14. Early Mourning
Early Mourning
Chris had a habit of dragging his feet when he didn’t want to do something; this was nothing new to Dustin. So, when he requested Burger Belle over Taco King, he knew damn well that Chris would intentionally take fucking forever to “subtly” discourage him from going against his wishes again.
But with the rain pouring and the wind howling, he couldn’t help but get a bit worried that maybe Chris wasn’t just being a dramatic asshole this time.
It was possible that he was overreacting; this whole Qin Shi Huang storm magic possession debacle had given him a trauma response to the most common weather phenomenon in the Pacific Northwest. But even taking that into account, he just couldn’t shake that feeling in the pit of his stomach.
He dialed Chris’s number again… only to be met with a busy tone immediately.
Okay, now he was worried.
Dustin started pacing the floor; his mind flooding with the absolute worst possibilities. Chris had probably wrapped his car around a tree or telephone pole or something, all because he couldn’t just agree to getting Taco King. He just had to make a stand, and now Chris was probably fucking dead.
Before his thoughts could completely spiral into the depths, he heard Sima Yao’s uncharacteristically frantic voice echoing in his mind.
“Second Master Ying, your brother is in immense danger! I am transporting you and the other sages to his location at once. You must be prepared for battle!”
Dustin’s stomach sank into a pit of indescribable dread as fog squeezed around his window frame and quickly filled his room. It surged across the floorboards, crawled up his legs, and completely covered him; whiting out the entire room before he could even fully process what was happening.
And then, just as quickly as it appeared, it was gone… and he wasn’t in his room anymore.
The first thing he noticed was the rain pelting him, soaking straight through his black T shirt and athletic pants (probably stolen from Chris’s hamper at some point) with ease.
Then he registered the wet wood beneath his bare feet as the last of the fog dissipated, revealing that he was standing on Bartholomew Pier amidst a graveyard of rusted and abandoned carnival rides.
Before he could even wonder what the hell he was doing there, his eyes drifted to what was across the street…
He and Chris’s shared crimson Cadillac, parked directly in the middle of the road with the driver’s door open.
His heart froze in his chest like a block of ice at the sight of it, and before he knew it he was sprinting across the rain-slick road like a madman, screaming Chris’s name into the night so loud that it nearly drowned out the thunder.
“Dusty wait, we’re here!”
Dustin didn’t stop at the sound of Bailey’s voice, but he did throw a glance over his shoulder to see her, Chloe, and James appearing in another cloud of fog.
The four of them surrounded the car, and Dustin immediately started searching for any sign of Chris.
The keys were still in the ignition, the engine still humming, speakers still blasting his favorite CD…
but Chris himself was nowhere to be seen.
“Guys, I found something!” James called out, grabbing what looked like a melted piece of red plastic off the asphalt. It only took a second for Dustin to figure out what it was…
Chris’s cell.
Before the full weight of his dread could hit him, a loud bang like an explosion echoed from somewhere down the street.
Dustin’s eyes snapped to the source of the sound, just as Chris’s limp body was sent flying out of an alleyway, rolling across the pavement and skidding to a stop right in front of Mr. Liu’s Pawn Shop.
“CHRIS?!” Dustin shrieked, bolting for his brother with speed he didn’t know he was capable of. The second he reached him, he immediately kneeled over him and checked for a pulse, holding his own breath until he felt the rhythmic beat beneath his fingers, “thank fucking God, he’s alive,”
No sooner than those words left Dustin’s mouth, was he hit with a pain so violent that it nearly knocked him out cold; like knives of ice were stabbing into his brain over and over again, accompanied by a twisted voice that sounded like crackling lightning.
“He breathes, for now. But only because I allow it,”
Dustin looked up through blurred vision as the source of the telepathic voice made itself clear; a shambling, twisted corpse, shuffling out of the alleyway across from them.
Its clothes were almost completely burned away (that must’ve been the explosion sound; Chris hitting that thing with a fireball or something), but the pallid skin underneath appeared unfazed.
It wasn’t until it stepped beneath the flickering streetlight as it approached, that Dustin got a good look at its face…
“Leo… no, no t-this is impossible,”
“He’s supposed to be… oh God, does that mean Qin Shi Huang can use his body like a fucking puppet?” Bailey gasped, instinctively wrapping an arm around Dustin as she and the others caught up.
“If that’s the case, then we might have to put him down more permanently this time,” Chloe narrowed her eyes on “Leo”, the veins in her forearms surging with white light as she prepared to stand her ground.
“Put him down?!” Dustin immediately snapped, “he’s a person, not a fucking dog. And I already… I’m not doing this again. I can’t,”
“I get what you’re saying but that’s not Leo anymore and you know it!” Chloe shot back, still keeping Leo squarely in her sights as he stumbled closer. The icy surface of her tone barely concealed the tremor in her voice, “either we fight to win, or we’re all going to die here,”
Thunder erupted in the sky overhead, carrying with it the sound of boisterous laughter; like a chorus of mocking voices in the clouds.
“By now, that sniveling, traitorous recordkeeper has likely informed you of exactly who I am,” the telepathic blade cut through Dustin’s mind again, but this time it afflicted the others as well, forcing everyone to their knees like they were kneeling before an unseen throne.
As it spoke, Leo’s head twitched and his dislocated jaw attempted to move, as if imitating words, “I am no mere thorn in your side, no simple hurdle for adolescent pretenders to overcome… I am Qin Shi Huang; divinity made flesh. Father of a nation. Emperor eternal. I will not be ‘put down’,”
No matter how hard Dustin tried to get on his feet, it felt like the weight of the sky itself was forcing him down.
Was Qin Shi Huang’s spirit more powerful now without Leo’s own fighting for control?
If this was only a fragment of his power, how in the hell were they supposed to stand against his full might?
Leo’s body shambled closer, looming over Chloe and reaching out with a mangled arm.
Dustin could only watch in horror, his body frozen from the mere presence of Qin Shi Huang, as Leo grabbed Chloe’s neck and effortlessly lifted her into the air.
She choked and gasped for air, kicking her legs fruitlessly as she struggled against his superhuman grip.
Dustin’s mind raced back to his confrontation with Leo in the locker room; the way that his vision blurred and the world’s edges grew darker as he was being choked out.
He’d panicked so much then that he’d completely forgotten about his powers…
though with the way her veins were shining, it didn’t seem like Chloe was having that same problem.
There was a distant screech of metal being ripped apart, followed by a sound like a bullet whizzing by as a manhole cover from a block up the street careened through the air, slamming into Leo and knocking him aside like a ragdoll.
Chloe dropped to the ground, rubbing her bruised throat as the supernatural weight finally lifted off the others.
“Chloe are you okay?!” Dustin called out, torn between rushing to her side and leaving Chris’s unconscious body unguarded. She simply gave him a weak thumbs up as she stood on shaky legs.
A normal person would’ve likely been killed by a hit like that, but Leo’s corpse rose up like it was being pulled by invisible strings, completely unscathed by the impact…
As much as Dustin didn’t want to admit it, Chloe was right; they were going to have to fight seriously if they wanted to survive this.
“Dustin, I know you don’t wanna hurt him again but…” James trailed off, his hand on Dustin’s shoulder as Leo’s bones shifted and cracked themselves back into place.
“I know. You don’t have to say it,” Dustin replied, closing his eyes to steel himself as the rain continued beating down on them.
At this point, that… thing, really wasn’t Leo at all.
If anything, stopping it would be a mercy.
Maybe then Leo could actually rest peacefully, “let’s do what we need to do. No holding back,”
“Dusty… you’re sure about this?” Bailey asked, still on her knees, but now with Chris’s head resting on her thighs instead of the wet pavement, “this is a big choice,”
“I know,” Dustin said, resolve solidifying in him like ice in his blood as his irises and the veins around his eyes darkened, “that’s why I need to be the one to make it.
I’m the reason Leo’s turned into this thing.
I need to free him. You stay here and watch over Chris, okay?
It’s safer since your powers haven’t awakened yet,”
Bailey gave Dustin a look that was a mix of worry and pride; like she was finally seeing the boy she initially befriended again.
The one who was confident enough to call the shots and make the hard choices.
But it was also like she wasn’t sure if he could still handle that kind of pressure. And honestly, he wasn’t either.
But as Leo lunged toward Chloe again, he knew he had no other choice. This was the moment to fight or fly. And Dustin Ying had done more than enough flying for a lifetime.