Before Pablo could make out who this person was, he lost his consciousness.
Forcefully drifting to sleep, Pablo finds himself in a kitchen. The first thing he does is to check his body before realising where he is.
His body is okay, but this kitchen isn't. He checks out his surroundings. The kitchen is small and packed. Consisting of the cooking area, and a small table inside the kitchen. Near the table, there is darkness.
Darkness that Pablo doesn't want to stare at. He feels as if something is watching him through that darkness.
He tries to ignore it, and starts talking to himself for distraction.
"This is my childhood home, isn't it?" He checks the fridge, the drawers and the oven. Everything seems real.
Too vivid.
"Is this… my limbo?"
Pablo doesn't like this place.
He leaves the kitchen and immediately shuts the door behind him. He grabs the key and locks the door.
Believing that this doesn't seem enough, Pablo barricades the door with the book shelf.
He started panting. He isn't satisfied, but he doesn't have the energy to push another shelf.
After wiping the sweat on his forehead and resting his back on the shelf. Pablo exhales in relief.
"Now it can't-"
Ring Ring!
Interrupted by the phone, Pablo's body freezes. He stops breathing as his eyes widen.
Ring Ring!
Pablo hyperventilates. He goes pale.
OPEN THE PHONE, PABLO.
Silence.
Pablo screams.
He opens his eyes in the ship, still screaming.
"Dude! Chill, chill! I got you!" Tsuyoi grabs Pablo.
Pablo doesn't stop screaming. He doesn't even look around and see where he is. Tsuyoi's presence doesn't help either.
Suddenly, Tsuyoi slaps Pablo with all his might.
This feels like a splash of water to his face. He stops screaming and gasps. He looks at Tsuyoi in shock, and even forgets to breathe.
"...you good?" Tsuyoi asks, worry in his face.
Pablo looks around and realizes he is back in reality. He checks his body again. He seems to be in the storage room. Tsuyoi lets out a soft and warm blue flame from his finger, lightning up the area like a candle.
"..." Pablo recollects his thoughts and nods. "Yeah, I'm good. Just… had a nightmare, is all."
Tsuyoi cackles. "You were screaming like a chick bro! And I thought you grew a pair after you defeated these two intruders."
Pablo is confused by what Tsuyoi claims.
"Huh?" Pablo raises an eyebrow.
Tsuyoi points behind him, the two intruders are knocked out and tied up.
"Kori said she heard some noise and when he checked the source, he saw you on the ground and also these guys on the ground."
Come to think of it, Pablo doesn't exactly remember what happened either.
"...did I? I must've hit my head." he puts a hand on his chin.
Tsuyoi helps Pablo get up. Pablo feels proud, for a victory he doesn't remember.
"Where is she?" Pablo looks around, not seeing her anywhere.
Tsuyoi waves his hand in dismissal.
"She said she'd hit the bathroom. In the meanwhile, let's ask a few questions to these fellas."
A fly landed on Pablo's shoulder, he quickly swatted it off.
The two approached the intruders and Tsuyoi crouched down to their level.
"Wakey Wakey!" Tsuyoi slapped the two, but to no avail.
While Tsuyoi kept slapping them, Pablo felt the tension of something.
He couldn't exactly point it out, but something was wrong. As Tsuyoi kept trying to wake them up, Pablo noticed two flies on each's shoulder.
"..." He really didn't give it too much thought.
Tsuyoi was still at it. Probably giving them a concussion with all those slaps.
"Hello?!" He shouts. But suddenly the two intruders start to swell.
"That's weird." Tsuyoi steps back, so does Pablo.
They keep swelling, and to a point where it can't be called anything other than 'inflating'
They started filling up like a balloon. Both Pablo and Tsuyoi were confused. After enough time, the inflation blows their head off. Leaving the two stunned.
They watch, their mouths wide open. Pablo recollects himself and realises what's going on.
"Was that a failsafe, preventing them from snitching?" He gets nauseous from the sight. Tsuyoi doesn't look bothered.
Tsuyoi wipes the blood off his face.
"Probably. No way to prove it though."
The room goes silent. Pablo tries to make sense of anything that just happened.
Suddenly, his thinking is interrupted by the door opening.
"Hello?" Kori enters the room cautiously, trying not to make any noise. She pulls her hair behind her ear.
Pablo looks at her. He wants to hear her side of the story.
"What even happened? I can't remember any of it." He puts a hand on his forehead. He feels like there are dozens of hammers hitting his head all at the same time.
Kori ignores the corpses, not affected in the slightest. That catches Pablo's attention, but he doesn't elaborate on that.
"I heard louuuud noises coming from the storage room which woke me up. When I got up I noticed you weren't with us. So I decided to investigate." She explains casually.
"So when I entered from here, I saw you on the ground as well as these two. So I tied them up and woke up Tsuyoi." She points to the door dramatically.
Pablo puts a hand on his chin, lost in thought.
Tsuyoi smiles and pats her back, gently. Compared to how hard he hits Pablo, this is just nudging her.
"You're lucky she saved your ass, Pablo!"
Pablo ignores Tsuyoi's claim, and starts to walk towards the exit.
Kori giggles and waves her hand in dismissal.
"It's nothing really-"
Pablo passed her by, his words were nearly swallowed. But loud enough for her to hear it.
"I don't buy that."
Kori pauses, her grin drops but she doesn't intend to show a reaction. She slowly turns her head towards Pablo.
"No need to thank me, huh?" Her voice matches Pablo's.
Tsuyoi sighs. "What's up with him? He keeps treating you like you're some spy."
Kori shrugs, she sticks out her tongue just a little. "Beats me."
She approaches the corpses and crouches down.
"I'll try to find what happened to them. You can go." She turns towards Tsuyoi and smiles gently.
"Aight. You have fun!" Tsuyoi nods and exits the room as well.
As Pablo exits the storage room, he stumbles. He is not really fine, despite Tsuyoi healing him. His eyelids grow heavy. He really wants to sleep.
"I can't remember anything. But my throat hurts, so does my head. I can't confirm nor deny what she is claiming. But still, I don't trust anything she says. All I remember is that I was shot, yet the bullet hit them." Pablo pondered.
The phone ring echoes in Pablo's mind. Amidst the silence, the phone is louder than his thoughts.
"When will I stop being confused, and find an answer to any of my questions?"
Pablo takes his seat and rests his head on the wood, looking at the sky.
"It's Tsuyoi's turn to be awake. Now I can finally get some rest. It's sad we couldn't get any info out of those guys." He mutters under his breath.
As Pablo is thinking to himself, Tsuyoi sits right next to him.
"You've been acting weird recently. Is there something you wanna like, talk about?" Tsuyoi looks at the sky as well.
Pablo takes his time before answering that. He sighs and doesn't take his eyes off of the stars.
"I feel like there is something about myself that I just don't know about."
Tsuyoi raises an eyebrow.
"What do you mean?"
Pablo gulps, it's hard to elaborate on that. Especially for him. The breeze hits his face, calming him down just a little.
"I fight, yet I don't know how. I survive, yet I don't know why. I run, yet I don't know where. I keep doing things just because I can, even when they don't mean anything. And when I find an answer, a dozen more questions arise."
His head turns towards Tsuyoi, worry in his face. Stripped of every shield, he finally opens up. Tsuyoi meets Pablo's gaze.
"Just what the hell am i, Tsuyoi?"
Pablo's lips press into a thin, trembling line.
Tsuyoi's eyes widen. He doesn't know how to answer that. He exhales and turns towards the sky again. He doesn't want to give Pablo the wrong answer, which will hurt him even more.
"I can't tell you what you are, but I can tell you what you aren't," Finally answering, Tsuyoi finds his answer.
"You're not deadweight." He puts an arm around Pablo.
Upon hearing that, Pablo gasps, his voice barely being heard. The worry in his face is replaced by a smile, facing the sky again.
He gently pulls Tsuyoi's arm away from his shoulder.
"Get some rest now, big dog. You'll need it." Tsuyoi pulls out a few snacks from his backpack, getting ready to not sleep for the rest of the night.
Pablo nods, and slowly closes his eyes. He feels like the weights on his shoulder are gone.
Finally ready to have a peaceful sleep, Pablo's mind drifts to sleep.
The time passes quite quickly. Kori never leaves the storage room and Tsuyoi falls asleep during his shift. Luckily, the rest of the night is quite uneventful.
But as the sheep is sleeping, the wolves are awake.
Waiting for them.
In the island of Eldoria, the wolf awaits. It sits patiently. 'Enough with the injustice!' his soul says. But his lips don't move. He sharpens his blade.
He is aware.
"Erik does the grossest things, doesn't he?" The lips move.
But for now, the wolf can keep waiting.
Rest easy, Pablo Drake.
WHILE YOU CAN.