
automatically, without wasting any energy like you’d do if you worked somewhere else. Another
truth is that I don't know why. It was my first job after I finished University. I just stayed, two
years passed and… maybe it was depression. Or maybe I was cursed. I bet you’ll say I was
actually blessed if you keep reading on. But today, I still think I was actually cursed.

I checked the clock after I noticed I had been spacing out for a while. When I realised I had four
more hours to go, I got up, frustrated, and decided to go on a little trip to the bar to get a cup of
coffee. As I was heading there, I noticed someone in Steve’s office. The most beautiful man I had
ever seen. He seemed a little bit taller than me, very fit but not too muscular and his hair was black,
way longer than mine, styled in a very unique way. He was wearing black pants that fit his legs
perfectly and a blue shirt. What amazed me was his pale skin and the perfect way his face was
shaped. A strange feeling took over me when I saw him and I decided to remain there and try to
figure out what they were talking about. One big advantage a business building full of offices has is
that everything is made of glass. You can't even scratch your butt without at least one person
seeing it.

The charming stranger got up from his seat, shook Steve’s hand and headed straight to the door. I
gasped and moved away, but they both saw me, so I gave up and stopped.

“Ah, there you were!” Steve exclaimed with fake excitement. “Would you be kind enough to
prepare me and our guest here, two cups of coffee? No sugar, please. “

What did I respond? Was I nice?

“I’m deeply sorry, Steve, but I’m afraid can’t do that for you," I said after I cleared my throat. "We
only have one coffee capsule left in the bar, because someone - and that is you- forgot to buy more.
I think the best option we have here would be to prepare that cup of coffee to our guest while you
and me stick to instant coffee, what do you say?”

That moment felt epic for me, like, seriously, Steve tried to make me look like a fool in front of
that man, he deserved it. I swear, though... I had no idea where all that courage came from, but it
was monumental. I could feel my heart pumping faster, filling my blood with some kind of strange,
tremendous power. The charming stranger came closer to me, analyzing me from head to toes.

“So... this is the manager you told me about, right, Steve?” he inquired, raising one eyebrow at my
boss.

Steve lost his will to speak. It was as if some invisible fairy took away his vocal cords. Just like
that: poof!
I cleared my throat, prepared to say I was not the manager, just a simple analyst. “I’m just a…”

“Yeah!" Steve interrupted me, laughing nervously. "He’s just a little bit too cocky, even for a
manager, am I right?”

Well... that’s the moment I realised I stopped breathing.With my eyes wide open, I could hear
myself not breathing and hoped they didn’t. I had no idea whether I should say something weird
again or stay silent. I remember what I chose...

“I’m cocky after work too,” I said with a confident smirk on my face. “Also, Steve, it’s impolite not
to introduce a guest to me.”

Steve coughed anxiously. “I… I’m so sorry, you are right. Michael, this is Samuel. Samuel, meet
Michael, our… manager…”

"Michael?" Samuel asked as if he expected to hear another name.

(c) Snow124

Samuel nodded and smiled as we shook hands. His

palm was very cold, and when mine touched his, I
felt a weird shiver. Somehow, I thought my
imagination went nuts and it felt like we actually
held hands while both being overwhelmed by a
weird connection. I remained calm, though. I
thought it was just my anxiety playing tricks on me
because he looked so mysterious and yet familiar, or
maybe I was too desperate. None of those were
actually the case, though. His name did ring a bell...
but I was never good at dealing with a storm full of
feelings I can't understand, so I chose to ignore that.

I knew I was nervous already, and the guy looked at

me with a weird satisfaction in his dark eyes as he
sketched a subtle smile. I was just staring at him, as an awkward silence settled in and my boss
decided to break it after a few seconds. First time I felt grateful for hearing his annoying voice.

“Right! Let’s go outside and drink that coffee, what do you say?"

Samuel nodded in approval.

"Bryce, would you, please?” Steve asked a co-worker of mine that happened to head to the
bathroom.

“Of course I’ll prepare coffee for all three of you,” Bryce hummed, giving me a hateful look.

I guess I finally gave him a real reason to despise me.

We headed to the balcony and sat down at a table with exactly three seats. Samuel was just
admiring the view, in silence. Something was odd about him, he was very calm. The serenity he
was emanating was kind of unique, I hadn’t seen anyone like him before. That's what I thought, at
least.
Bryce finally came with three cups of coffee. As he placed them on the table he cleared his throat,
looking at me again. I shot him a "What is your problem?" look and he left without saying
anything. I sighed in relief.

“Samuel, should we discuss about what we’re going to do with that development project of yours?”
Steve inquired, breaking the silence again.

Samuel nodded as he blinked slowly. He seemed to do that instead of saying “yes”, from what I've
noticed. I was so drawn to him that I couldn't stop staring at him. Yeah, that's how you look at
someone who is unbelievably attractive, but Samuel... there was something about him, something
more than just his perfect face.

“Firstly," Samuel began, as he crossed his arms after he made himself more comfortable, "I want to
inform you that I want your manager, um... Michael, right?" he asked as he looked at me.

"Yes," I approved.

"Sorry," he sighed. "I had a rough day."

"No problem," I chuckled. "You can call me Nathan as well, it's my second name, each of my
parents gave me one. My father named me Michael and..."

"Nathan?" Samuel asked as his eyes widened for a second.

The way his voice sounded like in my head when he said my name gave me goosebumps. Steve
was also looking at him in a weird way, somehow analyzing his face. When Samuel noticed how
awkward that was, he cleared his throat as he looked at me again and took a sip from his cup of
coffee.

"It's a nice name, I wanted to say. I'll call you Michael, though, if that's how everyone calls you
around here."

"Okay," I murmured, confused.

"So, what I wanted to say, Steve," Samuel went on, " is that I would like Michael to become my
right hand in the project I discussed with you about. Something tells me he knows Agra
Corporation more than you do. Not only he does seem to have the potential of running a project but
I also believe he can lead an entire team.”

I gasped when I heard that, as my brain froze instantly, then widened my eyes at Steve who almost
dropped his coffee cup on the floor. Of course anyone’s ego would disco-dance hearing something
like that, but mine… mine was completely freaking out. I mean, just trying to imagine how on
Earth would I lead a project with hell knew how many people involved?! I was just a damn
analyst!

“Excuse me, “ I interfered politely, trying to keep my voice low and still, “what project are we
talking about? What will it focus on?”

“Developing public areas,” Samuel answered. ”We want to attract… let’s say... smarter customers
in shopping malls, parks and other types of public places. “

“Smarter customers? What’s wrong with the rest?” Steve asked, confused.

“I simply don’t like them,” Samuel enunciated. “Most of them are not educated people and they
are like a disease to society.”
I snorted, silently. Samuel heard me, though, as he smiled at me softly in response.

“That sounds like fascism. “ my boss scoffed.

“Don’t be hasty, Steve, let the man explain, before using a word like that in a wrong way again.” I
scolded him like I was actually the manager. “Samuel, how would developing all these areas
actually keep uneducated people away? I mean… they don’t usually care about others as they just
come to the shopping malls to waste their time and money, nothing would actually stop them.”

Samuel snorted as he crossed his arms. “Hn, I like you. That is exactly the attitude I need in this
project. Waste their time and money, huh? That was actually funny.”

Steve barely made a sound. I bet he was ashamed of himself because he never knew anything else
out of his economic range. All he knew was how to manage money. He cleared his throat and tried
to defend his opinion:

“Converting places to be one-type-of-people-friendly was never a success throughout history,

Samuel. They are places, not certain products. It would all be a loss of profit.”

Samuel was not moved at all by what Steve said, he even rolled his eyes in response.

“Look, by attracting only educated people with more money, one cannot lose profit. On the
contrary, those people would enjoy their time there, especially if they are not bothered by resource-
wasting peasants and their offspring, “ Samuel objected.

That was pretty rough, because Steve turned pale.

“And guess what happens when people enjoy their time there, “ Samuel continued, looking at me.
“They become happier and more generous. All sales would increase and more people will follow
their example.”

I nodded in approval. What he said made sense to me, but not to Steve just yet.

My boss sighed. “Okay, but you haven’t said anything about customers that come to these places
just to waste their time and money, like Michael said. Believe me, if I were one of those
uneducated freaks, I would not give a damn if the whole country would be destined only for smart
and wealthy people. I’d still be here. You can’t possibly kick people out or check if they’re
educated or not, now, can you?”

Samuel had that look of you don’t know shit about what I can do on his face. It amused me more
than Steve's British accent.

“What if I told you, for a start," Samuel replied as he curtly crossed his legs like a lady," that we
wouldn’t allow people to bring kids, younger than five, with them in the shopping areas? They’d
have to leave their kids in children areas where specialized personnel would look after them while
their parents are shopping somewhere else? Charged by the hour, of course.”

That was a good food for thought, especially for Steve, whose face brightened up instantly. I
imagined him suddenly having dollar signs instead of eyes.

“Well, that sounds like a lot of profit! Now you're talking business,” my boss exclaimed joyfully.

“I agree because I hate spoiled brats, so why not raise the age limit to seven?" I suggested bluntly.

“Hn. I’ll take that into consideration, Michael, thank you,” Samuel responded, sketching a satisfied
smile. “By the way, Steve, this coffee sucks.”

“I bet I know why,” I told Samuel as I leaned forward to the table and grabbed Steve’s cup of
coffee, taking a sip from it.

“Oi!” Steve gasped as he stretched his arm towards me.

I snorted as Samuel looked at me confused. “It’s because you’re drinking instant coffee, Samuel.
Steve’s drinking the one you should’ve had. You thought he wouldn’t notice, huh?” I snickered at
my boss.

Now I'm wondering why I suddenly turned into a jerk. The reason might have been Samuel
popping in there almost suggesting I was the one who should run the company instead of Steve?
Oh, right. Steve. His face was flushed and I could almost read his thoughts, betting they sounded
like “I’m going to rape you, fire you and then kill you, Michael!!”. Whatever his thoughts were
though, he didn’t make a sound.

“Alright Steve, this is getting boring," Samuel sighed. "I’d like to invite Michael to a very
important meeting I’ll be having at my company tomorrow morning."

Let’s pause. He said in the morning. M-O-R-N-I-N-G, that was all I could hear. Why on Earth
couldn’t anyone have a meeting in the damn afternoon!?

“Michael?” I heard Samuel calling me as I came back to reality.

“Yes!" I responded apologetically. "Sorry. A meeting, right! When will it be?”

“9 A.M. at the Alpha Corporation main building. We’ll discuss further about this project. If you
want to join me, of course.”

How could I say no to that? He almost lost me at “9 A.M.” though. I nodded, giving Samuel a
smile as he nodded back, blinking slowly again. He cleared his throat in a very discreet way as he
got up from his seat, ready to leave. After he gave me a short once-over, he turned to my boss:

“Please, would you bring me my umbrella? I think I might have forgotten it in your office.”

Steve didn’t move.

“I hope you don’t expect Michael to go, right? It’s your private office," Samuel went on.

“Right! Of course, I’ll be back in a minute.” Steve mumbled awkwardly.

I wanted to laugh but I kept my mouth shut. My boss gave a last sigh before getting up, heading to
his office to get Samuel’s umbrella. I clearly remember what happened next, I can't forget that epic
moment. As I got up from my seat, Samuel came closer to me:

“Here is my number," he said bluntly, handing me a piece of paper ripped from a bigger piece of
paper from his chest pocket.

I felt like my heart wanted to explode but I tried to calm down by analyzing the situation. Maybe he
gave me his number because I had to go to that meeting the next day and I needed it. There could
not be any other reason, because he was obviously not gay and not interested in me in any other
way than strictly professional, right? I just acted normal.

“Thank you, Samuel," I smiled politely as I stretched out my hand to grab the piece of paper. "I’m
really glad I will get to work with you on a project this big! I will call you tomorrow morning for
sure.”

Samuel’s eyes widened for a second, then returned back to normal as he sighed, looking away.

“Actually, Steve already gave me your number, so I'll call you in the morning,” he said as he put
the piece of paper back in his chest pocket as he turned around.

I felt like someone hit my head with a basket ball.

After he made a few steps forward, Samuel looked over his shoulder, straight into my eyes, as if he
was giving me one last chance to say something. His dark eyes were hypnotizingly astounding. I
turned to stone, my face was also red as hell, probably, and I didn’t know what to say. The clock
was ticking and Steve could have been back anytime, so I had to think fast. Was Samuel flirting
with me? Was he gay? There was no time for all those questions, so I took the risk, because I
always get what I want in the end. Hell, that day got me more than I could have ever asked for,
anyway.

I made a step forward and gave him a smile, full of confidence. “Why don't you call me later, then?
I like your ideas and I’m dying of curiosity to know more. “

Samuel smiled, satisfied. His face almost said “Go on, I’m listening.”

“So… we should go somewhere and talk before the official meeting tomorrow. What sorts of
places are you into?” I asked, slowly getting nervous.

“Private,” Samuel murmured.

“Perfect, me too.” I replied. “I know a place where we can eat the best food and also drink some-”

“Yes, your place it is, then. Sounds perfect to me as well. Send me a text with your address,” he
interrupted me.

I could not say no. All I wanted to suggest was my favorite restaurant, not my damn house, though,
but it was too late. I clenched my fists as I released a short sigh, trying to get over my anxiety.

“Prepare to eat the finest food you’ve ever had then,” I sassed.

“Hn. Don’t overdo it.” Samuel snickered. He turned back around to face me again, took the piece
of paper out of his pocket and pointed it at me as he was keeping it between his index and middle
fingers. "Fine, you call me, then."

Steve came back in the next moment, looking kind of tired. I gasped when I saw him and instantly
took the piece of paper from Samuel, putting it in my pocket, hoping that my boss didn't see
anything.

“I’m really sorry Samuel, but I searched everywhere, your umbrella could not be found.”

“I must have left it somewhere else, then,” Samuel said with a sickening calm tone. “Thank you,
Steve.”

That's when I figured it out. "The sneaky bastard sent Steve to search for his imaginary umbrella
that he didn’t actually bring, only to make a move on me, without Steve being around.", I thought
as I gave Samuel a smirk. I thought it was pretty odd, though. What could someone like him want
from... someone like me?
“I have an important meeting coming next and I must head out,” Samuel muttered, still trying to
look calm, though I bet he wasn't. See you ton-... um, tomorrow, Michael.”

I swear I could see his pale face turn pink for a second. Mr. Perfect almost blew it! I smiled back as
I nodded in approval. Steve and Samuel left while I remained there for a minute to clear my
thoughts. I was excited. Overwhelmed by the whole situation. I couldn't even believe it. I sighed as
I admired the view, joyfully.

When I went back to my office, I didn’t even get to sit down because Steve came back faster than I
expected.

“May I have a word with you, Michael?”

I scoffed. There it was. My cue. My turn to get fired finally came, according to my thoughts. I
could bet he would tell me that he was going to be the one attending the meeting instead of me, but
little did he know about my big date that night, that I actually won the bigger fight…

“Planet Earth to Michael…” he scolded me.

“Yes, sure, I am here. Go on, “ I said with a relaxed tone.

“Not here, in my office, please.”

"Tch, fine," I pouted as I rolled my eyes.

That is the moment when I would not have cared at all if he would fire me. When we both got into
his office, he closed the door behind us. It could totally feel like a future crime scene if the whole
building wasn’t made of transparent glass.

“I want to talk about Samuel,” he began.

“ What about him?” I asked nervously as I took a seat, hoping that Steve didn’t know about what
happened between me and his guest.

“This project his company is starting… is worth a fortune. It will bring us a lot of money,
Michael.“

“Obviously, and?”

“Don’t mock me,” Steve hissed as he pointed his index finger at me in a bossy way. “Tomorrow
you will need to behave like a pure example of what this company is about and for everyone that
works here!”

“Oh, so I’m actually the manager now?” I snorted. “Wow, how did this happen?”

Steve released a long sigh.

“I started telling him that this company has a manager with a very high potential, then he
interrupted me and I never got to explain who was I talking about. I was talking about myself,
obviously!!”

Ouch, poor Steve. Somehow, I wanted to console him regarding the sad situation his pride got into,
but the little devil on my shoulder was whispering in my ear that I should let him burn in envy and
jealousy.

“Anyway, I was about to tell you that despite the fact I hate doing this, I can’t back down, now that
 I said you’re the manager. Maybe you’ll do this company some good. Take these books and read
them carefully, you will learn some things. I hope you won’t embarrass me tomorrow. Maybe I’ll
start to like you more than I could have ever imagined if you do a great job.”

“That sounded gay, Steve,” I snickered.

He scoffed. “The first thing you should start with would be to stop joking around, Unsworth.
Tomorrow you’ll meet a lot of important investors and you can’t make a fool of yourself and our
company in front of them and Samuel, who is the CEO of Alpha Corporation!! Oh my God… what
did I get myself into…” he yelped as he pressed his palm against his forehead.

“Calm down, drama queen, I won’t turn anything into shit,” I said as I rolled my eyes like a
teenager.

“I really hope not," he sighed. "Now go home and study! You’re free for today. Actually, I’ll hire
someone else to do your old job. You won’t have time for that, from now on.”

“Wow, thanks Steve, you’re the best!” I exclaimed happily.

“Yeah, as if I had another choice. Call me tomorrow after the meeting and tell me how it went.
Don’t lie because I’ll find out.”

“Of course, boss! Have a nice daaay!”

“Yeah, you too,” Steve mumbled as I got out.

As I was passing through office desks, all my coworkers rose their heads above their computers,
with eyes wide open, curious.

“Michael, are you okay?” Bryce asked me.

“Never been better, actually,” I replied bluntly.

“Oh. He fired you, didn’t he?”

Bastard. He could not wait for that.

“Actually, I’ve been promoted! Say hello to your new manager, my friends! Have a marvelous day,
see ya!”

They all gasped and remained speechless behind me, while I got out and slightly slammed the door
after me.

Victory, I thought.

Chapter End Notes

Remember that Sasuke who wanted to start a revolution? Well, his weird inferno-like
ideas that I will give more details about in the next chapter are inspired by that. He, as
Samuel, wants a brand new world in his vision. Will Michael help him?
 Trying To Handle Too Much
Chapter Summary

I scoffed. “I thought you said you know everything about me.”

“Not everything, it seems. But I feel like we’ve met before… way long ago.”

Chapter Notes

All the character drawings belong to Snow124!

I have so many confidence issues when it comes to what I write. I wish I knew what all
of those who read think so far.
Anyway, as you noticed, Naruto as Michael is the narrator, so I really hope I managed
to catch his way of telling things. This is a mature version of him but still lacks what
other people at his age have. This is a messy story that he writes on a journal with a
certain reason and for a not-so-serious purpose.
If you know Naruto, he hated being alone even though he was used to it.
Any critiques are welcome, I have serious plans with this story.

FOR THIS CHAPTER'S BACKGROUND MUSIC: right click and open THIS LINK in a
new tab! As I said from the beginning, I chose the music very carefully to let you live this
story as if it's real :) If the songs are over before you finished reading, replay the last one, it
usually fits.

Thank youuu!

When I got home, the first thing that popped into my mind was that I had to feed Marble,
obviously. He was already growling at me, so I decided to give him his favorite food: tuna. The
second he heard me open the tuna can, he “teleported” himself on the kitchen counter and started
purring.

“You narcissistic, psychopathic, shady asshole!” I pouted at him. “You only love me when I give
you food! That's unfair!”

I sighed and took off my clothes as I headed straight to the bathroom, ready to freshen myself up
with a shower. But then, it hit me:

“Wait, I have to go shopping to buy all the ingredients I need to prepare dinner for Samuel. I’ll
come back all sweaty again. After that, I have to cook and I’ll smell like a grilled onion. I can’t
take three damn showers, there’s no time!” I said to myself, while Marble was watching me
confused. “What are you looking at? Have you finished eating?”

“Meow…”

I sighed again as I took my clothes back on, checking the clock. It was already 5 P.M. so I had to
move fast. I guessed that Samuel wanted to come at 8 or something. I approached to call him but I
hesitated because phone calls made me anxious. I decided to text him instead:

“Hello, Samuel. Michael here. I was wondering if 8 p.m. sounds good to you.”

I was so nervous I barely managed to hit send.

I got a reply instantly: Sounds perfect.”

I think that was the fastest reply I ever got from someone I just met. I realised I was going to have a
date with a guy I met at work. Wow, that could have been Steve two years before, if I had bad taste
in men. Ew!

I took my wallet and ran out the door, heading straight to the store. I decided what I wanted to
cook: pasta. It sounds simple, but I remember people in Los Angeles didn’t eat that on a daily
basis, it was considered fancy food and luckily for me, it was that type of food I knew how to cook
best since I had been in college.

When checked the clock again, it was already 5:30 P.M.

“Shit,” I slurred.

Besides being a masterchef, I was a master at being late because I never knew how to manage my
time. Jesus, Samuel was actually thinking I could manage projects by myself. I started to think that
my life was going to be over soon because of that, maybe my date with Samuel was that one last
good treatment God gives sinners before sending them to burn in Hell for eternity...

“Sir, that’s gonna be fifty dollars,” the cashier told me, bringing me back to reality. I smiled
apologetically as I took out my wallet and paid for what I bought. I was starting to get tired of that
spacing out happening to me. Sometimes I was going so deep into my own thoughts that I wasn’t
able to function anymore. I left the store with some beef, tomato sauce, fresh garlic, onions, herbs
and two bottles of red wine. My pasta recipe was pretty simple, but delicious as hell. I was slowly
getting excited. As I was walking in a hurry, I suddenly stopped. The thought hit me like a train:
“What if Samuel is vegan? I didn’t ask him!”

I began to panic like a chicken before slaughter as I took out my phone and texted Samuel
instantly:

“Hello, again. I was wondering if you are vegan or something. It’s important for me that my
guests like what I cook.”

“I’m not vegan, I appreciate you asked, tho. Meat is the main ingredient that makes me
function, unfortunately for the poor chicken, because that’s what I choose more often. If I think
about it, I never eat beef, I hate the taste.” he replied.

“You’ve got to be kidding me!” I yelled out loud, in the middle of the street, not caring about the
people who looked at me as if I escaped a freak show.

He didn’t eat beef... and that was exactly what I bought. Marvelous. I rushed back to the store as
fast as I could and bought chicken breast. I didn’t return the beef though, I was going to keep it for
myself. Why not? His loss, after all. When I got back home, finally, I had only one hour left. Going
shopping takes more time than you can imagine…

I headed to the kitchen and started preparing all the ingredients. I threw the beef into the freezer,
took out my wok pan, all the spices and herbs I needed and a pot in which I’ve put water. I was
going to put the pasta in the pot only after the water was already boiling, because I never cooked
soft pasta. I quickly cut the chicken breast into small pieces and gave them a bath in some red wine
and spices.

Usually, Marble was around the kitchen when I was cooking something but this time, he wasn’t. I
thought he was probably sleeping in my bedroom. The smell was irresistible though, because I
bought the most expensive wine that store had, only because Samuel seemed to be a man of class.
Honestly, I could not wait to get him drunk and watch him make a fool of himself just like
everybody does when they get drunk. Or maybe it was just me who always did that, who knew...

After I’ve put the pasta in the pot, I added some salt to avoid softening and also a bit of olive oil, to
prevent them from sticking together, because you never let your pasta stick together. It was all
done in a half an hour. I cleaned the kitchen right after I finished, because you also never leave
traces behind you, even after you cook. No one has to know your secrets.

I rushed to the bathroom and finally took that shower I’ve been waiting for. When I got out, I
smelled like fresh spring air. I sighed in relief, grabbed a white shirt and some blue jeans and got
dressed. When I looked in the mirror, I didn’t like it, though.

“Hmm, white makes me look fat and doesn’t go that well with my blonde hair. Also, what if I stain
it with wine? “ I asked myself as I took an orange one instead. “Perfect!” I exclaimed while
admiring myself in the mirror. I used to talk with myself a lot.

I suddenly got a text from Samuel: "Aren’t you going to tell me where you live? Don’t worry, I
won’t kill you :) “

“Oh, he actually has a sense of humor,” I snorted. “ It’s Liberty Street 40. I have a gun.” I wrote,
then sent the message. I didn’t lie, I actually had a gun and I knew how to use it.

After only five minutes, the doorbell rang.

“Oh my God, I hope it’s not my neighbor again. This is not the moment,” I pouted loudly.

When I opened the door with a frowning face, Samuel greeted me:

“Hello, neighbor. I brought chocolate. I… hope I didn’t bother you,” he muttered, analyzing my
grumpy face, which softened up instantly at the sight of him. “Neighbor? Uh-”

“I live three streets away,” he snorted.

Samuel was in a good mood and I suddenly felt the responsibility to keep his mood up and I
became nervous, as usual.

“Right! Come in. You don’t have to take off your shoes, it’s not necessary,” I told him.

“You’re joking, right?” He asked as he gave me the look.

I chuckled awkwardly, rubbing the back of my head. “Uh... of course I am! I just finished cleaning
up, I was curious if you’d notice. So, it means I did a good job, didn’t I?”

“Hn, seems like it.”

I noticed he didn’t say “Hmm” like normal people. A lot of things were really odd about him and I
was dying to know him better.
“Nice house,” he said as he looked around the hallway. “Enough space to hold a family here. Are
you sure you’re not married or something?” he raised an eyebrow at me.

“What?! No way,” I snorted, “nice joke.”

“I know, right? My house is twice as big.”

“Oh, come on, Samuel, you can’t mock me in my own house,” I pouted.

He just gave me a soft smile back. Even the way we were talking seemed so natural to me. I was
overwhelmed.

I showed him the way towards the living room and we both took a seat at each end of the table, so
we could be face to face. The table wasn't long anyway. I took both glasses and poured wine in
them.

Samuel instantly took a sip, curious. “Nice,” he muttered. “This is definitely from Europe.”

“Oh, how can you tell? Are you a traveler, like I am?” I asked.

“No, I was actually born and raised in Norway.”

“What? But your English sounds perfect. Your accent is a little bit odd, though.”

“Well, I left Norway with my teacher when I was ten years old, traveled the world for three years
and then we moved to America.”

“ Only with his teacher ?” I asked myself in my thoughts, hoping his parents weren’t dead or
something. Samuel was looking at me, confused.

“But still…” I added, “you don’t look European at all, your face looks Japanese,” I said, trying to
justify my confusion.

“Yeah, it’s weird, I know. Everything about my past looks foggy in my head. Also, my name is
from the Bible because my old man was very religious. I actually hate it, but I do not have another.
My full name is Samuel Ulseth.”

I still avoided to ask where were his parents, I waited until he said something about them. It was
interesting to me, the fact that he also thought about his past as being foggy. I related to that.

“ You know I can almost read minds by looking at people’s faces, right?” he inquired.

“I… what do you mean?” I gasped.

I guess my anxious face betrayed me again.

“They both died in the war, Michael. My father died protecting my mother and my mother
protected me. I was only nine back then.”

I guess I forgot to remember that another world war almost killed the entire human population in
2063? I couldn't remember too much, though.

“That’s… sad." I sighed. "I’m sorry that happened to you. Do you know who were your parents
protecting you from?”

He took a sip from his wine as took out his electronic cigarette.
“May I?” he asked.

“Sure, go ahead,” I replied. “But promise me you’ll eat after that.”

He nodded. “Of course. Well, I don’t know exactly what happened, everything was blurry and I
panicked like hell. I somehow recognized his voice, though… as if I knew the guy from
somewhere…” he frowned.

“A family foe?” I asked.

“Something more than that,” he said while staring blankly across the room. “I… I don’t know,
there’s a whole mess in my head about that.”

“I see. Haven’t you wondered what it would be like, for all of us, if that war never happened?” I
asked.

“Michael, I already said my head is a mess when it comes to those times. We can’t change the past
anyway, so trying to wonder what it would be like, is useless. What we can change is the future…
and I want to do that. My project is a start. “

“How can developing public areas change the future?” I asked.

“Development is just the first step of this project, the interface. There’s a lot more underneath it…”

“That sounds scary,” I pointed out.

“Mm, it is, actually,” he said as he tasted the food. “This isn’t, though. I love tomato sauce, best
regards to the chef.”

“Thank you,” I smiled. “Do you want to hear something funny? I bought beef before asking you if
you’re a vegan.”

“Oh, really? Wow, I bet I gave you a headache. It would’ve been fine with beef too, because this
wine would have taken away its natural taste that I don’t like.” he said calmly while taking another
small bite.

“Well… what’s done is done,” I sighed, while wanting to bury his face in the food for what he
said, because I remembered how I desperately ran to the store to buy chicken instead. “Anyway,
you said the project is scary. What did you mean?” I asked as I took a big sip from my glass of
wine before I started eating as well. I looked at Samuel because he kind of hesitated to answer my
question.

When he noticed me staring at him, he stopped chewing. His face looked puffy and that made him
look cute as hell. I bet my face was betraying my thoughts again because he looked away and
started chewing again, faster. When he swallowed the food, he took a sip of wine and made himself
more comfortable on the chair.

“Michael… I wanted to talk to you in private before the meeting tomorrow. That’s the reason I’m
here. I will explain what you will get yourself into and I wanted to make sure you’re okay with
everything. You can back away if you don’t share my views.”

I continued eating, nervously. I even took the plate in my hands and went on eating like that, not
caring how impolite it looked. “He invited himself at my place just to talk about some stupid
business secrets? This isn’t a real date… I’m such an idiot” I thought as a frown crossed my
forehead.
"Are you okay?” he asked.

“I’m fine. I never back away, so tell me everything.” I replied bluntly.

“Fine, if you say so. Our main goal is to wipe out poverty in approximately fifty years and end
capitalism in ten years,” he muttered.

I instantly swallowed the food in my mouth without chewing it and I almost choked. “What?! Wipe
out?! End?”

“Relax," he sighed. "I am not going to kill anybody. First of all, I want some categories of people to
stop having children. We are working with a pharmaceutical company that is going to develop a
vaccine which will do more than protecting someone from a virus. It will also neuter people,
making them unable to have kids.”

“Samuel, have you watched Inferno?” I asked him, nervously.

I swear he sounded like the guy in the movie. He was the new Bill Gates, every conspiracy
theorist's worst nightmare.

“No, but I've heard of it, it's pretty old.I'm not creating a virus, I’m not trying to decrease the
population, I want exactly the opposite," he explained calmly. "The problem is not how many
people live on Earth, it's about how they live. We won’t do this until we’ll be able to target the
right type of people. By neutering mostly uncultured and ignorant people, the difference of class
and category will be eliminated completely in less than eighty years as no ignorance will be spread
to new generations. People that will remain will value health, education, hard work... so, corruption
will also be discouraged. People with bad genes will gradually disappear. Dangerous mental health
issues will not be passed on to generations so carelessly and so on. This planet will be reborn
without causing a disaster. It’s just science.”

He cleared his throat for a second, then took another sip of wine. “You know, this thing is huge
and it will need a lot of research and work, I am aware of that. Data will be collected about people
without stopping, the data we get will be sent to hospitals, pharmaceutical companies and so on,
but they will need to be careful because we won’t want to neuter couples who are mentally healthy,
educated, couples or single parents who would offer their offspring everything they need to
become a normally developed human being that will grow up to be a good contribution to society
and the world. “

“The perfect, normal human being… you sound like Hitler,” I criticized his god complex.

Samuel frowned. “I don’t want to create a Master Race, I want to free humanity from its flaws.
These flaws hurt people everyday and that is why life on Earth seems like hell already. People
suffer too much because they are selfish. They want children just for themselves, to take selfies
with them and brag about them, just like they would do with pets. In those cases, the child is the
one to suffer in the future, or might become just like the parents and contribute to ignorance.
Infertile couples will be encouraged to adopt children if they still have some qualities as parents but
they lack money, for example. If they lack money, the government will help them, we'll raise
funds, anything that would help. A lot of people deserve children but can't have them. Any child
deserves a second chance.”

“Oh, so you might run for president too,” I snorted.

“No thanks, I am a person who works in the shadows. I don’t need to run for President, I have a lot
of acquaintances in the political world. They have more than enough influence.”
“I see,” I nodded after swallowing the wine in my mouth.

“If the adopted children or other children will become a threat to this social peace I want, we’ll
neuter them too and try to find them a purpose so they can at least be happy... and maybe in the
future, they will develop themselves and will be granted the right to adopt a child. You know, a
child is a person. A child needs to be fought for in every way possible, you can't give birth to a kid
and not care how she or he feels, even pets have feelings.”

I sighed. “Samuel… your idealistic dream sounds too good to be true, but this will be so obvious,
you truly have no idea. Ordinary people notice when the government plots against them. They
notice even if they are stupid. It’s a primary, natural instinct humans have. You, as a human,
should know that. We feel anxious when we are threatened, and that feeling will spread across the
whole country, then across the whole world. You are basically taking away people's free will and
rights to reproduce and it will hurt them. That will happen if you do it as fast as it needs to be done,
considering the circumstances. If you do it step by step, you won’t be able to face the speed our
population grows with. Every day there are babies born. It’s fighting against the wind. I respect
your final goal, but… you can’t do it without starting another war,” I explained.

“I don't intend to fight against the wind, I intend to be the wind and convince people to let
themselves be blown in the right direction," he explained.

That sounded poetic, coming from him, but it was actually a scary thing to hear. His ideas were not
ordinary.

"I also have other tricks up my sleeve,I can erase memories, too, if needed. My company
developed medicine for that.” Samuel sighed as he took another sip of wine and gave me a serious
look. “Of course it would be my last resort. I am ready for some scandal too, but not a massive one.
Look, I really don't want to hurt anyone. It won't be another war. It will be a revolution.”

I frowned, trying to analyze everything he told me so far, before telling him whether I agreed or
not. I wanted to help him though, even if his ideas scared me a bit. I didn’t have too much hope for
the best results. I was also a bit angry at him, but I felt like I had to help him. Somehow, I knew his
intentions were good. I was able to feel he had a good heart.

“Okay, what do you need me to do?” I asked.

Samuel gave me a genuine smile. “Tomorrow, you will sign a contract, giving my company
permission to access data about you. Promise me you will not tell anyone about these extra details I
gave you. We will not talk about those tomorrow. I want to focus on shutting down capitalism first.
It kills this planet.”

“Why me, though? Is it so obvious I hate stupid people and spoiled brats?”

“No,” he laughed shortly. “You hate capitalism as much as I do, I can tell. You’re the partner I
needed, the missing piece of the puzzle.”

I was flattered by that, I must admit. I wasn’t intending to fall for it, though it felt really weird, like
I just joined a Secret Society club or Illuminati and I had to swear secrecy and my full loyalty.

“Right. Now that we’re all about honesty, I wanted to ask you something,” I muttered. "It's not
about the project, it's more personal."

“Yes?” he asked, twisting the glass of wine in his hand in a very classy way.

“Are you interested in women or men?”

“None,” he answered tediously as he took a sip from the glass.

I felt like my face fell on the floor just like it happens in cartoons in those moments when the
audience goes "Ooooh."

“I liked your food though, I think that should be enough,” he said. "I'm not very social."

I still remained silent as both of us had finished eating. My blood was literally boiling.

“I’m serious, I loved this food," he went on, probably affected by the awkward silence. "It’s been a
while since I ate something that was made with such passion and devotion. Did I say I love the fact
that you used tomato sauce?”

I was still silent and totally not flattered or moved by his compliments on my cooking skills, also
didn't intend to answer his question.

“Are you sure you're okay?” he asked me directly as his tiny smile disappeared from his face.

“Yes. It’s just getting late and so much food usually makes me feel tired. Maybe you should head
home too, we both deserve a good rest,” I suggested, trying to look unclouded by the fact that my
dreams about that being a date, even by a two percent possibility, were ruined.

He leaned back on the chair with his arms crossed, analyzing my face. “Look, I can tell that’s not
what you actually wanted to say. You don’t want me to leave.”

“What?” I snorted as I accidentally dropped my fork on the floor.

He snorted as well, which triggered a frown on my face. “Really? So, are you saying I’m lying or
something?” I asked him bluntly.

“Well, telling me you’re a manager when you’re actually not, does count as a lie, but that’s not
what bothers me,” he muttered as he took another sip from his wine.

I became anxious instantly when he mentioned that, but I was too stubborn to let it show, thinking
he won’t notice. “Wow. Steve told you. Big deal,” I scoffed. "That bastard..."

“Actually, no,” he said as he blinked slowly, smiling. “You can’t just tell me to go home, I live
three streets away and it’s only 9 P.M. and also, Steve didn’t say a word about you. It’s good you
showed up by yourself, he wasn’t the guy I was searching for. You don't get it, do you?”

“Of course not, where am I lying again?”

“I already told you. You don’t want me to leave, but that’s what you tell people when you get
anxious and confused,” he explained as he looked straight into my eyes.

“Confused about what?” I inquired as my foot was dancing impatiently under the table.

“If you’re that curious about what interests me, I already answered your question.”

“No, you didn’t-”

“Just... let me answer the question you should have asked me instead,” he interrupted me.

That's when it happened- the moment that made me doubt my own existence, deny God’s existence
for real and question life itself. He twisted his hand in the air in a weird way, and before I could ask
myself what the hell he was doing, my chair suddenly moved by itself and backed away from the
table, then got instantly turned right and stopped. Everything happened in a blink of an eye while I
was still on the damn chair, holding its edges tightly so I wouldn't fall off. I didn't even have the
time to scream.

Shocked, my teeth clenched and my eyes felt like they were going to pop out. I was looking straight
ahead as Samuel got up from his seat and came in front of me, squatting so his face could level
mine as he placed one of his hands on my knees.

“Now,” he muttered, looking straight into my widened eyes, “do you know what question you
should have asked me?”

I barely swallowed the lump in my throat as I caught my breath to speak. “Yeah… ” I whispered,
inhaling a good amount of air. “HOW ON EARTH DID YOU DO THAT?!” I stormed, panting.

Samuel laughed shortly at my reaction, then he got even closer to me, still staring into my eyes. I
felt like I was tied to that chair, I couldn’t move and his face was so close to mine that I felt sweat
coming out of my hair. I didn’t understand anything, it was so surreal. I mean, I was like "Wait, he
has powers? What kind of Matrix shit is this?"

“That’s not the question I want to answer,” he whispered in my ear, giving me goosebumps.

His breath smelled like that sweet red wine he just drank.

I scoffed, trying to calm down. “Tell me some of my deepest secrets if you know me that much,
and maybe I’ll let you hear what you want to hear.”

“Fair enough,” he sighed. “Where should I start? You suffer from depression, anxiety and ADHD,
you feel like your parents are total strangers who always pushed people away from you and you
left home, your ex who was a girl, broke your heart into pieces three years ago because you told
her you’re actually gay and she left without even saying goodbye, your best friend is in jail because
she killed someone when she was eighteen and you haven't heard of her since then. After that, you
tried to throw yourself off a cliff in the ocean but you changed your mind at the last minute because
you thought you heard the moon talking you out of your depressive episode. Also, most of the
times when you feel anxious you get sweaty here, at the back of your head.”

That was it. I started shivering as I felt his touch on my neck. No one could have known about
those things, I never told anyone about them. I was asking myself how on Earth did he know those
things. Also, no one I knew was aware that Viky was in jail.

“Okay, you win. I give up…” I sighed. “What I actually wanted to ask you... are you interested in
me?”

“Do you think I am?” he inquired while gently wiping off the sweat from my neck with the back of
his hand, giving me goosebumps again.

“Damn it, I don’t know, your behavior is out of the ordinary, you give me the creeps!" I groaned.
"How do you know so many things about me?"

Samuel shrugged. "I guessed. Look, before telling you if I am interested in you or not, I’d like to
answer the other question you asked, about how I moved your chair. You see... I’ve got micro
devices implanted in my wrists which can create or control vibrations around. Everything is made
out of them and I can do a lot of stuff like break things, push or pull things, make some things float,
change shapes… I can also create sounds, and if I focus enough I can create them only in a small
area like someone’s ears if I don’t want them to hear something. Those devices I have receive
commands directly from my brain through my nervous system, they are being told exactly what I
want to do.”

What I just heard was unbelievable for me in that moment. That was basically telekinesis. Which...
I thought wasn't real, I had only seen it in movies. I know it was 2077 but trust me, ordinary people
weren’t surrounded by technology so much anymore, especially after it caused war. But
apparently, for rich people like Samuel, it wasn’t such a big deal, just like that scene from Justice
League when Flash asked Bruce Wayne what his superpower was and he simply answered “I’m
rich” then drove off. Unlike Bruce Wayne though, Samuel was bothered by being rich.

“I wish everyone could have access to this kind of science and technology again…” he sighed.

“Yeah, but you have to be kind and smart to be able to get a hold of it, otherwise… poof! Another
war, “ I told him calmly, forgetting about my question for a moment.

“Then help me and you’ll only see those kinds of people around in the future.”

“I’ll be too damn old to care anyway…” I scoffed.

“Actually, I forgot to tell you. We are currently working on a revolutionary anti-aging vaccine too.
It significantly slows down aging throughout the whole body, all internal organs, so anyone who
takes the shot once every ten years could live up to three hundred years or even more, depending
on their lifestyle, immunity, genes and overall health. I’ll be the first one to take it after all the
research comes to a successful end.”

“That sounds amazing, but… who would want to live in this world that much? It would be
depressing…”

His face was suddenly even closer to me as he

grabbed my chin, staring deep into my eyes.
A feeling of warmth coming from my
stomach and going up to my chest
overwhelmed me. It was so strange to feel
something like that because of someone I just
met…

“It won’t be depressing if we work together to

make this world a better place. Nature made
us equal. Only hard work should make us
more worthy or less worthy of something.
There are a lot of people out there who deserve a lot more than what they have right now… also
many of them don’t deserve what they have at all, many of them are just uncultured, self entitled
idiots,” he explained with a very serious expression on his face. "That's what capitalism does and it
needs to stop."

Looking at him being so close, I saw how clean and perfect his skin was. I couldn’t even see his
pores, it was unbelievable. He had perfect eyebrows, perfect nose and perfect lips...

Samuel noticed me staring and just smiled as I started shivering because he triggered an anxiety
attack in me. I wanted to kiss him so badly because he was somehow pulling me closer just like a
magnet, but I could not move.
“Okay,” he sighed, smiling. “Let me finally answer the question that’s still stuck on your mind,
because I can see you are a bit tense. It would be a huge lie if I’d tell you I’m not interested in
you.”

I felt like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders and I smiled genuinely, exhaling all my worries
out, but I noticed his face got serious again as he distanced himself a little bit.

“ You must understand something about me, though,” he said.

“What exactly? I know there is a lot more that I need to find out and understand about you, I’m
aware of that,” I replied.

I was calm again, finally calm, after that panic attack I had earlier when I was drowning in
confusion. He sighed through his nose as he gently touched my face, analyzing it with that serious
expression.

“You see…” he said, “I’m not a sexually

open person, like you probably expect. For
example, I hate people who spend their
nights in clubs and come home bringing a
new stranger to have sex with. Maybe sex is
not necessarily linked to love but I believe it
should be made with love, you should love
everything about that person. Before I
answer completely, I need your point of
view about this.”

“If you think like that, I don’t know...” I

said slowly, keeping him tense. “I guess you're the one then,” I finished the sentence with a little
sigh of relief and a short chuckle.

He smiled as he grabbed both of my hands, lifting me up from my seat. We stood like that, face to
face, for a few seconds, smiling at each other. I still wanted to kiss him and I could've done it this
time, but... I didn't.

“Samuel, I don’t understand any of this, though. It feels so unreal." I said. "I wouldn’t be surprised
if I’ll wake up tomorrow with all of this being just a silly dream of mine when in reality I just saw
you at work and made you a coffee, as Steve ordered me to.”

“That would not be true because of one important detail: Steve was the only one that wasn’t
drinking instant coffee, and you would not dream about anything that would put him in a good
light. In your dream, Steve would always look stupid. I figured out you hate him.” Samuel
explained.

“You’re so smart it worries me,” I laughed, amazed by his way of thinking. “Compared to you, I'm
such a loser,” I sighed.

“Maybe. But you're a loser who hates giving up. I know that,” he muttered as he pressed the tips of
his fingers against my cheek. His touch was so gentle...

“That’s the part that confuses me, Samuel. How can you tell? I’m trying to handle too much over
here.”
He laughed a little. Damn his smile, why was I so weak?

“Then don’t try to handle more than you can, at once. You’ll understand everything little by little,
in no time. So, Michael Nathan Unsworth, do you want to become a part of my world?”

Come on, tell me you didn’t read that like a proposal and I won’t believe you.

“Oh my God, you make me feel in ten different ways at the same time, how is that possible? Are
you a freaking alien?” I snorted.

I was joking, of course.

“What, you don’t like aliens? Would that change anything?” he inquired, raising one eyebrow at
me, mockingly.

“What?" I gasped. "You’re not… um, you’re not serious, are you?”

Oh boy, I just had to ask that question. Welcome back, anxiety.

“My parents told me we’re not from here, but I told you I was born and raised on Earth,” he replied
as his eyes avoided mine for a second.

So much for the normal evening. So, basically, I fell in love with an alien. He noticed I was staring
at him in a weird way and he frowned.

“Does that make me any different?” he scoffed. “Do you see any extraterrestrial features on my
body?” He asked as he started unbuttoning his red shirt. I felt like my eyes were going to pop out
again. When he unbuttoned it completely, he spread his arms and scoffed, looking at me. “Well?
Why do you look so surprised? Is it because you expected something to come out of my stomach
and shit?”

I snorted. That was funny coming from someone I expected to lack a sense of humor.

“No, it’s because your body is so damn perfect.” I said, blushing.

He looked away quickly and I swear I saw his face flush too. His eyebrows frowned as he blinked
and sighed while closing the buttons from his shirt.

“Did I say something wrong?” I asked, worried I might have upset him.

“Tch, why are earthlings so fascinated by bodies? They aren’t important.”

“Now it's definitely the alien inside you talking,” I mocked him. “I don’t know, I guess it’s just
natural…”

“I don’t understand, primates don’t choose their mating partners according to that, none of the
animal species is so damn sexual.”

“I think I know some, but I can’t remember which…” I tried to contradict him. "It's a bird, I think?"

He sighed. “I swore to myself some years ago that I’d finally find the truth about the human race.
You’re somehow out of place.”

“What?” I asked confused. “Truth? About what exactly? How are we out of place?”

“The truth about who made your race able to exist, who created you and let you live here, because
nothing links your race to this planet. The most obvious reason would be the fact that you are
willingly destroying your planet instead of protecting it and no species that naturally belongs to a
planet would do anything to it!”

“What you’re saying makes sense, I agree. I used to have a theory about that, inspired by Ancient
Aliens. You know, I believe some alien species wanted to make an experiment and create a mixed
being between them and another animal. Maybe they chose Earth because we have primates, so
they saw an opportunity. They artificially impregnated a few, then they left, leaving them here
only to come back after a few years, to see how the new race called humans evolved and turned
out. After seeing that we were nothing special or maybe we weren’t what they expected, they just
left us here for good, letting natural selection do its job.”

Samuel was paying close attention to what I was saying as he took out his e-cigarette. I think he
only felt the need to smoke when he was anxious.

“You might actually have a point,” he said.

“I know someone must have been involved" I went on, "otherwise new humans would still evolve
out of primates even nowadays, but we don’t see that happening, nature doesn’t go nuts like that.
Even if it does, there comes your theory - it would create something that would be drawn to it and
loyal to protect it, not destroy it.”

“Exactly,” he replied. “Maybe that is why some of you are dominated by that urge to protect the
planet. Because half of the human race genes come from apes, which are naturally from this planet,
but the other half… I don’t know what kind of terrible species it belongs to, but it acts like there
will always be a planet B if they destroy this one.”

“Wow, our ideas mixed together really turned out to be a hell of a conspiracy theory!”

“Yeah, I think that’s my cue. Maybe we're saying nonsense. Maybe I should head home after all,”
he sighed.

“Why? We haven’t finished the wine yet…”

“Don’t you dare lure me into some sneaky sexual games, Unsworth,” he scoffed.

“Oh my god, I think you’re actually asexual or something...or maybe… oh my god… are you…
you know,” I whispered, “...impotent?”

His face instantly cringed. “Tch, no! I’m fully functional. I could do it right now, but I don’t want
to. I like to make my brain aroused, not my dick.”

I almost spilled my wine. That was some straightforward way of saying it, coming from an alien
CEO that hates sex - probably- and who I never heard using dirty words. Then another question
popped into my head.

“Are you a virgin then?” I asked him, trying not to laugh. “I… I won’t judge…”

Samuel sent me a death glare. “No, I am not. Why are we talking about sex?! Oh my god.
Humans…”

“Then, what?” I insisted.

He scoffed. “I never had a relationship, I lost my virginity to a stripper in a nightclub when I was
only a teenager because some guys offered me drugs and I wanted to try how sex felt like since
everyone was talking about it and it drove me nuts.”

“Wow… okay. Was the stripper a dude?”

“No, it was a woman. After we were done, I still felt unsatisfied and I asked her if that was it. I
offered to pay her a lot of money just to make me feel something, but she said she did everything
she knew best…”

“So you came to the conclusion you hate sex,” I said.

“Somehow…”

“And you also came to the conclusion you’re gay?” I asked, rising one eyebrow.

“No, I was just a spoiled brat knocking himself out because life didn’t matter to me, after my
parents died. I wanted to see what life had to offer and it didn’t seem like much, I haven’t been
attracted to anyone, ever.”

“Have you changed your mind, though?” I asked him.

“Not really, I just decided to do something, set a goal for myself. So here I am, now, the owner of
my father’s company and-”

“...gay,” I interrupted him, coming closer.

“No, I wanted to say-”

He didn’t get to finish his sentence as his eyes widened, seeing me take off my shirt.

“What are you doing?” he asked, with tension in his voice.

I gently pushed him on the chair, took a seat on his lap, looking straight into his eyes, with my
hands on both of his shoulders. It was my turn to make him anxious. Payback's a bitch.

“Are you okay, Samuel?” I asked, cockily. “If I kiss your neck right now, what would happen
down there?”

“Tch, you know the answer, don’t be an idiot,” he warned me, trying to intimidate me.

It felt so weird, touching Samuel, being in control... it was as if... I had done it before.

“Then how weren’t you attracted to anyone, ever? There are a lot of smoking hot guys out there
and you’re telling me none of them flirted with you or tried to do what I’m doing right now?”

I didn’t let him answer though as I instantly kissed his neck. Taken by surprise, he gasped, trying to
catch his breath. When I stopped, I ended up kissing his cheek instead of kissing his lips. I was
such an idiot, I know. When I looked at him, his eyes were wide open as if they were about to pop
out and his pupils were dilated as hell. His face was so red you could say I choked him. I smiled,
satisfied by the result, feeling very confident, despite of not kissing him.

He exhaled, trying to calm down. “A lot of guys tried to flirt with me, but I can control myself,” he
said as his face came back to normal.

“Really? Why didn’t you control yourself now?” I asked skeptically, pointing at his privates.

“With you, apparently, I can't. I feel a connection with you I haven’t felt with anyone, somehow it
feels you were the first and only connection I’ve had… like I’ve felt it somewhere before and now
I felt it again… something’s odd about you.”

He was right though, I felt the same about him. As I said, as if it wasn't the first time I did that.

“I thought you said you know everything about me,” I scoffed.

“Not everything, it seems. But I feel like we’ve met before… way long ago.”

"Maybe in another life?" I asked.

“I don't believe in that stuff. Let’s call it a night. It's late now, for good.”

“Okay,” I sighed.

I wanted that night to last forever, but I knew that wasn’t possible. I let him stand up and he
grabbed his jacket. As he headed to the door, I followed him. He stopped by the door, smiling at
me.

“Thank you for this wonderful evening, gorgeous stranger.” I snickered.

“Hn... I should thank you for making me feel warm again. You’re like a sun to me,” he said with
his usual serious expression.

“That makes you the Moon,” I replied.

“Who knows? The Moon told you not to kill yourself, didn’t it?”

I gasped, remembering that moment when I was standing at the edge of that cliff. It made more
sense than ever...

“What’s wrong?” he asked, noticing I spaced out.

“Nothing,” I said, smiling.

“See you tomorrow,” he said.

I wanted to finally kiss him but he instantly turned around and opened the door.

“Good night then,” I told him.

He smiled over his shoulder and nodded at me as he stepped out. I sighed as I watched him go for a
few seconds, then closed the door and locked it.

I went straight to bed, set my alarm for the next day and turned off the lamp. Suddenly, I heard a
loud thud in the closet.

“What the heck?” I gasped.

 The Wrong Target!
Chapter Summary

Things are getting interesting for our hero... will he meet new friends, or enemies?

FOR THIS CHAPTER'S BACKGROUND MUSIC: right click and open THIS LINK in a
new tab!

Tuesday, August 24, 2077, 00.00 a.m.

I rushed to open the closet’s door only to see my cat climbing over my clothes and jackets, and
some hangers on the floor. I sighed.

“So that’s where you’ve been all this time. Get out!” I yelled at him.

“Meow…”

I went back to bed, pouting. That cat scared the shit out of me. I took a deep breath and exhaled it
slowly. I knew what was coming the next day was a big challenge for me and it required a good
night’s sleep...

While I was sleeping very deep, wondering now... how could someone sleep so deep that they
can’t hear their house being broken into? It depends…

I woke up and gasped after hearing some sort of explosion, making me instantly jump out of bed.
Marble was already under it, growling anxiously. I realised if I hid there too, probably the asshole
would scratch me because of panic. I ran into the closet and shut the door. I took my phone with
me, ready to call the police, when I suddenly saw a weird green light coming through the space
between the floor and the closet door and also some strange sounds, like a scanner or something.

“Search everywhere! We need to find him and leave this filthy planet, I’m already sick of it! It’s an
order!!” I heard a male voice coming from the living room.

As I swallowed dry, I came to the conclusion that the police would be useless in my case. It was
obvious, so I called Samuel instead, as it felt like an unordinary situation. The phone rang twice,
then he answered:

“Michael?” I heard his sleepy voice. “Shouldn’t you be sleeping?”

“Quick, there’s no time! There are some alien freaks in my house and they want to take me! You
need to get here!” I whispered as clearly as I could.

“What?! Alien freaks?!”

“Yes, please come quickly!”

Then I heard a gunfire and my cat growled… only once, then silence settled in. With my eyes wide
open, I started shivering.

“Oh my… God, they… they killed my cat!” I yelped as the closet door opened. I could barely see
because of so much green light, but the figure looked human, wearing a weird costume. He pointed
a gun at me, after scanning the whole closet with a bracelet. I swallowed dry again as sweat was
coming down my face.

“Michael? Are you okay?! Michael!” I heard Samuel through the phone.

“They… they found me…” I mumbled my last words as I dropped my phone on the floor because
of how much my hands were shaking.

The strange figure stepped closer and crushed my phone. I turned into stone, couldn’t even scream.
A gun was pointed at my forehead, releasing a sharp noise as I instantly passed out.

When I woke up, my vision was so blurry I could barely see. While it was getting clearer, I saw
someone standing right in front of me with arms crossed. I was sitting on some sort of armchair,
probably in a spaceship, considering the surroundings. When I tried to turn my head right to see
more, I realised my neck was tied to the armchair and I suddenly felt a throbbing pain taking over
my whole body as I grunted loudly.

“ I wouldn’t do that if I were you, because that collar stings your neck with fifty micro needles that
release adrenaline in your body, causing you to become agitated and hurt yourself even more, until
you die in pain,” said the same male voice I heard in my house.

When my vision cleared completely, I realized it was a woman. Her hair was white, she had no
eyebrows and her eyes were green. Her skin was also pale as snow.

“What?! You’re a woman?” I cringed. “What the hell…”

“My voice sounds like that because of this,” she said, showing me a collar attached to her neck. “I
broke my vocal chords and replaced my real voice with the voice of my father. He was killed by
a kek’ar aryun, like you.”

What a weirdo, why would anyone do that?

“What’s a kek’ar aryun?” I asked.

She clenched her fist, got closer and bent in front of me as she grabbed my shirt angrily. “Don’t act
like you don’t know, scumbag!” she hissed. “You and your filthy royal family killed my father!”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” I pouted.

“Tch! Did they also erase your memory when they sent you to Earth?! Your bloodline makes me
sick! Your real parents hate you so much that they sent you on a different planet together with
strangers!” She snapped as she released my shirt and sighed in disgust. “Ceroy, scan his DNA to
confirm he’s a damn kek’ar aryun and he’ll be convinced. Then, we’ll leave this filthy planet and
take him with us on Krul,” she ordered to a red haired man sitting behind a computer.

He typed something on the keyboard and a weird metal tentacle came out of a wall and stopped in
front of me. A green light came from it, scanning me from upside down.

“Kek’ar aryun match not found,” the computer voice said.

The woman gasped. “Impossible,” she muttered. “We got the wrong target!?”

She went to another computer, pressed a button and a hologram that looked like a browser window
appeared. It looked like she started a video call.

“Connection successful,” the computer said as an image of a man popped up.

“Yes, commander Aymera,” the man answered.

“You blew it, Keppa! You led us to the wrong target! He isn’t a kek’ar aryun, good luck we
decided to check! You idiot!” the woman hissed.

“Your target was at that address, I swear!” the man defended himself. “I checked at 9 P.M., Earth’s
hour!”

“ Tch! Did you at least try to scan the target, to confirm?!”

“No, Miss Aymera, I was sure we got the right one…”

“You’re fired, Keppa. See you when I get back on Krul,” she snarled as she ended the video call.
“Erase this idiot’s memory then teleport him back into his house, he’s useless. I don’t want to leave
any traces behind us, we can’t kill him.” she demanded. "We'll find that Uhyra scumbag, I can feel
he's close."

“Roger that,” the man from the computer said.

The weird tentacle that scanned me earlier came closer to my face and released another three
smaller tentacles that attached themselves to my head. They started vibrating and I felt forced to
close my eyes. The whole thing kept on going for a few minutes and strangely, I felt like
information was being downloaded into my head instead of being deleted, if that makes any sense.
I heard a double beep as the tentacles detached themselves. The big one also returned back into the
wall where it came from.

“All done,” the man behind the computer said.

I could still remember everything, though. It didn’t work, but I chose to act like it, so they could
release me.

“Where… where am I?” I asked, acting confused. I felt dizzy, anyway.

Suddenly, something was pointed at at the back of my head as I heard that familiar sharp sound
again, then passed out.

There I was, back at home, in my bed. I instantly felt like I was about to puke, so I got up rashly,
coughing like hell.

“Michael! Are you okay?” Samuel's voice echoed from the hallway.

I also heard his rushing footsteps heading to the bedroom, then he appeared in front of me, looking
really worried as he noticed my neck and gasped. He attempted to touch it, and when he did, I
squirmed away, grabbing his hand.
“Don’t… it hurts like hell,” I moaned. “I’ve been stung fifty times by some weird needles…”

“I think they used teleportation to send you back, because I checked the bedroom one hour ago and
you weren't here. Stand still,” Samuel told me, while he went out of the bedroom and came back in
a minute with a little bottle in his left hand.

He opened it and poured some of the liquid on his palms, rubbing them against each other, then
placed them around my neck and started massaging it as softly as he could.

“Ouch,” I groaned.

“Shh, it’s okay,” Samuel whispered as he leaned to kiss my forehead. “Lay there,” he pointed out,
taking his hands away from my neck.

I did what he said, then he started moving his palms close to my neck again, making me feel a
tingling sensation all over that area, including my head. It felt relieving. He stopped after a minute
or so.

“Done,” he said. “Does it hurt if I touch you?”

“It just feels like I have sore muscles now,” I answered. “Thank you…”

I smiled at him as I realised how nice it was to see his warm, caring behavior. I was aware the
danger had passed and I felt safe.

“No problem. I… I buried your cat,” he sighed. "I didn't even notice you had one... I love cats."

I looked away for a few seconds as a tear came from one of my eyes, lingering on my cheek. I
instantly wiped it off, sniffing.

“I’m sorry,” Samuel said with a soft tone.

“Yeah… I guess he’s in a better place now… or at least that’s what I’d like to think.”

Samuel leaned closer and hugged me tightly, while running his fingers through my hair.

“I think it's you they were after,” I muttered with my face buried in his shirt.

“I know,” he sighed. “I heard everything. I knew they will let you go. These guys usually don't like
to stand out.”

“What?” I gasped.

He kept combing my hair with his fingers, until he stopped and plucked something off a hair strain.

“This. It’s a nano recording device,” he explained, showing it to me.

It was unbelievably small, I could barely see it.

“Why was it in my hair?” I asked.

He sighed. “Honestly, I wanted to see if you’d tell anyone what we talked about…”

“So, you still don’t trust me…” I frowned.

He sighed again, blinking slowly, in the way he always did. “I’m sorry. I never trusted anyone.
Please forgive me.”

“Yeah, it’s fine, at least you knew I wasn't in danger," I said as I smiled at him without any
concerns, then placed my hand over his as I gave him a worried glare. "It seems like you did find
out other things, though…”

He frowned. “About that… I’m wondering how wasn't your memory erased…”

“I don’t know, I guess it didn’t work, they did something wrong, perhaps," I shrugged. "Do you
believe the things they said, though? About you being sent to Earth with fake parents? Also, what's
a kek'ar aryun? What's an Uhyra?” I inquired, cluelessly.

“I don’t know either. I only know I'm not from Earth. I'm as clueless as you are about other things.
I need to find out more,” he sighed as he started to become agitated. “Maybe they're the ones who
killed my parents. Maybe my whole life has been a lie. Maybe this planet is in danger now. This
house is definitely not safe anymore. We must leave,” he demanded with a low tone.

“What?” I gasped.

“You heard me. I’ll make a few calls, ask some of my employees to take care of your house and
also fix the door, donate all your food to charity and postpone the meeting until 5 P.M. Take some
clothes you like and we’ll leave in an hour.”

"Uh, okay." I murmured as I watched him head out of the room.

I remained there, spaced out. Things started to get serious. I already knew my life wasn’t going to
be the same, ever again. I could’ve been killed by those guys, but I got lucky as hell. I didn’t even
care about what I needed to leave behind, I just wanted to stay alive. Honestly, it was that moment
when I realized once again that I don’t want to die. My thoughts were playing tricks on me,
wondering if Samuel had been there when I wanted to kill myself five years before. Maybe it
hadn’t been the Moon talking to me, maybe it was him and I thought it was the Moon because of
the drugs I took that day. Also, it was very strange, that feeling I had when those guys were
supposed to erase my memory. Samuel was right, how could it not work? I felt like I suddenly had
more thoughts and memories, but I couldn’t explain to myself how was that possible...

“Yes, bring a new door,” I heard Samuel talking on the phone in the living room as I got up from
bed to start packing. ”Yes, let me measure it… one hundred and ninety centimeters high and sixty
centimeters wide. I’ll send you some pictures with other details, thank you.”

Then I heard him dialing another number.

“Good morning John, I’m sorry to bother you so early, but I need to book a suite for two. Proceed
the payment with the last card I used. I’ll be there in less than two hours. Thank you, see you
soon.”

He didn’t say goodbye when he ended the calls. That was weird, many people would consider it
rude. Shortly after, I heard his footsteps heading to my bedroom. When he saw my luggage, he
sighed.

“No, you won’t need all that. Take half of it,” Samuel said with a serious tone. “You’ll have
everything you need where we’re going. Don’t worry, your house won’t be set on fire and your
clothes will still be here.”

“Kay mom,” I pouted mockingly.

After a few minutes, I was done. "Now, what?"

“We leave. My car is already here," Samuel said.

“What?” I asked as I looked out the window and saw a huge car parked in front of my house. “Did
it drive itself here?”

“It’s a Tesla, of course it did.”

“That explains a lot,” I hummed.

“Let’s go, he said.”

We got into the car and the first thing I noticed was how hot Samuel looked holding the wheel with
his perfect hands. I still felt the urge to kiss him, but I was a shy idiot back then.

“How far are we going?” I asked.

“About an hour away to the South, near Long Beach.” Samuel replied as music started playing
after he pressed a button. It was electronic music, I think it was synthwave or something. Why
wasn't I surprised? The whole thing felt like a cyberpunk movie anyway.

I sighed in relief as I leaned on the back of the chair, closing my eyes and getting ready for my life
to change. I honestly didn’t know what the hell I was doing, I could’ve just told Samuel to leave
me alone and to never hear from him again, but there I was, with him in his cool car, scared,
confused and excited despite all that. It just felt right, I couldn't even imagine a scenario where I
would had said no. I guess I understand why now...

“Let’s hit the road,” Samuel said as the car's engine started.
 Perspectives
Chapter Summary

What is in Michael's mind? Are they just illusions or ghosts from the past?

Chapter Notes

I used a looot of pictures for this chapter, so it is easier for all of you to see what's in
my mind :3
The drawings belong to snow124 (don't use them without permission) and the real
photos were found on google.

FOR THIS CHAPTER'S BACKGROUND MUSIC RIGHT CLICK AND OPEN THIS
YOUTUBE LINK IN A NEW TAB. :)

I suddenly gasped as I hit my head against the car's window.

“You're awake, dreamy princess?" Samuel mocked me. "Look outside."

“So this isn’t a dream...” I mumbled with a sleepy voice as my vision was still clearing up.

I looked outside and saw a breathtaking view. The ocean in all its glory. Blurry blue, just like my
eyes.
“Wow, this is really nice!” I
exclaimed happily.

“I know, right? Let’s speed up a

little,” Samuel said.

“Let’s what ? No, no, slow down!” I

yelled. “We’re on a hill!”

Laughing out loud, like a

psychopath, he turned his face at
me: “Are you ready to fly?”

I gasped. “Ready to what?!”

The car sped up even more as

Samuel was looking straight ahead again, still smiling. I felt like my heart wanted to get out of my
chest and leave me there with that psychopathic alien. Suddenly, the car was rising… up into the
air.

“Whoa, shit!” I shuddered as I buried my fingers into the chair.

“Don’t faint, you’ll need to see this!” Samuel shouted, trying to conquer the engine's noise.

Yeah, the car was flying.

“Oh my GOD!!!” I yelled my lungs out as I covered my face with both of my palms.

“Just look below us!” Samuel shouted again.

I got the courage to uncover my face, only to be amazed by what I saw. “Holy shit…”

The view was so breathtakingly beautiful I could not stop looking, I felt as if I died and actually
went to Heaven. It looked like the edge of the Earth. A huge blue ocean and just a little bit of land
full of buildings.
“That’s where we’ll stay,” he pointed at the first
building below us. “Hold tight, we’re going to
land on the roof,” he warned me.

"Whaaaaat?" I squealed like a kid.

The sound of the engine changed. I noticed these

things even if I didn’t have a driver's license.
While we were landing, I remembered why I
always hated traveling by plane. The feeling of
your stomach floating wasn't nice. I saw us going
down really fast and somehow, I know it sounds
bad, but I didn’t know if Samuel was aware of
what he was doing.

“Relax," he said softly, noticing how anxious I

got. "Nothing bad is going to happen. Trust me,
driving and piloting this beauty is like a child’s
game for me.”

Apparently, he knew how to whoop my anxiety’s

ass really well, at least. In the moment before we
landed, he grabbed my hand and held it tightly as
the car landed so smoothly I could barely believe
it.

“That’s it?” I asked, confused. “It wasn’t so bad…”

“That’s because, as I said, I know what I’m doing,” he scoffed confidently.

When we got out of the car, a butler wearing a black suite that was already there, waiting for us.

“Welcome back to Tishagate hotel, sir Ulseth,” he said to Samuel.

Samuel nodded at him, formally. “Glad to be back, John. Please prepare the meeting room for me
at 5 P.M.”

“Of course. May I ask why are you still in pyjamas and flip-flops, sir?”

Samuel's face cringed a little. “It’s… a long story.”

“Right. Let me lead you to your suite,” John said, smiling politely.

“We’ll take a little walk to the beach before settling in and we’ll come back,” Samuel said, looking
at me for approval.

“Yeah, awesome,” I said.

“Alright then, I’ll take your luggage to the suite,” the butler said politely.

“Thank you, John.”

We both followed him inside. Despite the hotel’s modern look on the outside, the design inside
looked very old. When I saw how small was the elevator, I swallowed dry as I grabbed Samuel's
arm like a little kid.
“Oh my god, are we going to fit in there?”

“Don’t be such a lady,” Samuel mocked me.

I scoffed as we went in.

“Your suite is at level four,” the butler informed us. “Not

too high and it has full ocean view, just like you always
requested, sir Ulseth.”

“Perfect,” Samuel smiled.

Apparently, the hotel had twenty levels. I started breathing

faster when I felt we were going down. Samuel grabbed my
hand and held it tightly, knowing it worked for me last
time. I was such a weakling back then I can barely believe
it. When the elevator stopped at level four, the butler got
out with our luggage. Actually, just mine as I realised that
Samuel didn't take anything with him.

“Thank you John, see you later," Samuel said as the

elevator's doors closed.

“Are you sure you’re okay? You look pale,” he told me.

“I’m fine, just a little anxious, as usual,” I explained.

“Okay, what could help?” he asked, grabbing my face between his palms.

“This,” I said, giving him a short kiss on the cheek.

"Hn," Samuel smiled as he squeezed my hand in approval.

The elevator stopped as we reached the lobby level.

“What a weird design these people chose,” I pointed out.

“It’s vintage, I think it’s nice,” Samuel scoffed.

“Yeah, but from the outside, you’d expect

more… minimalism,” I said.

"Some people still appreciate real taste

these days," Samuel replied.

"It still looks boring..."

"If you say so," he rolled his eyes.

As we got out of the elevator, we passed

through the lobby while Samuel said hello
to some of the other butlers there before we went outside.
The fresh ocean breeze made me feel thankful to be alive and grateful to myself for choosing to go
with Samuel. As I said, it felt so... right. I got so excited when I saw the blue water in front of us
that I took his hand and smiled at him as wide as I could.

“Let’s go!” I told him.

Samuel smiled back at me and we started running towards the beach. It was 9 A.M., the sun was
shining and we were both wearing pyjamas and flip-flops. I’d call that a perfect Tuesday morning.
No going to work, no seeing Steve and all my annoyingly jealous co-workers, just being in front of
the sea with a handsome guy I just fell in love with. Who would wish for more? I swear I forgot
about what happened the night before, despite the fact it's been crazy. Only 12 hours passed since
Samuel had stepped into my life and everything already felt like an odd Sci-Fi movie.

We stopped to take our shoes off, letting the waves hit our feet. The feeling of peace I had in that
moment was to never be forgotten. After all, I felt like I deserved it.

(c)Snow124

“Samuel?”

“Yes?”

“Thank you for popping into my life. You saved me.”

“Did I?” he asked softly.

“Yeah, you did. Let’s go for a swim, what do you say? Take
off your shirt.”

“Now?” he asked, surprised. “Hn, count me in.”

We both took off our shirts. I didn’t get to throw mine on

the ground yet as I saw Samuel already running towards the
waves.

“Oi, wait for me!” I shouted.

He jumped into the water, straight through a wave and I

couldn’t see him anymore.

“Oh my god. Don’t panic, don’t panic, just follow him,” I said to myself.

I ran towards the water, inhaled a good amount of air and jumped in. When I opened my eyes
underwater trying to search for Samuel, they stung a little because of how salty the water was. As I
kept looking for him, I suddenly felt something pinching my foot and I instantly reached for the
surface, panicked like hell. Samuel popped out of the water right next to me, laughing.

“How can someone be so easy to scare?”

“Seriously?!” I pouted. “I thought it was a stingray or something!”

“Calm down, scaredy cat,” he told me as he swam closer to me. “Look.”

As he twisted his hand in the air a very graceful way, the water around us started moving, but not
how normally waves move- the water was kind of dancing. Little swirls were forming in the water,
all having different rotation speed. It looked magical.

“Are you doing this?” I asked him as I widened my eyes at the magical swirls.

“Yes,” he nodded.

The waves sounded like the were singing.

“Okay, are you a merman too, or, like, Aquaman? Do you come from a planet of mermen?”

He laughed. “No, but I have some tricks of my own. You’re so childish, mermen don't exist. Come
on, let’s dive a little,” he said as he grabbed my hand.

(c) Snow124

We both held our breath and

went underwater, holding
hands as we were diving
through. His swimming speed
was amazing. We stopped after
a few meters, holding both of
our hands as he suddenly
pulled me towards him, then
swam above me, giving me a
sudden, gentle kiss on the lips.
It felt soft like snow. I didn't
expect our first kiss to be
underwater, but it wasn't a deep
kiss because we couldn't open our mouths, so...

It indeed felt like I fell in love with someone who isn't human. I was living my fantasy and
somehow, I didn’t understand why he was so drawn to me but it made me feel special. After he
kissed me, he looked at me, somehow trying to communicate with me without talking. He pointed
at the sea floor suggesting me to look at it as he waved one of his hands again moving his fingers
like he had puppet strings attached to them. Bubbles started coming out of the sand, revealing small
fish, little stingrays and other small creatures that use to hide under the sand. Scientifically
explained, he was playing with the oxygen in the water.

Suddenly, I felt like I needed air and reached for the surface as Samuel followed me. The first
breath I caught felt like life force. When Samuel got out though, he didn’t seem to have been in
need for too much air. I was amazed.

“Okay, you’re some kind of merfreak for sure,” I told him. “Is there something you can’t do?”

“Yeah, enjoy sex,” he said.

I cringed. “You had to ruin this moment,” I pouted, rolling my eyes.

“It’s the truth,” he scoffed.

“Whatever. Oh my god!” I exclaimed as I noticed his skin. “What the hell, why is your skin
glowing in the sun?”
“It's not,” he said.

“Yes it is,” I insisted. "It looks like fresh snow!"

“It must be the salt in your eyes. Everything I can do is thanks to science, but skin can't sparkle,
this isn't Twilight," he mocked me.

I started thinking he wasn't fully aware of what he was or what he could do.

“I know that, but you're an alien!” I scoffed. “Whatever. Let’s go back, I’m hungry."

“I guess we could use a good rest,” he agreed.

We swam back to the shore. As we stepped into the hotel, I felt a strange energy around that I
haven’t felt before. Then, that butler, John, appeared.

“Welcome back,” he said. “Your access cards are ready, sir.” He said as he handed Samuel a set of
cards with a number series on each. Apparently they were used instead of keys. He also gave us our
jackets we left by the entrance when we went to the beach.

“Thank you,” Samuel said politely. “We’d like some coffee, too.”

“Everything is already prepared. You’ll find breakfast and coffee in your suite,” John said.

“Wow, nice. Thank you!” I said excitedly.

“You’re welcome.” John said as he gave me a flashy once over.

Samuel looked at me and tilted his head in the elevator’s direction, meaning he was suggesting we
should go. I nodded back and we headed there. Before reaching the elevator though, Samuel
stopped by the reception desk. There was John again and another two butlers. What I didn’t
understand was who owned that hotel, but I wasn’t planning to ask either. The answer might have
frightened me.

“I wanted to say you’re all as welcoming and pleasant as you always were. You never disappoint,
John,” Samuel told them.

“Well, thank you, sir Ulseth, we appreciate that,” John said, sketching a shy smile.

Samuel smiled back at him but in his own way, which didn’t seem shy at all, as he reached into
one of his jacket’s pockets and took out his wallet, from which he pulled out a cheque. Then he
suddenly used his “powers” to pull out a pen from his jacket straight into his hand. I made a
confused sound, but the others were not surprised at all, as if they had seen what Samuel could do
before. That strange energy I felt when we came back overwhelmed me again as a frown crossed
my face.

“Spread this between you guys,” Samuel said to John as he wrote five thousand dollars on that
cheque, then signed it.

“Sir Ulseth, you already paid…” John gasped.

“Shut up,” Samuel scoffed and handed him the cheque, then he turned right at me with a calm
expression.

“We can go upstairs now,” he told me.

“Uh, right…” I mumbled in shock.

We got into the elevator and pressed the command button. We didn’t speak at all during the time
we were going up because I was still confused by what just happened. When we finally got out,
Samuel broke the awkward silence:

“You didn’t tell me if you like this place.”

“Oh. Of course I do, it’s amazing,” I assured him, chuckling nervously.

“Then what’s wrong? You’re usually very talkative.”

I got nervous. “Nothing, I’m just… processing things slower, perhaps,” I responded. “Yeah, that’s
it.”

“Hn. Okay. Here we are,” he said as he took out one of the access cards.

He put it close to a tiny screen on a door which made a sharp sound as a green light appeared, just
like it happens when you’re paying with contactless cards. The door opened, pulling itself into a
passage in the wall. An automatic sliding door in a hotel like that. Why would I be surprised after
what I just witnessed?

“This is our suite. What do you think?” he asked.

“Wow, I…”

We suddenly stepped into a huge room

full of light. I’m not good at describing
places at all, but let me tell you that one
left me speechless. It was so different
compared to the rest of the hotel. The
wall was made of glass and all we could
see was that enormous blue ocean and
the sky.

“Holy shit,” I said, shocked.

He laughed shortly as he took my hand and carried me slowly to see around.

“Come on, I won’t kill you, not in such a peaceful place,” he mocked me.

I snorted and followed his lead. As he opened another door, I gasped when I saw what was in there
as well. Glass walls, again.

“This is where we’ll sleep,” he explained.

 “Jesus Christ. It’s so amazing.
Looks like a place where you
can’t have any privacy at all, but
then… the ocean is the only
thing facing us. I’ve never seen
anything like this my whole life,
and I like to travel. I guess this is
what rich people see very often.”

Samuel sighed as he gave me a

serious look. “Yeah, isn’t that
sad? Everyone should see this
everyday, without having to be
rich.”

I scoffed in disapproval. “Come on, this place is expensive as hell. You just gave those guys a lot
of extra money. Maintaining hotels like these isn’t cheap...”

“But it should be,” he objected. “It’s just glass, the hotel itself doesn’t have to be like this one.
People barely afford to come see the ocean, which saddens me a lot.”

“That’s capitalism, Samuel. Despite a war made us go through hell, this damned system hasn’t
fallen.”

“It will. Mark my words.”

I smiled, seeing him so determined. It inspired me in a way.

“By the way, these windows are UV-filtered,” he said. “You can’t see inside if you’re outside. I
will show you tonight after the meeting.”

“Is it going to last that long?” I asked, worried.

“I don’t think so, but the point is I want to show you something after the meeting. You won’t say
no, will you?” he said as he came closer to me holding both of my hands. We were just a breath
away from each other and I could already feel my blood boiling.

“How… how could I say no to you,” I snickered, looking into his eyes.He was looking into mine as
well and it seemed like he was searching for answers into them. “Something is really strange about
the way you make me feel,” he told me softly, almost whispering.

(c) Snow124

That was when I couldn’t resist anymore and

I kissed him, all of a sudden. His lips were so
soft, they made me feel high. I could feel a
shiver down my spine as I kept kissing him
harder and harder. Suddenly, he moaned.
When I heard that, I instantly felt like he set
me on fire, literally.I felt as if my spirit woke
up. It was so overwhelming, I couldn’t
breathe properly. “Samuel…”

I heard him gasp shortly after I called his

name and then… he bit my lip pretty hard. In response to that, I groaned and grabbed him from his
back, pulling him as close to me as I could. Our bodies touched and I was so turned on I forgot
about being hungry, tired, anxious… I forgot about everything.

He suddenly stopped as he looked at me, panting. “You little devil,” he whispered. “ What are you
doing to me?”

I snorted as I realised I went a little bit too far and I didn’t want him to think I was like that with
everyone. That’s because I wasn’t. I had never been like that with anyone, but did he know that?

(c)Snow124

“Damn you,” I snorted again. “You’re not

sexual, my ass.”

He scoffed. “What do you mean by that?”

“For a guy that claims to hate sex and

probably didn’t have sex since a long time
ago, what you just did was extremely
sexual.” I said. “You don’t seem to lack
experience.”

“I watch porn,” he said with a dull tone.

Soo… a moment of awkward silence,

pleeaaaase...

I instantly raised my head from his shoulder

to look at him. His face showed no sign of a
smile or anything. He had a straight face.

“Wha-”

He snorted before I could finish my question. “Of course I’m joking, loser. I actually have
experience and it hasn’t been that long since I last did it. It’s just… I never felt anything with
anybody. I know it sounds like bullshit, but I’m telling you the truth. Maybe I’m not made for it.”

“Cut the crap,” I scoffed, mildly punching his chest. “When was the last time you did it?”

“A few years ago,” he said calmly as he looked down, thinking.

“Whaaat!?” I cringed. “At least, do you-”

“Play with myself?” he interrupted my question. “Sometimes it happens, but I rarely do. The
tension is natural but it goes away on its own just like it happens to animals when mating season is
over.”

I laughed when I heard he compared himself with an animal. Imagining him playing with himself
was indeed something to remain stuck on my mind.

I took his hands into mine and pulled him towards me, gently. I wanted to kiss him again, but then
my stomach suddenly made an angry sound of hunger.

“We should eat,” he suggested.

I sighed, then gave him a sweet kiss on the cheek. “Yeah, we should.”

We headed to the kitchen which by the way, also had a sea view. That place was all about the
ocean and I realised it made my anxiety go away. We both took a seat at the table and started
eating. We had boiled eggs, bacon, salads and sandwiches. The coffee was also delicious. After I
drank it and finished eating, I yawned.

“Yeah, I don’t think this coffee will do any good, you must be tired as hell after the rough night
you had. We should take a nap, we have plenty of time,” Samuel suggested.

“Sounds good.”

As we went back in the bedroom, Samuel opened one of the windows, and we could hear the
waves crashing against the shore. The sound was incredibly calming. I went to bed as he followed
me after a few moments of admiring the view.

“We might be better off here than L.A.,” I told him.

(c) Snow124

Samuel sighed, then nodded at me as he tucked himself into bed.

“You’re right. You look so

comfortable.”

“I would be more
comfortable if you’d come
closer,” I snickered.

Samuel laughed shortly as he

placed his arm under my
head. He was staring into my
eyes again and I was staring
into his. I miss those
moments so much now...

“Your eyes reflect all the light in this room and it’s as if I can see the stars in them,” I told him.

“I can see the ocean in yours,” he replied. “This is so strange. I’m so drawn to you.”

“Really?” I asked in a shy way because he flattered me. “But why? We just met, right? I’m drawn
to you too, though. You’re right, it’s strange, it’s like I saw you somewhere else before.”

“Yeah. Exactly. It bothers me, I want to know why we feel like this.”

“Maybe it’s just how love is,” I said.

“Love?”

“Yeah. I think I fell in love with you, Samuel Ulseth…” I said as my voice trembled a little.

A big wave crashed against the rocky shore outside as Samuel sighed. He wrapped me in a hug, but
avoided looking into my eyes.

“Love…” he muttered. “Is this how it feels? It’s a bit overwhelming.”

“That’s how it should be,” I told him.

(c) Snow124

Samuel closed his eyes as I was running my

fingers through his soft hair which was so
pleasant to touch, I miss doing that too. I
mean, I could do it right now, but it's not the
same, because he's... whatever. I don't want
to think about the present now, I'm writing
down my memories.

“I’m glad we met,” I told him. “I realised

there’s more to life than what I’ve seen until
now. You really make me want to live
forever... with you.”

“Michael…”

“Yes?”

“I love you too,” was the last thing he said before we both fell asleep.

I woke up when I heard a loud thunder. I looked outside and the sky was almost black, so I knew
heavy rain was about to fall. The window was open and cold wind reached my back, making me
shiver. When I looked at Samuel, he was still sleeping but his arms were crossed and his face was
also crossed by a frown. I thought he was having a bad dream so I decided to wake him up.

“Hey, Samuel. Wake up," I whispered in his ear.

He shivered a little before he opened his eyes. Seeing me, he looked somehow confused.

“You’re here…” he muttered.

“Of course I’m here, where else would I be?” I asked as I ran my hand over his cheek, worried.

“I don’t know, I had a strange nightmare. Someone took me away from you or something like that,
telling me I should stay away from you…”

“Probably it was because those bastards abducted me yesterday,” I said, convinced it was that.
“Don’t worry, I’m not going anywhere, nobody but ourselves can tear us apart.”

Even I was wondering where that confidence came from. Samuel grabbed my hand as we heard
another thunder. He turned around, looked outside and sighed. “What time is it?” he asked me.

“It’s 3 P.M.,” I answered. “We slept a lot.”

“Yeah. I need to text everyone I invited to the meeting, making sure they all come, especially Scott
Aiden.”

“Who is that?”

“An important investor that offered support to my father’s company since I was just a kid. You
should have heard of him. But you’re not actually Agra’s manager, so...”

“Guilty,” I pleaded, laughing. “Doesn’t that concern you? I don’t know how to lead a project.”

“Don’t hop into Depression Express yet, you’ll do just fine,” he reassured me. “I knew from the
start you’re not the manager, but I said that in order to persuade Steve into saying so.”

Yeah, apparently he could do that. He's amazing.

“What? Why?” I asked.

“Because I wanted to meet you, not him. I came there looking for you. I tried to tell you last night,
at your house, but you kept asking me silly questions.”

I frowned. “What do you mean?”

“You see, since I was eighteen, I’ve been having some strange dreams about someone I should
meet, or about someone I used to know that made me feel in a certain way… I only knew the first
letter from his name, which was N.”

I looked at him confused as hell.

“You said your second name is Nathan, right? In my dream, I could also see the boy was blonde
and had blue eyes, just like you. Everything was blurry, though. The dreams started to fade as I
grew older, but last week I saw Agra Corporation’s promotion video online and there was Steve,
talking about how successful you can become if you get hired. As he started showing around, I saw
you coming from behind, you handed him some papers as you said hello to the camera, waving and
smiling. I gasped when I saw you and I remembered about the dreams I used to have. The night
after I saw the video, I had a dream like that again. I could feel a certain energy when I had those
dreams. I decided I wanted to meet you, out of curiosity, despite the fact I’m not usually very
curious about people. When we shook hands, I felt the same warm energy those dreams used to
give me.”
“So…” I mumbled, “Your dreams were telling you to come and meet me?”

I remembered that I felt strange too when we shook hands, but I didn’t mention it.

“Somehow, yes. I’m pretty sure, that's why I was confused when Steve introduced you as Michael
and not Nathan, but you reassured me when you said you're also named Nathan as well.” he said. “I
also noticed you have huge potential and yet you’re using a small percentage of your brain, like
something is blocking it, which is weird, I haven’t seen that in any human before.”

“You’re mocking me, right?” I snorted.

“I’m afraid I’m not. I can sense these things. If you unlock your potential, something makes me
believe that you and I can do great things together. No more wars, no more miserable lives…
maybe that’s why those dreams were telling me to meet you, it was the Universe,” he laughed
shortly at the end as he looked at the ocean.

That was so sweet to hear. He smiled and it was so genuine. I began feeling strange though, all of a
sudden. My brain started playing tricks on me as I found myself questioning everything, going
deeper into my thoughts and memories than I ever did before. Then, I felt an instant, throbbing
pain in my head. As I closed my eyes because of the pain, I stopped hearing the storm outside, as if
I stopped hearing completely. With my eyes shut, out of nowhere, I saw a weird flashback with me
and Samuel... but we looked younger.

“You’re not too interested in science, now, are you?” his voice echoed in my head as our
foreheads and noses touched.

I instantly frowned as I opened my eyes, panting. “What the hell!”

“Are you okay?!” Samuel asked me, touching my face, worried. “You were spaced out for almost
a minute… what happened?”

“I-”

Thinking if I should tell him about what I saw I gestured vaguely, but I didn’t want to look like an
idiot because he just told me about his dreams, so I decided not to say anything about it. It
would’ve been too much of a coincidence. “I felt a sudden headache. It must be from this
weather…”

“Is it gone now?” he asked, concerned. “Maybe those guys damaged your brain last night, trying to
erase your memories. You’ll need medical attention as soon as possible.”

“Yeah, I think so. We should get ready for the meeting now,” I suggested, trying to change the
subject.

I was getting really nervous because I wasn’t used to being surrounded by educated people and that
meeting really scared me, for Samuel didn’t give too many details, so I was confused. The only
thing that encouraged me to act normal was the fact that I believed in his goals, in making the
world a better place for everyone, and I really wanted to end capitalism because it encouraged less
thinking, more buying and consuming until it drains the life in people. I was thinking again about
that flashback I saw in my head, though. It felt like a memory, but that was impossible because I
didn’t know Samuel in high school, did I?

“Michael?” I heard Samuel calling me while waving at me as if I went blind.

“Huh?” I gasped.

“Are you sure you’re okay? You keep spacing out.”

“Yeah. I’m a little bit nervous, don’t mind me,” I told him.

“Hn. Okay,” he said as he lent me his hand to help me get up from bed, then I followed him in
front of a huge sliding door. He opened it and my eyes were amazed by how many clothes were in
there.

“Wow, you were serious when you said this place has everything we need.”

“Yup. Okay, so, what colours do you usually wear?” he asked me as he placed both hands on his
waist. “Here are business shirts in every shade, just like makeup.”

“Wow, I’m totally freaked out right now,” I sassed, gesturing with my hands in the air excitingly.

I realised I sounded so girly, I laughed. I felt like I turned into Steve. Samuel snorted when he
heard me as we stepped forward into the closet, which, by the way, was the size of a whole
boutique.

“Do these fit you?” he asked me, showing me a whole row of shirts and pants in different colors.

“If they fit my thick ass, it’s okay,” I snickered.

I expected him to look at my ass but he didn’t. My pride felt attacked.

“Don’t worry,” I told him. “I already packed some pants of my own, look.” I said.

“No, those are regular pants. You don’t want to look like a loser, right?”

“Uh… I guess?” I scoffed. “What’s wrong with regular pants?”

I heard his long sigh as his head was hidden between a row of pants. He took a navy blue pair out.

“Try these,” he said, throwing them at me.

“Wow, excuse me, but Steve doesn’t pay me enough in order to cover for those if I ruin them.” I
said as I was staring at them.

He laughed. “Steve’s out of the equation, you’re no longer his employee. You’re mine, now. I
texted him this morning and sent him a paycheque.”

I loved the way he said "You're mine, now." Damn.

“What? You bought me out of Agra Corporation? Oh my goodness,” I laughed.

“I have to do what I have to do until capitalism's final fall, even if I have to act like I fucking love
it,” he sighed.

“I guess I’m going back to Steve if I ruin your meeting, right? Or if I say dumb shit.”

He gave me a short once over, then went back to searching for shirts.

“If you say dumb shit it means I was wrong about you and you’re not only going back to Steve, but
also back to your boring life while I’ll go back to mine,” he said after a few moments.

“What?!” I stormed. “So, if my anxiety gets in the way and I really say something stupid, you
forget about me, just like that, right? I mean, why am surprised, we only know each other since the
day before yesterday! You know what? I’m leaving right now,” I scoffed angrily.

I got really mad, I thought he was just using me and everything he said about his dream had been
nothing but bullshit. I threw the pants he gave me on the floor as Samuel stopped from what he was
doing and looked at me. His face didn’t show any sign of concern and that made me even angrier.

“Don’t give me that look of yours! I’m leaving!” I yelled like a kid when his parents make him
angry.

“Oi, don’t be a moron. Anxiety won’t get in your way. Also, I’m never wrong. You’re not going
anywhere,” he said calmly.

I scoffed like a lady when she’s like “Oh, yeah? Watch me!” as I turned my back at him. “Yeah,
sure. How narcissistic can you be? I’m out.” I said as I sent him a frowned glare over my shoulder.
I was such a drama queen it amuses me now.

As I made a few steps towards the door, convinced I wanted to leave, I suddenly felt that pain in
my head again, as if a knife stabbed my skull. I squeezed my eyes shut as I saw another flashback.
This time, I was kissing Samuel. It was snowing and I could hear things again, just like it happened
when I saw the first flashback.
 “You make this world more bearable, Nathan...”

“No… what is this?!” I grunted out loud, hyperventilating, as I instantly fell on my knees with my
hands in my hair, staring at the floor.

I heard Samuel dropping something on the floor as his footsteps were approaching me fast.

“Michael!” he called me.

I couldn’t hear him properly, as if my ears were clogged or something. He grabbed me, trying to
make me stand up on my feet. When I did, I felt so dizzy that I thought I was going to fall on the
floor again, but he held me and guided me to the first chair in the way. I sat down and opened my
eyes wide, blinking multiple times. Samuel looked really concerned this time.

“Michael… are you okay? You scared the guts out of me.”

“Aren’t you tempted to call me Nathan?” I asked him bluntly.

“What? No, I don’t think so, since you don’t use that name.”

“I’m wondering why I don't use it, though,” I muttered. "I hate the name Michael..."

“What the hell are you talking about? You’re bluffing. Look at me,” Samuel said as he grabbed my
face and patted it, like people do to someone who is hallucinating or talking absolute nonsense.

“It was winter… but… I can’t remember…” I kept on going with the same things.

“Oi, pull yourself together!” he demanded, shaking me. “Inhale and exhale slowly, three times.
Come on, do it. Then tell me what happened.”

I did as he told me and felt like I was calming down a bit as I looked into his eyes. “I had a
flashback… like a memory… with the two of us…” I said almost whispering, because I felt like I
lost my strength to speak. I frowned, looking down. “You called me Nathan… and it looked like
we were just teenagers,” I went on. “What’s going on, Samuel, why do I see these things?”

He frowned as he grabbed my hand and held it. “I don’t know. That’s how I felt when I was having
those dreams about you. Maybe it’s the Universe or some shit.”

I laughed a little. I realised he cracked jokes when he didn’t know what to say. It worked though, it
calmed me down.

“You know, I always felt incomplete,” he told me. “Before my… uh, adoptive parents, I guess,
died, they told me that feeling would go away when I meet that person that was made to complete
me and I’ll just know it’s the right one. They used to say my life isn't my own,” he explained.

“Destiny, huh?” I inquired lifelessly. “That doesn’t explain anything. What I saw, they looked like
real memories… they can’t be from another life.”

“Let's calm down and put some fancy clothes on, how about that? We'll deal with problems later.”
Samuel said as he gave me his hand to help me get up from the chair and we went back to the
closet. He took off his T-shirt in order to try a white shirt. I was stunned by how perfect his body
was shaped and I forgot about what just happened minutes before. Samuel took the white shirt on
and while he was closing its buttons, he turned at me, looking for approval. Before I could say
anything, he looked at his back in the mirror.

“This one’s too large on my back,” he complained as he started unbuttoning it. “I need a slimmer
size." He said as he took it off and sighed.

I couldn’t resist only looking at him anymore so I went closer and touched his shoulders while
kissing one of them, then I hugged him from behind.

(c) Snow124

“Michael… what are you doing?” he asked me. “Did you

take off your shirt?”

“So, what? Does that affect you in any way?” I snickered.

“I guess not,” he turned his face at me, smiling. “You’re so

warm.”

I laughed shortly. “And you’re so cold, I like it. You’re the

ice to my fever.”

It's funny to remember I said that. It sounded kind of lame.

“So, you’re the romantic type, huh?” Samuel snorted as he

turned around, facing me.

The sexual tension I was feeling was driving me insane.

“Why are you looking at me like that, Prince of Romance?”

he mocked me.

I scoffed. “Because you’re one hell of a tease,” I said as I grabbed his face with both of my palms
and gave him a delicate, yet strong and passionate kiss.
(c) Snow124

“Michael,” he muffled, trying to fight back, but it took

him like two seconds to soften up and give in to the
kiss.

As I was touching his perfectly curved back, he did the

same and we were somehow wrapped in an invisible
blanket.

“Samuel…” I whispered. “I… can’t... resist you…” I

said as I was running my fingers through his perfectly
soft hair. I pulled him towards me until we were
completely stuck to each other. I started breathing faster
and faster and so was him.

“We… we’re gonna be late,” he mumbled as he was catching his breath.

I wanted to carelessly say that I didn’t mind that, but quickly realised it would have been a bad
idea to do so. I released him slowly while looking straight into his eyes.

"Okay."

Samuel smiled at me, then aimed to grab another white shirt and put it on. It was definitely tighter
and fitted him perfectly. After that, he grabbed a navy blue tie.

“Do you have any preferences?” he asked me, pointing at the ties in the closet.

“Orange,” I answered.

He gave me a confused glance.

“It’s the color of my soul,” I explained.

He threw me an orange tie and a white shirt. While I was fitting my tie, I was staring at his back
again and he caught me. Instead of saying something, he sighed and rolled his eyes just like rock
stars do when they’re tired of fan girls.

“Oh, come on, what was that?” I objected. “I finally understand why you wanted a shirt that fits
you better.”
“Hn. Whatever, I liked the way you looked at me, though.” he said, sketching a subtle smile.

“Really? Then why did you... tch, just stop teasing me, oh my god!” I scoffed. “Asexual people
don’t do that.”

“Who said I was asexual?” he asked as he raised one eyebrow at me.

Honestly, in that moment I wanted to jump on him and… you know…

“Anyway,” he sighed again, “you have my approval for the outfit you chose.”

“Okay, boss! Let’s just go,” I pouted.

 No Chess Game
Chapter Summary

The meeting you've all been waiting for! Read carefully, there will be a lot of talking
and new characters:
Garret (Gaara), Tania (Temari), Kassius (Kakashi), Shane(Shikamaru), Jessica (Ino),
Kameron(Kankuro), Scott Aiden(Sarutobi Hiruzen) Chad (Choji), Lewis (Rock Lee),
Shinon (Shino, obviously), Oliver (Orochimaru- how he looked in chuunin exams),
Kaleb (Kabuto), Stephanie (Shizune), Lady Teresa (Tsunade) .
In chapter 6 we'll witness someone's death! Guess who...

FOR THIS CHAPTER'S BACKGROUND MUSIC, RIGHT CLICK THIS LINK AND
OPEN IT IN A NEW TAB.

Apparently, meetings were held at the last floor of the hotel, but I expected it to be held
downstairs. While we were in the elevator, I started moving my left foot nervously.

“Calm down, nobody’s going to kill you,” Samuel told me.

“Of course not, because I’ll die from a panic attack before anyone could,” I scoffed.

When we arrived at the last floor, I felt like

I was in a movie full of rich people. We
entered the meeting room and the place had
a huge long table in the middle, with two
sides and four main seats, shaped like the
letter "U". The room also had an ocean
view, just like our suite and everything was
arranged perfectly. We were the only ones
there because Samuel always had to be the
first person to arrive anywhere. With him
around, I knew I was never going to be late again anywhere, ever.

Samuel took the second main seat at the end of the table. He waved his hand and the next chair
pulled itself out for me.

“Show off,” I scoffed as I went there and sat next to him. A few moments after, we heard a knock
on the door.

“Come in!” Samuel said out loud.

John came in, with a straight face, not surprised at all we were there twenty minutes earlier.
“Good afternoon, Mr. Samuel, I brought some cups of coffee, as you requested.”

“Thank you. Leave them on the side table please. Do I have sugar and milk?”

“Yes, sweetener included for you, sir, “ John said, smiling at him. “If you need anything else, send
me a text.”

Samuel nodded at him, and the butler left, leaving us alone again. As Samuel turned his face to me,
I could see a tiny smile, somehow. I think he was the first and only person I had seen to be able to
smile like that, if it was even a smile.

“I just remembered how natural you acted when Steve said you’re the manager. I loved that, you
made it so much easier for me," he told me out of the blue.

“I acted according to my feelings. I always do that,” I said.

“That’s one of the things I admire about you, you’re everything I am not. Be careful, though, some
people should never know what or how you feel.”

“I know,” I approved, smiling back at him. “I was always able to somehow sense if someone has
bad intentions."

“Hn. That's interesting,” Samuel replied as he checked the time. “They should be here any minute.
Michael, promise me you’ll stay calm and act rationally,” he advised me as he touched my
shoulder gently. “You’re my backup and we are a team. So, because of that, I will send you signals
using my techniques. When you should say something, you will feel a slight buzz in your right ear.
If you must keep your mouth shut, you will feel it in your left ear. Got it?”

I nodded, but I was still confused. “You still don’t trust me, do you?” I inquired.

“Believe me I do now, but these people care a lot about what you say and you are a straightforward
speaker. That can come in handy sometimes, but… this time, it might trigger something we don’t
want.”

“Okay, got it. What if you don’t give me any signals?” I asked, curious.

“You can say anything as long as you do not interrupt someone, insult them or give them more
information than you should. Remember our conversation back at Agra Corp.?”

“Yeah…” I said, actually remembering that moment when he sent Steve after his non existent
umbrella.

“Perfect, just be yourself. Follow my lead if something confuses you and everything should be
fine.”

“What if you give me a signal to say something and I don’t know what to say?” I asked again.

He sighed and blinked slowly while still keeping that smile on his face even after opening his eyes.
He was doing that slow blinking more often that anyone I had seen. He was an alien, though, so
there was nothing ordinary about him.

“I’ll help you. Just... don’t freak out. You’re not a teenager anymore.”

“ I know…” I said faintly. Then, I felt that sharp pain in my head again, somehow triggered after
he said "teenager". Everything became blurry all of a sudden as I saw another flashback.
“What do you want from me? I never had any friends and everyone in this school hates me, why
are you so kind to me?” he yelled at me.

I just came closer.

“Back off Nathan, I don't want anything from you..."

“Michael?” I heard Samuel’s voice in my ear as I came back to reality.

Then he gently slapped my cheek.

“Huh! What?! What was that for?” I snapped.

He sighed, with a concerned look on his face. “Were you having those flashbacks again?”

“Yeah… it’s so weird…they only happen now. I’ve never seen these things before... they’re about
you, but I’m not even sure, everything I see is blurry… maybe those alien freaks who kidnapped
me did something weird to my brain when they tried to erase my memories…”

Samuel gasped.

“What?” I asked.

“What if-”

Then a knock at the door interrupted him. He sighed. “Come in!”

The door opened and the first person I saw had his nose and mouth covered by a black mask. His
hair was grey but he didn’t look old at all. Samuel seemed to know him because he got up from his
seat and headed in the guy’s direction. I didn’t know what to do so I followed him.

“Is everyone here?” Samuel asked the guy.

“Yes.”

“Thanks, Kassius.”

What a weird name, I thought. Kassius waved his hand at the door, showing everyone waiting
outside that they could come in. A guy with red hair and striking green eyes came in first, followed
by a blonde woman with a frowned face and a guy that wasn’t dressed up properly at all. They
shook hands with Samuel and then another blonde girl came in, followed by a guy with brown hair
in a short ponytail. The girl looked overly confident and decency was clearly not her favorite style,
as it seemed. Her skirt was very short. They were followed by a guy with short black hair and very
thick black eyebrows, a chubby guy with brown hair, another weird guy wearing actual round
sunglasses inside a room, and a guy that looked pretty old, dressed very formally.

“Mr. Aiden, so glad you made it,” Samuel formally told the old guy when they shook hands.

“Pleased to be here, once again," he said. His voice was really hoarse, I could bet he was a smoker.
"I am also pleased to see you found your missing piece of the puzzle."

Hearing him say that caught my full attention. Samuel was looking at him confused.

"I'm talking about Na-uh, Michael, your partner. You kept saying you need a partner in business,"
the old man laughed nervously.

"Right," Samuel muttered, smiling back awkwardly as he sent me a confused glare. I shrugged in
response. It was weird that the old man almost wanted to pronounce my other name.

Another two guys suddenly came in and they looked really strange. My thoughts were interrupted
by a bad vibe coming from them. One of them looked really feminine, he had long black hair in a
ponytail and long, hazel eyes, just like a cat or a snake. The other guy with him, had grey hair and
was wearing round Harry Potter-like glasses. Samuel narrowed his eyes at them too. After they
shook hands, I went next to him.

“Is everything alright?” I asked.

“I just don’t remember inviting them, I don’t know who they are. Let’s just sit down, we’ll find
out.”

Everyone including me and Samuel took a seat at the table. Samuel and I on the main front seats
next to Kassius and Mr. Aiden and on the sides of the table were the guy with the short ponytail
and the blonde girl, the red haired guy and his companions, the chubby guy and the other dude
with sunglasses, the guy with thick eyebrows, then the two shady men Samuel and I noticed. After
everyone made themselves comfortable, Samuel cleared his throat, while keeping both of his arms
on the table and his hands in front of his mouth.

“Before we begin, “ Samuel said, “I would like to thank you all for coming. It is really important to
my company and myself that you have all shown interest in this project. Any of your ideas are
welcome and up for discussion. If you have any questions, you can ask freely.”

The red haired dude raised his hand.

“Yes, Garret,” Samuel approved.

“Explain again, with details, what is this project focused on exactly. I’d like your partner to give
me some details. You seem to be… in a rush,” Garret enunciated bluntly.

I became tense when I realised the guy wanted me to speak. I swallowed dry, trying to find the
right words. It really wasn’t a good start, but I felt a weird tingling in my left ear and realised it was
Samuel doing it, so I got the hint - I didn’t say a word and sighed through my nose, relieved.

Samuel smiled at Garret. “What makes you think I’m in a rush? I have all the time in the world,”
he replied.

“Do you?” Garret asked. “Is this project’s main goal based on truth?”

Samuel narrowed his eyes at him. “Of course. Why wouldn’t it?”

“Then let your partner explain some details, I don’t think it would harm him.”

I saw the shady guy with snake-like hazel eyes smile after Garret spoke, but I wasn't able tell
Samuel about it without being noticed. I suddenly felt a tingling in my right ear. I clenched my
teeth before I politely smiled at Garret.

“Alright. First of all, it’s a pleasure to meet you all. I joined Samuel’s project because I genuinely
loved the idea. It would change the world. Somehow, the face of the economy would change-”

“How can a simple project do that?” Garret insisted, interrupting me. “Michael Unsworth, am I
right?”

I nodded in approval. Apparently, he had his facts up to date if he knew my name.

“A simple project can turn into a huge movement, you can’t change the world in a day, of course."
I said. "I assume you all believe in the power of patience, don’t you? So, as a company, you can
change things little by little in years, by obtaining power over other companies that stand in the
way of your goal. How do you obtain power? By making allies,” I explained, trying hard to look
unclouded.

“So, you’re a naive idealist,” the other dude next to Garret scoffed.

“Kameron, be nice,” I heard the blonde girl next to them whisper.

Garret scoffed too. “You’re too vague.”

Everyone suddenly looked at me and I felt like I was about to turn into stone as I became anxious.
Trying to keep calm though, I remembered my purpose there was to support Samuel. Having the
patience to explain something to so many people with different opinions, apparently, was a skill a
team leader and a supporter should have. I smiled politely and went on:

“Let me explain it to you in a straightforward way, then,” I said as I got up from my seat, looking
at Samuel, hoping he won’t think I’m doing something wrong. I felt a tingling in my right ear and I
swear a could see a tiny smile in one corner of Samuel's lips. Gaining a lot of confidence because
of that, I backed away from my seat and started walking across the room. “First of all, we are going
to change how public areas are used and we will attract only a certain category of people, while
discouraging others. By developing business points around public areas such as shopping malls,
parks and schools, we will be able to focus on a single type of people and turn them into
customers: the smart, active and educated type of people. Only educational, business related and
high quality art events will be approved in areas surrounding schools and free-time public areas.
That means commercial music will be discouraged, circuses and other shows like that will not be
allowed. Promoting things that do not offer the public any knowledge or high quality content will
disappear. People will stop spending time outside to lose focus and run away from problems like
they do now. On the contrary, they will come to charge themselves with good, useful things and
information, surrounded by people who share the same type of views. Uneducated people will not
feel welcome anymore and if anyone behaves badly, they will have to answer to strictly applied
laws. Any questions until now?”

It felt so odd to talk like I was actually the smart dude in the room, I still think it's funny, what a
good actor I am.

The guy with Harry Potter glasses raised his hand. “What I heard sounds very unrealistic and
somehow, childish. Also, hate for people who did not have a chance to educate themselves? Why
would anyone want to make people feel left out? Are you that cold hearted?”

As I was trying to swallow the lump in my throat, preparing to give a proper answer, I felt a strong
tingling in my left ear. So strong, it made my ear itch. Samuel got up from his seat too, narrowing
his eyes at the weird grey haired guy and his hazel eyed companion, who interfered quickly:

“Excuse my partner’s straightforwardness,” he laughed shortly. “Can you blame him, though?
That’s how it is when you’re young, right, Michael? You burn from the core, like a flame in the
wind…”

My heart skipped a beat hearing that and I saw Samuel became tense too. The guy could surely
give someone the creeps. His grey haired partner noticed me staring.

“You haven’t introduced yourselves,” Samuel enunciated.

“Oh, please accept my apologies for that. My name is Oliver Smith and this is my partner, Kaleb
Yves. We are scientists dedicated to create revolutionary changes in this world.”

“Hn. I see,” Samuel replied. “How do you want to involve science in my project? What do you
have so unique that my company already doesn’t?”

“Oh, nothing, of course, we just want to be part of whatever your amazing company will develop.”

“Everything we need is already developed,” Samuel said full of confidence.

“Is it? Oh,” Oliver replied, acting surprised. “I see…”

Something was fishy about that guy, he acted like he knew more than he should about Samuel’s
company. Also, the way he was talking was… slow and really odd.

“We do not intend to bother,” Oliver went on, “I just think it’s interesting, you know? This
sociological chess game you want to play.”

I noticed Kassius narrowed his eyes at the guy as well before he exchanged looks with Samuel.

“There is no chess game, “ Samuel said. “It is something someone finally has to do, because
things are starting to become chaotic again, even after a war took place. There are a lot of countries
already doing similar things and the people there are given no choice but to educate themselves or
leave. We want a world without any place to go for those kinds of people, so they will choose to
blend in.”

“That sounds rough, but you’re not the President,” Kaleb scoffed. “You have no power.”

What he said annoyed me because he verbally attacked Samuel and I really wanted to say
something, but Kassius took my chance away:

“Enough!” he exclaimed. “This isn’t high school.”

“Thank you, Kassius,” Samuel said. “What company do you represent, Mr. Oliver?”

“I am my own company,” the hazel eyed guy snickered.

Samuel scoffed. “I need big companies to support me in this, as my partner said. We need power
over other companies and I’m afraid there’s nothing you can do to help. You can stay, though.”

“Oh, I think you’re wrong, Mr. Ulseth. You see, maybe you need my help with the medical and
pharmaceutical research your company is involved into…” Oliver enunciated.

Samuel frowned. “And why would I need help for that?”

“I see, that means you have all the research material you want, then why not more?” Oliver went
on.

I felt Samuel getting anxious, somehow. “No need,” he answered.

“Why are we wasting our time with discussions like this?” Mr. Aiden interfered. “Let’s focus on
the main subject, please.”
Everyone cleared their throats then went silent. Nobody seemed friendly at all, which wasn’t
something I expected, to be honest. Mr. Aiden seemed really too old to be involved in business and
that guy with the short ponytail seemed to be bored as hell, like someone dragged him there
without his will.

“Michael, you were speaking about the project if I remember correctly, before these curious men
interrupted you, am I right?” Mr. Aiden asked me.

I was actually surprised he spoke to me.

“Uh, right,” I nodded. “So… where was I... “ I said, pretending to clear my throat. “As Samuel
said, other developed countries have already started doing similar things, trying to beat the current
system. I believe the USA can do it too. Our country has power over people, changes happen faster
here than in Europe, for example. If people will realise they are feeling better, they’ll go on the
same way and keep evolving.”

“What a drag,” the guy with the short ponytail scoffed. “Why not leave the world as it is? You
guys have nothing better to do, that’s all. Everybody’s going to die anyway, who cares?”

I instantly cringed. “Excuse me, Mr…uh...”

“Shane,” he completed my sentence. “Shane Narby.”

“Mr. Narby… can I ask why are you here if this is a drag for you?” I asked calmly. I was right
about him after all, it was written all over his face.

“She dragged me here,” he said, pointing at the blonde girl next to him.

“What? You said you like this type of business, your family works in real estate!” she objected.

“Yeah, real estate, Jessica, not this, “ Shane scoffed.

I snorted. “Mr. Shane, while I can see the discussion itself bores you, I can still sense you’re a kind
man and you care about others. That means you agree with me,” I said.

Samuel gave me a surprised look.

“How can you tell?” Shane asked me.

“I just feel it. Let me explain… imagine if the world was perfect. Just imagine. People have equal
chances, corruption does not exist, money is earned accordingly to how much one works…”

I heard a snort coming from Garret. “Can I say something?” he asked.

“Of course,” I said.

“Our planet is dying, Mr. Unsworth, everything is polluted and you’re all here worrying about
social development and the fate of the human race according to how we treat one another. Mother
Earth will wipe us all, educated or not. We should already search for another planet to run off to,
instead of wasting our time like this.”

I saw Mr. Aiden and Samuel rolling their eyes as they sighed. Everyone else went silent, again. He
was right, though. Samuel had high hopes for Earth and maybe he had some tricks up his sleeve to
save the planet, but could he say something? He needed to keep his mouth shut about who and
what he actually was. My palms started sweating because I didn’t know what to say next, but
Kassius saved my ass again:

“And whose fault is that? Ours. Humans destroyed this planet and we need to restore its natural
peace. We had the resources, we had ideas all these years since the 90’s, but corrupted people
came and destroyed everything, piece by piece. They even started another war. A lot of action had
stopped from being taken and after the war people fell into depression. We need to lift ourselves up
and start changing, as Michael explained. The world will not end as long as we’re here. Right, Mr.
Aiden?”

The old guy nodded with a smile.

“Yeah. That would be nice,” Shane sighed.

“That’s the spirit!” I exclaimed after I heard Shane. "Now you get what I wanted to say. Thank
you, Kassius."

Samuel sketched a soft yet confident smile. “Anyone that didn’t understand our main goal? That is,
finally, to contribute to the benefit of the world, starting on a social scale. Why? Because real estate
business damaged society more than anything else. This business promoted events that lead to
encouraging people to stay dumb and uninformed. Just take CC Town as a recent example. They
built an entire “Town” for people who just come to the shopping mall, dragging their kids with
them, taking selfies all day long, having no concern about real problems this world is facing,
pollution being one of them. How can people focus on fixing the world's problems if they're
encouraged to stay uninformed and ignorant? They can't.”

Everybody nodded in approval except Oliver, Kaleb and Garret who rolled their eyes.

“Yeah, we must do something!” the guy with thick eyebrows exclaimed.

“We must stop pharmaceutical companies,” the chubby guy said. “They are killing us! Remember
how our grandparents suffered because of that pandemic when they were young? It was a hoax!”

Everybody gave him a quick glare then they looked back at Samuel, who frowned. “That’s the
type of bullshit I usually don’t tolerate. What does that have to do with what we are talking about?”

“Give us one reason why it’s not true, what he said,” Garret muttered. “It’s 2077, a war almost
killed our best people and then after that everyone went dumb after they healed from the injuries…
it’s Big Pharma, you know that, Mr. Ulseth, you come from a highly respected family who works
in-”

"People were always dumb, don't you dare blame science and medicine for that," Samuel hissed at
Garret, interrupting him. "We'd be nothing without science."

Oliver sketched a satisfied smile after hearing what Samuel said.

“Excuse my brother,” the blonde girl next to Garret said. “My name is Tania. Garret was very
affected by what happened in the war, our parents were shot…”

“I’m touched, “ Samuel scoffed ironically. “Mine were killed too, in front of my own eyes.
Mutilated, to be precise.”

“Oh my god, he’s that kid ” I heard Jessica whisper as if what happened to Samuel appeared in the
news or something, but I couldn't remember anything.

I frowned, starting to feel bad. Right before the war took place, my parents took me to an island
near Canada, one of the few safe places left available in 2062. We only came back when I was
twelve, in 2068, when everything started being rebuilt. I instantly remembered about Viky too,
who had already five years in prison at the time this meeting was taking place. She killed a man,
that was all I knew and the police never let me speak to her.

I suddenly realised I went too deep into my thoughts again and because I was afraid I’d have
another flashback or something weird, I blinked five times and came back to reality. I was shocked
to suddenly hear everyone speaking at once. They all took a break while I was out in my thoughts.

Samuel sighed as he gave me a glare and closed his eyes. He opened them only after a few
seconds. “Please pay attention,” he told me.

“I’m sorry. Did I miss something?” I asked, confused.

He nodded. “Yeah. Garret went nuts. He stormed outside, he couldn’t take the fact that he’s a
sensitive hippie.”

“What the hell is wrong with the guy anyway?” I asked.

“You heard Tania. Nothing special from my point of view. I’ve been through hell and you don’t
see me whining all over the place about how affected I am by my past,” he scoffed.

The room was so full of noise I could barely hear Samuel. Suddenly, Mr. Aiden slammed the table,
making a loud thud. Everyone went completely silent.

“Break’s over,” the old man muttered. “Let’s get back to business.”

“Yeah,” Kassius sighed. “It’s high time we came to some final decisions. I have the documents
prepared in my PC that need to be signed by whoever wants to be a part of our project. Basically, a
contract.”

“Nobody sign anything!!” Garret sneered as he entered the meeting room. His eyes were wide
open and his face pale as paper. “You will kill the planet… all of you… please don’t kill my
mother…”

Everyone cringed. Samuel was the only one I saw to become angry, not touched at all by Garret's
emotions. He clenched his teeth, I could see that clearly because his mouth was half open as he
was about to say something. He suddenly stood up, slamming both of his hands on the table.
“That’s enough! I thought we were done with bullshit, Garret, I thought I made myself clear. If you
still want to be here, take a damn seat and shut up.”

I widened my eyes at Samuel, seeing him so fired up. Garret gave him a cold stare and took a seat.

Mr. Aiden sighed. “Alright. We’re not teenagers. You can all stay focused and pay attention while
someone is speaking now, can you?”

Nobody objected.

“Good”, the old man went on. “I want to explain for the last time why I want to sponsor this
project. I ain’t no damn president as Mr. Kaleb told Samuel, but I can make myself heard and
everyone here can do the same. This young man here, Nathan, said we need to make allies in order
to be respected and recognized by people and he is right! All our goals are fair and well intended.
All understood?”

Nobody said anything, but Samuel widened his eyes after hearing Mr. Aiden referring to me as
Nathan instead of Michael. I was shocked, too. How could he know? I wanted to tell Samuel so
badly, but it would have been rude. I just looked at him, hoping he'd notice, but he didn't. He kept
his eyes focused on Mr. Aiden.

“If your goals are not like ours,” the old man went on as he looked at Oliver, “you can leave right
now.”

Nobody moved, though.

“Fine," Mr. Aiden sighed. "Then you’re all to be trusted, right? I hope I’m not making a mistake by
saying this. I’d like to ask who owns public properties in here.”

“Me!” the guy with thick eyebrows exclaimed with a smile. “I would love to be involved, I own all
the dance clubs and all the sports clubs are owned by members of my family. My name is Lewis
M’Connor.”

“Me too, “ the chubby guy sighed. “You convinced me. My name is Chad Allis and my family
owns the biggest chain of shopping malls and fast foods in West America.”

Mr. Aiden smiled, satisfied. The other guy with sunglasses cleared his throat as he was also about
to speak.

“My name is Shinon Abraham and I would also like to join this project. My family owns all the
parks in the United States.”

Everyone gasped. I was wondering too, how could a family own all the parks and why… but he
guessed we would all ask ourselves that, so he explained:

“We bought them all in order to protect them. Nature is very important to my family, especially
insects, they have a crucial role in the ecosystem. I’m not selling anything, I would like a simple
partnership.”

Mr. Aiden nodded in approval. He seemed to trust the guy. “Okay then. Mr. Chad and Mr. Lewis,
tell me a price for what you two own.”

“Where would our profit be, then?” Chad asked.

Samuel scoffed, disgusted by the capitalistic question.

“You can still be the ones who benefit from the profit, it’s called franchise. I own those places only
on paper.”

“Oh! I understand now,” Chad said relieved.

He didn’t seem to be the sharpest tool in the shed.

Samuel turned to Lewis. “What about you?” he asked him. “Do you agree to do the same?”

“As long as I don’t have to change anything, because I’ve put so much work for my customers…”
Lewis sighed.

“You’ll just have to stop using commercial music,” Samuel explained. “Would you do that?”

“I…” He stopped for a few seconds. “I guess I could try, starting with one club...”

“No,” Samuel objected. “You either apply this measure to all your clubs or not. I want to believe
you’re smarter than I expected.”

“Of course I am!” Lewis snickered. “The new generation is smarter than the previous ones! I
believe we can make a change!”

“Then be the first one to make that change and people will follow you,” Samuel suggested.

“Okay! You convinced me, “ the thick eyebrowed guy exclaimed. “Let’s save the world together!”

I sighed at how easily he manipulated Lewis. Samuel noticed my face and he smiled at me, his
expression almost telling me “ See, how easy that was?”

I smiled back at him. As I turned to look outside, I was wondering how many weird things I will
witness from that moment on...
 Disclosure
Chapter Summary

“You found your flame again but you still don’t remember who you are. Interesting,
I’m wondering who’s responsible for that. Oh, look, the flame is here to save its
wind,” Oliver went on, looking at the door as he noticed my presence. I gasped.

Chapter Notes

Shorter chapter full of drama...

See the end of the chapter for more notes

RIGHT CLICK THIS LINK AND OPEN IT IN A NEW TAB FOR THEME MUSIC.

We suddenly heard a knock on the door, then John came in with a tray full of food and drinks. He
placed everything on the table, told everyone to enjoy, and left. I was very pleased with what I saw
on the table. Everyone started eating while discussing random subjects, because the official
meeting was over as the main purpose had been fulfilled.

“We should open free libraries for people,” Shane said, out of nowhere.

“Oh my god, the world has enough of those,” Jessica scoffed.

“I’m sorry Jess, but there are never enough libraries. Especially free ones.”

“I agree, “ Mr. Aiden said. “I’ll sponsor that too, we need to promote culture.”

“Indeed, the only culture most of this planet’s people have is bacteria,” Oliver sassed.

Kaleb was the only one who laughed at his partner’s joke. I began to wonder if they were a couple.

“I would like another coffee, Mr. Samuel,” Oliver said.

Samuel pointed at the side table full of coffee cups, suggesting Oliver to help himself.

“Right,” Oliver smiled. “Who else wants coffee?”

“I’d like one too, “ Mr. Aiden said, wanting to stand up.

Oliver gestured his hand at the old man, suggesting to remain on his seat. “No, no, let me. It would
be my pleasure,” he said as he went to the table to bring the coffee cups. He placed one cup on the
table, in front of Mr. Aiden, smiling at him politely.

“Thank you, “ Mr. Aiden told him.

Oliver nodded and went back to his seat. I saw Samuel stand up.

“I’m going to the bathroom, I’ll be back in five minutes,” he told me.

After Samuel left, another butler came in with dessert. I smiled instantly, I was always a fan of
sweets. The butler started placing a plate full of cake in front of everyone, and when he wanted to
put a plate in front of Oliver, I felt something weird going on, but I could not explain it to myself. I
thought it was just anxiety because Samuel left me there with all those people, but suddenly, the
butler dropped the plate on Oliver’s lap. I gasped as the weird feeling intensified.

“I’m so sorry, sir!” the butler apologized.

Oliver frowned at him, then released a long sigh. “No problem, I'll just go and clean myself up.”

The butler looked really confused, like he didn’t understand how that accident happened. I was also
thinking the whole thing was strange. I mean, someone who worked in a hotel like that could not
be so damn clumsy. I frowned as I watched Oliver leave the meeting room. That weird feeling I
had, intensified even more. I felt sick all of a sudden, so I had no choice but to stand up and leave
the room as well. I excused myself as I got up from my seat and headed to the door, barely
managing to close it after I got out, because I was feeling extremely dizzy. I kept moving forward
until I saw the sign for restrooms. Then suddenly, I heard Samuel’s voice:

“What the hell are you doing?! Stop!”

I gasped as I began running through the hallway in the direction where I heard Samuel’s voice
coming from- the restrooms. I knew then for sure that Oliver followerd Samuel on purpose. As I
got closer, I slowed down. I wanted to see what was going on first, without being noticed. I peeked
inside the bathroom and I saw Samuel and Oliver standing in front of each other. Samuel had an
angry expression on his face.

“Come on, Sanneth. I know you’re in there, you just have to remember,” Oliver said as he
stretched out his arm towards Samuel, who grunted and instantly backed away.

“Tch! What is your damn problem!? Who are you and why are you calling me Sanneth?!”

Oliver just smiled. “That Scott Aiden… look at what he’s done to you... no problem though, the
Uhyra blood inside you will wake up and avenge your ancestors. I could help you too, but only if
you want…”

Samuel cringed. “Stay away from me… I don’t know what you’re talking about…”

“You found your flame again but you still don’t remember who you are. Interesting, I’m
wondering who’s responsible for that. Oh, look, the flame is here to save its wind,” Oliver went on,
looking at the door as he noticed my presence. I gasped.

“How sweet…” Oliver sassed, ignoring me, as he suddenly stretched out his arm again and placed
his palm against Samuel's forehead, grabbing it as he pressed his fingers harder. “Consider this my
help, Sanneth, you will come to me anyway, in search for the truth."

A purple glow surrounded Oliver's hand as Samuel groaned out loud, probably because of pain.
My body instantly moved towards Oliver.

“Stop!” I yelled but Oliver disappeared completely before I could catch him.

"What the hell?!" I snapped as I stopped and bumped into Samuel, who leaned against the wall,
letting his body slide down until he was curled up on the floor. Shocked by what happened, his
eyes were widened and his hands were severely shaking.

“Samuel! What did he do to you?” I asked him, agitated.

He was hyperventilating and I panicked like hell because I didn’t know what to do, I just hugged
him as tight as I could.

“Please, say something…” I yelped.

Then a loud scream suddenly came from the hallway:

“Someone call 911!!!! Mr. Aiden collapsed on the floor!” Jessica yelled.

Samuel instantly raised his head and gasped. “No… impossible…” he muttered as his voice was
shaking.

We both got up and rushed outside the restroom, heading back to the meeting room. When we
entered, we saw everyone standing up, surrounding Mr. Aiden who was lying unconscious, on the
floor. Blood was coming out of his mouth and his eyes were wide open. The view was terrible, it
made me freeze instantly. Samuel grunted as he threw himself on his knees, in front of Mr. Aiden.

“Everyone, back off!” he screamed as he placed his hands on the old man's chest.

Samuel cursed, as he realised he didn’t know what to do. I noticed he tried to use his powers and
the others didn’t seem to have a clue about what he was doing, except Kassius, who sighed,
convinced it couldn't be helped.

“Those bastards,” I thought, as I noticed Oliver's partner,Kaleb, wasn’t there anymore either.

“Everyone, stay away!” I heard a woman yell from behind. When I looked at her, I realised she
hadn’t been at the meeting. She had short, black hair and dark eyes.

“Miss Stephanie, wait!” John called her.

“I got this, “ she scoffed at him. “I know what Lady Teresa told me. I won't do anything weird.She
won't be pleased when she'll hear about this, though...”

She leaned closer to Samuel, who barely managed to back away. Stephanie checked Mr. Aiden’s
pulse and released a long, deep sigh.

“He’s dead,” she muttered.

Samuel froze, widening his eyes at the old man's dead body. It was the second time someone died
before his eyes and I felt so sorry for him.

“Oh my goodness!” Jessica gasped, covering her mouth with her hands before she buried her face
in Shane's shirt.

Stephanie got up and went straight to Kassius, whispering something in his ear. I saw him gasp, but
he instantly tried to calm himself down.

“Alright. The meeting is over. John, please escort everyone outside," he demanded.

John nodded in approval and led everyone to the door. They all followed him quietly. After John
closed the door, only Stephanie, Kassius, Samuel and I remained there.
“It was him…” Samuel grunted as he clenched his fists, “he killed Mr. Aiden somehow...”

“I can confirm he was murdered, Kassius,” Stephanie said. “He was poisoned. Who are you talking
about, Samuel? Who killed him?”

"Oliver..."

Then, I remembered that moment when Oliver gave Mr. Aiden a cup of coffee. He must have
poisoned it.

“Check this,” I told Stephanie while handing her the cup. "Oliver offered him this cup of coffee
twenty minutes ago."

Stephanie took it, and to my surprise, I saw a green light coming from her hand as she kept it above
the cup. Samuel was also shocked to see what she could do. She suddenly gasped. “That’s…
impossible…this poison belongs to… but... Lord Orris is dead! He died along with Seryth Uhyra
eighty years ago, after they fought each other on Krul…” she said as she looked at Kassius, who
looked away, after his sight froze from hearing what she said.

I gasped when I heard the word "Krul", remembering that was the planet those freaks who
kidnapped me wanted to take me to. They also mentioned "Uhyra".

Samuel got up from his knees with his face frowned, clenching his fist as he approached Stephanie.
“If you do not explain to me what is happening, I will kill you…” he threatened her with a blunt
tone. “Who is Seryth Uhyra and Lord Orris? Why do these names sound so familiar to me!? Also...
that guy, Oliver, who killed Scott… said I’m an Uhyra... he called me Sanneth, what's the meaning
of all this?!”

I was shocked by Samuel's rage.

Kassius sighed. “I guess it’s time to pay Lady Teresa a visit,” he told Stephanie. “Please be patient
Samuel, we don’t know what’s happening either. Just calm down and we will get answers soon. I
promise.”

Samuel pouted angrily, but I still remained anxious and confused by his sudden change of behavior
and everything I heard. I also knew Kassius was lying, he did know what was happening. I could
see it in his eyes and I bet Samuel saw it too. I grabbed Samuel's hand and looked at him, worried.
He sighed as it felt like he calmed down.

“I need to extract the poison out of Mr. Aiden’s body in order to create an antidote for us, we might
be in danger,” Stephanie enunciated. “Samuel, I will need your help. I know what you can do.”

Samuel nodded. They both stretched out one of their arms, pointing them at Mr. Aiden’s body,
making it float into the air in order to place it on the table. Stephanie got closer as she pointed her
hand at Mr. Aiden’s stomach. Samuel waved his fingers and made the old man's eyes close.

“Sorry,” Samuel sighed apologetically. “I couldn’t stand looking into his eyes.”

A purple liquid started coming out of the body’s mouth as Stephanie was slowly moving her hand
from left to right.

“Your turn,” she said to Samuel, who quickly grabbed an empty glass and placed it near the body’s
mouth.

As Samuel was looking at the purple liquid that was floating into the air, he was constantly
 moving his hand and I noticed the liquid was being somehow guided to gather above the glass.
When Samuel closed his fist, all the liquid fell straight into the glass.

“Done,” Samuel muttered.

“Okay, good job. I will take the body and depart to Akai as soon as possible but I have to run some
tests first,” Stephanie said. “You will need to come too, as soon as you can. I leave tomorrow.”

“We’ll leave tomorrow as well,” Kassius told her.

“What country is that?” I asked.

“The name sounds familiar to me,” Samuel added.

“It’s not a country,” Stephanie said. “It’s a planet. Your home planet , Samuel.”

Samuel’s eyes widened. "What?!"

“Don’t worry, if there is something you must know, Lady Teresa will explain it to you as soon as
you arrive there. Please let professor Kassius stay with you at this hotel.”

Samuel sighed as he took his phone and typed something. “Done,” he said after a few seconds.
”Your room is at level five, take the access card from John.”

“Thank you,” Kassius said.

We all headed to the door in silence, got out, then took the elevator. Samuel and I were the first
ones to get out of it.

“I hope to hear from you soon, “ Stephanie told Samuel. “See you on Akai. Both of you,” she
enunciated as the elevator's doors closed.

Samuel’s face remained confused as he watched the elevator go lower. We stood like that in the
hallway for a few minutes.

“There they go… all my plans. They’re stardust. Apparently, something darker is going on…” he
said.

He was right. What worried me though, was the fact that Stephanie said we both needed to go on
Akai. I was glad, but didn't understand why would she want me to go as well... and who the hell
was Lady Teresa?

Chapter End Notes

Aaaand who's ready for the sex scene in the next chapteeer ?
Whoops. That was a spoiler.
Oh, well...
(sns = sorry, not sorry Xd)
 The Last Sunset
Chapter Summary

"In that moment, everything seemed perfect. We were just young, in love and free. At
least, for that moment. As for me, I wasn’t aware of what was waiting for me. But
after all, I could had never run away from what was coming."

Chapter Notes

Here it is, the chapter you've been waiting for! Full of romance, passion, drama... ugh!
:3
ALL THE DRAWINGS BELONG TO SNOW-124! Pls don't repost them without her
permission, or I'll kill you.

RIGHT CLICK THIS LINK AND OPEN IT IN A NEW TAB FOR THEME MUSIC :)

After we got in our suite again, Samuel seemed to be really depressed. I wanted to cheer him up but
I didn’t know what to say to him, I thought that if I kissed him or did things like that, he would
think I was selfish or that I only focused on sexual things.

I just placed my hand on his shoulder and sighed. “Are you okay?” I asked.

“Not really,” he muttered, “but there’s nothing you or anyone else can do to make me feel better.
Everything that happened, was just… too much at once and I didn’t understand a thing about Lord
Orris and all that. Also, my teacher seems to know more about this shit than I do, which bothers
me. He was beside me since I was a toddler.”

“Oh, so Kassius is that teacher you traveled with?” I inquired.

“Yeah. “

Everything started to make more sense in my head. Samuel took off his pants as he went into our
bedroom, releasing a long sigh. Seeing him in underwear really made me stop caring about all our
problems. I’m a pervert, I know…

Following him, I saw he took some comfortable pants on so I did the same. The day ended for us
anyway, but I still hoped I could do something to make him feel better, I didn’t want it to end like
that, it was only 7 P.M. I looked outside the window and it was still raining, but the clouds were
starting to scatter and I could see the sun.

“Hey, Samuel.”

“Hn?”
“Let’s go outside.” I suggested.

“It’s raining,” he scoffed.

“It will stop in a few minutes, “ I said as I came closer to him, grabbing his hand. “Come on, some
fresh air will make us feel better. We could run a little bit on the beach. It’s good therapy.”

He rolled his eyes, but didn’t object, so, while we were holding hands, we got out from our suite,
went into the elevator and in only two minutes we were already downstairs. John saw us, but I
started running faster while holding Samuel’s hand so John didn’t get the chance to say anything to
us. I felt like we were just kids running through the hallways and I really felt happy. Samuel was
behind me because he wasn’t as motivated as I was, but when I looked at him, he looked back at
me with a genuine thankful expression on his face.

After we were outside, I kept running towards the beach. When we got there, Samuel stopped.

“Oh my, let’s go back, this rain is still heavy.” he complained, putting his arms above his head.

“Nooo, we can go for a run. Come on, don’t be a coward!”

(c) Snow124

He raised one eyebrow. “Oh, really?

“Yeah, look! The sky’s clearing

up!” I exclaimed.

“Sunsets make me feel sad,” he

told me.

“It might be our last, maybe

there’s no Sun where we’ll depart
to,” I tried to convince him.

He sighed and let down his hands,

giving me one of them. Just like
that, we took our shoes off and
started running by the ocean,
holding hands. I was continuously smiling at Samuel, trying to make him feel better and I noticed
he wasn’t so sad anymore. After ten minutes, I got tired and we both slowed down. Samuel finally
smiled at me.

“Okay, it’s settled. Each time you’re sad, we’re going to do this. I’m gonna take you for a run in
the rain,” I told him.

He scoffed. “Good luck with that.”

“Don’t mock me!” I said, laughing, while pushing him a little bit towards the water.

He pushed me back.

“Oh, so you’re provoking me, now that you feel better, huh?” I snickered as I took his hand, pulled
him towards me then suddenly pushed him so hard he fell on his butt in the water and a wave hit
him. I couldn’t see him for two seconds. “Oh my God!” I squealed, putting both of my hands over
my mouth.
When Samuel got out of the water, his face looked so pissed I swore he would come and kill me.

“Shit,” I muttered, looking at him coming my way.

I didn’t know if I should start running, or apologize and hope he won’t throw me in the middle of
the ocean. His face was red.

“You,” he hissed at me as a frown crossed his forehead.

“Samuel, I-”

Before I could say another word though, he grabbed my waist and suddenly pressed his lips against
mine. I swear, I felt like an explosion took place inside of me and I needed to put out the fire. But
how could I, with him kissing me like that? I was moaning and panting at the same time. I wanted
him, I wanted all of him, every part of his body, his every kiss, every breath he exhaled- I wanted it
all. We kept on kissing while our hands were continuously moving all over the place, especially
mine. I couldn’t decide where to put them because I wanted to touch him everywhere at the same
time. It stopped raining and I realised we were alone on the entire beach and not in any hotel’s
sight, because we ran pretty far away. I felt like I could finally be myself, not that I was usually a
shy guy when things like these already happen, but because I needed Samuel to feel safe too. I
hugged him tightly as I kept kissing him, slower this time, because I wanted to tease him.

I felt the need to tell Samuel how turned on I was and how much I wanted him in that moment, but
the words simply could not come out, I was too afraid I might upset him... but then, suddenly, I felt
the tips of his fingers in a place where he wouldn't have normally touched me as he took off my
shirt. I gasped out loud when a big wave took us by surprise and hit us from behind, making us fall
on the ground, half in the water, half on the beach. Samuel fell on top of me. He took off his shirt
too and I could see desire in his eyes. It was so beautiful…

(c) Snow124

“I want you,” he told me with a serious

expression on his face.

“I want you too, Samuel. Let’s go back to

our suite and-”

“No,” he interrupted me, with a calm, yet

demanding tone, touching my lips with his
fingers. “I want you right now. Here.”

My heart skipped a beat as I widened my

eyes at him, shocked because of what I
heard him say. I felt his hand caressing my
chest as it was slowly sliding lower to my
abdomen. Because we were soaking wet,
every touch I felt was more intense as it
turned into a tingling rather than just a
normal touch. As he grabbed my hips, Samuel kissed me again. I can’t describe how that made me
feel, it never felt so good for me to be teased, but this… this was overwhelmingly pleasant and
satisfying.

I suddenly turned my head left and gently kissed his neck. The sound he made turned me on even
more, but I didn’t have to worry about that anymore, as it seemed I also turned him on, because in
that moment, I felt it. I felt it on my abdomen as he was on top of me. Its shape, its length, I felt it in
every detail, so I couldn’t keep my hands to myself anymore. I lowered one of them down his
body, snaking it under his underwear, as a payback for earlier when he touched me there. I
squeezed it just a little bit, to tease the hell out of him. Samuel’s eyes widened as he made a sound
similar to a cough, as if I choked him, which ended in a soft moan of pleasure. We undressed as fast
as we could and Samuel threw our pants and underwear on drier grounds, as none of us could stand
the heat anymore.

Our naked bodies finally touched like that. It was pure, raw, just like it was supposed to feel, even
more, if you ask me. He was still on top of me, kissing me again as he was moving his body over
mine just like the waves, sending shivers down my spine because of how pleasantly cold his skin
was compared to mine. As we deepened the kiss, we were both moaning, one after another. Samuel
lowered his body as he stopped to look at me.

“Let me feel you…” he whispered next to my ear, while his lips gently brushed my neck, giving
me goosebumps. My eyes were just telling him “Of course I’ll let you…”

Without saying anything though, I grabbed his back, slowly pulling him closer to me.

I am aware of the fact that my face looked really helpless somehow, or maybe not quite… but what
I remember clearly is his face, which was still calm, untroubled, serene. That bothered me, I
wanted to see his face change. I wanted to see it frown and cringe because of too much pleasure. I
wanted to give him all that, to offer him the chance to finally feel something. He was already
turned on and rock hard, so that was the perfect moment when I could finally make him feel more.

“Embrace this… trust me,” I whispered, noticing the concern and the doubt in his eyes. "I'm all
yours."

He blinked slowly and leaned down to kiss me again. A wave gently pushed us towards the shore,
as he finally allowed his body to step forward, making me groan. I swear, I had never felt more
complete my whole life. We were finally one, moving together with the ocean, wrapped in a strong
embrace, moaning and panting as if we were clinging to the edge of the highest cliff in the world.

In the meantime, his hand was in the right spot, down on my body, as he was moving it up and
down my length, in the rhythm of his breathing. I suddenly noticed he started shivering as if he had
been struck by a mild electric shock. He tried not to make a sound, but gladly for me, he failed. The
sounds he made at the end sent my consciousness into a different dimension while I kept my eyes
on his face, as he finally frowned with his mouth half open, panting. Damn, I will never forget that
face. When I felt all his energy filling me up, I was also done for. I gasped and suddenly pulled
him towards me, kissing him hard while I was moaning loudly, overwhelmed. A powerful wave hit
us, just in time to wash us clean and push us towards the shore.

Samuel let his head fall on my chest as I sighed in relief.

“I love you,” I told him, running the tips of my fingers through his hair.

“I love you too, Nathan.”

I gasped as I raised my head to look at him, confused.

“What…?” I asked. “Why did you call me like that?”

Yeah. Welcome back, anxiety. Long time no see.

“I don’t know,” he said. “I just did… I told you I like it. You said you hate the name Michael,
so...”

I felt that sharp pain in my head again. I knew it was coming. Another flashback. Another strange
memory of me and him. Because I knew I was already anxious, I sighed heavily, prepared to see
another flashback… I closed my eyes, while still caressing Samuel’s hair. Everything turned black,
and then I saw it.

“I love the sea so much,” he told me. “It’s so amazing I can barely find the right words to describe
it to you. I could live next to the sea forever. When I look at it, not only does it make me feel alive,
but also makes me feel dead inside…”

I looked at him, confused. “That doesn’t make any sense.”

“Hn,” he scoffed. “You see, the ocean is like a permanent future mother. She holds a whole world
inside of her and that world never gets out. It sticks with her. Compared to the sea, we are nothing.
We are empty, that is why we need someone else to fill our emptiness. We come to the sea because
she inspires us, her waves are like the touch and the songs our mothers used to calm us down with.
We come to the sea because she would take us with open arms and make us part of her. This might
be the reason some people are afraid of the sea, she can be scary sometimes…”

I opened my eyes and realised Samuel fell asleep on my chest. I looked at the sky as the sun was
almost gone and I started feeling cold. I still felt the need to understand why was I seeing those
flashbacks, because I didn’t know if they were real or not.

I sighed before I woke Samuel up. “Let’s go back, it’s getting dark soon.”

“Yeah,” he muttered.

“Are you okay?” I asked him.

He looked at the ocean. “The sun is almost gone. I told you sunsets make me sad.”

“Why?”

“I have no idea. I just know that it’s the same feeling as if I'd lose you right now. All the warmth
goes away.”

I looked at him, but he avoided meeting my eyes.

“The sun always comes back in the morning,” I told him calmly. “Also, it will still be up for one
more hour or even more if the sky remains clear. Oh, and I'm not going anywhere. I'm here, with
you. I'll always be.”

He sighed as he got up. I finally got the chance to admire his naked body, it felt like I was looking
at a sculpture, a perfectly carved one. Pure art…

“Michael?”

“Huh?” I gasped awkwardly, realising I had been staring at him a little bit too much. “Sorry,” I
snickered as I got up as well.

He sighed again, but I could also see a tiny smile on his face. The bastard liked being admired, but
he was too stubborn to let it show.

We both took our clothes on and headed back to the hotel, holding hands. I felt so happy, nothing
else mattered. When we got back, John wasn’t at the reception desk, which I thought was weird,
but Samuel didn’t say anything about it.

“I need to take a shower,” Samuel told me as we got back in our suite.

“Okay. I’ll go grab a snack.”

Idiot, I should have joined him.

Samuel went to the bathroom and I went to the kitchen. I took a chocolate bar from the fridge and
before I could finally relax and take a bite from it, I heard a loud breaking sound coming from the
bathroom. I dropped the chocolate bar on the floor and ran to the bathroom door in a flash. I
knocked.

“Samuel? Are you okay? I heard a lot of noise.”

No answer came back. When I tried the door, it was locked. I instantly panicked. What if Samuel
fell and hit his head or something? Without any second thoughts, I smashed the door open. Even I
was shocked how weak that door was. Or maybe I was too strong for my own good and wasn't
aware of it…

(c) Snow124

“Samuel!” I yelled, seeing the mirror scattered

all over the place and Samuel curled up on the
floor with a piece of mirror glass in his left
hand. He was holding it above his right hand,
close to his wrist. I instantly grabbed it, cutting
myself.

“Shit,” I slurred as I tossed it away. "What the

hell were you trying to do?!"

Samuel didn’t make a sound. When I looked at

him closely, his eyes looked like they could
see through me. I leaned down at his level.

“Oi! Can you hear me?” I asked, grabbing his

chin. “Samuel!”

He still wasn’t responsive. I panicked like hell as I was looking at him, not knowing what to do. I
was scared and all I could do was cry at that moment. I grabbed him and hugged him, thinking he
had wanted to kill himself and he was in a state of shock at that moment. I thought it was that,
because that’s how I felt when I wanted to do it as well. His body felt so lifeless...

“Samuel… I love you. Please, say something,” I sobbed. “Why would you want to end your life?
What’s wrong? Please… don’t leave me…” I went on. "You don't want to lose me, but have you
thought about the fact that I don't wanna lose you either? I know we just met and all, but-"

In that moment, I heard him gasp, then he exhaled as if he had been holding his breath all that
time.

“Samuel?” I gasped as I quickly grabbed his face between my hands and looked at him after I
wiped my tears off my face. His eyes came back to normal, he wasn’t looking through me
anymore, but he still looked confused as hell.
“What’s wrong, Michael? Are… are you crying? What’s going on?” he asked.

I widened my eyes at him and instantly smiled, I couldn’t help myself, seeing that he was okay. I
kissed his forehead, relieved.

He looked around, confused. “I wanted to take a shower and then… I fell asleep,” he muttered,
frowning. "I guess I'm tired as hell."

“What? You fell asleep?” I asked, starting to become more confused than he was.

He looked at my bleeding hand, still frowning.

“What’s that?”

“I…uh... the mirror fell off and I tried to gather the pieces...” I said. "I, uh... thought you fainted
and hit your head, that is why I panicked..." I explained. I didn’t want to tell him about what
actually happened because I figured out something was wrong. I remembered that Oliver did
something to him before he disappeared. Maybe damaged his brain somehow when he pressed his
filthy fingers against Samuel's forehead, and I wanted to make sure nothing bad would happen
again.

I needed to act normal.

“How about we take that shower together?” I asked him.

“Pervert,” he scoffed.

I laughed, glad he was okay. He got up and took off his clothes. I frowned behind him, analyzing
the broken mirror, still worried about what just happened. It looked like he had wanted to hurt
himself but I didn’t understand why. Also, how did the mirror break? He could not remember
anything, so asking him about it or letting him know would’ve had worried him even more than he
already was.

“Well? What are you waiting for?” he asked me.

“Huh?” I gasped, then looked at him. He was waiting for me, naked, in the shower. I gave him a
slow blink while smiling and he looked surprised to see me do that. “I don’t owe you copyrights
for the slow blinking, do I?” I asked him.

“No,” he smiled.

I took off my clothes too, and joined him. “I see that someone is happy to see me naked again,” I
snickered.

“Tch, you really are a pervert,” he scoffed. “But you’re right, someone is happy, me included.”

Samuel grabbed my waist and pulled me closer to him. I instantly pressed my lips against his,
while lowering one of my hands down his body, touching him gently. He moaned and kissed me
harder in response.

“Michael… what are you doing to me?” he asked, panting.

“Nothing, just this,” I said, touching him down there again, not so gently this time. "I guess you
don't hate sex anymore."

“Shit!” he moaned as if I threw ice cold water on him.

I loved being in charge when it came to teasing him. Maybe it was because he always looked so
confident all the time, but when I was doing those things to him, he was always shocked, confused
and helpless against what he was feeling. When a man tells you that he hated sex for his whole life
and nobody succeeded in making him feel something, only to react like that when you touch him, it
makes you feel like your power over him is tremendous. I suddenly lowered my body and kneeled
in front of him, looking into his eyes. His face looked so shocked as if he’d seen a ghost. I snorted a
little because I couldn’t help it. It was funny.

“Michael… what are you-”

Before he could say another word, I started kissing him down there, feeling his smooth skin with
my lips and my tongue. He gasped loudly and bit his lower lip as he quickly grabbed the window
sill with one of his hands. I kept doing what I was doing, giving him the best I had up my sleeve.
After only two minutes, his legs started shaking a little as he groaned my name with his eyes shut. I
felt so happy.

After I got up, I kissed him childishly.

His face cringed a few seconds after. “Wait, where did you…uh-”

“What?” I asked, confused.

“Tch! You know what I’m talking about, loser!” he awkwardly gestured what he meant with his
hands.

“Oh! You mean your sp-”

“Yeah, that,” he interrupted me on purpose as his face turned red.

I looked at him and snorted. “Oh my god, you really feel awkward talking about this, don’t you? I
swallowed it, obviously!”

His eyes widened for a second as he kept looking at me. His pride must have been really hurt by
my relaxed attitude.

“You...did... what?“ he asked, almost whispering, as if he suddenly didn’t want anyone to hear us.

Seeing him feel so awkward was so cute it made me want to hug him and never let him go. He
sighed as he turned on the water and grabbed the shower gel. I took it from his hand as he gave me
a confused look, somehow pissed. I just smiled at him, opened the shower gel bottle, poured some
of it on my hands and started rubbing it on his soft, pale skin. My smile didn’t go away all that
time, while his face remained confused.

“Why are you doing this? I’m not disabled, I can do it myself,” he scoffed.

“Just soften up a bit and don't be an asshole” I sighed. “I’m doing this because I like your skin so
much. So, obviously, cleaning it is very satisfying to me,” I explained.

“Tch, you humans are so weird."

“Shut up and turn around,” I demanded.

Samuel scoffed again, but he did as I said. My ego was all over the place in those moments as I
thought it would always be like that, but Samuel was like that back then only because his brain was
still confused and I was totally clueless about that. I enjoyed it while it lasted, though. Every
second of it.

I poured some shampoo on my hands too and started massaging his head, spreading the foam
through his hair. He was completely silent, but he wasn’t tense anymore. He relaxed completely
and I was glad for that. I kissed his shoulder and wrapped my arms around his chest. We sat like
that, under the shower, for a few minutes, while soap was being rinsed off our bodies.

(c)Snow124

I was sitting next to the window, admiring the last rays of

sunshine for that day, as the sun was slowly hiding behind
the horizon.

“Thank you for this amazing evening,” Samuel said behind

me, placing his hand on my shoulder.

I held his hand as I leaned my head against his chest and

smiled at him.

“No, I should thank you. You are everything I ever needed,

Samuel Ulseth.”

His smile was so smooth you wouldn’t even notice it, but it
was there.

“What you did in the shower, by the way... what was that?”
he asked me.

I felt the need to snort and laugh as loud as I could. “You said you have experience,” I snickered.

He frowned, then poked my forehead with two fingers. “I know what a blowjob is, moron, I was
talking about what you did to make it feel so good...”

Yeah, now that I think about it, thank god I didn’t snort and laugh as I said I felt the need to,
because it would have made me look like a total idiot. But I guess Samuel would have called me a
moron anyway. I miss hearing him mock me constantly...

“Oh. Well, that is hard to explain, but I’ll do it slower next time so you can keep track,” I
snickered.

"You were just lucky, loser, that's why you can't explain," he scoffed.

"Oi, that's not true!" I objected as I turned around.

“Remember I wanted to show you something?" he asked. "Follow me.”

I got up from my seat and followed him as we left our suite. Samuel took out one of his cards,
placed it near a door next to ours, opening it.
“No way!” I exclaimed, seeing what was behind that door. A huge pool. The ocean could be seen
from there too.

“Are you up for a swim before we go to

sleep?”

“Of course,” I said. “Let’s race.”

“You must really like losing, if you suggest

that,” he mocked me. “Alright. I’m in.”

We undressed and jumped into the pool,

heading to one of its edges, preparing
ourselves for the race.

“We should have warmed up a little before

jumping in, “ I told him.

“Tch, I don’t need that,” he scoffed, mocking me again.

“Alright, now you’re provoking me! Get ready… one, two, three… start!”

We both inhaled a generous amount of air as we sunk our heads into the water and pushed
ourselves forward against the pool's wall.

I just focused on my speed and my moves. I didn’t actually think I had the chance to win against
him, but I was still giving my best. While I was caught in my own attempt to keep myself focused,
I felt another sharp pain in my head.

I knew another flashback was coming and I tried hard to stop it or at least not let it stop me from
swimming. Really, those flashbacks used to bother me in the most important moments.

I went to the surface, inhaled some air again and dived into the water again with my eyes closed.

(c) Snow124

This time I just saw what I thought was Samuel’s face, but… he
looked a little bit different. Older, somehow. His hair was
longer. Then I realised what I was seeing was not an ordinary
flashback at all.

“Seryth, promise me you will not let anything destroy what we

have.” I heard a voice say to him.

I gasped and instantly reached for the surface again. Samuel

was still swimming, so he didn’t notice anything. I kept
swimming too, until we both reached the edge again.

“You won, “ I told him.

“Did I?” he asked, confused. “From the vibrations I felt in the water, you were two rounds ahead of
me. You don’t have to lie, you won. I don’t mind, I’m actually amazed.”
“What?” I gasped. “What do you mean I was two rounds ahead?”

(c) Snow124

“You were, Michael. I am fast and

smooth, but your strength kicked
my ass this time, not only the
water," he said as he swam closer
to me.

I was shocked to hear all that

because I didn’t realise how that
happened, especially while I was
interrupted by that flashback.
Samuel took my hand and I smiled
at him, seeing how happy he was
with my performance. We inhaled
some air and sunk ourselves into
the water again, as he gave me a
short kiss. Being with him always
made me forget about all my worries, even about that strange flashback I had minutes before. Also,
the water from that pool was so clean I could open my eyes without the slightest problem.

At that moment, everything seemed perfect. We were just young, in love and free. At least, for that
moment. As for me, I wasn’t aware at all of what was waiting for me. But after all, I could had
never run away from what was coming.

Destiny had big plans for me and Samuel and I wish we were prepared for that, but instead, the
truth had been kept away from us for years. Actually, since we were born.
 The One Who Laughs Last
Chapter Summary

I didn’t think about it too much, but I was well aware of the fact that I, as a human
being, should not be able to see Oliver’s aura or whatever the hell that was, should not
be able to swim faster than Samuel and definitely should not see weird flashbacks or
smash bathroom doors open so easily without any training. I thought back then that the
bastards who kidnapped me were responsible for all the things I could suddenly do or
happened to me, that they might have done something to me. I wasn’t entirely wrong,
though. That was why they didn’t actually erase my memory. They weren’t able to do
it because of a reason and I was getting closer to finding out what that reason was.

Chapter Notes

The drawings belongs to Snow124 and you cannot use them without her permission!! -
.-
The gif is from tumblr and if someone could tell me where it's actually from, I'll buy
them a coffee! <3
Enjoy the plot twists.

This chapter's background music here. Right click and open it in a new tab :3

(c) Snow124
Wednesday, 25 of August
2077, 05.00 a.m.

" No!! I’m sorry!” I yelled.

“Just close your eyes,

Nathan.”

“But I don’t want to die!!

Now I remember! I can
remember everything, so I
don’t want to die anymore!
Use your powers and stop
us from falling, please!!”

“No… our love must die

along with us.”

“Sanneth!!!!!!”

I woke up in our suite’s bed, hyperventilating, almost choking. When I looked next to me, Samuel
was not there.

“What the hell… Samuel? Are you here?” I yelled, but no answer came back. “Jesus… what a
horrible nightmare I just had… and he called me Nathan again and I called him Sanneth… what
the hell is going on?”

I checked the clock and it was 5 A.M. . It made no sense to me why would Samuel leave the suite
and my anxiety started playing tricks on me, telling me he left for good and everything had been a
joke. I inhaled and decided to ignore those thoughts, so I took my phone and called him.

“The number you have dialled cannot be reached right now, please try again later”, the voicemail
said.

“Tch! You’ve got to be kidding me!” I hissed.

I got up from bed and went straight to the bathroom to check if Samuel was in there, being
obviously afraid something bad happened again and only the thought of it made me shiver. To be
honest, Samuel leaving me was a better scenario in my head than finding him dead or hurting
himself again. When I opened the bathroom door, nobody was there though. The whole suite was
empty and all I could see was the moon shining above the ocean and its dim light filling the room.

I sighed as I decided to go to the reception desk, because John must have seen Samuel somewhere.
A haunting silence dominated the whole building as well. Also, when I arrived at the reception
desk, no one was there. Maybe they didn’t expect anyone to book a room at that hour.
As I was looking around, I saw a small elevator behind a wall, in a corner. It wasn’t easy to notice,
but I noticed it and headed towards it.

“Is this functional?” I muttered as I pressed the command button, curious.

The doors suddenly opened. Not sure what I was doing, I stepped in and pressed the only button
the cabin’s command board had. The doors closed and I felt the elevator going down as I
swallowed dry. After two minutes, it stopped. Yeah, that’s a lot of time for an assumed short
distance. When I got out, the cold air hit me and almost made me faint. That was a huge difference
of temperature between levels, considering the fact that it was summer.

“Hello?” I said, as the echo of my voice traveled through the dark hallways which seemed to be
made of stone. When I looked around more carefully, I noticed the floor’s edge was actually a
ditch, covered by a metallic grid and light was coming out of it. As I got closer to examine the
ditch, I noticed heat was coming out of it too, because it was filled with burning coals. That also
explained the light. I asked myself what the hell was that ancient heating system doing in a place
like that and why was the place so cold despite all that. Not getting any sunlight might have been
the reason but I was also wondering how low under the hotel was I.

“May I ask what are you doing here, boy?” I heard a voice ask me as a manly figure stepped out of
the shadows. The man had long, spiky white hair and looked very muscular.

“Who are you?” I asked him.

The man scoffed. “I’m the one who’s asking questions here, you know? My name is Joshua.”

I widened my eyes hearing his name as it rang a bell in my mind, but I didn’t understand why. His
face was also familiar to me.

“Now tell me kid, what are you doing here? Are you lost?”

“Kid?! I’m almost twenty three, you know?” I raised my voice at him.

The man laughed a little as he placed his hand on his forehead. “Oh, my. Time passed quickly in
the outside world, it seems. Look, you should go back, this is not a place where you should be.
How did you get here anyway?”

“Outside world? What are you blabbering about? I took this elevator, of course!” I said as I turned
around to show him, but when I looked behind me, I couldn’t see the elevator anymore.
“Whaaaaaat?! Where… where is it?!” I yapped out loud as I turned back around to look at the old
man, whose face was also confused as hell.

“Impossible,” he muttered as his face began to frown, "you saw it?"

“Dude… you scare me,” I muttered as I swallowed dry.

“Go back,” he told me, pointing at the wall behind me. When I turned around again, the elevator
was visible again. I gasped as my whole body froze because of shock and confusion.

“Fine,'' I said as I headed to the elevator, making him believe I was willing to go back, when I
actually turned around all of a sudden and dashed through the hallway, passing by him as quick as I
could. He definitely didn’t expect that.

“Oi, you! Stop!” I heard him yell as I kept running through the hallway as fast as I could. I bumped
into a door and opened it without hesitation, only to find myself entering the biggest library I had
ever seen. As I stepped forward, the door closed itself behind me and I was suddenly wandering
through tremendously tall bookshelves. I stopped, as I saw an unexpected “friend” in there. I turned
to stone and tried to hold my breath while Oliver was looking through a book that had the letter
“U” engraved on both sides of its cover. Glad he didn’t notice me, I planned to stay there and spy
on him, but then I heard that old man Joshua storm into the library:

“Boy, are you here?!”

That was the moment I saw Oliver wave his hand in the air and disappear. Just like he did in the
bathroom with Samuel. As I narrowed my eyes, I realised I could still see where he was, but
somehow could only see a purple halo instead of his body. Joshua popped right in front of Oliver,
but didn’t see him because he continued going forward, searching for me. Then, Joshua came back
in the same spot after a few seconds, like he had missed something. I saw Oliver’s halo move away
quickly and run towards the door. I didn’t care about Joshua anymore, I just wanted to stop the
bastard so I popped out from where I was hiding and started running after him.

“Hey, come back here!” I yelled. “I can see you, asshole!”

“Kid, stop! It’s dangerous!” I heard Joshua scream behind me.

I didn’t give a damn, though. My brain had never been more confused as it was back then and all
my concerns were about finding out the truth. I didn’t think about it too much, but I was well aware
of the fact that I, as a human being, should not be able to see Oliver’s aura or whatever the hell that
was, should not be able to swim faster than Samuel and definitely should not see weird flashbacks
or smash bathroom doors open so easily without any training. I thought back then that the bastards
who kidnapped me were responsible for all the things I could suddenly do or happened to me, that
they might have done something to me. I wasn’t entirely wrong, though. That was why they didn’t
actually erase my memory. They weren’t able to do it because of a reason and I was getting closer
to finding out what that reason was.

We were back on the hallways, still running as I was getting closer and closer to Oliver. As soon as
I was close enough, I jumped and launched myself at him, grabbed his foot and threw him against
the closest wall I saw. He coughed blood because of the impact and I could see his body again. I
guessed his cloak could not last if someone hit him.

And yeah, something was definitely not normal about me.

“You’re not going anywhere,” I roared at him angrily.

Oliver chuckled. “Wow, you really are amazing after all. Too bad Aymera put you in my way more
than I wanted. She basically undid what Saruk had done seven years ago.”

He raised his hand surrounded by a purple glow and I knew he wanted to throw a blast at me or
something, but before he could do anything, a white blast hit him instead.

“Stay away from him, you clown!” Joshua fumed.

“Tch… Jirath,” Oliver grunted at him. “Long time no see, foolish coward.”

I kept hearing other names instead of the ones I knew and that really made me go nuts. I felt like
everybody was lying to me. Also, Joshua had powers and apparently Oliver knew him. Why
wasn’t I surprised at all?

“See you next time, “ Oliver said, his voice suddenly sounding different, croaky. I noticed his face
somehow started to change… like his skin was falling off, revealing a different face under the one
we saw.

I gasped in disgust, staring at him. He just laughed as he waved his hand at the wall and the
elevator appeared out of nowhere. He jumped in and the doors closed before I could catch him.

“Damn it!” I yelled infuriated, hitting the elevator’s doors as they became a wall again. “I need to
catch that sick bastard. And you… you also have ten seconds to explain why he called you Jirath
instead of Joshua,” I hissed at the old man.

“It’s my second name,” he answered shortly, without hesitation, so I believed him.

“Whatever. That bastard did something to Samuel, I need to go and find Samuel before he does,” I
said to Joshua.

The old man sighed, then nodded at me. “Go,” he said, as he waved his hand and the elevator
appeared again.

I ran towards it without hesitation.

“Be careful, Nathan,” he said. “See you on Akai.”

"Wha-" I gasped as the elevator’s doors closed before I could say anything else. I was left
speechless, with my mouth and eyes wide open.

When I was finally back in the hotel lobby, I started panicking as Samuel seemed nowhere to be
found. With Oliver on the loose, I started feeling helpless. I didn’t even know where to look for
him but then I remembered someone else might know where he was.

“Kassius…” I muttered to myself, as I quickly ran over to the reception desk to open the computer
and check which room was Kassius staying in. It was 525. “Thanks John, for not being here,” I
scoffed as I rushed towards the main elevator. At least the computer didn't have a passcode. As
soon as I reached the fifth level and the doors opened, I was dashing through the hallway to find
Kassius’ room. When I got there, the door was already open.

“What the hell… Kassius? Hello?”

No answer came back and I started feeling like something bad was going on. I wasn’t able to
explain it to myself back then, I just knew Kassius definitely wasn’t there and I still had to find
Samuel as soon as possible. Suddenly, I heard something fall on the floor and break. When I
looked, it was a glass.

“Who’s there?!”

No answer came my way and silence still dominated the place until the furniture in the room
started trembling.

“What is this? An earthquake? Impossible…”

I instantly froze, because I knew an earthquake would cause a tsunami in that area. As I gasped, a
panic attack installed itself into my mind and instantly took control of my body as well, making me
unable to move.

“Shit… I have to… do something…” I grunted as the whole room started spinning before my eyes
as if I was about to faint, but I struggled to pull myself together. I saw the pieces of glass scattered
on the floor and I forced myself to stretch out my hand and take one, then quickly made a small cut
inside my palm with it so adrenaline could make me alert. I grunted and closed my eyes, inhaling
deeply as I was trying to calm down. After a few seconds, anger took control of me as I
remembered that Oliver might had been behind what was happening. I frowned and clenched my
fist as blood was dripping through the space between my fingers from the cut inside my palm.

I got out of Kassius’ room and dashed through the hallway again, straight into the elevator, ready
to go outside of the hotel because something was telling me that’s where I’d find Samuel.

As I got outside, running towards the beach, Kassius approached me. “Michael! We need to leave!
Now!”

I turned around and almost bumped into him. He looked angry.

“What the hell is going on?” I asked.

“It’s Samuel… he’s… he’s out of control… I could not stop him…”

He was hyperventilating.

“Stop him from what, Kassius?! Where is he now?”

Kassius didn’t say a word anymore, he just pointed at the ocean.

“What-... what do you mean? Samuel is in the water? Please explain!” I yelped, irritated.

“He... threw himself into the water, saying he will embrace the darkness... that is all he said and I
couldn’t see him anymore after that. Michael, the earthquake you must have felt earlier… Samuel
caused it. His energy went nuts… we need to depart to Akai right now and Teresa will tell us what
is really going on and-”

“I’m not leaving Samuel here,” I interrupted him.

It suddenly started raining. When I checked the clock, it was already 6 A.M. I grunted as I took off
my shoes and shirt, prepared to run towards the water.

“Michael, please listen to me! Samuel is capable of more than you know!” Kassius yelled.

“Forget it. You were beside Samuel so many years and now you want to leave him alone!? If I
were you, I would search for Oliver, because that bastard did this to Samuel and also stole
something from Joshua’s secret library and I’m more than certain you know what and who I am
talking about.”

“You met Joshua?! And.. Oliver was here all the time?!” he gasped.

“Yeah, I’d be more concerned about that. Call anyone you know that could help us. I bet Joshua’s
gonna be outside soon,” I said as I headed towards the sea, leaving Kassius behind, with the food
for thought I “served” him.

I jumped into the water and started swimming as fast as I could, that’s how desperate I felt. I didn’t
even know where to search for Samuel but despite that, I knew I would sense his energy somehow.
After a few minutes, I really did. I inhaled deeply and went underwater, convinced I'd find him
there. I could feel he was close to me, but I couldn’t see him underwater, although I kept looking
in every direction . Because I needed air, I reached for the surface again. While I was catching my
breath, I suddenly felt like an electric shock hit me as I saw Samuel’s silhouette a few meters in
front of me... standing on the water.
“Samuel? What the…”

I was so overwhelmed by seeing him above water instead of swimming in it that I thought I was
hallucinating. I shook my head, rubbed my eyes but I could still see him, so I was definitely not
hallucinating. Somehow, I was scared and happy to see him at the same time.

“Samuel!!!!” I yelled as I began swimming towards him as fast I could, kicking the water with full
force.

I noticed the waves were getting bigger and bigger. It was the first time I was afraid of Samuel’s
powers, especially after what Kassius told me. It was unbelievable he could cause an earthquake,
as smooth as that one was, that was capable of creating a tsunami. How could that kind of
technology, capable of doing such things, could stay hidden from people? I had no idea what to do,
so out of impulsiveness, I grabbed his foot, but I couldn’t make him move at all. He was looking at
the water, but not at me, as both of his hands were close to his body, keeping his fingers apart from
each other, in a straight position. His sight was focused on the ground, like he was looking through
the water, at the sea floor. That sight of him was really scary. He looked possessed.

“Samuel, snap out of it!” I yelled.

“Humans must be… washed away,” he muttered, calmly, without even blinking.

“No,” I thought, “… this is all that bastard’s doing… that Oliver... I need to do something. But
what can I do? Why on earth isn’t Kassius or anyone else helping me?”

I noticed how my heart was beating faster and faster and it was hard for me to even breathe,
imagine I also had to keep swimming so I wouldn’t drown. I just knew I had to do something to
make Samuel come back to reality. I knew I had it in me somehow, but wasn’t aware of it.
Suddenly, Samuel laid his eyes on me and all could see in them was hatred. It felt like I was
looking at someone else. That wasn’t the Samuel I knew.

“You… are in my way,” he said as our eyes met. He suddenly stretched out his arm and pointed it
above my head.
I gasped as I widened my eyes at him. “Samuel… what are you-”

Before I could finish my sentence, my eyes felt like they were being stung and instantly felt the
need to squeeze them shut. That’s when I realised... he was actually trying to hurt me. As anger
installed itself within me, I reacted instinctively and grabbed Samuel’s foot harder, pulling him
underwater with me as I savagely punched him in the stomach, also noticing my moves were faster
than they would normally be underwater and that made me question my strength again. After
Samuel opened his eyes, he sent me a threatening stare as he kicked the water. He launched
himself at me and grabbed my throat as we instantly splashed out of the water at his will.

He landed on his feet above the surface, with his hands still around my throat, holding me in the air
while I was struggling to make him let me go. He was choking me so hard I couldn’t breathe at all
and because I also had been underwater before that, I realised it had been an entire minute since my
lungs received oxygen. My heart was beating fast as hell and all I could think of was the fact that I
would die by the hands of the one I loved so much. When I processed that more evenly, I felt like
my body went on fire, I literally saw the reflection of myself, somehow surrounded by glowing
yellow aura, into Samuel’s dark eyes. I felt like deep within me, I was turning into something
more, like my spirit didn’t accept that way of dying. To make it clear, I understood that Samuel
could not kill me and I could never kill him. It was impossible for us to die by the hands of one
another. That’s what I felt to be the undeniable truth.

I calmed down a bit, trying to take a deep breath, despite the fact that Samuel was choking me and
I suddenly gasped and opened my eyes wide when I felt my lungs filling up with oxygen. I didn’t
understand how, but somehow, my body was absorbing oxygen from Samuel, through my skin
cells. He gasped as he heard me breathing again and he frowned. He surely didn’t expect that.

“Why aren’t you dead yet?!” he snarled.

“The only way you can kill me… is if you die as well. Do you want that, Sanneth?!” I asked him,
somehow clueless about why I called him Sanneth, but the name just came out of my mouth.

He looked at me and I could see it in his eyes… he was lost in his own mind… and I had to bring
him back to reality. I felt my body becoming stronger and stronger, while Samuel’s seemed to
become weaker, but as soon as he realised I was taking away his energy, he released me, letting me
fall as he backed away a few meters. Both of us were shocked when I landed on the surface of the
water instead of falling deep into it.

“What? Am I… standing above water?!” I asked myself as I tried to make a step and convinced
myself it was true. I was able to walk on water. I was able to do it because Samuel was able to do
it. Somehow, borrowing some of his energy gave me that ability. I laughed shortly as I looked at
my own feet stepping on water.

My excitement vanished quickly when I heard Samuel grunt as he suddenly started running
towards me with the same amount of hatred in his eyes I had seen earlier. I could actually feel his
anger in every molecule of air around us and I also knew I had to stop the damage Samuel’s
earthquake might have caused because I could feel the water that was continuously retreating,
which in the end would come back in full force - a tsunami.

“Wind doesn’t need fire to survive, it can survive on its own!” Samuel's voice fumed as he finally
approached me, grabbing my arm and throwing me in the air as far as he could, just like he threw
our clothes on that beach where our naked bodies finally touched the evening before. I felt hurt as
if he stabbed me through the heart.

“Now, be gone!” he yelled again in the next second after he threw me in the air, as he stretched out
his arms forward and made all the drops of rain in the air nearby instantly freeze and take the
shape of sharp needles. He launched them at me, all at once, while I was still in the air. I gasped,
squeezed my eyes shut as I landed on my feet and took a defensive position, placing my arms
crossed abobe my head. I expected my body to be stung all over the place by all those ice needles
Samuel launched at me, but when I opened my eyes, they were floating in the air, surrounding me.

“Am I… doing this? Did I stop them?” I gasped as I realised I was protected by an invisible shield I
created, which I could sense despite not seeing it. I began to feel more confident but I didn’t know
how much it would last or what exactly I could do, so I began thinking about a way of escaping,
the quickest one possible, but nothing came into my mind, until I felt an instant urge to attack
Samuel back. Because I knew none of my attacks would actually kill him, I didn’t hesitate- as I was
still standing with my arms crossed in front of my head, I suddenly stretched them out in the air,
like people usually do when they praise someone they worship. The move just came to me
naturally, it didn’t feel like I was using my mind too much, or maybe it was the huge difference
between what I could do in those moments compared to the nothing I could do before. Yeah, it was
definitely that.

After I made that move, all the ice needles suddenly flew Samuel’s way with an incredible speed. I
couldn’t believe my eyes. It felt like I could control nature or something. Of course Samuel didn’t
fall for that attack because with only one move of his hand, the ice needles melted and fell down as
rain, mixing with the ocean.

“You’re no match for me, Uzkaeri.”

“Tch, why do I keep hearing names I know nothing about?!” I grunted. “Samuel, please stop this! I
don’t want to fight you, I love you!”

The last words I said were words spoken in tears as an overwhelming sadness took over me. I was
really afraid, I really didn’t want to fight him as I also could not understand how on earth could
Oliver control him like that, nothing made sense in my head. It was like a never ending nightmare
that haunted every minute of my sleep. Worse than the nightmare I just had before waking up. I
even started to ask myself if that nightmare was a warning about what was going on.

I tried to get closer to him, making a few steps forward. “Samuel, please. Come back to me. I know
you can hear me…”

“I don’t know who this Samuel is, but it's like you’re talking to a ghost and it makes you look
dumb,” he told me with a very cold, calm tone- the same tone he used on a daily basis but in that
moment his words were hurting me in ways I never thought I’d be hurt by something.

My body started feeling heavy as my mind was getting weaker because of the bitterness filling my
heart. Samuel instantly noticed that and he quickly came closer to me, until we were just a few
centimeters away from each other. The hate in his eyes was still there. Because I was already
clogged up inside by miserable feelings of fear and depression, it would had been too much for me
to try and figure out where all that hate was coming from.

Of course, my mind started confusing me as it always did, for as long as I had been alive, telling
me that if I kissed him, he would snap out of it. As we were standing in front of each other like
that, I was fighting with that irrational thought. Resisting it as hard as I could, I even made a step
forward, to test Samuel’s reaction. He didn’t even move a finger- that’s how confident he was and
that’s how absent his mind was. His body was surrounded by a faint, blue aura.

“Do you really want to kill me?” I asked him straightforwardly.

“What do you think?” he asked me back, smiling in a way I never thought I’d see him smile.

I took a deep breath as I looked into his eyes without blinking. “Do it, then. But you won’t be the
one who laughs last,” I said to him, convinced those were my last words.
 Running Out Of Time
Chapter Summary

It was weird to me how calm Joshua was talking about powers and things like that
with me around, as if he knew I was able to understand everything, somehow. It made
me feel like he knew more about me than I did. I narrowed my eyes at him as I
remembered he also called me “Nathan”.

Chapter Notes

The drawings belong to Snow124, don't repost them or I'll kill you!

CHAPTER THEME MUSIC: RIGHT CLICK HERE, open in a new tab.

I took a deep breath as I looked into his eyes without blinking. “Do it, then. But you won’t be the
one who laughs last,” I said to him, convinced those were my last words.

As I was left standing there, with my feet barely touching the soft waves, staring at the man I loved
so much as time seemed to suddenly slow down around us, I felt my pulse quicken beneath my skin
and saw Samuel’s pupils dilating as the raindrops stopped falling and remained floating in the air.
It wasn’t an illusion, Samuel was doing that, too. The waves also seemed to have stopped moving.

I was thinking that it should have been already 7 A.M. but the sun couldn’t be seen because of the
clouds. “Sunsets make me sad”, I instantly remembered Samuel telling me the day before, but it
made no sense to me why those words of his popped into my mind. I was quickly brought back to
reality when I could see the ocean floor through the water underneath my feet, all of a sudden, as
the sea level seemed to be very low.

I knew then- it was happening. The big wave was on its way to the shore and Samuel was aware of
that, that’s why he must have slowed down time- to be able to kill me before that would happen so
I won’t be able to stop it. I was still confused though, because I didn’t understand how Samuel
would consider me a threat against the tsunami, I had no power. Maybe it was because I
“borrowed” his energy and became able to use it like my own? It just made no sense to me
nevertheless, for in my mind I was still Michael Unsworth, a simple human. Although, what
Samuel was doing was already beyond what science could explain. I mean, time could not be
actually slowed down. If it could, it would accelerate what comes next after you press the “pause
button” again, right? At that moment though, I just had to accept that maybe… science could not
explain everything, especially when it came to Oliver. I had no idea what that guy was capable of
and still couldn’t figure out how he controlled Samuel.
Willing to let Samuel hurt me and see what would happen, I closed my eyes and took a deep breath
as I prepared myself to hear him yelling my name before he killed me.

“Nakaeron!”

Opening my eyes wide when I heard the name he yelled instead, I instinctively grabbed the wrist of
his hand that was reaching for my chest and stopped it. He would have definitely killed me with
that energy blade surrounding his palm. I was strong enough to stop him, though.

“Tch, you were just testing me, weren’t you?!” he hissed at me, annoyed.

Maybe I was testing him without being aware of it. Honestly, I never thought he would actually
want to kill me but there we were...

“Are you stalling me?” Samuel snarled again, ill-tempered. “Your precious star won’t help you this
time, with all this darkness surrounding us… so stand still and let me cut you in half!”

I gasped as it all finally made sense in my head. “ Precious star, huh?” I thought as I remembered
how Samuel acted weird in the evening before, right after acknowledging the sun was about to set -
he said it made him feel sad and he wanted to hurt himself when we arrived at the hotel. Right after
that, he became weaker and I won against him in that swimming competition only to find myself
alone in bed at night because he went on a rampage to the ocean. In conclusion, sadness was his
weakness and Oliver knew that, so basically what Oliver did to Samuel’s mind was being triggered
by sadness. I began to understand the mechanism a little.

At that moment, I had to do something to make the sun come out of the clouds and test if my
theory was right.

“Okay, but how do I do that? If he slowed down time, would I be able to scatter the clouds as fast
as I need to? Or maybe I should figure out how to make him stop slowing down time… if he does
this with his abilities, then it must require focus and energy… alright, then…” I thought.

As I made a step forward I realised my moves were not slowed down at all and neither were his.
Confusion quickly settled into my mind as it made no sense how would someone slow down time
and not be affected by it. The premise of my theory was wrong.

“He didn’t slow down time, he’s just playing with what’s around us… trying to delay the wave I
guess… amazing.... he can hold this massive amount of water… this must require a lot of focus…”

I regained confidence in my theory despite its premise being changed, as there was still only one
thing left for me to do- win against him at playing with nature.

“Don’t be so sure my 'precious star' won’t come in handy when that’s its sole purpose,” I snickered
at him.

“What purpose is that?” he asked, frowning.

“To bring light and warmth!” I enunciated fiercely as I stretched out both of my arms forward,
pointing them where I calculated the sun would be at that time- close to the horizon, of course,
because it must have had risen already. A few seconds later, I was left amazed by the clouds that
started scattering before my eyes, at my command, revealing the sun in all its glory.

“You!” I heard Samuel roar from behind me.

When I turned around, to my surprise, his eyes were closed. I felt more powerful, though, not
realising the sun was helpful to me as well. Samuel stretched out his left arm, pointing it at the sky
and suddenly all the scattered clouds were brought together above me as lightning was
continuously flashing through them. Despite the fact that I brought out the sun, Samuel still
managed to avoid looking at it and I was still outmatched from what it looked like.

I gasped as I looked up. “Impossible…”

“Farewell, Nakaeron!” Samuel shouted as the sky suddenly lit up before my eyes.

“Nathan!!!!” I heard Joshua calling my name the second I fell into the water, struck by lightning.

“Samuel… open your eyes,” I thought as my body was slowly sinking. I wasn’t even sure if my
theory had been right. Also, why did he call me Nakaeron as if he was talking to someone else, not
to me… as if he was talking like he was someone else. A few seconds later, everything went black.

(c) Snow124

“Will I see you

soon, Seryth?”

“Hn, probably. If
it’s me that Orris
wants, I’ll give him
all I’ve got.”

“Please come back

alive. Our wedding
is in a few days.”

“I will.”

“Do you promise?”

“I already promised myself to you, Nikaellan.”

“Good. That means you have to stay alive.“

I opened my eyes instantly, after having that dream, only to see Samuel
sinking near me as if he had been blasted into the water. My body wanted to
freeze, but I realised I needed air so I rushed to the surface to inhale a good
amount of it, then instantly dived back in. Samuel was laying on the
seafloor, deeper than I expected. The pressure was so high I started feeling
pain in my ears as I tried to reach him. I grabbed his hand and quickly swam
upwards to the surface again.

“There he is!” I heard a familiar voice. It was Stephanie.

“Michael! Over here, quick!” I also heard Joshua shouting at me.

They were on the beach. I swam towards them while holding Samuel tightly in my arms. His
weight was dragging me down, but I kept kicking the water with my feet until I reached the shore,
with his body still in my arms, facing me. I looked at him, wondering who stopped him.

“Okay, Jirath, now that they’re out, let’s do this, we’re running out of time!” Stephanie demanded.
It was weird she called him Jirath, though.

Asking myself what they were doing, I turned around to look at the ocean and I freaked out so
much when I saw the huge wave heading towards us that I fell on my knees, almost dropping
Samuel on the ground. I knew something was odd when I was in the water, because I barely
reached the shore, as if the ocean was pulling me back, but I was too focused on taking Samuel
back to think about the wave. I got up and backed away a few meters, still holding him in my arms
as Joshua and Stephanie stretched out both of their arms in front of them.

“Did it cover all the area, have you checked?” Stephanie asked Joshua.

“Yes, just keep it at full force!” the old man shouted.

At that moment, instead of washing us all away, the wave hit against an invisible energy barrier
that Stephanie and Joshua created, making them both yell out loud as they resisted against the force
of nature. Any mistake in their focus would have ended up in a disaster.

“Michael, take Samuel and go inside!” Stephanie demanded while still keeping resistance against
the furious sea.

Curious by nature, I would have stayed to see how it ended but having Samuel unconscious in my
arms made me do as she said. I ran back to the hotel and instantly tucked him into bed as soon as I
arrived in our suite.

I sighed in relief and went to grab a snack. When I got back in the bedroom, Kassius was by the
bed, looking at Samuel with a serious expression. After two seconds, he laid his eyes on me,
frowning. “Michael, if you know something, I think it’s high time you told us. Samuel never acted
this way.”

I sighed. “I think Oliver did something to him yesterday, right before Mr. Aiden collapsed.”

“What? How?”

“You know Samuel went to the bathroom. Right after that, the waiter strangely dropped a plate of
cake on Oliver’s lap.”
“Yeah, then Oliver excused himself saying he’s going to clean up…” Kassius completed my
sentence.

“Well, he went after Samuel,” I said. “I knew that because I started feeling sick all of a sudden as I
felt something bad was about to happen, I don’t know how to explain…”

Kassius kept looking at me, analyzing me. “We’ll get to that later,” he told me. “Now go on.”

“Right. When I left the meeting room and followed Oliver, I found him and Samuel in the
bathroom, on the verge of fighting. Oliver kept saying things like Mr. Aiden lied, referred to
Samuel as Sanneth, saying that he actually despises humans and one day he will want to avenge his
ancestors… “

Kassius gasped. “This is really bad. This means he might really be-”

“Lord Orris?” I interrupted him. “The one Stephanie mentioned? Yeah, he might be alive, he might
have killed both Seryth and Nikaellan and made it look like he died along with Seryth, when in
fact, Nikaellan found out about Seryth’s death and went after Orris in a flash, “ I said. “Seryth and
Nikaellan were already engaged when that happened.”

Kassius widened his eyes at me, maybe wondering how did I know those things.

”We’ll get to that later though, right, Kassius?” I asked him with a mocking yet serious tone,
noticing his confusion.

He hesitated answering for a few seconds. “Uh… right.”

“Oliver, or Lord Orris, however the hell you want to call the bastard, placed his hand on Samuel’s
forehead as a purple glow surrounded his palm. I don’t know what that was, but it made Samuel
groan in pain and his weird behaviour started right after the sun had set,” I explained.

“The sun? What does the sun have to do with Samuel?” Kassius asked, confused.

“Nothing, in particular. What's also weird is that tonight was a full Moon. But you know what has
to do with Samuel? Sadness. I think Oliver damaged him psychologically. The damage needed to
be triggered by something sad, which was Mr. Aiden’s death right after Oliver disappeared. That’s
when this psychological tumor or whatever it is that Oliver implanted in Samuel’s brain started
spreading. Think of it like a virus being in the incubation period, but that period is much shorter in
this case than it would be if we were dealing with a normal virus. Remember that Samuel
threatened Stephanie he will kill her if she won’t explain what’s going on? Have you ever heard
him say anything like that before?”

Kassius nodded, still frowning, as he was processing what I was explaining. Judging from the look
on his face, what I said made a lot of sense. I suddenly didn't feel dumb anymore.

“That’s when it started,” I went on. “Samuel was sad and angry. If I hadn’t done something, his
rampage would have started much earlier.”

“What did you do?” Kassius asked me, taking me by surprise.

I blushed and looked away as I instantly remembered the moments I spent with Samuel on the
beach. “I… took him out for some fresh air, tried to cheer him up. And it worked… for a few
hours, at least. He told me then that sunsets make him sad. That’s how I figured out that Samuel’s
rampage was caused by sadness and Oliver who damaged him psychologically, not physically at
all. What Oliver did to Samuel was triggered by sadness, awakening tremendous powers in him.
You said it - Samuel is capable of much more than what I had seen. I know you said the truth for
once, because I have seen now what he’s capable of. Although, I want to ask you something,
Kassius… is Samuel aware of what he can do?” I asked, looking straight into Kassius’ eyes as he
released a deep sigh, avoiding my eyes.

“No,” he answered.

I gasped, but somehow, I expected that answer. I instantly went from sadness to anger. “Why did
you lie to him?”

“It’s complicated," Kassius sighed. "Although, it’s over now. Samuel will find out the truth, but
not from me. Promise me you won’t say anything to him. Lady Teresa will explain everything to
him as soon as we get to Akai.”

I rolled my eyes, disappointed. “Fine, have it your way. Just know this,” I said, pointing my finger
at Kassius. “If this happened because Samuel was sad, you all have to keep him happy from now
on. I won’t let you or anyone whom he trusts disappoint him, you hear me?” I hissed at him. “He
trusts you more than anyone, you were like his second father. “

“Did he say that?” Kassius asked, taken by surprise.

I just gave him a cold stare without answering his question.

“I see…” he sighed. “My time has passed, though. It’s you he needs now, more than anyone…
Michael.”

I noticed how it took him two seconds to pronounce my name. “Is there something this Lady
Teresa should let me know about as well?” I asked, narrowing my eyes at him.

“I’m starting to believe there is. How did you survive being struck by lightning, Michael?” he
asked me with a serious tone.

“I have no clue, “ I answered. “But I sure as hell want to find out how, too. I could also do things…
I was able to stand on water.”

Kassius widened his eyes at me as if he’d seen a ghost. That’s the moment I started questioning
everything as I began to feel so confused that I didn’t even know who I was anymore. I took a seat
on the nearest chair as anxiety began bothering me again. Remembering the panic attack I had in
Kassius’ room when I felt the earthquake, I instinctively checked my palm where I cut myself to
snap out of it. To my biggest surprise, the cut healed almost completely. I gasped out loud as I was
staring inside my palm, forgetting that Kassius was there too.

“Are you alright?” he asked me.

“Uh… yeah, I guess. It’s just… I don’t know. I’m confused. Two days ago I was just a boring
analyst.”

“Do you feel like running away?”

I looked at him, clouded by the question. “Why would I want to run away? I love him.”

Kassius sighed without saying anything back. I heard a knock at the door, then Stephanie and
Joshua came in.

“ It wasn’t locked,” Joshua said, looking at me.

“I know,” I replied.

“We defeated the beast,” the old man went on. “What rage nature holds, unbelievable. It’s been a
while since I had to create and hold a barrier of that size for more than ten minutes.”

It was weird to me how calm Joshua was talking about powers and things like that with me around,
as if he knew I was able to understand everything, somehow. It made me feel like he knew more
about me than I did. I narrowed my eyes at him as well, remembering he also called me “Nathan”.
How did he know my second name?

“How is he?” Stephanie asked me about Samuel.

“I’m not sure…” I sighed.

She went by the bed and placed her hand on Samuel’s forehead.

“Oh, my!” she gasped. “It feels frozen! What if he has hypothermia?”

“I think there is someone here that can help with that,” Joshua said, looking at me.

Stephanie turned around and looked at me too, while Kassius was looking at Joshua, confused.

“Go on, Michael. You’ll know what to do,” the old man told me.

I was shocked by the request and somehow felt unable to move, but I forced myself to get up from
my seat and slowly walked towards the bed. When I came next to Stephanie, she looked at me,
then looked at Joshua, who only nodded at her with confidence.

“Give me your hand,” Stephanie told me.

I did as she said. Noticing the cut inside my palm, she frowned. “When did you cut yourself?” she
asked.

“A few hours ago,” I sighed as I told her the truth, knowing it would create confusion because no
wound heals that fast, but I had no reason to hide anymore. I just wanted to understand what the
hell was happening to me.

Stephanie gasped, widening her eyes at me. “You’re… no, impossible, that can’t be…”

“I’m what?!” I snarled, consumed by anger which was also fed up by all the confusion in my head.

“Leave that for later, we need to save Samuel now,” she said, frowning. “As soon as he is stable,
we depart for Akai. John prepared Samuel’s ship on the rooftop.”

A spaceship, wow. Nothing unusual, right? I figured out where John had been all that time, at least.
I just sighed and left the whole thing aside. Samuel was more important to me than anything.

“Now place one hand on his forehead and one on his chest, please,” Stephanie said to me. “Then,
close your eyes, calm yourself down and think about giving him all the love you have. I know it
sounds silly, but I think it will work.”

I nodded and did what she said. After a few seconds, I felt like my hands were literally burning. I
grunted.

“What do you feel?” Stephanie asked me.

“My hands… are burning…”

What I said caught Kassius' attention as I felt his glare laid on me.

“Good. It’s working! I’m going to interfere now too, don’t lose focus, Michael!”

“... understood.”

When Stephanie interfered, I felt all the warmth from my hands leak as it started spreading all over
Samuel’s body. We kept doing that for almost ten minutes while I felt sweat all over my hair and
face as I was trying my best to stay focused. Suddenly, Samuel gasped for air as he stood up,
almost making me fall over.

“Oh my god, it worked!” I exclaimed as I looked at him with widened eyes. I wanted to jump on
him and hug him but Stephanie grabbed my shirt, stopping me.

“Why?” I asked discreetly.

Samuel looked at us, confused. “Where am I?”

“Samuel, how do you feel?” Stephanie asked him while still holding my shirt.

“A bit cold,” he answered calmly. “Michael, why is everyone gathered in our bedroom? Did
something happen?”

Stephanie sighed in relief as she let go of my shirt. Probably she wanted to make sure Samuel was
back to his normal self. I instantly jumped to hug him. “They're here to take us with them, to Akai!”

“Okay, but what’s with the rush?” he scoffed, pushing me away playfully.

I smiled, noticing he blushed a little, and hugged him tighter. I knew he felt cold, so I wanted to
give him more of that warmth that I was apparently able to give away. Feeling that, he didn’t push
me away again.

“Well, I can’t complain about waking up to this,” he smiled. “Although, you guys give me the
creeps, you’re all standing here as if I’m in hospital or something. Can’t you just wait outside?
People need privacy, you know?”

“Uh… right,” Kassius gasped awkwardly, waving at the others to step out of the bedroom.

I laughed, glad that Samuel’s old attitude was back. The others went out in the living room, closing
the door after them, while I remained with him.

“You know… we should dress up and go,” I suggested.

“I haven’t even woken up completely and you expect me to function without coffee?” he scoffed as
he attempted to take his phone, but couldn’t find it in his pockets. “Where is it? I never forget
where my phone is.”

I noticed his phone placed on the nightstand next to which Kassius sat. He might have taken the
phone before Samuel threw himself in the ocean and then left it on the nightstand while Samuel
was still unconscious. Probably his phone contained valuable information that couldn’t be lost in
the ocean.

“There it is,” I said, pointing at the nightstand.

“Oh. Weird, though, I never leave it there. Nevermind, I need to text John to bring us some coffee.”

“Okay, then we’ll go, right?” I asked him.

He gave me a confused look. “What’s with the rush, again?”

“We need to find out some things, and… I want to visit Akai!” I said, smiling, trying hard not to
say something that would make him upset.

“I know,” he said, gazing at the ocean through the window, “but no need to get anxious about it.
Let’s stay here a bit more. You’re so warm…” he muttered as he leaned to kiss me.

(c) Snow124

“Samuel,” I whispered. “The others

are in the next room.”

“Who cares?” he said as he kept

kissing me. “I can’t get enough of
you.”

“Oh my god, are you teasing me

again?” I asked.

“No,” Samuel said as he ran his

hand through my hair, then pulled
me closer in a strong embrace and
didn’t stop kissing me even for a
second. ”Touch me…” he
demanded.

Hearing that, my hands instinctively went under his shirt, moving up and down on his back. I really
had the intention to give him all the warmth I could give. Ironically, it looked like he needed it so
much that he decided to set me on fire by turning me on. I knew we wouldn't do anything more
than that with other people in our suite, but it felt good nevertheless. Just cuddling with him was
enough for me, it was all the love I could have ever asked for.

“Why can’t I get enough?” he said while still kissing me. It felt like he literally wanted to eat me
up.

Somehow, it worried me, because I recognized anxious patterns in that behavior. He was holding
me and kissing me in such a way as if he was afraid I might run away or something. I backed my
lips away a little, stopping him. He frowned.

“Hey… what’s with the rush?” I asked him.

“I’m not rushing. What’s the matter, you don’t like what I’m doing?” he snickered, giving me
another short kiss that barely touched the tip of my tongue and ended it by softly biting my lower
lip.

I moaned shortly then stopped, afraid the others might hear us. “S-Samuel…”

“Hn, so you did like that,” he snickered again as he suddenly snaked his hand into my pants,
touching me in a way I would have never expected from him. He seemed different.
This time, I moaned louder and Samuel instantly pressed his lips against mine, so I could not be
heard. He kept touching me over and over and I started feeling so weak that I couldn’t stop him
anymore, I didn’t even want to stop him, I just gave in to the pleasure. I was also shocked. I mean,
Samuel took the lead in a very different way compared to the last time, when we were on the
beach, when he told me he wanted me. The way he said it then expressed his vulnerability, giving
in, while this time it was his pure domination over me, mixed with his desire to make me feel good
only using the touch of his hands- one under my pants and the other one that kept moving from my
hair to my back while I was caught in his relentless kiss.

“I’m so close to…”

“I know,” he whispered in my ear, brushing it with his lips.

Prepare for the moment to be ruined by Joshua who just entered the room… without knocking.
Samuel and I both gasped. I bet my face was red as hell because Joshua cringed a little. He cleared
his throat as he stepped forward and closed the door behind him.

“Aren’t you guys supposed to get ready?”

“We’re… waiting for John to bring us coffee,” Samuel explained.

“Oh, I see. How do you feel, Samuel?”

I started getting anxious and Samuel noticed that. I mean, I was on the verge of… you know,
letting Samuel finish me off and that old pervert just had to walk into our room. I felt like my blood
was boiling. Attempting to touch myself, I snaked my hand under the blanket that Samuel threw
over us in the second he heard the door open. I was at that point where I could not hold it anymore,
I needed only one minute to be done for. Samuel saw my hand moving and stopped it. Without
being warned about it, I suddenly felt vibrations… in my pants. When I realised Samuel was doing
it while speaking to Joshua, I can’t explain how exposed I felt and how I wanted to punch Samuel
in the face for doing that to me. I saw a tiny smile in the corner of his lips as he gave me a flashy
glimpse. The vibrations intensified as they began to have a rhythm, and I felt like I wanted to
explode.

“Michael, are you okay?” Samuel asked me with a fake worried tone.

I only had a few seconds left until I was done for and I knew Samuel wanted to test my mind and
see how creative I could get in that kind of situation. I really thought he was a psychopath back
then.

“Y-Yeah, I’m alright, I think… I feel like sneezing but I can’t let it go…” I mumbled.

“Just close your eyes and let it go,” Samuel snickered at me while Joshua was still there, which
was pretty fucked up.

“Aaaaah… aaa-… achoooo!” I fake sneezed as I covered my head with the blanket, hiding
completely.

“Michael?” I heard Samuel call me.

“He probably caught a cold from the rain yesterday,” Joshua said.

“Hn, probably,” I heard Samuel say with a slight cocky tone.

That’s when it happened. There, under that blanket, I gave in to the vibrations that intensified even
more after they slowed down when I answered Samuel’s question. Under that blanket where I
could barely breathe, I grunted with my teeth and fists clenched as I felt my pants getting slightly
wet. I just threw my head on the pillow, panting, without taking the blanket off.

“Joshua, John just texted me he’s at the door, can you go open up and take the coffee tray from
him?” Samuel asked the old man.

“Sure.”

“Thank you,” I heard Samuel say as Joshua left our bedroom, closing the door after him.

“You dirty little fucker!” I snarled at Samuel as I instantly got out from under the blanket. “How
could you use your powers on me like that… when he was… Joshua was…”

He laughed shortly, satisfied. “So that’s what having kinks and fantasies means. Interesting.”

“Huh?!” I cringed. “Are you kidding me?! This was an experiment?! I’ll kill you!” I kept yelling,
grabbing the collar of his shirt. “You’re a psychopath, ya hear me?!”

What a precious memory, this one. Now, when I think back, I'm laughing out loud. I hope I won't
wake Kassius or Viky.

Right in that moment, Joshua came back in with a tray of coffee and almost dropped it when he
saw my attempt to choke Samuel.

“Uh…”

“Don’t mind him, it’s the flu,” Samuel told him with a sickening calm tone. “I think he caught
something serious, we need him checked. Stephanie, would you-”

I instantly interrupted him by pressing my palm over his mouth.

“I’ll just leave these here,” Joshua hummed awkwardly as he placed the coffee tray on the
nightstand and quickly got out of the room.

Samuel took my hand off his mouth and kissed it softly. “You’re adorable.”

I sighed as I let my head fall on his shoulder. "Complimenting me after days of calling me a loser?
You’re still a psycho,” I pouted at him.

“Hn, who knows,” he said as he took a sip from his cup of coffee, satisfied. “Maybe I am.”
 Departure
Chapter Summary

Despite the fact that I was overwhelmed by how hot he was when he was angry,
especially then, when his anger was caused by our spicy moment being interrupted, I
refused to let him deal with it alone. “No way,” I objected. “I’m coming with you!
They want you dead! I won’t let them hurt you!”

Chapter background music: right click this link and open it in a new tab.

“The ship is ready,” I heard Kassius say from the living room.

Not even five seconds passed and I already heard multiple steps heading towards our bedroom’s
door. Joshua was once again the one who opened it.

“Are you kids… ready to pack?” the old pervert asked mockingly as he peeked inside.

I could only see half of his head and it was so awkward that I felt the need to hide myself under the
blanket again. In a very shy and unconscious attempt, I almost did it but Samuel noticed and poked
my forehead.

“Come on, let’s pack,” he told me as he gestured to Joshua to go back and wait for us.

The way Samuel looked at me was different. He had superiority in his eyes before too, but this
time it was more than that. It made me feel like a victim or something, his glare was the same as a
lion’s when it looks at its prey after it has been devoured. I blinked a few times as I still kept my
gaze focused on his face.

“Are you going to keep staring at me like that instead of packing? Or, maybe you have detached
yourself from all that useless material shit you always carry around with you,” he mocked me as he
got up from bed. “That would be good news.”

I pouted and threw a pillow at him out of frustration. Samuel scoffed in return and left the pillow
on the floor.

“You’re so childish,” he sighed, rubbing his forehead as he left the room, leaving me there, in bed.
Alone.

It was not a feeling I wasn’t used to anyway, but when Samuel did that to me, I swear I could
almost feel rain falling on my shoulders from a black cloud that suddenly popped above my head.

“Wait!” I yelled with one hand in the air, but the door closed before anyone could hear me. “Tch,
and I was worrying that someone might have heard me when I was about to-”
“Are you still in bed?” Samuel came back in after only a few seconds, interrupting my monologue.

I also saw Kassius behind him with a sassy look on his face. Yeah, he was judging me and I felt
like a fool. Despite that, I couldn’t get out of that bed. I needed to go to the bathroom without
everyone looking at my wet pants, because yeah, it was noticeable. The most annoying part was
that Samuel and Kassius kept standing there by the door, staring at me and waiting for me to get
up. I mean, Samuel should have been aware of the fact that he made me… cum in my pants. He
should have known that, right? Because he was not as shy as I apparently thought he was. Asexual,
my ass! He was actually a pervert and oh boy, wasn’t I about to see more of that later.

“Fine, go to the living room and wait for me, I need to go take a shower,” I told both of them as I
met Samuel’s eyes, sending him an obvious message through my intense glare.

Of course he didn’t move, but Kassius sighed and backed away though, thankfully.

“Come in here and shut the door behind you,” I told Samuel.

He raised an eyebrow at me. “Now is not the time for trying to convince me to get back in there
with you, pervert,” he scoffed with an eye roll.

“What?!” I snapped as my face instantly cringed. “You’re the one who wanted us to stay in bed in
the first place! Don’t be such an asshole. It’s not about that, anyway,” I finished my sentence with
my face flushed as I looked away.

“Oh? What is it then?” he asked with a blank face.

Not even an ounce of concern. That’s Samuel, folks.

“You… you did something to me. You’re the pervert, apparently.”

“So…” he snorted as he crossed his arms, scrutinizing my face, ready to judge my future reaction,
“are you playing the victim now or something?”

I remained mortified and he seemed to enjoy the result. It was like he switched with the “yang”
part of his personality. Actually, no. He was always like that. But the parts which involved
anything that had to do with sexual stuff, he was… how he was. Something was telling me that I
just pressed a button at some point and reactivated him without being aware of it.

“Victim? Samuel, I… you…”

He got closer and leaned over the bed, suddenly pressing his lips against mine.

“You can’t be a team leader with that flushed face, even if it makes you look cute,” he muttered as
our noses touched and foreheads met after the kiss. “Now, get your ass out of bed and get ready to
depart, we need to get this shit over with so we can come back and put my plan into action.”

Probably my face turned into the color of a brick, but leaving that aside, Samuel was right, in a
way. I sighed and got up. When his eyes fixated the wet area on my pants, I cringed because of
embarrassment.

“That was your problem all along?” he snorted. “Tch, go to the bathroom already. Nobody would
have noticed, dumbass. It’s barely a tiny spot.”

“ You noticed!” I objected with a grimace.

“Because I had an obvious reason to check,” he scoffed with an eye roll.

“Yeah, I’m sure you had. Because it was your fault anyway,” I pouted.

“Whatever.”

I took some clean clothes and headed to the bathroom. After I finally took that shower and dressed
up, instead of feeling fresh, I felt even more stained. My pride felt like it's been washed away as I
was still confused about Samuel’s new dirty attitude and it made me believe it had something to do
with what happened to him. I wasn’t entirely sure, but it was a theory. There was an actual
possibility that maybe he was like that for real and something made him open up after what we did
the evening before on the beach. Was I thinking too much?

“You’ve been staring at yourself in the mirror for ten minutes, you weirdo.” Samuel told me as I
saw him behind me in the mirror, standing by the bathroom door. I didn’t even hear when he
opened it.

“What? Are you stalking me now, what the actual fuck?!” I snapped, gesturing with my hands in
the air, chaotically.

“I’m just trying to understand you more,” he muttered.

“People need their privacy, oh my god! I’m gonna lock the door from now on!”

“Hn, as long as you’re with me, you won’t have any of that so-called privacy,” Samuel smirked as
he got closer with arms still crossed. “You can’t lock doors and expect me to be unable to unlock
them, even without a key, you know that.”

“Wha-”

He kissed me again without me even realising he was going to do it. I was shocked, indeed, but I
can’t lie and say I didn’t like that side of him. My ego was the only one having issues with being
mocked and ordered around, because… I’m still a man and men have pride. Mine was starting to
get buried six feet under by Samuel, though.

He kept analyzing my face and cupped my cheeks with both of his palms as his head was tilted a
little bit, just like dogs tilt their heads when they are curious. That one was new, too. Seeing so
much curiosity in Samuel’s eyes, who was more like a cat rather than a dog, always ignoring what
wasn’t important to him. Of course this made me feel like he started considering me important.
After only a few days. Weird, I know, right? I was still overwhelmed by the outworldly connection
we had. The worst part, though, was the fact that I couldn’t talk to him about his rampage he just
had before he woke up because we had to wait until we got to Akai and talk with that Teresa lady.
There were so many answers I needed from her...

“Human, huh?” Samuel muttered as he ran a finger through my hair. “You’re too weird even for a
human.”

“What is that supposed to mean?” I objected, feeling judged by his dark eyes. “Don’t look at me
like the alien you are.”

“Do you trust me?” he asked with a frown crossing his forehead.

“Of course I do, I love you,” I said with ease.

His eyes widened at me for a second, then he sighed in relief as he blinked slowly. “I know. Thank
you.”

“Huh? What are you thanking me for?” I asked anxiously.

“For trusting me, obviously,” he scoffed as he grabbed my face and kissed me again.

One of his hands slowly moved towards my temple as he kept kissing me. When he poked it, I
suddenly felt like my feet weren’t able to keep me stable anymore and my vision became blurry.
He grabbed my waist as he prepared to hold me so I won’t fall on the floor.

“Sweet dreams,” were the last words I heard him mutter.

Saturday, August 28, 2077

(c)Snow124

“ What are you doing, Seryth?”

“Just wait.”

“For what?”

“You’ll see. “

“Hey, it’s snowing! Wow, really?”

“Hn, I thought about doing something to cool this place down, you’re
too hot.”

“Now you’re mocking me!”

I woke up with a loud gasp as I placed my palm on my forehead, pressing my fingers against it. I
saw them again. Seryth and Nikaellan… they were so similar to me and Samuel it was
unbelievable and I still had no clue how I could see flashbacks with other people and why. Was I
connected to them? Were they communicating with me? They were dead, so how could that be
possible? I didn’t believe in ghosts, so there was no explanation in my head at that moment. I just
sighed.

“Good, you’re awake,” I heard Kassius say.

I looked in his direction and suddenly noticed the surroundings changed. We were not at the hotel
anymore.

“What is this place?” I asked.

“This is Anmi. It’s a spaceship. We’re ready to land on Akai in a few hours,” he explained.

“Whaat?!” I snapped as I instantly stood up. “How long was I asleep?!”

“Hmm,” Kassius muttered as he placed his fist under his chin, thinking, “approximately two days,
five hours and twenty five minutes.”
“Approximately, huh?” I asked ironically.

I suddenly remembered I passed out after Samuel kissed me at the hotel. I was sure he did
something to me. “Where is Samuel?” I asked as a frown crossed my face. “ I need to talk to him.”

“He’s sleeping,” Kassius answered.

“Not anymore,” I scoffed as I prepared to go and find him.

Kassius didn’t try to stop me, he just sighed and rolled his eyes at me. It felt weird being around
him, it was as if he knew me already before meeting me. I gave him a sharp glare as I pressed a
button on the wall and the door opened. I wondered how I knew it would, I’d never been on a
spaceship before. Or at least, that’s what I thought back then.

As I was walking angrily through the white hallway, I realised I didn’t ask Kassius where Samuel
was. I pouted and just decided to try knocking at every door in sight until I found him. After trying
almost seven doors, I felt anger building up within me.

“Tch, where is he…” I hissed.

“Oh, it was you,” Samuel’s clear voice echoed in the hallway after I heard a door slide open behind
me.

I turned around with my face flushed by anger. “Of course it was me. Why, are you surprised I’m
awake?”

“Actually, yes,” he said, raising an eyebrow. “You should have stayed asleep until we arrived.”

“Wha-... what the hell, Samuel?”

“What’s wrong?” he asked as he leaned comfortably against the door, crossing his arms.

“Why on earth did you knock me down? That’s not the stuff people do to their loved ones!”

“I needed to keep you out of your anxiety episodes, this journey had a lot of turbulence after
leaving Earth’s atmosphere,” he said, ignoring how I felt completely. “Stop playing the victim and
come inside.”

I didn’t know why but my body just moved at his demand without hesitation, like a mouse that
falls into a trap again just because it has food in it. As I followed him in his room, which looked
very clean and empty by the way, I noticed his hair didn’t look as if he slept at all.

“So… is this spaceship yours?” I asked, trying to ignore my concerns.

“Yeah. Do you want to watch a movie or something? I’m bored,” Samuel said with his voice
muffled as he was chewing something. “Hungry?”

He pointed at a little table that had a plate with cherry tomatoes and cheddar cheese chunks on it.

“Now I understand why you were so amazed by my cooking skills,” I snorted. “Do you eat that
simple stuff on a daily basis?”

“Tomatoes are my favorite fruit and they taste good combined with cheddar cheese. I actually
know how to cook a lot of things, I just don't have the time to do it anymore.”

“Tomatoes are vegetables by the way,” I corrected him with blind confidence.
“Oh, really?” he asked with a mocking tone as he raised an eyebrow.

“Whatever, it’s as you say,” I replied, convinced he was right because of course he was the genius.

“How can an ignorant idiot like you work in a corporation and possess leading skills, it amazes
me,” he scoffed.

“Oi, why are you being rude? You put me to sleep for almost three days and now that I woke up,
you’re throwing this shitty attitude at me!” I pouted.

I wasn’t mad at him, though. I could not find any reason to be, I just felt weak and that pissed me
off. Normally, people would be mad at someone who would act that way after only a few days
they met, but me and Samuel… we were about to find out soon why it was so natural for both of us
to be in the same place and how we could act so natural around one another.

“I’m not throwing any shitty attitude, “ Samuel objected.

I saw him look away as he sighed deeply. There was something in his dark eyes that troubled him. I
started to become worried because I promised myself I wouldn’t let him be sad anymore. I needed
to do something to cheer him up, but how could I, when our roles got reversed? Would anything I
do surprise him anymore, now that he seemed to insist on being always the one in control? Also, I
wanted to ask him so many questions, one of them being about why did he own a spaceship in the
first place if he didn’t know Akai was his home planet. And not any spaceship- one that could
apparently travel pretty fast.

He sat on the bed after he took another tiny tomato and ate it. “Are you waiting for something in
particular?” he asked, interrupting my chain of thoughts.

I felt an inner gasp as I swallowed the lump in my throat. I needed to think fast about something
that would instantly cheer Samuel up. Was it something childish? No, that would have definitely
annoyed him. I walked over to the bed and sat beside him, still thinking about what I could do.

“Where’s your head at?” Samuel asked without even looking at me, as he was doing something on
his laptop.

“I, uh… what movie do you wanna watch? I don’t have anything particular in mind,” I said,
rubbing the back of my head awkwardly.

“Hn.” he scoffed. “How about we watch porn?”

I started feeling my head boil like a pot forgotten on the stove. “What!?”

“I was joking, loser,” he snorted.

“Yeah, I hope so, because it wouldn’t make sense, ‘cause lately you’ve been actin-”

He interrupted me with a sudden soft kiss and I just went with the flow. His lips could do magic on
me apparently, as I felt my body weigh less, somehow becoming numb, leaving itself a victim to
whatever Samuel was doing to me. I wanted to do something too, though. It felt frustrating for me
not being able to make him feel good as well. I moved my hand slowly, sliding it on his body until
I reached the most sensitive part. He moaned as he pressed his lips harder against mine.

Grabbing his back, I pulled him closer to me until he was completely on top of me. I loved the fact
that I was still able to be in control. I felt like it was my turn to hear him moan because of pleasure,
as a payback for last time when he embarrassed me in front of Joshua. Too bad we were alone this
time and I couldn’t embarrass him too, but still, for me it was enough to see the mighty Samuel feel
helpless against something so trivial according to his opinion regarding anything sexual. I needed
to hear him call my name again and I needed his calm expression to frown, just like the last time on
the beach.

I kept moving my hand down his pants, faster with each passing minute, making him grab the
mattress of the bed, holding it as if he was about to get sucked into the void of space. Suddenly, he
grabbed my wrist, stopping my hand from moving. The look in his eyes was pretty scary to be
honest, I felt the need to run away for a second, because I thought he went nuts again.

But to my surprise, he just took off my pants, took his off too and came back on top of me without
hesitation or pause. As he cupped my cheek with one hand, he kissed me again while trying to find
the right position.

“Samuel, are you gonna-”

“Shh,” he whispered, placing his thumb over my lips. “No talking.”

I nodded as we kept looking into each other’s eyes. His gaze full of desire sent shivers down my
body as I swallowed thickly, trying not to make a sound. When I peeked down, I widened my eyes
at how hard he was, preparing myself for a little bit of pain as a start. But I was ready for that too. I
couldn’t wait for it, in fact. Anything that he would have given me, pain or pleasure - I would have
taken it without a second thought.

This time, a different emotion stirred inside of me. I was no longer in control but damn it, I didn’t
even want to be anymore. Somehow, letting Samuel take the lead made me feel like a piece of art
at the mercy of the artist’s paintbrush. I knew nothing about what he wanted to do to me and yet, I
knew it would be something good and I was so calm I barely believed it. Apparently it was not my
moment to make him pay for what he did to me in front of Joshua, but did I care anymore?
Obviously I didn’t give a damn.

I obediently leaned on my back, giving Samuel the space he needed. Right before he was about to
ground his hips down, we heard a loud thud as the whole room trembled. Samuel grunted as a
frown crossed his face.

“What.. was that?” I gasped.

After a few seconds, there was a desperate knock on the door.

“Quick, we’re being attacked!” Kassius' voice echoed from the hallway.

“Shit,” Samuel slurred. “Who the hell is it? What’s this all about?!”

“I’m afraid they’re the guys who kidnapped Michael,” Kassius replied.

I knew I was never lucky, but this was way too much, even for me.

“Welcome back, anxiety,” I mumbled.

“It’s fine. Nobody sticks into my business like this and gets away with it. I’ll blast them into
oblivion,” Samuel hissed as he got up and took his pants back on. “Stay here and wait for me to
come back so we can finish what we started,” he demanded.

Despite the fact that I was overwhelmed by how hot he was when he was angry, especially then,
when his anger was caused by our spicy moment being interrupted, I refused to let him deal with it
alone. “No way,” I objected. “I’m coming with you! They want you dead! I won’t let them hurt
you.”

“This is not the time to play the hero, moron. Last time you weren’t even able to escape, they just
threw you away like trash, but now if they see us together, they’ll target you as well.”

“Are we actually arguing over who wants to protect who?”

Samuel sighed. “You can't protect me, what the hell could you do? Damn it, I don’t have a chance
against your stubbornness, do I?”

“Of course not! Last time I was the one who saved y-”

I stopped as I remembered I was not supposed to talk about his rampage, also realising he couldn't
remember our fight and the fact that I also had some tricks up my sleeve. My face turned red as
Samuel was looking at me, confused.

“Is there something I should know about?” he asked me bluntly.

“Oi, are guys coming out or not?!” Kassius yelled behind the closed door.

“We are,” Samuel sighed again as he gave me a quick, cold glare. "We'll talk about this after."
 Unleashed
Chapter Summary

His instinct to protect Samuel brings Michael closer and closer to the truth about
himself...

Chapter Notes

Hello again, my fellowship(pers)! Shorter chapter with a little bit of action.

Tell me what you think in the comment section, don't be shy! Even if it's a bad opinion
=^^'=

See the end of the chapter for more notes

Chapter background music: right click this youtube link

Another loud thud made the ship tremble again as we were running through the hallway, towards
the command room. Samuel frowned as he turned to Kassius. “How far from Akai are we?”

“One hour. I think they want to damage our engine and make us crash on Akai, so we’ll be
destroyed by its atmosphere,” Kassius explained.

“Not if I do that to them first,” Samuel hissed. “I need to contact the borders on Akai, can we do
that?”

“We might be able to, if we get just a little bit closer, I don’t think we have any signal yet. Let’s
hurry, Joshua and Stephanie are already in the command room.”

“Tch, what are they doing there?! Send them to the engine room so they can activate a protection
shield or something!” Samuel demanded.

“How did you know they can do that?” Kassius asked him.

“I figured it out, Stephanie’s techniques are similar to mine, aren't they? I’d go do it myself but I
want to take care of these idiots, so do as I say!”
“Oh, so now that you're all grown up, you’re the captain?” Kassius mocked him. “Fine, have it
your chaotic way.”

Samuel just scoffed. His attitude made me worry a little, to be honest. But what could I say in
response? I was no longer in control, was I?

When we arrived in the command room, Kassius told Stephanie and Joshua to go to the engine
room as Samuel demanded, while the three of us remained there. The command room had a huge
front window, letting us see space in all its glory. “ Amazing,” I thought. I bet the stars’ reflections
could be seen into my eyes as I was staring at them. I made a few steps towards the command
board, where Samuel was typing something on the keyboard. I figured he was trying to contact
someone on Akai, which could already be seen. The planet had a Moon just like Earth and it was
also blue.

The computer beeped as the “No signal” message popped up in the middle of the screen.

“Damn it,” Samuel slurred. “If I could only remember how to break the computer’s security
system… that would allow me to reach longer distances…”

I had no idea what he was talking about, but he seemed to have. Samuel looked really angry and
concerned and all I could do was look at him and wait for him to come up with a solution. The
problem was that those bastards were aiming at us from behind, which made things even more
complicated as we could not see them. At least, that’s what I thought… that if we could see them,
things would be easier.

I instantly regretted thinking that way when my eyes widened at the enemy’s ship suddenly
popping up in front of the window. I gasped as my heart skipped a beat. “Everybody down!!” I
yelled as I instantly grabbed Samuel and threw our bodies on the floor. Kassius threw himself
behind a wall too as the whole room lit up from the blast sent by the enemy’s ship, followed by an
explosion that caused our whole ship to tremble.

“Oh fuck, I think they broke the main window!!” I yelped.

“Don’t worry, it’s shielded to hold against a hundred blasts like those,” Samuel muttered as he
pushed me away so he could get up. “They can’t destroy this vessel no matter how hard they try.
The engine is our only weak point and it’s being protected now against any threat. I hope Stephanie
and Joshua will be able to keep a hold of it.”

“Well, what do we do now, captain?” Kassius asked with a mocking tone. “We can’t even stay in
sight.”

“I already said this vessel is indestructible from the outside, there was no point in hiding, they
already saw us.” Samuel replied. “Besides, if it’s a blasting game they want to play, I’ll gladly join.
I built this ship from zero and made it capable of anyone’s worst nightmares, they’re fools to
challenge me. I promised myself to destroy any insect that threatens the Earth since that damned
war took place. Now it’s time to finally use Anmi’s destruction capacity at its full power.”

I realised in that very moment that Samuel was such a strong man... I think I even blushed despite
the dangerous situation we got ourselves into, because I could see so much potential in him. I got
even more motivated to finally get to Akai and get rid of that stupid thing Oliver damaged his mind
with, because the darkness I saw in Samuel’s eyes when we fought had to go away and never be
seen again.

I was so deep in my thoughts again that I didn’t notice when Samuel got up. A smile suddenly lit
up his face as he pushed a toggle switch from the command board.

“Let’s see how you can handle this one,” he hissed, looking straight ahead at the ship floating
outside in front of the window.

Anmi’s front lit up as we heard a loading sharp sound for like three seconds, then the whole ship
trembled back and forth a bit as it released the blast. I got up to see what happened and I did it just
in time to notice the enemy’s ship being blasted so hard that a few pieces from it were blown into
space.

“Hn,” Samuel smirked. “Prepare for the second round, you mediocre specks of dust!”

“Oi, Samuel, take it easy, don’t heat up the system!” Kassius warned him.

Of course Samuel ignored him, that was so typical. The ship trembled again after another sharp
sound, as another blast was sent the enemy’s way. They were hit again to Samuel’s satisfaction,
which seemed to grow, one blast after another. As I looked at his face, all the light from the blast
and the stars from outer space could be seen in his dark eyes as if he was a part of that black void.
An outworldly feeling took over me, sending shivers up my spine as goosebumps formed all over
my skin. It felt surreal. My mind had been narrowed so much that I could not believe I was actually
living those moments back then. All I knew and all I could do… was watch, right?

That’s right, because I was always able to tell when something was not right, and the feeling
instantly made me alert.

“Samuel…” I muttered as I grabbed his arm and held it tightly. “Something’s wrong.”

“What is it?” Kassius asked.

I frowned when I noticed Samuel ignoring me as he prepared to send another blast. “Oi, are you
paying any attention? Don’t act stubborn with me!” I groaned.

Samuel only moved his eyes towards mine, without letting go of the toggle switch. “I’m listening.”

“Don’t you find it strange that they don’t send any attacks our way anymore?”

“So? Maybe I finally took care of them for good,” Samuel sassed.

“As much as I love seeing you this confident, I’m afraid I’ve still got a bad feeling. One of those
feelings I told you about,” I went on with a low, serious tone.

He frowned, finally taking his hand off the toggle switch. “That means… no way. Are you saying
that-”

“I knew Aymera should have killed you, you’re a sharp one” a voice coming from behind
interrupted him.

“Impossible…” Samuel muttered as he turned around, widening his eyes at the sight of the enemy.
"Did you teleport here?"

It was the same red haired guy, Ceroy, the one that stood behind the computer when I got
kidnapped.

“Oh, glad to finally find you, Uhyra scumbag. It’s such a pity I can’t kill you, but no one said
anything about your pretty blue-eyed partner. He’ll make a good sandwich,” the guy laughed. “Oh,
and I finally get to see the mighty genius, Kassius Hathorn. May I test if the rumors about you are
right?”

Samuel’s eyes narrowed at Kassius after hearing that.

“I’m not your lab rat,” Kassius hissed. “Where are the others from your crew?”

“I came alone,” Ceroy hummed annoyingly.

“Don’t mock us, I know there’s no one left on your ship, liar!” I snapped at the red-haired foe.
“Where’s that woman, Aymera? She owes me an explanation for last time.”

Ceroy widened his eyes at me for a second. “Oh my, so you remember everything? How is that
even possible? I erased your memory. Interesting… how can you tell that no one’s on the ship,
though?”

“That’s none of your business,” I responded. “But I guess you’re right. He really came alone, “ I
told Samuel, who was keeping his guard up, sending Ceroy death glares.

“Oh, you’re a cocky one, I see. The loudest ones always die first, anyway. Maybe there’s some
energy in you too for me to consume, just in case the mighty Kassius won’t be enough.”

“What are you blabbering about? Consuming energy? What the-”

“Of course, that’s how I keep my body alive!” Ceroy snickered.

Something was really odd about him and the cocktail of feelings that stirred inside of me wasn’t
helpful at all.

“You’re pathetic,” Samuel replied with a mocking tone. “Try to keep your body alive after I scatter
it through space.”

“Oh, really?” Ceroy laughed. “You’re threatening me, yet you don’t even know who you’re
dealing with. I know the nature of your powers, I did my research and they won’t work against me,
sorry to disappoint you. Besides, I bet you don’t even know how to control your powers, leaving
mine aside, because I don’t need any.”

I clenched my teeth when he said that Samuel couldn’t control his powers, because it was actually
true. I had no idea how that Ceroy guy guessed that, or how did he know that. I sent Kassius a
cold, sharp glare, judging him again for keeping things hidden from Samuel. He met my eyes and
sighed, probably overwhelmed by the situation.

“You’re talking big for someone who actually talks nonsense,” Kassius hissed at him.

Ceroy cleared his throat in a mocking way. “I’m getting bored, so I think this is the part where I
finish you off. You, Uhyra, are coming with me.”

“You’re not laying a hand on Samuel,” I shot back.

“Don’t worry, Michael, this guy can’t even scratch me,” Samuel said, completely unsympathetic,
as he stretched out his left arm, pointing it at Ceroy.

I felt relieved, thinking that maybe Samuel was right to be confident, after all, the guy didn’t look
too threatening. Samuel kept his arm pointed at Ceroy for more than ten seconds, as both me and
Kassius were paying attention at what was about to happen. Too bad we were both disappointed by
Samuel’s face crossed by a frown as the enemy seemed remain unbothered.

Ceroy started laughing mockingly. “I bet this is the moment when you realise your powers don’t
work on me, fool!”

He took out a weird knife as he instantly jumped towards Samuel, who tried using his powers again
to throw away the knife from Ceroy’s hand, but failed again.

“What the-”

“Samuel, get away from him!” Kassius yelled, throwing himself in front of Ceroy, punching him
and dodging his knife.

“Is this guy floating?” I muttered, widening my eyes at the sight of him shaking his head a little
while he was still in the air, when he should have already fallen on the floor.

“Wrong,” Ceroy snickered as he launched himself at Samuel again, without pushing himself
against anything solid. “Now you’re mine.”

Samuel prepared himself to dodge Ceroy’s attack, paying a lot of attention to his speed. The
redhead did another jump in mid air and instantly changed his direction, confusing us all, including
Samuel, who suddenly found himself stabbed in the back.

“Samuel!” I yelled my lungs out at the sight of him being hurt, as I caught my body instantly
running towards the enemy, while a burning sensation was filling me up from inside out,
overloading me with rage.

When Samuel fell on his knees, I widened my eyes so much I thought they were going to pop out. I
instinctively squeezed them shut as a frown wrinkled my whole face before I opened them again
and punched Ceroy so hard that he swirled through the air with unbelievable speed before he
landed on the floor, cracking it. I noticed both Samuel and Kassius widening their eyes at the sight
of my rage.

“Touch Samuel again and you’ll be fuel for this ship, you filthy bastard!” I growled.

I became aware of how different, how hoarse my voice must have sounded, but was I able to tell if
I was myself anymore?

“What the hell are you?!” Ceroy snapped as he tried hard to get up. “That monster strength… you
can’t be human, no way. Aymera was wrong…”

“Stop talking bullshit and get up and fight me, if that’s what you want. I was born on Earth, raised
on Earth and lived my whole life on that planet. I am definitely human. You know why? Because
my humanity is telling me you’re a scumbag full of shit,” I hissed at him as I prepared myself to
attack him again.

“M-Michael… wait. I figured out what he is,” Samuel told me through moans of pain.

Hearing his voice, I softened up instantly, but that burning sensation within me still didn’t go
away.

“He’s neither human nor a machine,” Samuel went on. “His body is made of wood, metal and…
pure energy… which is unable to be manipulated by vibrations.”

I instantly went to hold him after I saw him cough blood. The rage building up within me started
feeling like the eternal flames of hell, impossible to be put out.

“Calm down,” Samuel whispered as he grabbed my wrist, holding it tightly. "I can heal myself, but
it will take a few more minutes.”

“I’m afraid I won’t let you do that,” Ceroy laughed as he got up from the floor.

“Tch, you still want to go for a second round, don’t you?” I hissed at him again.

Samuel’s hand stroke mine again as he looked straight into my eyes. “Listen... my techniques might
work on him only if he has a weak spot. He must have one, but I don’t know where. Can you figure
it out?” he asked.

“It’s in his chest,” Kassius told us. "Similar to a heart."

“How can you tell?” Samuel asked, narrowing at Kassius once again, as he tried to get back on his
feet with my help.

“Take it as a guess, Samuel. Just consider it.”

“You… the rumors were right…” Ceroy hissed at Kassius. “You killed a kek’ar aryun and
inherited their visual power, didn’t you?”

“What I have is a gift from someone, “ Kassius responded, leaving both me and Samuel in a fog of
confusion.

Remembering that I was called a kek’ar aryun by that woman, Aymera, who actually thought I was
Samuel, I figured out Samuel must have been a kek’ar aryun in that context. Not knowing anything
about what that was, I couldn’t even draw a conclusion or ask a question. Actually, forget what I
said, the only conclusion I could think of was that Kassius wasn’t human. And that was enough to
overwhelm me with confusion again.

“Do it now, Samuel!” Kassius demanded.

Samuel did as he was told, stretching out his left arm, pointing it at the enemy's chest.

“Sorry, but this is my cue,” Ceroy snickered as he disappeared before our eyes.

“What?!” Samuel snapped.

“Teleportation,” Kassius sighed. “He didn’t do it, though. Someone from his crew saved his ass. “

“Bastard,” I grunted. “We shouldn’t have let him get away.”

“We weren’t ready for this. The actual problem is that he has information about us now. Especially
about you, Michael,” Kassius went on.

“What about me?” I asked.

“Nevermind that now, we’re a few minutes far from Akai and we need to warn them about these
guys as soon as possible. Samuel, can you stand on your feet?”

“Yeah,” he nodded. “Is it possible these guys retreated for good?”

“I’m more than certain, they’re no match for the Akayans,” Kassius replied. "Maybe there's no
point in warning them after all."
 We suddenly heard a loud thud as the whole ship trembled again, making us fall on the floor.

“Shit, we entered the atmosphere,” Samuel said. “The speed will be double.”

“Stephanie, both you and Joshua put on the protection equipment, we entered the atmosphere,”
Kassius demanded through his earphone. “Everybody on their seat,” he told us after.

As we took our seats in front of the main window, three protection belts activated, wrapping our
chests and waists as we leaned our backs on the armchairs. A protection helmet coming out of the
chairs suddenly surrounded our heads too as the countdown on the computer started.

“ LANDING IN 10...9...8…”

Chapter End Notes

Promise I'll update ASAP, especially now that I'm in home isolation due to the
pandemic crisis. Our work has been postponed, I barely get a 75% of my salary now,
but I guess it's better than nothing lol. I can pay my rent in peace.
See you next time for chapter 12 which will be full of new information! Everything
you are confused about will be explained with details in the next chapter, no worries
:')
 Welcome To Aksao!
Chapter Summary

I inhaled deeply, preparing my mind to be overloaded with new information. The

moment finally came for me to put every piece of that damn puzzle to where they
belonged.

Chapter Notes

So... the moment finally came for new info! Explanations ahead...
Asun- Asuma Sarutobi
Kirai- Kurenai

See the end of the chapter for more notes

Chapter background music: right click this youtube link and open it in a new tab.

I thought it was terrifying when a plane lands… but it can’t be compared to the landing of a
spacecraft. I thought our bodies had been dug into the ground through the armchairs we were
sitting on, because that’s how it felt like. I started patting myself all over my body to check if it
was still intact.

Samuel just sighed shortly. “Great, time to find out how big of a lie my life has been.”

I swear I heard Kassius swallow dry for a second after Samuel said that. Well, why was I
surprised? He was the only one responsible for the fog in Samuel’s mind. I was also a bit of a
hypocrite myself, because I chose not to say anything to Samuel when I found him on the bathroom
floor, ready to cut himself with a piece from the mirror he broke. Would it have made any
difference, though? It was a few days before this moment, compared to whole years of keeping
things away from him, like Kassius did.

“What about my life?” I asked as I was trying to deactivate the protection belts.

“They’ll deactivate themselves, idiot.” Samuel scoffed when he saw what I was doing.

“ I-... I knew that! I just… tried to loosen them up a little, they’re uncomfortable,” I pouted,
obviously lying.

“Yeah, of course,” Samuel rolled his eyes.

“Jerk.”
I was still in a state of shock, because of Samuel’s new cocky behavior. Amazing, how your brain
being messed with can change you. Maybe it wasn’t because of that, maybe Samuel started to
become himself in front of me, without the need to be formal. I suddenly remembered he must
have been pissed at me though, since after our spicy moment got interrupted, because he told me
we were going to talk later about the fact that there were things I haven't told him. Yeah, it was
definitely that.

“We’ll see what was going on with your life too, probably,” Kassius answered my question, also
interrupting my thoughts.

I frowned at him, convinced that he knew everything already, but too bad I couldn’t ask.

“Yours too,” Samuel surprisingly replied to Kassius, sending him a sharp glare.

Somehow, it made me feel good, because I always hated when people confused others close to
them and Kassius needed to be held responsible for that. But I also knew that Samuel might turn
out devastated, maybe even go on a rampage again after learning about the things that were kept
hidden from him, because I could bet they were so many, and knowing about them might have
helped Samuel a lot. Maybe he would have turned out different, maybe he could have defended
himself when Oliver attacked him and his mind wouldn’t have been poisoned with whatever the
hell that freak damaged it with. But of course things couldn’t be perfect, right?

The seatbelts finally deactivated, letting us get up as we all sighed in relief. I heard the door behind
us slide open as both Joshua and Stephanie stepped into the command room.

“That was a hell of a ride,” Joshua snorted. “Can we go again?”

I thought there wasn’t a bigger idiot than me on that ship, but there he was. Joshua was a really odd
guy. Still reminded me of someone.

“Whoa!” I gasped at the sight of the scenery as we got out of the ship. “This place looks like a
video-game!”

Samuel rolled his eyes at my remark.

“So, this is Aksao, the only city on Akai,” Stephanie enunciated.

“The only city?” I asked.

“Yes. This planet is even smaller than Pluto. It does not have continents, only five countries and
Aksao is the capital of Taiyonokuni, meaning the Sun Country. There is also Tsukinokuni,
meaning the Moon Country, and there are three more left, Xio, Phea and Kreo, which are small
countries named after the closest star aligned above them.” Stephanie explained.

If one of my biggest dreams as a kid was to teleport myself in some science-fiction video game, it
felt like it finally came true. The scenery gave me a lot of Neo-Tokyo vibes with a cyberpunk style.
There was nothing like that on Earth. At least, not anymore.

“So, where are we going?” Kassius asked.

“There,” Stephanie pointed at a huge building ahead.

“Wow, how are we going to get there, though?” I asked like little kid.

“I’ll take you!” A voice echoed from around the corner right before we turned our heads left to see
a guy with short black hair and a pointy beard, riding some kind of sky jet that looked more like a
flying boat. He had a cigarette in the corner of his mouth. “My name is Asun, welcome to Aksao!”

“I could say he looks like a cyberpunk redneck” I thought, analyzing his outfit.

We all smiled politely, but I bet we were all confused. Or maybe it was just me, who knows. The
guy looked human when I expected some alien looks. But Samuel, Stephanie and Kassius looked
normal too, right? Probably Joshua wasn’t human either.

“Kassius, I haven’t seen you in ages,” Asun said.

The masked professor turned red. “Right,” he cleared his throat nervously.

“Are we going to see Lady Teresa now?” Samuel asked with a cold tone.

Asun analyzed Samuel visually, from head to toes, then his eyes fixated on me too.

“Who are they?” he asked Stephanie.

My guess was right, it seemed. That Asun guy knew Kassius, Stephanie and Joshua too. I frowned
as the urge for my questions to be answered intensified.

“This is Samuel and Michael. They are from Earth. Samuel has been Kassius’ student since he was
a toddler.”

Asun’s glare went straight to Kassius. “I see. You spent some good time on Earth, didn’t you,
Kassius? What luck! I wish I could see it, everyone here thinks it’s so beautiful.”

Samuel scoffed. “Uncultured ignorants. You know nothing.”

Asun narrowed his eyes at Samuel, frowning.

“Uh, excuse him, he’s been through a lot, you know?” I hummed awkwardly, rubbing the back of
my head. “I know he seems to be a jerk, but he is a nice person on the inside!”

Samuel sent me a death glare, probably annoyed by the all unnecessary personal details I just gave
away about him, to a stranger. Samuel wasn’t an open person and I seemed to have forgotten at
that moment.

“Well, we should go,” Stephanie suggested. “We can learn more about each other soon, I hope.”

Asun nodded and waved a hand at us, inviting everyone to hop into his jet. After we did as
suggested, a protection field activated and appeared above our heads, surrounding the whole
vehicle, making it look similar to a car.

“How cool!” I exclaimed.

As the seatbelts activated and adjusted on our chests and waists on their own, the jet’s engine
started.

“Hold tight, it’s a fast thing!” Asun warned us.

“Whoaaaa!” I yelled as the vehicle accelerated and took off.

In less than two minutes, we arrived. I could barely breathe properly anymore because of all that
adrenaline. During the short ride, I was so scared I didn’t even pay attention to the view, because I
was busy with keeping my eyes squeezed shut.

“Are you okay, scaredy cat?” Samuel snickered at me, lending me a hand so I could get out of the
jet.

The embarrassment I felt when he said that in front of everyone cannot be described with words.

“Tch, I’m fine, bastard. I can get out of this thing on my own, you know!” I sassed stubbornly.

Samuel shrugged and let his hand down as I tried to place my foot somewhere to stabilize myself.
Of course it got caught in some narrow space between the door and the edge of the vehicle.

“Damn iiit!” I squealed as I tripped over.

“Idiot,” Samuel scoffed with an eye roll.

Of course Joshua had to laugh. Why not. Very funny, indeed.

“Shut up,” I hissed.

We headed to the entrance of the building silently. No one made a single sound after they saw me
humiliate myself. Why did I always have to be the buffoon in every situation?

“Your mind is loud as hell, shut it down,” Samuel said with a mocking tone.

“Why are you being rude again?!” I shot back.

“Boys, calm down,” Joshua said. “You’ll get to be alone soon again and you’ll temper your
hormones properly. Until then, behave.”

Samuel’s face turned red and I felt like I was about to trip over bare ground. That damned Joshua.
Kassius cleared his throat awkwardly in response.

Before I realised, we were already in an elevator. We heard a beep after a few more seconds,
indicating we were at level thirty.

“Here we are,” Asun said. “Stephanie, you know where to find Lady Teresa, right? I need to go
back to the Academy.”

Stephanie nodded and we got out of the elevator, heading right onto the hallway. “Finally no more
buildings made of glass” I thought. It still had fifty floors, though. I guess rich people will always
be obsessed with heights. When we stopped in front of a double metal door, Stephanie pressed a
button and it opened. A blonde woman was sitting behind a desk, surrounded by a lot of papers.
Tons of papers. I noticed she looked very attractive, straight out of a magazine. Big breasts, pale
skin and perfectly shaped face with stunning hazel eyes. Even as a gay dude I found her pretty hot,
to be honest.

“Stephanie, you’re back already? And you two, long time no see,” she muttered at Kassius and
Joshua.

“Lady Teresa, I brought you some visitors,” Stephanie hummed.

Teresa narrowed her eyes at me, but not at Samuel.

“Kirai, please bring me six cups of tea,” she said as she pressed a button on her desk. “Who are
they?” she asked Stephanie.
“This is Samuel, and this is Michael… uh, Samuel’s partner.”

“Oh, by partner, you mean-”

“We came here because it’s the time they find out the truth,” Joshua interrupted Teresa.

The blonde woman fixated her eyes on me and Samuel. She was a little bit scary, I must admit.

“What do you mean by that? Kassius, shouldn’t you be taking care of Sanneth? That was your
mission, what are you doing here with these two brats?”

“Language, Teresa,” Joshua sighed. “Damn, you’re still the same bitchy witch you were at the
Academy.”

“Shut up, Jirath,” she scoffed.

“Okay, can someone finally explain what’s with all the different names I keep on hearing? I might
go insane, especially after the past few days!” I complained.

Teresa sighed. “Jirath, what’s the meaning of all this?”

“What’s so bad about changing my name? People call me Joshua now, Teresa, I needed a name
suitable for someone who lives on Earth. Do you understand now, Michael?”

I nodded, still confused and filled up with more questions, ready to burst out like pop-up windows
in Google Chrome. Teresa’s glare moved back to Kassius.

“I’m still waiting for an answer,” she said.

“Well, you’re looking at him,” Kassius said, pointing at Samuel. “This is Sanneth Uhyra.”

Samuel’s eyes narrowed as his gaze kept moving from Kassius to Teresa constantly. The blonde
woman frowned.

“Kassius…” she began, “what did I tell you when I gave you that mission? Why is Sanneth here, of
all places?! It’s dangerous!” she finished as she slammed the desk with one of her fists.

“Because he deserves to know the truth. The substitutions you gave Sanneth as his parents were
killed fourteen years ago and we were recently attacked by the people of Krul, including Lord
Orris. They kidnapped Michael, thinking he was Sanneth.”

“Substitutions… so Kassius knew about that too, all along…” I thought, clenching my teeth as
anger started building up within me.

Teresa’s face turned even paler than it was before as her eyebrows were somehow shaking. Her
widened eyes looked like they were staring through her desk.

“Despite that, I don’t think the guy that killed Sanneth’s parents was after Sanneth,” Joshua said.

“What?” Kassius gasped. “What do you mean?”

The old man sighed. “I think they were after Michael’s power and Sanneth's adoptive parents
simply wanted to stop those guys. Michael here, is the missing Nakaeron Uzkaeri .”

Everybody in the room widened their eyes and pointed their glares at me, even Samuel, whose eyes
reflected terror, anger and confusion. I got so scared he might go on a rampage again that my feet
started shaking. I felt like my spirit wanted to leave my body as it went numb.

“Impossible….” Teresa whispered probably to herself, but everybody heard her. “Nakaeron is
believed to be dead! His parents were mutilated in front of your eyes, Jirath!” she went on.

“Yeah, and I saved the poor kid, Teresa, he was just a newborn baby. Something none of the
soldiers you sent would have done,” the old man frowned.

“That’s not true, they told me they checked everywhere!” Teresa objected. “They couldn’t find
him, that is why he was reported as missing and not dead, but… you know what was the obvious
conclusion everybody came to, right?!”

Looking at Samuel, I felt the need to interfere. “Enough! Leave me out of this discussion now.
You, lady. You’re going to tell Samuel everything about him, every ounce of truth you know.”

“How dare you order me around, kid, do you even know who I am?!” she snapped.

“I don’t give a damn about your status right now, to be honest. Samuel is more important to me.
Also, it seems like both me and him are victims of your stupid lies!”

Samuel’s glare softened up a little after he heard me say that. He sighed. “I apologize, Michael is
kind of straightforward. I think Joshua is telling the truth, I feel connected to Michael, somehow.
That’s all I know. I feel like we’ve met before. Also, you said something about powers. He acted
strange a few hours ago when a guy named Ceroy attacked me. His eyes turned from blue to
yellow and I suddenly felt a lot of heat in the air. The vibrations flowing through his body were not
ordinary ones. He was also surrounded by a yellow aura.”

I was shocked to hear that. I was aware of the fact that I felt strange when I saw Samuel being hurt
by Ceroy, but still... it meant Ceroy was right. I wasn't human. I felt the need to take a seat
somewhere, but there was no chair in sight so I just crossed my arms as I kept moving my feet
anxiously. I was also shocked by how calm Samuel was.

Teresa sighed. “Sanneth, I-”

“Call me Samuel for now, please. It might take some time for me to get used to being called
Sanneth. I can't wait for that though, I hate the name Samuel.”

Teresa smiled in response, which annoyed me even more, as if it was normal, as if it was okay for
us to think we were...

“So, you are able to control your powers and Michael isn’t?” she asked, catching my attention.

“I don’t have any powers,” Samuel responded blankly. “It’s just science. I have a device that-”

“I think it’s high time you told him,” Joshua told Teresa, interrupting Samuel, who instantly
frowned.

“Tell me what?”

Teresa sighed. “You see, kid, Agra Corporation belongs to Aksao. It has been founded by people
from the Moon Country who came to work here. The people I gave the mission to protect you as
your adoptive parents are from here. As you can guess, almost a half from the people that work for
your company at this very moment are not from Earth, they’re akayans. They are there as
subordinates of Saruk the Third, former King of The Sun Country, who’s currently on Earth too,
known as Scott Aiden. He-”
“He’s dead,” I interrupted her.

“What?!” she gasped as the glass of water next to her instantly broke.

I gasped and squeezed my eyes shut in order to avoid getting glass shards in them. When I opened
them back, all the shards were floating in mid air as Samuel stretched out his arm. When he let it
down, all the pieces fell on the floor. I sighed in relief, thankful he stopped them. I was right to be
scared of Teresa, apparently she had some tremendous powers up her sleeve.

“How… how is this possible?! She snarled. “What the hell is happening on Earth and why wasn’t I
informed? You came all the way here for information when we could have easily communicated
through-”

“I found out that the communication satellites between Earth and Akai have been hacked since the
beginning, your highness,” Stephanie explained as she interrupted Teresa. “Saruk’s subordinates
did send information your way since day one, but instead of your response, they got fake ones,
similar to yours, while Akai didn’t get any message. I figured this out as I personally tried to
contact you when I arrived on Earth for the first time, one week ago. I instantly recognized the fake
reply.”

Teresa clenched one of her fists, crushing a paper with it. I noticed tears in her eyes as she looked
away for a bit. Kassius sighed.

“Do you want to be left alone?” he asked her.

“No, I’m fine,” she muttered. “Mourning is for weak people. I just want to know who’s responsible
for all this…”

“I’m afraid it’s Lord Orris,” Stephanie said. “He’s alive.”

“Tch… that bastard. Of course he is... “ Teresa hissed, throwing the crushed paper from her fist in
the trash.

“I think it’s one of his subordinates who hacked our entire communication system,” Stephanie
continued.

“I always suspected he’s not dead,” Joshua said. “I’m so thankful I saved this kid,” he finished,
pointing at me.

“Samuel,” Teresa enunciated, getting everyone’s attention. “Everything you can do is in your
genes. Those things you have implanted in your wrists… they were made by scientists that work in
your company, indeed. But they were made for humans to use in the future if it comes to a war.
The point is, without your DNA they would have been impossible to make. Therefore you, Samuel,
don’t need them. This is a special telekinetic force manipulation ability that only people from the
Uhyra family possess. It’s a very useful power and that is why we developed such devices which,
by the way, possess only fifty percent of the ability’s real power. Stephanie has the devices too,
and so do I. They come quite handy for medical purposes and manipulating energy.”

“I see,” Samuel answered unsympathetically. “Kassius… did you know about all this?”

“Uh… yes,” he sighed. “I just promised your real parents to keep you away from anything that has
to do with-”

Samuel clenched his fists, sending him a cold look. “I don’t care about that,” he muttered,
interrupting Kassius. “As Michael said, lies make victims. They’re no good for anybody.”
 I caught myself staring at Samuel with a pitiful look.

“So, you possess medical abilities just like Stephanie, right?” Samuel asked Teresa.

“Of course, I taught her everything I know,” the blonde lady answered.

“Good,” Samuel muttered, as he suddenly stretched out both of his arms with his wrists upwards as
he looked at them with a focused stare.

“Samuel, what are you-”

Clenching his teeth, he groaned as two small sized devices burst out of his wrists through his skin,
staining some of Teresa’s papers with blood. Everybody gasped as Samuel sighed, sending Kassius
another cold glare as he kept the devices still floating in the air. What a dark scenario, Samuel
always loved drama.

“Hn, at least this wasn’t a lie. I really didn’t need these, after all,” Samuel snickered.

My body felt frozen as I kept staring at him. Stephanie had a worried look on her face, while
Joshua and Kassius just frowned. Seeing blood coming out of Samuel’s wrists like a river, I
instantly remembered about the moment I found him in the bathroom, holding a piece of mirror
glass above his wrist, willing to cut himself. Maybe his subconsciousness was trying to tell him to
do this all along, influenced by Lord Orris, so he could find out the truth about his powers all by
himself. Every piece of the puzzle that I had in my mind started falling into place, slowly.

Samuel’s wounds started healing as he kept looking at them, to Teresa’s surprise. He also let the
devices fall on the floor, mockingly. When his wounds healed completely, he let down his hands.

“Apparently you can heal yourself too, despite not receiving any medical training,” Teresa scoffed.
“Kassius, this one’s a reckless kid, as expected from an Uhyra.”

Samuel frowned when he heard that. “Yeah, I can. I asked if you have medical abilities just in case
something worse would have happened. So, there is a lot more left for you to tell us, isn’t it?”

“Yeah, there is,” Teresa agreed.

Suddenly, the doors opened and a woman with medium black hair stepped in. She had a tray with
cups in her hands. She smiled politely as she placed the tray on a side table.

“Thank you, Kirai. Please bring some chairs for these guys, they will need to sit down for this,”
Teresa demanded.

“Of course,” the woman replied.

She came back after two minutes with chairs and placed them behind each one of us, then bowed in
front of Teresa and left. We took our seats silently.

“Good, now that you made yourselves more comfortable, please have some tea. There’s a lot of
catching up to do here, as far as I’m concerned.”

I inhaled deeply, preparing my mind to be overloaded with new information. The moment finally
came for me to put every piece of that damn puzzle to where they belonged.

Chapter End Notes

Sorry for the cliffhanger xD
Next chapter coming veeery soon. I became motivated to write as we're getting closer
to the interesting parts of the story :)
 Solving Puzzles
Chapter Summary

Michael and Samuel are about to find out a secret, as a message from the past will be
delivered.

Chapter Notes

History lesson time! ^^

See the end of the chapter for more notes

As if it wasn’t overwhelming enough already, Teresa had to keep stalling us instead of finally
getting to the point. I sighed heavily after I took another sip from my cup of tea, which, to be
honest, tasted like weed.

When you know, you know.

“Okay, who wants to go first?” Kassius broke the awkward silence.

“Shouldn’t we just ask questions?” I barged in. “I mean, basically, Lady Teresa just said that my
parents were mutilated in front of Joshua. So, I just found out that I’m an orphan, you know! Don’t
you think I might have a lot of questions?”

“Well then, I think I should begin,” Joshua said after clearing his throat. “What about your
earthling parents, though?”

I instantly wondered how did he know about them.

“They… they’re scumbags," I muttered. "Apparently, I don’t need to feel bad about hating them
anymore. At least, if they had the guts to tell me I was adopted. Tch… selfish bastards.”

“I’m sorry to hear that didn’t go well,” Joshua replied. “You see, after I saved you, I honestly
didn’t know what to do. I was not prepared to raise a child, you know? But then, Teresa told me to
go to Earth along with Kassius, Sanneth’s adoptive parents and baby Sanneth. Kassius agreed that
taking you to Earth would be the best for you and-”

“Why did you keep Nakaeron a secret from us, though? And you, Kassius, knew about this all
along...” Teresa scoffed.

“I had many reasons, Teresa. Nakaeron is the child of the Sun Prophecy. It would have been
dangerous for him to remain here.”

Teresa widened her eyes at Joshua as I barely managed to swallow the lump in my throat after I
heard that. Samuel was listening very carefully, sipping from his tea every time he heard
something interesting.
“Let me explain,” Joshua went on. “You see, after the spacecraft took off to Earth with all six of
us, Nakaeron wouldn’t stop crying. After I’ve put him besides Sanneth, he… simply calmed down.
He even smiled as we could see a faint, yellow glow surrounding him. That’s when I knew.
Sanneth was like a wind to his fire, and he was like a Sun to Sanneth, who was also surrounded by
a faint blue glow. You know the legend, Teresa.”

“Yeah. Unfortunately, Orris knows it too,” she sighed.

My hands started shaking as I was holding the cup and I almost spilled tea all over myself. I still
didn’t understand anything. So, suddenly, I was a child of a prophecy, Samuel and I were kind of
destined… poof. Just like that, my life was no longer… mine.

“Just… what the hell is going on?!” I stormed impatiently. “You took me to Earth only to leave me
in an orphanage, without being aware of who I really am?! Why?! Since when could you decide on
my behalf?!”

"I'm sorry... I wish I was a better... uncle to you," Joshua muttered.

That's when I finally realised who he was.

"Impossible, you're-"

"How's Marble doing?" the old man asked.

As tears began to gather in my eyes, I clenched my fists angrily. "He's dead. Those bastards from
Krul shot him. He was just a innocent kitty, he didn't deserve that, you know!? I didn't deserve all
of this!" I sneered.

“Michael, calm down,” Samuel muttered. “Let’s hear all this until the end and we’ll judge them
after that. By the way, what legend are you all talking about? Are you saying that Michael and I…
we’re destined for each other and there was no other way? That’s some bullshit. Feelings are either
real or not.”

“The legend is about the founders of the Universe as we know it. Nobody knows too much about
them, we only know that if a child of the Sun falls in love with a child of the Moon and they get
married, their union will awaken a tremendous power within the two, making them capable to rule
over all the galaxies,” Teresa explained.

Samuel scoffed. “What a joke.”

“I think it’s true,” I sniffed with a low tone as my hands were still shaking. “ Weren’t Seryth and
Nikaellan children of the same prophecy?”

Teresa gasped. “How do you know about them?”

“I keep seeing them. Their memories, I mean. I can easily describe how they looked like and they
were very similar to me and Samuel.”

Samuel widened his eyes at me, surprised. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I-”

“Are you keeping things from me as well?!” he scolded me.

“No,” I sighed apologetically. “I just didn’t want to worry you even more after what happened with
Oliver. Lord Orris, I mean, whatever. “

I looked at Kassius, searching for approval on whether to tell Samuel about what Oliver did to him
or not. He nodded calmly.

“What on earth are you talking about?” Samuel went on.

“Samuel…”, I began with a serious tone, “do you remember what happened the night after we went
to the beach?”

“Not really,” he answered. “I just woke up the next morning surrounded by all four of you.”

“Right. Remember when Oliver placed his hand on your forehead in the restroom, though?” I went
on.

“Yeah,” Samuel nodded.

“I think Orris did something to him,” I said, looking at Teresa. “Is there any way you can check?
You said you possess medical abilities, maybe you can scan his brain or something.”

“I guess I can try,” Teresa muttered as she stood up from her seat, heading towards Samuel.

“What’s going on?” Samuel asked anxiously.

“Stay silent, kid. Let me do my job,” Teresa demanded as she placed her hand above Samuel’s
head, keeping it still. A faint green glow surrounded her palm as she closed her eyes.

And I thought she would take him in a lab or somewhere else where they had special brain-
scanning machines, but no... aparently she could do it with her bare hands.

After two seconds, a frown crossed Teresa's face, followed by an instant gasp as she moved her
hand away. “That bastard,” she hissed.

“He damaged his brain, didn’t he?” I asked, confident about my theory.

“It looks like a parasite or a bacteria, but I think it’s more than that. It can’t spread to others, but
it’s located in the hippocampus and it seems to be eager to multiply and spread to the prefrontal
cortex of his brain, though. This is clearly Orris’ doing. We need to get rid of it as quickly as we
can,” Teresa said as she took back her seat behind the desk.

Samuel blinked a few times, placing his right palm on his forehead as he seemed to have spaced
out. I pulled my chair closer to him and held his left hand, running my thumb gently over his
fingers.

“Samuel… after Oliver did that to you and Mr. Aiden died… you felt sad, right?” I asked him, still
running my thumb over his fingers, encouraging him to give me an honest answer.

“I guess,” he muttered.

“I think this bacteria, or whatever the heck it is, was triggered by sadness, Lady Teresa,” I said.

“What do you mean by that?” Teresa asked.

“I don’t know how to explain, but after seeing Mr. Aiden dead, Samuel suddenly acted… different.
He threatened to kill Stephanie if she would not explain what was going on about Lord Orris, who
called Samuel Sanneth before attacking him, by the way. Even if he was confused, Samuel would
never say something like that out of the blue. I noticed he was still sad after the meeting was over
and we went on a little walk on the beach in the evening, on my suggestion as I wanted to cheer
him up. You kept telling me sunsets make you sad, Samuel. I didn’t understand the meaning of that
until… until you…” I stopped as I tried to swallow the lump in my throat.

“Go on, Michael,” Teresa said.

I squeezed my eyes shut for a second as I rubbed my forehead with my hand, sighing. “Sorry. Let
me start with the moment we arrived back at the hotel after we took that walk. Samuel said he
wanted to take a shower and I went to eat something, but after only two minutes, I heard something
break in the bathroom. Afraid Samuel fainted or something, I rushed to the bathroom to check on
him. I had to slam the door open because it was locked and I found him sitting on the floor, holding
a piece of mirror glass above his wrist, wanting to cut himself. When I looked at him, he was
spaced out, almost unconscious. I took the mirror glass out of his hands and-”

“Hmm, interesting,” Teresa interrupted me, “he basically wanted to do what he did a few moments
ago, am I right? I bet he wanted to take out his devices so he would discover that his powers were
in his genes all along, right, Samuel?”

Samuel shrugged at Teresa, then squeezed my hand threateningly. I swallowed dry as I knew he
wasn’t feeling good at all, given the circumstances. He hated feeling weak and exposed. “I guess it
makes sense,” he replied blankly.

“Maybe the bacteria was influencing him to do it,” I went on, trying to get my hand out of
Samuel’s squeeze and put it over his, to calm him down. I felt him judging me like no other time.

“Thankfully, he came back to reality after I shook him a little," I went on. "He didn’t remember
anything, saying he just fell asleep in the bathroom which I found weird and that’s when I decided
not to tell you about it, Samuel,” I said as I gave him an apologetic glare. “I knew it had to do with
Orris and I was so scared and confused that I knew you wouldn’t be able to understand what was
happening to you either, you would have just worried more until you would have finally consumed
yourself completely. I decided not to tell you yet and pay attention to you instead, from that
moment on, but it was the wrong choice. I failed, because…”

I hesitated again to remember the night of his rampage. I inhaled deeply, gaining the energy I
needed to explain what happened. “I woke up at 5 A.M. without you by my side as you left the
hotel. I searched for you desperately everywhere, that’s how I bumped into Joshua in the hotel’s
basement, where, surprisingly, I also found Oliver in a secret library, stealing a book that had-”

“What?!” Teresa stormed. “Jirath, you were supposed to guard that damn place!”

Joshua sighed. “I apologize. You know how sneaky that filthy snake is. Also, I heard Michael
entering and-”

“Whatever, get to the point,” Samuel hissed at me.

Joshua and Teresa both sighed at Samuel’s impatience, but I guess they didn't blame him.

“I felt an earthquake,” I went on, “then I found Kassius outside, panicked like hell, telling me that
you were the one causing the earthquake and he couldn’t stop you. You went out at sea and I
desperately chased after you, only to find you standing on water when I expected to find you
swimming instead. You looked possessed, Samuel. You wanted to create a massive tsunami and
kept talking about wanting to wash away all humans and stuff. When I tried to stop you, you…
tried to kill me.”
Samuel gasped as his dark eyes widened at me, unable to believe what he heard. He was finally not
squeezing my hand anymore.

“Yeah, I’m not lying,” I said as I sighed and looked at our hands for a second. “I had to fight you…
and it wasn’t pleasant,” I muttered as I held his hand tighter, looking straight into his eyes. “I even
discovered I could absorb energy from you. You tried to choke me and that’s what saved me, my
body basically started absorbing oxygen from you. After a short while, I was able to step on water
too as we fought each other. I even tried to test out if you would actually kill me, so I acted like I
wanted to give up. You yelled “Nakaeron” out loud as you attempted to stab me through the heart
with an energy blade. I dodged it, of course, but I was devastated by it, emotionally. I became
confused, not knowing what to do anymore. That’s when I remembered the fact that sunsets made
you sad, as you told me, so it meant that as long as the sun was up, you were able to feel warm,
happy. It sounds silly, but it made sense to me. The sun was hidden behind clouds though, but I
could use my powers to scatter the clouds and uncover it, hoping it would bring you back to reality,
but… you knew about it, you considered it a weakness and you chose to keep your eyes closed,
refusing to see the sun. You used your powers to gather all those clouds I scattered above me,
creating a thunderstorm. As I was instantly struck by lightning, I passed out and drowned,
convinced I lost for good. While unconscious, I had another dream. I saw Seryth and Nikaellan.
Seryth was talking about going to fight Orris and Nikaellan made him promise to come back alive
as they were already engaged, the wedding about to take place in the following days. I think that
dream made me wake up all of a sudden and that’s when I saw you sinking near me and I saved
your ass.” I sighed looking at Samuel, relieved that I finally finished. “ I don’t know who stopped
you, though.”

“I did,” Joshua muttered. “I struck him with an energy blast.”

I frowned at him. “That could have killed him… were you about to let him drown?!” I snapped at
the old man.

Joshua snorted. “It wasn’t even close to a power level that could have killed this kid. Also, I knew
you were alive, I sensed your energy and I knew you would save him.”

I scoffed in response, convinced that he only excused himself. “Whatever,” I muttered as I looked
back at Samuel, worried.

He was staring at the floor with an apologetic look in his eyes. He felt guilty, I knew that, and there
was nothing I could say to cheer him up this time. I just pulled my chair even closer to him, leaning
my head on his shoulder while still holding his hand.

“So,” Teresa began as she placed her hands on the desk in front of her face, “you seem to be
connected to Nikaellan’s memories, Michael. That’s very interesting. Also, you became aware of
your powers. I wish I could help you with that, but someone over here kept you hidden from us,
which means nobody knows what you are capable of and it’s up to you to discover that and
understand more about your abilities. Of course, both of you will need special training in order to
control your powers. Even you, Samuel, because you were also kept away from the true nature of
your powers. I might as well consider you as clueless as your partner.”

“I think Orris killed both Nikaellan and Seryth,” I muttered.

“Yeah, it might be true, despite everyone believing Orris died along with Nikaellan, who was
praised as a hero."

“When did that happen?” I asked.

“Eighty years ago,” Teresa answered.

“And how do you know?”

The blonde lady snorted. “I’m two hundred and fifteen years old, kid.”

“Whaaaaat?!” I snapped as I instantly got up from my seat, probably turning pale as a ghost too.
“How is that even possible?! You look thirty!”

“Medicine,” she said calmly. “Also, akayans have a lifespan of more than one hundred and twenty
years.”

“Great,” I thought, “I have a long life ahead of me.”

Samuel sighed and grabbed my hand, pulling me back on my seat.

“Is everyone from my family dead?” he asked Teresa out of the blue.

“Yes, except your older brother, Ison.”

“Where is he now?”

“He ran away, “ Teresa answered with a sigh. “He killed your entire family.”

“What? Why?!” Samuel gasped as a frown crossed his forehead.

“To protect you, Samuel. Your real parents wanted to go to Earth and take away your powers,
maybe even kill you… it’s a long, complicated story, but I guess Ison will hear the news about you
coming back on Akai and he’ll try to reach out to you. I guess you’ll have a lot to talk about. Your
brother swore on his life to protect you since the day you were born.”

That sounded really dark. I didn't feel so bad about my fate after I heard Samuel's.

“Are you okay?” I asked Samuel as I felt him shiver a little, as his hand became colder.

He shrugged, looking around him, probably waiting for Teresa or someone else to say something.

“Look, you both probably need some good rest,” Teresa said. “We’ll talk more tomorrow. But first,
I need to do something temporary about that bug in your head,” she enunciated as she looked at
Samuel. “It will be enough to stop it from spreading until we find a way to extract it.”

“Do you need my help?” Stephanie asked.

“Yes. Everyone else, please wait outside. You can stay, though,” she told me. “I believe your warm
energy helps him.”

“It does,” Stephanie hummed with a smile. “I was convinced.”

Samuel looked at me, confused about when did that happen, but probably realising it was after we
fought.

“Good,” Teresa nodded.

Kassius and Joshua left the room while Teresa got up from her seat along with Stephanie as they
both surrounded Samuel.
“Both of you stay on your seats while we do this,” the old lady demanded.

I nodded at her as I held Samuel’s hand tighter. I closed my eyes, remembering how Stephanie told
me to focus in order to give Samuel some of my energy. It felt like meditating. After I felt all the
energy inside of me flowing smoothly, I focused on passing it to Samuel as I opened my eyes and
looked at him. He was staring at the floor and when he started receiving my energy, his eyes
widened as he looked at me, probably amazed by the whole thing. I could even see a faint smile on
his pale face as his gaze softened instantly. I sighed in relief, nodded and smiled back at him.

“Ready?” Teresa asked Stephanie.

“Ready when you are,” the short haired brunette hummed with confidence as they both placed their
right hands on Samuel’s head.

“Close your eyes kid,” Teresa told Samuel. “It will hurt a little.”

Samuel did as he was told. A faint green light surrounded Teresa and Stephanie’s palms as they
both closed their eyes as well, while I kept looking at all three of them without losing my focus.
After a few seconds, Samuel’s face frowned as he squeezed my hand tighter, clenching his teeth
because of how much pain he must have felt. I could only imagine a headache so strong it makes
you clench your teeth like that. I swore at that moment, that I would never complain about
headaches again like I used to do at work. Probably Steve was the main trigger for all of them
though, so… I didn’t have to worry about it anymore, anyway, because I was not going back to
Agra Corporation ever. Actually, I wasn’t even sure if I’d see Earth again, but that’s another
story...

I realised I got stuck in my own thoughts and lost my focus when I suddenly gasped at Samuel
squeezing my hand so tightly that I thought he crushed my fingerbones. He grunted loudly as drops
of sweat were falling from his frowned forehead down to his nose. I wanted to ask if he was okay,
but I didn’t want to disturb Teresa and Stephanie, so I kept my mouth shut and just placed my other
hand over Samuel’s instead, as he wouldn’t have let go of my right hand too soon, considering how
hard he was squeezing it. He started panting as if he already ran ten kilometers on a mountain.

“Okay Stephanie, prepare to place the seal, I caught the fucker!”

“Yes,” Stephanie nodded.

The faint glow surrounding their hands suddenly became brighter as Samuel grunted even louder,
almost yelling this time. I could almost feel his pain, I swear. The whole thing was very intense.

“Done,” Stephanie said after a minute as she moved her hand away.

“Good job,” Teresa told her as she moved away her hand as well.

Samuel finally opened his eyes, so wide as if he’d seen death, with face flushed and hair sweaty,
panting and gasping. Teresa quickly poured water into a glass and placed it on the desk, in front of
him. When he attempted to reach it, I noticed how badly his hand was shaking so I took the glass
instead.

“What… are you doing?” he murmured, looking at me as if I treated him like a joke.

“Shut up and don’t be stubborn, not this time,” I told him with a low tone and placed my free hand
under his chin as I pressed the glass against his lips, helping him drink the water. He drank all of it,
to my surprise.
“How do you feel?” Teresa asked him.

“My head hurts like hell,” Samuel replied.

“It will go away in approximately twenty minutes,” she said.

“What did you do?” I asked her.

“I located the exact place of where the bacteria was hidden. This is an energy bacteria, it’s not like
any type you have seen before. Antibiotics and stuff like that don’t work against a bug like this.
They multiply by feeding on the host’s energy and because it is placed in the brain, it causes
severe mood swings and depression, but this one’s purpose is more than that. We’ll take a better
look at it tomorrow as I will try to extract a sample and analyze it. I hope I will be able to do that
without surgery. If that will succeed, extracting it completely without surgery might be possible as
well, but that would leave Samuel unconscious for several days, because I will put an energy lock
on his brain in order to protect it from the damage an extraction would cause. So, that would put
him to sleep, obviously. Right now, Stephanie placed a strong barrier around the bacteria, blocking
it from multiplying and attacking Samuel’s brain again.”

“So that means he’s safe?” I asked as a smile brightened my face.

“Yes, but it won’t hold too long. If the barrier lasts a few days it’s more than enough,” Stephanie
said.

“Oh, I see,” I sighed. “Can I ask you something, Lady Teresa?”

“Sure, go ahead.”

“Were my parents good people?”

She smiled at me as if she was surprised by the simple question. “Yes, your father was proclaimed
the Fourth King of The Sun Country a month before he died… and your mother, she was such a
lovely young lady… and a brave warrior.”

I smiled, looking down. “Why did they die, though? Who killed them?” I asked as a frown crossed
my face.

“It was a powerful creature… they fought against it with all the power they had.”

“I see. So, they were heroes…” I muttered.

Teresa nodded, looking at me pitifully. Stephanie’s phone beeped suddenly as she turned to the
blonde lady.

“Your highness! I have good news! We recovered our communication satellites and all the
messages that were stored in their history are being delivered right now!” she hummed cheerfully.

Teresa’s computer beeped a few times as she took her seat and opened it. “Hmm, I expected more
of them.”

“Oh, probably some of them got lost…” Stephanie sighed.

“There’s one from Saruk, sent in September 2071,” Teresa said.

When I heard that year, I remembered when I was standing at the edge of that damn cliff, wanting
to end my life forever…
 “What does it say?” Stephanie asked.

“It says… Teresa, I don’t know if you got the rest of my messages but I’m saying this again:
Nakaeron is alive and he’s on this planet! I discovered him when I saw Sanneth sneaking out with
him, apparently he’s a student at the new school Kassius enrolled Sanneth in, at the beginning of
this year. His name is Nathan now. They can’t be together, Teresa, it’s dangerous for the power
mentioned in the prophecy to be awakened now, they’re too young and definitely not prepared to
fight against any enemy that will come after them, not after what happened to Sanneth’s adoptive
parents. Kassius and I decided it’s best if we erase both of their memories and insert some new
details to avoid triggers. Sanneth will be given a new name, as well as Nakaeron, their names will
be Samuel and Michael. Don't worry about the prophecy, they will find each other again, I’m sure
about that. And they’ll be ready when that happens.”

“Lady Teresa…” Stephanie murmured as she looked at the old lady who was staring with her eyes
widened at the screen.

I, on the other hand, felt like the whole room started spinning as my whole body was shivering.
“So… that’s why… that’s why I saw all those flashbacks… with us, Samuel! And the dreams you
said you had… and maybe that’s why I wanted to throw myself off that cliff! I felt so lost but I
couldn’t explain to myself why, oh my god!!” I yelped as tears came running down my cheeks.

“And those guys from Krul who kidnapped you. I think they undid what Saruk did when they tried
to erase your memory,” Samuel muttered. “So, we really did meet before. Scott Aiden… Kassius…
they both lied to me… all this time...”

Chapter End Notes

What do you think, will Samuel go mad again?

If you have any questions, feel free to ask them in the comment section and don't
forget to bookmark if you haven't already! Happy self isolation, lol. How are y'all
coping with this pandemic, by the way?
 Pressure
Chapter Summary

“You can remember, right? We were together six years ago as well, weren’t we?”

His voice sounded really odd, it was as if he was high.

“Yes, we got that confirmed,” I said.

“That’s why I had all those dreams… if I call you Nathan, maybe I’ll remember…”

Chapter Notes

I'm back =^^'=

“Samuel, what are you doing?” I asked him when he got up and headed to the door.

“Demanding explanations,” he replied bluntly.

“You need to rest, kid. Leave the angst for later,” Teresa enunciated. “You’re in no shape to-”

She didn’t get to finish her sentence because Samuel already slammed the door after he got out,
ignoring her demands. I instantly got up and followed him as Teresa released a long sigh.

“These two are going to be the death of me, Stephanie,” I heard her say before I closed the door
behind me.

“I’m still waiting, professor,” Samuel’s voice echoed from around the corner in the hallway. “I
trusted you all. How is this shit healthy, can you explain? Do you have a good explanation or do
you need to make one up?! Answer me!”

“Samuel, I-”

“You should call me Sanneth, because that’s how you called me until Scott erased my memories,
right?! That’s my real name!”

Kassius sighed. “I know this is difficult for you, it’s a lot of pressure and-”

“Difficult?!” Samuel interrupted him again. “Tch, you’re all a bunch of hypocrites. You don’t care
about Earth at all and you definitely don’t give a damn about my feelings. If I had been told the
truth maybe I could have stopped that goddamn war!”

“Don’t overestimate yourself, you were just a kid!” Kassius objected.

Samuel scoffed in response as he gave his professor a mocking glare. “Maybe I don’t overestimate
myself, maybe I could have really stopped it, if I had received proper training. But will you ever
know? Of course not. And Michael? You and Scott literally screwed up his whole life. I have no
respect for that man now, he can burn in hell!”

“Samuel, wait!” I yelled after him when I saw he wanted to leave. “Where are you going, you don’t
even know this place!”

Ignoring me, he just turned around and sent Kassius another sharp glare. Right in that moment,
Lady Teresa got out of her office.

“What the hell is all this noise?!”

Samuel fixated his eyes on her. “You… you gave Kassius that stupid mission. You owe me, your
highness. I demand that you give me back all the memories that Saruk took away from me.
Michael’s memories are already on their way back, thanks to our enemies.”

Teresa turned to me. “Is that true?”

“Yeah,” I answered. “I’m sure they’re coming back, I’ve seen a few flashbacks. They’re scattered,
though.”

“Memories come back in an odd way,” the old lady explained. “The first ones you see are usually
the ones that had an impact on different choices you have made. I’m afraid I can’t bring yours
back,” she said as she turned back to Samuel.

“Why is that? Don’t tell me you don’t have the required technology because I won’t believe that
bullshit.”

“Samuel, please be respectful!” Kassius stormed.

“You can’t order me around anymore,” Samuel shot back.

“That is his mission, believe me he can,” Teressa told Samuel.

“That was his mission,” he scoffed. “If Michael and I are part of a prophecy or whatever, we can’t
let our fate at the mercy of your poor choices, especially after seeing the disaster they’ve caused so
far, can we? I need my memories back.”

“I already said that’s out of discussion!” Teressa yelled angrily as she clenched her fist at him.

Samuel sketched a subtle, confident smirk. “I see. You don’t want me to get my memories back,
am I right? I bet you’ve just read more messages that you have received right now and there is
something I shouldn’t remember, isn’t it?”

Teresa gasped as her face frowned even more. Apparently, Samuel’s sharp mind was giving her a
hard time.

“You really don’t understand, kid. There are a lot of things you do not understand! I am not your
enemy and neither is Kassius, everyone here was trying to protect you. Maybe what I do not want
you to remember is something that affected you very badly, have you considered that?! I would
refuse to bring Michael’s memories back as well but apparently what’s already done can’t be
undone,” Teresa explained. “Please, listen to me. I do not want to keep you away from your full
potential and I have also heard about what you’ve been planning to do on Earth. I won’t stop you.
But before that, Sanneth, you need to learn to control your abilities and understand who you are
and what is your purpose. Some things happened on Earth in the past that affected your mind and
those things are not important anymore!”
“Why did Lord Orris tell me that I despise human beings? Why did I want to flood an entire
country?” Samuel asked. “Maybe I really do hate humans. Maybe they did something to me. I
never had any human friends, because apparently Michael isn’t human and neither were the people
I have worked with.”

“Samuel… please, stop this,” I muttered with a low tone as I looked into his eyes.

He looked away after two seconds, avoiding my gaze.

Joshua made himself noticeable when I heard him sigh heavily.

“Both of you, just go and rest. We have a lot of time to sort things out tomorrow,” he said as he got
closer to Samuel and patted him on the shoulder. “Believe me kid, I care about you and Nakaeron a
lot and… yes, we might have made some mistakes. Despite that, things on Earth would not have
been any different, believe me when I say this. I have been on Earth for as long as you’ve been and
trust me, all the things we fought against would have found another way to happen. I don’t believe
in chances. You and Nakaeron must focus on becoming stronger now and change the world.
Change the Universe.”

Samuel frowned. “You don’t get it. How can I change something I don’t understand or know
anything about? That is why I want my memories back.”

“Look, do what Teresa says for now and you have my word, when you’re strong enough, I’ll
personally give you all those memories back,” the old man smiled at him. “You will think
differently when that happens.”

He had a warmth in his voice that could soothe anyone’s angst, even Samuel’s, whose expression
softened a bit as he looked at me again with an apologetic glare.

“Jirath!” Teresa objected. “You are in no position to defy my orders!”

“The risks I take are calculated, dear,” Joshua replied calmly. “You’ll see for yourself what those
two are capable of bearing. Their shoulders can bear the weight of a thousand planets.”

Teresa sighed as she placed her palm against her forehead. “You and your theories. This will never
end. Fine, I’ll wanna see how things evolve. Tomorrow, both of you will begin special training. If
all goes well, you’ll be capable of mastering your abilities in less than a week.

I gasped. “Wow, that’s such a short time! How is that possible?”

“Technology,” Teresa replied.

“Right, why didn’t I think of that,” I pouted.

“Okay, Stephanie will show you the way to the dorms,” Teresa said. “I’m going back to work. See
you both tomorrow.”

“Follow me,” Stephanie told me and Samuel.

We did as she said. As I was passing by Joshua, he placed his hand on my shoulder and stopped
me.

“Take care of Sanneth. He’s a little bit anxious and he needs to be calmed down. You know what I
mean, kid,” he whispered to me as a snickering smile formed on his face.
Kassius, who was next to us, cleared his throat in response to what he definitely heard pretty
clearly.

I turned red instantly. “Huh!? Damn you, dirty old geezer!” I cringed as I backed away from him.

Samuel and Stephanie both turned around at us, confused.

“It’s nothing, you guys, this old man apparently has some stupid jokes to tell people,” I said as I
scratched the back of my neck awkwardly, sketching a fake grin.

Kassius sighed, then Samuel scoffed and turned back around as Stephanie sent Joshua a death
glare. She must have been used to the fact that he was a pervert. I also gave him another nasty gaze
before I followed her and Samuel. How could someone be wise and stupid at the same time was
the question that kept bothering me since then.

As we were walking through the hallway, Samuel was pretty absent. I wanted to say something to
him, but I didn’t want to put pressure on him either, especially because we weren’t alone yet.
Samuel never liked to talk about personal matters with someone else being around.

We finally stopped in front of a door after we walked more than ten minutes. The hallways of the
building were terribly long and apparently, they were a circle. It was weird, because the building
didn’t look round at all, from the outside.

Stephanie took out a key, opened the door, then handed the key to Samuel.“Good night and see you
both tomorrow morning.”

Samuel nodded a silent “thank you” as he took the key from her. When we entered the room, the
minimalism didn’t surprise me, I totally expected it. I sighed after I closed the door behind us.
There was one thing that surprised me, though…

“Samuel, are you oka-”

I was interrupted when he suddenly pushed me against the nearest wall and started kissing me
savagely, running his hands under my shirt, all over my waist, dipping his fingers in my skin full of
instantly formed goosebumps.

“Shut up. Don’t ask me any questions,” Samuel whispered to me as he looked into my eyes in such
a way as if he wanted to eat my soul.

Well, I can’t lie and say he didn’t succeed. I instantly felt like a flame in the wind. What came next
was the most intense package of feelings that had ever hit me.

Samuel took off his shirt then took mine off as well before he picked me up by the thighs, holding
me in his arms like that. I thought man, he has some powerful arms since he can hold a man that
weighs 185 pounds as if he holds a skinny girl.

He carried me like that through the room before he tossed me on the bed. He took off my pants in
two seconds with an unbelievable ease and left me there watching him take his pants off as well.
While he was doing it, his eyes were fixated on me. I swear I saw hunger in his gaze. After he
threw his pants on the floor right next to mine, Samuel crawled on top of me, slowly leaning his
body over mine as his hands were massaging my thighs. I figured out he actually liked my thick
legs. I always felt fat because of them, but they were actually one hundred percent muscle. If I wear
large shirts and pants I still feel like I’m fat, though, even today.

I wanted to say something so badly, but I knew that would kill Samuel’s vibe. To my surprise
though, he started talking.

“You can remember, right? We were together six years ago as well, weren’t we?”

His voice sounded really odd, it was as if he was high.

“Yes, we got that confirmed,” I said.

“That’s why I had all those dreams… if I call you Nathan, maybe I’ll remember…”

“Samuel, don’t push yourself too mu-”

He interrupted me again, with a kiss. “Shh. Call me Sanneth, because that’s my real name and
that’s how you called me in the past. Didn’t you get any flashbacks where you were saying my
name?”

“No, I don’t remember that, unfortunately,” I muttered.

He sketched a soft smile as he tucked my hair behind my left ear, gently touching my cheek with
his thumb. It was an odd, sudden change from that savage behavior he had earlier. His face was
above mine, our noses touching as our eyes were busy staring into each other.

“I’m wondering… if we were also doing this six years ago… I mean, we were young, weren’t we?
I think we were seventeen…” he muttered before he kissed me again, softer than ever, but with a
hunger that sent shivers down my spine.

“Okay, I’ll call you Sanneth from now on, if that’s what you want,” I told him.

Now that I write this, I still feel the urge to refer to him as Samuel, but that was a fake name, as
well as Michael was a fake name for me, given by Scott Aiden, also known as Saruk The Third.

“Thank you… Nathan,” was the last thing Sanneth said before his hand went straight to my
underwear and took it off.

He began touching me there, with a gentleness I’ve never felt before. A gentleness that makes you
feel like you’re floating on a fluffy cloud while a chilly wind runs through your hair. I didn’t feel
cold, though. I was feeling warmer than ever.

I gasped as loud as I could when I felt his lips down there. “S- Sa-”

He interrupted me again by placing his palm over my mouth while he kept on doing the magic. To
be honest, it was the first time someone did that to me. I felt like a teenager getting his first BJ. It
was simply amazing. He kept looking at me and that killed me. I lasted only one minute and that
really hurts my pride to remember.

“It’s not that bad to swallow this, sorry I judged you the last time,” he said as he wiped his lower
lip with his thumb.

I felt like I was on drugs. “N-no problem… Sa-nneth…” I murmured.

“Wow, your face is so flushed. It’s kinda cute. Did I do that to you?”

I shyly noded in approval.

“Hn. It pleases me to know that,” he snickered.

There I was, at his mercy again.

“Will you let me feel you, now?”

I nodded again, without any objection. Sanneth took off his underwear and offered me a perfect
view of him. Goosebumps again, at the sight of his hard length. As he leaned down and pushed
himself forward, I could see it. The glow. We were both glowing. His aura was a faint blue and
mine was yellow.

“Sanneth, do you see it?”

“Yes, I do,” he replied as his face got closer to mine before he kissed me deeply and started
moving his body in a way that drove me crazy.

Both of my hands were in his hair, holding on to it gently enough not to pull it too hard. I can’t
describe in words the sounds we both made, especially mine. The whole thing was cathartic.

He suddenly grabbed my hands and stretched my arms above my head as our fingers remained
intertwined, pressing against the white mattress.

“Nathan, I-... “

Interrupted by his own cathartic moment, his teeth clenched in response to the feeling of pleasure
that took over his whole body, making him shiver. Even after that, we still remained connected as
he couldn’t move. He was just panting and staring into my eyes, somehow questioning everything
he was feeling.

“I still don’t remember… ever feeling like this,” he sighed as he eventually released my hands and
placed his head on my chest, allowing his body to finally relax. “I still remember I always loved
you, though… s-somehow, I... “

(c) Snow124

I sighed happily at the sight of him

falling asleep on my chest, just like the
last time on the beach. His body
wasn’t as heavy as mine and I could
easily fall asleep with him literally still
on top of me, without any trouble. It
was peaceful. I grabbed the nearest
blanket I could get my hand on and
covered our bodies with it.

I couldn’t fall asleep right away as my

mind was still full of questions,
confusion and worries. I finally had
the time to process things more evenly.
I was not human. I had never been.
What did that mean? Suddenly, I was
everything I never imagined I could be. As Joshua said, I was meant to carry the weight of a
thousand planets. Will I be able to do that? What will it take to get there? I didn’t know.

I only knew one thing. Without Sanneth by my side, I will definitely fail. I know that now. I know
a lot of things now. I am Nakaeron Uzkaeri, but my earthling name is Michael Nathan Unsworth. I
thought I knew who I was, until I remembered everything that's been taken away from me when I
lost my memory. I don't want that to happen again, that's why I decided to write this, after all, as
messy as it is. For myself, for my friends... for you. I hope you're gonna open your eyes, Sanneth...
it's been a month already. After all we've been through and after finally meeting you again. I can't
lose you now... I just can't.
 Acknowledgement
Chapter Summary

Sanneth and Nakaeron are finally ready to go full power! But is Sanneth ready for it?

Chapter Notes

See the end of the chapter for notes

“Oi, wake up, you two, sleeping break’s over!” Teresa’s voice woke me up from behind our
bedroom’s door, followed by a persistent knocking.

“What the hell!” I snapped, almost tossing Sanneth on the floor, because he had been sleeping on
my chest all that time.

“Tch,” he pouted, slowly getting up, pressing his hand against the bridge of his nose as he glared at
the door. “That woman…”

I got up as well, headed to the door and opened it only to see that old woman’s frowned face, with
narrowed hazel eyes that were staring right into my soul.

“You sure give me the creeps, granny…” I murmured awkwardly.

“I don’t look like a granny so don’t you ever call me that again,” she hissed. “Come on, we’ll get
some breakfast, then you’ll come to the research base with me. You’ll both start training today.
Also, Sanneth, I have a gift for you.”

Sanneth’s eyes suddenly focused on her. “What is that?”

“Something that only members from your clan are able to possess,” Lady Teresa said as she
smirked in response.

“Hn, interesting. Let’s go, Nathan.”

“Oh, now you’re calling him Nathan?” the old lady asked, confused.

Sanneth didn’t say anything back, he just walked past her, out of the room, after he took his clothes
on.

“Wait up, I need to dress up too, y’know!” I mumbled.

I stood there by the door covered in a blanket, staring at him, until he stopped and turned his face
at me. “You could have been already dressed since I stepped out,” he told me bluntly as he raised
an eyebrow.

I scoffed in response and just went to take my clothes on. He didn’t even wait for me to lock the
door as he was already way ahead of me. Not even Teresa waited.

“Tch, what a morning… I said wait for me!!” I shouted behind them.

After walking again for like fifteen minutes, we finally arrived in a place that looked like a
cafeteria.

“What would you like to eat?” Teresa turned to me and Sanneth.

“Do y’all have noodles?” I asked, full of excitement.

Teresa raised an eyebrow. “What the hell are those?”

“Uhh… they’re a sort of pasta that are actually made of-”

“I’ll have cherry tomatoes and some rice with mixed vegetables,” Sanneth told her, interrupting
me.
“Sure,” Teresa nodded at him.

“Really?! You have all those and you don’t know what noodles are!?” I snapped like a child,
pouting. “Tch, fine, I’ll have the same as him.”

“Oi, idiot. They literally have a menu full of pictures right above your head,” Sanneth mocked me,
pointing his finger at the menu board. “Noodles are over there, they’re called shen’kai here.”

I turned around and saw the menu board. “Oh… what a weird name.”

“Tch,” he scoffed, rolling his eyes at me. “Look who’s talking, your name is Nakaeron.”

“Don’t throw that attitude at me again, what the hell is wrong with my name?!” I objected. “Okay,
so I’ll have shen’kai with… umm… do you see pork or beef anywhere?”

Teresa looked at me, confused, as if she didn’t know what pork was.

“Meat, “ Sanneth explained to her.

Teresa’s face cringed as if someone insulted her. “Don’t tell me y’all eat other beings, there on that
planet!”

Both me and Sanneth remained awkwardly silent, his face even looked guilty, it was kind of funny.
So yeah, everyone on Akai was apparently vegan.

“Well, basically plants are living beings as w-”

“Everything here is made in a laboratory! We don’t eat anything that’s alive!” Teresa objected,
interrupting me.

I was about to ask how the hell were they able to function at all then, but Sanneth sent me a buzz in
my left ear, reminding me that was his way of telling me I should better keep my mouth shut.

After our food was prepared and we ate- I just got the noodles instead of rice- we also finished
drinking our coffee ( thank God they had that, at least, Sanneth was as happy as me concerning
that).

“Okay, we can go now,” Teresa muttered.

“You don’t have to pay?” I asked.

“Have you forgotten who I am?” she shot back.

“Uh… right.”

After another long walk, we got out of the building. I was finally able to admire the city view once
again. When Teresa took out a tiny gadget from her pocket, she threw it on the ground. Before I got
to ask her why she did that, the device suddenly transformed into a vehicle similar to Asun’s.

“Oh crap, not that flying thing again,” I pouted.

“Come on, hop in!” Teresa demanded of me after she and Sanneth were already on board.

I did as she said. When the engine started I could already feel my stomach wanting to get rid of
everything I just fed it with. That would have been a pitiful waste of surprisingly good artificial
noodles and tomatoes.
Sanneth grabbed my hand
and held it as he did when
we first flew with his car.
I smiled back at him in a
thankful way and really
tried not to panic.

“Here we go!” Teresa

announced as the vehicle
instantly sped up.

I turned my head and

really looked down and
around us this time and the
view was fascinating. The
air also felt so fresh and
clean, despite how
polluted I expected that
place to be. To my surprise, it felt cleaner than the air on Earth.

“Hn, you’re so calm now, scaredy cat. If I let go of your hand, would you chicken out again?”
Sanneth asked me mockingly.

“Yeah, I probably would,” I answered.

Sanneth widened his eyes for a second, hearing my honest answer. He probably expected me to get
mad or something in response to him teasing me, but I was really calm. Everything felt right, for
once, despite the sudden change of surroundings.

“Fine, then. I’ll take care of you, even though it’s troublesome,” he sighed.

Just him being in control again and attacking my pride, why would that bother me, right? Before I
realized, the flying vehicle stopped.

“Here we are!” Teresa said as she hopped out of it.

“Wow!” I exclaimed, looking at the building next to us. It had a very interesting shape, I can’t even
describe it.

“Get off kid, before I shrink this thing back with you in it,” Teresa mocked me.

I realised I was the only one left on the vehicle, again. After I tripped over last time, I really didn’t
want to get off and make a fool of myself once more.

“Tch, moron,” Sanneth scoffed as he stretched out his arm, pointing it at me.

Before I managed to move, my body was already in the air, floating. “What the hell! Sanneth, are
you doing this?!”

“Stop whining,” he told me as he smoothly let his arm down, making me land safely on the
ground, on my feet. “You’re welcome.”

“Mhm, whatever, yeah, thanks,” I mumbled embarrassed as I narrowed my eyes, looking away.

We were in an elevator again, but that building had only twenty floors, apparently. There were a lot
of differences in sizes and heights when it came to buildings in that city. I also expected the place
to be very bright, usually that’s how research places are on Earth, full of white everywhere, but this
one was dark as hell. It even gave me the creeps. We suddenly stopped in front of a metal double
door. Teresa pressed a button next to it and it opened very slowly.

“Oh, Lady Teresa, good morning!” a bald man standing in front of a huge screen greeted her. “You
brought guests?”

“Good morning to you as well, Zeyn. These are Sanneth Uhyra and… Nakaeron Uzkaeri.”

Zeyn widened his eyes at me. “Impossible… you’re the Nakaeron Uzkaeri?!”

“Heh, you can call me Nathan if you want,” I hummed as I awkwardly scratched the back of my
neck.

I wasn’t used to being so important and known of, really.

“Wow, what a time to be alive!” the man exclaimed. “Literally! Lady Teresa, help me catch up!
How did he survive?”

“Someone saved him,” Teresa responded. “I would love to help you catch up and give you more
details, but I don’t know too much about him either and there is no time for that as well. They
came here to train and acknowledge their true powers and strength. They were both raised on
Earth, so… they weren’t aware of what they are capable of.”

“Oh, I see. No worries, with the training program that I developed, they will rock their powers in a
very short time,” Zayn told her cheerfully.

“Good, I was also hoping for that. I also have another request for you, though. Sanneth, like every
Uhyra, would like to receive the khairo’me.”

“Oh? That’s amazing, but beware, kid, it will hurt a little.”

Sanneth had a confused glare. “Care to explain?” he asked Teresa as he raised an eyebrow at her.

“Of course. Khairo’me is a device that is compatible only with Uhyra DNA. After being
implanted, it is activated only at will when a huge amount of energy is being released. It’s similar
to the telekinetic devices you had implanted on your wrists.”

“So, it’s basically a brain-machine interface?” Sanneth asked.

“Yes and no,” Teresa went on. “When activated, it appears as if you have glowing circuits on the
right side of your head and right arm. They can be seen, but they can’t be touched. Also, your right
eye will turn into a red bionic eye that works like the eyes of a machine. It can scan things, detect
virtual realities or simulations and teleport you wherever you want. At the cost of your energy, of
course. Also, the circuits will be able to convert your energy into extremely high voltage electricity
that can be released through your right hand, giving you the capacity to electrocute your enemy.”

“Wow, I want that too!” I barged in like a kid.

“Sorry, but it’s only compatible with Sanneth,” Zeyn told me.

“What do I have then?” I pouted, crossing my arms.

“Hn, I’m in,” Sanneth muttered.

“Okay, sit here,” Zeyn told him. “As I said, it will hurt, you will feel like being stung by a
thousand bees. Are you ready?”

“I always am,” Sanneth replied.

I was watching him worried and excited at the same time. Being too cocky never helped him at all.

“Okay, take your shirt off then,” Zeyn told him.

After Sanneth did what he said, Zeyn took something similar to a gun in his hand and pointed it
somewhere on his back, on the right side.

“Okay, I’m going to inject the energetic microchip now. Stay still, no matter how much it hurts.
Understood?”

Sanneth nodded in approval then fixated his eyes on me. I smiled at him in response, trying to
encourage him, though I knew he wasn’t actually afraid. Zeyn pressed a button on the back of that
gun, making it release a sharp loading sound followed by a click sound.

“Was that all?” Sanneth asked bluntly. “It tickled.”

“Don’t get too cocky, young one, the pain starts just now. I will give you a pill that will force your
body to go full power in order to activate the microchip. Here it is, take it,” Zeyn told him as he
handed him a red pill and a glass of water.

Sanneth followed the guy’s order and swallowed the pill. Before he could hand back the glass of
water, he clenched his teeth as he groaned out loud, dropping the glass on the floor. Luckily, it was
made of plastic. Sanneth suddenly curled up on the chair he was sitting on, turning his back at us. I
could see that on his back, where Zeyn touched him with that gun, a glowing blue dot appeared as
Sanneth’s blue aura started to be seen as well.

”The process started. It will take several minutes from now,” Zeyn told us.

That blue, glowing dot on Sanneth’s back suddenly turned into a line, then into the shape of a
triangle and from the triangle several straight lines that looked exactly like circuits continued to go
up, extending themselves in more lines all the way on his right arm to his fingers and neck.
Sanneth grabbed the edges of the chair, pressing his fingers against them as he kept groaning in
pain.

As the circuits extended on the right side of his face, he suddenly put his hand against his right eye,
pressing it. After yelling as if someone stabbed him, he calmed down, indicating that the pain must
have stopped. When he turned around to look at us, his right eye had a small, glowing red light in
the middle and the circuits on his arm were glowing brighter than his aura.

“This is-... I feel amazing,” he muttered as he stretched out his right arm full of circuits, looking at
it.

“Wow,” I said. “This feels so unreal. Why can’t I get one, it’s so unfair.”

“Hn, well, too bad for you,” Sanneth mocked me.

“Okay, now try and deactivate them. Inhale and exhale slowly, try to relax your body,” Teresa told
him.

Sanneth did as he was told. His aura started fading away slowly and the circuits disappeared
instantly, as if someone turned off their light.

“Wow, it’s like he never had them!” I exclaimed, amazed by the fact that they couldn’t be seen
anymore at all and his right eye went back to normal.

“Okay, now I have to start the training program and adjust it to your power levels. It will take ten
minutes or so,” Zeyn said.

“I’m going to the bathroom,” Sanneth said.

“Of course, the second hallway, on the left,” Teresa told him.

“Thanks,” he replied as he got out.

I remained there with Teresa and Zeyn. A few moments after Sanneth left, Kassius entered the
room.

“So, you started work, already, huh?” he asked.

“Of course, Kassius. I’m glad you came by yourself.,” Teeresa told him.

“I felt in my guts I was needed,” the grey haired masked guy scoffed.

“Kassius, do you have the khairo’me?” I asked him all of a sudden.

He widened his eyes at me.

“You know, that guy Ceroy said something back when we were attacked on Anmi, something
about-”

“I know what he said,” he interrupted me. “As I said, I haven’t killed anyone, it was a gift. You
cannot call it khairo’me, because I only have the eye. Also, it suffered malformations, so I can only
scan things with it, nothing more. A friend that died gave it to me.”

“I see.”

“The program is ready,” Zeyn said.

“Where is Samuel?” Kassius asked me. “I mean, Sanneth.”

“He said he went to the bathroom. Better go check on him, last two times he went to the bathroom
alone, a lot of bad shit happened,” I sighed.

I got out, ready to go after Sanneth. When I entered the bathroom though, no one was there. I
started looking around the hallway but there was still no sign of him, until I heard his voice coming
from outside somehow. As I got closer, he was on a balcony and a guy that looked very similar to
him but had long hair was standing in front of him. Apparently he also had those circuits and
Sanneth’s were also activated. I was curious to see what was going on so I remained there, behind a
corner.

“Wait, you’re my-...”

“Yes, my name is Ison. I am your brother,” the guy in front of Sanneth said. “My khairo’me
activated on its own when it felt your presence. I’m so glad to finally see you again, little brother.”

“Again? Have we met before?” Sanneth asked him as he narrowed his eyes.
Ison suddenly seemed to hesitate answering and his face got flushed.

“Yes, when you were born, until you were departed to Earth.”

“Is it true you killed the whole family just to keep them away from me?”

“Yes. I guess you hate me now, don’t you?”

“No,” Sanneth answered shortly with a sigh. “This feels odd. So, we share the same blood… but at
the same time, a bad vibe overwhelms me now, but it’s not caused by you, somehow, it’s…”

“Hey, it’s okay. Everything’s fine now, Sanneth,” Ison said as he stepped forward and hugged his
brother.

I smiled in response because it was indeed something heartwarming. He was a bit taller than
Sanneth, who raised his head and looked at Ison, somehow with a confused glare, but looking
straight into his eyes.

Suddenly, in the next second, Sanneth cupped his brother’s cheek with one hand as the other went
through his hair and… kissed him. Right then, I gasped and Ison saw me. I wanted to go right over
there, but suddenly I could not move, it felt like I grew roots into that spot. As I looked at them
with my eyes widened, Ison gently stopped Sanneth, who looked as if someone saw him naked.

“Shit,” Sanneth gasped as he wiped his mouth. “Why… did I do that?!”

“Don’t worry, maybe you were just-”

“No,” Sanneth yelped as if he was about to cry. “I feel weird, something is wrong!”

“No, wait,” Ison stretched his arm to grab his brother’s, but Sanneth already got back in, running
like hell through the hallway without even seeing me.

I wanted to go after him but I still felt like I was stuck to the floor. Suddenly, Ison appeared in front
of me, with his khairo’me activated. I chickened out, thinking that he’d kill me for what I saw.

“Who are you?” he asked me with a surprisingly calm tone.

“M-my name is… uh… Nathan… I mean… Nakaeron.”

Ison gasped. “So you’re alive. You’re in love with my brother, aren’t you?”

“We are together,” I mumbled.

“Hm, I see. Look, you didn’t see anything, okay? Don’t be mad at him, he is traumatized. What
Sanneth did… was because of the reason why Lady Teresa doesn’t want to bring his memories
back. He wanted to blow up your entire planet when I was almost killed then captured by humans
on earth during the war, as they were ready to make me their subject of experiments. If he
remembers that...”

“What!?” I gasped.

I barely managed to swallow the lump in my throat as I prepared myself to hear another shocking
new information.
 Chapter End Notes

Now that was a surprise, wasn't it? *chuckles*

End Notes

Hi, again! =^^=

I'd love to hear what you think until now, I promise my writing gets better with every
chapter, as I improve. I'm still trying to write this in Naruto's way of telling things, so there
will be humor and drama too. The universe I am trying to create in this story has a lot of
meaning to me, just as much as Sasuke and Naruto's love means to me.
As I said, Snow inspired me to write this and I really have big plans with this story, I might
turn it into a book one day and commission Snow (if she wants) to draw the cover <3
I know I have to improve a lot when it comes to writing for doing that, so any critiques are
welcome in the comments. Thank you so much for being here!

Please drop by the archive and comment to let the author know if you enjoyed their work!