Chapter 63: Suffering Alone
Seeing the weight on Frank's shoulders Atlas couldn't help but feel sympathy for the man. His past hadn't been easy. And now to see that such a close friend of his had been used to push for the very things that had cast him and his friends out… It was rough.
He couldn't imagine what was going through the man's head as he had talked about defeating Joben.
"Things went well with Iku though. Gavin helped me make a fake identity and a permanent stay in a hotel room. Money was nothing to a man that could control minds. I used to never like how he so carelessly manipulated people in power but... he was my friend and they had more than enough money." Frank explained.
"At the end of the year Stacy and Hikaru had a child, they called him Hoshi, meaning star. It was amazing to see the love they had for him. I introduced them to Iku as well, it actually seemed like we would be leaving behind the society." Frank said with deep pain lacing his voice. Tears forming at the corners of his eyes.
"It wasn't long before I had a kid too. Scrawny as I was but he had his mother's smile. I understood how Stacy and Hikaru could love something so much. Because I felt it too…" He continued.
Seeing that Frank didn't want to talk about this part too much Atlas wanted to let him move on but at the same time felt that a lot of important things happened around this time. Holding his tongue he just let his mentor grieve.
"It was late 1988 that Gavin disappeared. He didn't say anything, there was no goodbye. No letter, no note, nothing. He just stopped showing up. I knew what happened… Hikaru and Stacy never knew why. They figured that he had moved overseas, he used to speak fondly about it after all." Frank went on.
"At that time I stopped seeing Hikaru and Stacy as much as well, I focused on my family. And so did they, for years we were… normal. Although it wasn't long before I started to age faster, at first it wasn't too noticeable. But as the years started to pass I figured out why, it was the years of my life that I had given as fuel to beat the spirit."
"I tried to make as many memories with my son as we could, he loved camping. So we camped. Iku got sick however, it was all so sudden… too sudden for it to be natural. But in 1992… she passed away. It was radiation poisoning." He said, unable to hold back tears, his fists clenched so tight they shook as his knuckles turned white.
"It was foolish of me… but I really thought that the happiness could last." Shaking his head tears ran down the folds in his old skin, looking far older than he had a moment ago with the weariness of the memories and the anguish they brought. "If only I had seen back then, that someone was manipulating everything… then I could have done something."
--- 1992 --- (Frank is 26, Hoshi and Frank's son are 5)
It was all his fault, this was all his fault. If he hadn't been so selfish then she would still be alive…
Even after hearing what happened to Gavin, even after he passed away. Why hadn't he just…
The doctor was saying something, his words blurring into the seamless buzzing that droned in the back of his mind. A continuous sound of denial, he didn't want to hear it. Working at the sight may have been the cause of her absorbing dangerous levels of radiation.
That made no sense, the doctors knew it too… but that was the only explanation they had.
Frank had another though, it was him. Even though he cancelled his technique and hadn't used it in years when he gave so much he gained things in return.
He had cursed himself, he hadn't just given his chance to love Stacy, no he had given his chance to be close to anyone. He had cursed himself, for such temporary power, he should have died. Then they would be happy. Gavin would still be alive doing whatever it is he did out there…
And Iku… she would still be smiling like she did when he brought her coffee in the morning. Like she did when he kissed her cheek for the first time. Like when he bought her a stunning dress. Like when he put a flower behind her ear as they walked.
Like when he knelt before her and gave her the same thing that may have killed her.
A ruby formed with Hikaru's help. Heat and pressure and a lot of attempts.
A fire red ruby that glistened on her ring finger tauntingly… 'You did this. This is your fault.' The words echoing in his mind.
Feeling the doctor tap him on the shoulder he snapped out of it, looking at the man, his eyes still wide and his skin pale and clammy. "S-sir. I, I'm sorry but I believe that it is best if you make your way outside for now… We have people that will help support you through this, you are not alone though." Trying to say comforting words.
Putting a hand on his shoulder the Doctor spoke in a tone full of sympathy and sadness. "I know it is tough, but right now, your son needs his father more than ever. Be strong for him alright?" His words echoed through Frank's mind drowning out the buzzing.
He felt his blood start to boil, his son needed him?! Of course, he did, but all he would do is kill him too if it wasn't already too late. Turning to stare at the doctor he didn't even realize the cursed energy that started to roll out of his body, a pressure so immense that blood lust filled the room.
"You have done enough, thank you." Was all Frank said, his voice cold. He hated what the doctor said, but he knew that the man was just trying to be nice… he knew that he was just doing his job and trying to provide some reason. Some answer that Frank could dedicate himself towards to distract him from the pain.
Or at least that is what he assumed.
Turning Frank stormed away, the door slamming closed behind him as he left the hospital. He didn't care where he was going, it just had to be away from here. He had to get his son, he needed to get him somewhere where he would be safe… away from him.
He could already feel the tears forming in his eyes… no he had to be strong for a little longer.
Just a little more.
---
Watching Franks back the doctor sighed. His sympathetic gaze fell as he looked towards the dead woman, her skin waxy and her eyes cold as he pried one open. She was truly dead.
Looking in the mirror his eyes went to the scar on his head. It was painfully obvious when one knew what it was… but it wasn't hard to hide it with his bangs. Or at least make it less noticeable.
Soon he would be done with this plan. That young Hoshi that was born… if only it had been a few years later it would have been a lot more convenient. It was getting hard to jump bodies as he needed them. But unexpected variables made for the most promising opportunities…
A few words and a bit of manipulation at the right moment and history itself would fold to one's whims.
Soon he would be done setting all this up. Then he would possess a female body to create a suitable vessel. Only after that would he be able to take Joben's corpse as his own vessel. A body he had kept frozen for now so that it wouldn't degrade anymore. But as soon as he did that he could make much more progress in transforming the society.
All in due time, it would all come together in due time.
---
"Please… I, I can't explain much more but please do this for me." Frank said, his voice on the verge of hysteria as he begged Hikaru who sat before him.
Shaking his head in confusion a slight look of anger lingered in Hikaru's gaze. Turning he looked through a doorway into another room where Stacy played with his and Frank's sons. The toddlers were overly excited about Stacy giving out stickers to them.
Turning back to Frank he saw the pain in his eyes as he watched the scene. The quivering of his lips and his clenched hands shaking from how hard he clenched them. The emotions that tore through his friend were clearer than the sun. He was hurting.
He had just been about to ask how he could just abandon his son after his mother died but he knew that something more was going on, "Frank… I can't help you unless you let me know what is going on… I need you to talk to me alright?"
Shaking his head Frank stood up and started pacing causing his friend to get up as well. "I- I can't. I can't okay!" Frank said, his voice rising getting a concerned look from Stacy who went over and closed the door joining the rooms as Hoshi mumbled something, asking what daddy was doing with uncle.
As soon as the lock clicked shut Frank started to break down as silent tears ran down his ageing face, he was only 26 but he looked in his late 30s.
He was trying to be strong, but his hands were shaking, his skin white. He felt sick, he wanted to throw up. He was dizzy, this was all too much. The world was blurred. He didn't want to do this.
But he had to hold on.
"Please don't make me explain Hikaru. Please, just take my son and let me go." His words dripped so much sorrow that it made Hikaru's heart wrench.
But he couldn't do that, what was he supposed to tell Stacy? What was he going to tell Frank's son when he grew up? "I can't do that Frank, I need some answers, think about your son… what am I supposed to tell him when he is old enough to understand?" Hikaru tried. His words caught in his throat as he saw his friend start to break down further.
His skin was so pale he thought he was going to pass out.
Watching Frank collapse back into his seat as he leaned forward, clearly trying not to throw up Hikaru felt tears of his own starting to form. What was happening? What was going on?
"I can help Frank, just tell me what I can do. Please." Hikaru tried once more.
"If I stay he will die." Frank suddenly said, his breath becoming quick as he started to hyperventilate, speaking faster than he could keep up with as if he needed to get the words out at once or he wouldn't be able to at all.
"Gavin died because of the radiation that my technique gives off and I thought that I no longer gave any off but Iku died of radiation poisoning just like he did. If I stay around my son or you and Stacy you could all die as well, I don't want to my son to die. I need to leave." Frank blurted.
Hearing Gavin suddenly be brought up Hikaru shook his head in confusion before the dots finally started to connect. The guilt Frank carried whenever Gavin was brought up, the way he had cried when he stopped appearing. The pale skin, the sickness. Something he had brushed off…
Gavin was dead and it was radiation poisoning from Franks technique. A part of him wanted to be mad… but he couldn't. He saw what his friend was going through.
He saw why he was doing this, but surely he could call his son though. Why did he have to just disappear? It would be tough but possible but Frank's next words cleared everything as he started to ramble again.
"I didn't just give my feelings for Stacy at the time, I also sacrificed years of my life as fuel I just don't know how many though. That is why I am ageing rapidly. If my aging doesn't stop and the exponential increase stays as it is going. I barely have 5 to 10 years left before I pass away too." Frank clarified… he had done the calculations.
The speed at which his age was increasing was rapidly growing. Over the last year, he had aged more than he had in the past four combined.
"It is easier for me to just disappear, I'll die before he is old enough to understand… and even if he does he is too young to have to deal with that hurt," Frank said, his panic all but gone, a dull acceptance having clouded his mind.
"At least you and Stacy can give him a proper family. He loves you guys…" Frank said as tears silently dripped onto the table in front of him.
Standing up the slow scrape of the chair against the floor resonated in the room. The silence that followed it was numbing.
"Are you sure there isn't a better way?" Hikaru asked hesitantly.
Shaking his head Frank said, "This is for the best… goodbye Hikaru. Thank you for everything."
Walking through the rooms of the house Frank silently made his way to the back door. Leaving without saying anything to his son or Stacy. He wouldn't be able to leave if he saw his son's face. He was so grateful that the door was closed.
He just had to go… so he ran. He ran as fast as he could. He ran to the ruined industrial district and before he knew it he was standing in the middle of the pit. Where everything had gone wrong. Tears ran down his face as he turned to the sky and screamed.
He screamed so hard that his throat bled. He cried until he couldn't anymore. And when he had lost his voice and there were no more tears he lay shaking in the bottom of the pit.
Everything was so cold…
If he gave everything, all the thoughts and feelings he had, the rest of his life. If he gave his everything as fuel then he could end his pain right now. What if he just burnt things once more? He didn't need it anymore.
But he couldn't… He hated the lack of feeling that he got when he saw Stacy. No, he couldn't burn it all. He wanted to be able to look back on the fond memories. He couldn't give those feelings… he had abandoned his son... he deserved to spend the rest of his short life being punished for his actions.
Laying there alone. He suffered. Cold as stone under the night sky.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone