Visitors came and went. In the time between four through five weeks the majority of occupants had been discharged leaving Kage alone in the room of white sampling the scents of sterilized materials. Gan was confined to a wheelchair with some slings for either arm, a costume that brought foam to his mouth in a ravaging daze when he finally awoke to his new bodily state. Doctors and nurses came rushing to sedate the boy before he could conjure excessive damage to himself while in a furious rage. However, after a while he became accustomed to this posture, one that was plagued with squinted piercing eyes as well as a tensed jaw. Not due to the confinement of his movements but because of the rapturous uproar of laughter which fled Jacob's mouth at the sight. Their friend couldn't root himself in sanity after being witness to such a strange image. His work in the duty they all carried out seemed to have paid off in that single moment as his phone snapped several shots which were quickly sent into a database of online forums for the viewing pleasure of their classmates. Of course, at the expense of Gan's dignity.
Meanwhile Claire didn't suffer as much as the rest of them. Her absence from hospital was never felt as she had never attended. Her wound had not been in the physical form leaving her to be the sole proprietor to convey a means of messages between the occupants in their stay. Isaiah, Gan, and Kage long joked how she purposefully avoided the fight, labeling her a "princess" for some time. Never in her presence as their busted limbs may be sought for further recompense if such wording was ever to escape while her ears lay open.
However, to a single boy her absence was palpable to such a fervor he would stare at the door frame day after day awaiting the time for her to enter with that bright cheery smile of hers.
Jacob was the first to have been discharged. The most of his wounds came from him having exhausted the energy source which field his power. Staff forced him to stay in bed to consume a steady diet of pastes which replenished the dark matter he lost in the battle. When Claire would commonly arrive to check in on him, she sometimes discovered him away to some other section of the complex. Many times, she alerted the staff only to be done in by the same response, "It's a private matter". Even Jacob had something he wished to be kept secret.
What surprised Kage were the shadows of both Jacob and some girl who pranced the hallways at night. In his tired state the boy barely found the energy to peek from the glass seeking the identity of this figure but was granted no discovery. However, at a time he was granted such a chance to spy on the two who happened by his door with their loud jubilations, yet he wished not to intrude. Simply if his intuition was proven correct, there may never come a time when he could look Daniel in the face again.
In the midst of his playful outings Jacob would crawl his way to relieve himself of his nasty ideas and bottled thoughts to Kage of all people. Isaiah proved a harsh audience with his own mess of injuries, unable to speak in part from the mess of garbled bone jutting from his jaw. Then, what words that could be heard bellowed to his friend to leave or remain quiet as the noise furthered a growing ache in his brain. As a consequence of Isaiah's condition Jacob was restrained by Kage as a more suitable member. He spoke of Isaiah's energetic rejuvenation and the plans to begin some form of training for himself when he finally left the building and could walk properly without the use of crutches. Therefore, he wanted all the advice and strategies he could garner from the bed ridden Kage. Kage with little else to do relinquished in telling of some efforts Jacob could delve into when he had spare time.
Yet, in the deep blackness that melded the dreams of night, Kage found little respite to his time in the waking world. Images played of the dazzling glow which dusted his form from above that night. Unity was there. Unity had been injured.
In the coming weeks he picked up bits of information on how Unity fought the Black Queen and that she was able to escape along with her trusted aides. It was an outcome Kage sneered at, even his rooted hate in the hero detested the thought of allowing that witch to escape even if not unscathed. The murder he glimpsed that occasion was unlike any other and the culprit should be split open then ravaged by the victims who were found in the center of the massacre.
Then, his wandering thoughts rested on Unity of all things. A Devil who was justly that. Even if his initial conception was born from a falsehood to construe his own sins as another's. Kage was too well-versed in the doings of the hero to not know of facts many wished to be kept secret. In spite of this knowledge, a guilt arose from the depths of this malformed malice for the man. Still conflicted from the years of hate involved with the man, Kage could not decide on his emotions. Muddled by a propaganda war raged by himself there was much he needed to digest first before coming to a conclusion.
Therefore, Kage looked to the skies in search of an answer. One which neglected him as they only gleamed with the remnants of fading sparkled. Sparkles which seemed to giggle at him.
Lastly, there was Daniel. Screams and shouting produced at all times from his quarters not far down the hall. The rush of nurses and hurried whispers for sedation were often as the cries orchestrated themselves into the dead of night.
Kage had asked for an answer on his friend's condition yet none of the staff or even the others knew or were willing to tell. In more than a year Kage had not uttered a prayer. But he deemed it necessary in this situation. In a composed state, he sifted through the King James's version of the Bible which still laid in the side drawer. Falling upon Psalms 121 Kage released a softened smile at the sight. It was the prayer which he held ever dear to himself, A Song of Ascents, one which dotted his life as a path for further proof. It was the one which directed his flame all those years ago and hopefully will protect the one now brewing in his friend as he dives into the pits of Hell in his tortured form. Kage clasped his gloved hands together and uttered the passage.
"I lift up my eyes to the mountains - where does my help come from? My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth.
He will not let your foot slip - he who watches over you will not slumber; indeed, he who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.
The LORD watches over you - the LORD is your shade at your right hand; the sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon by night.
The LORD will keep you from all harm - he will watch over your life; the LORD will watch over your coming and going
both now and forevermore."