Chapter 24: Journey Under the Midnight Sun

  The pulsing pain that had plagued Felix exploded the moment he opened his eyes. He grimaced and hunched forward, nearly knocking into Dante. Dante stared back coldly and pulled back a bloodied cloth that was wrapped around his finger.

  Felix moaned loudly. “Was that a test?! By poking me right where it hurts?!” he hissed.

  “If you have a reason to see it that way, then yes.”

  Felix surveyed his surroundings and realised that Dante had brought him back to his house. The surface beneath him made a sloshing sound as he shifted his weight. “Is this a waterbed?” he asked weakly. “I heard that there’s some wave suppression system in this thing, right?”

  Without answering his question, Dante exited the room. “I will be back. Do not touch anything while I am gone,” he warned.

  Felix groaned, leaning against the headboard of Dante’s bed. He swallowed his saliva and lifted his shirt. He winced when he saw blood seeping through his bandages. I can’t let him see the crests!

  Dante soon returned with a first-aid kit and a small metal bowl. “Take off your shirt.”

  “You don’t have to help. I can dress it myself,” Felix insisted.

  “Take off your shirt,” Dante repeated flatly.

  “I said I can-”

  “Take it off.”

  Felix undid the buttons on his shirt, revealing his handiwork of loose bandages and gauze. With a pair of small scissors, Dante cut away the damp and blood-stained bandages, uncovering a bloody mess of pus and skin all over his torso. He left the ones around the neck intact.

  “They are infected.” Dante’s words held no hint of pity. He offered no questions – how they were gotten, why they went untreated – only the bare statement of fact.

  Felix hissed as Dante poked the wound on his left shoulder with tweezers wrapped in disinfectant-soaked gauze. Dante was clearly too pissed to bother. He practically drowned each wound with disinfectant and stabbed the wound with a Q-tip dunked in antibiotic cream.

  “It hurts!” Felix finally protested, grabbing Dante’s wrist.

  Dante twisted his hand out of his grip and repeated the same process four times over, keeping his head down. For a moment, Felix felt guilty for raising his voice. Did he lose weight? His lips are pale, Felix thought. He sounds like he’s recovering from the flu…

  To see Dante again was a miracle. If only he could see him every day, breathe the same air, hear his voice…

  Fuck, this is not what I’m here for! Felix tilted his head up so that he was staring at the ceiling, feeling his cheeks burn. His thoughts spiralled – how Dante's voice still had that slight rasp and the way he smelt like laundry dried in the sun. A warmth crept traitorously up Felix’s neck. He hated how easily he slipped into this. He was eventually snapped out of his daydream by a loud clang.

  “Done.” Dante pressed the dressing lightly, patting the adhesive down. The soft pads of his fingers grazed his skin. Felix shivered at the slight touch. The instruments rattled in the bowl, which Dante moved away with the back of his hand.

  “Wait,” Felix said. “I still need them for my neck. I can handle that myself.”

  Dante stared at him and said, “Turn around.”

  “Huh?”

  “Turn. Around.”

  Felix racked his brains for an excuse, but Dante’s hand seemed to tremble – whether from fury or something else, he couldn’t tell. He had no choice but to comply.

  Felix gagged as Dante ripped at the bandages around his neck. The disinfectant flowed down his back, and the Q-tip plunged deep into the wound. Felix felt Dante start to trace the crest slowly before faltering. He heard the tearing of plastic, and a dressing was slapped on the back of his neck.

  Felix whirled around fast enough to grab Dante’s wrist. It’s not what it seems, he wanted to say, but he stopped himself. His heart squeezed so, so painfully as he saw Dante’s eyes.

  It was the same pair of eyes, the very last thing he saw when Dante severed all ties with the Sanctum ten years ago. There was neither care nor concern, only burning hate.

  This time, Felix let go of Dante, who slammed the door behind him as he left.

  ***

  “Key… K-Key…”

  Dante threw open the doors of his shoe cabinet and shook out each shoe along the bottom row. A key clattered onto the marble floor, and he snatched it up without a second thought. He broke into a crouch-run to the cabinet where he kept his liquor locked. Falling to his knees, he raised a shaky hand to the scuffed keyhole and stabbed at it until the key slid in. Nova meowed and rubbed its face against his leg.

  Dante brushed Nova off. “I-I know,” he mumbled as he ran both hands through his hair. “Alcohol only o-on special occasions.”

  Dante reached for the first bottle he saw. He grabbed a glass, but when he tried to pour out a cup, his left hand started shaking uncontrollably. Ditching the glass, he drank straight from the bottle. He inhaled sharply as the acrid liquid hit his stomach. With a loud thud, he slammed the bottle down and buried his head in his arms. It felt like it was going to split apart at any moment.

  Alcohol was forgetting, liquid courage and emergency warmth. It was what he craved desperately as he consumed more and more. It was solace, salvation, and sweet, sweet surrender of the most sublime sort.

  But it never came.

  Dante emptied the bottle, but the headache remained. Nova leapt onto the counter and started butting the bottle away with its head.

  “Oh, Nova…” Dante pulled his cat close to him, pressing his face into its coat. His palpitating heart slowed as he took deeper breaths. “Why? Why? Why?”

  Years and years of doing whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted. All gone. Snapped away by whatever stupid excuse Felix would come up with.

  Nova purred but offered no answers.

  ***

  Felix took a small whiff, inhaling the scent on Dante’s pillows. It smelled like it had been sun-dried after a good hand wash.

  Damn it! Focus!

  The stabbing pain had finally reduced to a dull throb. Felix swung his legs out of bed. He had to talk to Dante. He looked around the room, but there was no sign of him. He heard the sounds of running water, but it was not from the toilet attached to the room. There had to be a second one outside. Felix crept out of the room. Down the hallway, a second toilet stood waiting, its light burning and its door ajar.

  The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

  He can’t be showering with the door open, right? Felix carefully poked his head in and saw Dante lying in a half-filled bathtub, fully clothed. His long-haired cat was carefully perched on his chest. Dante swirled a bottle of bourbon in one hand and fiddled with the tap with his toes, turning it on and off.

  When the cat saw Felix poke his head in, it arched its back and hissed savagely. “Nova,” Dante mumbled, stroking its back. “Go outside.”

  The cat hopped off his chest and stalked outside, giving Felix a soft hiss as it passed him. Dante cocked his head back, taking a sip of his drink and letting out a long exhale. “Have you ever taken a bath with your clothes on?” he asked, his lips barely moving. Without waiting for Felix’s answer, he went on, “It feels… much better than you’d think. People don’t have to wait for others to hold them when there’s a bathtub full of warm water always for them.”

  Felix wrung his hands. Dante almost sounded disgusted when talking to him.

  “Nothing’s worth sacrificing your life for. Object, person, being,” Dante sighed, putting the drained bottle on the floor. “Regalias planted their seeds in you. The reason why you let them do that is why you are here.”

  “How did you-”

  “I just had enough time to think. Now, if you would excuse yourself.” With a flick of his Regalia-bearing hand, he slammed the door shut in his face.

  Felix hung around in the living room. Dante came out of the shower all washed up. His hair was tousled, and his face was flushed. Yet, his eyes were clear and his gait was steady. Felix followed him back to the bedroom and stood at the door. Dante, on the other hand, sat down on the bed, back-facing him.

  The rustling of the leaves grew louder as the night breeze grew stronger. It filled the silence between them, which was made up of thoughts that could not be adequately expressed with all the words and languages in the world.

  “How have you been?” Felix spoke up after a long while.

  “Fantastic because you were not here.”

  Felix inhaled sharply. “There’s an Aberrant that needs your guidance,” he said simply. “That’s why I’m here.”

  “I do not see how that is my problem,” Dante retorted. “You are an Elder with all the world in your grasp. Finding a suitable teacher should be easy.”

  “I know that you are trying to be a selfish prick in front of me, but I know that you aren’t!” Felix pushed down the urge to shake him awake.

  “I chose to be selfish for ten years, so why can’t I be selfish for another ten?”

  “There’s no one else that I can turn to,” Felix pleaded.

  Dante exhaled and let out a low laugh. “Now you know what it feels like." He turned his head slightly towards him. “To have no one help you even though you call out to them.”

  “Back then we almost–”

  “Almost is still nothing.”

  Felix did not know it could hurt so much again. Not after ten years. The pain his wounds were causing him ramped up to a ten, far worse than when they were first carved into his flesh. “I do not see why you are still here. The door’s open. Feel free to leave.” Dante gave him the side-eye and turned away once more so that the only thing Felix could look at was his back.

  At this point, Dante’s pet cat waltzed in, meowing to announce its entrance.

  Dante’s ears perked up. “Nova, come here,” he called out. He simply started playing with Nova. The little furball pounced and nibbled on Dante’s earlobe, casting the occasional glance at Felix.

  “Do I have to get down on my knees and beg?” Felix asked quietly.

  “I quite like the spectacle of it.” Dante’s anger had turned into malice. It was obvious that he was intent on humiliating him.

  Yet, Felix endured. Who was he to feel hurt? Only Dante had the right to be angry after all these years. Without hesitation, Felix went to Dante’s side and knelt before him. “Throwing away your pride without hesitation?” Dante mumbled. “That is too easy for you.”

  “I told you this isn’t about me!”

  “Saving yourself is quite the self-centred operation.”

  “Ace has been cursed!” Felix finally blurted. “I fucked up! And now I don’t know what else to do!”

  The sheets rustled as Dante lay down and turned away from him, hugging his bolster. “You can just keep ignoring me, but I can also stay like this,” Felix said softly and bowed his head.

  The back of Felix’s throat tightened when Dante’s back remained turned towards him. Four years of friendship were brief, but Felix wanted to believe that Dante was not cruel enough to look past it.

  That bolster was a testament to that. It was nearly two and a half metres long and was custom-made just for Dante.

  However, the fact that Dante still had it meant that he did not remember its origin. And so, Felix kept his mouth shut about it.

  But that did not mean that Felix had no other options. From his pocket, he retrieved the small white pouch Lady Meng had given him and placed it on the bed next to Dante. Nova approached the pouch and batted it lightly with a paw. To Felix’s relief, it picked it up with its mouth. It trotted over to Dante and dropped it in front of his face.

  The pouch flew to the other end of the room immediately. “Nova, stop putting trash on my bed,” Dante said.

  Felix’s eyes watered. Before he could wipe them, a teardrop rolled down his face, leaving behind a hot, salty trail. He blinked the rest away quickly.

  He did not deserve to be upset about Dante’s relentless abuse.

  He wholly deserved such treatment.

  Yet, such acceptance did not stop his tears from flowing. They scalded the backs of his hands, which were balled up on his thighs. The edges of his vision started to darken as the fever reached a boiling point.

  “Mrow?”

  Nova was next to him, its front paws pressed into his thigh. It sniffed him before climbing into his lap. It stood up on its hind legs, pressing its front paws against his eyes. Its paw pads were warm and soft, shifting slightly in a small wiping motion. Felix gently pried its paws away from his face. He shook his head quietly and set Nova back on the ground.

  Nova leapt back into bed and started clawing at Dante.

  The blonde sat up, trying to tear Nova away from his face, but it yowled at him. “What on earth are you doing?!” Dante exclaimed as he held it in the air.

  Nova squirmed and slid out of Dante’s grasp. Dante left the bed and tried to chase it down, but it retreated behind Felix. He glared daggers at both of them and threw up his arms. “First, it was Scarlet. Now it is you!” he exclaimed. “Just leave already! Leave!”

  There was a loud meow, which instilled confidence in Felix. Nova was on his side. “I won’t! Not until you listen to what I have to say!”

  Dante bristled. Electric red sparks snapped around him, matching his temper. “I told you–”

  “Back then, you said that you would quit being a sorcerer. But, wherever you went, there didn't seem to be any problems,” Felix cut him off. “You are a shitty vow-keeper, you know that?!”

  “You do not get to call me that!”

  “And guess what? You were a fucked up teacher!”

  Dante’s eyes widened, and the arcs of electricity froze. The fire to the fuse in Felix’s heart had long been ignited. He continued blabbering, spilling everything he knew. “Shiro told me about it! You couldn’t save a kid! And what did you do? You wasted away at a bar!”

  The blow came so swiftly and hard that Felix hardly had time to dodge. The bones in his nose cracked under Dante’s knuckles. Felix gasped as Dante yanked him up by the collar. “You do not get to tell my story!”

  Felix grasped Dante’s wrist and squeezed them gently. He could not bear to hurt Dante anymore. “Dante, even though things did not end up the way you wanted them, you were still a great teacher.”

  Enigma washed over Dante. Though Felix could not tell what expression he wore under the cloak of invisibility, he continued.

  He knew that Dante would understand.

  That was why he made this speech to him.

  “All I want for my students is for their bodies to grow together with their minds.” Felix inhaled deeply, wincing a bit from the pain of his wounds. Dante’s grip loosened. “I don’t want Ace to suffer the same way you did. He’s had a good life, and I don’t want what’s left and what he’s building to be taken away from him again so quickly.”

  Dante’s grip went slack. “I’m not here for forgiveness. You can still hate me, and that’s fine, but he doesn’t deserve to go through the same pain for something he did not choose. Even if it’s just for a day or an hour, could you help him?” Felix pleaded. “His name is Ace. Right now, he needs you.”

  Felix’s chest grew light, and the bedframe squeaked as Dante climbed into bed, still concealed by Enigma. Felix could see Dante all curled up underneath the blanket.

  Nova jumped into bed next to Dante. This time, it did not throw a tantrum. It regarded Felix with glowing amber eyes and made a cute noise when it pawed at the bedsheets, “Mmmek mek.”

  It seemed to say, “Dante listened”.